City Council - Regular Meeting

I'm having trouble

with Renekis.

So I I waited for it to start, and it started. So when I went to launch mine, it's giving me, like, a different colors and a loud beeping noise.

Alright. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Great to have all of you here in the chamber with us. We're gonna go ahead and get the meeting called to order. The clerk, if you'll please call the roll.

Good morning. Council member Perea. Council member Arias.

Vice

president Maxwell. Present. President Esparza.

Present.

Council member Vang.

Present.

Council member Richardson. Absent. Council member Carbassi. Five members being present, we have a quorum.

Alright. I'll take it. That's just enough. So next, we're gonna have our invocation, and that's gonna be done by the Voices United Course. Just come on down and following that, I'll ask everyone to stay standing for the pledge of allegiance. Please stand if you can and we'll have our invocation by the Voices United Course.

Just one last person.

Good morning. We're a very small part of the Voices United Chorus, and we're just honored and delighted to be here today to do the invocation. Heavenly father, thank you for being with us today as the city council members, city manager, city attorney, and city clerk attend to the needs of Fresno and its residents. Lord, we ask that you guide them with their decisions regarding the health and wellness of Fresno residents in areas such as housing for transitional age youth and their families that are homeless and providing funding for a rental housing project. Father, please lead them in their discussions of making Fresno a healthy place to live by providing insight into trail extensions as well as making areas in the city accessible to those that are disabled.

Lord, in the area of resident safety, direct them in their decisions regarding city streets, the emergency dispatch system, search and rescue, the cleanup of older buildings, and the provision of clean drinking water. We ask all of this in Jesus's name, amen.

Thank you. It's not every day that the invocation gets a round of applause afterwards. That was beautiful. Council vice president, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Ready?

Alright. That takes us to the approval of the agenda. Clerk, are there any announcements that you have before we get into this?

Council president, if I may just say thank you to the ladies. That was the best invocation I've ever experienced in my seven years. You set a new standard. So it was beautiful. Thank you.

Alright. Yes. Good morning. Thank you. Today, we want to make everyone aware that we have interpreters available for today's meeting. We are running the Wordly digital translation services. There are tablets available in the front if you need to use those. In addition, we are providing online interpretation services in Hmong language, and we have interpretation services for American sign language as well. Wordly is available in Spanish and Punjabi. With regard to changes to the agenda, today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of Philip Larson.

With regard to item two p ID 26 dash three six three regarding actions pertaining to the annexation application number P2600103 relating to approximately 2.4 acres of the North Lanes Road right of way section number two resolution authorizing the city manager or his or designee to initiate the annexation of the Copper Fryent number three organization with the Fresno Local Agency Formation Commission. The resolution is subject to mayoral veto and should have three asterisks before the title and subject mayor's veto should be listed at the end of the title. Item two m, ID 26 dash four one three regarding bill for introduction amending section two dash six zero three of the Fresno Municipal Code relating to the publication of legal notices citywide was tabled to the 06/04/2026 meeting by council member Arias. Items moved to contested consent for further discussion. Item two H ID 26 dash five zero two regarding resolution establishing procedures for appeals in the competitive bidding process and resending resolutions 2,001 dash fifty two and two thousand three dash one two nine was moved to contested consent by vice president Maxwell and council member Arias.

That concludes the changes to the agenda.

Alright. Great. Let's see here. Let's could do one more round robin to make sure there's no more changes. Council Member Bria. Council Member Arias.

No. Thank you, Council President. Council Vice President.

No additional team. Council Mervain. None. As Council Member Richardson with us yet?

No, it's my understanding he will not be signing on today.

Oh, okay. Great. Alright. Let's I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Alright. In motion, we have a second. Any opposition? Alright. Seeing none, the agenda is approved. This takes us to the ceremonial presentations. Looks like I have the first one for World Asthma Day. But before we start the proclamations, this is one of our favorite parts of the meeting. We have a packed house here today with a lot of people. And it was great to hear the chattering.

It's good. You know, I I hate to be the party pooper and ask everyone to quiet down. But we are going to limit the time length of proclamations today to ten minutes each at at maximum including the reading of the proclamations. We have eight proclamations today. And as much as we love the ceremonial part, we have the business of the city to tend to.

So I gotta try and keep it to a relative minimum. Sorry to my colleagues. You all asked me as president to sort of police how many are going on, but it also, none of you wanna be the one that gets cut off. So we we allowed all all eight this time around, but we are gonna do a hard ten minutes. Bernard here is going to have a timer, an obnoxious timer we're gonna stick to.

And there will be a a warning, please keep track. My suggestion, limit your your own words and hand it off to the community to for them to say a few more words. But, yeah, thank you for your compliance and and brevity for this morning. Alright. So I'm gonna try and set an example here, the ten ten minutes. So that brings our first proclamation, for World Asthma Day, and that's sponsored by myself.

For the record, I'll be keeping the timer for the council president. Council president, you now have eight minutes.

Rules for thee but not for hey. Welcome. Welcome. Good morning. Good morning. Great great to have you all here with us. You know, we're reserving World Asthma Day today. I appreciate the outreach and the proactivity to make sure this got on the agenda. This was a very easy thing to say yes to because it affects me personally. It affects so many of our families and individuals across Fresno and really the the entire the entire region.

So I do want to thank our friends from the Central California Asthma Collaborative for for being here and and and for your your good work. We're raise awareness of a condition that affects millions of people and our our and I'd say in there in our everyday lives. You know for a lot of folks asthma is more than a diagnosis. It's a daily reality that can shape routines and limit activities and create moments of real fear and uncertainty. And as somebody who you know grew up with adolescents I was three years old, hospitalized about seven times or so as a child, many visits over to Valley Children's.

Very, very much appreciate the work that you all are are doing. And, you know, in in the interest of time, I'm gonna cut myself off and set an example, and I wanna hand it off to Graciela Anaya here who is representing the collaborative. Welcome.

Thank you so much. Well, I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. Good morning, Mayor Dyer and members of the Fresno City Council. On behalf of Central California Asthma Collaborative, thank you for recognizing World Asthma Day with this proclamation. We're truly honored for your support and your commitment to the health and well-being of Fresno residents.

Asthma continues to impact thousands of families throughout Fresno County, especially children and low income communities who are disproportionately affected by poor air quality and environmental triggers. Since 2011, CCAC has proudly served close to 1,200 Medi Cal members in the city of Fresno through asthma education, home environmental assessments, asthma remediation services, and direct community support. Altogether we have served over 8,500 Medi Cal members throughout Central California. Every family we serve represents a child missing fewer school days, a parent avoiding emergency room visits and a household learning how to better manage asthma and improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, our region continues to face significant environmental challenges.

According to the state of the air report 2026, some of the nation's most concerning levels of ozone and particle pollution, both of which are known to worsen asthma symptoms, happen here in the Central Valley. These conditions place our most vulnerable residents, especially children, seniors, and those living with chronic respiratory illness at greater risk. We also want to extend a special thank you to council member and council president Esparza for his generous sponsorship to support our World Asthma Day event that we held on May 2 at Martin Ray Rayleigh Park. Events like these are only possible through community partnership and leadership that values public health and community engagement. Our hope is to continue bringing events, education, and resources to Fresno, not only to raise awareness about asthma, but to connect the Fresno residents with meaningful support that helps families breathe easier and live healthier lives.

Thank you again for your partnership, your advocacy, and recognizing the importance of asthma awareness in our community.

Thank you. Thank you. Give a round of applause. So I'm gonna present it now, but come on over. I don't bite. I know you guys read a lot of things about us in the newspaper, but only half are true. Yeah, come on, come on over. So again, it is my pleasure to present the proclamation for World Asthma Day to the Central California Asthma Collaborative. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do for our community.

Thank you

so much.

Thank you.

And clerk, if you could, while we take a few photos, you could read the the proclamation. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you. Whereas 05/05/2026 is recognized nationally as World Asthma Day, serving as an important reminder that every person living with asthma deserves access to evidence based treatment, including inhaled corticosteroids, which can reduce the risk of asthma attacks and prevent avoidable asthma related deaths. And whereas the Central California Asthma Collaborative is a community health organization that works through partnerships with health care providers and local stakeholders to expand asthma care services and ensure underserved populations receive the comprehensive support necessary for long term health and well-being. And whereas CCAC is dedicated to creating healthier and more resilient communities by addressing the social and environmental conditions that impact respiratory health, promoting cleaner air, and ensuring all individuals have the opportunity to breathe freely and thrive.

And whereas through community outreach, innovative programs, and advocacy efforts, CCAC continues to play a vital role in reducing asthma disparities, improving asthma related care, and addressing air pollution and climate related challenges affecting Central California. Now therefore be it resolved that we, mayor Jerry P. Dyer, council president Nelson Esparza, and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim 05/07/2026 as World Asthma Day in the city of Fresno.

Alright. That took that took about five minutes and forty seconds. So I challenge the next my colleagues to beat me on on that as well as the mayor. The mayor's got about three or four proclamations on here. Yeah. In case you're wondering. So our next our next proclamation is sponsored by vice president Maxwell, and it's a proclamation in honor of Darryl Feifield Day.

Mister and missus Feifield, if I could have you come up to the front here as well as our friends from Care Fresno and anybody that has an embarrassing story about these folks. Morning everybody, can everybody hear me okay? As you can see, we have a very special guest in the house today, that is mister Darryl Fifeld. This is somebody that I felt was worthy of recognition and honoring today because of the commitment and service that he has given back to this community. He really is a man of dedication, whether that's been to his education, to his career in law enforcement, to his wife Judy, to his faith, or to the community.

Daryl Feifield puts his money where his mouth is. He has served in the Fresno Police Department for thirty six years. He started in the seventies. He rose to the rank of sergeant in 1976. From there, he became lieutenant in 1978.

I wanna say captain in 1980, and then in 1993, moved to the rank of deputy chief. Is that correct? And in that time, earned a bachelor's and master's degrees, but he has done so much more than that. After retiring from law enforcement, went on to work with Northwest Church. He really is a man of god and somebody that has very deep faith and he took his two specialties, you know, working with the faith community and also working within law enforcement to give even further back to the community of Fresno.

Many of you are familiar with the Fresno Police Chaplaincy. Before that was its own nonprofit, it was just a complete volunteer basis. Mister Feifield here is the one that started that nonprofit many decades ago and off of that branched Care of Fresno, an amazing nonprofit who we're joined with today. That's a faith based organization and they've gone into the hardest hit neighborhoods across the city of Fresno and teamed up with local churches to give back to the underserved community, especially children in those neighborhoods by providing them with an incredible after school education whether that's reading, writing, math, or art. They even got me to participate in a couple of those art projects.

