City Council - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Got you. Heat. Heat.

Hallelujah. All right. Good morning to uh all of our guests. If I could get the uh members of the council to come on uh come on down to the dis. We're going to go ahead and get get started here very shortly.

Where are we? It won't be on the wall. Did we get the um pronunciation?

No. Yeah. Ask her. I need to Yes. Ask her right there so we can

He's gonna show up now. And then I saw it. So, what are you guys doing? city clerk, we ready to go.

Good morning. All right, we're going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. 9:14 a.m. Uh, clerk, would you please call the role? Yes. Council member Perea, present. Council member Carbosi, Council Member Aras, Vice President Maxwell, present. Council member Vang, present. Council member Richardson, here. Council President Esparza, present. Council member Carbassi, seven members being present, we have a quorum.

Fantastic. I'm going to invite everyone to uh stand. We have uh next our invocation. Uh it'll be presented by Father Ivon Hernandez Melor from the shrine of St. Terres, my pastor. And then after the invocation, uh Council Member Richardson will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Welcome, Father. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Loving God, we gather this morning with grateful hearts for the gift of community and for the responsibilities you have entrusted to us. As we begin this meeting, we ask you for your guiding presence to rest upon each person here, especially our city officials and city council members. Heavenly Father, grant us hearts that seek peace. Bless this council with unity of purpose. Though we come with different experiences, perspectives, and convictions, reminds us that we share a common calling to serve all who live and work in this beautiful city of Fresno. Strengthen our resolve to contribute with respect, to debate with charity, and to lead with integrity. Lord, help us to create a community where every person is valued, every voice has a place, and every neighbor is treated with dignity. May our decisions reflect the the compassion of Christ who welcome and embrace every single person and lifted up the fragile, the weak, the forgotten. Bless our city of Fresno, his families, workers, leaders, and all who strive

each day to make it a place of safety, opportunity, and hope. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Thank you. Amen. and salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Thank you, father. Thank and thank you, Councilmber Richardson. We're going to go to the approval of the agenda. Uh, city clerk, are there any changes or items removed from the agenda today?

Yes, thank you. I would like to announce first that we do have interpreters available for today's meeting. We have the wordly digital system um providing Spanish and Punjabi interpretation. We also have virtually um available Mong and American Sign Language interpreters. There are devices here for your use. If you need assistance, please um ask in the back of the room. Thank you. With regard to changes to the agenda, we have an additional ceremonial presentation added. There is a presentation to the family of 22 month old Azuna Mandragon leay and this is sponsored by council member Perea. There are no items removed from the agenda. As to items moved to contested consent for further discussion to ID26-295 regarding resolution adopting the third amendment to the position authorization resolution number 2025-179 adding three permanent full-time positions in the parks afterchool recreation and community services department. This was moved to contested consent by council member Arius. Item 2K ID 26-365 regarding approve the renewal of the Fresno Police Department annual military equipment use report was moved to contested consent by council member Arius. This is the total of the changes to the agenda.

Great. Very short and sweet. Let's see if it stays that way. Uh council go one by one. Do you have any additional changes? Council member Perea, Council Arius, Council Vice President? No. Council member Vang, none. Council member Richardson, none. Carbasi. Okay. All right. I would say we're in for a short meeting, but that's that's the fastest way to jinx it. Fastest way to jinx it. All right. So, I'll entertain a motion for approval of the agenda. Second.

Moved by Carbosi, seconded by Maxwell. Any opposition? Seeing none, the agenda is approved. 7 to zero. We're going to dive into our ceremonial presentations. So that'll be half our probably half our morning today. Uh but a very enjoyable part of the the meeting that we um that we like to uh like to hear. Um so we we do have our scheduled ceremonials, but um we do have a special presentation that was added as you heard from the clerk, a check presentation uh from Council Member Perea. She's going to uh lead this ceremonial before we get to the proclamations. All right. First and foremost, thank you to my mom for being here today. Hello, mom. All right. So, I'm going to invite um somebody to join me up here who um I'll speak for myself, has more courage than me, has more strength than me, and definitely has more resilience than me. And that's baby Azu. I'm going to have you got three of you come up. Hi, mama. Hi. I'm joined by her parents, uh, Shirley and Gabrielle. And, um, I first found out about their story. I think I was scrolling Tik Tok and I came across a a story about how our 22-month-old over here, baby Azu, um, is she was diagnosed with a syndrome called Costella syndrome. It's essentially, um, something that does not allow her her body to, um, grow and and function. the way that it should. And so when I found out about their story, it instantly I I

just I broke down. You know, I have a little girl myself and I just can't imagine what this family is going through. And this isn't your only kid. I think you have a number three three others. Three other children. Um, and when I learned that their insurance denied a customized walker um, for baby Azu, I I was broken, broken beyond belief. And I was crying and I thought, you know what, we have to come together. We have to support this family. And so, we were able to raise I think my goal was $1,000. And I asked for the community to match um that $1,000. But I called a few other people to see if we could raise them a little bit more. And I'm happy to say that we raised them over $7,000 to help pay for for Walker. And um I asked a few other people to be here, too. So, I'm going to I'm just going to call you guys up real quick. Tell us Liquid Vista Consulting. Where you at? Tell um Chief, are you here? Chief, there you are. Dean, if you want to bring your guys up here. Um so we had a total uh so everyone who donated one one organization asked to remain an anonymous um we have Vista Consulting, the Fresno Firefighters Association, the Fresno Fire Chiefs Association, and the Fresno Police and Fire Chaplain. Um so I want to just give can we give these guys a round of applause, please? Is the chapency here by chance? There you are. Thank you for being here. All right. So, um I want to thank you all. I think my initial ask was like $200, $300, but we had people up here donate thousands after they heard um baby Azu's story. And so, I do want to give um you

the mic just to say a few words. But I want to thank you all. I want to thank the community for stepping up. Um, we had a GoFundMe link and so we raised maybe another few hundred dollars through that. Um, but this is what community looks like. This is what happens when somebody is in need. Um, when somebody is falling short or feels like they're alone, it's a good reminder that you are not alone. You're never alone. I know you have not felt alone probably since day one, but I'm sure the days are long and the nights are longer. Um, but at the very least, you know, your city is behind you. So, I'm going to hand over the mic to to you.

Uh, good morning everyone. Uh, so as you know, we are the Mandragon lease. This is my wife Gabrielle and I am Shirley. And this is our beautiful baby girl, Aznia. So, for short, we gave her the nickname Azu. Azu was born with a rare genetic disorder, as you know, Castello syndrome, where one in 300,000 cases get affected with the syndrome. There are different mutations of Castello syndrome and the mutation that Azu has is the G12S gene which causes severe early feeding, breathing, cardial difficulties, slow growth, coarse facial structures, loose skin on hands and feet, short limbs and also causes of intellectual disabilities. Well, as of now there is still no cures that exist for her Castello syndrome. The management includes heart care, physical therapies, cancer screenings due to the increased tumor risk. Azu deals sorry Azu deals with having to get ultrasounds every four months for cancer screenings. She has different heart issues and she must get an echo cardiogram every six months, physical therapy every day through inhome care and at hospital facilities and day-to-day in-n-out hospital visits because one small cough can be a big or major death issue for her. Since the day she was born, she has been a fighter and a great blessing. At just 22 months old, she already has been in more than eight procedures, coded three times, and is still walking with still waking up with a joyful smile on her face. Aunia embodies exactly what her name means, the name that we have given her, Azunia, which Zunia is the name from the Bible meaning heard by God. and her middle name being Yetsi coming from the

native Nawat dialectic language meaning forever will be loved which has been shown through everyone in the community which I appreciate it. We would like to take this moment to sincerely thank each and every one of the seven donors for their generosity and kindness. Because of their support, my daughter is going to have the opportunity to access her medically necessary standard walker that will help her move more freely and safely in her day day-to-day life. These donate these donations are more than just financial support to get her standard walker. They are a gift of independence, confidence, and hope for our daughter and our family to have. It sincerely means the world to us to know that there are people who care and are generally willing to make a difference in our daughter's life. And from the bottom of our hearts, we'd like to thank you guys for all your compassion, your generosity, and your belief in helping others and the community and believing in those with disabilities. Again, truly thankful for you guys and thank you again for everybody because how how we have been saying since then day one that we started fundraising is # Azu will walk. So, we have the fun check, but then we actually have the real check, too. I know you can actually cash this one. So, I'll give that to you and we can just take a quick picture with our donors.

Thank you.

Thank you uh very very much. and we're not only committed to supporting you financially, but through our prayers. So, we want you to know that uh that we love you guys and we support you. Um I also want to say thank you to uh Council Member Perea wherever she went. Um she has an incredible heart. We're very very blessed and fortunate to have her on our city council. And so I just want to say thank you to Analisa for for her heart and for the commitment she's made to this family. So thank you Analisa. Okay, now we're going to lighten it up a little bit because we need to lighten it up a little bit. Um, so every month, come on up here, Georgian, please.

Actually, mayor, this this month I got I got to bust chops a little bit. This was on the agenda last week. We have we have a second pet coming in because of Nick Richardson said we missed a month. We had to do it back to back. I tried to cancel. He wouldn't let me. It's like sleep debt. You don't get it back. It is. You don't get it back. Also, last week was a cat, so that doesn't count. Oh my gosh, Tyler. You're messing with Tyler Maxwell now. I think Nick just lost like half the votes in the city right now. I don't know.

All right, let's bring up No Hana, you know. Um, every every uh every month we do what we call pet of the month and it is a adoption here at city hall. Uh we have our own animal center. I think most of you know we invested uh about $20 million of your money into that animal center and we want to make sure that that our animals, our pets uh community pets uh have a place to call home and so uh we have a pitbull mix uh and um she came into our center with somewhat of a medical issue, but since that time that's been resolved. been spayed and uh went to the spayneuter clinic and she has all of her medical issues that have been taken care of. She's a gentle little girl and loves human company and and treats and I'm going to give her a little treat right here. Uh but we we we hope uh the the goal for us is obviously um sometimes we don't we get people that adopt from these uh monthly pet deals, but oftentimes we don't. The main thing is we want to raise awareness. And so with that, I'll turn it. This is perfect for you to take home right here, Kish. Huh, Kesha? All right. And with that, I'll uh turn over to city manager. really quick. Um, so this week, um, the mayor's office of community affairs hosted the civic academy and our director of the animal center, Almator, um, brought in an, uh, a pet, uh, just to kind of give a description of what we do. And that dog was adopted this week from one of our city employees. So, that was very exciting. It was a very sweet dog as well, um, just like this one. So, as the mayor said, we're just trying to call attention to the hundreds of animals that we have in our center every single day that um are just looking for their

forever home. So, um hopefully um you know, this uh brings awareness to what we're going through every day at the center. We have a group of very dedicated employees who work um tirelessly to try and find homes for these animals. Um, with that, I'm going to quickly turn it over to you to say a couple more words.

Absolutely. So, we are so excited to have Noana here today. So, she came in um I believe either this last weekend or the week before um and she presented with something called dystocia. Um a really simplified version of that is um it's when a dog is in labor and a puppy is potentially blocking the birth canal. So, she was very swollen. She was in a lot of pain. She was really uncomfortable. Um she was uh she had edema so she had a lot of swelling. Um was really close septic shock. Um we actually got really lucky. We had one of our spayneuter clinics in town. So we were able to very quickly get her in, get her spayed, um get her the help that she needed. And when she came in, she was so in so much pain that she was barely handleable. Um but the second that we got her out of surgery and spayed and fixed her up, she is just happy as can be. She loves people. She loves love. Um, and her name is Noana, but she's looking for her ohana. So, um, if you are interested in being her forever family, we would be so happy, um, to get you connected to her. She is a sweet girl. She is beautiful and she just loves humans. So, um, she's spade, so she could go home today, meet me in the parking lot. Um, um, and she's a special girl. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, I think we're just going to go ahead and move on to the next one. Um, on behalf of the council president and vice president,

what do we have? A boycott. Huh?

Oh, there you guys are. All right. All right. Little potty break. I see. I'll pay for that later. I know I will. All right. So, it is my honor now to be able to bring up Mr. Fresno. Needs no introduction. You've all watched him for decades upon decades. Uh, but it is Kopi Sodoropoulos. And it's only fitting to bring up his beautiful wife, Elaine. We want you to be up here. And we also have his daughters CIA and Vasilia here with us. So we want to say thank you guys for being there as well. So

ah son, I'm sorry Vasili. Thank you in the back there. So let me present this proclamation to Kopi and just a little bit about Kopi. Um he started with KMP when they started back in 1971. That's a long time ago. Uh that's why he wears those tennis shoes uh on his feet to keep going. Uh but Kopi was there for for a while and then he decided to go off to Hollywood. And uh he was in some uh he did some acting over there in Hollywood. He uh was in shows with Eddie Murphy. Uh he was in the Hulk, the movie The Hulk, and a number of others that will be read later during the proclamation. Uh and then he returned to Fresno. Everybody returns to to Fresno eventually. And uh he uh returned in the last 30 years he's been doing the weather and he does the weather like no one else in the nation. Uh because he brings an incredible amount of humor. Uh and that humor is really what we need uh in our lives today because sometimes I think we we take life a little bit too serious and we should at times. Uh, but I I want I'll say this about Kobe. Uh, every day he puts a smile on your face. He makes you laugh and he helps you have a better day. And on top of that, you get to know what the five-day forecast is every single day. Five day forecast. And I don't know how many times I've done that with COP at community events and schools. Um, but I can say this, uh, he's not just in the newsroom. He's out in our community all the time. He's, uh, visiting with our our kids in the schools. He's at community events. He's at the Greek festival every single year, yelling out a.

There you go. That's the the true Greek right here. I'm a wannabe Greek. Uh but uh it is my honor today uh to be able to uh to present this to him uh along with the council. And I'm only going to read this last part and then we'll have uh city manager who is Greek uh and copi say a few words. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Freso City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, March 26, 2026 to be Kopi Sodoropoulos Day in the city of Fresno.

Thank you, mayor. Um, I think you know, everybody knows uh what a treasure Kopi is to our community and um obviously we're here today to honor him on behalf of his retirement, but I know what he's not retirement retiring from is still his service to the community. Um, and obviously he's very active in um uh the Greek church and Greekfest and um does so much for our community in in bringing sort of that culture to the community as well. um as well. Um you know, when you see men in dresses um in in August and September, you know, it's it's Greek Fest time. Uh but we're so thankful and thankful to his amazing family um who obviously uh give of him to the community because obviously when you're that active in the community, it means that you're uh you spend a little bit less time at home and I think the mayor knows that uh very clearly and our council members. So, um, Kopi, we know, um, while you may be stepping off air, you're step, you know, you remain on air in in other ways in our community and we're still so grateful for that. So, thank you so much.

