ORANGE COVE – With many challenges facing the city of Orange Cove and its residents, city staff and council members are hoping to gather community feedback and tackle their issues head-on.
Around two dozen residents and city staff gathered at the Eduardo “Lalo” Espinoza Senior Citizen Center in Orange Cove for a town hall on Jan. 21, the first meeting of its kind that Orange Cove has hosted in years. City Manager Sam Escobar said the town hall would be the first in a series held by the city and council as staff work to create a five-year strategic plan.
“We’re going to try to come up with realistic plans for the city to kind of move forward and hopefully get to a point where we’re addressing some of the challenges that we have, which we have many in the community,” Escobar said.
Escobar said that as his staff prepares the mid-year budget review and looks ahead to the 2026-27 fiscal year, he wanted to have conversations with residents about the different services the city provides, answering questions and gathering opinions on how well Orange Cove meets residents’ needs.
Each town hall will focus on different topics, with the first centered around finance, budgeting, public health and safety. Escobar said the city plans to conduct a SWOT analysis — which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats — for each topic. Staff will then bring the results of these conversations to the entire city council at a special meeting so the council can develop a strategic plan.
“This is something that, hopefully, it’ll be a living document that we can follow, staff and council, moving forward for the next five years,” Escobar said.
City representatives present at the town hall included the city’s finance director, administrative analyst, public works director and police chief, as well as the Orange Cove Fire Protection District chief, Escobar and Mayor Diana Guerra Silva.
Residents first asked questions about the city’s finances and budgeting process, bringing up the city’s need for more and better sidewalks and alley infrastructure. In order to get the funding needed for construction projects, Escobar explained the city has to catch up on its financial audits, which is in progress.
Regarding public health and safety, residents brought up concerns with homelessness in Orange Cove and their continued opposition to the hydrogen blending project proposed by Southern California Gas Company.
On the topic of homelessness, some residents objected to the city council’s support of volunteer-led efforts to help other Orange Cove residents — some of whom are experiencing homelessness — with hot meals and showers at the Orange Cove Community Center once a week.
Escobar addressed the misconception some have had that the city is putting money toward homeless services. The only financial impact on the city is the utility costs associated with the community center.
On hydrogen blending, residents reiterated their concerns over being “guinea pigs” for SoCalGas, the many unanswered questions they still have about the potential project and what the city could do to stop it. Escobar said he is working to put together another meeting, similar to the town hall, with SoCalGas so residents can voice their perspectives and get answers.
Escobar said he intends to hold three town hall meetings total, with the second one focused on infrastructure and parks and recreation. City staff are eyeing Feb. 18 for the next town hall, and community members are invited to listen and provide feedback.