There's some photos out there somewhere. But really mister Fifeld, he has just given so much of himself to this community and we wanted to take a few moments here today to recognize that work. And I do wanna hand it over to mister Feifield to just say a few words about why this work is so important to him. What drove you to do this work and what continues to drive you to stay active and involved today, mister Feifield?

That's a lot of questions. I take it I can't bring out my four pages of notes. Okay. So, I think first and foremost, you gotta have a good wife. Yes. It has to support you and I've got that.

Yeah. Amen.

And then, I think god was working in me because I couldn't get a lot of these ideas by myself. Yeah, I'm just not that bright but I felt something pushing me all the way through law enforcement and then later after and then into Care Fresno even more active and it's been just a real blessing. Of course, I had the excellent leadership of then chief Jerry Dyer. So, you know, I was on my way just with him. So, yeah, it's it's been a great thing.

We continue to work hard. We're the best kept secret In Fresno, we foster three basic principles. We're trying to instill in our youth and their parents, pride, hope, and relationships. They're our cornerstone, and that's what keeps us going. And we're we're growing every year.

We're in six different complexes right now, and others are begging us to get in there so that we can help them. And one of the reasons that we had this great partnership with the law enforcement was that when we first started, the crime was out of control. And we had these problem oriented policing teams. We would go in there and take the crime, the bad guys out, but there was a vacuum. And we said, we gotta fill that vacuum.

And the vacuum was filled by Care Fresno and the local churches and the volunteers and other nonprofits. They all came together and that's what causes to move forward and help in these neighborhoods. So, it's been a real good success. We don't waste any money. We're probably the best kept secret with our budget.

We're on it. I mean, I'm proud of these people here. These are the staff and and some of our young people and I'm happy they're here and I want to thank council mister Maxwell for bringing this to the forefront and I hope each and every one of you will look more into Care Fresno and see what it's doing. And it might be in your community, and you don't even know it. And if you wanna support us, great. Because we need all we can get. Thank you, sir. Thank you. You wanna say? I

was told as vice president, I'd have ten and a half minutes. So I'm a Casey, would you like to say a couple words about this man and his mission and what it means to you? Come on up.

Absolutely. I'm Casey. I'm the executive director of Care Fresno and I've since knowing Daryl, he's just been such a blessing. I have an unique relationship with Care Fresno. My husband and I pastor a church and so that's how we started with Care Fresno having a site at our church and so long before I became the executive director, I've just seen the work that you've done and the work that Care Fresno does in our communities as a church partner, as a parent, of kids in the program and seeing the mentorship and the things that that take place with these really cool young adults that get to mentor my own kids and so, you know, just knowing Daryl and the board in general and Sammy and every getting to know everybody on a more executive level and being a part of the work that god has done for thirty years is just such a blessing for me and so, thank you, Darryl and Care Presno for just continuing the work that you're doing in our communities.

Anybody else wanna share an embarrassing story or two? I'm doing alright.

Council vice president, you're digging a hole, man.

Mister Feifield, I just wanna thank you again for your service to the Fresno community through your career at the Fresno Police Department, Northwest Church, and with Care Fresno. You really are a blessing to this community, and I just wanna thank you and say God bless you for all the amazing work that you've done. And at this point, before I have the clerk read this into the record, I do wanna read this last line here. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, mayor Jerry P. Dyer, and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, 05/07/2026 as Darryl Feifield Day in the city of Fresno. Congratulations.

Whereas Darryl Fyfield has dedicated decades of his life to public service in Fresno including thirty six years with Fresno Police Department, where he rose through the ranks to serve as deputy chief of police. And whereas in the mid nineteen hundreds, during a time when many Fresno neighborhoods were facing the impacts of poverty, crime, gang activity, and community instability, Darryl was moved by his faith and sense of purpose to respond with compassion, mentorship, and commitment to strengthening his community. And whereas Darryl's vision helped lead the founding of Care Fresno, a faith based organization dedicated to creating safe and nurturing spaces where children can build friendships, receive mentorship, and academic support, participate in positive events and activities, and build confidence in who they are and who they can become. And whereas the city of Fresno honors Darryl Fyfield for a legacy rooted in the belief that a safer and more connected city is not built not only through public service, but through mentorship, strengthened relationships, and the steady work of helping residents recognize their own strength, potential, and role in shaping Fresno's future. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, mayor Jerry P Dyer, and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, 05/07/2026 as Darryl Fyfield Day in the city of Fresno.

Alright. We are we are on time. Thank you, council vice president. Keeping that you got about a minute and a half to spare there. So we're gonna move on to our third proclamation of the morning. This is a proclamation for Mental Health Awareness Month. It's sponsored by council member Paria. I'm gonna join her for this one.

Alright, good morning everyone, Council Member Parea. It's my honor to bring awareness to a topic that I would beg to say has impacted just about every person in this room and beyond the confines of these walls, but something that we don't always talk enough about and that's mental health. This is mental health awareness month and so I'll speak for myself, know, as somebody who has struggled previously with my own mental health, it was important for me to know that one, it's okay to not be okay, it's okay to ask for help, and it's extremely important to know that help is out there. Whether you have support from your family and friends or not, Sometimes we need just a little bit extra help to get us through those tough times. Whether you're a police officer or a teenager, whether you're someone from a segment of our cultural community where it is taboo to talk about mental health and asking for help.

It is so critical to remember that help is out there and it's important to raise awareness that we have organizations all throughout the the the Central Valley that have dedicated their life and their mission to help people and this type of help saves lives. These are first responders in my eyes because they provide such a critical resource to our community where people going through their darkest of times know that there is help out there and it is okay. And so I'm proud to recognize NAMI who works every single day to help people during some of those hardest, most difficult of times. And you always remember who was there for you in your moments of greatest need. And whether we make it out or or we don't always make it out the way we would hope to, it's these people that are doing the work every single day to make sure that we are doing everything possible to help the people of Fresno and beyond.

And so Gordy is a good friend of mine, and you've done a lot of good work personally for members of our community. And so I wanna hand the mic over to council president first and then to you to say a few words. Okay, Gordy? Council president?

Thank you for allowing me thirty seconds of your precious time this in this proclamation but I I just wanted to come down here and and say thank you all for the work that you do and helping the the break the stigma here within our community and and really at large. You know, it's an issue that affects, you know, everyone. It's an issue that's impacted many of my friends, many of my family, and just very grateful. Thank you. Mhmm. Thank you.

So my name is Gordie, and I am first of all, thank you city council members. Mayor Dyer, think he stepped outside and let's see the chief of police. I'm so excited. So my name is Gordy and I am the project coordinator for NAMI Fresno. NAMI is the National Alliance for Mental Illness and I do myself live with bipolar one.

I live with borderline personality disorder which is very intrusive in my life every single day. I have ADHD and so I have a lot of anxiety. Right now I got a lot of anxiety. So, I just wanted to say that, thank you council member Annalise Pereira for this proclamation for us to be here for mental health awareness month is so important. As you know, mental health is not, it's not a privilege.

It is, something that every single person in our community needs. It's a necessity. And so, NAMI Fresno works really hard. We have two staff members, and everything else we do is through volunteers, and that's who you see here. These are all volunteers for us.

And then we have Heather who's, like, the foundation of who we are with our with our administration. I do not Google. I'm a mentor. And one of the one things that we know that's important as I know you guys do as leaders and as non a nonprofit and with all our partners, we could not do this with all our partners in the community, is that we have many people who struggle in silence. We have many people who wear their pain out front and who are really struggling.

And it's so important for us as a nonprofit in our community to do that walk with them. It is so critical. And I brought my mom here today because we lost our dad last year, and they had sixty years of marriage. And so now my family is doing that walk with my mom. And so I'm grateful that she was here to come, Wanted to make her smile for the day, and I'm just grateful for everything. And I don't know if anybody else would like to say anything.

Thank you, Gordie. So I'm Alexandra Otabwatin. I'm the acting director for NAMI. Jesus is in the back. He's actually the president. But we just want to thank the community overall for supporting NAMI and our mental health organization. So thank you so much. We

have some time left. I'm looking at the timer. We have time left. Good

morning. Thank you, council members, mayor. My name is Manny Pisano. And on 01/01/2022, I attempted to take my own life. I was shortly diagnosed with major depressive disorder, anxiety, and PTSD.

I am pleased to see all the law enforcement here today. Men and women of the Fresno Police Department because they were the first ones that interacted with me on January 3, and they treated me with dignity and grace. And then NAMI found me. See, I grew up on an island in the middle of the ocean where culturally and demographically, health wasn't talked about. NAMI has 12 principles of support, and the first one is we will see the individual first and not the illness.

And sometimes when you're living with a mental illness, that's all you see. The stigma is great amongst ourselves. So NAMI taught me to see myself and provided me the opportunity to give back. The number 12 principle of support is we will never give up hope. Thank you, NAMI, for giving me hope.

Thank you for sharing your your story. That was powerful. So it's my honor to present our mental health awareness month proclamation to NAMI Fresno. Congratulations. City clerk.

Thank you. Whereas mental health is a critically important concern affecting individuals, children, families, and communities throughout Central California and must remain a central priority in protecting the health, safety, and overall well-being of residents as mental wellness is critical to a thriving and resilient community. And whereas approximately one in five residents in Fresno County will experience a mental health condition in a given year, and data indicates that many individuals experiencing emotional, mental health, or substance use challenges continue to face barriers to care, with only a portion reporting access to services, highlighting the urgent need to expand outreach and equitable access to treatment. And whereas organization organizations, excuse me, such as NAMI Fresno County play a critical role in raising awareness, reducing stigma, and providing education and support services that strengthen individuals and families while promoting mental wellness throughout the city of Fresno. Now therefore be it resolved that we, mayor Jerry P Dyer, council member Analisa Perea, and the Fresno City Council members encourage all residents, community organizations, health care providers, educational institutions, and local agencies to work together to increase awareness and support mental health and well-being of all members of our community and do hereby declare the month of May 2026 to be Mental Health Awareness Month in the City Of Fresno.

Here we go. It's now time to recognize the Tennis National Day of the Month. If you can have Adam Belichi come on up.

Council member Aris, one second while your guests come up. We did lose a quorum here, so we're gonna chase down. We get one more member in here.

One more live body.

One more pulse in the room. If we can get one of them to just put a foot in the door, that'd be great.

You can drag them by their feet.

This is not counting your time.

Don't worry.

Okay. Alright. We we we can resume.

Thank you, council member Maxwell, for your willingness to come back into Chambers and get a free tennis lesson. I'm not gonna do a lot of speaking today. I just wanna point out one thing that's really important. As we operate our city parks, there's a diversity of sports that occurs across our city. But one of the oldest sports in our community has been tennis. The eroding tennis club started in 1931. That was the same year that I think our mayor was born in 1931. Right? A long time ago for those of us who are younger. And if you look at Eroding Park today, you'll see a newly serviced tennis court.