Um, you want to hand it over and then we're going to hand it over to you, Kobe, to say a few words.

Make it short. Okay, I'll make it short. Don't worry. Um, what an honor. Truly an honor. I've been blessed uh to live in this community since 1951. when we came from Greece when I was three and a half years old and um grew up here in Fresno, went to Fremont Elementary, uh Hamilton Junior High School, Fresno High, Fresno City College, seven semesters, but that's another story. Uh and then and got a degree in broadcasting at San Francisco and was hired that summer. Uh little old Greek lady in Madera in Hanford knew the Papis brothers and they called up and says, "Hey, I know this Greek boy. They come from San Francisco State, ready for work in television. Harry called me. I got an interview and I got hired. So, you know, a little Greek connection never hurts. You know what I mean? So, if you're able to hook up with one, you'd better. Okay. It'll further your career. So, I worked for a channel. Oh, that's it. Okay. Thank you very much. And anyway, I'd like to introduce uh my news director, Mr. Jacobs, my daughter, Anastasia. Sammy Nar, my father-in-law over there. There you go. Or Vasilei's father-in-law. Vasilei, our son. Father Jim Papus,

our priest.

Our priest. Yes. Move your hand on. I can see your collar. Yes. Truly a pri it's no longer a priest. Gotta take it off. Belda Baker and our good friend Jerry Baker. And uh thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for this honor. It is truly an honor. And God bless each and every one of you. And by the way, have a great day. Yeah. Well, I get a quarter every time I say it. Thank you very very much, Kopi. And you heard his wife say, "Uh, thank you, Kopi. That's enough." Um, and uh I understand that copi because I have a city manager who is uh Greek and she does the same thing to me as well. Uh, and I had the I had the opportunity to visit Greece this last year. I spent a week there on a biblical journey and uh I it is what allowed me to fully understand my city manager because she's always yelling at least I thought she was Greek women just talk loud right Koopy.

She didn't translate into the words did she? No, no, no, no. All right. So, uh, Madam Clerk, if you'd please read the proclamation.

Thank you. Whereas, after more than five decades connected to KMP and more than three decades as the face of weather, news, and humor in the Central Valley, Kopi Sodoropoulos has decided to call it a career. And whereas Kopi was there at KMP's very beginning, hired in October 1971 when the station began broadcasting. He wrote, produced, edited, and starred in commercials and promotions while also hosting Dialing for Dollars. After six years, he and his wife Elaine headed to Hollywood where he spent a decade acting alongside stars such as Eddie Murphy, Mary Tyler Moore, Goldie Han, and appeared in shows including The Incredible Hulk, and General Hospital. And whereas home eventually called Kopi back where his weather forecasts, humor, school visits, and genuine connection with viewers and the community made him not just wellknown but deeply beloved across the Sanwoken Valley. And whereas Kopi is very close to being a Fresno native. Born in Greece's Pelpeneisian Peninsula, he came to Fresno as a young child. Without knowing a word of English, he went from Fremont Elementary to Hamilton Junior High, where he became student body vice president on a platform of removing gum under desks and instituting a three-day school week. Even then, Copy's charm was evident. At Fresno High, he traded politics for school spirit, serving as the as a varsity yell leader and later majored in broadcasting at San Francisco State University. And whereas in 2022, Kopi entered the San Francisco Northern California chapter of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences Gold Circle. It is an honor reserved for a select few who have made significant contributions to the industry. Kopi previously had had been inducted into the group's silver circle in 2018. And whereas the city of Fresno honors Kopi for his dedication to the community, entertaining viewers in front

of the camera while contributing his talents away from the television studio. His work has made Fresno a better community. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, March 26, 2026 to be Kopi Sodoropoulos Day in the city of Fresno. All right, let's give it up for Kopi. I I want to know, is ABC30 airing that?

Thank you. All right. Thank you, mayor, and congratulations, Copi, on a long successful career. Uh, we're going to go just a little bit out of order here. Uh, at a request from the Vice President, Maxwell, we're going to do the proclamation for Dr. Jackie Riyle next, followed by our proclamation for Women's History Month. Thank you, Council President. If I could have Dr. Riyle come forward and any family you'd like to bring up with you or anybody that's got an embarrassing story about Dr. Riyle is welcome to come on up too.

My daughter and my grandson

and baby Yoda Well, good morning everybody. Um, this is somebody that also really does not need a formal introduction. Um, this is Dr. Jackie Riyle, an incredible human being. And if you ask 50 of Jackie's friends what they know Jackie by, they would give you 50 different answers because she has such a rich life. You know, some people would tell you they know Jackie as the person who became the city's first ever female city clerk in the city of Fresno in 1966. break breaking glass ceilings for women coming behind you in that role. Um, some people might know her as the city's longest ever serving city clerk, serving for 30 years and retiring that role in 1996.

And I won't tell you what grade I was in. 96. 96. That didn't start in 96. No, you retired that role. Ended in Sorry. Never argue with the councilman. never never argue with the doctor. Um, some people know her as an author, a poet. Um, some people know her for her education, you know, having a bachelor's, two masters, a PhD. Some people know her as former president and a member of the Cultural Arts Rotary Club in the world. So, I've been told a number of times. Some people know her as a loving grandmother of two or the loving mother of baby Yoda

who she has brought here with us today. But I think everybody that has met Dr. Riyle would agree they know her for one thing in common and that is that she is a terrific human being that brings so much love and joy and happiness and art and light to the lives of the people closest to her and anyone that gets the chance to know her. And so we wanted today to recognize you. I mean, over 30 years of public service, Jackie, is not an easy feat. I've been doing this for 5 years, and I have aged 30 in that time, so I know what public service does, but I want to give you an opportunity just to say a few words about what led you down this path, what public service means to you, and what's next.

Thank you. Thank you so much. You know, I'll tell you what. I I'm I'm older and I'm jaded and I didn't know that this would be such a big deal, but it's a big deal. So, first I want to thank you very much for this, for this recognition. And more than that, you know, back in the day, and there are a couple of people in the room who remember this specifically and at the time, there was a time when the city council when it was uh um issuing proclamations, they were concerned about the time it took. And so I I was known for reading proclamations really fast because I said, "Look, I'll read them really fast so that it won't take that much time." Because the things that I most appreciated when I was city clerk were the employee recognition for service were the swearing in ceremonies and the and the uh recognition for time and being promoted and and and proclamations to the citizens. And so what you all are doing now, you really do honor your citizenry. You've seen it here this morning and it's way beyond just a few words. It's really taking time to honor. I really do thank you for that. That really is nice in my heart. I want to I want to say a couple things. There are some folks here in the chamber that were here in the day. We have council members Cynthia Sterling and Linda Kandra. We're we're we're practically we could be a quorum and you know get some

Yeah, exactly. Um where's Vance?

He's usually here. I wanted to mention Vance because he's quietly someplace making sure that everything works. He was here when I was here and he's still here. I want to mention the uh retired honorable Judge Dale Aada who was a sweet young thing deputy city attorney. I it might have been your first job. So So there folks that were were there then and are here now. Do I see Steve? Oh no. Oh, I thought I saw Steve. Is that it is Steve? No. But you sure do look like so so yes, through the years the opportunities with with folks from from way back. Um I if I started naming names, I I I couldn't stop. I wanted to mention those that were here then. I am truly truly grateful for this. There comes a time copy. You're a sweet young thing. I started with the city in 1963 and there comes a time when you wonder if you're still relevant. And so this is incredibly affirming. Thank you so much. I one more I want one more acknowledgement. My daughter Karen Cardardoza and my grandson Joseph Cardardoza. So thrilled to have him here. My my granddaughter Grace Elizabeth and Bobby Moon are right now watching. Thank you for the technology, the modern magic of technology are watching from Northwest Arkansas. And Kelly and and Sean are watching from West Virginia. And Mitsy is watching from Kentucky. And Peggy Ross Stefano and Libby are watching from SoCal. And Steve is watching from Merced. Isn't that just the most wonderful thing? So, thank you,

Jackie. You have such a beautiful soul and you have been such a blessing to this community. But I got to be honest, what I what I know you best as is the master of the selfie. So, I'm going to give Jackie an opportunity to take a selfie of all of us real quick. Jackie, if you want to get everybody here in the audience. Well done. Okay, you too. All right, everybody. Make sure you're in the shot. Next to council member. There we are. Karen. Yeah, there we all are. Thank you. All right. One more. Joseph, here we are. All right,

let's hear it for Dr. Riyle. And this is a gift from I'm going to let the clerk read the whole proclamation, but I would like to read this last part aloud. Now, therefore, it be resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim today, Thursday, March 26, 2026, as Dr. Jackie Riyle Day in the city of Fresno. Congratulations, Dr. Riyle. city clerk. Thank you.

Whereas Dr. Jacquellyn L. Jackie Riyle has dedicated nearly six decades to service, leadership, and community engagement, coming to Fresno in 1963 with a lifelong commitment to helping build a city that embraces and celebrates every person. And whereas Dr. Riyle made history as the first woman to serve as Fresno's city clerk, holding the position from 1966 to 1996 as the longest serving city clerk in the city's history and setting a lasting standard of excellence, professionalism, and integrity. And whereas during her tenure, she expanded opportunities for city employees through tuition reimbursement, helped establish the Central California City Clerk's Division of the League of California Cities as its inaugural president, and contributed her expertise to the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. And whereas Dr. Riyle also strengthened the city's organizational effectiveness through her work coordinating the human resource and organizational development program while mentoring emerging leaders since 1976 and providing guidance and encouragement to hundreds of individuals. And whereas a highly accomplished scholar and certified municipal clerk, Dr. Riyle is widely recognized for her expertise in leadership, conflict resolution, and organizational development with her impact extending through national and international facilitation, authorship, and graduate level instruction. And whereas her influence extends deeply into Fresno's arts and community life as a writer, artist, and cultural leader, including her service as past president of the Cultural Arts Rotary Club and her 22 years hosting a local community affairs television program. And whereas known for her vibrant energy and joyful spirit, Dr. Riyle brings people together, uplifts those around her, and remains a spirited and memorable presence at many community events and fundraisers. And whereas she remains

deeply rooted in Fresno, where she treasures time with family and friends, especially her grandchildren, Grace and Joseph, alongside her beloved companion, Baby Yoda. And whereas through her enduring influence, Dr. Riyle has earned a lasting reputation as a respected and trusted figure in the Fresno community, paving the way for future generations of women in public service. And whereas the city of Fresno proudly recognizes and honors Dr. Jacqueline L. Jackie Riyle for her historic leadership, her groundbreaking service as the city's first female city clerk, and her enduring contributions to civic life, organizational development, and the cultural vitality of the Fresno community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, March 26, 2026 as Dr. Jackie Riyle Day in the city of Fresno. Let's hear it for Jackie one more time everybody.

Just just one more name from the day. Tino Duavara is back there. He also worked in my office during that time. And you know I'm going to mention one more person that's not here. You all know Deputy Chief Burke Farah at the age of 17. He was an intern in my department way back when. Thank you Dr. Ryan. Congratulations. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you, council vice president. Uh so he is here. Wow.

So next up we we have our proclamation for Women's History Month. Uh this is going to be sponsored by myself, uh Council Member Perea, and also our City of Fresno Women's Commission. I'll All right. Good morning. Good morning. Uh today, uh we are presenting the proclamation for women's history month and I would like to invite our our honores. We have two organizations, two wonderful organizations, uh, WAPA, Black Women Organized for Political Action, as well as the, uh, the League of Women Voters chapter over at Fresno State. Let's give them a round of applause.

You're responsible. I'm coming. group.

Okay, I think we got almost everyone up here. Uh, but it's a pleasure to be here today with you all, uh, with my colleague, uh, with, uh, our chair of the women's commission, Olivia Adams. Uh, thank you for being here. um you know surrounded by uh so many inspiring folks from inspiring organizations who continue to uplift and uh and strengthen our community. Uh you know every March we take the time to recognize and and platform um organizations that uplift women and honor their history of achievements and contributions uh to American history and to Fresno history, I dare say. Uh and this year is not any different. Uh we're proud to honor uh two amazing organizations today as as I indicated uh WAPA black women organized for political action as well as the Fresno State uh chapter for the League of Women Voters. Uh BUAPA was established back in forgive me if I get this wrong. The 1968 68. Okay, I got I got that correct. And is the oldest women's uh political organization in California. Uh and the League of Women Voters uh to my right uh at Fresno State represents the young women in our community getting involved in civic action. Uh so both have established uh both new and um have established their place in importance here in our community and we are excited to be honoring uh them both today. Uh, you know, I know, uh, you know, for a fact, BAPA has provided integral leadership, uh, for African-American communities here in Fresno and made political history, uh, by helping trailblazing women under the leadership of, uh, the first black woman to be elected to the city council. Cynthia Sterling, your second shout out of the day, not the last. And, you know, the Fresno chapter of WAPA is really unrivaled and developing. uh power building strategies and establishing a strong legacy uh for

black women here here in Fresno. So, we we thank you for for your action uh over a very long period of time uh and still fighting today uh for a number of different causes uh and the the the league chapter over at Fresno State. We thank you for your efforts in getting folks, specifically young women, engaged u uh civically here within the city and in the larger region. We thank you for all your voter registration efforts. Uh it's a that's a very big deal, especially on a on a campus. Go ahead and try and capture some of those young men while you're at it. I know they're not as uh not as uh lowhanging fruit. Uh you know, maybe not as bright as their as their female colleagues. Uh I know I certainly was not on a college campus at that age. Uh but we thank you for for doing that tough work uh and keeping uh civic engagement alive uh on campus. um and is really really honored to be here u in your presence and uh to honor you with a proclamation for women's history month this particular month. Um I think I've spoken enough for a proclamation on women's history month. So I'm going to hand it off to uh my c my colleague council member Perea.

