After more than a year of instability, the city of Parlier hired a new  city manager at its meeting last week.

The city council by a 4-0 vote approved the contract of Aaron Palmer, who has experience as city manager with other small cities. He replaces Police Chief David Cerda, who had doubled as interim city manager since last year.

In 2024, a bickering city council dismissed City Manager Sonia Hall, and City Attorney Neal Costanzo. In April, Hall’s predecessor, Anthony Gastelum, was sentenced to two years in federal prison on fraud charges.

Hall filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in Fresno County Superior Court. The case is ongoing.

Also last year, the city lost a wrongful termination lawsuit against former Police Chief Jose Garza. The city appealed in May.

The three-year contract will pay Palmer a base rate of $185,000 a year to manage the Fresno County town with a population of 14,429.

Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran praised the new pick after the vote.

“I think you’ll do great. I just see that you have quite a bit of working (experience) with cities and how government works. That’s a good thing to have someone with that experience and background, which is important to us,” Beltran said.

Palmer Has Experience

The city hired a consultant firm, WBCP, to identify candidates, with two finalists — Palmer and San Joaquin Assistant City Manager Matt Flood, Beltran said.

Palmer served as the city manager of Live Oak (Sutter County) for five years, before leaving last year. The Appeal-Democrat reported that Palmer and Live Oak entered into a “separation agreement.” No official reason was given.

He also served as city manager in Canyon Lake (Riverside County). Hungry Horse News reported that Palmer was a recent finalist for the city manager position in Columbia Falls, Montana.

Palmer officially starts June 30.

Fresno Tax Board Holds Rare Meeting

For the first time in 10 months, an obscure Fresno city committee met to discuss a special tax district for downtown and the Blackstone corridor.

When the city formed Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District in 2020, the goal was to raise $2.3 billion over 50 years for projects and infrastructure improvement in the specific area.

The five-member board met on Monday in a special meeting — the first meeting of any kind since August 2024. The group heard its annual report, which said nothing happened.

“The District can be characterized as a catalyst for private sector investment and critical infrastructure with transformative potential for the EIFD area and the City of Fresno as a whole,” the annual report said.

Fresno set aside more than $819,000 of its tax revenue for the district in the last fiscal year, and did not engage in any projects.

The board acknowledged accumulated taxes and any potential projects would be a slow build.

“The course of this work is really just beginning,” EIFD chair Nelson Esparza said.

Esparza wants to meet again this year, to talk about how much the city could bond with the tax money collected. Esparza said he is feeling optimistic about getting a bond out, floating $7 million as a potential figure.

City councilmembers Esparza, Tyler Maxwell and Miguel Arias are on the board, along with Navkaran Gurm — running for city council in 2026 — and Christine Mikartian, who was absent Monday.