Hanford Insider Podcast: Memorial Day Ceremonies & City Council Actions

Leadership changes take center stage in Hanford as City Manager Mario Cifuentez announces his upcoming departure after nearly five years at the helm. Taking a position in Cottonwood, Arizona, Cifuentez leaves thoughtful advice for his successor: understand the challenges of inevitable growth, listen to the entire community, and remember that Hanford's median age of 32 represents residents who may not regularly attend council meetings. The City Council wasted no time scheduling a special meeting for May 29th to discuss interim leadership and the permanent replacement process. 

Meanwhile, community improvements continue with several noteworthy developments. Children's ice skating rates at Winter Wonderland will drop from $16 to $10 per session, increasing accessibility for local families. 

The Council is exploring free senior access to the Longfield Center and affordable family membership options. After several delays, the new Live Oak subdivision will feature Hanford's first-ever park with built-in cornhole games, while the long-awaited signal light at 10th Avenue and East Lacey Boulevard should finally be installed next week.

Memorial Day weekend brings the impressive Avenue of Flags to Grangeville Cemetery, featuring 1,034 flags and a Monday ceremony. 

Looking ahead to June 7th, two significant events coincide - the Carnegie Museum Car Show bringing 200+ vehicles downtown, and the "Century of Memory" celebration marking the Civic Auditorium's 100th anniversary with historical displays, music, and cake for all attendees. Sports fans can follow local playoff action, with Hanford West baseball advancing to the D4 semifinals and Hanford West softball concluding an impressive season with an undefeated league title despite a narrow playoff loss. Want to stay connected with everything happening in our community? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the most comprehensive event calendar available and follow us on social media @HanfordInsider.

You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider
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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Hanford Insider
• 1:48 City Council Meeting Highlights
• 5:12 Community Calendar Updates
• 7:07 Hanford Insider Sports Report

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

On this episode of the Hanford Insider, rob will have an extended report from last week's City Council meeting including the resignation of the City Manager. We'll get an update on the busy community calendar Then. Later I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, may 26th.

Speaker 2: 0:37

This is the Hanford Insider, the podcast where we dive into what makes our community tick, from local stories and hidden gems to conversations with people shaping our neighborhood. We're here to celebrate, explore and connect. I'm your host, rob Bentley. Whether you're new to Hanford or longtime local, this is your source for everything happening in our town, from events and news to conversations with people who make Hanford such a unique community. I hope you enjoy the format. This week I don't have a guest, but instead I'll give you an expanded report from the Hanford City Council meeting last week. Now let's take a look at some of this week's community news. I am releasing this episode a little earlier this weekend due to the holiday, of course.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Monday is Memorial Day and I hope you'll join us at the Marine Corps League Avenue of Flags at the Grangeville Cemetery. The flags will go up at 7 am on Saturday morning and remain flying until 2.30 pm on Memorial Day. The official ceremony will take place on Monday at 9 am. The guest speaker will be Jeffrey Findley and I'll be performing taps. They're adding 10 new flags this year, bringing the total up to an impressive 1,034. Here's that summary of the Hanford City Council meeting.

Speaker 2: 1:51

Last Tuesday, the city issued its first ever Celebration of Life Well-Lived proclamation in honor of Emily Carpenter, who recently passed away from cancer. She was our reigning Miss Kings County, but she meant so much more to the community with her non-profit Golden Positivity Hanford Police Officer Prieto was also honored for his courageous actions during a recent life-saving emergency call. Probably the biggest news no, it was the big news. City Manager Mario Cifuentes informed the council that he has accepted a job as City Manager of Cottonwood, arizona, and he'll be relocating in August. He and his wife were married there and two of his daughters live there, so it's a great move for the Cifuentes family.

Speaker 2: 2:39

In a recent interview with the Hanford Sentinel he offered what I felt was great advice to the next Hanford City Council Manager. He said come in, get to know the staff and council and understand that some of the biggest challenges that face them are the inevitable growth that's coming to Hanford. We have thousands of homes for development in the queue and they have to be prepared for that. To listen to the community, the entire community. We have 61,000 people and the median age of the community is 32. That's not the audience who regularly attends council meeting, so keep a broad view and understanding that there's a larger community out there and that's who we serve. I thought that was good advice. The council will have a special city council meeting this Thursday, may 29th, to discuss appointing an interim city manager and the process for hiring a permanent replacement for Mr Cifuentes. He's been our city manager since November of 2019. Congratulations, mario, and thank you for being such a great supporter of the show.

Speaker 2: 3:42

In other actions, the Council will vote on the updated Master Fee Schedule at the June 2nd meeting. All changes are pending final approval at the next Council meeting, so if you have a concern, be sure to contact your Council member ahead of time. One notable change is that the children's rates for ice skating at Hanford's Winter Wonderland will drop from $16 a session to just $10 a session, affording more children the ability to ice skate. The council is exploring more access opportunities for seniors to the Longfield Center, making it free. They're also exploring options for inexpensive family memberships. As for the lighting at the Bob Hill Youth Athletic Facility, council directed staff to provide a proposal using general fund reserves to replace the failing lights. This has been a concern of parents during this past season Over several delays of the public hearing about the new Live Oak subdivision in southwest Hanford.