Thank you very much council member. Um I think everyone here knows the importance and the power when women lead. That's all part of your mission statements. I've had the um pleasure of participating in different events with both organizations throughout the years and I'll tell you no one throws a party like BUPA so invite me to your next party. I was at your holiday one. Um but I also want to acknowledge while we're here recognizing um Women's History Month. You know, I'm I'm the only woman on the city council. I think at one point you were the only woman on the city council and I don't believe we've we've ever had more than one woman on the council at a single time. And so in a city where more than 50% of our population is female, um I think it's important to continue to support and get behind organ organizations like the these up here. Um to to make sure that we continue to uplift their mission and to continue that we support women whether it's having a seat at the table or getting involved civically in whatever capacity um that may mean. And I just want to highlight one thing that I partnered with council member Esparza on a number of years ago and that was to make sanitary products free available um in our city buildings. And so I think that just speaks volumes as to um the progress we've made, progress that should have been made a long time ago, but the power of even having good male allies um who back us when it comes to legislation that um is important for women's issues. And so I next have the pleasure of handing off the mic to

Olivia, the chair of our women's commission.

Hi, good morning. And you know it like um Councilman Esparza said it's really you know a privilege to just you know be standing amongst you you know powerful women here. Um, you know, it's in celebration of Women's History Month. You know, it's an honor to um be able to um give this proclamation to the Black Women Organized for Political Action and the Fresno State League of Women Voters for their commitment to civic engagement, leadership, and empowering women to use their voice. Your work continues to inspire generations of women to step into leadership and create lasting impact here in Fresno. So, thank you for everything that you do.

Good morning, everybody. I just want to say thank you so much for having the Fresno League here. We're so grateful and excited to be here. Um, at Fresno State, our main goal has always been to promote civic engagement, but that being said, we're also aware of our organization's roots in the fight for women's suffrage. Now, since the 1920s, we've come a long way because of a commitment to advocacy and cooperation. I just want to say thank you to the council members. I want to say thank you to our Fresno League. And I also want to say thank you to our adviser, Dr. Bick. Thank you so much for your support. We are truly so happy and grateful to be receiving this proclamation.

Thank you so much. as president of the Fresno Sanwalk King Valley chapter and as was mentioned the first Fresno City Council woman. I want to uh make a little just a little correction there before we move forward. Uh first of all, the founder and the organizer of our organization, the Honorable Desi Woods Jones is with me today. Desi Wiz Jones is for over 70 plus years she has marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, all of the civil rights activists. Uh she has been with uh all of the women leaders in the state United States of America and is I would say not the birth mother but the mother of the first African-American woman uh vice president of the United States Camala Harris. Camela Harris. Because of her, we are this is why we are here today. As the first woman uh city council woman, it was my mother who was first appointed to this seat with the condition that she would not run. I am the first elected. I am honored. Thank you so much. I am honored to be here today with a group of women that are also serving. Many of them, both of them actually, most of them are first elected in their capacity. The Honorable Kesha Thomas, Trustee Kesha Thomas, Fresno uh County Office of Education, the F Fresno Unified School District, I'm sorry. Uh Trustee

Kimberly Tabscott Mson, Fresno County Office of Education. I'll get it right. I'd like to also introduce Councilwoman Anita Evans. She is the first African-American woman to sit on the city council in Madera. Uh, Mayor Maria Poacheo, Kerman, California

and a lifetime member. And I'd also like to recognize Dr. Venice Curry. She has been a trailblazer in her own right, following in the footsteps of her mother, the Honorable Mary Curry, who was the first uh elected school board trustee, Fresno Unified School Board Trustee here in the city of Fresno. She has continued to carry the fight in the area of healthc care. And to all of the other ladies uh that are up here with us, those gentlemen that have are part of our organization, we'd like to thank you so much for your continued support and thank you city of Fresno for recognizing us today. We appreciate it. So the the clerk is going to read the entirety of the proclamation, but I did just want to read the last the last whereas uh the city of Fresno and all of its constituents are indebted to the joint efforts of these two organizations which continue to represent Fresno's commitment to advocating for opportunities for all women to learn, grow, thrive, and be empowered to take action and be leaders in their communities. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Council President Nelson Esparza, Council Member Anaisa Perea, City of Fresno Women's Commission, and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim March 2026 as Women's History Month here in the city of Fresno. Clerk, if you go ahead and please read the uh proclamation, and I think we're going to snap a few photos here.

Yes. Thank you. Whereas March is nationally recognized as Women's History Month, a time set aside to honor the achievements and contributions of women to American history and the United States. And whereas we are proud to recognize Black Women Organized for Political Action, WAPA, and the Fresno State League of Women Voters, two remarkable organizations that promote and educate women about the political process to encourage involvement and commitment to addressing the challenges that impact their local communities. And whereas founded in 1968, Vapa is the oldest women's political organization in California. Through their work, they have provided leadership, ensured African-American representation within the political spectrum, developed strategies for power building and preparation, and preserved the legacy and political history of black women in California. WAPA has been integral in the success of the trailblazing black women such as Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Diane Watson, and Vice President Kla Harris. And whereas the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan civic organization that promotes political education and action on local, state, and national issues. Their Fresno State chapter has worked to increase voter registration and civic engagement among women and students at the collegiate level. Their presence on campus has provided an avenue to political knowledge at California State University Fresno. And whereas both WAPA and the League of Women Voters have been key actors of political action in the city of Fresno, the work they have done to activate and encourage women of all ages and backgrounds to become politically involved has greatly impacted generations of women and will continue to do so through mentorship, leadership, and inspiration. They have dedicated themselves to creating a future where women are inspired to and encouraged to become political leaders. And whereas the city of Fresno and all its constituents are indebted to the joint efforts of these two

organizations, which continue to represent Fresno's commitment to advocating for opportunities for all women to learn, grow, thrive, and be empowered to take action and be leaders in their communities. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Council President Nelson Esparza, Council Member Analisa Perea, and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim March 2026 as Women's History Month in the city of Fresno. All right, everybody. That brings us to our last proclamation of the day. This is going to be a proclamation of Red Cross Month presented by sponsor, council member Vang. Council member, the floor is yours.

Good morning. Good morning, everybody.

Can you hear me? Okay, here we go. Uh, standing next to me is Lori Wilson, the uh, executive director of the American Red Cross Central Valley chapter and board member Jeffy Esparza Hickman. Today we recognize American Red Cross Month and the important role emergency preparedness plays in our community, especially here in the Central Valley where we face real risk, including extreme heat, drought, and flooding, which makes preparedness even more important. Their volunteers and staff helped the Central Valley, a region that uh covers uh from Merrced to Bakersfield, encompassing uh over 4 million residents. So in addition to uh their uh providing food and shelter to families, they also help military families and they do life-saving training like CPR. So this month, this is an opportunity for us in the city of Fresno to recognize the individuals who dedicated their time to helping others and to remind us all the importance of being prepared. Again, uh as you may know, health and safety is first and foremost in my mind and it should be to everybody else. And uh in fact, we should recognize the American Red Cross more than just one month, but we get one month, the month of March to recognize the American Red Cross as uh the month of March here in the city of Fresno. So, it is my honor to hand the mic over to the executive director, Laura Wilson.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Do you want to say anything, Jeffy? Do you want to say anything real quick?

I just want to thank the city of Fresno and the council members for this proclamation. And I also want to encourage all of you council members and audience to get involved. It is uh our fire season is upon us. So, please get involved to um take care of our fellow citizens. Thanks, Jeffy. So, thank you again for uh this recognition. This is not a recognition of myself. It's a recognition of our volunteers. 90% of the work that is done by the Red Cross is by volunteers. It's not myself that gets up in the middle of the night to go take uh care of fam uh people in our community that have lost their home to a home fire. It is a volunteer. Um uh every single day there's somebody that's losing their home in this community to a home fire. And it's a volunteer from the Red Cross that's going and taking care of them to make sure that they have a safe place to stay, to make sure that they have financial assistance, to make sure they have hope and comfort. um and and have that help in those those days and those days after to recover. So, it's not myself, it's a volunteer. Um and then we also are getting ready for wildfire season. Just yesterday across the valley, we were preparing and doing running shelter drills, making sure that we were ready um for this next season as we're already starting to see watch duty go off um as we're seeing the extreme heat that we're already starting to feel. So, um, it's them that you're recognizing when you're recognizing Red Cross Month. And it's kind of natural that it falls in March because it is was founded by a woman, Claire Barton. So, it's a very natural month. So, thank you for that. Thank you on their behalf for this recognition. Um, and we will continue to take care of our community as best as we can.

I'm going to read the last two paragraph of this proclamation because I believe it is uh important to be read. Uh whereas these collective efforts are a powerful reminder that the strength of our community lies in our shared commitment to one another. As we mark Red Cross Month, we celebrate our local heroes and reaffirm our resolve to lift each other up so that no one faces an emergency alone. Now therefore, it be resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as American Red Cross Month. Thank you. Thank you very much for serving the community.

All right. Give him a second to do some of the the photos. Uh meanwhile, we do have uh one more ceremonial that is scheduled for for the afternoon. Uh, I believe the mayor and I are sponsoring that one at about uh 1:30 uh p.m. Oh, I apologize. I jumped in before the uh the clerk read the proclamation. Clerk, please read the proclamation.

Thank you. Whereas emergency preparedness can mean the difference between survival and loss. While nine and 10 Americans agree that emergency readiness is critical and necessary, only 46% have emergency action plans in place. Without adequate resources and education for emergency readiness, thousands of families remain vulnerable and at risk of catastrophic consequences. And whereas the American Red Cross Central Valley region, comprised of three chapters, serves more than 4.4 million residents across 11 counties, in the Central Valley, emergency preparedness is essential due to high vulnerability to extreme heat, drought, poor air quality, and flooding. Through preparedness, education, and disaster response services, the American Red Cross helps ensure Valley residents feel prepared and protected in the face of emergencies. And whereas volunteers and staff of the American Red Cross serve as a lifeline for communities in times of need, delivering shelter, food, and comfort after disasters, assisting military members, veterans, and their families with 24-hour global support, and equipping individuals with life-saving skills such as first aid and CPR. And whereas during the month of March, communities across the nation observe American Red Cross Month by honoring the compassionate individuals who make its humanitarian mission possible. For more than 145 years, their acts of kindness have brought relief, comfort, and hope when help cannot wait. And whereas these collective efforts are a powerful reminder that the strength of our community lies in our shared commitment to one another. As we mark Red Cross Month, we celebrate our local heroes and reaffirm our resolve to lift each other up so that no one faces an emergency alone. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as American Red Cross Month in the city of Fresno.

Okay, fantastic. Um, so next up we're going to have our uh council member reports and comments. Uh, I will go in order beginning with council member Perea.

Thank you, council president. Just a few updates from district 1. Um, just want to thank my team. We've been active um actively engaged out in the community in recent months holding a number of um either community meetings, neighborhood meetings um or just connecting with residents and giving them updates about the all the projects we have going on in their respective neighborhoods. Um, in recognition of A Day, I had the opportunity to tour the Fresno State Farm and see firsthand the work that our students are doing each and every day um to make sure that they were we're putting them on a pathway or a pipeline rather um from education to credible careers within our agricultural industry. So, thank you to the students who gave us a tour. Um, also want to thank my staff for meeting with the residents at parks at FIG um to discuss ongoing infrastructure and transportation needs out there. And lastly, I want to thank Christina with the city attorney's office and code enforcement as well as Shanker Legal for partnering with us to host a very successful know your rights workshop for tenants um which provided very valuable resources to support our um rental community within the city of Fresno. Council President, that concludes my remarks.

Great. Uh, I know Council Member Karbosi doesn't have any comments today. Council member Arus.

Thank you, Council President. Quickformational items. This week, we started having our neighborhood meetings in anticipation for the city's budget being proposed by the mayor in May. Uh, thanks to the West Fresno neighborhood and Centified for joining us early this week. Next week's community meetings will continue in the Tower District at Vibes on Tuesday, March 31st, and on Thursday, April 2nd at Tyogga Sequoa for downtown during our hop day. And then lastly, uh thank you to the staff at Storyland, um their board. Um you're all invited on March 28th from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. for the grand opening to celebrate the new pirate ship attraction. This city has been helping Storyland continue its investments and updating its uh kid-friendly features and activities at their site. So, I look forward to this weekend's grand opening. Thank you. Okay. Uh, Council Member uh Vang, do you have any report or comments today?

Thank you very much, Council President Sparza, I do have a few comments to make. I recently attended a community meeting with parks. Thank you very much uh Director Gary for uh sending that up. And it was regarding the addition of a gym uh and our community center as part of phase two of the Southeast Fresno Sports Complex. We had many community members there and I look forward to our design team incorporating their ideas into what I hope will be a great addition to Southeast Fresno and to the uh Southeast Resno Sports Complex. This weekend there will be two Easter celebrations in District 5 on Saturday, March 26. The first is with Familas in Aon at Moscetta Center from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The second uh Easter celebration is hosted by Jackson CDC at Jackson Elementary School from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. So, I hope you make time to join either one of these uh Easter celebration in District 5. On Tuesday, March 31st, I will be hosting my first town hall for the Roosevelt area. It would take place at the senior uh village center located at 1719 South Chestnut Avenue. Again, that's 179 1917 rather, South Chesnut Avenue. And it starts at 5:30 p.m. March 31st. And I hope to see many of you there and I look forward to a lively discussion on the improvements and your ideas about District 5. That's all I have. Council President, thank you.

Great. Council member Richardson.

Good morning. Beautiful day in District 6. Uh congratulations to the new firefighters who we added to the force on the 20th. Um yesterday we had our first ever student business uh job fairontrepreneur uh with about 200 high school students from Fresno who all got together and learned what it takes to fill out a resume and apply for a job and job skills and how to get work experience and things like that. Uh so congratulations to all those kids who showed up. That was a great time. And then thank you to my neighbors at El Hambor 2 Mobile Home Park who hosted us last night for a little community meeting uh to increase that two-way communication so we can know what the issues are and fix them as best we can. Uh we will have another job fair up in the north part of district 6 for our high school students on the 7th. And final reminder, for the remainder of March, whether it is up in district 6 on Champlne and Parin or it's down in the Tower District on Olive, the Sequoia Brewing Company is accepting donations for the California Center California Veterans Home. So if you have dry goods, whether they're hygiene materials, combs, brushes, toothbrushes, deodorant, razors, anything of that nature, uh they have a free canteen there that the veterans are able to to benefit from and they're a little low on supplies. So, we've got big boxes in there. If you feel passionate enough, you don't mind dropping 10 bucks or so just to grab some supplies and drop them in those boxes. We will continue collecting until the end of March. Thank you to Sequoia Brewing who's been a great partner with us on that. If you do work in city hall down in personnel, they have their own box, too. They wanted to play. So, uh we can share the love there as well. That's all I had. Council President,

turn your microphone on. They're about 4 feet tall. We built them in the office and they go directly to the veterans home.

