City Council - Regular Meeting

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All right. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning. I get the members of this legislative body to join us up on the dais. We'll get started here shortly. All right, welcome everyone to City Hall. We're gonna go ahead and convene this meeting, 9.15 a.m., fashionably late. Clerk, could you please call the roll?

Thank you, good morning. Council Member Arias. Present. Council Member Perea. Present. Council President Esparza.

Present.

Council Vice President Maxwell. Present. Council Member Vang.

Present.

Council Member Richardson. Six members being present, we have a quorum.

Forgot one.

I apologize, Council Member Carbasi.

That's why I'm on the end over here. It's all good.

All right, fantastic. So next we'll have our invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. And our invocation this morning will be by Abbot Venerable Bunthe Nse from the Fresno Cambodian Buddhist Society. So I'll ask everyone to please stand if you can for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance thereafter.

Good morning everyone, honorable members of the Fresno City Council and the Fresno County residents. It is a pleasure to be here on this wonderful morning and introduce you to the most venerable monks from the Fresno Cambodian Buddhist Society. Venerable Sai Bantan, Venerable Mae Chianti and Venerable Suthi. Originally from Cambodia, they've been serving Buddhist community all around the world, not just here. They are always traveling, spreading the loving kindness, peace and compassion, the message of the Buddha from 2,500 years ago. My name is Raj and I volunteer with the temple consistently for two to three years. Just to give you a little bit of background, all over the world we are celebrating this month as the Buddhist Heritage Month. This is the month when Buddha was born, Buddha passed away and also got the enlightenment. So we commemorate all the three major events of Buddha's life in this one month. And it is what a pleasure that we are here in the month of May, starting this beautiful morning, paying homage to Buddha. So without any delay, I'll pass the mic to Venerable Sai Bantan.

Thank you to all respected Council leaders, community leaders. I am very grateful to be here with you all today. As the Buddhist monks, we devote our lives to help share peace, liberation, and wisdom to all people. and to spread loving kindness and compassion for all sentient beings, like all of you who dedicate so much of your valuable time and energy to help bring our communities peace, prosperity, and safety. It is a very noble act of kindness and compassion you bring to this world. We are very grateful and thankful for all your hard work and dedication to our community. So we would like to share a blessing with all of you today. It is a supreme blessing chanting that is over 2,500 years ago. To bless you all with lasting peace, happiness, and prosperity. So we pray together.

Namo tassa bhagavata-bhagavata-bhagavata-bhagavata Sāraṇāṅgācchāmiṭhammaṃ sāraṇāṅgācchāmiṃ saṅkhaṃ sāraṇāṅgācchāmiṃ tutiyam vipuddhāṃ sāraṇāṅgācchāmiṃ tutiyam vitthammaṃ sāraṇāṅgācchāmiṃ saṅkhaṃ sāraṇāṅgācchāmiṃ ayu vādhakaṁ dhanavādhakaṁ sarvādhakaṁ yasavādhakaṁ palavādhakaṁ vanavādhakaṁ You are the one who has the power to change the world. You are the one who has the power to change the world. You have the power to change the world.

May the supreme blessing be with you always. May the deities protect you all. May the powers of the Lord Buddha, Dhamma, and Sanghas May glories, happiness, and auspicious blessings be with you always and forever. May all beings be shaped, may all beings be happy, and may all beings be peaceful. Thank you again for having us here today. May the tripartite bless you all and family and members with peace, happiness, and prosperity. Thank you.

Thank you. Council of Vice President, would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, so next we're going to move over to approval of the agenda, but I did, before I do that, I was asked by our District 6 Councilmember, Mr. Nick Richardson, he's absent today, but I did want to editorialize a statement on his behalf as he asked me to. You know, Nick, Councilmember Richardson, asked that I communicate gratitude towards family, friends, community, and the dedicated and compassionate staff over at St. Agnes and the Valley Children's NICU. He's with family and his newborn baby at the hospital today, still with them. And he wanted to make sure everyone knew that. And he's hoping that himself, mom, Teddy are hoping to get out of the hospital and join everyone at their fit fest this Saturday, which he spearheaded. So we wish Councilman Richardson and his family well, and the newborn baby well, but I did want to communicate that on his behalf as he asked me to do so. All right, clerk, would you please read the agenda? Are there any changes to each other? Sorry.

Yes, thank you. First of all, I'd like to let the community know that we do have interpretation services available for today's meeting. We do have wordly interpretation digital system being used, which is providing interpretation in Spanish and Punjabi. There are devices available upfront for anyone present who would like to utilize those services or else they can be accessed on our website so that you can use those services. We also have virtual interpretation for the Hmong language as well as American Sign Language. As for changes to the agenda, we do have quite a few. As to the 920 item, ID 26-428, regarding hearing to consider plan amendment and rezone application, number P21-01960. Item two should read resolution to approve plan amendment application number P21-01960, requesting authorization to amend the Fresno General Plan and Bullard Community Plan. And item seven should read resolution to adopt the Fresno Municipal Code findings pertaining to P21-01959, P21-01960, P21-03251, and P21-03252. Item 2C, ID 26-590, regarding approve the first amendment to consultant services agreement with Hill International Incorporated, the dollar amounts in the title and staff report are listed incorrectly. The title reads, in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000, excuse me, 1434050 for a total contract not to exceed 4745566. The title has been corrected to read in an amount not to exceed 1473250 for a total contract value not to exceed 4784766. In the staff report under recommendation reads in the amount not to exceed 1434050. It has been corrected to read in the amount not to exceed 1473250. In the staff report under executive summary reads approval of this amendment in an amount not to exceed 1434050. It has been corrected to read approval of this amendment in the amount not to exceed 1473250. Item 2T, regarding actions pertaining to establishing entertainment zones, the amendment made by Councilmember Arias that the ordinance is revised, Entertainment Zone Ordinance, Section 9-3803, Subdivision C, to extend the eastern edge boundary to H Street, as well as to include the sidewalk along the east side of H Street. As to items removed from the agenda, 945 item ID 26-656 regarding appearance by Mary Padilla was removed from the agenda by the speaker. Item 2Q ID 26-609 regarding actions related to the lease of the Fresno Water Tower located at 2444 Fresno Street between the City of Fresno and Downtown Development Group LLC, DBA Frida Cafe, was moved to June 4th meeting by Councilmember Arias. Item 2X, ID 26-439, regarding actions pertaining to the agreements with the State of California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, has been moved to June 4th meeting per staff. Item 2FF, ID 26-697, regarding resolution directing the administration to identify a funding source for an allocation of $200,000 to the city attorney's office to fund was removed with no return date by council member Arias. Item 2S, ID 26-642, regarding resolution to adopt the 20th amendment to salary resolution Number 2025-177 has been removed with no return date by Council Member Carbasi, Council Member Arias, Council Member Perea, Council Vice President Maxwell, and Council President Esparza. Further changes to the agenda, item 4A, ID 26-655, regarding presentation, reimagining city-owned land for economic activation, transparency, and community growth, was removed from the agenda at the request of the presenter. Item 5E, ID 26-659, regarding public employee performance evaluation, one, government code section 54957, subdivision B, consider the appointment employment Evaluation of performance, discipline, or dismissal of a public employee, title city attorney, was moved to June 4th, meeting by Councilmember Carbasi. Items moved to contested consent for further discussion. Item 2U, ID 26-643, regarding resolution naming the Aracalian family kennels, was moved to contested consent by Councilmember Arias. Item 2V, ID 26-290, regarding approve the First Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement with Bodewell Group, LLC, was moved to contested consent by Councilmember Arias. This is the extent of the changes I have to the agenda.

Great. Thank you, Clerk. I'll go in order, see if there's any additional changes from Councilmembers. Councilmember Perea? Arias? Vice President? Councilmember Vang? I HAVE ONE CHANGE OF CEREMONIAL UNDER CEREMONIAL PRESENTATIONS. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO MOVE, WHERE IS IT? HERE WE GO. THE MID VALLEYS RECYCLER OF THE YEAR PROCLAMATION. WE'RE GOING TO MOVE THAT FROM THE AGENDA TO A DATE UNCERTAIN. IT WILL BE PUSHED. SEEING NO MORE CHANGES, I'LL UNDERTAIN A MOTION FOR APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA. All right, first, second, third. Any opposition to approving the agenda? All right, seeing none, agenda's approved. So we've got a packed house here today. A lot of faces here. Appreciate you all being here. Presumably most of you for a proclamation. We'll take them in the order as listed on the agenda here. We have quite a few as we did at the last meeting, eight or nine, I lost count. And so what we'll do, as we did last time, we're going to time ourselves. And we did very well last time. I think 10 minutes was fairly sufficient for most, if not all, of the proclamations. So we'll try and limit. That way we can get to the city business at a reasonable hour, as we do have a lot to discuss today. Pretty packed agenda. So... We'll get to our favorite part here, favorite part of the meeting. We'll begin the proclamations. First one on the agenda is Proclamation of Older Americans Month. That's sponsored by myself and Council Vice President Maxwell. And clerk, if you'll run the timer for us, please. Thank you.

All righty. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us here today. The mayor's upset because he thought I was presenting this proclamation to him for Older Americans Month, but I told him we got some other folks in the house today. You know, as the resident millennials on the city council, I think council member Esparza and I try to take the time to realize that everything around us is the result of the generations that came before us, right? Whether it's this building that we're standing in, the legislation that governs our city, so many folks from previous generations have built this community from the ground up, from farm workers to teachers to nurses and doctors. educators, and we wouldn't be here without them. And so we wanted to take today to really recognize and celebrate the achievements of older Americans across the United States, and especially those here in our own community. I brought up a couple of prominent folks that you're going to be hearing a little bit from today, Dr. Bill and Janice with West Fresno Resource Center to talk about some of the good work they're doing. But I could tell you before I even became a council member, I worked on the staff of Council Member Esparza, And before he was elected council member, Dr. Bill had made sure that we knew all about the senior center that the seniors had been asking about for many, many years here in the city of Fresno. And a lot of people said they would try to make it happen and unfortunately never materialized. But thanks to our group of seniors pushing year after year to get this thing off the ground. The city really finally made it a priority. And I'm proud to say that on June 1st, in just a couple weeks, we'll have tractors out there starting the first phase of development on our 32,000 square foot citywide senior center, the first of its kind here in the city of Fresno. And this is really gonna be a state of the art facility. This is going to be a state-of-the-art facility because this isn't something that the city of Fresno planned out on its own. We had listening sessions in person and virtual. We had them in every single district across the city of Fresno where we could hear directly from our seniors about what they wanted there. We're going to have classes. We're going to have a heated swimming pool. We're going to have an outdoor area for folks to play sports. We're going to have areas for potentially some cooking and some arts, some library activities, as well as a cafe, hopefully, inside the senior center. So a lot of good things going on there. And again, that's just a testament to what's possible when our seniors get together and voice their opinion and really drive a project home. And so I want to thank you, Dr. Bill. I know you were a big part of that. And Janice, I know you guys got some really great stuff going on in the community. And I'll have you guys talk about that here shortly, but I'm going to hand it off to Council President Esparza to say a few more words.

Thank you, Council Vice President. It's great to be here with you all to present the Proclamation for Older Americans Month. As I've said since the very beginning of my tenure here at City Hall, it's time that we give back to those who have given so much to the city. And it's really a pleasure to stand here with two of our biggest advocates, the West Fresno Family Resource Center and Dr. Bill. who have advocated for the older Americans in this city and never let folks here at City Hall forget or overlook their older population for those folks who have, again, given so much to Fresno. So I want to say really, really appreciate the work and appreciate you all in helping to guide us to find the actual site where we ultimately selected You know, that was not something we did on our own. We did that in partnership with the senior community. Back at that time, the property was in my district, and when we redrew the lines a few years ago, we ceded it to Council Vice President, now in District 4. But the important thing is that it's centered there on Blackstone Avenue. a very central location for all of our seniors to reach throughout the city. So we're incredibly excited. It's one of the proudest achievements of this city, and we were long, long overdue. And that is thanks to the advocacy of the community. We're just here to represent and kind of execute, but it was really on the part of you all. Thank you. Thank you. I'll hand it off to Dr. Bill first and introduce your friend here that you brought along as well.

My friend is Mr. Ford. This is my fourth guide dog. He's four years old, so he's young. I'm the older guy on the team, but he's the first one that gets introduced to the people. Like they already mentioned, I was part of the original task force for the senior center, and we look forward to having breaking ground. I'd like to see it in my lifetime, so our mayor can join us at some point. But I represent 95,000 seniors. When we started many years ago, we only had like 59,000. Now we have 95,000 seniors, 60 and above. And some of you do go to Clovis, which is okay, but we want you to come to our center, because we have fought hard to have it built on your behalf. And we represent all of you in this room that are 60 plus, and we thank you for your dedication and share the life stories that you continue to share. We have centenarians galore in our community, but they tend to be the forgotten ones, but get their life stories, because they have great stories to share, and they have the best recipes to share with you as well. We held our annual elder care symposium yesterday, and Janice's organization, West Fresno, hosted it, and we had a wonderful time talking about advanced directives, elder abuse, What else? Creative art, fitness, mental health, caregiving. Older Americans Month comes around every May, and this year was Champion Your Health. So get out and be active. Do something. Just don't sit on your couch and be the couch potato. You need to get out and enjoy the world in which we live.

Thank you, Dr. Bill. My name is Janice Mathurin Boyd, Director of Operations with West Fresno Family Resource Center. West Fresno Family Resource Center is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that was developed in 2001 to address health disparities. Hard to believe that our organization will be celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. And so the organization, our mission, empowering the community. And we've partnered with Dr. Bill for over, probably over eight years now. And he has been, as our advocate for senior causes, he partnered with us. And we hosted our annual senior symposium, an opportunity to empower seniors to lead their healthiest lives possible. And so we're grateful to the partnership. And we're grateful for the proclamation from this week.

My commitment to Dr. Bill is that he will very soon be able to use the Jerry Dyer Geriatric Center And a not so distant future. And I'll have the clerk read out the entire proclamation, but I do want to read out this part beforehand. Now, therefore, it be resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Council President Nelson Esparza, Council Vice President Tyler Maxwell, and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Older Americans Month in the City of Fresno. Thank you and God bless you guys. City Clerk.

Thank you. Thank you. Whereas May is nationally recognized as Older Americans Month, a time dedicated to honoring the achievements, contributions, and enduring legacy of older Americans, while also reaffirming our commitment to advancing programs and opportunities that allow seniors to live with dignity, independence, and purpose. And whereas the city of Fresno proudly recognizes and celebrates the extraordinary and ongoing contributions of older Americans, whose wisdom, resilience, compassion, and leadership continue to strengthen our community through volunteerism, mentorship, civic participation, cultural preservation, and the countless ways they enrich the lives of residents across our city. And whereas the West Fresno Family Resource Center and Dr. William Daley Jr. have long served as a vital pillar within the Fresno community, through its commitment to empowering families, supporting underserved residents, and connecting individuals with critical resources and services that promote health, stability, and opportunity, and through its hosting of the annual Senior Symposium. The organization further demonstrates its dedication to uplifting older adults by providing valuable health information, educational workshops, community resources, and meaningful opportunities for connection and support. Whereas the city of Fresno remains committed to promoting a more inclusive, accessible, and age-friendly community by investing in programs, services, and infrastructure that empower older residents to live healthy, engaged, and fulfilling lives. This commitment is exemplified by the city's investment in a state-of-the-art 34,000 square foot senior center Designed to foster connection, wellness, lifelong learning, and community for Fresno's older American population for generations to come. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Council President Nelson Esparza, Council Vice President Tyler Maxwell, and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Older Americans Month in the City of Fresno.

All right, fantastic. That was a masterclass in timing. That was 10 minutes on the dot to like your last word. So we're on track here. So we did pull that second proclamation. We'll move on to the third proclamation for Vietnam Veterans of America, William G. Camp, Chapter 933, Memorial Day. uh that was sponsored by council member richardson but uh council member carbasi will be presenting on his behalf i believe well good morning

Yes, I'm Mike Carbasi. I have the honor of presenting this important proclamation in the place of Councilmember Richardson. We wish him and Teddy and their family well at this time. Please keep them in your prayers. So we're here to honor a group, a chapter for the Vietnam Veterans of America. They were established here in 1985. Now let's talk about Vietnam for a brief second. Most of us on the Council were born after the Vietnam War. And because we have so many veterans from that war that still live among us, that share their stories, we do definitely keep their stories alive because they weren't politicians. They were just following direction. They went and fought a war because in their minds they were protecting our country and the world from the spread of communism and the oppression that comes with it. But when they came back to America at that time, it was very tumultuous, and unfortunately, a lot of them were ridiculed and were criticized. And I understand it was a tough time, but I'm glad that our generation today honors our veterans, including those that lived and suffered through the Vietnam War and the impact that had, not just for the people of Vietnam, but also for our troops. Here are some numbers, though. So there used to be a draft in this country. That means the government can say, hey, you are going to go and serve in the armed forces. There were, from 1964 to 1973, 2.2 million Americans were drafted at that time. 30% of those actually died in Vietnam. There were 650,000 American service members in Vietnam. And of them, over 58,000 were killed. And of course, thousands more returned home with permanent injuries from that war. It's important to have groups, including a group here in Fresno, that honors the memory of those veterans. Now, one thing you may not know is we have a couple of memorials out there in Woodward Park. Maybe you've seen the Columbia Memorial or the Challenger Memorial. We actually have two for Vietnam. One to honor, of course, our veterans. The other to honor those who honor and remember our veterans, too. and I think you're going to tell us a little bit about that. But before I hand it off to you, I just want to thank you for all that you do to keep our history alive, to honor our veterans, and to make sure every generation never forgets what they went through. Thank you.

Yes, we hope some of you will be able to join us, Sunrise Service, at Woodward Park Monday. We've been doing this for many years, almost 40 years, and we believe it's... probably the earliest memorial service on the West Coast. It's a quiet service and a short service. And as you may have mentioned that it is to honor the men and women who over the last 250 years have fallen and given that last full measure of honor, uh, in our nation's wars and more times. So we hope to see some of you there. We want to thank Mike and the council and the mayor and all of you here for your continuing support of the veterans. And particularly remember those young veterans too, who are now coming back to us.

Thank you. And we have a lot of young folks in our audience today. I was once young, too. But I had the honor of going to D.C. this last year. If you ever get to go, definitely go look at the war memorials. The Vietnam Memorial probably was the most impactful because it really puts into perspective how many Americans lost their lives in that war. An amazing thing to see. So remember, 545 AM, the 37th Memorial Day Sunrise Service at the Audubon Gate at Woodward Park. So please do show up if you can. I'll read the last part of the proclamation, then we're going to hand it off to the clerk. And that is going to be, now therefore be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim May 25th, 2026 as Vietnam Veterans of America William G. Camp Chapter 933 Memorial Day. Thank you.

Whereas Vietnam Veterans of America established a chapter in Fresno in 1985, and whereas Vietnam Veterans of America, William G. Camp Charter 933 is still an integral part of the Fresno veterans community. And whereas in 1986, Vietnam Veterans of America, William G. Camp Chapter 933 identified the need for a unique service honoring those who have fallen in defense of our nation. And whereas on Monday, May 29th, 1986, Vietnam Veterans of America William G. Camp Chapter 933 conducted the first sunrise service honoring those who have fallen. And whereas this service was conducted at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Woodward Park, and whereas May 25, 2026 is the 40th anniversary of this event, now therefore be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim May 25, 2026 as Vietnam Veterans of America William G. Camp Chapter 933 Memorial Day in the City of Fresno.

All right, congratulations again. We'll move us to our next proclamation, a proclamation in honor of National Bike Month. That's going to be presented by both Councilmember Vang and the Office of the Mayor and City Manager.