But most importantly, on the weekends, you see a packed house. Everybody is playing tennis at one of the largest parks in the central part of the city, and it's an active community. They have continuously conducted outreach, invited more and more people to the courts, and as a result, the city has responded with greater investments into the sport and to the facility. So I do wanna thank Adam Balakian and the Roadie Tennis Club for their world work and more importantly for being around since 1931. Adam?

Good morning everybody my name is Adam Balakian and I am an advocate for tennis. I'm a part of a two organizations the first being Roating Park tennis club the second being community tennis at Roating Park. I'll talk first about Community Tennis at Roading Park. So I started playing tennis about, give or take, two years ago. I really started my journey by going online trying to find people to play with because I actually had never played tennis before and shockingly compared to a sport like pickleball it was really hard to find people to play tennis with.

You have to already have some skill, you have to already know what you're doing, you got to have all the equipment and you really need someone to kind of teach you the basics and we didn't really have anything like that in Fresno actually there's not really too many programs like that anywhere it's a new concept as far as community tennis goes. So we went out to Roading Park there was several of us and I me along with several other people we ended up, starting a tennis group right? There was different skill levels I was a brand new beginner and there was people that have been playing for years but we all started playing tennis together and slowly slowly the group started expanding. So we started, you know promoting on Facebook, Instagram, the basics and before long we had sixty eighty people coming out on a Tuesday and on a Sunday to play tennis and these aren't just professional players you know or people that have been playing a long time. In the year 2025 we did our first impact report we had two twenty people that came out that had never stepped foot on a tennis court before.

We had over 500 people come out to the courts in total and you know we've had a lot more since then too that was last year's numbers. So we really want to encourage everybody to come out and play tennis. We have all the equipment. We have all the coaching, all the things that you would need to get started. And this Saturday, we're actually going to be doing for the first time ever, it's called Central Valley Beginner Tennis Day. And we have over 220 people signed up that have never stepped foot on a tennis court before and, we're gonna have all 11 courts reserved. We're gonna have coaching. We're gonna have snacks, food, all the equipment you need and we encourage everybody to come out and try it. You can register. You can just look up our Instagram.

It's Community Tennis Roading Park or just show up at the tennis courts on Saturday. We're going to be there from nine to twelve and we'll have a check-in station. We'll get you everything you need and we'll get you on a court plan. So we would love to see people out there we would love as much help as we can get helping to expand access to tennis break down barriers you know such as intimidation not having equipment cost and we're really working on that so we would appreciate as much support as we can get and we would love to see you all on the courts.

Thank you. City clerk council mayor will see you Saturday morning at Roading Park.

Thank you. Whereas since its founding on 05/21/1881 as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, the United States Tennis Association has served as a national steward of the sport, guiding the advancement and accessibility of tennis across the nation. And whereas the Roading Park Tennis Club, a nonprofit public benefit organization established in 1931, has long served as a pillar of the Fresno community by providing accessible programming, structured instruction, and opportunities for both recreational and competitive play. And whereas supported by a dedicated network of more than 100 volunteers in collaboration with the city of Fresno Parks Department, the Roading Park Tennis Club continues to deliver inclusive programming for all ages and skill levels, while community driven improvements to Roading Park, including resurface courts and new amenities have revitalized local engagement in the sport and supported the health and wellness of residents. And whereas the USTA recognizes the month of May as national tennis month.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, the Fresno City Council and Mayor Jerry P Dyer, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as National Tennis Month.

Alright. We're doing great so far. Staying all under time. Next proclamation is going to be, honoring National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day. This is sponsored by council member Richardson as well as the office of the mayor and city manager. And mayor, you've got three proclamations on here, so I'm gonna hold you especially tight.

We we were gonna be tight.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. If we can have all of our fellow law enforcement folks come up here, the people that keep, all of us, safe in this committee, I do appreciate them very, very much and under the leadership of Chief Casto. And it's unfortunate council member Richardson is not able to be here. He's serving our country. But we do want to take an opportunity to recognize this special time.

And it is, in honor of National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day. And, you know, this is a personal issue with me. I I spent forty years wearing this uniform and the last eighteen as a as a police chief. And my number one goal as a police chief was to never lose a police officer in the line of duty. And that's easy to say, hard to do.

You have to make sure you provide the right training, the equipment, the staffing levels of supervision. And fortunately, during my time as a as a chief, we did not lose a police officer. I'm one of the things I'm most grateful for in in my entire career. But there is an unfortunate reality that we do lose police officers from time to time. As witnessed here recently in Tulare with the the murder of deputy Hoppert and I had the opportunity to speak with his wife and they left behind a three year old child and and so we know the the dangers are real, the sacrifice is real, and I am very, very thankful that we have dedicated men and women who are very, very brave that put on this uniform every day to keep our our folks safe.

And so with that, we'll have a ceremony today at Courthouse Park at 12PM. And for those of you who haven't been, it's a very honorable ceremony and rightfully so for the people who serve our community. And so at this time, I'd like to have Chief Casto say a few words. Mindy?

We're beyond grateful for this honor, for the support of the administration, city council, and above all, our community. We do work for you. I, like mayor, place these officers' safety, all all of them at the very top of my priority. And every day, I'm grateful when each one of them go home. And again, that contributes to community safety. And we want every person in this city to be safe and be able to raise their family in a place that not only statistically sounds safe but they feel safe. And we are beyond grateful to be able to serve in Fresno and thank you for this honor today.

Thank you very much. And we have members of the the honor guard that are here. Jeanette, you for being here. And for all of you, let me just say on behalf of the city manager and I and all of our city council, thank you for what you do every single day in serving our, community. You know how much I appreciate it, and I've been there, done that, and I know how dangerous the job is. So thank you. God bless you. Clerk?

Thank you. Whereas the mayor and city council of Fresno acknowledged the sacrifices made by the men and women of law enforcement in Fresno County who have lost their lives in service to its citizens and to the ceremony in their honor celebrated at twelve noon, Thursday, 05/07/2026 in Fresno County Courthouse Park, and whereas the congress and president of the United States have designated May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week. And whereas the men and women of the Fresno Police Department unceasingly provide a vital public service. Now therefore be it resolved that we, mayor Jerry Dyer, and the council of the city of Fresno, do hereby call upon the citizens of Fresno and upon all patriotic, civic, and educational organizations to observe the week of Sunday, May 10 through Sunday, 05/16/2026 as National Police Week with appropriate ceremonies and observances in which all our people may join in commemorating law enforcement officials past and present who by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities have rendered a dedicated service to their communities and in so doing have established for themselves an enviable and enduring reputation for preserving the rights and security of all citizens.

Be it further resolved that we call upon all citizens of Fresno to observe Thursday, 05/07/2026 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in Fresno to honor those lost in law lost law enforcement officers who, through their courageous deeds, have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community or have become disabled in the performance of duty and let us recognize and pay respect to the survivors of our fallen heroes.

Good?

That was great, mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Or go go sit on the sidelines. We'll get you back here shortly for your last couple of ones but for now, our next proclamation is going to be the proclamation for AAPI Heritage Month, and that is sponsored by Council Member Vang.

Thank you, mayor, and thank you, council president Nelson Esparza. Good morning. Hello. Can I have, let's see, Sriramjit Singh and Mandeep Kaur, Indrajit Singh come up here as well as Joanne Lai, Mabel Hu and Verasai Yee Baromeo? I hope I pronounced everybody's name correctly.

As you can tell, I'm wearing my traditional Hmong clothing. Thank you very much for joining us as we recognize Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This month is an opportunity to celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of Asian American, native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities here in the state of Fresno. Here in Fresno, the AAPI community makes up nearly 15% of the city's population. That's over 80,000.

And to put that into perspective, that is the size of one council district. And we continue to play an important role in cultural, civic, and economic strength in this community. This recognition is especially meaningful to me because I understand the sacrifices many families made to create opportunities for future generations. Today, I want to recognize the Jakarta movement, the Central California Asian Pacific women and the incredible work they do to uplift and empower our community. Organizations like these continuously help build a stronger and inclusive Fresno.

And I look forward to recognizing more AAPI organizations in the future. Therefore, is my honor to present this proclamation recognizing May 2026 as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month here in the city of Fresno.

Good morning everyone. On behalf of Central California Asian Pacific Women Organization, thank you council member Brandon Vang, mayor Dyer, and the Fresno City Council for this special recognition. We feel extremely honored to be recognized for the work that we do. This recognition means a great deal to us because it reflects the collective heart and soul of the many generations of women and community leaders here in the Central Valley who helped build and sustain our organization over the years. CCA PW was actually born out of a women's movement in the nineteen seventies.

And in 1980, has transformed into an organization that worked to support and uplift Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women and students in the Central Valley through our scholarship programs, mentorship opportunities, leadership development, and community events. CCEPW is very passionate about education because it unlocks opportunities for women and girls to be able to pursue their goals. And over the years, we've been really inspired by the women and girls that we serve to returning back to Central Valley to give back to our communities. And so I'd also like to thank our amazing board members and all of the C CAPW women who came before us and the generous donors and the community partners that believe in us and our mission. This recognition also belongs to all of you.

We're grateful and look forward to continue supporting and investing in the future generations of FNAPI women and students in the Central Valley. Thank you again for this honor.

You're welcome. Sir Ramjit. I

want to express our deep gratitude to councilman Brown and Vang for sponsoring this proclamation. Having an AAPI voice at this diocese, advocating for our communities means a lot to all of us. Thank you, councilman, and the city of Fresno. As

you can see, the AAPI community is thus diverse in not only culture history, but also in geography. But, let me turn over to, the clerk, but first, let me read the last paragraph of this proclamation. Now therefore be it proclaim that we, mayor p Dyer, and the city of Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim 05/07/2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of Fresno. Thank you. Clerk?

Thank you. Whereas since 1992, the month of May has been recognized nationally as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, honoring their many contributions and accomplishments of Asian Americans, native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in The United States. And whereas the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the city of Fresno makes up approximately 14.7% of the population, contributing to the cultural, civic, and economic vitality of our city. And whereas we proudly recognize the Jakara movement and Central California Asian Pacific women, two organizations that work to uplift AAPI communities through service, advocacy, and leadership development. And whereas the Central Californian Asian Pacific women, a volunteer led organization founded in 1980, empowers AANHPI women through education, mentorship, and leadership development, and has awarded over $450,000 in scholarships, supporting many first generation college students while fostering connection, representation, and opportunities across generations.

And whereas the city of Fresno and its residents are strengthened by the contributions of AAPI communities and organizations such as the Jakara Movement and CCAPW, whose dedication to service, advocacy, and empowerment continues to build a more inclusive, informed, and united city of Fresno. Now therefore be it proclaimed that we, mayor Jerry p Dyer and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim 05/07/2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of Fresno. Alright.