Great. Uh, council vice president is going to yield this time as well today. Um, so I'll I'll jump in. I also had the pleasure of attending the uh fire academy class 80 graduation ceremony uh last week here at city hall. So just a a heartfelt congratulations to uh those graduates of class uh 80 who were sworn in last week. U you know their hard work and and commitment to serving our community is um is important and we as we know we we need more firefighters as we have our retirements some retirements kind of coming up. Uh I want to extend a sincere thank you to the school area team uh for their continued presence and dedication in our neighborhoods. Uh last week in particular, the team was out in the Borro neighborhood uh engaging uh directly uh with resident with residents. Um, and lastly, uh, we have our Great American Cleanup, uh, coming up on the 18th of April, and, uh, the Beautify Fresno site that that we'll be at in District 7 is at Hadalgo Elementary as part of that, uh, Great American Cleanup. So, we'll be there from, uh, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. And that's just one of many 20 plus cleanup events that are happening uh, citywide that day. I'm sure we'll hear hear a little bit more about that from uh the mayor as well. Uh so that'll conclude my report and see if the uh administration, your city manager or mayor had any uh additional comments.

Okay, we have a few people yielding their time today. Great. All right, let's get into the business of the day. Uh we don't have any timed items uh per se. So we're going to jump straight into uh public comments. And this public comment section is going to be for items that are specifically listed on the consent agenda, even if it was pulled um as contested consent uh as well as close session. So I do have uh some a stack of cards here already. Um, if you are uh commenting on a uh consent item or contested consent item or close session item, I'm going to call you up. If your card indicated something outside of those parameters, that's probably going to be for a different item or for unscheduled communication later on in the day. Um, so again, public comment for consent, contested consent, and close session. Uh, if you haven't f filled out a yellow card yet, please uh do so. They're they're on the back of the room. And then we have uh our basket here uh to make sure that they get up to me and you get your your name called. Uh the first speaker we have for today is going to be the Honorable Cynthia Sterling. Welcome Cynthia. Thank you. It's kind of nice seeing you guys from this perspective. Good morning to everyone. I am Cynthia Sterling. Uh I am president of Black Women Organized for Political Action, the Fresno Sanwaqin Valley chapter. Uh of course, and former city council

woman. I'm here today to uh talk to you about the uh Kiki Wilson uh uh appeal. And first of all, I'd like to thank Council Member Miguel Aras um for standing up and having the courage to ask that this process uh stay as is and not be appealed. the black women organized for political action. We did write a letter and it did not have a chance to get to you pro early enough. So I'd like to take just a moment to read it to you uh and let you know what our feelings are in regards to this matter. The wapa Fresno Sanwaq Valley chapter response to the 15 million.4 million racial discrimination verdict against the city of Fresno. Black Women Organized for Political Action, BWAPA, Fresno Sanwaqin Valley Chapter, recognizes the recent federal jury verdict holding the city of Fresno accountable for racial discrimination against former city employee La Kibia Kiki Wilson. Bwapa Sanwaqing Valley Chapter congratulates Miss Livia Kiki Wilson for her outstanding courage, perseverance, and commitment to justice. By standing up and speaking her truth, Miss Wilson engaged in good trouble. A quote memorialized by the late great Congressman John Lewis. Miss Wilson's willingness to stand firm for her dignity and the right to be treated fairly in the workplace reflects the very spirit of the long hard fight for her civil rights and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The jury's decision has sent a powerful message that workplace discrimination,

harassment, and sexual abuse does not have a place in the city of Fresno's government workplace. Miss Wilson's court testimony proved without any doubt that she endured years of mental and emotional mistreatment by a supervisor who referred to Miss Wilson by using racial slurs with no regard or respect for her as as a person. The federal jury ultimately determined that the city of Fresno was liable and an and awarded 15.4 million in damages to Miss Wilson. The WAP of Fresno Sanwaqin Valley chapter respects the decision of the federal jury and asks the city of Fresno to respect the federal jury's decision and refrain from pursuing an appeal. We are asking the city of Fresno to immediately compensate Miss Wilson 15.4 million as ordered by the court with no thank you Cynthia.

Please can you I I cannot Thank you. Thank you so much. Our next card is going to be uh for Matthew Gillian.

You have three minutes. Thank you very much. Um I'll try to be brief and uh thank you to the Honorable Cynthia Sterling for probably putting it much more eloquently than me, but I'll start by um saying thank you to all of you for recognizing champions in this city today from Kopi Sodoropoulos to Baby Azu. Um, and thank you also to uh Mrs. Wilson for being a champion for for our community, for the black community. Um, but not just the black community, for the city of Fresno. Uh, three years ago when I was running for city council, um, she told me about her story. She told me about her story at a time when council president when one of your colleagues was sending out dog whistle flyers into our community. Right. So, and and we sit here when the honorable Cynthia Serling is up here talking as she was serving as council members like Council Member Baines when all of these folks were serving, they recognized that in our city there is this thread that has been woven deeply into the fabric of our communities. So now you're in a moment as a city council where you have the opportunity to not waste any more of our city's time, of our city's money, and to start a process of atonement. This is just the beginning. So, I would like to thank Mrs. Wilson and her family again for being champions, for being champions our in our community. And it's now it's your opportunity. Many of you as you decide to go on to other other opportunities and whatnot, it's your opportunity in this moment to be a champion for the constituents that you currently represent that you're trying to represent in the future and for your neighbors. Don't waste any more any more of our time or money. Thank you. All right, the next uh card I have is for Ari C. Ari.

Okay. Good morning, council. I've been before you um previously on this issue. So, my name is Ari. Um, and I didn't see any of you at the community engagement meeting last night. Um, so that was unfortunate. Uh, some other community members were expecting to see you all there. Um, and we were wondering how you all will take community input, um, and vote on it today when you weren't there to listen to it. Um, that is a requirement of the law. Um, so the police department is also required to list the purposes that this equipment was used. Um, it doesn't have to be for each deployment, but just of how actually it was used, not just how it's authorized to be used. Um, and that information is important for our community members and organizations to better understand the needs in our community and to identify gap to services. So, for example, in the story that council member Pereira shared, um, I wondered about uh about the person who had barricaded themselves and began shooting, I wondered how many times this individual needed help earlier in the pipeline and didn't get it. Um, how do we meet the need in our community when people are a danger to themselves or others and we can identify that early on? I'm a mental health professional and so that's a lot of what I do is assessing risk and I've worked and trained police departments on human trafficking protocols and even worked um you know a decade ago with police department agencies and um representatives from Fresno that went all the way up to Alama County because um here the 99 is a big gateway for trafficking between the Bay Area and um Los Angeles and so some other um concerns that were raised is the required considerations to ensure that there is no cost-effective alternative Um, so that's a requirement of the elected officials. Um, so now four years into the enforcement of the law. We're wondering about like where's the documentation evaluation being done about that from the elected officials, are the police department and the council just going off their feelings and beliefs about the issue or is it based in sound data and evidence-based research? There's an article published in the journal of the public library of science um that was done here in Fresno.

The data showed that in Fresno there was uh evidence of reduction in crime rates following the introduction of advanced peace. Two years post intervention there was a 46 decrease in the rate of all gunrelated crimes included both including both homicides and assaults. So we're just wondering like whose expertise is considered here like what kind of input is available? What are the experts outside of just um the police department who are used to you know having this equipment kind of locks us into these approaches. So, we're just curious like how do we expand our ability to identify people earlier in the pipeline. The other thing is that um there's not a full accounting of the personnel cost for the uh equipment. That's a requirement of the law. So, there report must include information on the personnel cost of training, deploying, and using all the different types of military equipment that the officers have. Um so, you all haven't approved this yet. Uh and you can instruct the police department to make these revisions. Um, and we are hoping that you can put this over for um, another council meeting. So, we're just wanting some meaningful and thoughtful engagement with the questions and concerns that were here at last night's meeting, and we're not really sure if you've had enough time to consider them. Thank you.

Perfect timing. Um, I had another card on this exact item that someone forgot to put their name on.

Come on down. Yeah. I can fill that in afterwards. Um, so I'm new to local politics as you can tell. I struggled with the basics. Um, so I do want to thank you guys for all the roles that you have. You guys are at a higher level, so there's a different perspective that we don't understand. So thank you for taking that role on. Um there have been some things in the past that did raise some concerns for me as far as um the al alignment with city council and how forward thinking you are. Um the no camping ordinance and then the vendors and art hop were some things that happened where I kind of affected my trust within city council. So I really looked at the military equipment um meeting to be an opportunity to really learn more about the city um city council and your relationship with the community. And again, no one was present. Um, so I'm what I'm asking is that you ask the president OPD to work on revising um the military bud budget because it's incomplete. As we heard earlier, um the personnel costs are not included. Um the details on how um and where it's used is not included. City council was not present for the meeting and um there was not a lot of people here last night either. And so when I did ask about that, um they did say that they reached out to um you guys to reach out to your community members to like notify the public. And so one of my questions was who are your community partnerships and how effective is our engagement if they don't show up to things because we know that people care. Um and then uh we're currently in a $20 million deficit. So, we need some detailed information on what can be contributing to that and that document doesn't consist that consist of that. And so,

there are other counties that are doing really detailed um um reports and they're doing a really good job like regularly communicating that with the public. So, I also think it would be a great um like education opportunity to work with other cities and modeling and working with our current um Fresno PD on how they can improve their reporting system so that way we can access it and make sense and it's lawbinding because right now it isn't. So, again, I'm just we're just asking um that we wait on approving that budget. we give them an opportunity to revise it and then next year we work a little bit better on making sure that you guys are working with the community partnership so that way we can have people show up to meetings. Hopefully you guys are there and that way we can uh really figure out how we can build trust here in Fresno to to a better degree and figure out what we can do about using our funds to go into um methods strategies and communities that really need it. Again, my name is Kenisha Daly. I'm with the Fresno for the people's budget. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Our next uh speaker is going to be Bob McCcluskey. And again, I've only got one card after this. So, if you are if you do want to speak on consents or contested consent or close session, please uh please do fill out a yellow card. Welcome.

Thank you. Before I speak, I just since we're talking about military equipment, just want to hold a moment of silence for those servicemen and for all the civilians, including the 175 little girls that were killed with US bombs, our tax dollars, and the servicemen that gave their lives and service to their country. Thank you. I did want to speak to two issues on the consent item 2. A I I don't understand why you're rewriting the the municipal code enforcement to allow inspectors on property without a warrant. It would violate the Fourth Amendment. I know it's kind of wordy and you're trying to work around that, but people that aren't aware of their rights under the Fourth Amendment in the California Constitution to require officers of any department, public works or anybody else, code enforcement, to have a warrant before they can enter their property and search. Now, this somebody who's not aware of their rights may be get bamboozled into letting somebody on their property. And part of that has to do, I believe, you're doing this in part to allow, you know, code enforcement on the property owners that may have homeless people or unhouse folks on their land to get in there and do the sweeps. So anyway, it's it's a workaround. I did want to speak to 2K, the military equipment. You know, I grew up 1951 when I was born. Every day in elementary school, we used to have do duck and cover. You know, now now they're talking about the use of tactical nukes. We don't need any of this military equipment. What's what the city of Freso has done is bought into this militarism and warfare mentality. It's just wrong. What you need to do, pack that stuff on a truck and send it all back. You

haven't accounted for the cost of maintaining and procuring. You've maintaining it and storing it. You haven't told us exactly what neighborhoods these number of incidents using this stuff were used in. Fresno has a a tradition here and a history of discrimination against black and brown residents, traffic stops, etc. My question is, are most of these the use of this military equipment in West Fresno and black and brown neighborhoods? That's my question. I would say probably. That's why this report is deficient, should be rejected by the council and rewritten to reflect where and when exactly these ammunition are being used. I compared our report to Fred uh Orange County, much more comprehensive, a lot more pages, and they exact every count of use of those things. They tell you what neighborhood, for what reason, what crime, etc. We need those details. Is the city of Freso discriminating against it? Thank you, Bob. All right, next card is going to be for Sonia Davis. Sonia. So, I'm here to ask the council to go ahead and proceed with the jury's decision to award Miss Wilson um the for $15.4 million. And my statement, Miss Wilson has endured racism treatment in her workplace for over 20 years. One incident I personally witnessed occurred while she was pregnant with her now 19-year-old daughter. She called me at

work in distress about something that had happened in the office involving former employee Larry Rder. I immediately drove from Fresno State parked behind city hall. When she came out, she was in tears. I was deeply concerned for her well-being, especially given her pregnancy. I urged her to let me take her home, but she refused, stating, "If I leave, they will fire me." We sat together for a while until she was able to re regain her composure after which she returned to what I can only describe as a toxic racial hostile work environment. This is just one example of the treatment I have witnessed her endure throughout her employment. It is evident that the pattern of racist behavior did not end with Larry Rder, but continued under Howard Lacy and others, including members of the administration, human resources, and the city's legal council. Depositions and trial statements have confirmed this ongoing pattern. I would also like to connect this issue to a recent public comment made at last week's council meeting. A young woman spoke about her attempts to seek help regarding unsafe living conditions in her apartment. After speaking with her, it became clear that the treatment she received from code enforcement personnel mirrors the same type of racist treatment that Mrs. Wilson experienced and witnessed. By the way, this young mother was called a by a current code enforcement employee. Notably, some of the individuals appear to be involved. This raises a critical question. At what point will the council and administration take responsibility and address this pattern of behavior? When will action be taken to remove individuals who continue to subject both co-workers and community members to what

appears to be unchecked racism? While the council appears focused on whether to appeal the jury's decision in Mrs. Wilson's case. Where is the concern for holding the perpetrators accountable? What steps are being taken to stop this behavior within the administration and code enforcement? Are these consequences for those responsible or only for the victims, namely Mrs. Wilson and the young woman who was came forward last week seeking help? Thank you. Uh Hester Hensley, do you have uh you didn't list an item here. Is this uh regarding a consent agenda item or close session?