Okay, good morning. Can I have the Active Transportation Advisory Committee come up here, please? Good morning. And good morning everybody. Today we are proud to recognize this month as National Bike Month. National Bike Month is a reminder of the many benefits that biking brings to our community. It not only promotes healthy lifestyle, but helps reduce traffic. It also improves air quality and gives residents a safer and a more affordable way to get around our city. Now, last Friday, I had the opportunity to participate in the city's fourth annual by-ride with some of the committees here. Thank you very much for the opportunity, and thank you, Mayor, for the opportunity to ride around downtown. I also want to recognize the work of our Active Transportation Advisory Committee. All of you play a continual and critical part in advocating safer and more connected streets for bicyclists and pedestrians in our city. Fresno continues to make investments in active transportation infrastructure. Events like today and last Friday encourage more people to get outside, to be active, and to experience our community in a way that most of us do not get to experience, which is on a bike. Whether it is riding your bike to school, riding to work, or just riding around the neighborhood, or just for fun, every ride, every rider helps contribute to a healthier community and a healthier city. So on behalf of the City of Fresno, it is my honor to present this proclamation recognizing May as National Bike Month. Mayor?

Thank you, Councilmember, and thank you, everyone, for all that you do for active transportation in our city. You know, it is important that we do have a committee that advises us, but it's also important as a city that we do the responsible thing in making sure that those who are out there on our bicycles are safe. That's the purpose of us creating more and more bike lanes throughout the city of Fresno, protected bike lanes, I might add, as well as narrowing the streets, what we refer to as a road diet. so that motorists will slow down, because what ultimately ends up happening is far too many people lose their lives on bicycles in our city, and it's like that across the nation. You know, when I was in Vienna, it's the the number one bike capital of the world. And they have far more bicycles than they do cars in that city. And it's amazing. No one seems to get hit by a car when they're on a bicycle because they've gotten used to it. In Fresno, we're still trying to get used to sharing the roadway between a motorist and a bicyclist. So it's my commitment. We're going to do all that we can to make sure that we continue to do that. So congratulations on this recognition. Yes.

And here is Nick Yovino, chairman of ATAC.

Yes. Thank you. So thank you for being here and celebrating May's bike month. And I got all kinds of numbers. I could go off here, but I think what I really want to do is I want to say thank you. This is an important time, especially later today with the Vision Zero plan, fingers crossed, right? Fresno's making some really big improvements. And I just want to take some time now to make some special thanks. First of all, to the amazing ATAC committee. We meet every Wednesday, or every last Wednesday of the month. And I'm surrounded by people that really care about this community and want to make a difference. Also to you, To Mayor Dyer, I know this is something very dear to him. He's always the first to volunteer to ask how I can help out, so thank you. Council Member Vang, I'm new to the committee and new to being the chair, and thank you for that opportunity, but I just have to say you and your staff have been amazing. And again, specifically Lee Fong-Mil Vangsao, he's like my little brother, and I'm so lucky to have him as a contact. And then also city staff, right? So Adrena Aguilar, Song Vang Sung, they're just amazing. And this committee cannot function really without them. And the rest of the staff in public works, Harmanjeet, Amy Eads, all those people make this work. So thank you. And I think that's it.

Yeah, thank you to Council Member Vang, who represented all the charter officials of the bike ride. Was it last Friday? This past Friday. I got out there and said a few words, but I did not get on the bike.

Yeah, so I want to put that on the record. You were also there. Thank you. Thank you. Before I turn over to the clerk, I just want you to read the last two paragraphs of this proclamation. Whereas the City of Fresno recognizes National Bike Month as a time to encourage residents to move frequently, ride their bikes, which improve personal health, reduce emissions, and create healthy communities. Now therefore be proclaimed that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and members of the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim May 2026 to be National Bike Month. Thank you very much everybody. Clerk, thank you.

Thank you. Whereas National Bike Month was first established in 1956 by the League of American Bicyclists and is celebrated every May, and whereas biking is a pollution-free transportation mode that improves air quality, aids public health, and reduces traffic congestion, And whereas to help Fresno expand its mobility options, the Fresno City Council established the Active Transportation Advisory Committee, which is composed of community members with both expertise and an interest in bicycle and pedestrian issues. And whereas the City of Fresno recognizes National Bike Month as a time to encourage residents to more frequently ride their bicycles, which improve personal health, reduce emissions, and create healthy communities, Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and the members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2026 to be National Bike Month in the City of Fresno.

All right, let's see here. Next up, proclamation for National Public Works Week is presented, sponsored by the Office of the Mayor and City Manager.

Well, thank you, Council President. If I could have our Public Works, Department of Public Utilities employees, as well as our General Service Department folks come forth. Scott Mosier, our Director of Public Works, Paul Amico from Department of Public Utilities, please come up. And we're going to empty this council chambers. I can see that right now. Shouldn't you guys be out there working? My goodness. We got American flags to put up on poles. So they did this last week, a few of them. And I'm here also with our city manager, George Ann White. And Brian, is Brian Barr here? Maybe not. How are you doing? Okay. So while everybody is getting assembled, and I mean everybody.

Hey, Mayor, really quick. Is this why my sidewalk still hasn't been fixed today?

This is it right here because they're here.

I thought so.

All right. Well, thank you very much. And the folks we have up here, again, is folks from our Public Works Department. Those are the ones that are out there making sure our streets get paved, signal lights are installed and working, sidewalks are repaired, plus a lot of other things, as I just kitted. They also put up 1,000 American flags throughout our city this last week as we celebrate the country's 250th celebration. And then we also have our Department of Public Utilities. Paul Amico is the director. They are the ones that, you know, do things quite honestly, quietly. When you flush your toilet, the water goes the right way. And when you turn on the faucet, there's clean water. And, you know, those things are very, very important to us as a city, as well as our solid waste removal services. And then General Services, they do just about everything no one else wants to do, from facilities to you name it, and making sure that all of our facilities throughout the city are taken care of. But we want to recognize them, and every year we have the opportunity through National Public Works Week. And it is to pay recognition to those people who work so tirelessly out there, whether it's raining, whether it's cold or hot summer days in Fresno that we get. They're the ones out there working day in and day out, in many cases 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to allow you to be able to drive on your roadways safely and to make sure everything that you need to do in our community is done appropriately. So with that, City Manager?

Yeah, I just want to catch one other thing. Obviously, we see these crews out and about every single day working in our community. But what most of us don't see are them in the middle of the night and on holidays when a water pipe has broken in the middle of the night or a sewer pipe has broken in the middle of the night or trees have been toppled in the middle of a storm. These are the teams that also are out mobilizing to get our systems back up functioning with no complaint whatsoever. They just get it done. And with the age of our infrastructure, unfortunately, it happens more frequently than we would like. And I know this just last year, Christmas, Christmas Day, we had crews out fixing broken water pipes so that our residents would be able to have water to be able to celebrate with their families. So these are amazing employees that are sort of the backbone of our city, and we're so appreciative of all that they do every day. So thank you.

Thank you. Yesterday, I had the opportunity with Council Member Perea, we launched our paving season here in Fresno. Thanks to a $100 million bond that the council supported, an initiative that I brought forth, it was to pave more now, pave less later. And this year, combined with our pave more now money, as well as our Measure C dollars, and some of our state dollars like SB1, we're going to be able to pave... at least 100 lane miles in the city of Fresno this year. And I'd like to say that that's probably the most that we've done in one year in our history. And thanks to all of you and the sidewalks being fixed and repaired, and thanks to the council for your support on that initiative. I think we're going to show a video. Is that correct? So why don't we show a video? I would have one of the department directors speak, but if I have one speak, all of them have to speak. We don't want to show favorites. So if we can roll that video, please. They even let me get on the milling machine yesterday and operate it for a while, which was dangerous. And we also, our public works is responsible. They plant over 1,000 new trees every single year. In fact, the last five years, there's been about 5,800 new trees planted in our city. So I'm going to read this last part, and then we'll have the clerk read it. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17 through May 23, 2026, to be National Public Works Week in the City of Fresno.

Whereas National Public Works Week calls attention to the importance of services provided by public works professionals, including here in the city of Fresno, where highly trained individuals spanning multiple departments are an integral part of our community. And whereas we recognize the ongoing contributions of the city of Fresno's departments of public works, capital projects, general services, and public utilities, whose efforts help advance the health, safety, and quality of life for Fresno residents. And whereas public infrastructure, facilities, and services play a pivotal role in the community's successful day-to-day operation, residents go about their daily lives doing such things as driving city streets, taking showers, and washing dishes, all with the expectation that the infrastructure underpinning these tasks will operate as expected. And whereas these critical services could not be provided without the dedicated and skilled efforts of professionals at all levels, including engineers, administrators, field staff, and office staff, These professionals are responsible for the design, building, operation, and maintenance of the city's infrastructure. They improve and protect our transportation systems and equipment, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings and other structures, and facilities essential for the state's fifth largest city to function. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through May 23rd, 2026 to be National Public Works Week in the City of Fresno.

Fantastic. Thank you all for your work. I think it goes without saying, but on behalf of the entire council, this city council has a lot of love for you all and the work you do. Thank you. All right, we're on to our next proclamation, honoring Candace Suozzi on his retirement, and that's sponsored by the Office of the Mayor and City Manager.

Thank you very much, Council President. Dr. Suozzi, if you come up here, and Pastor BT Lewis, you're going to bring up here, and then Darren. Whoever wants to stand up here, I think... You know, we have the opportunity today to recognize someone who is very, very special in our community. And sometimes he's operated quietly behind the scenes. Other times he's been very out front and forthright on a number of issues in our community. But Dr. Kehinde Swase is a person who I've grown to respect and admire over the years because of his work within the African American community, primarily as a professor at Fresno City College for almost 40 years. Almost 40 years. And he's the one that created the Central Valley's most enduring African American academic programs, served as the chair of the cultural studies, and is really recognized as the father of Fresno City's black studies program. And we're joined here. You have family members here. You have friends that are with you. And I'm going to give you. Oh, yeah. Been married a couple years, right?

This is my twin sister.

Oh, okay. You're not married to them.

No, no, no. She was in the womb with me.

All right. Twin. All right. All right, all right.

I just want to say to my nephew, which I'm so proud of, He served in Afghanistan, just got back not too long ago with honors. Thank you. And he's a military officer. So I'm very proud of my family. And thank you, brother. Thank you so much, Mayor.

Almost called me pastor, huh?

Called you pastor.

I had a couple of things I just wanted to say, too.

the audience you know we're in a very very uh... significant period in our history in the united states and i just want to say to my community i want to thank the african-american community here in fresno i'd give a big shout out to that community because of the reason our program has been so successful. We got the support of our community. They've been there, our students, they've been there. I'm teaching their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, all of them. It has been a wonderful, wonderful, excellent experience here in Fresno with my family. I call that my Fresno family now. The other thing I want to say to all our brothers and sisters, particularly African-Americans, despite how things are going, I want us to be the best that we were made to be. And I want us to stand strong and not one step back. We're never going back to that Jim Crow mess again. We're going to be strong. We're going to be here forever. And so I want you all to remember. Not one step back. Can everybody say that? Not one step back. That's what I want to say.

Thank you, Mayor.

I told you he could be a little bit forthright at times. Pastor B.T. Lewis is with us. Pastor B.T. Lewis on our staff, actually, Office of Community Affairs. So I'm going to read. This last part, and then we'll turn it over to the clerk, and then we'll take some photos. It says, now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, May 21st, 2026, to be Kehinde Suaze Day in the city of Fresno. Thank you.

Whereas Professor Kehinde Sulwazi was born in 1941 in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri, where he met his wife, Kimi Sol. He has one son, Chuma, and is the proud grandfather of four. His love and devotion have been dedicated to African people and the celebration of everyday life throughout the African diaspora. And whereas pursuing his education with distinction, Professor Sulwazi attended Harris Teachers College in St. Louis on a Ford Foundation scholarship. earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Institute in Chicago in 1967 with emphasis on drawing, painting, and printmaking. And in 1972, a Master of Arts in Fine Arts with emphasis on black expressionism in the woodcutting technique from San Diego State University. And whereas, as a visual artist, Professor Sawalzi draws inspiration from orthodox spiritual systems in Ethiopia, the African diaspora, and the glorification of war, which produced a socially conscious body of work. And whereas Professor Sawalzi worked nearly 40 years as a Fresno City College Social Sciences Division faculty member, where he built one of the Central Valley's most enduring African-American academic programs. He also served as Chair of Cultural Studies and is recognized as the father of Fresno City's Black Studies program. And whereas as a community elder, Professor Sawalzi strengthened Fresno's African-American community through the Black Political Council, United Black Men, and the Fresno City College Black Faculty Association. Upon Professor Sewolsey's retirement, he established the Kehinde Sewolsey Scholarship at Fresno City College, a living legacy that supports and empowers young black students in pursuit of higher education. And whereas the city of Fresno is proud to honor Professor Sewolsey, whose life of scholarship, artistry, and community service helped shape the city's character and culture, Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, May 21st, 2026, to be Kehendi-Sawalzi Day in the City of Fresno.

Thank you.

All right. Congratulations again. We've got another proclamation here. This can't be right. Another proclamation sponsored by the mayor. Is that right? He's not even looking at me. Yeah. All right. Our next proclamation is going to be celebrating 70 years at KFSN TV. That's sponsored by the office of the mayor and city manager.

This

This is an incredible opportunity for us in the city of Fresno. Yes, mic me up, Dale.

Let me put it on mic. Excellent. You're wired now.

Yeah, I'm wired. I'm always wired. I am joined here today by some folks that probably don't really need an introduction. This is General Manager for KFSN ABC 30. And this is Martin Ortiz. Everybody knows Graciela Moreno. Been the anchor now for Channel 30 for almost 30 years. Coming up on 30 years next year. She was the youngest anchor to ever come in Fresno at five years old. and still looks as good as ever, I might add, both in person and on TV. And then we have Warren Armstrong here, who's been in the business for about 40-something, 45 years in the news business, but he's been a long-time anchor at Channel 30, and he's been in everyone's living room, just like Graciela. And then we have Dale Yerong here, and this guy has been around a few years. He interviewed me in the early 80s So that's how long Dale's been around now, and he's also been about 43 years in the business there. So we are blessed, not just because of these individuals, but to have ABC30 Action News in our community. I have always found them, whether I was in the police department or now in my capacity as a mayor. to be a very reputable news station, always trying to be fair and objective. The ones that are oftentimes first to report things in our community. And they are somebody that can be trusted, quite frankly. And I mean that wholeheartedly. And I think sometimes in the news industry today, We do not have media outlets that are objective, that are fair, because they have some type of an agenda that's driven by their parent company. Not so with ABC 30. Even though their parent company is Disney, their local news coverage is absolutely objective, fair, and accurate. And so I want to say thank you to you guys. But here today, we are celebrating 70 years where ABC 30's been in our community. I remember back as a kid when they were K-Free TV. That was a long, long time ago, but they started in 1956 when they first started airing in the city of Fresno, in the Fresno-Vicelia area. And since that time, they have gone on to win Many, many awards throughout the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast. Time and time again, every single year they have done that. And so I just want to say congratulations to all of you for what you do and what you're doing as well, covering on the 250th anniversary of America. So thank you. And Martin, I'll turn the mic over to you.

You know, the four of us are just a small group. We have 100 people working at our studios 24-7 on G Street. Morning news, midday news, 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 11 o'clock, weekends. There's literally someone in that building, multiple people 24-7, working to inform our community. every day because we know our viewers count on us, they trust us, and it's something we have never taken for granted. Our station has been number one in the ratings for five decades. None of us take that for granted. We know it's a choice our viewers make every day to choose us. And so I want to thank all of them for continuing to make Action News number one in Fresno and in Central California.

Thank you, Morton. And now I'd like to read the last paragraph. I think all of us like to hear these words. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, May 21st, 2026 to be KFSN TV ABC 30 Day in the city of Fresno. Congratulations.

Whereas on May 10th, 1956, KFSN-TV signed on the air, originally operating as K-Free TV. This month, the station celebrates its 70th anniversary of broadcasting service to the central San Joaquin Valley. And whereas the station serves the Fresno-Visalia market area, which for the 2024-25 television season was the nation's 55th largest, covering Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties. And whereas 1971, Capital Cities Incorporated purchased the station and adopted the call sign KFSN-TV, reflecting its long-standing association with the Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley. The station in its early years carried CBS programming and has been affiliated with the ABC television network since 1985, making it one of the longest tenured ABC affiliates in the western United States. And whereas the Walt Disney Company's 1996 acquisition of Capital City's ABC connected KFSN-TV to one of the world's most recognized media organizations. Branded as ABC 30 and ABC 30 Action News, the station produces local news programming multiple times each day and is widely recognized as the leading source for local news in Central California. And whereas KFSN TV has demonstrated consistent leadership in innovation, launching ABC30.com in 1997 and in 2007 becoming the first central California station to broadcast local newscasts in high definition. It developed a mobile news app in 2012 and expanded its digital footprint through the local 24-7 streaming news channel. And whereas the station's journalistic excellence has been recognized with multiple Emmy Awards and the prestigious Edward R. Muro Award for Best Newscast, through initiatives such as its Children First campaign and community partnerships, KFSN-TV continues its longstanding commitment to serving the Central Valley. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and members of the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, May 21, 2026, to be KFSN-TV ABC 30 Day in the City of Fresno.

All right, congratulations on 70 years. Next proclamation, second to last one, is going to be for Central High School's wrestling team, and that's sponsored by Council Member Perea.

All right, if I can have the Central High Wrestling Team, each and every one of you join me up here, please. Let's get some folks on this side, too. All right, so I've always said that District 1 breeds champions, and today is no different. This is the Central High wrestling team, and after 30 years away, this team came back and they set a standard beyond belief. First, let's give them a round of applause for a 21 and 0 undefeated season. Now, something like that doesn't happen by accident. That happens by early morning practices, after school practices, accountability in the classroom. This group has a cumulative GPA of 3.53. And this team is so decorated that I had to write down just a list of accomplishments. And this isn't even the whole thing, but just a few things I want to highlight. This team went from Division IV up to Division III, which meant tougher competition. And even with that, they captured the Division III section dual championship, 72 to 6 and 52 to 12. We have 10 All-Star League wrestlers in the North Yosemite League. And then I did promise them that they would be able to show off some moves on Mayor Dyer. Is he still here? all right he looks a little scared we've already given jerry the the full nelson not the half okay fair enough fair enough um congratulations guys uh thank you for making the city of fresno proud i'm honored to be your council member and i would like to give the mic to council member there you are right in the middle uh mike carbasi to say a few words thank you councilmember prea

So I totally agree with the council member. District 1 is where it's at, both city and county. I want to say this is not the first time we've been able to honor Central Unified Athletes for kicking serious butt. I have to use the word butt because it's got to be PG. But I don't know if it's something that's in the water or what it is, but I think the reality is it's your parents. And you guys are so lucky. I want to thank you all for the early morning practices, late night practices. In addition to all this, you're still going to school. But thank you for making us look good. Seriously. And make sure to give your parents a big high five and hug and thanks. Any parents here today? Yeah. Thank you all. Really. You make it happen. You make us look good. Thank you, guys.

Coach Pierce, did you want to say a few words?

This is the hardest part of the job, I think. It's like going to the doctor's office and getting on the scale. So it's a tough time there. But I want to thank all of our parents. You guys have been awesome in our return as a program after 30 years. Definitely couldn't have done this without you. also to these these awesome guys here um they're amazing group to uh they they had an opportunity to go to uh or to stay at central east and they they chose to to uh uh wrestle at at central high and and uh very very humbling for me as a coach um that they trusted in myself and then also um our head girls coach uh coach faria um it's been an amazing ride and and Thank you again to everybody. Thank you for having us here today. We really appreciate it. And hopefully the ride isn't over. Oh, we just had one of our coaches come in. Coach Devin, come on up. Coach Devin was also one of our girls' assistant coaches, and she just finished her first year at Fresno City Wrestling for Fresno City, and she was All-American this year. Thank you. So not just accolades for the wrestlers here, but our coaching staff as well. So thank you again. And, Coach, did you have anything? No. No? Okay. Thank you.

I think the mayor's here to wrestle.

Okay. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew.

Matthew. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew.

Matthew. Matthew.

Matthew.

Yeah, of course, Jerry picked the lowest weight class to wrestle, yeah.

Now you see why this team is undefeated. Great work. All right. So it's my honor to declare today, Thursday, May 21, 2026, as Central High School Wrestling Team Day in the city of Fresno. Congratulations. Madam Clerk.