Fantastic. Brings us to our last couple of proclamations. We are now going to do the proclamation for Fresno Preservation Month. This is sponsored by the office of the mayor and the city manager.

Thank you, council president. I see the you guys can come on up here if you would. I see the audience thinning out here. So we're getting close to the feather. The feather's coming up, alright? We saved the feather the best for last. Okay? So this is an opportunity we have to recognize Fresno Preservation Month, and this is really National Preservation Month, something that was the city council adopted an ordinance in 1979. But we have members of our historical preservation commission that are here today. And these are the folks, you'll see James Sponsler, wherever he is right here.

He is the the chair. We also have Elizabeth Laval, Ryan Eddings, and Julie Federico. I don't see your name on here but I know Jason Hadwick is here as well and so these are the folks that really serve our community in a way that oftentimes is overlooked. And the fact that they are the ones that preserve some of our history in our community. So there are times when people want to remodel buildings that are of historic value, and it has to go before historic preservation commission so that they can make a determination.

And same thing with the properties that might be up for demolition. And so they preserve our history, They make sure that that we don't do things as a city that we shouldn't be doing or developers do things that they shouldn't be doing. And I appreciate them very, very, very much. And not only because of that, but because they have an incredible amount of common sense. They understand the importance of growth in the community and how we balance that with preserving our history. And so I appreciate that very, very much, and I'll turn it over to James.

Well, thank you mayor, and I do have a few words, which hopefully I'll keep under the time, but I think I will be able to. So again, thank you to the mayor and and the city council for the recognition of Historic Preservation Month. Historic preservation is more about preserving more than preserving old buildings. It's about protecting the stories, the neighborhoods, cultures, and places that define who we are as a community here in Fresno. It reflects our history as a broader American story shared by the railroad, agriculture, immigration, innovation, and many communities that help build our San Joaquin Valley that we have here.

It is an honor here to be here today as we recognize the historic preservation month. This year's celebration carries even greater significance as we continue through Fresno's one hundred and fortieth year of incorporation, And we look ahead to the America Two Fifty project that's that the mayor has been graciously working on that's coming up here in on July in July for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United States. As we prepare for America two fifty and historic preservation month, it's time to remind us that our national history is experienced through our local places such as our neighborhoods, churches, parks, schools, and public buildings. Preserving these places help future generations and better understand the people and events that shape Fresno and our nation. On behalf of the historic preservation commission, I want to again thank the mayor and the city council for this event.

You.

Thank you, James, very, very much. And, you know, he mentioned James mentioned the, two hundred and fiftieth celebration this year of our of our country. Two hundred and fifty years since the signing of the declaration of independence, we're gonna celebrate that as a city by flying 1,000 flags, American flags throughout our community on various streets like Herndon Avenue, Shaw, Downtown, Veterans Boulevard, and it's going to be a incredible incredible sight in our city and we're also going to be doing a flag retirement ceremony. I believe it's on June 13 if I'm not mistaken And that will be over at the Veterans Memorial. And then we have the archive on Kern that will be open on July 4.

And tonight. And tonight. Please go by and take a look at that. And then on July 4, during the late afternoon and early evening, we'll be celebrating downtown blocking off streets. We'll have the Grizzlies game and a fireworks show after. So I wanted to read this at the end. It says, now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2026, Fresno Preservation Month in the city of Fresno. Clerk?

Thank you. Whereas May is National Preservation Month, which is sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization that works to save the nation's historic places. And whereas in 1979, the city council adopted a historic preservation ordinance and found that the city of Fresno has played an important role in the development of California and that this history is shown today through archaeological sites and through buildings, structures, objects, sites, and districts representing the commercial, industrial, social, economic, political, and architectural development of the city. And whereas this year commemorates The United States Of America's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. To mark this historic occasion, Fresno will feature a series of events at multiple locations throughout the city highlighting its own contributions to the nation's fabric.

And whereas the theme for this year's preservation celebration in Fresno is America Two Hundred And Fifty, building community through preservation. Now therefore be it resolved that we, mayor Jerry P. Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2026, Fresno Preservation Month in the City of Fresno.

Give him a round of applause, please. Thank

you. Council president, I just wanna say a quick word of thank you to the preservation, board. You know, six months ago, this body approved the designation, the Rosenberg Brothers Raisin Warehouse. When it was built in 1918, it was the largest warehouse in the world, and it was approved at your recommendation to designate it as historic property and at the opposition of the new owner who had claimed he wouldn't, improve it if it was designated. Just this past weekend, I drove by the area and it's in full renovation status.

So thank you for sticking to your recommendation. Thank to this body for honoring your recommendation. Ultimately, these projects do pencil out, and we'll end up with a much better product at the end of the day while preserving our history and making sure these buildings get repurposed. Thank you all. Thank

you, Council Member Arias. Thank you very much and now, if I could have the group from Fresno Christian High School, the feather, come on up here. Wow. Shouldn't you shouldn't you be in school like testing or something?

We

we have their adviser here, Corey James with us, right? Yes. And so, if you guys would find your way up here please and we will recognize you rightfully so then afterwards we'll go take a photo up on the on the stairwell. Okay? Well I have the honor today to be able to recognize a a group in our community that oftentimes folks are not aware of.

And they just received a their eleventh Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown Award for their coverage in writing, design, photography, and digital presentation. But they are a newsroom, quite frankly. If you can see all of them here, I think it started out about five or 10 students. And look what it has grown into. But I've had the privilege of being interviewed by them several times, many times actually over the years during my time as mayor and as a police chief.

And they've always been very, very good interviews. I've never had a got you story or a hit piece by the feather, and hopefully we'll keep it that way. But whether I'm over at the nine one one ceremony at the Old Pelco Building or any other place even in my office here recently when they interviewed me, these are the the future folks in our community that have an opportunity to be covering news and so god knows we need more people that are going to provide news coverage that is honest, objective, and fair And so it is my honor today to be able to recognize him. I'll turn the microphone over to Corey here shortly, but I just wanted to read this last part where it says, now therefore be it resolved that we, mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim Thursday, May 2026, to be the feather day in the city of Fresno. Fresno Christian High Schools, the feather day.

Give him a round of applause.

Corey?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please go ahead.

Oh, sorry. Thank you to city council and to mayor Dyer for this honor. We are so blessed and honored to be here to represent Fresno Christian schools and our community. This team, 28 students this year, had the privilege of going to New York to Columbia University for their their spring work, you know, workshop. And we were there with about 2,000 students.

And if I can brag on them for just a second, this team of 28 in a very small school competes nationwide against schools that have 300 on their team in division one, schools and we were able to be one of 10 schools nationwide to get a gold crown and that is pretty much a feat just to even be considered and so we were honored with that recognition and we are only one of two schools in all of California to receive that national national award. So we're very excited. This team has been around for forty four years since 1982 and it has continued a legacy of student publication that is continuing to grow and one of our sad truth is that we are one of the last journalism teams in the Valley and there is not a lot of student journalists anymore in schools across our Valley and in different schools and so we feel that we are holding a legacy of teaching students professionalism, teaching how to tell the news but in a way that is engaging with obviously our audience and then also with integrity. Are high school students who care, they care about their fellow students, they care about their community and they are amazing.

And I am so proud of them, so we are so thankful that you honor them today. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, court. Appreciate it very, much. Madam Clerk?

Thank you. Whereas on 03/20/2026, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association named Fresno Christian High School's The Feather, a 2026 gold crown winner in the high school digital news category, recognizing its outstanding achievement in coverage, writing, design, photography, and digital presentation. And whereas since its beginnings as a print newspaper in 1982 and its subsequent 2001 digital launch, the feather has grown from a small staff of five to 10 students in a vibrant student led newsroom that each year features more than 20 staff members who document the life, history, and spirit of Fresno Christian Schools. Whereas the publication has earned national distinction from the National Scholastic Press Association, including multiple online peacemaker awards and recognition among the NSPA top 100 scholastic publications of the past century, honors that affirm its place as one of the nation's premier school news sites. Now therefore be it resolved that we, Mary Jerry Dyer, and the members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, 05/07/2026 to be Fresno Christian High School's the Feather Day in the City Of Fresno.

Alright. Alright, council. We that was thank you. That finished before, you know, sort of the total time limit. That would be done about 10:30, but thank you all for keeping it relatively concise and appreciate everybody, the patience, and everyone who came out to City Hall this morning to either participate in or receive a proclamation.

I'm gonna move things around a little a little bit differently here. I've got to 10:30. I need to step out and have a kind of a last minute conversation regarding one of our closed session items. So what I'm gonna do now, we're gonna take a couple of just these routine items, and we'll come we'll circle back around to the council comments and such here shortly in about fifteen minutes or so so that I can minimize the amount of business that I miss while I'm out of the room. Before we proceed, Council Member Carbassi has joined us. Just for the for the record, clerk and

Thank you.

Yeah, I do apologize for being a little tardy today. I received a call this morning from a constituent at 07:15 that I never thought I'd get in my years as a council member. There was a brown bear on the loose in Northwest Fresno. Kudos to the Department of Fish and Game. They came fish wildlife. They came out very quickly, and, they were awesome. So, very rare occurrence. There was I'll show you the video. There was an actual brown bear off of West And Herndon, North. Is it a black bear? Oh, a black bear. Excuse me. I'm sorry. So any any bears fans, there you go. So glad glad to be back though.

Oh, man. So just so

you know, the comment was the one time council member as far as it goes jogging in Northwest Fresno. Oh my gosh.

Hey, council president. I started a journal in titled, you can't make this blank up. You just got a chapter

in my I'll give you the video.

I love that. You'll publish your tell all when you're not city manager anymore one day? Alright. Yeah. Alright. So we will circle back to the the the council comments here, but let's just take a few routine items. We have our 09:10AM hearing. It is a CFD number nine and up in District 6. So I'm gonna go ahead and take public comments on this item against the CFT number nine East Copper Northwest Northwest Corner of East Copper and North Portofino Put open public comments on the hearing for the 09:10AM item. Is there anybody who would like from the public who would like to address us on this on this matter?

Going once, going twice, the 09:10AM item, public hearing, public comment. Okay. So, now, we're gonna go ahead and close the public hearing. Does anyone on council need a presentation for this item? I don't think so. Alright. I'll entertain a motion. Second. Motion by Council Member Arias and second by Council Vice President. Any opposition to approving the 09:10AM item CFU number nine. Seeing none the item passes. Alright. We're now moving on to the 09:15 a. M. Item hearing to vacate two portions of city owned right away at Tuolumne And Fulton. This is in District 3. Council member Arias, do you need a presentation or anything like that?

Council president, I just want the staff to, on the record, state what the purpose of the vacation is for the general public's benefit.