Excuse me, council. It's my councilman that I I do owe I do owe an apology to. I um didn't realize how young he is and the things that he was doing to Southwest Fresno affected me so bad that I recently I just kind of took offense to it. Sure, Esther. I appreciate that. I'm sure he does too, but this is uh comment time for the consent agenda or the close session agenda. So, if you don't have any comments on those items, then we're going to have to save your card for later on. Can I just finish though? You may not. Okay.

All right. Thank you, Hester. Yeah, we we will have uh unscheduled communication where people can talk about anything they'd like. Uh but right now, we're just on this section here. That's what I'm saying is that Excuse me. It is part of that. It's it's it's all to do with that. Oh, I'm sure it does. But if you're not talking about an item, then we're we're gonna have to move on. Uh Nikki, is Nikki here? Nikki, your card was also unidentified. Do you have a a contested consent or consent agenda item or close session item? This is consent uh or close session. Okay. If you have an item, come on down.

And close session. So, I got I'm looking for close session and I have something for um consent. Don't I'm tired of you coming out every time. Annoying. Okay. So, um, about the, uh, I guess the equipment, the police equipment stuff, it sounds like, um, there's nothing like itemized or it's not detailed as far as spending. And so, um, if this was on the agenda today to be passed, if these people would have showed up, you guys probably would have passed it. And without very much question, I'm I'm pretty sure. And so since we got um the chief right here, maybe she could um help give us some answers because that would be a really good time to ask. These are important questions. And um let me see. Hold on. I don't have to rush. I have time. Still have over a minute and a if you have any further comments on consents uh or close session.

I know what I'm encouraging you to continue to speak.

Yeah, my bad. You don't like your time being wasted, huh? Neither do I. I want to have to wait here all day for unscheduled communication. I have to wait here 7 hours. It's the last 10 minutes. You call back. I'm talking right now. I'm trying to get my thoughts together for this with on the what I have I'm able to speak to. But yeah, don't see. Okay. So, um, I'd like to start my time for the close session item. Now, if you could restart my 3 minutes.

You have 37 seconds left. So, you're saying I have to have it combined? It's not combined. I'm so irritated. So, you're saying people have three minutes to speak on everything? Is that what you're saying? Your time was Your time was 3 minutes and now we're down to 5 seconds. You guys are backwards.

Thank you. Uh, Dez, I have your card. It was also unidentified. Do you have a close session or consent agenda item you'd like to comment on? Um, yeah. So, I don't even want to be here, tell you the truth. You know, I'm triggered. I came in trying to have a different feeling. But this Howard Lacy you know what happened to me? If you you guys are getting sued for $15 million cuz he called somebody a derogatory name, what the are you going to do for me? because he put his hands on me, got arrested, and you guys didn't even charge him. Because you didn't fire him because you didn't charge him. Are you kidding me? I came to you guys when Howard Lacy assaulted me. He got arrested. He was arrested. Georanne, he was arrested. Your employee that was going to trial because of this situation was arrested because he assaulted me in front of a cop. And the cop arrested him, but he's got too many friends sitting up here on the dascese like Jerry Dyer and George Anne White to watch his back. And we see what happened. $15.5 million. Shame on all of you because I wouldn't have went through that if you guys would have taken care of your goddamn business in the first place and fired the I'm sorry I'm cussing, but this is how my feelings are when I'm triggered. And this is what city hall does to people when you don't know how to be trauma informed. Okay? Because you guys are changing the sections on the code enforcement. You guys did that to me. Oh, I know your ass was involved in that too, sweetheart. Oh yeah, you guys came to my house and told me you have the right to come in my goddamn house. I told you hell no. Go get a goddamn warrant. Then you're going to have Erica from the goddamn city attorney send me an an email telling me how they can force their way into my

house. Well, I done told her to go get a goddamn warrant, too. So, you guys are using the city attorneys against us. You guys think that you're going to have anybody show up at anybody's house and they're not going to ask for a warrant? The only people that aren't going to ask that are the people that don't know their rights. So, you guys are going to let them get over. You're going to get over on them. Nelson, acting president, counsel, wasn't you just running? You're running right now. You going to let this happen? You're going to allow this to happen? They get to come inside and take documents and pictures and take your property. Are you kidding me? You're going to let this happen? You're going to let people get their rights their violated. If you don't know your rights and they come into your district with your folks and they come to their door and they knock on it and they show them this Freso municipal code, they're going to allow them in. They're going to be allowed to take whatever evidence they want, whatever documents they want, take whatever pictures they want. Are you guys handing it over to Ty? I want to know that. Why would you change the same sections that you guys sent a threatening note from Erica, your city attorney? Stop using your city attorneys for your goddamn and fire your employees when they cost you $15.5 million. You could have prevented that, Georanne. You could have prevented that abuse. It happened in front of a cop. So, I'm not lying. This happened to me and this is my trauma and my experience. You could have Thank you, Dez. Thank you, Dez. Our next speaker is going to be Alfred Alrede.

Alfred,

you're out of water.

Welcome.

Hello, council. My name is Alfred Alredi. I'm here with the Fresno Resistance and with the Fresno for the People Budget. I am here to express my disapproval in yesterday, last night's meeting with the Fresno Police Department. Um, not only do I feel they was completely um bare minimum, but a performative act at best. We had uh the four individuals from the Fresno Police Department, which happened to be over uh I mean older white males who kind of just sat up here where you guys are sitting now and just scouled at this small group of individuals who expressed um extreme interest and these details that they did not share uh completely. In fact, when one of the uh folks here asked where in the community is this equipment used and what is the frequency in different uh geographic locations that the equipment is used in, the uh Fresno police representative responded with uh why why is that important? when uh we all feel and know that uh these details are extremely important. Just because only a handful of individuals were able to be notified by the meeting last night doesn't mean that the rest of the uh city and uh citizens don't feel the same way. Um they didn't really have any details for a lot of the questions that were posed to them and I I'm urging you guys to go back and have the Fresno Police Department revise their report. Bernard, you go to pause this time. Sorry, Alfred.

Hey, uh, out in the audience, we're we're going to if we keep it down. We have a public comment going on. You going to take it outside the chambers. Dez, I'm I'm giving you I'm giving you your first warning. I'm giving you your first warning for disturbing the peace in the chamber. We have someone doing public comment. We need to be respectful of that time. Are you finished?

Thank you. Please take it outside the chambers.

Sorry about that, Alfred. Uh go ahead and proceed.

Quite all right. Um just the unprofessionalism um they brought to our attention that you know this was a a public meeting for not only the uh for the public but for our elected officials there as well. Not only did I see not one of you there u but the mayor wasn't there as well. Um, a lot of the questions regarding the equipment, like I said, the public doesn't feel uh it hasn't had enough time to go over these certain details that the Fresno Police Department have released. And once again, we don't feel that there's enough information on this military equipment that has been released. So, we're urging you, I'm urging you to please have Fresno Police Department revise their report, uh, come back on a more professional level with the public to share more detailed information about this equipment so we can have transparency um, with everybody. So, thank you.

Thank you. Uh, next speaker is going to be Desiree Miller. Thank you. Hello, council members. Thank you all for your time today. Um, I wanted to speak on the individual for the 14 15.4 million. Um, I'm not from here. I'm from Los Angeles, California, and I got activated at the age of 17 at Fresno State around the racial equity issues here in the valley. And when my friend, who is now a lawyer in LA County, saw this case, she texted me and she said, and I quote, "All these Fresno stories I'm seeing is truly tripping me out. That city does not sound black friendly at all, man. You got to get out of there. I don't know how I've been doing racial equity work here for over seven plus years. Very passionate about the African-American community and the historical disparities that we're still facing. However, I really want to call attention to this moment as bigger than just a dollar amount. This is an opportunity for this city to be accountable to the historical inequities that this city has inflicted upon the minorities in this community. The lived experiences of the people in our community who have too often been unheard um across the valley cannot continue to be ignored. and these longstanding patterns of racial equity and disparity in housing, education, policing, and in access to opportunity and just basic resources. These are not abstract

issues. They are real and they are documented. They continue to shape outcomes of black and brown residents today. And we have to make a critical change. We have to decide as a community, as a county to do something different. And I urge you all to really pay attention to the historical inequities we've been experiencing here. Thank you. Uh, next speaker we have is Eugene Taylor. Eugene,

hello. U my name is Eugene Taylor and I'm representing the community and I want to speak on the issue of the lawsuit that's pending that's being litigated. Apologies. And I have a challenge to you personally, council president. You're turned out your city manager and your city attorney had a chance to correct it and they didn't and now it's a consequence. Hold them accountable. Put something on your record to stand up for it for black and brown communities because she's only one. That's the one that got caught. That's when they caught you guys. Be a standup person and hold them accountable. They're not getting reelected. They got the plus job. Y'all took all these cute pictures, but y'all never hold them accountable when they do something wrong. Stand up, council president. I appreciate your service, but I really appreciate when you really stand up for issues that affect us directly. So, I challenge all you guys, including you, Miss Pere. You know, this is a woman She's only one story. You guys are getting challenged every day due to lack of accountability. Change that. You guys get paid to hold people accountable. Do your job. That's all we're asking. And stop trying to litigate back and forth in the closed room. Have it public. Put their dirty laundry out here like y'all dirty laundry is out here. Whatever you do is public. What they do is behind the scene. They don't want it to be public. Make them be public so they can see the pressure that you guys are faced with every day. Vice President Maxwell, you know what I'm saying? Hold them accountable for a change. And if you can't hold them accountable, then why are you running? You guys are just lying. This is the year of truth. Have some truth. City Council President, have a good day. Thank you. Uh, next uh speaker is going to be Brandy.

Okay. Uh, regarding 5C with Wilson, um, I want to agree with people who spoke this better than I did that uh, and we have a lot of work to address racism and retaliation in the workforce. Council President, point to order. Can we have this conversation stop so I can hear her? Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Um I people said it previously said it better than I do uh regarding Wilson and 5C but um do want to reiterate that we have a lot of work to do in the city of Fresno to address racism and retaliation in the workforce. I see that there is another retaliation thing on our agenda. Um and um and we need to take accountability as a city not only with the workforce have greater accountability and protection but those that we engage in with the community as was also mentioned regarding code enforcement which is another concern regarding things such as 2A and other areas is having accountability. Um I ask for regarding 2K I ask that you table until we have sufficient you have sufficient time to review uh and for the police department to be able to um make recommendations and changes that we were asking for. Uh we had a a very uh lively discussion last night and for the sake of those uh both the staff and the attendees that I feel like it is important that uh you uh review what was um spoken. Um I recognize that RS did put the flyer in the newsletter. Um I noticed that the flyer says AB481 which for many people they have no knowledge in very small writing it says uh military and so we need to not only put out flyers but uh educate so people understand regarding requiring uh require regarding what people mentioned about um that they're supposed to according to they're supposed to argue that this equipment is necessary because there is no other alternative. Uh we learned last night that this is something that is on the council to come up with alternatives and I asked for that to be taken seriously as you guys are also part of this compliance. Um in the past years I saw that even advanced peace was a fight to to get um support and that we have asked people have mentioned in the meeting last night about mental health response that is non police and we have asked for mental health things like mental health first

or heart or cahoots and that has not been addressed and when I called a mental health thing in the past couple years I got two police officers. Um, regarding accessibility, we need to have it easier to find the complaint forms and understand. Regarding drone use, um, during the last meeting, um, someone mentioned the lack of policy and Castro mentioned policy 439 and 450. Uh, that was very difficult to find and I heard from someone last night that part of that is how it's put on the website, but I had to hunt around for this. I couldn't even search engine it until I had those numbers and found it on Google. So we need to have that more accessible and uh include cross pol all the policies regarding usage in the report so that the because it is important uh not only for transparency because such documents likely show what are the authorized uses prohibition on use and retention of policy for drones operated by FPB.

Thank you Brandy. That's uh all the cards I had for consent uh contested consent or close session. If there's anybody else who would like to speak on one of those items that's on the consent agenda or the close session agenda, now would be uh time.

Uh well, if come on down if if uh if you would like to speak on consent agenda or contestant or or close session. I have I do have some cards, but they were not uh related to the consent agenda or the close session agenda. So maybe it's one of those. This is not an opportunity to speak about um a topic that's not in the agenda. Good morning, city councilman and uh Mayor Dryer. Uh I'm here to speak. Uh my well, first of all, my name is Martha Fabella and um I'm a resident of the northwest side of Fresno. Uh and I am a college graduate. I'm here to talk to you about the Cedar Travis street signs. A few years ago, you changed them, the signs for Cedar Chavez.

Martha, I'm I am sorry, but uh this is not an item that's on the agenda today at all. It's not on consent. It was said on the news by by by Drier, the mayor, that they were going to allow us Hispanic or whoever the people of Fresno uh talk about it and the next day. So, this this was an item that we heard. So, when do I get to talk? Uh communication ensuring unscheduled communication. Uh so this this item, you're out of order, Bob. Uh so this time period is for there's the problem. Bob, it's your first warning. All right. This is your first warning as well.

Uh sorry, as I explained to you before you came up, uh this time period is to comment on the consent agenda uh or the close session agenda. The Cedar Chavez Boulevard issue is not on the agenda at all today. That was an item that we debated last week and I public comment on last week. I've been waiting to hear on the news when you guys are going to put it out there and never did. I had some clarification from the attorney. Um, so we're we Sorry, we were going to start your time over. Uh, we're going to consider this as as part of that. Do you do I get to talk or not? Yes. Yeah, please. I apologize. And Yeah.

Okay. My name is Martha Fabella and I am a resident of the northwest side of Fresno and a college graduate. I'm here to talk to you about the Caesar Chavez street signs. A few years ago, you changed the Kees Canyon Street signs to Ceda Chavez Boulevard. This costed the businesses and people of in the city of Fresno and uh thousands of dollars and businesses, big businesses probably millions because they had to throw away the useless uh addresses. And anyway, they had up they had updated their stationary web pages and telecommunications to be inclined with the name change. It is also it is also last week it was also last week said on the TV by Jerry Drier that they were going to give citizens of Fresno a chance a chance to voice their opinion and that is what uh what he stated. I have never said I've never heard a date from him, when or a time. The Hispanic and Latino community deserves the right to to voice their opinions. The allegations said against Caesar Chavez has not even been proven. Not even been proven. If the reason if the reason uh that you're doing the second renaming of the streets is due to his the alleged environmental uh affair with Dolores Huerta then you need to also do the same with the presidents of the United States which is u Washington Jefferson Madison uh Lincoln because they all uh sexually molested and had sex with their slaves. They were slave owners and they and they birthed children from them. This is a known fact, a historical fact. It is known. It is an historical fact. We are we are m they were all slave

owners whom exter who had extraarital uh uh sex uh from their um from and had babies with them. Uh if you're going to change the street signs names tomorrow or Caesar Travis's names and schools and names, uh please please re reconsider this. Um he has done nothing. Cedar Travis has done nothing but performed and shed light on the injustices put upon farm workers everywhere throughout the United States, not just California. I would like to mention once again that uh this is something that the Latino and the Hispanic community did not get a chance to voice their opinion on and I think that we are very important in this community of Fresno. Thank you. And I I would like to know when I can receive a response from you guys.