Whereas the Central High School wrestling team demonstrated extraordinary athletic achievement during the 2025-2026 season by completing an undefeated 21-0 dual season record while representing their school and the Fresno community with discipline, determination, sportsmanship, and pride. And whereas after moving up from Division IV to Division III, the team captured the Division III section dual championship with commanding victories of 72-6 and 52-12. proving their ability to compete and succeed at a higher level of competition. And whereas the program also earned the Division IV section individual tournament championship by an impressive 58-point margin and produced five individual section champions, establishing itself as one of the premier wrestling programs in Central California, And whereas the team produced 10 all-league wrestlers in the North Yosemite League, including both the boys and girls North Yosemite League Wrestlers of the Year, while advancing three student athletes to the state tournament and earning valley-wide recognition for outstanding individual performances. And whereas members of the program earned statewide recognition for demonstrating exceptional sportsmanship, leadership, integrity, and character both on and off the mat, reflecting the values and excellence of Central High School and its athletic community. And whereas the Central High School wrestling team excelled academically by earning the Division IV Academic Team Championship, with a cumulative GPA of 3.53 and achieving the third highest wrestling team GPA in the Valley during the program's first year back after a 30-year absence, demonstrating resilience and excellence in both athletics and education. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Councilmember Annalisa Perea, and the Fresno City Councilmembers hereby recognize and honor the Central High School Wrestling Team for their outstanding accomplishments, dedication, academic excellence, and positive representation of Central High School and the Fresno community, and proclaim Thursday, May 21, 2026, as Central High School Wrestling Team Day in the City of Fresno.

Are you guys seniors, juniors? Raise your hand if you're a senior.

Mayor, senior.

Juniors?

Are there younger ones?

Sophomores? Wow, so a lot of returning players next year.

Wonderful.

Freshmen, where are my freshmen? All right, a lot ahead of you.

Congratulations.

All right, congratulations again. Last, but certainly not least, we have a proclamation for the Fresno City College beach volleyball team. And that's going to be sponsored by myself and Council Member Perea.

How are you? Good.

Welcome. Hey, welcome. Good to see you guys.

All right, good morning everyone. We are here to recognize a team that has made history at Fresno City College. And that is not an easy thing to accomplish. And they didn't just do that, they elevated women's beach volleyball across the state of California. So let's give them a round of applause for a perfect 29 and zero season. State team champions, state pairs champions. You know, you guys didn't just set the bar, but you raised it so high that any player coming after you is going to have a really difficult time filling your shoes. So congratulations, ladies. You made our city proud. You made Fresno City College proud. Thank you very much for setting the standard in women's sports. With that being said, I do want to pass it off to Coach Before we pass it off to Coach, I'm going to pass it off to Council President Nelson Esparza.

All right. Thank you, Council Member Perea. It is really a joy to be here with you all this morning. You know, I'll say not you, but we, because I have the privilege of working at the campus and working at the college. Have any of you taken my class at all? I don't think so. Okay. All right. Good. Yeah. All good, all good. So I'll say we. It's a really proud moment to be here with you all and celebrate, I believe, if I had this right, 140 and 0 record as longest unbeaten conference sort of streak. Central Valley Conference. Yeah, Central Valley Conference. I mean, that's incredible. I mean, really, really incredible. Let's give them a round of applause. And so, yeah, just wanted to be here with you. I do represent the campus here at City Hall, so count on Council Member Perea, count on myself, anything you all need, but we're just very proud. It's another notch on Fresno's belt, all right, to have you all this accomplishment with the campus. Thank you.

All right, Coach, want to say a few words? Well, first I just want to say how impressed. It was great to be last because we got to hear about all the wonderful people in our community. Dr. Bill, someday I look forward to coming over and taking some cooking classes with you at the Senior Center and Mayor Dyer. But it's just wonderful to hear about our community. This group of ladies worked extremely hard. I think our terms have been intentional from day one with what they've accomplished. Not only were they undefeated this season, we brought beach volleyball to Fresno. This group represents the valley. We don't have players from out of state. We don't have players from Southern California or beach schools. These are players that represent us, and I think that's what makes it even more special. Within, not that you're familiar with beach volleyball, but we play five pairs within our team matches. I know our team was undefeated within our pairs, which might be hard to wrap. We played 140 pair matches. Our team was 137-3 on the season. I don't know if that will ever be duplicated again. We are the first team in California to go undefeated. We're the first Northern California team to not only win the state beach championship, but the PEARS state championship in the same year. Jayla Iverson is here, was a member that won the PEARS championship. Her partner is taking a final right now, Lusa. This is a tremendous group. We're so thankful that the college supported beach volleyball, giving our students another avenue to showcase their strengths, their gifts, and their talents. And we're very thankful to Fresno City College that they find new arenas for all our students to excel and to see these players and these students go on to the four year and having the opportunity to possibly get beach scholarships, which we've had over the years. So it's great. And thank you so much. Oh, wait, I got another thing for you. Okay. Basketball, you cut down the nets, right? All that stuff. But beach volleyball, our host college where we won this championship, Mt. SAC, thanks to them, they let us take a little sand. So we brought you a little sandbag from our state championship.

Athletic Director Johnson, do you want to say a few words?

I guess so.

How you doing? Derek Johnson, Associate Dean of Athletics. I just want to make sure we really give the recognition to this team and the accolade that they just accomplished. As you heard Coach Kieran say, this is the first time ever in California state history that a beach volleyball team has won both pairs and individual state championship, team state championship. This accomplishment, and if you... I don't think Coach Roble can probably put into perspective to really put you at the site to understand what these student athletes actually go through during their, what, four days, maybe four or five days at their tournament site. where they're playing matches and then maybe a half an hour later they're having to play another match uh not just a match but it's a match in the sun some of us can't last that long without a beer so i mean it's it's uh when we're in the sun so again these these ladies go to class every day their gpa is 3.7 i believe From the fall through 3.7 GPA. So it's not just their leadership in the classroom and on the court. And also Coach Roble, she has over 500 wins in not just her career, but over 500 wins. She's also our indoor volleyball coach where they've won two state championships. Mayor Dyer's here. Yeah, he's here. Yep. She's won two state championships in indoor volleyball, and then this is another state championship under her belt. So that speaks to her success as a coach. And, again, 140-0 in the CVC Conference. That is unheard of. I don't think there's a coach that's done that in any sport as of right now. So, again, congratulations to Coach Robley, and definitely congratulations to the team.

Congratulations again. 3.7 is, I mean, that's really incredible for a group of student athletes. Really, really incredible. There's a lot of dedication outside the classroom that happens. And so to find the time to keep a 3.7 average amongst you all is really great. And you're not missing any final exams this morning, are you? We kept you here long. We kept you here very, very long. But it's really a special thing. You pull together a special group of people to be able to put together a championship team. Very special. So congratulations. I'll let you.

All right, so Coach Roble and to the entire team, it's my honor to stand here with Council President Esparza, Mayor Dyer, and the entire City Council to declare today, Thursday, May 21st, 2026, as the Fresno City College Women's Beach Volleyball Team Day in the City of Fresno. Congratulations. Madam Clerk. Thank you.

Whereas the Fresno City College women's beach volleyball team achieved an historic and unprecedented season during the 2025-2026 campaign by becoming the first team in California Community College beach volleyball history to complete an undefeated 29-0 season, while finishing with an extraordinary overall match record of 135-3. And whereas the Rams captured both the 2026 State Team Championship and the 2026 State Pairs Championship, marking the first time in Fresno City College history that the program earned a beach volleyball state title and making Fresno City College the first Northern California college to win both championships in the same season. And whereas the program demonstrated excellence across every level of competition, with multiple pairs earning statewide and national recognition, including two pairs being named All-Americans among only six selected from the state of California, and all five Fresno City College pairs receiving the prestigious AVCA Top Flight Award, recognizing them among the top pairs in the nation. And whereas the team's remarkable accomplishments were guided by head coach Kieran Robley, who has now won the first ever junior college state championships at Fresno City College and has the longest unbeaten conference win streak at 140 to 0, while also winning six high school league championships in nine years. And whereas the Fresno City College women's beach volleyball team has brought pride and recognition to Fresno City College and the entire Central Valley through its commitment to athletic excellence, academic achievement, sportsmanship, and teamwork while inspiring future generations of student athletes throughout the community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Council Member Annalisa Perea, Council President Nelson Esparza, and the Fresno City Council members, hereby recognize and honor the Fresno City College Women's Beach Volleyball Team for their exceptional representation of Fresno City College and the City of Fresno, and hereby proclaim Thursday, May 21, 2026, to be Fresno City College Women Beach Volleyball Team Day in the City of Fresno.

Bill Rams, congratulations. Thank you. That will conclude our ceremonial presentations for the morning. I'm going to take us, if administration is ready, to the 910 hearing. This is taking place in District 4. This is a hearing to adopt resolution ordinance annex territory east side of North Blackstone and East Rialto Avenue. I don't believe we have any comments, cards for this, but if anybody would like to speak on the 9, 10 a.m. item, now would be your opportunity to do so. Anybody here for the 9, 10 a.m. item? Seeing nobody, we'll close comments. Bring it back up to the dais. I will make a motion to approve. I don't know if anybody here wants a presentation on it. I know it's in my district. I don't need one at this time. Okay, so I got a motion from myself, a second from Councilmember Carbasi. Any opposition? Seeing none, the item passes five to zero.

I'm sorry, four to zero.

Yeah, thanks, Mike. Councilmember Karbassi just reminded me to bring it back up for councilmember comments, so I will move to that at this time. I will go in numerical order. I'll start with Councilmember Karbassi.

Thank you so much, Council Vice President. A couple things. I know that Council Member Vang will discuss this. I just wanted to bring up, I was really proud to partner with Council Member Vang and Council Member Arias on the Lao Veterans of America Memorial. I'll talk more about that, but that was a very important event. We talked about Vietnam this morning, and of course we have refugees in our country that really fought to defend our American values and sacrificed a lot. And they've absolutely earned their place in our society. And they're very important. We need to make sure we remember all of them. Do want to mention Summit PT, a grand opening at Bullard and Marks. Physical therapy is extremely important, especially for our seniors in our community. And that particular location is tailored to helping with balance issues for seniors. And they take all sorts of insurance. I think Medicare is as well. So kudos to them. We can always use more physical therapy facilities throughout our entire city. Hmong American Day, I want to thank the Fresno Center and Pao Yang. That was a wonderful day. It was a nice break in everything to be able to go and be in a positive environment and celebrate history and culture and have some amazing food. Um, I do also want to, uh, give kudos and mention about ABC 30 day. Um, I always enjoyed their programming. Their staff is amazing. It's not just the reporters that are very professional. Also the camera crew and everyone else. And, um, well, thank you for what you do. And, uh, you know, oftentimes you were the first to report information and it gets to us too. So it helps us be better policymakers to know what's going on and get the truth out to the public. So thank you for that. Um, Two things, somewhat somber, unfortunately. I do also want to offer the mayor our condolences. There was a beautiful service for Anna Lee Dyer. And mayor, I have to say, it was a very nice service. The slideshow was my favorite to see her with her children, her grandchildren, great grandkids. In the presentation though, I saw this guy in a suit and he had some Eric Estrada 70s, early 80s hair. It was good. I guess he became mayor and the council caused him to lose his hair. Is that what happened? but it was a beautiful service. Thank you, mayor. Um, and lastly, some of you may have heard some rather disturbing news and saw some footage about, um, an individual at our city attorney's home. Um, this was very disturbing in light of this last year, all the stories of political violence in our community. And I know this was in particular about a law enforcement related issue and threats to our, our amazing chief and our city attorney. Um, It doesn't matter what someone's going through. There is no excuse for political violence. There is no excuse to go to a home brandishing a knife and threatening a little child and her parents. If they're willing to hurt him, just imagine what they'll do to someone like you or me. City Attorney, if you wanted to offer any comments, I just want you to know that you have my support, I'm sure the support of the council, and I'm so sorry for what's happened to you, and I hope your little girl's okay.

Thank you for that, Council Member. The only thing I'll say is I just want to thank law enforcement for responding quickly. Sheriff John Zanoni has been a great resource this last week, and he's been very supportive. Chief Castro as well. So I just want to say thank you to law enforcement.

There was another incident last night regarding a potential arson. Do you have support for the investigation? I don't want to talk about that right now. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Got it. And those are my comments, Council President. Thank you. Okay, where were we?

Council Member Arias, have you gotten it yet?

Council, I'm going to keep my comments short today. Just advisory, two items, advisory to the residents of Southwest Fresno and those from Kerman and every other part of the city that traveled through Jensen to get to Fresno. Beginning next week, the Jensen sewer main repair line will begin. We had temporarily patched up that sewer line after it ruptured. This is a permanent fix to that sewer line, so there'll be quite a bit of construction taking place. And so we recommend people to be patient and not use Jensen starting next week as the permanent sewer line construction will begin. The last item, city clerk, if you have that PowerPoint slide I provided you. Yesterday's budget presentation I missed as I was handling some family matters. But I wanted to just address two real main points that I wanted to bring to the council's attention, to the public's attention. As the council's aware and the city's aware and the public's aware, The vast majority of us in this room make six figures. Council members do, leadership does, department heads do, but that isn't the average income of our residents. And over the last few years, we've seen a population increase in the city of Fresno, but we have also seen a significant increase in the number of employees at the city employees. Next slide, please. As you can see, on average, 3% population increase in the city in the last few years, while we've increased the city staff by almost a third. We now have more than 1,000 employees than we did when I started my service on the city council. And I've supported every year adding additional positions to the departments as we do this work of providing public services to the city. But what gave me some pause is conversations around that we have a revenue problem that could potentially set the stage for a tax increase of our city residents. Whether it's a general tax, a sales tax, or water rate increases, I want to be very thoughtful to the public that just the way we grew local government, we can also pull back on the growth of local government. And we should do that way before we start talking about raising rates for water and sewer, before we start talking about sales taxes that impact those residents who don't make the six figure salaries that most of us in this room do. So I just want to remind people that just the way we've grown government for the better for the public, we should also look to pull back if it's necessary for us to balance a budget. In this process of a budget, Every time we balance a budget and approve a budget, we look at three year projections. And every year we are thoughtful, is there enough revenue to pay for the things that we've approved? And it's always worked out. We've always underestimated the revenue and the money has come in to pay for the positions and the services for the residents. When we approve labor agreements and give our employees raises, this council also gets a five-year projection to confirm that we can afford for the next five years the raises that we are approving to our thousands of employees. And each time, it's come to fruition that we could afford those raises. So there's already guardrails in place to ensure that the positions, the budgets that we approve have sufficient revenue for the next three to five years to pay for those positions and those services. So I want to just remind people that it's far premature to start talking about raising taxes on the public, especially as the public sees a record amount of PG&E rate increases. A HUGE AMOUNT OF INFLATION AT THE GROCERY STORE AND THE GAS PUMP. SO I JUST WANT TO CAUTION US ALL WITH THERE'S BUDGET PROCESS ABOUT TO COMMENCE. WE'VE ALWAYS ADOPTED A BALANCED BUDGET. WE'VE BEEN ADDING POSITIONS. IN THE LAST TWO YEARS I'VE MADE IT A POINT TO AS A CITY MANAGER IF IT'S NECESSARY TO ENGAGE IN A HIRING FREEZE. AND SHE'S INDICATED NO. WE'RE IN A GOOD financial footing that we don't have to do hiring freezes. And she's been able to manage the growth and the filling rate of positions where we could have healthy budgets. We have a healthy budget. We have revenues growing every year. We have a significant reserve in the City of Fresno's budget. So I just want to caution everyone with, I appreciate the work you guys do every year to increase the amount of services, but the amount of positions have outpaced the growth of residents in our city. and I want to be costing the world and the city at large with, it's way too premature to talk about raising taxes on people. Those are all my comments for the day. Thank you, Council President.

All right, Council Member Vang.

Thank you very much, Council President, as far as just a few comments. As my colleague from D2 stated earlier during his Council comments, I too had the honor of attending the unveiling ceremony of the names that were added to the Lao Veterans Memorial last week. As a son of a veteran, this was very personal and meaningful to me to have the opportunity to recognize and honor the bravery and sacrifices made by the veterans. I want to thank council members Mike Carbasi and Miguel Arias for sponsoring this important effort and to recognizing the veterans as well. As alluded earlier during proclamation last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend the city's fourth annual bike ride. It was great. It was a great four miles ride around the city downtown here. I enjoyed the ride. I enjoyed the people who were actually waving from the cars to us. And so I want to thank the ATAC committee and the public works staff for all their work in putting this event together. And in addition, I want to thank the Black Chamber of Commerce for supplying the additional bytes for use that afternoon. And I look forward to continue to take part in the great tradition for many years to come. And finally, it is officially repaving season in the city of Fresno. And at this time, Winery Avenue is receiving so much needed attention. And I want to thank our Public Works Department again for their hard work. I know that the temperature is going to go up, but they're going to be out there and trying to repave and trying to fix our potholes, et cetera. And so it is that time of year, so thank you very much Public Works Department. And I want to thank the residents in the surrounding area for their patience during construction. I know that we ask for construction, we ask for repaving, fixing our streets, but when the time comes, there's a little bit of obstacle that we have to maneuver to get through. So I want to thank the residents around this area for their patience. And we expect this repaving project to be completed by the end of this week, so. Thank you very much for your patience. Just a few more days to go. That's all I have, Council President. Thank you.

Great. No comments from District 1 today. Council Vice President?

Yeah, just a couple quick announcements. I want to thank everybody that came out from the Melody Park neighborhood last night, and thank you to my staff for helping host that event. We had an insightful community meeting last night to hear from a lot of the residents living in the east part of the district and some of the issues they have going on over there. We got lucky with some good weather. So I just want to thank everybody that took the time to come out, express their concerns for their neighborhood. Also yesterday, Mayor Dyer and I had the opportunity to unveil our utility box art project that we're doing across the city of Fresno. If you drive through our intersections, you'll see those unsightly big boxes on a lot of the corners. It's where we house a lot of the machinery for the intersection signals. Thanks to Mark Standriff and Scott Mosier and Nick Macias and everybody who made that happen, we were able to unveil our first art project yesterday with the local artist Kayla Castile. There's about eight of them going up along McKinley Avenue to honor the the wonders of aviation. Obviously we have the Fresno Yosemite International Airport as well as the 144th Fighter Wing. So we're gonna be putting up themed murals on each of those utility boxes over the next week or so. And we're also still taking applications for the utility boxes around Fresno State University. So if you're an artist or you know somebody that's an artist, Please have them apply at beautifyfresno.org or the City of Fresno website. And we are still taking applications for your muralist. If you are interested, there is a $1,000 stipend for artists that successfully apply. Thank you, Council President.

All right. Then I'll have a few brief comments. I want to thank, again, our Public Works team and all the volunteers who came out for the Beautify Blitz in the Webster neighborhood recently. Their hard work and dedication has helped really improve that area and show the impact we can have when the community comes together. So it's looking very good out there. I just wanted to thank our staff and our team, as well as the volunteers, of course, who came out to help clean up. My team had the honor of attending the Hmong American Day celebration at the Fresno Center last week, where they joined community in recognizing the contributions of Hmong Americans in Fresno and across the nation. So that's always a great a time of great celebration and it's really an opportunity to recognize the resilience and sacrifices of Fresno's Hmong families and veterans whose contributions remain a very important part of this city's story. So wanted to shout that out. Additionally, I had the privilege of attending alongside our economic development department, the PBID community, kind of meeting, I would say less meeting and more open house, if you will. Great to speak to some of the property owners along Blackstone and Belmont, answer some of their questions, and help folks learn more about what a PBID is and what it can do for transforming our corridors, as it has been helpful in our downtown efforts with the PBID down there. Um, I attended briefly. I did not actually ride the bike as I said earlier, but I, I did, I did go out and, and just, uh, and hang out, I guess, hung out and said a few words with, with the, the bike, uh, at the bike ride this past Friday. Um, They said it was electric bike, but I declined. But Council Member Vang went on our behalf, Council's behalf. So I want to thank him, ATAC, and all the community folks who actually wanted to come out and ride. It was a success, and I'm glad. That's certainly an annual event to look forward to. Well, I also wanted to offer my concern and just kind of outreach to the city attorney and some of the rough week that he's had with the issues, kind of, you know, violence issues that have been occurring. So we're here for you as individuals and as a council, you have our support. And again, once again, well wishes to Council Member Richardson and his family as they, um, navigate, uh, uh, health issues and such at the, at the hospital, uh, this week, we wish them the best and speedy return. Um, that'll include my remarks. And is the mayor here? Where's, Oh, there you are.