Sure.

Edification from my Berkeley friend to the left. If you don't know what that means, neither do I.

Public, my name is Jason Kamik, chief surveyor, public works division. This is being reintroduced. It's already been voted on previously on November 20. It's being reintroduced because the business journal didn't properly advertise it. But it's in association with the area Tul Tuolumne And Fulton and Tuolumne and Van Ness, the construction that's going on there. The the I believe there is a parking garage and mixed income development happening there. That's that's the purpose of this vacation.

Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. I'll go ahead and open up public comment on the 09:15AM item, the vacation at Tualami And Fulton. Public hearing is now open for anybody who would like to comment on this item. Please please approach. Anyone in the public would like to speak at the 09:15AM. Seeing none, Going to go ahead and close the public comments on the 09:15AM item. I'll entertain a motion.

The vote. Second.

First, second, and third. Any opposition to approving 09:15AM item. Seeing none. That item passes six to zero. Alright. On to the 09:20AM joint meeting of the city council and the housing successor to the RDA agency. Actions pertaining to city owned property at 815 Fulton Street. This is in District 3. It looks like we need two votes on on this one. So we'll go ahead and go to staff for a a brief presentation.

Sure. Good morning, council president council. My name is Phil Skies, assistant director of our planning development department. Also, co sponsor of this item is of course, Marlene Murphy, executive director of our housing successor agency. Ms. Murphy, would you like to share anything as introductory comments?

No, not at this time.

Okay, thank you. So I'll just share on our collective behalf then as it relates to this item. This is an amendment to the already amended and restated disposition development agreement. The only thing that is changing in through the council action today, should you approve it, are a couple of changes to the existing schedule, the performance schedule which is found in exhibit D. Of course you have before you the actual amendment to this agreement and the only schedule changes very minor are the first five or six items to all have to do with the outside data performance for the bond financing primarily and as the bond financing gets shifted back two weeks that's what we're doing this morning is two weeks then that shifts the escrow closing date also by two weeks.

The construction schedule is unchanged in this amendment so we're still on schedule for construction. For clarity sake the reason for this request today of the council is because as you might recall this is a $81,000,000 project about 70 roughly $70,000,000 is being secured through bond financing. There's a significant investment by bond investors and what happened subsequent to this body approving the original amended restated disposition development agreement is that there were some very significant global military conflicts that were kind of commenced and that those conflicts created really some significant uncertainty that was very temporary among the bond investors and so that just created a two week delay Once there is certainty reestablished, at the satisfaction of the bond investment community, the clock started ticking again and things are proceeding as originally planned. There was just a two week delay. So that is the presentation for you this morning, asking for council's approval of this item.

Great. Council the mayor. Yeah. Mayor, go ahead.

Yeah. Just want to speak in favor of this item and and, you know, we have a long history on these pieces of property that are referred to a South Stadium and they have been vacant for decades upon decades and this is really our opportunity to be able to provide a housing development there that is, I believe it's eight stories, that will overlook the Chichance Park and I think it's something that's gonna serve as a catalyst catalyst for additional downtown housing. And there one thing we cannot control, we can control the revolving loan fund, which we've done for $8,000,000 for five years, but we cannot control the bond market. And so I think this delay, although we don't necessarily anticipate it, and we may not like it, but it is something outside of our control. And I think it's a small price to pay two weeks to have the the level of development that we're gonna see on the South South Stadium land.

So I at the appropriate time, we'll make a motion to approve.

Alright. Think we're gonna do the council motion first.

I move.

Hold on one sec. I I do gotta sorry. I public comment. I apologize. But I meant in terms of the order. I think it's the council and then we'll do the successor the board. So at this point, I'll go to public comment on the 09:20AM item, the joint meeting of the council and the successor agency. Anyone in the public who would like to address us, address council on.

Mhmm.

On this item.

It's okay. This is that.

Alright. Seeing none.

We'll go

ahead and close the public comment, public hearing on the 09:20AM item. I'll go back promotion.

I move.

Well, I believe we have a motion on the table from the mayor for the FRC.

I did not recognize the motion.

Thank you. Yeah.

So, I have a motion from Council Member Arias and a second by Council Member Paria. Is there any opposition from the council? Any opposition from the council about this item? Saying none item passes six to zero. Alright. Now, we'll go over to the the smaller board, the successor agency board. Who's on that board? Mayor and am I on

that one? I think you mean the revitalization corporation. The mayor is not on the housing successor to my knowledge. It's the just the Fresno Revitalization Corporation that the mayor and two council members.

That's So

who's Motion to approve.

Motion second? My I'm a member? Okay. Forget which all the boards are on. Okay. So the motion and a second. Actually, city attorney, does that require a separate public comment?

Just for safety.

Okay. Alright. Just for safety. So just briefly, I'm gonna open public comments for on the same item, the 09:20AM item, but for the Fresno Revitalization Corporation vote. Anyone in the public wish to speak on this item? Alright. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close public comment. We have a motion. We have a second. Any opposition? Seeing none, the item passes. Alright. Great. So that takes care of our our timed our timed items. Let's go ahead and knock out consent here and then we'll start.

We'll do the we'll I promise we're gonna circle back here to the the council comments, but on at this point, I'm gonna take public comments on the consent calendar, closed session, contested consents. If there's anybody in the public who would like to address us on any of those consent agenda, contested consent, or closed session. Welcome.

So this will be for closed session. I like to say, I noticed that there's a lot of items on closed session and you guys are spending a lot of time there. So, yeah, the decisions you make, it's came out more that you really nothing to say. But yeah. So just be careful, like, with some of the things you choose to do. Yeah. Because it's not working out in the city's favor at the time. Alright.

Thank you. Any additional public comments on consent agenda, contested consent, or closed session? Alright. Seeing none, we're going to close public comments on consent, contested consent in closed session. Council, I'll entertain a motion for the balance of the consent agenda. I'll second that. Say a motion by Councilor Mori, second by myself. Any opposition to approving the balance of the consent agenda? Seeing none that passes six to zero. At this point, we're at ten twenty three.

We'll get in circle back to the comments. We'll take on contested consent and all that here in in a little bit. I'm gonna try to I know there's several people who expressed an interest in breaking a few minutes before lunch around 11:45 to attend the peace House the the memorial. So we'll aim to break before then. But at this point, let's go ahead and move over to the council comments. Council member Paria? Okay. Sure. Council member Carbassi? Comments today? You guys are killing me. Okay.

Alright. Council member, Arias? I'll keep it short, council president. I wanna thank the city staff for their work on Porch Fest and also for their work on the neighborhood meeting that they had regarding California Tutman Park and the mural project as well as the California Avenue Complete Street project. They the staff was able to attend a third meeting of gathering community input for the improvements on California Avenue.

And lastly, just a message of condolence to the mayor. My condolences for your mother and father passing. It is my hope that as important work that we have in the city, that you actually take some time off. So maybe bring a resolution forward, bring you on family leave. But we appreciate all the hours that you put into, you know, managing and leaving the city. But I do think it's important that you take some days off and, you know, spend it with family at this time. I'm sure the kissing babies and hugging dogs can wait for a week at least. Thank you, mayor.

Alright. Council Member Vang.

Just a few comments from District five. First, I want to thank my staff for setting up the AAPI reception outside for this morning's AAPI proclamation here at City Hall. And I recently wrapped up my series of town halls across District 5. I want to thank everybody who came out, shared their ideas, asked the tough questions, and participated in the discussions about the future of District 5. Hearing directly from all of you continues to be one of the most important roles of this job for me.

I also attended the Hmong Heritage Student Showcase. It was great to see students sharing their hard work and what they have done throughout the school year while also preserving and celebrating their culture. And, I also had a second community meeting with Parks regarding the Southeast Residental Sports Complex. I want to thank again the residents who came out and provided their inputs and suggestions. It was great to finalize the, community recreational gymnasium, and I hope that we can, find the funding to make that idea become a reality.

And finally, like my colleagues, from D3, I wanna send my condolences to the mayor. As some of you know, I also lost my mother about a year ago and so I know the path that you are you know, it's in front of you, mayor. So, my condolences. Thank you.

Thank you, council member Vang. I'm gonna give my comments, then I'll pass it off to the council vice president to finish off comments for everyone else. You know, it was great to, gather yesterday at the state of the city. I got to, introduce the mayor as the council president traditionally does. And it's my first time actually introducing you because I think when I was council president last time, I I had they got fell ill with COVID.

So I got to miss that and council vice president had filled in for me. So it was a great opportunity to reflect on where we are, where we're headed as a city, and just really appreciates the hard work by the chamber and all all the staff that put together a really great event that highlighted the progress we've made and reminding us of all the work that's still still left to do, but really appreciates appreciate you all. It was separately from that, it was a pleasure to speak with eighth grade students from Computech Middle School here in the chamber recently as part of a civic engagement course hosted actually by our office of community affairs, the the OCA. So it was last Friday. So I had the opportunity to share more about the role of a city council member and and how local government serves our communities.

I wanna thank the students for their very, very thoughtful questions and engagement. It's always one of the funnest parts of the job is getting to engage with our our students. And that was actually the second time I had the the chance to engage with students because the first part first time last week was at Hidalgo Elementary, where I took part in a career day, at at Hidalgo. So, again, I had the opportunity to connect with students who are interested in public service careers and share more about what that looks like. Not just being a council member, obviously, are lots of people.

We employ this organization that do all kinds of different jobs. And so we we appreciate their efforts and it was great to speak about my role, but also just all the different jobs that we do have in government and public service. So I'm trying to thank Ms. Miller for that invitation and wish the students good luck on their exams coming up here. Additionally, we'd like to congratulate De Young Properties on the groundbreaking of the Blossom View development last week.

A city manager and I had the opportunity to go out there and break not break bread, break grounds with with them in the very, very eastern part of my not only my district, but the very, very eastern part of this this great city of ours. So it's gonna be a 119 lots, single family, a home project, and, you know, really represents the continued investment in in our community and the expansion of housing opportunities above all else. So looking forward to seeing this new neighborhood take take shape. And lastly, last thing I had written down here, I wanted to rec recognize UA Local two four six as they celebrate their one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary. Had the opportunity to go join them for their celebration here recently.

I just wanted to recognize them briefly. That'll conclude my comments, and I think we we still have council vice president and council member Paria. So I'm gonna hand it off to you while I take this call, and I'll be able to give you all an update in closed session later on.

Sounds good. I'll hand it over to council member Paria if you would like to make some remarks at this time.

Yes. Thank thank you council vice president. Just wanted to take a moment to thank all of the city staff directors, staff representatives, everyone from city attorney's office, code enforcement, public works, heart, and the parks department. We just wrapped up our district one town hall series, and I just wanna thank the residents who took the time out of their evenings to come and listen to our representatives. Also want to thank the Fresno Animal Center for another successful drive through vaccination event.