Thank you, Miss Robas. This uh this time period uh any kind of public comment is for you to speak to us when it's not necessarily standard practice that we uh that we offer a reply. It's your time to speak to us. I do before you head back, I do want to offer you an apology. I overlooked 5B uh which is it's not explicitly listed but it is um it is going to be a topic so I apologize for that mistake there. I want to say thank you for hearing me appreciate it. Thank you. Our next speaker is going to be Bryant Robas. Bryants want to start coming to your meetings. Come on down. Thank you.

Bryant, are you with us? Bryant Robas. Okay, no worries. So, you're speaking on item 5B. Was No. No. Did he call you? No. Okay. Oh, he's not Bryant. Bryant. This is Bryant. You are Bryant. Bryant. Yeah. Yeah. It's your turn to speak. He's He's commenting on the same That's fine. Yeah. If you'd like to speak, you have three minutes if you'd like to speak. I'd like to give the mic. No. No. Don't give me the minute. No. No. We already talked to him. I already talked to Okay. So, that's it. That's it. going to go home and I'll call you. I'll see one of you tomorrow. Okay, Brian, would you like to get public comment or no? No, I don't have Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

All right. Any further additional public comment? Uh any items on the close session agenda, the consent agenda, even if it's contested consent?

I I believe you uh spoke already. So, we have on the record that I was denied speaking. We have uh somebody else who and you already spoken during this time period. Uh Miss Hensley, you please come on up. If you had a consent, please cut off the mic. You're out of order for a second time. Come on up. Council President, while Miss Hensley comes up, would you mind, Miss Hensley, before you speak? One second. I just want to state that we continually offer copies of the Brown Act or council rules of procedure to the public. The clerk has that for the public. We are following consistent procedures as we have done for the past several years on public comment just to be very clear for the record.

Thank you. Uh Ma, do you have a a contested consent or consent item or close session item you'd like to speak on?

I'm going behind the lady that just spoke. I just wanted to say to the councilman, thank you. I don't know what part this is, but I just want to say to my councilman that the things that have occurred in the past about that street change, I don't that's not something I want to speak on. I want to say that I'm following the lead of a very wise and great woman, Dolores Herrera. She cleared up a lot of stuff and it brought to my attention that me being a Christian, I can't hold Miguel Aras accountable for stuff that he wasn't aware of things that was affecting the West Fresno community. And I just want to apolog, you know, bring it to his attention and to the uh council attention that him being a much younger person than myself, he doesn't realize what the struggle that black people went through through slavery, he doesn't he doesn't have the ability to know that the things that we struggle with and the things that the abuse the use and abuse that we went through through our times I'm aware of it. I've seen a lot of it and he was only defending his hero and I should not have held it I should not held that against him because that Caesar Chavez is his hero. So I want to publicly say I wasn't it wasn't personally you were defending your hero. Black people went through a lot and we went through a lot of struggles. We got then you just heard about the lady that just

with the lawsuit. The abuse that we went through back in slavery and since slavery it's been unprovidable. You know, people don't realize and a lot of people don't realize what was taken away from us. Not just our language wasn't the only t thing taken away from us. Our names was taken away from us. When someone say Maryanne Maxwell or John Maxwell, it could be white or black. We You still have your last name. Armenians have their last name. Greeks have their last name. Black people don't have their last name. And that hurt. So when you came and put Caesar Chavis on California Street, that was a slap in my face cuz Edison High School is my alumni. You and so I was trying to defend my part. Edison High School is my alumni. when you put that uh bike trail there on California Street, that was unnecessary because the young man, and bless his heart and rest his soul, he wasn't a part of Southwest Fresno. He got killed way out there on who

Thank you, Miss Ensley. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further uh any additional public comments from anyone on the consent agenda or close session agenda or contested consent? Going once, going twice. All right, we're going to go ahead and close public comments uh for consents, contested consents, and close session. Uh that brings us over to the consent agenda. Um before we pass the consent agenda, I did uh want to offer the city attorney an opportunity to clarify uh a little bit on 2A. There was a number of community concerns that I received this week. Uh and I wanted uh I thought it'd be important for um before we passed it uh for some clarification on the purpose of some of these code enforcement reforms.

Yeah. Thank you, Council President. And I I do um and I've heard the community concerns as well. Um, and I understand uh some of the concerns. Uh, just for context, this issue arose um, as a result of our rental housing uh, inspections. It's been a priority of this council to go after what some of you have called slumlords u, bad actors that take advantage of uh, their tenants and um, for failure to follow um, just basic uh, code violations as the Fresno B reported uh, yesterday. Um, in in this instance that where this arose, uh, we had a situation where there was an insect infestation. Um, the attorneys representing these, uh, bad actors that take advantage of their tenants are utilizing what I've described as a loophole in our municipal code uh, that led a judge to basically conclude that we can't do visual inspections of these apartment complexes uh, from public spaces. um the municipal code has created um a a standard that is in excess of what the fourth amendment would require. And so I just want to want folks to be rest assured that I will continue to uh train our code enforcement officers. They understand that they need to have either consent or a warrant uh to enter private spaces, to enter private residences, and that has been their practice. I've spoken to Chief Casto as well. her officers will continue to follow the law as it applies to the fourth amendment. Um but really um this is an effort to clean up the municipal code so we can continue holding u what some of you have called slumlords accountable. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll entertain a motion. Second right for a second. Third. Uh is there any opposition to approving the consent agenda? Council President, I do have one comment on that item that you referenced. Sure.

I just wanted to point out um to the public that code enforcement is our reactive department. We respond based on complaints and the vast majority of complaints come from residents who walk by a property, drive by a property, and look from the outside of the property, the conditions of the property. In my neighborhood, there's a lot of empty apartment complexes that have been boarded up or vacant homes. And we constantly get complaints from people who are observing the condition of these buildings, some of them which are at risk at being set on fire a second, third, or fourth time or collapsing. So, it's common sense for us if the public from the outside the building submits a complaint asking us to deploy code enforcement, that code enforcement also has the ability to conduct an inspection from outside the building um to assess whether or not the complaint is legitimate or whether we have to proceed with the next step in the process to be able to access the building and ensure people's safety. the vast majority of buildings are within neighborhoods where kids play, the elderly live, and we have an obligation to be able to conduct that inspection. So, that's why I'll be supportive of this item. It's just what we need to be able to address the complaints from residents who are the ones who are generating the court code enforcement requests for inspections. Thank you.

Thank you, council member. Any opposition to the consent agenda being passed? Seeing none, passes seven to zero. Let's go ahead and knock out these uh these two contested consent items. We'll start with item 2 I regarding the third amendment to the PAR on the parks positions. And this was pulled by council member Arius.

Thank you, council president. I just have two questions for the administration. Um, one is it's my understanding that this these positions are what we would define as back office staff. They do all the paperwork to get ready for um us to or the arts council or committee of artists to then make a recommendation and a scoring of an application. So, these positions would not be the ones dictating what art is or who is awarded potential art grants. Correct.

That's correct. We we uh Aaron and Gary, parks director, uh we wouldn't have a a say in necessarily identifying art. Um this would be working with PR and working with council on identifying the grant guidelines, getting those adopted, working through the the notice of granting opportunities to the community that's due this June. Um so those positions would be to then validate expenses as as they come in from the grantees and uh getting payments out to the grantees. My second question is um if the council was to take a different direction and not undertake the work of awarding another round of art and kosher funds, would these positions uh be able to be transferred to other departments or are these unique only to this specific body of work?

Um great question. Those these are flexible positions that we could absorb into the department um or if needed somewhere else in the city. And my last question is I did look at the item and it references there's no fiscal impact which I'm sure is not the case because positions cost money. U but the standard language that was used on the fiscal impact was the addition of three permanent full-time positions will not have a result in increased salary or benefit expenses for fiscal year 26. Um what exactly is the cost of the positions? Do we know? So for um FY26 um again these are our assumptions were a April 1 hiring date probably not going to make that so the cost will go down a bit

um but we had in category 4 of measure P the 2% admin that was not given over to Fresno Arts Council so that would be portion of the funding that we would utilize in addition to uh $75,000 of general fund. So, our total estimate for FY26 is $298,336. That would all be part of our our 26 budget. And if these positions are to become um annualized, what's the annual cost of these positions? Um I think we're we're working through that in the budget process right now. Um I think the positions are estimated with some of the the non-per, you know, some of the um we're about

benefits. Correct. Um, but again, in addition to just the positions, let me see if I have that that number. Um, ballpark number for that was probably around 500,000 thereabouts. Okay. And I would just ask a favor administration in the future items, can you just list the estimated cost? I know you guys are referencing that there's no need to make a amendment to the budget, but I do think for the public, they need to know what it is that it cost us to do back office work for this initiative. Um, sure, no problem. By the way, I think the numbers that Aaron told us are worst case on the upper end. I don't think it's going to be that high. Uh because I don't think we're going to spend $296,000 between April and June of this year. But I totally understand your point, council member.

Yeah, thank you. Those are all my questions. Best of luck with it. And for the public, I did receive your notices. I did receive your emails. I did read them. And uh this again is part of us trying to ensure that the next round of arts and culture money gets out. That's what we've heard from the public. Um that's what taxpayers agreed to when they've supported measure P. And these positions are purely back office. They're not going to have any decision-making authority on who ultimately is awarded money. That will be left up um to a committee of experts. Um that I look forward to at some point in the near future seeing who that committee is and ensuring that that committee is free of conflicts and being you know both an applicant and a reviewer of other applicants. That's all my comments. Motion to approve.

We have a motion. We have a second. We've taken public comment on this item. Any opposition to item 2 I? Seeing none passes 70. Then we have item 2K uh as our next consent contested consent item. Uh the uh FPD annual military equipment use report. This was uh pulled by council member Arius. Good morning. Good morning, Chief. How are you? Good. So, I happy to answer your question. If we would if you would like us to do a brief presentation on the meeting last night, we can also do that. So, it's up to you if you want to start with that. That's fine.

Okay. Then, um I I'll have that done uh briefly here by Deputy Chief Farah. He's uh the commander over the support division, which encompasses most of the equipment usages and the units that um they're assigned to. So, uh, it was a very good meeting, cordial, a lot of interaction, and I'll let him get to the details for you. And DC Farah, if you could start with who who from the, uh, department attend, you know, represented the city at that meeting.

Absolutely. Good morning, council. Deputy Chief Burke Far Police Department. Um, we started last night about 6:00. Captain Jennifer Horford was here with us. Lieutenant Brian Pierce, who's our SWAT commander, Lieutenant Larry Bolan, who's the commander of our explosive ordinance and demolition team, also known as the Bond Squad. Um and uh Lieutenant Robert Dwey who's in charge of our specialized technology unit otherwise known as uh basically it's control of the drones as well as other technology in the department. So um was open to the public um was announced on social media. Uh we announced it here at council last week. Uh attendance was uh by the media estimate about 20 to 25 people that were here and present. Um there was vigorous conversation. Uh everybody got a chance to be heard. We were here until 8 o'clock at night. Uh, we offered the podium to folks not just once, but sometimes twice. Uh, I'm not as good with the, uh, timer as you folks are, so sometimes folks went a little long, and that was fine. Uh, we wanted a discussion, we wanted transparency, we wanted conversation, and what we heard from our community was that um, while that some of them had philosophical concerns about military equipment in general, we didn't hear a lot of specifics about problems they have with specific equipment. The main issue was the process and they wanted a little more transparency in the process and wanted us to do a better job with that and we're open to that. Um we heard a lot of comments and suggestions including itemizing our personnel costs uh specific to the use, deployment and training of our equipment and we can do a better job there. Uh we also have volunteers that are willing to work with us uh next year to uh set up the meeting for next year to make things more accessible to the public. Uh they want to see the equipment. county wants to bring it down here to city hall and um you know we're happy to to do those things. One of the things I learned this year was that um you know we added this public meeting at the request of council because they wanted additional transparency this year um that one uh provided in the past and so I I feel honored to be a part of that. Uh the team was here. Um there was a comment

made that uh the lieutenants didn't say much and that's because they were here as my technical experts and I like to talk. So, I ran the meeting and uh there weren't a whole lot of technical questions, weren't a whole lot of issues that came up specific to the military equipment. Uh so, lieutenants had a couple of answers here and there. Um I probably should have engaged them a little more. Um but overall, we really had uh a very pleasant and I think productive meeting last night. So, I'm open to any questions that you have.

Burke, I could you uh sorry, Deputy Chief, could you go over um I mean specific to the equipment? And I know you kind of broadly went over like the theme of what the public was asking about. I mean, was there anything more specific with regard to specific pieces of equipment? I'm just trying I want to make sure that

understand we went through the use of each type of equipment and the number of uses including the use of our um the the Bearecat vehicles, the drones, etc. went through all those numbers. Um the questions more were about where that equipment was being used and that's not part of the requirement under the report. We're required to put out a summary of the use, but there's nothing that says we have to specifically list each and every use under the law, regardless of paper being shaken over my back. Council President, I'm getting a little distracted by some of the signage that violates our policies. Yeah, you can put it up, but don't. Yeah, trying to make noise.

We had signs last night and and that was okay. It helped clarify some things for us as we were at the DA. So, we wanted to make sure we answered those questions. So when people waved a sign and said you didn't answer the question, we repeated the conversation and tried to get to the bottom of the issue. So just keep going please. Uh yes. So regarding the equipment, we went through all the items of the equipment. Uh the specific conversation was about where the equipment was used. Um and and um our understandings were supposed to provide a summary of how the equipment was used, but not a specific incident each and every time of how the equipment was used. We know that other counties may be doing that, other cities may be doing that, choose to do that, but that's not a requirement under the law. Thank you, Burke.

Council Ari, you still have the floor.