You blend right in. Thank you. Uh, council president, just a few comments again. Uh, thank you to, uh, council vice president Maxwell for, um, partnering on the utility box of box art, a great program. Um, we have a $50,000 we're spending this fiscal. I think we're rolling over 50,000 the next fiscal. So, uh, hopefully this will be, um, uh, a project that will, uh, outlast way after we're gone, uh, in the, in the administration and the council. I think it's going to be a beautiful, beautiful program. We have, Six artists that have been selected now with eight of the utility boxes. But I hope for many, many more to come forth. Also to Council Member Perea, we had a great day yesterday launching the paving season. And a special thanks to our public works crews and our contractors and all of the folks that work diligently to fix our sidewalks and to pave our streets. As I said earlier, about 100 lane miles in the city of Fresno will be paved. this year and will be coming to your district very, very shortly. And I know we have some good, exciting things coming up in D2. And then the 250th celebration I spoke of earlier, our public works folks, we purchased 1,000 American flags through our One Fresno Foundation. It was all privately donated money. But our public works crews put those up throughout the city. They're on Herndon Avenue, Shaw Avenue. They'll connect actually at Willow Avenue with Clovis' efforts. So you'll see Shaw Avenue all the way from Fresno all the way through Clovis having flags on both sides of the street. Blackstone Avenue is an incredible site. If you haven't seen it yet, you've got to drive it. It is a beautiful thing. As well as McKinley and Olive Avenue and the Tower District, Kings Canyon, California, and Ventura Avenues. And then also we'll have some flags throughout the downtown area and in front of City Hall. Then we'll also be doing uplighting coming up of our Selma Arena plus our water tower, red, white, and blue. And we're encouraging folks throughout the city to uplight their houses with the red, white, and blue display flags and demonstrate our love for America. And then on June 13th, we'll have a flag retirement ceremony at the Veterans Auditorium. And we'll have some speakers there. We'll have a military band playing. But we'll retire a flag at 2.50 p.m. on that day. Everyone is welcome to attend. And then our July 4th celebration downtown in the afternoon, which will spill over into the evening with the Grizzlies game and a fireworks display. And in the eighth inning of the Grizzlies game, the stadium will be open to everyone. so they can come in and enjoy the fireworks. We'll be blocking off some streets downtown through the brewery district as well as the Mariposa Plaza, and we'll be having a celebration there with food and entertainment. And then lastly, tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m., we will be dedicating at our Fresno-Yosemite International Airport the Henry Thompson Gallery in remembrance of Our late airport director, Henry Thompson, his family will be there, and everyone is encouraged to attend. I believe Council Vice President Maxwell will be there, but we encourage everyone to be there. So that's it. Thank you.

All right, City Manager, any comments?

Yeah, really quick. I don't want to belabor and go tit for tat with Council Member Arias, but I will just say I disagree with several of the statements that he made, and I'll leave it at that. Council President, if possible, I would request that the Council adjourn today and in memory of Mr. Rod Russell, who is Assistant Director Brian Russell's father. Rod Russell was also a Fresno firefighter from 1977 to 2005. So if we could adjourn in his memory, I'm sure that Brian and his family would appreciate it.

We can do that. We will adjourn today in memory of Rod Russell. Yes. Thank you. All right. All right, that'll bring us back to our scheduled hearings and matters. My understanding is we took on the 9.10 a.m. item already while Council Member Perret and I were outside with the volleyball team. So that'll bring us to the 9.15 a.m. item, another CFD number nine in District 3 at 9.15 a.m. MLK and Church. We'll go ahead and open the public hearing, public comments for this item. Again, the 9.15 a.m. item to adopt CFD number nine, southwest corner of MLK and Church. Is there any public comments on the 9.15 a.m. item?

Yes, my name is Brunette and I'm with the heat, the Southwest Fresno community. We are opposed to anything, any consultant fees, anything having to do with district three. We're not included in none of the decisions that are made and we are going to continue to stand here. and tell you that we as a community do not have a say in anything that's going on in District 3. Funding, consultant fees, grant fees, anything from federal to state level funding, we are against. And anybody that's sitting in these seats want to be in District 3, we don't want you. We got enough crap as it is.

All right. Any further public comments on the 9.15 a.m. item, CFT number 9? Seeing no, I'll go ahead and close public comments.

I'll entertain a motion. Council President, I'd like to make a motion, but I would also like the Director to, for the record, give us a layman's term explanation of what this item would do. Sure, Director. Or staff.

Morning, Council. Haido Mata, Public Works Manager with Land Traffic and Land Planning. So what this item does is just sets a CFD tax on the property itself. So in this case, it'll be Starbucks, right? That's going in into this area. So it's just a tax on the Starbucks land for them to be able to maintain the frontage around that area. So you have curb, gutter, sidewalk, pavings, landscaping. So this is a tax that was requested by the owner to go enter into community facilities district number nine. so the city could go out there and maintain based on what they've been paying for for that maintenance. That's all.

Thank you. So in short, this would have the property owner pay an additional assessment that the city would then use to maintain all the off-site improvements, like landscaping, curbs and gutters for the Starbucks. Yeah, that's correct. Thank you.

All right, on to the motion. All right, first, second, third. Any opposition to the motion? Seeing none, the 9.15 a.m. item is approved. Let's see, do we have any other low-hanging fruit here? Lower hanging than the 9.20? Knockout briefly. We're gonna circle back to the 9.20 right now, but... How about the 9.30 and the senior center? I will take on the 9.30 a.m. item, the public street easements and acquisition of a permanent easement for the senior center and district four. I'll go ahead and open up the public comments on this item. Is there any public comment on the 9.30 a.m. item on the senior center? All right, seeing none, go ahead and close public comments. I'll entertain a motion. Council Vice President, do you have any comments or anything? All right, motion to approve in a second. Any opposition to approving the 9.30 a.m. item regarding senior center? All right, seeing none, that item passes six to zero. Six to zero. All right. I'll take on the 9.35 a.m. hearing in District 3 here. We have the resolution rescinding the heritage property designation. Council Member Arias, do you have any comments or anything on this item?

I just want to point out for the public's benefit that the reason the designation is going away is because the building no longer exists as a result of an arson fire.

All right, that's short and sweet, simple. All open public comment for the 9.35 a.m. hearing item. Any public comment on the 9.35 a.m. item? All right, seeing none, go ahead and close public comment. I'll entertain a motion. All right, moved and seconded. Any opposition? Seeing none, the item passes 6-0. Let's see here. Let's save. We'll save the 940 for last. Let's take on the, this is an important one here, the 925 AM, the 2026-2027 annual action plan. So what I'll do first here is I will, Phil, you want to give us a quick, no?

No?

So I'll go to public comment for this item. Is there any public comments on the 9.25 a.m. item, actions pertaining to the 2026-2027 annual action plan, the draft annual action plan? Any speakers seeing none? Oh. This is the annual action plan. Do you wanna speak, Brandi? Yeah, please. Come on down, you have three minutes.

And we had some of the people who are gonna be able to, who wanted to be here but cannot due to the time. Brandy's Vegas Council, I want to share my appreciation for the hard work that the team that worked on this did, including community meetings and working on trying to get out to more into places where people can access it, which I'll stick around to. There are many important programs here, such as the work of Central Valley Justice Coalition's Youth Advocacy and Mentorship Program, which I know is doing incredible work of prevention. And I'm grateful for the application and funding for Central Unified Student Support Services Rapid Outreach Program. I have taught at schools where i found out that some of my students were living in cars and um or otherwise unhoused i had a family member who reached out to me asking for services for where they can get services for a family of theirs so this is extremely important And I know it's tough to decide how to allocate limited funding. I do want to advocate for a Clinica Sierra Vista Fresno Street medicine outreach and essential health services expansions. I've seen the work that they've done. And they are doing the work of outreach, but also providing a very much needed resource that our community members need, as well as for South Tower Land Trusts, Casa and Cuidado, housing stabilization, health support. They are deeply rooted in community and are connected with service. So I believe that they would not only be able to help people connect with services, with the services that they are providing, but also connect with other community groups and to be able to provide ongoing support in many ways and ask that these be supported. I also looked at regarding the annual action plan. It goes quickly. We need more funding in as the county said we need more funding for a rapid rehousing for more housing and more shelters I know that funding on this plan has gone for homeless spending has gone down 12 12 percent And Louis deserves a lot of needs and that there wasn't any applications for shelter spaces, but I asked that the council look towards Prioritizing shelter and housing. I just came across a couple last night as I was just going to the store who who lost our ability to have a job working in the farm work and their housing because their car broke down. And they are trying to, they were told that there was nothing available and they desperately need something so they can be reunited with their family. I connected with another woman who has been out for a while. She has health issues. She's been arrested by heart for, and sorry, and she has not been able to get, so this needs to be a priority that we continue to have housing. Sorry.

Thank you, Brandi. Thank you.

Okay.

Any additional public comment on the annual action plan of the draft? All right. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close public comment on that 9.25 a.m. item. Council, does anyone need a presentation or additional information or comment?

Okay.

No, council, I do have a request for reappropriations motion when you're ready. In this item? Correct. You're recognized. Thank you. I just got an update. I just informed the mayor just two seconds ago that the NIDA exchange program will be relocating from downtown Fresno to the Tower District. And one of the applications that was submitted for request of funding was from South Tower Land that requested money from the funds. It's called the Housing Opportunity for Persons with AIDS funding source under CDBG. They were not being recommended for funding, but given that the need of exchange program is relocating to tower, specifically to that building, I'm gonna request to make a motion to reappropriate $75,000. OF THE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS FUNDS FROM WEST CARE CALIFORNIA INCORPORATED AND $75,000 FROM THE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS FUNDS FROM MEDICAL SERVICES TO THE SOUTH TOWER LAND TRUST for the Casa and Cuidado Housing Stability and Health Support Program. And I'm making that motion, Council, as given that the New York Exchange Program is now moving to Tower, I wanna make sure that that organization, which will be the location of the New York Exchange Program, has the necessary resources to provide some support and mitigate any neighborhood impact that may occur with the relocation of the New York Exchange Program. The proposal is in partnership with Casita Feliz, and a couple of other organizations. So that's my motion is to reappropriate the CDBG fund allocation in that manner.

Is there a second or any discussion on this? Oh, sorry. I see Council Member Perea has punched up.

Thank you, Council President. This is the first that I'm hearing that a needle exchange program is moving to the Tower District. Can we find out more information about that city manager timeline, where it's being located to?

Yeah, first I heard about it was from Council Member Arias this morning, so I will try and figure out more information.

Thank you. And then are we defunding anything by this appropriation move? Do we have to take money away from anything to fund this?

Councilmember, I'll repeat what I heard Councilmember Arias say, Phil Skye, Assistant Director, Planning and Development Department. What I heard Councilmember's motion to be is to reallocate a total of $150,000 to the South Tower Community Land Trust who did respond to our NOVA, 75,000 would come from community medical centers and 75,000 from West Cary, California. Is that correct, Councilmember?

That's absolutely correct, and I'm comfortable with that because community medical centers is a really multi-billion dollar entity. I think they can absorb the deduction, and WestCare is a statewide agency that I think can also absorb the reduction. And again, literally, I was just notified yesterday that the relocation has taken place, so this is a surprise for me, too.

I have no problem finding resources to give to was the organization so south tower community land trust tower community land trust i don't i just don't know i don't feel comfortable about defunding um the two organizations so that's just where i'm at right now is what's the level of time sensitivity on this particular item yeah so uh council president uh the annual action plan in order for us to get our sub-recipient agreements out

in order for them to deliver within the federal fiscal year. It is time sensitive for us because we have to get this approved within 60 days of the announcement of our allocations. And so, unfortunately, we are in a bit of a time crunch. And if this body supports the motion of Council Member Arias, we will have to do additional EVALUATION AS WE'VE DONE IN THE PAST TO CONFIRM ELIGIBILITY TO THE SOUTH TOWER COMMUNITY LAND TRUST AND ALL OF THEIR VARIOUS PARTNERS.

ALL RIGHT. WELL, THERE'S NO SECOND YET, PROBABLY BECAUSE OF THE ALL NEW INFORMATION FOR US.

HOW ABOUT WE PUSH THIS TO THE AFTERNOON? COUNCIL PRESIDENT, IF I MAY, DIRECTOR, WOULD THIS BE A PROBLEM IF WE PUSH THIS TO THE JUNE 4TH MEETING, GIVING EVERYONE MORE TIME? IT IS.

21st. It is problematic for us, unfortunately.

Well, at minimum, let's push this to the afternoon. And we can all learn a little more, maybe, between now and the afternoon.

About the needle exchange in particular?

About all of it, yeah. About this component. And maybe there will be a second at some point. I'll make a motion to table to the afternoon. Yeah, we'll just, we're just going to hold this. There's no motion. We'll just hold the item, I think.

If it pleases council, our... Director offer a really helpful suggestion which was one option in addition to bring it back this afternoon where we're going to be trying to find out information between now and then Would be to remove this particular allocation for hopla and we could amend it later But at least allow us to submit our annual action plan in a timely fashion.

Well, that's a that'll be a backup to Yeah, to the afternoon. To the afternoon option. Okay, very good. I don't want to approve something right now half-heartedly and bring it back to the agenda unnecessarily. Let's just see what happens this afternoon, and then maybe we go there. Sounds good. Thank you so much. Yeah. Any additional comment from council?

I don't see anyone punched up. I DO HAVE ONE QUESTION SINCE YOU HAVE BEEN BRINGING BACK THIS ITEM IN THE AFTERNOON. THERE'S A REQUEST HERE TO FUND THE SECURITY FENCE FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ON STATION 3. MY ONLY NOTE IS THAT, ONE, I DON'T THINK THIS IS AN APPROPRIATE FUNDING SOURCE. THIS MONEY IS MEANT FOR COMMUNITIES OF POVERTY. I THINK IT'S PROBLEMATIC FOR US TO START FUNDING, YOU KNOW, FENCES FOR CITY DEPARTMENTS WITH IT. The fence is being requested at 10 foot fence. I JUST NEED CONFIRMATION FROM STAFF. I DON'T THINK A 10-FOOT FENCE IS ALLOWED AS A STANDARD. SO MY CONCERN IS IF WE ALLOW FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TO GET A 10-FOOT FENCE, THEN EVERYONE ADJACENT IS GOING TO REQUEST A 10-FOOT FENCE, WHICH I'VE BEEN TOLD BY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT THAT WE'RE NOT OKAY WITH 10-FOOT FENCES BECAUSE IT MAKES IT HARDER FOR THEM TO ACCESS BUILDINGS. SO IF YOU CAN JUST GET CONFIRMATION FROM ME ON THE HEIGHT OF THE FENCE AND WHAT THE RATIONALE IS FOR THE HEIGHT THAT'S BEING PROPOSED.

I'm happy to speak to that now or we can bring it back this afternoon, whatever you prefer. Okay, very good.

All right, cool. So we're not going to vote on this item. We're going to hold this till the afternoon and circle back to the 9.25 a.m. later on once we have a little bit more information before we take any action on it or decide on Tambly. All right, that'll bring us to... That'll bring us to the 9.20 a.m. item regarding the CUP for Costco Commercial Center Project. Staff?

Good morning, Council President, Council Members, Philip Seegers with the Planning and Development Department. The items before you for consideration, which include a plan amendment and rezone, two conditional use permits, a planned development permit, and a final environmental impact report. Thank you. Pertain to a 22.4-acre site located on the northeast corner of West Herndon Avenue and North Riverside Drive in northwest Fresno. Phillip?

Yep. If I can, if I may, if it's okay. Yeah. So we've discussed this item multiple times in public meetings, and I don't want to reopen the entire issue. I think we're here today for a very narrow focus. Would you mind talking about that, if that's okay?

Correct. So this project has been considered by the City Council in 2024. The City Council approved the project, adopted the final environmental impact report, the plan amendment rezone, conditional use permits, plan development permits. et cetera. However, that was in April of 2024. However, in November of 2025, under resolution number 2025-325 and ordinance number 2025-049, the EIR was decertified by the city council, as well as the project approvals were also set aside. And there was also further direction to revise the environmental impact report and return to the city council was included amended findings. So consistent with the resolution, an EIR was revised as a partially recirculated environmental impact report And specifically with that, the greenhouse gas emissions and climate change section, which is 3.7 of the revised environmental impact report, that was revised to eliminate all references to the city's 2021 greenhouse gas reduction plan. And because the city no longer has a quantitative threshold to evaluate the significance of greenhouse gas emissions, a qualitative approach was taken with this revised environmental impact report to develop thresholds and evaluate the project. And so accordingly, for threshold one, the revised environmental impact report evaluates the significance of the project's greenhouse gas emissions based on whether the project would conflict with the ability of the state to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals, In addition for threshold two, the revised environmental impact report evaluates whether the project would conflict with applicable plans related to greenhouse gas emissions at the state, regional, and local levels. And so for both of those thresholds, the analysis concluded that the project's greenhouse gas impacts would be less than significant. And also consistent with the resolution, the required findings were revised to address consistency between the city's zoning provisions and the market delivery operations component of the project as permitted as a permitted use permitted or accessory use and then on may 6th planning commission heard this item recommended approval of it and now it's here before the city council to consider the project

That was perfect, and I want to state, I know staff has gone through a lot over this process, and I think you've all done a great job, and I want to thank planning department staff. We, of course, have our packets. It was available publicly. I think we've all reviewed them. I just want to focus on what we're talking about here today, and you've done a great job of being very clear about that. Question for city attorney. So we know that there was a lawsuit, a court order, and I think a pathway provided by the judge if we adhere to certain steps. The action we're taking today, will this satisfy the court so we can move forward and move to a more environmentally friendly project?

In our opinion, yes. OK. I appreciate that.

OK.

Is there anything else you want to add? Yes, I would like to add with the staff's recommendation to council to adopt the findings. Staff would also like to note that the findings, the required Fresno Municipal Code findings, that the council adopted with an amendment to the conditional use permit findings for CUP number P21-01959 by further clarifying that the tire center component of the project is an accessory use to the large format retail component. And a summary of that is that the proposed Tyner Center qualifies as a permitted accessory use because it's fully integrated into the main retail warehouse as it represents only 2.4% of its total area. And because it shares employees, equipment, systems, and deliveries with the primary facility, the city finds it meets the legal criteria for an incidental and subordinate use. And therefore, under the Fresno Municipal Code, it does not require a separate zoning approval as a standalone development. And copies of that amended finding have been provided to the council. Right.

That's perfect. Thank you very much. I do have some questions for the applicant.

Okay.

If Costco wants to come forward. Thank you. It's been a while. Good to see you again. It's been over two years, I think. Is that right?

Yes, and I'm sorry we were not able to bring back the True Rose as requested.

You know I was going to ask you about that. Good job.

I was prepared.

I still hold hope for that. I just, look, I'm not trying to open up a can of worms again. We've already gone through the public process. We know what we're doing here today. I do want to ask a question of you. In the last two years, in my opinion, there has been a great deal of information put out there. I think some of it, based on the record, is not lined up with the record and the actual facts, and we are here at a public meeting. The public is watching. I wanted to offer you as the applicant an opportunity to clarify maybe some of the things that were said.

Absolutely. We'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Well, basically the question is, has there been anything said about the project that you think is untrue that you want to just clarify on the record that was just not correct?

I'm going to turn this over to Anna Shimko, who's our land use counsel. Great.

Thank you.