We helped hundreds of families with either micro chipping their pets or getting their their pets vaccinated, and so I want to thank everyone who played a part in making successful. Want to extend my my gratitude to everyone who came out this past weekend. We painted the crosswalk over in the Van Ness Village portion of the Tower District. So, thank you to Root Access and the Tower Rotary, Fresno State's Community Inclusion Program, and every other volunteer, including my staff who came out to help make that a reality. And lastly, we have our Movies in the Park series coming up.

We will be kicking it off this Friday, May 8 at Trolley Park, located at the corner of Van Ness and Weldon. The movie is going to start around 07:45 when the sun starts to go down. We encourage all families to come out. We're going to have a barbecue from the ironworkers who are going to be out barbecuing for us. And we we do encourage you to bring a blanket or a lawn chair out to Trolley Park. That's this Friday around 07:45PM for our first Movies in the Park series. Thank you very much. Council Vice President.

Council member Paria, I'll make this quick. A lot of good things happening out in District 4 since the last council meeting. I wanna thank all of our 50 plus vendors who came out to our annual Spring Fest event. We were able to get hundreds of kids out there that day and signed up for after school programs, summer activities, and camps. Thank you to my staff.

I know it took a long time to plan out. It was fantastic. We had Fresno State there. We had the fire union cooking hot dogs for folks. We had parks out getting folks signed up for city sports and youth recreation activities, and this is something that's really important for us because we wanna make sure that when we get to summertime that the youth here in Central Fresno are able to find a way to stay productive and stay healthy until until school starts again.

So, you to everybody who made that possible. I also want to thank all the folks including Tyree at the Black Chamber of Commerce who gave us a tour and a breakdown of their various programs last week. They have a lot of cool upcoming programs to help upstart black and minority owned businesses here in the city of Fresno and identified a couple of potential opportunities in the future to partner up with them. So thank you to everybody at the Black Chamber. Valley Caregiver Resource Center is an incredible organization located in District 4, but really they service the entire Central Valley.

They service typically elder folks, that have Alzheimer's, dementia, some sort of memory related issue and they provide, resources for caregivers who take care of these folks at home. Sometimes it's a family member or a loved one or a neighbor and they don't have the resources to take care of these folks, but they also have an on-site day care called the Oasis Adult Day Program. And I was able to take an early tour while they were in the early stages of construction last year and was just really moved by the work that they're doing. This is a service I think a lot of people take for granted but there's really not a lot of services available like this across the Central Valley. If you have a parent that's gone through this, it's incredibly difficult to get affordable resources or to have a place to take your parent for the day and get access to those resources.

And so last year the city of Fresno made a $50,000 contribution towards an expansion of that program where they more than doubled their space and are able to more than triple the amount of folks that they're able to serve at this location and so I was very fortunate and honored to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony a couple days ago. On Monday, we attended Del Mar Elementary School where we continued the council members book club. We were able to see several first grade classrooms and help distribute hundreds of books to quite a few children for them to keep and to take home and to read with their parents. We've really been trying to push early access to literacy for children in our district, and I wanna thank the principal and all the staff at Del Mar for making that happen. I was also fortunate enough to visit CART this week where CEO Doctor.

Watson and the ambassadors took us on a tour to learn about their educational model and how we could expand access to different types of education to kids across Fresno. They showed me some amazing programs all the way from science, engineering, robotics, forensic science and CSI, business and finance, graphic design. They have so many amazing programs there for young people and I encourage anybody who's interested in a career in one of those fields to look seriously at them. They take both Fresno and Clovis Unified students, and it is really a tremendous program. So thank you to doctor Watson for that tour.

Lastly, tomorrow my staff and I will be dedicating the day to building a bedroom with the Healthy Room Project. This is a non profit that works really closely with disadvantaged kids in the city of Fresno that don't have a lot of the things that we take for granted including bedrooms and furniture and amenities. Tomorrow we're gonna be helping five children who unfortunately witnessed their mother murdered by their father before he took his own life and they've been taken in by some relatives but still need a lot of help and require a lot of things and so tomorrow, we're going to be out there in in the morning throughout the afternoon helping to build out a new bedroom for these kids and get them some stuff that they need to to be successful. So I appreciate Healthy Room Project involving us in this. It means a lot to us.

And that'll conclude my remarks. I'll hand it over to mayor at this time.

Thank you, council vice president, and thank you for what you're doing for that family. It's, purposeful and meaningful. So thank you. I also wanna say thank you to the council and really members of the community and my my staff for all of the condolences that you guys have offered to me and the compassion you've shown over the last seven weeks and the loss of my dad and my mom. And so I appreciate that and council member Arias, I II will be taking some time off just as soon as I get the budget rolled out to you guys.

But I also wanna say thank you to those on the council who were able to make the state of the city yesterday and members of the community and and my staff And and a special thank you to the city manager and my chief of staff, Kelly Furtado, for all that they did to help prepare this state of the city. And then a special thanks to the Chamber of Commerce for putting on a first class event. None of it would have been possible though without my communications team. Santaya, Fabiola, and Carmen did an incredible job putting together all the videos and the PowerPoints and and the like and it was it really was felt like a first class state of the city and a lot of energy and excitement. So, thank you everyone for being there and I know council president Esparza is not here but for the warm introduction that he provided to me.

Next week on May 13 which is Wednesday, I'll be rolling out the balanced budget at 10AM to the media followed by the the next morning, I'll be rolling out the budget to the council at 9AM and I wanna say thank you to each of the council members for meeting with me individually to discuss the the budget roll out and and for appreciate your your feedback as well. And then lastly, some of the most exciting news I think our city's experience in a long time is the return of the Fresno Falcon hockey team to Fresno and to Selen Arena. As you may know, we lost that team seventeen years ago, and it was a disheartening at the time. Remember not only for us as a city, but for the fans because we have a very, very strong hockey fan base in Fresno. And so I also wanna say thank you to my team and to Venue Works, our operations manager now for the Fresno Convention Center area.

They have done an incredible job and they were the ones that were responsible for really landing this deal. And they they will start a twenty eight twenty eight home games starting early October and what I'm encouraging the fans to do is to to show up and sell out selling because that's how we're gonna keep them here. We have a five year contract with them that is renewable for another five years and and another five years after that. So, we wanna keep our Fresno Falcons here and it's I think it's just gonna be another shot in the arm for our downtown area. So, thank you guys.

Thank you, mayor. That is exciting news. Some of the best memories I have with my dad as a kid were going to those Falcon games and be excited to hopefully take my kids there someday. So, thank you for your work on that. City manager, do you have any comments you'd like to add?

I do have a couple things. I want to flag a tray memo that went to you guys a couple weeks ago regarding the arts expanded access to arts and culture funding. We have been doing a lot of work with the PRAC regarding cycle two and cycle three. FYI, there is a meeting tomorrow with cycle two grantees who have received $0 and we will be meeting with them. They have been notified and we will be meeting with them and explaining what the process will be in order for us to be able to award them their funding.

And then following that, we are working on the date. Two available for this first Okay, I'm sorry. Two available for the first group of 0% is either tomorrow or Wednesday, May 13. Tomorrow is here at City Hall, nine to twelve. Are they only virtual?

No, in person and

In person and virtual. And then the second meeting is Wednesday, May 13 from two to five at Ted C. Wills, and that also will be in person and virtual. And then for the folks that have received the 90% funding, we'll be doing another meeting sometime this month. We're finalizing the date notification, so folks who still need 10% of their funding will be notified of how that is gonna work. So I know that's a lot.

We will

the we'll the make sure and get that those dates out to you in case you get any questions about that. Also, want just a quick thing. I know the mayor talked about budget roll out next week. I will not be on the dais next Thursday when the mayor rolls out the budget to you all, and don't read anything into that other than my daughter Katie is graduating from San Diego State next week, and she has two graduation ceremonies, and Thursday is the Weber's Honor College graduation, and there was no way I could do both. So I did what I was supposed to do and and picked my kid over City Hall.

So I know Ruthie and TJ will be up on the dais and of course the mayor will be able to handle all of the questions because he knows this budget inside and out. So I just wanted to give you a heads up about my absence, on Thursday. Thank you, council vice president.

When mothers away, the children will play. That's all I can say, George. Enjoy your daughter's event.

Vice president, I just have one question for the city manager. Can you just confirm, who's the point of contact on PRAC Arts Council, I mean Arts Council Arts grants?

We are still using the email address, which is on the web page. There's a button across the top. That's the best way to make sure that all the questions get answered. If you there's I don't have it in front of me, but it's like a it's a generic email, but that email is monitored. And then I know the email that went out to the grantees went specifically to them, and I'll get a copy of it and find out if there was a contact directly in the Email that went out.

It's it's the general Email but we're monitoring that.

Alright. Clerk.

Thank you. I do have a report on the transparency portal, but since I've been given a microphone, I just wanna take one moment to say that this is actually annual professional clerk's week. That's with the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. It truly is an international organization. And I just wanted to take a moment to note our purpose is to recognize the vital and appreciated services performed by the municipal and deputy clerks in serving the changing needs of their community and thank my staff for all of the work that you're putting in this week and every week to perform all of our essential functions.

Thank you. One of the things that we had been asked to do several meetings ago was to spearhead the movement towards a new transparency portal for the city. We have been working closely with ISD to do that. We do have a prototype that is, I think, very beneficial and is going to be a positive move forward for us. It's our intention to do a formal workshop presentation at the meeting on May 21 in conjunction with ISD, but we wanted to inform the public that that portal is essentially up and working properly and ready to roll out when appropriate. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you, clerk. We look forward to that. Let's see here. We've done consents all the timed items and I think we're on we have one contested consent item clerk. That's one. Correct. Alright. So we'll move over to item two H establishing procedures for appeals and the competitive competitive bidding process and we're sending a couple of the resolutions. So this was moved by both vice president Maxwell and council member Arias. Do wanna flip a coin? Vice president?

I think he's defaulted to the elder statesman.

Elder I'm a statesman.

At least one part's right. City staff, I as you recall, there's been quite a bit of a protest relate relate to bids in the last few months, more than I've ever seen in my seven years. This item proposes to make changes to the bid process and protest process. So I'd like to understand from staff's perspective in the most basic English layman's term, What it is that you're proposing to change from what the current process is?

Good good morning council member, council president. I'm Brian Barr, director of general services. I'm also joined here by Melissa Perales, purchasing manager to answer your question in the most basic terms. One, we first have to establish that this appeals process only applies to, as defined by the municipal code, competitive low bid procurements. So this is your product purchases, this is your construction contracts.