Thank you, Council President. I wanted to clarify a couple of points for the public. There's been some references of the council's absent to this public meeting. I I wanted to, you know, make it clear since this bill has passed as council members personally, I have pulled the item every single year and asked my questions. Uh we have this forum where we get to have this discussion and have all our questions answered. We also have the ability to do site visits and observe equipment, go on helicopter rides, which I still won't do. Uh but as council members, we have the ability to do that. So it's not necessary for us to attend a meeting to hear the presentation, the rationale and the use. That's how we have this venue here. From my perspective, us attending would only distract from the public's opportunity to have a direct conversation with the police department about their rationale for the equipment. Uh speaking of which, I want to get to the equipment part of it.

Yes, sir. Um, Deputy Chief, um, based on the feedback yesterday, what do you intend to do differently next year in terms of process? Because I don't want to end up in this place the next council member might see with disagreement on what was the expectation, what was what does the law require? What are feedback are you taking into account that's going to actually result in a different process for next year? So, are you intending to actually include the cost of personnel as as it relates to this equipment? If that if not, what else are you planning to make adjustments for next year?

So, we heard from the community first of all was that um they were concerned about the timelines involved and we could have done a better job of putting out the report earlier. The law does require us to hold our meeting within 30 days um and then we want to get that to council within that same time period too. So, uh we can be more sensitive about that. There were concerns we didn't reach out appropriately to different communities. Um, we put the meeting out um on the council's website and on social media. Um, I'm sure we can work with individual council districts next year to put the information out even better uh than we did this year. Um, those are the main things. The other thing was to actually include members of the community and planning the process for next year and making sure that we're being transparent, meeting the community's needs. And I have a couple of volunteers that were in the meeting last night that are willing to work with me on that next year. Now, in terms of communicating, now I know the city, the police department, and the city at times host press conferences and puts out press releases on issues of arrest of certain incidents that occur. Are did you guys do that in this case? Did you put out a press release? Did you have some kind of public notice besides I I I guess what I'm asking are we going to take the same level of attention to call when we make an arrest of a criminal as we are asking for people to be involved and give us their feedback on equipment use because ultimately the function of a police department is to police its citizens and the citizens get to dictate what level policing they want, right? So we want to hear from them. So, it's my suggestion going forward that you guys go beyond simply a social media post and do a press release, things of that nature, media interviews to invite people to come out and have understanding of what's being done on their behalf and get their feedback.

Uh, thank you. And when it comes to equipment, Yes, ma'am. So, I just want to make sure we're understanding your expectations because normally like when we do a press release, it's because we're inviting the media to event. So, when you're saying a press release, you're meaning more of like a community notification. Um, both. I I think if you were to have a press conference and invite the media to cover the fact that you'll be presenting the military equipment in the next week or so and you invite the public to show up, that would be a significant outreach. If you do a community announcement on also your social media platforms announcing it that would be I you know no matter how much you overcommunicate I I get this in neighborhood means people complain about well you didn't leave a notice on my house but yet you're here

and we somehow found out right so I want to be thoughtful of that but I do think we should put the same level of communicating this opportunity as we do when we make an arrest or have a significant incident that requires police response. So

thank you. um on the equipment itself what I I did it and I don't know if it's required um the actual training of this equipment who who does the training so when you get a piece of military equipment are you receiving training from military experts on how to use equipment or is the police department coming up with their own military uh their own training on how to use military equipment? First of all, the state defines what the military equipment is, and many of the equipments that we use are designed for law enforcement, but they're designated as military equipment. So, they're never designated or designed for military use. Um, we work with vendors um on training as far as actual gear. Uh we also work with California Post who has guidelines for certain uh courses that our people must attend in order to deliver tear gas or less lethal projectiles and those kinds of things. That curriculum is highly regulated and approved by the state.

Got it. So you guys are taking your direction from the state in terms of how to train on the this particular equipment, the state, the vendor, um and also from best practices across the industry. Okay. And um in terms of equipment, this requires that we disclose what equipment we have and whether we've used it u in your report, is there any list of equipment that you no longer use? We did talk about counseling out. Yeah, we did talk about the fact that we've decommissioned several drones because they failed. Um they're not under warranty anymore. they're not broken and we're not able to replace them at this time. So, our drone count did decrease by I think it was 38 uh drones.

And is there any other equipment that outside of it, you know, not being functional anymore that you're no longer using for whatever reason? No. Uh there's a lot of uh equipment that did not get used last year, but it's the kind of stuff that we hope to never have to use that we need to have um in case of a horrible emergency. We'll be ready and we'll be prepared, but we pray that we never have to use it. And the analogy I made at the meeting at the meeting last night was um I have a fire extinguisher in my home and uh I didn't use it last year. Uh zero uses of fire extinguishers in my home last year and I'm grateful for that. Um but I'm going to keep the fire extinguisher in my house for 2026 and probably 2027 as well. Yeah,

it's um my second question here on your Remy 10870 12 gauge shotgun dedicated for less lethal bean bag weapon. Uh the cost is $170,000 for 315 of them. Correct. That's based on your report. We have 315 shotguns. That's really high. But um it says here on page 25.

They're worth about Well, actually, if they're worth about $500 each, that makes sense. So those are less lethal shotguns that are put in our patrol force and our special units to make sure we have the capability to deliver a less than lethal round. So, the reason I bring this up is it on your report page 25, you indicate that you used this non-lethal shotgun five times in 2025. Yes, sir. That seems to me pretty low. So, you're saying that as a whole city for the whole year of 2025, we only used uh let me make sure I'm clear on my question. This report indicates this particular piece of equipment, non-lethal, was used five times.

Yes. But it's it's probably not encompassing the fact that you have other less lethal options, stun guns, other equipment. So, it wouldn't be correct for us to suggest that we've only used non-lethal force in terms of um equipment only five times in 2025. No, we specifically used that particular piece of equipment five times.

So, in your estimation, how often do we use non-lethal force equipment outside of this weapon? We use reportable force 300 times last year. We responded physically to about 375,000 calls for service. We got more calls from than that, but that's what police officers actually responded to. And reportable force is defined as force that causes someone injury or a weapon is used against them. It could be a firearm. It could be a less lethal shotgun. It could be a taser. It could be someone that says, "Ouch, you're hurting me." And so it's part of that count that we do count diligently.

Perfect. Thanks for your clarification on this. Um, Chief, uh, Deputy Chief, in your estimation, has this law been helpful to to the department and requiring you to inventory your military grade equipment, assess the usage of it, and then publicly report out the frequency of its use. I think what I learned last night is it's important to the community, and um, building trust is important to us, and if this is another avenue for us to build trust in the community, then I'm all about it. If we need to follow the law to do this to make sure that our community and our officers have the equipment they need to protect themselves, we're happy to do that.

My last comment or question is, is there any assessment? I know um helicopters are a thing. They're super expensive, too. Uh but every department typically wants their own dedicated units. you know, CHP, Sheriff, Fresno PD, all helicopters, plus community hospital, Valley Children's, numerous um agencies have helicopters. Is there any conversation amongst public law enforcement agencies of you all sharing equipment? So, not all your agencies have to have the same level of military equipment, whether it's a SWAT car or something of that nature. I think a good example of that is one of our armored vehicles that we shared with the sheriff's department and the Clovis Police Department for years. Um the question was asked last night, do we ever run into conflict with another agency where I need to use the vehicle? No, I need to use the vehicle. The answer is no. Um fortunately, the use of these vehicles is very very small over the years and um there are there are times we've actually had assistance from the closed police department, the sheriff's department to bring their additional vehicles to assist us on a scene. Uh we had a a particular incident where we had a man in a vehicle who's driven into a backyard and was ramming fences and and threatening his neighbors um with that vehicle and uh we were fortunate to have multiple armored vehicles respond and stand by. Um we were not uh forced to use those vehicles to stop him. He were able to negotiate his surrender. Um but it was a nice option to have. So that cooperation as you indicated is very important with those agencies

and it is recurring. So you're not having to rely just on one agency to pick up all the equipment. That is correct. Final final question. Um h what's the disposal process for things like your you know equipment for making noise or smoke. How do you guys dispose of that equipment? Um does it have an expiration date like a fire extinguisher? Is there a vendor an agency? Um uh Lieutenant Brian Pierce, Fresno PD. Um they have an expiration date of about 5 years on them and we're using them right now. If if it's coming up to the expiration date, we'll use it out in a training environment to basically to uh dispose of them. And none of this equipment ends up in the surplus inventory site, does it? No.

All right. Thank you. Those are my questions. Motion to approve. So, uh, is there a second for that? Second. All right. There's a second. Uh, next punch up, we have Council Member Richardson, followed by actually just you. Oh, did you see your name? I punched up. Okay. Yeah. So, Richardson then Carbasi. Did it say I didn't say anything. Hit it again. Test it. Test it. The mic. Test it. Oh, it says Nick. Oh, we move. Oh, okay. I see. So, Council Member Carbassi then Richardson, I guess. What does it say? It says Nelson. Okay.

Okay. We got We got to get that fixed. Yeah, we're mixed up. So, Council Carbasi, you We'll make sure and get that fixed. Thank you. Okay. Um, so I rece I I let you know, chief, uh, about a month ago, I received a couple of emails. Some of them were like form emails from residents, but they asked a good question. Um, are we being compliant with new state law? It's a fair question. I have a responsibility to look into that. I conferred with your office. I conferred with the city attorney's office just to be really clear. Can you just on an elementary level tell us about the process? I I know Deputy Chief Farah covered it. just to be real clear what we went through because it wasn't just like here it is, let's rush it through. There was a process here,

right? Every every year we have previously prepared the report, posted it online 30 days in advance of a council meeting and then gotten on the agenda and that has met our understanding the requirements, legal requirements for the military equipment report. But last year we started hearing that people were dissatisfied with that. And so we responded and said, "Hey, we can do more." This was a first effort to do more. can, you know, there were a lot of reasonable suggestions made that have already been provided to me from last night's meeting and from some of the emails that some of you have received. So, we're going to incorporate those. Um, we I I mentioned to Council Member Richardson, the sky's the limit from unless there's a FAA rule of what we can do. So, we'll do what's what's reasonable, but we can definitely do more. Uh I I'm already having some ideas and some of the concerns about where the equipment's used, some things ways we could address that without making it an honorous burden um exceeding the requirements of the law, but we can certainly do more if that's what the community is asking for.

And and the meetings were I know it was discussed here at the council meeting on social media. It was circulated these meetings being held. I believe media covered it as well. The meetings were going to be held. Yes. And and actually to uh Council Member Arya's point, typically when we put out something on social media, the local news outlets pick it up. And in this case, they didn't. So, we'll make a point of doing an actual I think I I thought I read about it in a media article or two. I could be wrong, but I believe I believe it was stated to be be a public hearing, but I could be wrong. Um on that point, how many people showed up? Uh I've heard 25 and I've heard up to 40. So, including including

Let's say it was 100. in a city of over half a million. I just want to be really clear about scope and perspective. Um, and I'm glad people showed up. I hope that more people show up in the future, but just to be clear, that's how many showed up. Yes. And you listen to all them, gave them extra time. Okay, that's important.

So, that was facilitated. Um, the equipment you use. There was a a situation a couple years ago in district 2 where there was a rate of a home. So, there was an a couple of individuals allegedly, I don't know where the case went, but they had bombed a probation officer's car in the city. Several bombings throughout the city and they were they were located their home happened to be by a elementary school in my district and the neighbors were evacuated. A very scary thing. And PD went in. There was no no bombs went off. Everyone was secured. No one was hurt. I'm assuming in a case like that, whether it's in Northwest Fresno or any other part of this city, there will be equipment that is used, some of the equipment we're talking about now, that could potentially not only save the lives of the officers, but the very suspects that are terrorizing this community. In this case, they were white supremacists allegedly. I mean, you found Nazi memorabilia among the things you raided.

Yes. So, they were I'm going to say they're white supremacists, but So, you're describing one of those rare but not unheard of events in Fresno where Yes. A lot of the equipment listed in this report was used for that. Um, there's a lot of things that we do though before we have to get to the military equipment. We do crisis negotiations without the crisis vehicle. Uh, we have an X-ray machine that we use on suspicious devices before we ever have to bring the robot out in most cases. So, we're definitely trying to always use the least intrusive means uh whenever reasonable. Um, is it fair to say though this equipment when used properly can reduce injuries and save lives?

That's the absolute intent of it. And it's not just our lives, it's lives of people in the community. Uh, and it, you know, it's not comfortable to have to um hear people that don't approve of the military equipment, what it cost, and and what it to maintain or purchase. But I know that there's a very large majority of people out there who would be even more angry at us if u they lost a loved one in a tragic incident or a mass casualty by a school incident where we didn't have the proper equipment to respond quickly and effectively. So there's definitely a balancing act here. Okay.

Um I only speak as one of seven. I can tell you um when I was elected and re-elected twice for my district, it was on the understanding that I was going to be a bulldog for public safety. You use whatever equipment you have to use. It has been vetted by this council. It has been supported. There are procedures in place. There are layers and layers and layers of oversight over law enforcement just beyond this city. Yes, sir. That criminals don't have. So, please keep doing what you're doing because that could have been a very, very scary situation and far worse than it was in Northwest Fresno. And it can happen anywhere. Yes. And it can happen at any time. And that's why even though use may be infrequent on some of this equipment, we absolutely have to have it functioning and at our fingertips when that emergency hits. and it's life or death because that's what our jobs are.

I do want to add and you don't have to stay up or answer this question. I do want to add one thing. Um this has been an interesting day. We actually got a lot of business done so far and we haven't even hit lunch yet, but um we had a lot of on a separate item, but it relates to this. A lot of residents come up very passionately and talk about an issue that we're facing in close session today about calling out racism in this community. Yet we have members of the public today and I I couldn't believe I just I heard this one person claiming that Abraham Lincoln was a slave owner. Now I was at the Lincoln Memorial two days ago. I promise you that man was not a slave owner. It was quite the opposite actually. Um we had one person call our council president boy. I know what that term is and I know uh exactly what they were alluding to. And you know uh we had some people talk about last night's meeting and say we had a bunch of old white men up here. Now, you can't have racism one way or the other. It's racism. These are our city employees that were talked about that way. I can't control the color of my skin. I was born this way. I shouldn't feel ashamed to be whatever I am. I shouldn't. But the fact of the matter is, for as much as we get accused of being racist, back at you. Because people of the public, when they don't get what they want, will say terrible things that are hurtful. And for the officers, for anyone that's a city employee that feels they've been treated that way, it's wrong. And we're going to call it out. Thank you. All right. Uh I'll take the last uh just the last question, chief. Uh so why uh any insight as to why drones drones are classified as military equipment? Do our drones have any kind of lethal capacity attached?