Thank you. Oh. Wow. I'll try not to take that as an insult. Thank you. I'm Anna Shimko from Burke, Williams & Sorenson, outside counsel for Costco on this matter. And I wanted to speak in particular, thank you for the opportunity, to a submittal made yesterday. There were a couple of letters provided to you. I do believe that everything else the city has done has been well crafted, speaks to everything the court raised, is exceptionally well reasoned with the partially recirculated EIR, the new findings, et cetera. We want to emphasize that the letters and the myriad attachments to those letters that were submitted yesterday do not change anything that is in the record so far as to the EIR methodology, conclusions, impacts, or feasible mitigation measures. So if I could speak to just a couple of things or a few things that were raised in those communications. First off, as to the zoning, it was stated in one of the letters that other stores that have delivery only have two to four dock doors. I believe that was an AI chat GPT response perhaps that was provided. And this proposal before you today represents Costco's newest prototype to meet member retail demand. And if the research existing stores that the opponents had mentioned were being built today, given the evolving nature of retail, they may well have additional dock doors. Importantly though, the additional dock doors in our proposal are only for box trucks, not heavy duty trucks, for the purpose of loading the large items to deliver directly to members' houses. Those MDO docks are designed and built differently than the dock doors that are designed for heavy duty trucks. For instance, they don't include truck restraints that are embedded into the concrete as part of initial construction of the project. So those dock doors are not interchangeable. That addresses a concern that was raised that Costco could operate as a shadow distribution center, like all of a sudden Costco is going to stop operating its retail store and have a distribution center in this space instead. Costco will be obligated, obviously to follow all operational conditions and mitigation measures. And like I said, the dock doors are different. So Costco would not be able to function as was feared. And naturally if Costco were to stop operating its retail store and use the site as a distribution facility, the city could enforce its zoning rules and make that stop happening. It's important to understand that a distribution center is a very, very large operation. I've been involved in the permitting for and Costco is currently building a 1 million square foot distribution center in the city of Tracy that is specifically designed to take goods in and then send them out in heavy duty trucks to go to market delivery operations. So the goods that will come to the MDO here are coming from an actual distribution facility where Costco receives and ships goods via large trucks. But the The goods will go out from our facility in box trucks. They're like U-Haul trucks. They are very benign. They go to the homes of members and the goods get delivered to them by hand. There are no forklifts involved and they get installed in their homes. The staff emails that were provided to you concerning uses include the tire center and the car wash and the letter from the lawyer Babak Nafisi mentioned that the city approval of a Walmart store with a delivery component perhaps showed that the city had previously violated its zoning ordinances. In fact, those Those things show that the city consistently looks holistically at a retail use and the components within that use. The city is the body that is tasked with and is in the best position to interpret its zoning rules. So we are quite confident that nothing has been presented to you to undermine your zoning consistency findings. Finally on that, the Nafisi letter mentioned that most goods that move through the MDO are bought online. But he supported that with no evidence. In fact, those goods can be purchased online and they can be purchased at the store. One can get help from folks who work at the Costco store for purchasing those goods. So it is a store-related factor. As to greenhouse gas emissions, the letter very disingenuously claims that the EIR relies on the outdated 2014 greenhouse gas reduction plan, and yet it was the litigation brought by this party that resulted in the court order stating that the revised EIR section could not use the 2021 GHGRP. That leaves your 2014 GHGRP In the general plan, your functioning operated climate action plan. And so obviously the EIR and your findings were obligated to, um, rely at least in part on that GHGRP, but for reasons that are clearly outlined in the EIR because of the age and the somewhat outdated nature of that operative GHGRP. the city applied all other pertinent state, regional, and local plans and policies to the consistency analysis. So while the 2014 GHGRP might have been the floor, the EIR looked all the way to the ceiling, building on top of that floor with all available layers of state, regional, and local plans, regulations, and policies. The late comments asserted that as they have mentioned over and over again and claimed in the litigation that the projects unmitigated transportation impacts due to vehicle miles traveled automatically mean that there is a greenhouse gas emission impact. But the record amply explains why these two things are not synonymous. They're not stand-ins for each other. And experts from Ramble who helped prepare the EIR are here to answer any questions on that topic if you have any. Importantly though, VMT reduction is only one of myriad strategies that are available to reduce GHG emissions throughout the state from the transportation sector. Decarbonization through greater adoption of zero emission vehicle use and low carbon transportation fuels can reduce GHG emissions without reducing VMT at all. And the project itself advances VMT reduction and the use of zero emission vehicles. The project has neighborhood design improvements, transportation network modifications that you're well aware of and that you made sure that Costco enhanced those when we were last before you. It increases development density in an urban area, encourages employee trip reduction, and provides customers with the opportunity to combine retail trips into multiple retail trips into one single consolidated destination at Costco. Further, the Costco project will install fast EV charging stations, exceeding even the voluntary requirements of the building code. And not only the entire Costco operation, but those EV chargers will be powered by 100% clean electricity based on the PG&E Solar Choice Program. So they would provide Costco members with convenient, low-cost EV charging, further advancing GHG goals. Just one final point. The opponents urge you to impose your recently enacted VMT fee on this project. That fee cannot be legally and feasibly imposed on the project, as is amply explained in the record and in the EIR. The letter included disjointed excerpts from staff discussions during the city council meeting where you enacted the fee. Those excerpts related to the manner in which the fee would be implemented for projects that are subject to the fee and that are still in the VMT analysis process. That's apples to oranges. That doesn't apply here. because the VMT analysis for this project was done way before the 2024 approval process. And you are legally bound by the fee program that you chose to enact, which speaks for itself and says that due to fairness and certainty principles and infeasibility due to the city and private party time, effort, and resources, et cetera, et cetera, The VMT fee will not apply to projects for which VMT analysis has been conducted and incorporated into CEQA documents published for public review prior to the effective date of the VMT mitigation fee. And here, the VMT analysis was published far in advance of your 2024 action, and you decided when you enacted the fee not to apply it to not just our project, but any other project in Fresno, and I'm certain that there are quite a few others that are in a similar timing circumstance. So it's not legally feasible to impose that as a mitigation measure. Last, all of the opponent's comments in this regard conveniently ignore the fact that Costco will and must, per the mitigation measures, comply with a detailed prescriptive project-specific transportation mitigation measure designed to reduce project vehicle miles traveled. And in addition to the air quality experts that I noted before, I do know that the experts from Kittleson who prepared the transportation analysis, as well as from Ascent who prepared the entire EIR, are present here today and I'm sure would welcome any questions from you.

Thank you. Just a quick follow-up. Who submitted these letters that you're referencing?

One was submitted by Daniel Brannock and one by Babak Nafisi. Daniel Brannock is a member of the group that brought the lawsuit against the city, and Mr. Nafisi is the lawyer who represented that organization.

Oh, I see. So we know what side of this issue they're on.

It's quite clear.

Okay. The letters that were submitted, would you say these are new arguments?

Primarily, no. No, I would say these are regurgitated arguments that we've heard over and over again, and that have been some of them already litigated. That's my question.

Some of them were already considered by the court.

Some have been, yes.

Okay.

And then others were very well explained and dealt with in the EIR.

You use the words undermine and late comments. So in your legal opinion, do you think that maybe this is being done to kind of muddy the waters and misinform the public and the council on the facts in order to prevent this project from moving forward based on the court ruling?

Well, it's certainly clear that the people who submitted the comments oppose the project. So I believe that their efforts are to persuade you to vote against the project and also to help, in their view, lay a record because we do have to, assuming you approve the project, the city has to file a return to the court and show the court that the city complied with the order. And it appears that without your having even taken an action, they are deciding that they're going to oppose that return when we go back to court.

Okay, okay. Yeah, those are all the questions I have. I appreciate that. Thank you. I'm going to move this to the city manager now for, or planning for, it's difficult to respond to rumors. and innuendo, but I think at this point we have to, because there was a suggestion that we left money on the table in regards to the VMT fees, a very outlandish number. Can you provide some clarification on this policy they're referencing, the timeline, and even the number presented, the calculation?

Yeah, I think where I'll go is it obviously, I think some very reckless reporting that made a specific comment that the Fresno Planning Commission recommended to approve the relocation of Costco farther north and exempt Costco from paying roughly $40 million in developer fees. 5-0 vote with two commissioners absent recommends the city council exempt Costco from paying the fees. The planning commission has no authority to exempt fees, nor were there any fees exempted. I think to echo what the legal counsel said is this VMT did not apply to this project because the VMT program was adopted after the EIR was circulated. So I guess today you could adopt a new program for something and to think that we would be able to go back and retroactively apply something after a project has already gone through the process. Those are the very things that we all get criticized for. And not only is it not the right thing to do, it's illegal for us to do that. So we are not legally able to apply VMT fees because the project had already been completed and the analysis had already been published prior to the effective date of the program. So I'll just leave it at that. There was no exemption, VMT, Fees did not apply to this program, period.

Just for clarification, because facts kind of matter, despite what some publications want to print. Was there ever a motion, a mention, a consideration of an exemption for Costco upwards of $40 million or anything near that?

No.

Because legally, we can't actually do that.

Correct.

Okay. One last point, and I'm gonna ask legal counsel to get their opinion on this too. The problem with that article was it claimed, not someone's opinion, it claimed that the planning commission actually exempted Costco. And that is completely false. Is that correct?

100% false.

Director Clark, would you concur with that? Yes. Okay. I'm gonna go back to the city attorney and ask legal counsel, our legal counsel, If this council was to do what the opponents want and somehow retroactively apply a policy that didn't exist at the time, could Costco sue us? What's the liability for us? Can we legally do it as the city managers? We cannot.

I don't want to open that can of worms up here. I will say that I agree with the city manager's assessment.

I only ask this because the opponent revealed his hand with the reporting, claiming that no matter what we do, they're going to sue. So there's not even any point in trying to appease them. I want to know the actual legal exposure we have if we move forward doing what they're claiming. If you don't want to comment on that, that's fine. I don't want to put I mean, again, we're commenting on rumors. That's the problem.

Yeah, I understand your point, council member, but I'm not going to comment on the dice about our legal exposure to anything.

That's fine. But you do agree with the city manager's assessment that legally we have to move forward in this path.

Yes.

Okay. That's really all I have. I look forward to the conversation from my colleagues. I do want to remind us one thing from before regarding truck traffic is one of the conditions the council imposed is that none of those trucks will be on Riverside Drive. They're going to build a new road and that's where they're going to go through away from those homes. That was a really important sticking point. I think I look forward to my colleagues' comments. I think based on the facts, the actual facts, the legal issues, we are in compliance with what the court wanted. And the court said there's a path forward, but this is what you have to do. And we have done that. Is that correct, city attorney? That's correct. Okay. And now that we're doing that, some folks don't like that, and now they're trying to. But what I do resent is the fact that they're misinforming the public, claiming that we gave a big giveaway like that. That's completely untrue. If any of you report one thing, David and ABC30, whoever else is here, that's what you should report. That was completely untrue. So I will make a motion to approve, but I know there's going to be more conversation. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Maxwell, appreciate it.

Council Member Arias.

As a card-carrying Costco member, I want to ask for the record, City Attorney, those of us on this dais that are members of Costco, are we conflicted from voting on the item?

In my opinion, no.

I have a rule, I don't go to jail for people, including Costco. I DO HAVE A SERIES OF QUESTIONS FOR BOTH THE APPLICANT AND THE CITY STAFF. COSTCO, IF YOU COULD, I KNOW YOU'VE GOTTEN THE RECORD THAT YOU'RE NOT BRINGING CHURROS BACK. BUT ALL KIDDING ASIDE, I DO WANT TO KNOW, I UNDERSTAND YOUR CEO IS IN TOWN TODAY DOING THE RIBBON CUTTING OF ISELIA'S COSTCO. AND IN THAT COSTCO, YOU GUYS MANAGED TO PUT A BUNCH OF CHARGING STATIONS, WHICH IN THIS ONE, YOU'RE NOT. WHAT'S THE RATIONALE FOR THAT? Whoever gets a short straw has to come up.

Hello, my name is Mike Knopf. I'm with MG2, and we are the architect for the project. Are you referring specifically to electric vehicle chargers or different chargers?

Correct. So yesterday's ABC30. Did a story on the brand new Costco in Visalia opening up today with your CEO visiting and showcasing the brand new fast charging stations in that Costco operation. When you were last here, I asked you why you guys were not including charging stations into your project. And I don't recall what the answer was, but it was something effective. That's not what you do. But it looks like you do do that. So what's the rationale for that?

We are including charging stations. We're going to have 10 DC fast charging stations at this location, along with one level two charging station.

So it would be public charging or for member charging or for employee charging?

It's member charging in the parking lot available to any member that's coming to the site.

Thank you. On the mitigation front, there's a reference by the council member indicating that I think something to the effect of this proposal now mitigates some of the environmental issues that were raised. Is that somewhat accurate? I don't know. I guess what I'm asking is what's different from this proposal than from the last one as specific to the environmental impact?

Yeah, I didn't make that statement. It's just something from staff. Okay, yeah.

Nothing. There's nothing that I'm aware of that's different in the proposal before you now than was approved in 2024. Okay.

You also referenced that part of your proposal requires you to have a mitigation plan for the car trips and the traffic that you're going to generate, which is in the hundreds of thousands of vehicle trips. What is that mitigation plan?

So the VMT mitigation measure is specifically aimed at trying to reduce employee trips. recognizing that it is extraordinarily difficult to get people not to drive to Costco because they're buying large quantities of goods. So there is a mitigation measure where a laundry list of strategies have to be pursued in order to obtain a certain level of vehicle miles traveled reduced. And I forget the exact percentage, but if you'd like to know that, we can find that out.

So try and keep this very simple for me. You guys attract hundreds of thousands of trips by customers. Per your comments and per my experience, people cannot ride a bike to shop at Costco because you can't fit the big 70-inch TV. and all the groceries that you buy on that bicycle, right? So your proposal to mitigate the trips to Costco that you would generate is simply to somehow get your employees that are a couple hundred to drive to Costco less?

The mitigation strategies are primarily directed towards employees because they're more amenable to...

So what are the mitigation strategies? Are you going to give all your employees a bike and ask them to bike to work or ride the bus?

No, I think it's probably best... Oh, okay. Do you want to speak to it?

Or... Whoever.

Would you like the transportation consultant to respond to that? That would be...

I don't know these faces, so whoever is best to answer...

I think the transportation consultant is the best person to respond.

And if you can... Use less technical terms and more practical terms in your explanation, please. What is the mitigation for getting employees to not drive their cars to Costco?

Good morning, everyone. I'm Amy Lopez with Kittleson Associates. I led the team of people who prepared the transportation analysis for this project. So feasible mitigation measures or ways of getting employees to reduce the number of single occupant vehicle trips. That's what we're talking about here. How do we get the employees to... have fewer trips made to the site that are reasonable, right, in the city of Fresno at this location. The measures that are being offered and made available in support of employees to see if they might change their driving behavior include a commute trip reduction marketing effort, meaning Costco themselves will be promoting some kind of change in travel behavior. in the employee workroom or in some other avenue. So an actual encouragement by Costco themselves to their employees. There's that. Talk about it with people. Providing for ride sharing. I cannot speak to the specifics of that because sometimes there are nuances to how it makes sense in one location versus another. But the point is they're required to promote ride sharing directly, encourage and support in a clear and direct way that employees would carpool together. Subsidizing or providing for a discounted transit pass. It's on the menu. It's not one that, I'll just say honestly, it's not one that likely is going to get a lot of traction here, given the location. You have to have transit service in the area for that to be viable. But as Fresno...

If I may, is there currently a bus stop in that station, in that area?

Not like right there. There's not in a way that makes it really viable now.

So that's why you're saying it's not real viable.

But should, as the city continues to develop your transit network, and when that becomes more viable, this would make more sense at that time. So it matters to have it in the mix now, for example. These are examples of the types of what we call travel demand management, or just travel management.

So in essence, the plan is encouraging employees to share cars and change their behavior, knowing that there really isn't any way to affect that change?

Yeah. And there's limited effect with that. And that's why I opened my statement by saying, in the city of Fresno, at this location.

Understood. Yeah. And what I'm trying to be clear on, there are things that we can require, mandate, expect and condition, and there are things that are just hopeful in nature. So I don't want to give the public a misunderstanding that somehow your employees are going to take the bus to work and therefore reduce the traffic jam in that corridor. Your mitigation plan is really hope without any actionable items included.

And what you would find, Councilmember, is that's a common matter when it comes to trying to encourage people anywhere in the state of California to change their travel behaviors.

Yep. Thank you.

Council Member Arias, I just wanted to mention along those lines that because Costco will do all of the strategies that have been identified as ways to potentially reduce trips, and that does include bicycle facilities with showers and lockers in order to encourage employees and the street connectivity improvements and the pedestrian network, et cetera. The uncertainty of effectiveness is the reason that that particular impact has long been acknowledged to be an unmitigated impact of the project and why you need to adopt a statement of overriding consideration on policy grounds.

Correct.

for the project.

So in basic English, the facts are that the amount of hundreds of thousands of trips at Costco in January cannot be mitigated, and you're asking us to override that and allow it to occur with no mitigation in mind?

Not with no mitigation. All feasible mitigation has been outlined in the EIR and would be imposed as a condition of approval.

Okay, and staff, if you could be prepared to walk me through all the mitigations that you guys are imposing on this project to address the hundreds of thousands of trips. The MDO, you referenced it as... distribution, direct, your last mile, I don't know what the official term is, but it's basically your ability to have a warehouse that delivers bulk items when people buy a refrigerator directly to the home, correct?

There are a couple of words there that in your question that I would not use in connection with the MDO, including warehouse and distribution. So it's more of a loading question. area within the store, like you would have in a Best Buy, a Walmart, Superstore, etc.

What's the official way that you would call that? What's the MDO stand for?

Market Delivery Operation.

Basically, it's your truck that delivers bulky items directly to consumers.

Yes, via trucks the size of a U-Haul truck, box trucks.

I'm familiar with them. I've had a refrigerator delivered by Costco once. Specifically on that facility, where is the size that you're proposing this new facility compared to what you currently have in the existing Costco? What's the size difference?

In the existing Costco, there is not an MDO because Costco did not offer that service at all. The store that Costco would be replacing here, my understanding is it was the first Costco store built in California. So that was quite some time ago. And the evolution of retail delivery systems has really changed.

So what current locations right now in Fresno have an MDO already?

There are no current Costcos within Fresno that have an MDO. because there has been no Costco built very recently.

So when I order my refrigerator, where does it get delivered from?

Well, your refrigerator would go, say it goes from the port to the direct delivery center, distribution center in Tracy. And then it comes to an MDO. There is currently a standalone MDO somewhere in Fresno. and then it would go to your house. This project would be able to combine in a way where the synergies would be able to be fulfilled, the MDO component and the store.

Historically, right now, if I buy a refrigerator, it's going from the Tracy Distribution Center, which is the right description, to an MDO in Fresno, most likely in a currently industrial-zoned area. And then to my home.

Correct.

What you're proposing to do is to change that MDO from the current location of industrial zoning into essentially the middle of a residential neighborhood to make it part of the brick and mortar Costco.

Because that is Costco's new business model. And that is occurring and being rolled out throughout the country. Yes. Understood that that's a changing model. Yeah.

So should the public expect that every new Costco have an empty or attached to it?

I don't know whether that's the case. I certainly would think the public should expect that. Many of them will, but I cannot speak to the expectations there.

Can you speak to the Costco that was just built in Clovis? Does that have an MDO on that facility?

It does not? I don't believe that it does, but that was also approved and, you know, proposed and approved before Costco... Changed their business model. Changed their business model, which included... acquiring a company that had the logistics infrastructure.

I understand. I'm just trying to get clear for me and for the public that right now we can get direct deliveries from Costco to our home through a MDO that exists somewhere in some industrial zoned area in the city. Going forward, your intention under your new business model is to change those MDOs and locate them in what I would call residential neighborhoods, because that's where Costco's are typically currently located, in residential and regional shopping centers surrounded by residential. So that's an expectation we should have going forward, given your business model change.

In certain locations, yes, but I want to note that The reason for that is because of the relationships between the various elements. If you were having a party tomorrow and you come into Costco and you say, I really need a barbecue for my son's graduation party tomorrow and I have to have it, it may very well be that that barbecue is sitting in the MDO in the store and can be delivered to you before your son's graduation party.

Yeah. And right now, if I go online, Costco can deliver me anything the next day from the current MDO location?

I don't know whether that would be the case, whether it would be available or where the MDO might be located. It might take several days, so there would be no guarantee. But it might be that it's actually located within the store there so that it could get to you.

Can you walk me through the last time we discussed this on the traffic? You guys referenced your operational time that you would be operating. I know there's been some changes to prime or I forget what the executive member designation is. They get to come in earlier. What is your operating hours for your retail store in this proposal? And what is the operating hours for your MDO component for the proposal? And if you can also address how you plan to mitigate the operation of the operating hours with school operating. I forgot how close the nearest school is to you guys, but I believe peak traffic is around 7.30 for schools.