That's purely what this is. The biggest change from a procedure that was established twenty three years ago now is non responsiveness is no longer appealable. Now to explain what non responsive is, in basic terms, is if a bidder turns in a bid, then if they do not provide all of the information that is required of them, whether it be signing the proposal, turning in a form, or whatnot, that bid is deemed non responsive. That is an objective finding. We have fact that says, hey, this bid is incomplete, we cannot accept it.

Whereas, moving forward under this appeals resolution, responsibility is still appealable, responsibility means, is the contractor capable, competent to do the work? Now in the last ten years, in in our memory, we have never as a city defined a contractor as non responsible, which is kind of interesting, but we've never done that.

And if I may, your objective finding of nonresponsive, essentially, in layman's terms, means that the submission is incomplete.

Correct.

If staff makes an error in their determination that the submission is incomplete and therefore non responsive, what is a path for you to cure that mistake or for the submitter to bring it to your attention and say, actually, I did send you that in that form and here's my email or it includes that the submission was made. What is that fix? Because I suspect if you guys determine non responsive, they're still going to come in at three minutes of public comment and ask us to intervene. What what mechanism do you have in place in case there is a mistake made in the world of transition to new technology, portals that are new, and all the platforms that we constantly change every few years?

Yes. Great question. So the process that we've been going by to determine responsiveness and whether or not a, bidder should be bypassed due to being non responsive will not change. And the way that that works is purchasing gets the bids. They make an initial determination. If there is a determination that the low bidder is going to be non responsive and bypassed, that determination and all of that information is then sent to the city attorney's office. They review, making sure that they're they are in concurrence with our determination. If they are, that recommendation then comes to myself and then the city manager. So we have multiple points of, control in place to ensure mistakes do not happen.

So if Andrew makes a mistake, you make a mistake. Where is the ability for them to cure or bring that mistake to your attention? Does that remain at your level? Because ultimately, the contracting authority council's. Do we then put get put in a position where we have to declare, you know, the whole thing to be redone? I forgot what terminology is. What what what's the mechanism for them to bring to your attention a mistake, an error, an oversight that occurred?

Well, when we make a determination when a bidder is non responsive, they do get a letter from us if they're going to be bypassed. Okay? So they know the reason why. But with this change in appeals resolution, they they do have no recourse. Correct me if I'm wrong, city attorney. Their their only recourse would be to come to counsel and to make their case like anybody else would. Correct.

And if they come to counsel, city attorney, and an error was done, what is the authority of the council at that point? Do we just determine we terminate the bid and start over?

The council's authority doesn't change. So a council could decide that it wants to award the contract. They can reject all bids, or it can refer the item back to staff to kind of figure out more information if they think there was something that needs to be investigated more. And that is not changing.

Right.

What's the rationale for staff eliminating the appealable, component of of of of this?

Well, the change is really driven to be consistent with current legal requirements, the FMC, city charter, current industry standards, well as we looked at our peer cities, city of San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Campbell, all have very similar, if not equal, procedures. We are trying to be consistent with what our peers are doing in this regard. It also prevents unnecessary delays in the proceeding of projects, which have happened recently with multiple projects that have been put on the agenda here and eventually pulled off because of a appeal based upon the non responsiveness of the bid. And when you and I had a conversation just this last meeting about a project about leaky acres, similar situation.

Last question. You mentioned that our peer cities have some similar arrangement. You also referenced that this only applies to low bid, not to any contracting authority that we have. So the city manager determines uniquely qualified, doesn't go through a bid process, and awards, you know, Andrew Million Dollar contract when there is others. Why are we not making changes to the rest of the bidding authorities since we took time to do it in this section?

So good question. Actually, there is no appeal procedure for anything outside of a low bid situation. So RFPs, good example, that is subjective. A committee is formed to determine what the best value. That is not a formulaic, procurement. That is best value. So that's why there's no appeals rights on that, as well as others.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate the responses. I'll turn it over to the youth.

You're welcome. Alright. We've oh, Council Member Paria.

Director, I just wanna say thank you for bringing forward. I'm always supportive of new ways to make our processes more efficient and effective and all four ways to improve the expeditiousness and and how we get things done and I think these changes will do just that. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. Council member president council president, vice president, council member, I do wanna point out the city attorney's office was very integral in drafting the updated, procedures as well as, support from the city manager's office. We are trying to do what's what's right here, and I appreciate your time.

Alright. And in a motion? No. Second. Alright. We have a motion. We have a second. Any opposition on item two h? Seeing none, the item passes five to zero. Alright. That concludes the consent and contested consent. City manager, are we ready for the, the workshop by any chance?

We are.

Alright. Let's do the workshop. Shouldn't I mean, we should be able to finish it less

than We were so close. We told them we thought maybe about eleven. Okay. So we were so close, but but I think we're ready to go. Okay.

Great. I mean, I I know it feels like we're moving fast for the public, but we do have a very long closed session agenda for later today.

Nick, are you doing it or is Travis?

I'm just gonna introduce.

Perfect. Thank you.

Kind of lay the foundation. Good morning council members, council vice council president, council vice president, Nick Macias, the city manager. I'm here to do to introduce Travis Cooper. He's a financial assistant with the California Municipal Financial Authority. He's, got a a new program. Come on Travis, come on. A new program, a relatively new program for the city of Fresno, it's called the BOLD program. It's an opportunity for developers to utilize bonding ability to for their infrastructure costs. It's a financing tool for them. He's gonna go through the process and if this is something the city wishes to pursue, we will return on May 21 with a public hearing as well as a resolution.

So Travis, it's all yours.

Good morning council president members of city council mayor. My name is Travis Cooper financial adviser for the CMA for the California miss will finance authority. Like Nick mentioned I'm here to discuss the bold program. We'll start with the first slide. I guess I can control this by just pressing

Side to side.

Yeah. Side to side? Okay. Got it. Thanks. So the BOLD program, BOLD is an acronym. It stands for BOLD, Bond Opportunities for Land Development, and it's a financing program offered by the California Municipal Finance Authority that allows for the financing of public infant infrastructure and impact fees for development projects. Any public agency can participate in the Bullet program. To facilitate the program, CFDs will be formed, managed, and administered by the CMFA, and minimal public agency efforts are required in the process. The formation of a CFD will not necessitate the issuance of bonds or payment of debt service until a project is ready to issue debt.

A CMF or a CFD may be formed for a project with bond issued at a later date, when that project is ready to to issue bonds and when it needs the funds. And bonds will be issued at multiple times throughout the year and may include what more than one CFD in in a pooled issuance. So, next slide. Under the bold program, CMFA will create a community facilities district to finance eligible improvements in local fees. Eligible improvements are listed on the slide, things like streets and sidewalks, sewer and water treatment capacity, water and sewer lines, flood control, open space, parks, street lighting, and school facilities.

The BOLD program also allows for the financing of fees, city and county fees, school fees, and special district fees, as well as services. So requirements to participate in the program, a local agency is required to become a member of the CMFA. The city of Fresno is already a member of the CMFA. Local agency may have a consultant review the finance plan to ensure that it meets with the local agency's goals and policies. The local agency adopts a resolution consenting to the use of BOLD, and then holds a public hearing to approve the the use of BOLD as well.

Jones Hall, who is bond counsel for the program, will approve the eligibility of improvements and fees based on consultation with the local agency. An acquisition agreement will be executed between the local agency and CMFA to reimburse the developer for public improvements and or fees. And the local agency will then accept the completed improvements and or fees and the requisition of funds. So benefits to the local agency. This is basically an outsourcing of the CFD, and formation, the CFD formation and the issuance of of bonds for the project.

There's limited local agency participation, really. There's no cost to join the program and any administrative costs that are borne by the local agency are reimbursed. Tax bills reflect CMFA and not the local agency. No local or I'm I'm sorry. There's no no ongoing continuing disclosure requirement by the local agency because the CMFA takes care of that.

The local agency council action is limited to joining the CMFA joining the CMFA, joining bold, and approving Good? So bond documents and act actions are all undertaken by CMFA. This provides fund a funding source for new public improvements and impact fees. The BOLT team also conducts a detailed review of developer payment requests and administers disbursement of CFD bond proceeds upon obtaining local agency approval. As well as in case of a default, there's no local agency liability.

The CMFA takes is responsible and takes care of of that. Slide. So minimum requirements to participate, minimum size is $500,000 that's the minimum, issuance, par amount. There's a required deposit to pay for formation of the CMFA, that deposit is paid by the developer. And while a CMFA CFD can be formed, bond issuance will typically need to meet the following conditions.

A project must have all discretionary entitlements. The tax burden, cannot exceed 2% of the estimated home value. The value of the property must be at least four times the bond lien and other over overlapping debt. So a four to one value to lien. And as well as the project must meet the goals and policies of the local jurisdiction. So formation steps. The first step is the developer submits an application for their project to the CMFA. The bold team then works with the applicant and the local agency to determine which facilities and impact fees are eligible to be funded, through tax. Oh, thank you. Sorry, wrong slide.

So, second bullet bullet point there. The BOLT team works with the applicant local agency to determine which facilities impact fees are eligible to be funded with taxes and proceeds or with taxable proceeds if if necessary. The local agency agrees to approve the project's participation in BOLT. And once that occurs, the developer provides a deposit to the CF CMFA for the formation of the CFD. And then special tax consultant drafts the rate and method of apportionment and prepares the CFD boundary map.

CFDs are then established by CMFA and special taxes are billed in the CMFA's name. Those formation proceedings are conducted by the CMFA so the local agency doesn't need to conduct those proceedings. Public hearing and landowner vote are also conducted by the CMFA. And a CFD can be formed in as little as three months. So, almost done.

The bond issuance steps once that CFD has been formed to issue to issue bonds, bonds can be issued. And and as as little like I said, CFD is formed in about three months. Bonds can be issued as soon right after the CFD is created or it can be years after depending on when the project's ready to receive funds. Bonds for larger CFDs may be issued on a standalone basis or we can pool smaller CFDs together into one issuance. The CFE author CF CMFA authorizes the sale of bonds and issues bonds upon request.

And the CMFA approves bond and disclosure documents. Bonds are marketed and sold to investors by Piper Sandler who is the underwriter for the program. And financing is closed and funds are delivered to pay for infrastructure costs and impact fees at that point. So these are a list of authorized jurisdictions that have approved the CMFA BOLD program. You can look through those.

And as well as the different projects throughout the state that have used the BOLD program to finance infrastructure. So in summary, the BOLD program has been underway for eight years. It's very flexible on what impact fees and infrastructure you can finance through the program. Multiple local governments throughout CFDA have approved without throughout California have approved the use of BOLD. So far, and this is through December 2025.