Speaker 2: 4:38

The Council finally reached a deal with San Joaquin Valley Homes for extensive park upgrades. In lieu of redesigning the streetlights, the new five-acre park will have picnic arbors, grills and built-in cornhole games A first for Hanford. Finally, the Council received an update about that signal light at 10th Avenue and East Lacey Boulevard. Cross your fingers. It sounds as if that pole arrives this week and will be installed next week. The Public Works Department wanted to thank everyone for their patience during the extended repair process. Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. At this week's Thursday Night Marketplace it's Family Fun Night with a classic rock cover band Jaded. The Kings Players production of Eat your Heart Out is now on at the Temple Theater. For more information about the production, including times and tickets, visit kingsplayersorg.

Speaker 2: 5:37

The downtown Hanford Car Show hosted by the Carnegie Museum of Kings County will be held on Saturday, june 7th. Over 200 cars are expected. There'll be a pancake breakfast inside the Civic Auditorium, food trucks in the Bastille parking lot, a DJ playing all your favorites, vendor booths in the park and activities for the kids. If you have a car that you'd like to showcase, register today at carnegiecarshowcom. Next Saturday, june 7th is also the date of the century of memory celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the hanford civic auditorium. This special centennial event at 3 pm will bring together residents, families and visitors to honor the rich legacy of the civic auditorium and reflect on the history, culture and spirit that has shaped Hanford over the past 100 years. There'll be historical displays, videos, a ceremony featuring the John Phillips Sousa Tribute Band, and everyone gets a piece of cake afterwards. The ceremony is free and everyone is invited to attend.

Speaker 2: 6:40

Find out more about this event at hanfordcagov slash civic100. That at hanfordcagov slash civic100. If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to hanfordinsider at gmailcom. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available. Now let's go to Eric for the Hanford Insider Sports Report for this week. And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

Speaker 1: 7:25

Baseball and softball playoffs continue to move along, so let's check in on our remaining teams. We'll start with baseball, where, after taking down Nipomo in round one of the D4 playoffs, five-seed Hanford West hit the road on Wednesday to take on four-seed Chowchilla Tied at one. After three innings, the Huskies erupted for eight runs in the fourth to take a 9-1 lead. The Tribe would not go away, though, scoring in each of the final three frames, but a two-run Hanford West sixth inning proved to be the difference, as the Huskies got the round two upset, taking down Chowchilla 11-9. Seniors Landon Silva and King Mitri paced the Hanford West offense with three RBI apiece in the win, and the win meant it was on to a matchup at one seed Lemoore on Friday and, despite a decent outing from Josh Martins on the mound, the only Huskies offense was a pair of Landon Silva singles, as Hanford West fell to Lemoore in the semifinals 2-0. The late playoff run gives a somewhat positive finale to a 13-15 overall year for the Huskies, with a third-place league finish.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Hanford High Baseball took down Independence in round one and, thanks to a 15-2 upset in their half of the bracket, the Bullpups played host to 15-seed Hoover on Wednesday. Unfortunately for the Bullpups, though not overpowering, the Patriots stayed hot as eight Hoover hits combined with four Hanford High errors resulted in the 7-4 Patriots victory. High errors resulted in the 7-4 Patriots victory. The Bullpup season comes to a close with a 14-15 overall record and a fourth-place WIL finish Sticking with Hanford High. But over to softball, where the six-seed in the D3 playoffs traveled to Kalinga to take on the three-seed Horned Toads on Tuesday and, unfortunately for the Bullpups, there were some parallels to the baseball team's game. Kalinga wasn't overpowering and Hanford High actually out-hit the Horned Toads 6-4, but a pair of Hanford High errors loomed large as Kalinga went on to shut out the Bullpups 3-0.

Speaker 1: 9:31

Hanford High's season comes to a close with a 10-16-2 overall mark. To a close with a 10-16-2 overall mark and after an undefeated league title earned them the one seed and a bye. In the Division II playoffs, Hanford West played host to nine-seed Edison on Tuesday. The Tigers struck first with a three-run top of the first, forcing the Huskies to play from behind all game long. Neither team saw any offense until the bottom of the sixth when a two-RBI Kieran Nunes double pulled the Huskies to within one. But they would not get any closer, falling to Edison in round two by a score of 3-2. Despite not picking up a win in the playoffs, Hanford West finishes a nice season going 19-7 overall with that undefeated Tri-County Kings League title. As always, we'd like to cover as many local sports as we can, so if you have a score report, a story idea or a team update, please let us know. At hanfordinsider at gmailcom. I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

Speaker 2: 10:39

Well, that's all the time we have for this week's show. If you enjoyed this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffeecom slash hanfordinsider to make a donation. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by my website at hanfordinsidercom to sign up for updates. You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media or telling a friend For more information about the show. You can find this podcast on Facebook, instagram, threads X and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at hanfordinsider at gmailcom and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.