Lynette Diaz with Urban Planning Partners. The store and car wash hours are proposed to be 9 AM to 8.30 PM on Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday, 9 AM to 7 PM. And then the fuel is proposed to be open from 5 AM to 10 PM. The extended hours for the fuel we have found actually are better than having them open a shorter because it provides more and so we did meet with the school and talk through that and they pick up in the area around 7 15 a.m and so that will be before the warehouse opens the fuel will be open but the warehouse will not be open yet. And then in the afternoon, you know, it will be there. But, yeah, so we talked with the school district at length. And you may recall that we entered into an agreement with them to have a partnership with them and work together on this.

And the MDO's operational hours are what?

They would fall within those hours.

So the first delivery of the trucks coming out, would that be 8 a.m. or 7 a.m. or 6 a.m.? Yeah.

I don't know that for sure, so I don't want to misspeak.

So the MDO delivery hours depend on how quickly the trucks can be loaded in the morning, and their exiting time from the MDO could range anywhere from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Okay, so they could potentially be departing at the same time as school drop-off.

Correct. But as we mentioned earlier, our truck routing got rerouted to a new road called Arthur Avenue. So we won't be using the neighborhood streets for any of our truck activities.

Thank you. I do have some questions for staff. This is in my neighborhood, so I think I've been to that area one time. TO TARGET NEARBY AND TRAFFIC WAS BACKED UP TO THE INTERCHANGE ON A WEEK NIGHT. CAN YOU WALK ME THROUGH VISUALLY WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS AND CHANGES TO INTERSECTION LIGHTS TO WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU'RE CONDITIONING THIS PROJECT WITH? CAN YOU PUT IT ON THE MAP? LIKE WHAT SHOULD THE PUBLIC EXPECT IN TERMS OF TRAFFIC INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS AS THIS PROJECT WAS CONDITIONED FOR? If I may have the staff address it, because they're going to get the complaints.

Yeah, I do know that there is a PowerPoint slide that does show that, that we can bring that up.

Yeah. And staff, is there any conditions that the city proposed that the applicant did not agree to when it comes to traffic infrastructure?

I'll let the staff answer that.

No. So everything you asked for is included as a condition?

That's correct.

And you feel confident that there'll be no traffic jams as a result of those improvements? Correct.

I just want to also kind of correct a little bit of the language that we don't ask people to do anything, we tell them to do things.

Yeah, you do.

You know, sorry, but, you know, we have regulations and we have development standards. And so I just, you know, it wasn't like, hey, will you please do this? It's like, here are the requirements, here are the conditions of approval. The only time we ever make any sort of adjustments occasionally are on timing of things where, but other than that, you know.

I'm familiar, you guys requested and then the applicant comes to us and ask us to waive some of them because they're too expensive or... That's because we tell them no.

And so apparently they come and try and go around mom and dad and...

Yes. And grandpa and grandpa are in charge. So what are the traffic improvements that people should expect? So the local improvements... And if you could, for the record, would these be in place prior to operation beginning? Or are we going to have one of those things where the intersection lights... you know, become operational three years after the school opens?

Probably, to my knowledge, they would be operational and installed prior to operation.

Is it a condition of the occupancy permit? Correct. It is? All of them? Probably one of them. That's correct, yes. Just wanted to confirm. Proceed. Proceed.

Okay, so along West Herndon Road, Herndon Avenue, they will add a left and right turnpocket, as well as underground PG&E lines that are currently located there and extend an existing trail path. And along North Riverside Drive and West Fur Avenue, they will upgrade that existing signal. And North Riverside Drive, that will be widened and a path would also be added. For West Spruce Avenue, there will be a through street, so currently Spruce Avenue does not connect between the east and the west point. So they will construct and provide that connectivity there. That's on the north side of the project site. For North Hayes Avenue and West Spruce Avenue, Signal and striping upgrades will also be provided there. And for West Herndon Avenue, they'll resurface and restripe the westbound lane from Riverside to North Hayes Avenue. There will also be several traffic calming measures that will be provided along Spruce Avenue. I think this next... No, that does not include that there. But per Council's motion... approval from the first time this was considered. Yeah, there were several traffic calming measures along Spruce. Also, other offsite that's not in the right Immediate vicinity is North Golden State Boulevard and West Herndon Avenue. Signal and striping upgrades and an extended southbound dual left turn lane will be provided at that intersection. And for North Weber Avenue and West Herndon Road, avenue signage and striping upgrades will be provided And then right at the intersection of Herndon and Riverside, this is a better diagram showing the proposed improvements, but they'll be extending the left turnpocket and median improvements, signal, ADA, accessibility, and northbound bike lane upgrades.

Thank you. Councillor Karbassi, are you comfortable that all the improvements are included?

Thank you for asking. So I wouldn't have approved this item had we not gotten Costco to agree to the multiple traffic upgrades and whatnot. And I'm confident they're going to do it as we required before it actually opens.

My other questions are around two years ago, I was led to believe that we were in a very strong position when we approved this project and that the environmental was in a strong position and the court found otherwise. So forgive me if I don't, if I'm doing more trust and verify at this stage because I've learned a few times that we have not been successful in the courtroom as it relates to CEQA that we approve. So under the CEQA EIR, it indicated that we should include all feasible mitigations. We are declaring today that BMT is not a feasible mitigation for this project. And from my understanding from the non-attorney and our attorney, THE RATIONALE IS THAT BMT WAS APPROVED AFTER THE COST COMPLICATION WAS SUBMITTED, AND WE'RE NOT ABLE TO RECTIVELY APPLY BMT, THE FEE, AS A MITIGATION TO THIS PROJECT.

So all of the feasible mitigation measures are in the mitigation and monitoring report program that is attached to this item. As it relates directly to the VMT program, it is not applicable to this project because this project was circulated prior to the effective date of the VMT program. However, the additional commute trip reduction marketing, the ride sharing program, subsidized discount transit, those are- All the stuff that they confirmed is not gonna actually result in reduction in trips, because it's just whole, it's fine.

So confirm for me, Director, if the VMT had existed at the time, and we did apply the VMT as currently structured, what would have been the fee? If the $40 million mark was incorrect, what would have been that fee?

So that would require additional analysis. So again, I can't speak to what the program would have assigned to this because it was not assessed under the program. So that is not something that we can give you a number for. It would require a different analysis.

The reason I ask, Director, is Costco just acknowledged that every future Costco upgrade or new Costco is going to have an MDO. So I anticipate that those new ones would, VMT would apply. I'm trying to ascertain what is gonna be the financial fee that we recover for the unmitigated traffic that they create. So if not today, can I get in a follow-up memo what would have been the fee if this VMT applies? Because I assume Costco is going to continue growing, and the VMTs will apply for future Costcos.

I don't think we can do that type of analysis. So I just want to remind you that when we adopted the VMT program, that sort of the structure of the program was we had a list of 24 projects and a price tag. And then each, and the fee was meant to pay for the cost of those projects. So what I want to remind you is the total cost of those projects was $20 million, just shy of $20 million. So. So my question really is. The whole bill was $20 million.

I understand city manager. My question is, would a future Costco or Walmart, whomever is the applicant, would they potentially fully fund those $10 million under the BMT structure?

It depends. So each project has to be analyzed uniquely based on its location and based on its project operational statement and the analysis that's specific to that project. So location matters, the size, the operations, the VMT that's currently in existence in the area. Each project would have to be analyzed separately and differently, so we don't have that analysis for this.

That is a fair response. The reason I'm pressing on this question is there's been a lot of arguments over whether the $40 million mark is correct. I was trying to ascertain, is there a better number that's a lot more accurate? If that number is wrong, what is it? If your response simply is we don't have it because it's project specific, I'll accept that as the answer. Thank you. Thank you. The last question I have on this, what is the total amount of fees that Costco is paying towards the city on all areas from regional parks to permitting? What is the total fees that they're paying? And secondly, were any fees waived?

Um, do we have the fee? Does anybody have the fee calculation? I mean, they.

Yeah.

Can you have the director repeat what she just said on the record though?

I didn't hear what she said.

She said no fees were waived. Yeah, no fees.

There's no fees that were waived, I can tell you that. But, I mean, with any development project, there's a fee sheet that includes sewer, water, impact fees, you name it. We can, I think we're going to come back after lunch and we can probably look that up and find it for you.

If you could just give me that information. I'm not trying to play gotcha with you guys. I want to understand Costco is a huge footprint and the model that Costco is bringing forward is the model for the future for Costco and potentially for other retailers. I want to understand if a retailer comes in and generates 140,000 trips a day, What total fee are we capturing? Because there is sales tax benefit. There is other benefits to the city. But do we need, as a city, need to readjust our impact fees to be able to capture the full impact of such a project? So that's why I'm asking is not specific. This project is understanding of what is the total fees that we would be collecting.

Based on the current calculations that have been provided to Costco, their total fees would be approximately $8.3 million.

Thank you. That's what I was looking for. Those are all my questions, Council President.

All right. We're going to hold this item, too. It's 12-12. We've still got to come back. There's a heap of punched up, and there's public comment. Do still, so we'll hold this. We'll resume probably about 1.45 is what we'll do. Continue this item.

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All right, we're gonna resume today's meeting. Before we went to lunch, we were still on the Costco item. We're still in the middle of that item. We're going to continue on with it. Council Member Arias was concluded with his remarks and Council Member Carabasi was punched up. So I'll go ahead and recognize you now.

Thank you, Council President. I hope everyone had a good lunch. Okay. I just asked the council members for some patience just for a few minutes for this exercise. I just want to be really particular with what we say here because I know they're just a small handful of folks that will cherry pick what we say to advance their own agenda. And I want the public to know that the decisions we make up here are on the totality of all the facts. So just to clarify, There was a gentleman with Costco that discussed charging stations earlier. Right there. Would you mind coming up for a second? Forgive me, I forgot your name.

My name is Mike Knopf. I'm with MG2 and we're the architects.

What's your first name?

Mike.

Oh, that's all right. That's what I thought you said. Okay. Well, welcome, Mike. Okay. Thank you. Mike... You mentioned there are 10 DC fast chargers and one level 2 charger. Is that correct? That is correct. Is it also true that Caddy cornered a Costco at the El Paseo shopping center where Target is? There's dozens of Tesla chargers in multiple sites in that area. I think there's EV2 as well.

I'm actually not familiar with what they have set up in El Paseo.

Okay. I... travel to that shopping center quite a lot in my district, and they do have that, just a heads up. So there are a lot of chargers in the area, which I think is really important to point out.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. That was my only observation. Another question. Who can comment on the MDO and trips? Oh, the traffic advice. Yes, please. Come on forward. And bear with me, please. So regarding the MDOs, let's say, you know, I live in Fresno and I decide I want to go to Costco and buy a television, which is a large bulky item. Rather than getting in my car and driving to Costco, whether I'm in Northwest Fresno or another part of town, I can order it online and then one of the trucks from Costco will deliver it to a home or business. Is that correct?

That's correct.

So theoretically, and I'm sure you'd use a logistics software that would reduce trips because the less miles you travel, the less money the company would be spending on fuel and those expenses.

The logistics team at Costco does use specialized software for that purpose, yes.

So the point I'm trying to make is, could the MDO existing potentially reduce VMT overall in terms of reducing the need for others to drive to Costco to purchase bulky items?

Will you say it one more time, please?

Could having the MDO reduce the need for individuals to have to drive to Costco to pick up those items to make those special trips, whereas you use a software to reduce the actual number of miles you travel to save costs?

Yes. Would you like me to expand on that?

If you want to, sure.

Yes, that is a real potential outcome of having the MDO. because multiple people receive a delivery from the same truck in one day, and it is routed in such a way to be efficient for those drivers, which is saving both on energy costs as well as labor. So there's an incentive on Costco's part to be efficient about how the deliveries occur.

And that reduces VMD theoretically.

That's right.

While that policy doesn't apply, that's just a good thing to know.

It's another outcome.

There were a couple of mentions about hundreds of thousands of trips, and it was mentioned a couple times. Kind of like a drinking game. You hear that? Take a drink. I think it was done for a specific reason. I want to clarify something, though. The current Costco in Shaw, that generates a lot of trips, too. Is that correct?

Yes, it does.

In an area that wasn't built for that, that was kind of the current Costco has outgrown that area. Is that fair to say?

I'll leave that to your discretion as to how you describe it.

OK. OK. I'll leave it at that. If staff wants to confirm, but my observation would be this lot was zoned for this type of use long before any homes were built in the area with this in mind, whereas the current Costco, I think it was from the early 80s, I can tell you it's a cluster. I get a lot of complaints about it from a traffic point of view. So this could potentially relieve that. That's just kind of the point I'm trying to make. That's all I have. Thank you on this one. Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Regarding bus stops, I do want to clarify something for the record. When I became a council member, the buses in Northwest Fresno only went as far as Herndon and Polk. And this was a big problem because paratransit is tied to our fixed bus route. One of my priorities was to expand bus service, and I really want to thank Director Barfield and the DOT and the administration for having the Herndon Crosstown actually go further west, and I think we're still going to expand over time, but it actually goes to the El Paseo Shopping Center, which is just catty-corner within walking distance of the current Costco. So if anyone does want to take the bus, they can, and if they want a bulky item, they can order it and have it delivered to them in an efficient way. I don't know if Costco... Let's talk about the school for a moment. Someone can talk about talking to Central Unified real quick. I just, anyone wants to come forward on that? I just want you to confirm, because I believe this came up back in 2024, that Costco had multiple meetings with Central Unified because there was mention of the school. And Central, in fact, did give indication of support with the project as presented.

Yes, they did. They submitted a letter that's in the record.

Okay, so no official opposition from the school district. I want that on the record. Okay, that's good to know. Thank you. And then maybe staff can provide an information. This is kind of a somewhat of a zoning question. Regarding the MDO, they're going to build Arthur Avenue. So the truck traffic has to go through that new road. I just want to know right now as it stands, how many homes are adjacent to Arthur Avenue when it's built? Yep.

No homes are adjacent to Arthur Avenue. It would be commercial adjacent to it.

Got it. So just to be clear, we moved the traffic away from the homes and onto where the Costco is. And this is, I think, at Daryl's Mini Storage, the other side. Correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Philip. Okay, there was a comment about traffic being backed up. I'm always sensitive to when I hear traffic backed up on Herndon, just to clarify, maybe it was the wrong time of day for this one person to finally show up in Northwest Fresno. There's a lot of upgrades happening to Herndon. As you may know, there is the railroad tracks right there. And there is going to be an underpass that is built rather soon so that we can separate road from rail, which will prevent the backup. But what we have done as a city when the El Paseo shopping center went in, and now with the Costco is we've downgraded that portion of Herndon from an expressway to a super arterial. And what that does is it allows turnpockets, like a left turnpocket lane, which is aimed to relieve traffic so folks can get to their destination faster. And then of course exit as well. So just know that area of Herndon will no longer be an expressway. It'll be a super arterial to help accommodate and lower those traffic issues. And I think that's almost done. Just an observation regarding the court ruling. I appreciate that there was a pathway given for us to be compliant and move forward. And I think I have asked the city attorney earlier whether or not the ruling, what we're doing today, does it comply with what the court wanted in the spirit of what the court wants? So when we go back, we're compliant. Would that be correct? Thank you. I appreciate it. The city attorney has indicated that's correct. And then I want to ask Costco, we're still discussing, we're going to go to public comment before we do that. Is there anything else you want to add or clarify? You don't have to. I'm just wondering. It's an option. No movement on the churros? Okay. Maybe the chicken tenders? Is that what I hear in Chicago?

Okay.

All right. That's all I have. Thank you, Council, for your patience. And then, Council President.

Great, I don't see any other members punched up right now. So we'll go ahead and go out to the public on this item. This was the 920, was it 920 or 925? 920. We're on the Costco, the Costco item is obviously. So is anyone public who would like to comment on this particular item? Now would be the time. Welcome, you have three minutes.

Thanks. Hey, good afternoon, Council. Daniel Brannock, Kernan Riverside Coalition, 5588 North Palm Avenue. To start out with Memorial Day approaching, I want to acknowledge the valor and sacrifices of the members of our country's armed forces. Okay, so we're here today because we won a trial court, and the city had to decertify the EIR and rescind the project approvals that had been presented in 2024 before recirculating to get here. And we said there was an opportunity to fix faulty work, and we meant that. The city has apparently decided to disquanter that opportunity. They said they'd fix things. They have not. They've left in the same flawed conclusions regarding zoning and CEQA. So starting with zoning, the city did nothing to change its findings, literally moving papers around in the exhibits in front of you. So as discussed at length, the MDO is a warehousing storage and distribution use as defined in the code. Just for some clarification points, it's greater than, not less than 20%. of the total building area. The 24 truck bays are in line with a 250,000 square foot distribution center, not the two to four bays you'd see at a big box retail store. And I'd say just if it walks like a DC and it quacks like a DC, you know, you can fill in the blank. Even if the concept makes sense, the use is still the use and the code doesn't allow for it. We don't like it and think moving it down to veterans would make more sense, but we presented options in our comments to at least resolve the zoning conflict and avoid the bad citywide precedent. So that would be either rezone a light industrial, you drop the MDO at least temporarily, or you do a text amendment to allow for this type of use via CUP. All these are basically mounting to us asking the city to follow its own laws. So second, regarding the GHG and climate change analysis, the EIR again reaches conclusions that are fundamentally incompatible and defy logic and reason. As previously and heavily discussed, the city's VMT threshold is rooted in meeting the state's climate mandates. To have a significant VMT impact, to wildly exceed that VMT threshold, while also saying you're consistent with the entire regulatory and policy framework, it's like saying we've got water but it isn't wet. So to play off Ms. Shimko's laundry list comment earlier, it's like they're not washing their biggest and dirtiest piece of laundry. In 2024, the solution simply would have been to call it what it is, a significant and unavoidable GHG impact, make findings and a statement of overriding consideration, and boom, you're done. But because that didn't happen, we are here and we're now having a discussion about the city's VMT program. And as mentioned in the written comments, this is independently applicable and valid under CEQA. Notably, the VMT program numbers further contextualize just how massive the impact of this project is. The Costco will wipe out and then wipe out again the entire amount of VMT the city's program seeks to mitigate. By the way, moving to Madera, guess what? VMT is going to apply there too. This is state level. Now what's happening at the state level, it's likely there's going to be a fee, right? So simply put, everything that's going on here is pretty self-inflicted. And we don't oppose Costco. And we're not running a popularity contest. What we oppose is not calling things what they are and not following the law. If you approve the project today, we're going to be back in court. So that's about all I have to say on that. Thank you.

All right. Any further public comments? Okay, we have three minutes.

Thank you. Doug Jensen, 5260 North Palm in Fresno. And I represent the landowner, and I'm here to urge your approval of the staff's favorable recommendation that you finally establish an appropriate, positive, and unified unitary development of that particular and very appropriate property. parcel And that's consistent with the long-term and long-held plans for that particular piece of property Which have been made public and with the zoning that's been there for a long time Thank you Thank you David

Hi, thank you for letting me speak. The reason I'm here is because I'm a resident of Northwest Fresno, and I believe Costco is a perfect fit in that location. I use it every couple times a month. And the other store is basically, it's outgrown its usefulness, and there's more need in that area. We will draw people from Madera. We'll draw people from Kerman. And it's badly needed for our tax base and the location. It's a perfect location. The traffic pattern will be perfect there. I drive there several times a month, and I don't think it will be an issue. And with regard to VMT, this project was started way before that got going, and it's kind of a mute item. And it's just a talking point to the other side. Thank you.

Okay. Any additional public comment? I don't have any more yellow cards on the Costco item. Seeing none, I'm going to close public comments, bring it back to the dais. Council Member Carvasi, you're punched up.