You know, I I don't know the origin of why that that was decided to be included in military equipment by the California legislature, but maybe because it was early when drone technology was just emerging. But no, ours are p primarily a consumer grade type drone. We recently have um Skyo, which is an Americanmade drone that's a little different, but none are weaponized. None have any special capabilities uh other than like uh IR for nighttime vision and things like that. Um loudspeakers, lights, little sirens on some of them, but there's nothing uh weaponized about them.

Okay. Thanks, Chief. Well, we have a motion. We have a second. No. Yeah. Uh, is there any opposition to this item? Item 2K. All right. Seeing none, the passes 70. Thank you for lively discussion and thank you. Thank you the department for listening to residents a little closer. Um, at this point we're going to go ahead. We are going to break for lunch. We'll be back here in the chamber at 1:30 uh sharp because we do have a proclamation that the mayor and I will be uh presenting. Uh so we'll see you back here at at 1:30.

I don't have to go to county because I know take care of business. You guys suck over here.

Heat. Heat.

Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Don't you got Heat. Heat. Hallelujah.

where you

Down. Down. Downtown.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

forever. You

Heat. Heat. Hallelujah.

Heat. Heat. Yeah. Hey. Hey.

Are you ready? Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. All right, we are back in session uh resuming the meeting. Uh first thing we have this afternoon is a proclamation uh

for the Samwok Memorial High School boys basketball state championship uh team. Let's give a round of applause. And the uh mayor and I will be presenting uh this proclamation. All right. Well, if we could have, even though you're going to dwarf us, if we could have the Sal memorial team come on up, coach, you bring uh bring the players up and uh we'll line up here and and do this proclamation. Spread

them out. Even out.

Yeah. Even out on each side. Short guys next to us. You know, on on behalf of the city of Fresno, I want to say thank you first and foremost to uh each and every one of you. I had the opportunity back in 2023 uh to be able to go to Sanwok Memorial when they won the state championship then in men's basketball, boys basketball and uh it was an incredible event we had at the at their gymnasium. Um and maybe we'll do something like that here in the near future. But uh since this is relatively recent, we wanted to bring them into city hall and to be able to recognize them um because of this is no uh easy task. I think you guys went 28-7 for the year. You ended up winning the championship game in Sacramento, representing us, won 46 to 45, I believe, beat Bakersfield Christian. Uh, and along the way, it's not an easy task to be able even to get to the state championship, let alone um win uh the game every single game that you did. And I know I know that journey along the way took you through Clovis West. You had to beat Clovis West, our own local here, but St. Mary's and a number of other teams that allowed you to get to where you did. Um, and I think most of all, what's important to me is the way that they represented Fresno. Uh, you represented our our community in a very professional way. Um, and I know that the uh the athletics is one thing. It's the academics that are another. And you guys are all excelling in that as well. So, uh, I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the city of Fresno. and I'll turn it over to Council Member Esparza shortly. Um, but I did want to read this most important piece um on the and it says, "Now, therefore, be it

resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, March 26, 2026 to be Sanqin Memorial High School boys basketball CIF Division 2 state champions day in the city of Fresno. Congratulations you guys. Congratulations gentlemen. Uh it's my pleasure to be here with you all. Uh when you come up here to the city council, each one of us back here represents a certain part of the city and I represent uh the area where uh Sanwaukee Memorial uh happens to be. So I wanted to congratulate you and just you know just say for the record that I think moments like this are more than just the final score. It's about what a team represents to the city. You made us all very very proud and we appreciate you. Appreciate coaches uh and their hard work. Uh really a team effort. So congratulations one more time. Thank you.

Bring that trophy over. Bring the trophy on over. Coach, you want to say a few words here? You've uh you've been there now for what 14 years or so? 14 years. And he's done an incredible job uh coaching. Brad is an incredible human being. Uh that's your alma m alma m right I think you graduate in 87. Huh? So uh I did my homework but uh he's an incredible not just a a coach on the field but he's a coach uh off the court as well. So Brett, thank you.

Thank you Mary Dyer and the city council for allowing us to come here. Um a lot of family here. My wife and my mom are here. We have a lot of our administration here and a lot of family. We thank you for coming. Uh it's a special day, but more importantly, it's a special group of of student athletes that we have here. Uh they did a great job on the court, but more importantly, these guys are great citizens off the court, great GPA, and and just represent our school in in a very high fashion. So once again, we thank you for having us. Oh, one more thing. I hear you were a pretty good basketball player back in the day, a long time ago. So guys, I think we need to have Mayor Dyer in our gym

with shorts and a tank top and we'll get him a ball. Let's see how good Let's see if he can still do it. All right, we're going to invite you real soon. Thank you. Thanks, Gre. I wanted to uh just go by uh and uh have you say your name and and what year you're in uh at Sanwalken. I know you're coach, but I'm coach Peretti. Uh first year coaching at Sanwaqen. Um, I'm Samzi Caste and I'm a junior. I'm Domin Waju. I'm a sophomore. Coach, uh, Coach Hansen, I've been a varsity assistant for way too long. I'm Jaden Johnson. I'm a freshman.

Uh, Braden Evans, sophomore. I'm Aiden Walters. I'm a junior. Hudson Langden, I'm a junior. Dylan Cafus, I'm a senior. Brad Rosnoski, the head coach. Frank Per, athletic director. Uh Carson Bradford, I'm a junior. I'm Ty Shulan. I'm a junior. I'm Kylin Mallister. I'm a junior. I'm Fisher Glenn. I'm a junior. Eli Sablon. I'm a senior. Aiden Gordon and I'm a junior. Cameron Green. I'm a junior. Jackson Silverman. I'm a junior. Sergeant Sadu, senior. Parker speeds and I'm a senior

and you uh you know Parker is a son of the late H Spees who worked for us in the city of Fresno. So I'm going to give this to the coach and we'll uh get on each side of you and we'll have the clerk read the proclamation.

Thank you. Whereas on March 14th, 2026 at the Golden One Center in Sacramento, the Sanwaqin Memorial High School boys basketball team captured the CIF Division 2 state championship with a thrilling 46 to 45 victory over Bakersfield Christian. And whereas the Panthers finished with an impressive 28-7 record, capping a remarkable season where players demonstrated resilience, discipline, and excellence. And whereas the team is led by head coach Brad Rosnowski, a proud 1987 Samoki Memorial graduate who completed his 14th season at the helm of the program, where he continues to exhibit exceptional leadership, dedication, and vision. And whereas Samoki Memorial's championship journey included state playoff victories over St. Mary's, Wood Creek, Clovis West, Oakland Tech, and ultimately Bakersfield Christian. And whereas this triumph marks Sanwaqin Memorial's second state boys basketball championship in the last four years having won the 2023 title. The championships further cement the program's ongoing legacy of excellence. And whereas the achievements of the players, coaches, and staff exemplify the values of teamwork, perseverance, and sportsmanship that define Sanwake Memorial High and bring pride and distinction to the city of Fresno and the school's community. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, March 26, 2026 to be Sanwaqin Memorial High School boys basketball CIF Division 2 State Champions Day in the city of Fresno.

We're going to line up out there on the stairwell. Uh, and council member Sparzer will do it.

Thank you. All right, we're going to give folks a couple seconds to exit the chamber before we moved on to unscheduled communic. communication. I do have a couple of cards here before I call on the general audience. The first card I have is her Manuel Perez. Good afternoon, Manuel. You will have three minutes.

Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Uh, my name is Manuel Perez. I'm a resident of city of Fresno. I live on 619 North Roosevelt Avenue. And uh I'd like to present uh first some papers here that I have because I know I only have three minutes and it's uh regarding a notice that I received saying that my water was going to be cut off on uh the 23rd. Could you give one to each one? City clerk, would you accept the documentation?

Thank you. That way I won't have to speak on that. And uh the thing is I was there last Friday trying to negotiate something to uh continue, but uh the lady there at the uh utility bill insisted that I come up with $190 to open some kind of a way to continue going. But I advised her that on June of last year, I did the same thing already. So they said it's only once they can do that. But she offered me another time and I said, "Well, I even if you did offer me that opportunity, she said, I don't have the uh the funds." And uh the thing is uh that that important notice there. I think you see it there is that it has uh uh nonpayment. But what I'd like to also give another uh deal here is that I have payments here that I have made according to our uh verbal agreement that we did in June of last year. Now the thing is that maybe the payments that I made are not adequate for the uh utility bill agency but that's all I could afford at that time. And uh I like to mention that my um proof of income I don't have a regular present but

anyway that uh that I'm also u a cardiovascular patient. I'm 84 years of age and I live alone there at that address. And uh I uh saw that uh Monday when I was trying to prepare myself for this meeting that on one of the bills there mentioned in the back. Could you please one more time mention that on the back there it says senior citizen rates are available for qualifying customers who are age 62 and above low

income Mr. Perez. Unfortunately that'll conclude your time but we will take your uh documentation here into consideration. Thank you sir. All righty. Thank you council president if I may. Mr. Perez if you can just step outside the chambers and meet with my staff Carla Martinez. which is the lady right behind you in black. And we'll follow up with you and try and get this resolved for you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Carla. Call Jocelyn down in UBC.

Okay, next speaker. Uh card we had for Hester Hensley. Hester with us. I don't have any more yellow cards. So, if anyone else would like to come on down and speak, unscheduled communication is uh open on any topic. Welcome. Yeah. I just want to put something on record that should be a concern to every single person in this room. I came to the council today to speak about policy, about code enforcement, about my rights, and about an email I received from the city attorney, Erica. I asked for information. What I got back from her was not what I requested. Instead, I sent a language. I was sent language explaining how the city can obtain a warrant and force entry into my home. So, let's be clear. When a resident asks for transparency and receives what reads like a road map to enter their home, that doesn't feel like help. That feels like intimidation. That feels like a threat. So, I did what I'm supposed to do. I came here. I spoke on the record. I exercised my right. But what happened next is not what is holding this ent what I am holding this entire city council accountable for. After I spoke, after I had already expressed that I was triggered and speaking from a place of lived experience regarding Howard Lacy, city attorney Erica came down from her position, approached me, sat directly next to me. I told her not to come over. She did it anyways. She leaned in, postured up, and demanded that I showed her an email immediately. This is not professionalism. This is not appropriate conduct. This is intimidation. And what is even more concerning is this. Not one of you stopped her. Not one of you

intervened. Instead, I was the only one receiving a warning from Nielson. So, let me ask you, how is the resident the problem when your own city attorney is the one escalating the situation? This is not about one moment. This is about a pattern. This is about how a culture where city employees feel empowered to confront, intimidate and dismiss the very people that they are supposed to serve. If you tolerate that behavior, then you are not neutral. You are complicit. And yes, I am calling on leadership, especially the city manager, George Anne White, to take immediate accountability because if leadership does not act, then leadership is part of the problem. A city attorney has an ethical obligation to uphold professionalism, to avoid intimidation, and to never use their position to confront a member of the public in that way. What happened today was a failure of that duty. So, here's what I'm requesting on the record. I'm requesting that immediate release of the preservation of all camera footage from today's meeting. I'm requesting a formal investigation to the conduct of the city attorney. And if the city refuses to act, I will be taking this to the state bar along with witness statements from those who saw exactly what happened because accountability doesn't stop when in these chambers. You work for the public and today the public was failed and I'm not going to let this be ignored. All right. Thank you. Do you have any additional uh folks who would love to uh do public comment? It's we're on unscheduled communication currently. time. You start the time, I guess.

Okay. See? Um I want to say uh earlier um there's pro proclamations done and um there women's day like you guys have all these days for all these people and I started thinking I was like hm I wonder if that's discrimination like if there's like a women's day like if I was like anybody even knows that would be like or um what is it? gay people's day or black people's day or something like that just because these could be all taken in different context or people could have I don't know I was just you know what I mean but um what I want to say is earlier um when a proclamation was given Analisa um talking about um some basic dignity about some tampons and you said something about um progress that should have been made a long time ago. And um the thing is is like I really don't want to be here. Like I don't think this is like I'd rather be doing other things, but um I think it's kind of hard to ignore like

see how long do I have? I have a minute left. That's good. That's enough time. It's irritating. Can't really talk um or have like a get out get what I like to say out because 3 minutes isn't. So, but um see I like to say some things but um I probably won't right now. So, when I feel like it at a later time, I will. But you guys have become some of you guys have become a real liability. And um yeah, it's it um Yeah. Thank you. Uh is there any additional public comment? We're currently on unscheduled communication. Going once, going twice. Okay, we're going to go ahead and close unscheduled communication here for the uh for the day. And I believe that actually concludes the public portion of our of our meeting. Uh so we're going to have the city attorney read off the close session uh items that we need to uh hear here in the back.

Good afternoon. Today in close session, we have item 5A, conference with labor negotiators, all units listed on the agenda. Item 5B, conference with legal council, existing litigation 1, community compact versus city of Fresno. Item 5 C, conference with legal council, existing litigation, Wilson versus City of Fresno. Item 5D, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, Michelle versus City of Fresno. Item 5E, conference with legal council, existing litigation, Philips Curley versus City of Fresno. Item 5 F, conference with legal council, existing litigation, Reagan versus City of Fresno. Item 5G, public employee performance evaluation, city clerk. Item 5H, public employee performance evaluation, city attorney. We have a timed item for 3 p.m. to comply with Brown Act. Item 5 I, conference with legal council, existing litigation, South Fresno Community Alliance versus City of Fresno. We may have reportable items after close session.

Don't you Hallelujah.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. down. There's

a lot.

Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat.

Memorial. Heat. Heat.

Don't you got Heat. Heat. Don't you

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

for you. Where are we?

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. What are you? Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Hallelujah.

Heat. Heat.

Good afternoon. As to item 5D in closed session, matter Karen Micheli versus City of Fresno. It's a fifth district court of appeal case number F085599. There was direction given by council the vote of 7 to0 to file a petition in this matter for review before the California Supreme Court.

Heat. Heat.

I know. Hallelujah.

Heat. Heat. Thank you for joining the city council meeting on March 26, 2026. We are jouring from close session at 3:48 p.m. Thank you for attending.

Keep judging me.