It's it's more than that now. I think it's we're close to 80 local agencies have approved the use of BOLD. 113 CFDAs have been formed and just under 700,000,000 in bonds have been issued for over 70 projects throughout the state. So far in 2026, I think we're at an additional five local agencies and six CFDs have been formed with With a whole bunch still underway. And we can also go to the CMFA's website if you wanna see like. Our agendas. We have a meeting every three weeks and you can look at the agendas to see which CFDs are being formed and and which jurisdictions have approved the program. So, with that, I will take any questions, and I appreciate you having me here.

Thank you. I don't see anyone punched up. Does anybody have additional questions right now?

I do count the president. I I'm trying to understand what we're doing here today. Is this a precipice for a financing gimmick for SADA? No. Then are we proposing to use this mechanism to fix existing neighborhoods?

No, this is about providing an an alternative for private home builders to speed up housing. There are still within our existing sphere. There are still areas that can be developed, and this provides developers a funding opportunity to be able to finance the infrastructure that we require them to put in.

Understood. So what what developers are requesting this alternative financing mechanism?

Well, I will tell you that the the the BIA asked us if we would look at it. We found out there is a a different program called Skip that as we've been going through this, we found out that we are already a member of. It's a little bit structured a little bit differently. And we know that some of our our neighbors are utilizing these types of financing mechanisms to be able to privately finance infrastructure. So I think, you know, when we talk about infrastructure, we wanna make sure that development is paying its own way.

And this provides an opportunity for a private developer to be able to finance their infrastructure.

So under our current system, private developer already finances that infrastructure as part of their conditions. So right now, when a new sub track map is built, the developers required to put sidewalks, streets, none of that is financed by the city. Don't they simply just pay for it privately? You put a bond on file with us in case of infrastructure is incomplete. We pulled on that bond. So, current process already has private development paying for the infrastructure.

But it's harder for for this is what I'm being told by by some of the private development community. The way that they have to submit their their proformas, it it requires the investment upfront, which when some of the corporate developers in town who are the ones who are building a product that I would say is the most affordable. When they are putting their performance together, they have to it requires the financing upfront on their financial analysis. This allows different financing mechanism that allows the cost to be spread out and and put into a CFD.

Yeah. Just generally speaking from my perspective, I still don't understand the problem that is we're trying to solve. I almost feel like this is a solution in search of a problem. I have not heard from developers that they're struggling to finance infrastructure projects. I know their complaints are typically the city's putting too many conditions for infrastructure and the quality of infrastructure standards that we have are high.

All of which I think is not a fair criticism. So I wanna be much more thoughtful in understanding what the problem is that we're trying to solve before we agree to a new funding mechanism. Because ultimately, those developers will come back to this body and ask us for some fee waiver, some mitigation, or condition waiver to deal with whatever this other financing mechanism may be requiring of them. So I just wanna be thoughtful about that. I don't

This is no I mean, it's nothing that we have to do other than passing a resolution that say that we want to allow this program. There's no harm on the city.

I I understand that, but we're introducing new financing mechanism that I don't fully understand why it's necessary.

Okay. Well, so between now and the time we bring the resolution, happy to have the BIA builders reach out to you and explain why they see the bet they would see the benefit of utilizing this.

And I also like to hear from staff on what it is that we're seeing in terms of their inability. I let me say it this way. I have yet to hear that any developers are unable to finance the infrastructure improvements required for their development. So I have yet to hear one developer in my tenure.

Okay. Well, we will make sure and send them your

way. Thank you.

And I can just add that there's a public hearing too. There will be a public hearing with the developers. We can ask developers to come and and speak to. It's been a very popular program for developers. So

Council president, can I ask a couple questions?

Yes.

The BIA didn't reach out to me, but I don't think it's lost on any of us that the cost of construction is going up across the board from residential to commercial to I had a couple community health care clinic CEOs reach out to me and say, it's becoming harder and harder to construct new facilities because the cost of everything is going up right now. And so, I guess similar to my last remarks, if this is an opportunity to help make our built environment possible in a way where we can speed up housing construction in our city, then I'm all for it. What I'm hearing is there's no cost to the city or if there is cost, it will be minimal and it'll be reimbursable back to us. Is that correct?

Yeah. That's correct. And and even if there isn't cost to the city, the CMFA shares 25% of our issuance fee with the city for staff time and and the efforts that the city puts in. Good.

Understood. Yeah. Having capital up front is not always accessible to all level of developers. And so if this is one tool in our tool belt where we can do our part to make it easier for the private sector to get what they need to do done, whether it's building more homes or building more community health care clinics in our city, then we have an obligation to explore this and to be supportive of this, especially if there is no downside to us. And so I do look forward to a resolution coming back to support this.

I want to thank city city staff for bringing this to us, and I think this is just good, smart policy on our end to support in order to help make life a little easier for everyone in our city. City. And then just to confirm, this is not limited to just residential developers. Is that correct?

Correct.

Okay. So this could be applicable for commercial developers. Okay. Health care clinic developers. Yes. Okay. Alright. Thank you very much.

Alright. Council Member Carbassi? Yep. So, I appreciate the comments of both my colleagues. I I think Council Member Arias actually brings up a good point. It would have been better had the BIA reached out to us. It's perfectly reasonable so we can be better versed on this. I will say though, I am in agreement with council member Paria. I've spent a lot more time out in West Fresno, especially the neighborhoods West Of 99, and I keep hearing from folks the desire for infrastructure, whether it's a park, whether it's streets to be completed, And they're right. Now the next big growth area is going to be the West Side. It's coming. West area plan's approved, and I think this entire council is very supportive of that. So anything we can do to get more infrastructures like parks out there, sidewalks, road repairs, and especially like council member Perez said a health clinic. That's critical. So I think I'm gonna be supportive.

But, I do recommend they reach out to the council members too. Thank you.

Alright. Great. I don't see anyone else punched up right now. Wanna thank the city manager for dropping this off for me. It was a few weeks ago now, I think. So I appreciate the opportunity to kind of graze over this. Yeah. That's gonna conclude the workshop.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks. Alright.

That's 11:12AM, and I think that's everything on the public part of the agenda, except for unscheduled communication. So we'll go ahead and open up unscheduled communication at this point. If anyone would like to speak on any topic in the public, please come on down. You have three minutes.

Thank you. Thank you so much, counsel. President, I did have something specific. Actually, forgive me. Matthew Gillian, lifelong resident lifelong resident of council member Kea Michael Carbassi's District District 2.

I had something I wanted to reference here today, and unfortunately, that switched up. I'll start by thanking my council member for protecting literally my block from, I think you referenced it as a black bear. Is that correct? A black bear as he was told. Unfortunately, as one of maybe three African Americans that were in this room this morning as you mentioned that moment and then turned around and reference council president Nelson Esparza jokingly as potentially it was him running in Northwest Fresno.

Let me be the and and maybe I heard it wrong, but that is quite racially insensitive. And not only do I speak for myself in this moment, but for those folks that you say that you are looking to represent in Southwest in Fresno and West Of 99 where predominantly most of them are black and brown community members, that is quite racially insensitive. And as this city sits here and grapples with a $15,400,000 settlement that you are looking to appeal on the back of Keke Wilson, I would appreciate if you would look up and recognize that those are racially insensitive comments and for you to look at our community and feel like you have the the position to represent us, shame on you. Shame on you and Alex Tavlian for sending out a racially insensitive flyer against me. Shame on you and Alex Tavlian for sending out an insensitive flyer against your colleague council member Vang, and shame on you again for thinking that you have the ability and position to represent black and brown community members at any level.

Shame on you.

Council member, may I make some comments, please? I usually don't do that, but I wanna get some things clear on the record.

Let let me wrap up on schedule and then, yeah. Sure.

You got it.

I'm not sure if there's anybody else, but I am gonna keep let's get a communication open for now. Anybody else in the chamber who would like to speak? I'll go ahead and close the public comments at this point. Your time is up. He had some comments. I figured they were coming this direction. You're welcome.

Did. Well, reference my council member who's been in his position for seven years and

likes to

continue to make that a point.

I I understand that but we're not going to do a back and forth.

I mean. Not a

back and

forth at all. I'm just waiting for his commentary.

You're welcome to sit down. That's the motion. Yeah. I'm gonna ask to sit down.

Thank you.

Or or at least, you know,

I'm sorry for the microphone. It's true. I'm a council member for seven years because four years ago, 72% of the district reelected me. I'm not a zoologist. I don't decide what's a black bear or a brown bear. A zoologist does that. I was told by people that are in fish and wildlife, it was a black bear. And, yes, I made a comment. Council member Esparza, did I offend you with my comment? Something I heard someone else say.

I think, there were a number of jokes up here from different folks. So I I got lost somewhere. Okay. But I I I didn't take any offense, but, you know, there were a number of jokes flying around.

Not only are you a colleague, you are a friend. And if I ever did ever say anything to offend you, I know you'd come to me and tell me. Now the truth is mister Gillian is the campaign manager of one of my opponents, and he's here trying to manufacture scandal, trying to manufacture, conflict. We don't have time for that in this city, but I think people deserve to know the truth. So, it's silly season. It's campaign season. Let's stick to the issues. We just worked today to see what we can do to get more infrastructure out in West Fresno. We're actually doing the work to make that happen. We're not up here trying to create scandal and bite this community. We need to build up together. So those are my comments. Thank you.

Alright. Well, that'll conclude, I believe, the public portion of our meeting. I had missed anything today, clerk or attorney? Alright. So at this point, we're gonna go ahead and retreat to closed session. City attorney, do we expect any announcements these items, the many items we have?

Yeah. There may be an announcement today.

Okay. Go ahead and read off the agenda and, yeah, we're gonna retreat back there. And when we come back from lunch as well, we're just gonna go straight to the back.

Okay. Sounds good. Today in closed session, we have item five a, conference with labor negotiators, all units listed on the agenda. Conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, City of Fresno versus Brawley seven LLC. Conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, city of Fresno versus Wu Junji.

Item five d, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. Conference with legal counsel, potential litigation, one potential case. Item five f, conference with legal counsel, potential litigation, one potential case. Item five g, conference with legal counsel, potential litigation, one potential case. Five h, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, city of Fresno versus county of Fresno.

Item five I, conference with legal counsel existing litigation, South Fresno Community Langs versus city of Fresno. Item five j, public employee performance evaluation, city clerk. Item five k, public employee employment evaluation city attorney. We may have reportable items after closed session.

Alright. Oh. Is this on? Yeah. He's on. We're not not quite done with closed session yet, but we did have announcement for the city attorney.

Agreed.

Okay, out of closed session, there is one item to report and that report is that by a vote The action has formally commenced upon any inquiry by any person pursuant to section five four nine five seven point one eight two.

Thank you, city attorney. That'll conclude the announcements I believe for today.

And just for the record, that's six to zero with all members voting in the affirmative with council member Richardson absent. Thank you.

Alright. Let's retreat back to closed.