I just want to see if any other council members want to comment otherwise. Okay. A couple of quick things. Just really appreciate public comment. I really appreciate the council comments. I just want to state, we're having this meeting today. I don't see pitchforks. I don't see my residents here protesting. Where's the coalition? I see one person. And then regarding VMT, none of us were discussing VMT. The opposition has brought it up. They've tried to bring it up over and over again. So these are just manufactured issues. And I do appreciate the comment is that we don't want to, you know, we don't oppose Costco. But I'm going to reiterate what you said. If it waddles like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's kind of a duck. I want to explain to folks some of the reasons to support this proposal. It keeps jobs here. That's really important. Costco pays a living wage to folks so they can have a job and raise their families in this community and not have to go somewhere else. Income capture, that's a big one. This location being right by the 99, being convenient to access, as the gentleman said, David said earlier, we'll have people from Madera for once coming back into our town, spending their money here. These are folks that live in Madera. They used to live in Fresno, use our services and tear up our roads during the day and pay all their property tax to the other county. We're finally turning the tide on that issue. And of course, we talked about how this can actually be help our environment, lowering things. But the biggest thing I think is being able to create more shopping options that lower the cost of living. Right now, there are a lot of folks, myself included, even with a plug-in hybrid, gas is expensive. It affects me. Imagine how it affects other folks too. If this Costco should have been built last December, it'd be nice if those gas pumps were functioning so that families would have quicker access to fuel that's more affordable to them. Instead, because of some folks, all they care about is raising the cost of living for working families. And I admit, I resent that And I'm going to fight against that because we represent working families in this community and we have to do everything we can to ease the burden they face every day. Costco's also agreed to a lot of really important things at their expense. In addition to $8.3 million in fees they're paying, as they should, They're also going to upgrade Herndon at their cost. They're putting extra disabled parking stalls to help our seniors and those that have a disabled placard to be able to get to the pharmacy or whatever they need at the Costco. They have charging stations. They are putting netting for the golf course. They're upgrading the intersection at Spruce and Hayes, upgrading Golden State, doing all the things they should do and then some because those are conditions we put on Costco in order to get the approval. So this is a great project, it's a great opportunity. I'm sorry to the public this hasn't been done sooner because a handful or one people, the coalition, is trying to prevent us from moving forward, but I think common sense and good policy will prevail today. So thank you for that, council members. And I'm gonna make a motion to approve.

Thank you. Director, we have a motion, we have a second.

I just wanted to clarify one thing in response to public comment. In terms of the zoning and the appropriateness of the delivery operation, while there may be an MDO facility near Fresno, it is not within the city limits, and it was not permitted by the city of Fresno, so there is no comparison. to the general commercial zone that is being proposed today. Thank you.

Okay, we have a motion, we have a second. I don't see anyone who punched up. Is there any opposition to approval of this item? All right, seeing none, that passes five to zero. Council President, who was the second on that last motion? So, Council Vice President was second. Council Member Carbasi was the original motion maker. Okay, all right. I think we're almost done with the timed items. Let me see here. I think we're on to the bold item. Is that the last timed item, I believe?

That's 9.40 a.m. Council President, you had asked that we come back in the afternoon to continue, I believe it was the 9.25 item. Did you want to finish that first or did you want to do bold first?

Our friend's not here right now. Did you, I mean?

Either way, go ahead.

Let's see what information you have. Is there any new information?

Good afternoon again, Council. Phil Skyes, Director of our Planning and Development Department. There were a couple of questions that were asked. Motion to approve.

We have a motion and a second. Please, Phil.

Okay.

Give us the cliff notes.

Sure. There were a couple questions that were asked this morning. The first one was related to the staff recommendation concerning the use of community development block grant dollars to – to fund a security fence at Station 3 for the fire department. It was listed in the application from the fire department that it would be a 10-foot fence. Just to be clear, for council's sake, we are not, as a government body, we are not subject to our own development code. We could build a 10-foot fence. However, in speaking with the fire chief and the city manager, the intent of the fire department is to comply and conform. with whatever our development code would allow, which is a six-foot fence. So I just wanted to clarify that. That is what you would be approving today. All right? Second item was with regard to the council member's motion, a question about the, for us as staff, it's looking at the application that was submitted that was not recommended for funding by the South Tower Community Land Trust to take $75,000 from WestCare, $75,000 from Community Hospital, Total $150,000 for South Tower Community Land Trust. A couple things. The element of the proposal from South Tower Community Land Trust as it relates to the needle exchange program relocating to the tower district. I had an opportunity to speak to the executive director of the South Tower Community Land Trust. He confirmed that this needle exchange program has been identified as a future prospective tenant. They currently are. undergoing a plan review with us to be able to remodel and rehab the commercial space there. And so that is a future tenant they've identified. I do know that in order for that new exchange to be approved, they will be required to apply for a conditional use permit. So all of that would be forthcoming if that materializes. Also, it's important to note that just specific to the annual action plan that the funding source is HOPWA. Housing opportunities for people living with HIV and AIDS. I want to focus on, I think, the name of the Entitlement Program, Housing Opportunities, is really the emphasis of the program, and it is explicitly stated in federal regulations that needle exchanges and prevention services are not eligible for this funding source specifically, housing opportunities for people living with HIV and AIDS. So I think that was the information I was asked to return with this afternoon.

So you're saying that this source of funding is not eligible for this precise cause?

Not as it was presented in the proposal. So the proposal was to provide short-term rental assistance with HOPWA. That is eligible. to then also connect direct services to two other organizations, one of them providing educational classes and the other one providing a needle exchange. The needle exchange component of that is not eligible for this funding source. So if approved, in whatever fashion that would be, there would have to be a revision of the program. I think not only because of the ineligibility, the new exchange and the prevention services proposed, but also because as proposed, it would be a funding level that is half of what was requested. So there's going to have to be a program revision.

Okay.

Thank you, Phil. I did receive a few extra cards. We did take public comment on this already. I'll allow just a brief minute and a half for each of these cards. I'll reopen it. Okay.

We can reopen public comment.

I'll go ahead and reopen briefly for these cards here. Lady Diana Oliva. Yeah, so we'll give you 90 seconds just as a courtesy. 90 seconds.

That's all I need. Great. Thank you, Mr. President. Hi, everyone. I'm Lady Diana, the founder and CEO of Casita Feliz Latine LGBTQ Plus Center. We actually are the only Latino LGBT center in the whole central California. And last year, we served over 3,000 individuals here in Fresno and the surrounding areas. This grant was in collaboration spearheaded by the South Tower Land Trust with Kyle, and also in partnership and collaboration with the needle exchange program. We are a new and upcoming organization. I'm actually a person living with HIV. Is that my dining section's up?

No, you have a minute left.

Okay, and sorry. And so my lived experience has brought me back to Fresno three years ago and really uplifting and making an impact for people living with HIV. I was the former recipient of HOPWA dollars back in 2007 and I would love to provide organizational leadership for the HOPWA grant for Fresno communities moving forward. I believe Wesker has done an excellent job, but I think we would love to provide housing and short-term rental assistance, mortgage assistance, utility assistance for our Latino-based communities, and really making sure that we provide the psychosocial intake and case management services that are needed for our residents living with HIV. And so I would hope that you would consider and allowing other organizations such as the South Tower Land Trust and Casita Feliz to provide HOPWA services for our residents here in Fresno. Thank you.

Thank you. Kyle Lopeshmit. Come on down, Kyle. You'll have a minute and a half.

Thank you. First, I appreciate Miguel Arias bringing up this issue and giving us a shot. This is very close to my heart. I provided this photo here. This is my father. Lost him to AIDS in 1991. As Diana shared, this is a lived experience of hers as well. And our board president is also HIV positive. Our approach to this work that I think is unique from WestCare or the community hospital is that we've got folks with lived experience leading how we're designing this program and delivering these services in a very community-centered way that's building trust and serving communities that are often left out and don't feel comfortable in these institutional settings. So I think that's something really unique that we can bring. to the suite of services with the other two organizations offering this and us offering it centered in the tower district as a child hopla services weren't around yet when my father was was suffering with hiv and it was community networks that provided that it was nuns and nurses in our community that we're providing that care for folks that were suffering. So that's the kind of approach that we're bringing to this work. We applied last year and got advice on how to continue refining. We're going to continue building capacity in our organization. We've got two existing homes in the neighborhood, eight more in pre-development. We're building housing in the neighborhood. If you're giving us these funds for the services, it really sets us up well to transition to housing folks.

Thank you, Kyle. Next speaker is going to be Ashley.

Sorry, I'm short. Hi, guys. So my name is Ashley. I am the co-owner, co-founder of Judging by the Cover Bookstore, and I'm one of the commercial tenants for Stuff Tower Community Land Trust. And I just wanted to speak to the work that they do within the community and how they bring in community collaborators to make stuff We first started working with South Tower Community Land Trust through their Queer Housing Summit, which is now an internationally recognized summit that they put on yearly, which teaches folks how to find access to housing in more creative ways. They have been doing this type of community outreach for years, and they are now internationally recognized within both the publishing community, bringing in authors to speak at this summit, but also within the greater community outside of not only Fresno and California, but as far as New York and the world. When they talk about working with the needle exchange, they are bringing in community folks who are on the ground that are speaking to people who are currently living with AIDS and need access to these resources. I don't think that we should think about it as like doing needle exchange services, but more as a community outreach partner that will help expand the work that they are able to do and reach the folks who truly need these resources. We've seen them do this in their outreach for the Broadway Park. creating this new space within Tower at 617-620 Fulton, and the work that they do with the Queer Housing Summit that has now reached a global capacity. So if anyone deserves access to these funds and will do good work with it, it is South Tower Community Land Trust. Thank you.

Last speaker is going to be Dallas Blanchard.

Hello. Dallas Blanchard, the program manager of the needle exchange. We do a lot more than just needle exchange. We also have federal grants from SAMHSA to provide medication-assisted treatment, and that's what we would be doing with the HOPWA funds in addition to our substance use navigation services, which is funded through SAMHSA, federal government money. Thank you.

All right, I'm going to close public comments. Council Vice President Maxwell, have you punched up?

Okay, thank you.

I'm closing public comment, I'm sorry. I opened it up as a courtesy to folks who came out a little late in the afternoon, but we did complete it this morning. So I was not obligated to, but I do want to move the meeting along. We have a lot of items still. It's been a long meeting so far.

Thank you, Assistant Director. I just want to clarify if you could just reiterate that with this allocation of CDBG funds, the proposed party, not eligible as is, but could be eligible for future funds to deliver on this service?

So, Council Vice President, this is for, I think we're talking about the South Tower Community Land Trust, is that correct? This is a different funding source. This is HOPWA, Housing Opportunity for People with HIV and AIDS. Yeah, I think a proposal that were redesigned and I think, you know, more ready for, I think, to receive these funds I think would be very competitive.

I'm not sure you answered his question. If you can just directly answer his question. My understanding is the land trust is eligible for the funding.

The land trust is, I mean, as an organization, the program, the proposal as it was presented to us in the application, there are elements of it that are not eligible. What elements are there? The needle exchange in particular and any prevention services are not eligible, explicitly not eligible. Under HOPWA. We need a CUP. Oh. So that's a separate issue, but I just, in speaking with the executive director over the lunch hour, he informed me that South Tar Community Land Trust at this location where they're proposing to provide these services, that they currently have an application into our department to rehab the commercial space. The needle exchange clinic that It's my understanding is hoping to relocate there, I believe, will be required. In order to operate there will require ACUP.

If I may, Council Member Maxwell, are they proposing to use the AIDS funding to fund the needle exchange program?

In the application, that is my understanding, some of the direct services they're providing, in addition to prevention, that's what they state in the application.

If I can get the applicant to clarify that, because I want to make sure we're clear, Director. You're suggesting that the needle exchange program is not an eligible activity under this funding, correct? Correct. So if I can get the organization to confirm whether your proposal intends to fund the needle exchange program with these fundings. Of course.

Thank you for the question. Yeah, so we are the lead applicant and we identified two community partners that would be referral partners and provide services that are covered under the list of services that could be funded by the HOPWA funding. So what was key with the needle exchange relationship is they are providing funding. They have funding for those services of providing needle exchange, but they interact with folks that are at high risk for having HIV AIDS. And so it's a really important point to identify who those folks are and get them into the pathway of getting support services and getting rental assistance that they need so the subcontract that we would hope to have with the needle exchange is around referrals as well as they provide certain medical support referrals to other programs that they would be you know an entry point for that and we wouldn't We wouldn't pay them for any services that are not covered under the HOPWA funding. It would only, you know, primarily be the referral of folks that need services.

So they would be referring agency to the organization? Correct. These funds would not be used to fund a needle exchange program?

Correct.

Thank you. And would that make it okay, Director, ineligible?

Yeah, again, the funding source, I mean, it's explicit in the name, right? Housing Opportunities Program. for people with HIV and AIDS. So the idea is to fund housing, not ancillary services. That's what this funding source is intended to provide.

But if I may, the other proposals that you're recommending to fund also fund other things that are beyond housing.

Correct, but the core funding, again, it's not exclusive, but the intent is to fund housing itself, You can provide supportive services, but needle exchange and prevention services, which are not being provided in the other two that are recommended, are explicitly not allowed. Does that make sense?

You lost me there, because I'm familiar with the two. Just for the record, I visited the two programs, West Care and Community Hospital, for several years now. They're both located in my district. MY TOURS AND VISITS TO THOSE PROGRAMS, THEY GO BEYOND SIMPLY PROVIDING HOUSING BECAUSE THEIR LOCATION ARE COMMERCIAL OFFICE SPACES. THEY'RE NOT PROVIDING HOUSING ON SITE. They're providing support services, counseling, medical services, essentially wraparound services. Very little of the money is going to direct housing people. They're not providing vouchers for hotels.

That's not correct, Council Member. So they are providing short-term rental housing subsidy. That is primarily what we are supporting through our HOPPA grants.

How much money has been used for direct subsidized housing?

How much historically, how much...

In the last, well, we've been giving these groups about a million dollars a year for the last 10 years.

Yeah, I mean, so I would say roughly 85% of that is going directly to support housing. So you can see, if you want, I mean, just as an example, right, community hospitals supporting 200 people, that's primarily housing support. WestCare, 230 people. primarily housing subsidy you are correct that there are other services they bring which is a leverage point which is one of the reasons that that we recommended them over other proposals that we received okay um i've just conferred with my colleagues so i think what i'm going to do is make a motion to approve the item as recommended by staff on this allocation

with the intent that we will, in the budget process, identify money for the land trust to do similar work in the tower district, specifically if the program is gonna move to tower. Because I've been very intentional. The location of these programs matter. One is in proximity to the hospital. Makes sense. Another one is in proximity to the multi-hours where these folks are housed, which is WestCare. If this population is going to move to the tower, we need some support services in the tower as well. And we can look at some general fund dollars that don't have limitations as a potential solution. Yeah.

I did talk to Councilmember Arias. I think it's just too close to the final hour to make these kind of changes. But Lady Diana, I know the operations you run are top notch, and I know you're uniquely qualified. So I'll work with your Councilmember to see what we could do in the coming months to see if we could provide some support there. But I'm gonna go with the council member's motion today to move ahead.

Yeah, we do already have a motion on the table for this item that reflects that. And yeah, I agree. I mean, the services that were talked about, I think are obviously worthy of funding. It's just, this is gonna be hard to squeeze in here given the bureaucratic restraints. But that's a project to work on as we move into the budget season. All right, let me see, Council Member Perea, have you punched up?

Yeah, thank you. Just happy to hear my colleagues' voice support for more LGBTQ budget allocations this year. And then I do want to just thank Mayor Dyer, because I know there were not, you didn't include anything LGBTQ related in your budget, but that's because I think you left it to me, because I like to make these motions when it comes to serving the community, and so... I have been in communication with Lady Diana about future budget allocations for the good work she does, and I'm just happy to hear that there's support to move that forward come the right time. Thank you, colleagues.

Great. All right, seeing no one else punched up.

I did have my pending question on the 10-foot high fence for the fire department.

They answered it. They'll get you offline.

It's not going to be 10 feet. We answered it before you got back.

It shows here the 10-footer on the summary.

That's just what they put in the application. It's going to be six, so. The height of the fence is sort of ancillary.

So can I just qualify their submissions because it's inaccurate?

Here's the deal. The development code doesn't apply to the city, so we could build a 10-foot fence, but in the spirit of trying to follow the same rules as everybody else, I've told the fire department to make it six, okay? Okay.

Thank you. And just to confirm, I'm assuming it's going to be a metal fence versus the chain link fence that exists?

Rod iron.

Is there any reason why not just go brick?

Well, I think a block, well.

It's nearly half a million dollars.

So again, first of all, as the city manager said, the fire department's intent is to comply with the development code. So we're going to look at that. I'm not personally certain whether a block wall is going to be allowed there. Also, the cost of that typically is much greater than.

Well, plus, I don't know about in that area if block walls are allowed. I understand. They are allowed? I don't think they are.

I don't know either. The reason I ask is. In these applications, you guys have disqualified applicants when their expenditures are not eligible or when it's not accurate. So I get you're asking for grace on the 10 to 6 foot, and I'm fine with it. So thank you for the answer.

And I would say, Council Member, it's consistent with how we've treated others. But, yeah, I understand. Thank you.

All right, any opposition to approving the 9.25 a.m. item, annual action plan? Seeing none, that passes five to zero. All right, thank you. Almost to the end of our timed items. As I was going through my cards here, we are going to go to the 9.40 a.m. item. As I was going through my cards here, I did identify a public comment card for the... for the 9.35 a.m. item from Kathleen Omachi. I did invite public comment at that time. Is Kathleen still here? Oh, hi, Kathleen. Yeah, and maybe you missed it, but I did invite public comment. But if you did want to speak, the item has been heard and approved. But sorry I overlooked it.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, council. My name is Kathy Omachi. I live at 759 F Street in Ridley, California, 93654. I wish to speak to you today about the issue of rescinding the historic designation for the Eggo property on China Alley. As registered owners, we know that we have possibly lost the designation because the building had to be torn down because it was damaged in a fire several months ago when an arsonist had set fire to the building that was purchased by High Speed Rail. We were told that because of the heat, this is from the city inspector and also from David Knox, who does 90% of the demolition work for the city of Fresno, and he did the demolition work for us, that the heat had destroyed the mortar holding the bricks together of the building. We did not want to go through the same kind of harassment that we went through for over a year with the legal department concerning the arson burning of the Bowon building. Of which we were informed that if we did not come up with over $230,000 in demolition funds, our building would be, the property would be seized. that was nowhere in our intentions of losing that property or the building. Since we had made a commitment to one of the oldest Chinese associations, that we would help preserve that building as a historic landmark for Chinatown and for Fresno. Again, the AGO building is a historic building. It didn't look like much, but the history that it had was so reflective of the community that I was willing, I was in rehab at that time, but to let you know the importance and why I'm speaking to you today is that I was willing as a senior citizen on Social Security of $1,333 a month, willing to spend every single dime and dollar I had including a small investment fund, my savings and cash to pay the $62,000 to David Knox to demolish the building within 48 hours of the building being damaged by the arson fire. I know that that's small potatoes to you when you're talking about billions of dollars here and there and other people coming up with other funds. But you need to remember that our historic buildings, and this is historic buildings month, and right now for Chinatown, We don't need another soccer stadium. We don't need any more affordable housing. Since right now, the project that you have in Chinatown is not very successful. But that needs to be evaluated.

Thank you, Kathy. Thank you, Kathy. Kathy, I'm sorry. Our time is up. Thank you. I just wanted to let you know how important it is Thank you, Kathy. Kathy, you're out of order. I'm sorry. Yeah, thank you. All right. We'll move on to the 9.40 a.m. item, the BOLD program, bonding opportunities for land development. We'll go ahead. We did a workshop on this at the previous meeting. So I think we're fairly well informed. I'll begin with public comments on this item. So again, we're on 9.40 a.m. on the BOLD program. Do you have one card for Darren Rose?

Good afternoon, everybody. Uh, council mayor, uh, Georgian and the rest of the staff, uh, building it. My name is Darren Rose. I'm the president and CEO of the building industry association of Fresno Madera counties. And I'm here to, uh, advise you of our strong support for this program. It's used by over 50 municipalities throughout the state of California and regionally Merced Hanford to Larry Bakersfield and Madera. So from a competitive advantage standpoint, this is a valuable tool. It helps accelerate infrastructure development and promotes more timely housing. We're not producing the number of homes that we need to every year, and this will be a tool, an option to my builders. So I would appreciate a yes vote, and thank you for your time.

All right, thank you. Is there any additional public comment on the 9.40 a.m. bold program item? Seeing none, I'm going to close public comments on that item. Come back up here to the dais. I have Council Vice President Maxwell punched up.

Thank you. I was just going to make that motion to approve.

Motion by council vice president, second by council member Carbasi. I don't see anyone else punched up. Is there any opposition to approval of the 9.40 a.m. bold program item? Seeing none, that passes six to five to one. Council member Arias, what do you know? All right, 9.40 a.m. 9.40 a.m. at 2.40 p.m. Right on time, apparently. All right, well, that'll bring us to the conclusion of our timed items for today. Let's see here. Let's go ahead and take on the consent agenda. Try and get that out of the way.

Council Member Carbos, you're punched up. Just a quick comment. I know the Vision Zero item's on the consent calendar. I just want to thank Joe Martinez. I know he's in the audience for all his advocacy for Vision Zero. Thank you. All right, thank you.

All right, so before we approve the consent calendar, we do gotta go to public comment. I do have a few cards for some items. First up, Anthony Molina.

I didn't see you. You deserve kudos too, Dr. Molina. I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. Thank you.

good afternoon council president as far as the vice president and council members and mayor and city manager Tony Molina here I am a formerly d2 resident now a d6 resident but I want to thank thank you all for your past and ongoing support for active transportation and uh... making president streets uh... safer for all road users i wanna thank uh... council members uh... bang as far as the for joining us on our uh... bike bike ride uh... last weekend invite open invitation to all all the all the council members in I hope to see the mayor again next year. So I'm very pleased to be able to be here today to see the Vision Zero Action Plan final draft before you for adoption, as well as the Cycle ATP grant and the Safe Streets for All grant program. So it's really a momentous day in terms of of the efforts to try to make Fresno Street safer. And speaking as a bicyclist and as a physician who tries to promote active transportation as a public health benefit to our community, I want to applaud the city for pursuing this funding to make this plan possible. And I want to especially commend the public works department staff, Scott Mosier, Jill Gormley, and especially Andriana Aguilar and her staff who have really risen to the occasion to get this prepared in time to be able to take advantage of getting these grant opportunities that are really time sensitive right now. So they really deserve a credit for that. And as you all know, the design of Fresno Streets has made it very difficult calm traffic. We're dealing with the legacy of an automobile priority city, and we have, you know, with the increased demand for active transportation, there's really an urgent need for this program and this plan. So this is a tremendous step forward, and I want to congratulate you all for taking the giant step forward and strongly urge the adoption as well as support for the implementation.

Thank you. All right, next card is going to be for Kalila Lee.

Hello Council members and everyone that is present. My name is Kalia Lee and I live at 4070 East Butler in Fresno, California. I have resided there for 12 years. I was here previously March 19th, which is a total of 63 days and two give or take in two months and some days. I initially had a code enforcement violation in my unit starting January 28th due to an unpermitted sewage trench, which directly affected my unit. As myself, I am post-cancer and my daughter has disabilities as well as I have other disabled children who come to my home who have respiratory disabilities. There has been an ongoing of black mold that has been present in this unit that has initially been reported to code enforcement December 2019 that has still been unresolved. Currently, there is four different code notice of violations for uninhabitable conditions within this unit, citing black mold, affluent liquids in the hallway from the restroom toilet, in addition to electrical arcing where there are a few sockets that do not work that has been repeatedly reported to court enforcement and to two different inspectors. Being this done, there still has yet been any enforcement chronologically, administratively as how it's supposed to be handled as far as to my knowledge because the inspectors told me they go by the codes and the laws of habitability, health, safety, and building. Despite the failed sewage inspection, there still has yet been any safety protocols and anything done in this unit to protect these disabled minors, including my daughter, who cannot breathe because of in her room we found black mold in the closet, black mold in her windows, that of which photos were submitted, but there has yet to be done. I have also reached out to council members in emails I've also attempted to have meetings, which haven't happened, and yet I stand here today because I believe in the city of Fresno, which is where I was born, that there will be something done and enforced because this property manager, Heritage Realty, has continued to disregard the notice of violations that have been repeatedly provided. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is going to be Paul Marquez. No, Paul. All right, next speaker is going to be Joseph R. Joseph.

Oh, hello, okay. Hi, Council. Thank you very much. I wanted to speak on behalf of the entertainment zone that is being proposed for downtown Fresno. I'm against it. I feel like there is a lot of things that I've seen recently. One of them is that the chief of police has recently in a GV Wire interview said that DUI fatalities are a problem. We are fourth, ranked fourth as a city with DUI fatalities. And that is not the state of California, that's the nation. And here we want to have more drinking downtown. We want to allow open containers where people can be outside to drink beer. They're already outside drinking because Tioga Sequoia has outdoor patios. People can enjoy the air. They can enjoy the atmosphere. There's no need to have two bars. dominating the brewery district with running back and forth between both of them because that's all that this is offering. We don't have the housing to support an entertainment zone. The cities that have found success with entertainment zones have a lot of people living downtown, have enough of people that could walk to these entertainment zones and walk home. Most people that come to downtown, they drive. They're driving to downtown and they're driving out of downtown. And now we're making it a big party atmosphere. And it's taken away from artists and the arts. Art hop is now dubbed street hop. And because of that, it's a big party. There's more fighting going on down there. We hear that, oh, it's not people over 21, it's people under 21. Well, there's still underage drinking going on. And it's becoming more rampant. And now we want to allow people to drink more. For what reason? Who does this serve? Has the public been given any kind of output to put their opinions? I came here today. I ran here today just to let you all know that I was at home. I was going to make a Zoom comment, but I thought it was important to show up in person to look you all in the eye and let you know that there are a lot of people that would not benefit from this. First of all, It's a lot of small businesses that don't sell alcohol. It's all the vendors that are trying to, and they're the smallest, lowest on the totem pole vendors, scratch out a living, but they can't because people are ignoring them. Why? Because they're all rushing to the brewery to get a beer. They're spending their money at the food trucks, and the food trucks have it hard too. They pay vendor fees for events, and on top of that, 30% of what they make. How are they supposed to get ahead? How are they supposed to open a brick and mortar? We have all these businesses closing down downtown. The Chicken King. Grumpy Burger Lady. You know, Pie Mamas is not there no more. Full Circle Brewery left. A brewery left the brewery district.

All right. Next up, Brunette. Brunette. All right. Next, Joe Martinez. Joe Martinez.

Hello, good afternoon, Council President and members of the City Council and Mayor. My name is Joe Martinez. I'm a proud D1 resident at 1721 North Arthur. I am a member of Families for Safe Streets. You may be familiar with this logo. It's a chapter that was started by a parent who lost her son. And it's the worst thing that could happen to any parent. And soon after, there were chapters that were created across the U.S. Today, there are about seven chapters here in California. Fresno is about to become number eight to represent the entire Central Valley. It is a club that no parent should belong to, as you can imagine. The entire club is made of parents and family members and friends who have lost a loved one due to traffic violence. Over 10 years ago, my son Paul was struck and killed by a speeding motorist one week before Father's Day. I'm here in support of Vision Zero. Paul represents one of 250 pedestrians that were killed in traffic collisions in the past 10 years. So fast forward, 250 innocent lives have been lost, and we have reached a milestone today with Vision Zero. And as Mr. Crevasse has said, zero is the only acceptable number, Mr. Crevasse, and you are correct. I want to thank also Annalisa Perea for her support and leadership in protecting our pedestrians and cyclists, not only in D1, but also across the city of Fresno. Today, I serve as an advocate for public safety, but also street safety. The mayor in San Francisco, who I've met several times now, has said that street safety is public safety, and he treats it as a public health crisis, which is what the city of Fresno should be doing. Vision Zero is a safe streets approach with the goal of zero deaths, zero deaths. Our plan is a smart plan with the right strategies from engineering to evaluation, from enforcement to education and evaluation. Today, Fresno joins over 20 California cities that have adopted the Vision Zero plan. In fact, we'll become city number 21. In the plan, I have read it. Hopefully, if you've read it, you know there's 121 pages. I've made my comments. Two areas that stood out for me is, one, please identify one person to coordinate the entire plan along with its stakeholders. I did not see that in the plan. The city should also be applying for federal funding As you know, now that your plan will be passed, and I believe it will, there is also money available. In fact, $1 billion is up for grabs for the city of Fresno to apply for those funds. So I hope Fresno has done just that.

Thank you, Joe. All right. Alfred Aldredi.

Thank you, counsel. If you forgive me, I took some time to write this, so I'll be reading it here, which I'm not really comfortable with, but it is what it is. So about this new entertainment zone coming to downtown Fresno. It sounds financially promising, positive to businesses, and uplifting for the community. As for citizens to look at it, and visitors, the entertainment zone brings more drinks, open containers, and a party-like atmosphere. So who wouldn't like that? But what's really going on? The downtown Fresno partnership already runs a brewery district lock, stock, and barrel. And now they want a special permit that lets people drink more alcohol downtown? The catch is that those special open carry cups, you can only buy them from bars inside this new zone. So guess who really wins? The same people who already own the board. Here's the kicker. The city manager has total one-person authority to give or take away permits. This means the city gets to handpick who gets to throw any event downtown in that area. And let's be real, it's going to be the Downtown Fresno Partnership and whoever the city wants. Not artists, not vendors, not small businesses, and not community groups. They'll say that this will help downtown businesses, but that's not completely true. The plan helps a few bars in the Brewery District and the Fresno Eats. That's about it. Everyone else is on the outside looking in. As my good friend Joseph put it, What about the vendors paying fees and giving up to 30% of their sales? What about the small downtown businesses that don't serve alcohol? What are they gaining from this? They gain nothing. Sure, the entertainment zone sounds fun until you realize that anyone trying to host an event gets tangled in so much red tape it's almost impossible without the city's blessing. So ask yourself, who really is this for? Not artists, not the vendors, not the small businesses, not the citizens, not those who attend from all over the valley to these special events. No one else but a selective few. I oppose the idea of the entertainment zone and instead I urge you to please reallocate the city's funds, time, efforts, and attention around local artists, local events, and small businesses to help downtown Fresno. Thank you guys.

All right, I don't have any more yellow cards. Is there any additional public comment with respect to any item of the consent agenda or items that were pulled for contested consent? or the closed session items. Okay, seeing none, we'll go ahead and close public comment on consent, contested consent, and closed session. Bring it back up here. I have Council Member Karbassi punched up.

Yes, Council President. Item 2T, that was not pulled, correct, as part of the consent calendar? This is the entertainment zone item.

Clerk, can you review for us which items are on contested consent?

Yes. 2T is, has not been pulled. So on contested consent, we have 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 2I, 2J, 2K, 2L, 2N. No, no, no, stop, stop.

These are contested consent. I am, I apologize. I'm sorry. I was like... Miguel, what'd you do?

Oh my goodness. I thought you were asking for the consent calendar. I apologize. I'm so sorry.

That'd be a wild question. Yeah. Sorry. One moment, please. What is contested consent?

We have two U, two V, and that is all I have for contested consent.

I don't want to pull it. I just have a clarifying question. City attorney, can I ask the clarifying question without pulling the item?

As long as you're not taking any action on it, I don't see that being a problem. Okay.

My clarifying question on that item is, I mean, I think it's a pretty cool idea. Let's say it doesn't work for some reason. Does the council have the authority later to pull back on the entertainment zones if we decide to? Is that permissible?

Is this for me?

Anyone.

I would say it's an ordinance, so you can always repeal an ordinance, to my knowledge.

If it doesn't work, we can always roll it back later.

Am I correct, city attorney?

Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't hear the original question. Sorry. Okay. Just making sure. That's all.

Cool.

Councilman Vargas.

I had a comment on the consent items, but other than that, no questions on uncontested. Well, that will be the time because we're going to vote on consent. Just question on Vision Zero specifically. I don't want to have a full discussion on the item, but does it address e-bikes and all the problems we've had with minors being run over with e-bikes? How does e-bikes, is it any way as part of this proposal?

I don't believe, I can't see if Scott's in here. I don't believe the Vision Zero plan specifically references that. And I do know, oh, there you are, Scott. Or Andrea, okay, come on up.

Just because I know other cities have already banned e-bikes for minors, and the state has limitations on how fast e-bikes can go for minors. But it looks like all the incidents we've had is parents giving their kids e-bikes with pretty fast speed levels. So can Vision Zero include addressing e-bikes, or do we need to do that on separate action?

Andrea Nagler with Public Works and Transportation Planning. Vision Zero does call out education and enforcement. So enforcement on the proper use of e-bikes is already kind of included in there without specifically calling an action to it. But safety and education is a part of it. It's all kind of embedded into the vision.

So if I could get the police chief to confirm our city staff, what's our current practice for minors who are riding e-bikes that are beyond the legal allowed speed limit under state law? Are we confiscating those bikes or are we just telling people slow down and move on?

And Council Member, while she's walking up, you can see like there's so many variations where some of them are legal and some of them aren't. And I think there's a lot. It is very confusing out there in the public, and I'm sure as a parent, as to what is allowed and what isn't. But I'll let the Chief.

Yes, we tried to educate our officers because it's not clear. There is a lot of nuance there in the law. It confuses both parents and our officers. So we've done an education campaign via social media, what we can to get out. and media to parents, but we've also educated the officers, sending out briefing items and guides on cheat sheets, for lack of a better term, on what they can and can't tow on.

So just so more information for the public, I plan to bring forward an item to treat e-bikes by minors that are clearly a violation of state law in terms of speed limits, as we do with race cars, and do a complete confiscation. Because parents are not listening for whatever reason. They're letting their teenager run high-speed e-bikes. And all we're seeing is tragedy after tragedy. So that'll be a separate item coming forward around enforcement specifically.

Can I add something, Council Member? I'm glad you mentioned this because this is getting out of hand. If you can add to your item the issue of not wearing helmets. I get they're bulky, but it saves lives. So whatever we can do to have more enforcement.

Yeah, and that's the law already.

Yeah, but unfortunately parents aren't doing it. Or in golf carts too, by the way. It's just minors driving vehicles they shouldn't be driving. It happens all the time, unfortunately.

Yeah, I've been seeing a lot more golf carts on our city streets.

And we do enforce on that. I mean, I couldn't off the top of my head tell you the rules on that per se, but I know when there is a violation and it's brought to our attention, it's not probably one of our top priorities, but when we see dangerous behavior, it's addressed as best we can. Okay.

So just for warning to the public, I think we've had one too many tragedies on e-bikes. People are not registering basic common sense on what you should give your 13 and 14-year-old. And so I'm going to bring forth something that does a complete confiscation, and we treat it like a vehicle that's going at a high speed rate where parents are going to have to pay to get it back. And it's probably going to be more expensive than what the bike is worth. But I don't know short of that how we avoid these tragedies. Thank you.

All right, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar. We have a motion from Council Member Arias, second from Council Member Karbasi. Any opposition to approving the consent agenda? Seeing none, that passes six to zero. We'll move on to the contested consent. We had a couple items. 2U was pulled by Council Member Arias.

Yeah, I just had a very generic question. I couldn't ascertain from the actual agenda item. It references a donation, but I didn't see the amount and what's the plan. And if you can just elaborate on that. I don't have an issue with the naming. I want to understand more of the context.

Yeah, there were some cash donations, but also in-kind donations from various contractors. And so that's what was cobbled together to the tune of about $290,000 to build the kennel.

200 from the same donor or multiple donors?

Different donors.

Different donors. And we're, I'm assuming city property?

Yes.

And are we on the hook for maintenance and operation of the facility?

Yes. It's already functioning in this capacity. The canines are already at this location. This was just building them a kennel. Because if within the staff report, in order to be able to board the dogs, perhaps on a weekend or a vacation when a canine officer is off right now, currently there's no kennel for them to be able to store it. And so they either have to be boarded with another canine officer. So this is an existing.

It's just improvements on existing capital facility.

Correct. Yes. Yes.

That was my confusion. Thank you. Motion to approve.

Thank you.

Second.

We have a motion. Council member Arias. I seconded that. Is there any opposition to approving item to you? All right. Seeing none. Item passes six to zero. Our last consent item to V. And that was pulled by council member Arias as well.

I am struggling with this item because it's a ton of money right before the budget is discussed for public relations and outreach. And we had recently awarded this contract and staff is basically asking us for authority to add an additional million dollars plus to the contract. What's the rationale and what's the purpose of this contract and why are we doing this now?

Okay. Paul Miko, Director of Public Utilities. The purpose of the contract is this is a programmatic support contract for us. for what we call stakeholder engagement in public education. So we have communications professionals that's focused specifically on our business, utilities, water, wastewater, and solid waste. We awarded this contract at the beginning of 2025, end of 2024, went through a competitive process. It's a three-year contract, plus one, plus one, and they provided us at the time a proposal for annual services for this. And so this is the continuation of the year two services. We've stretched those dollars about 15 to 16 months and anticipate we'd be able to do that with this amendment.

But walk me through it. You award the contract for a fixed amount of money per year?

Per year, and so this is just following up on the next year. Correct. So sometimes our contracts are worded in a way that you guys approve it all up front, and then I just execute the amendment, but for some reason it wasn't worded that way. And so this is just, this is the way the contract was approved that we would come back each year to you for you to approve then the next year of the contract. Correct.

The way it reads is the First Amendment includes an additional $1.1 million. So are we adding an additional million dollars of expenditures on this contract than what we previously authorized? Go ahead, Paul.

Not yet. It's just this is for the future, for the next years, to continue the services.

So it's what was envisioned. It was the dollar amount that was envisioned, but we appropriate it year by year instead of all at once.

Manager, I'm going to see if I can follow up. Check for understanding with you. For example, in this contract, we approve a three-year with one-year extension to spend approximately a million dollars a year.

Roughly, yes.

What you're asking for is authority to spend the second year of the million dollars. What you're not asking for is to add an additional million dollars of authority for the same year. Are you guys following? Because the way it reads is you're asking for additional million dollars of authority for a contract year two.

That's accurate.

Why do you want to spend an additional million dollars in contract gear when we just awarded this a year ago?

We awarded it about almost 18 months ago, and we've...

But that basically doubles. You're asking to double spend the amount of money that we previously bidded out. Correct. Why? What are you planning to do with the additional $1 million?

We conduct campaigns with this. They provide programmatic support to us.

We're not. Paul, I agree with you, Councilmember. It's very confusing. I didn't read it that way, but I can see how you would. we're not looking to spend $2 million in one year.

No, that's correct. Okay. We are not looking to do that.

We're not looking to spend $2 million in one year. We're looking to spend another year of about a million dollars.

Correct. Which would simply be the year that we anticipated in a four-year window.

Correct. And I think this could, I completely agree with you as I'm reading this again, it's very confusing.

My red flags go up because we're about to go to budget, right? And if you guys are trying to double the amount that we had previously approved for outreach, I need to understand why that is. especially if we're gonna potentially be looking at making budget adjustments. So if you could also provide me a list of activities and who the contact person is for the contract. The firm is different from who I recall we award the contract to?

Right. This goes way back. We originally worked with Katz and Associates. They then merged into a firm called Southwest Strategies. Southwest Strategies has changed their name now because it was a merger of about five different firms across the state. And so now that's just their new name. Okay.

And council member, the exhibit A outlines a really detailed scope of services with all of the work that they're responsible. So it's page 13 of 24. And it's pretty detailed. If you need anything other than that, but honestly, I don't know what else we would give you because this is really, really detailed.

If you could also provide me specifically on section seven, supporting proposition 218, process communication, noticing and printing. Can you elaborate on that?

Yeah, I believe they create the actual notices that get posted, the legal notices that get posted as we start to go into a Prop 218. They can't campaign. They can't do anything like that. It's just printing the notices.

It's the print and bulk mail services for all the notices. So am I to assume that this is a firm that's going to be doing all the outreach during Prop 218? They don't directly do the outreach.

We do it in the department. They provide support to us, programmatic support for us. But it's our community coordinator. It's me. It's...

So for instance, when we went through the garbage rate increases, it was Paul and his trustee staff, me, that went to all of the different schools all over your districts and did the meeting. They probably helped put together the PowerPoint for us so that it looked, it was easily digestible for the public.

Correct. Am I to assume that we're assuming that we're going to proceed with Prop 218 this year? That is what our assumption is right now, yeah.

Yes, we are gonna be starting the Prop 218 process. I think the mayor's been very transparent about that.

When would that be for water and sewer rates?

When did you say? I don't have the schedule in front of me. It won't be, it's not gonna be in the next couple months. Normally we say we want the rate to take effect July 1. No, we don't have time for that.