City Council - Regular Meeting

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All right, good morning. Go ahead and call this meeting to order. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Yes, good morning. Council Member Perea. Present. Council Member Karbasi. Present. Council Member Arias.

Present.

Vice President Maxwell. Present. Council Member Vang.

Present.

Council Member Richardson. Council Member Richardson is present. Council President Esparza.

Present.

Seven members being present, we have a quorum.

Great, all right, thank you, Clerk. Next, we'll have the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. I will ask everyone to please stand if you can for the invocation and stay standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. For the invocation, I'd like to welcome up Sarbjeet Singh-Wed from the Sikh Institute of Fresno. Welcome.

Ek Omkar Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh Shri Pagauti Ji Sahay Vaaar Shri Pagauti Ji Ki Paatshah Hi Dasvi Pratham Pagauti Simr Ke Guru Nanak Lain Te Aaye Phir Angad Gurute Amar Das Ram Das Hai Huni Sahay Arjan Har Govind Nao Simrao Shri Har Rai Shri Harkrishan te aaye, jis dutthe sab dukh jaaye, te bahadur se maraye. Karan naon de aavey taaye, sab thai hoye sahaye. Daswaan Paatshah Guru Gobind Singh ji, sab thai hoye sahaye. Daswaan Paatshah hiyaan di jyot, taan Guru Granth Sahib ji de. Pāṭh dīdār dā tiyān tarke bolo jī vā hi guru. He nimaṇyānde māṇ, nitaṇyānde tāṇ, nioṭyānde yoṭ. He akāl purg sache pita vā hi guru jīyo. Tāna tāna Guru Granth Sahib ji Mahārāj. Aap jiya nu házir nāzir jān deyā. Ardās beinti arzoi hai pātishā ji yo. Fresno City Council members, before we begin today's meeting, I would like to ask you to hold your hands on the heads of all the members with all your heart. To serve the nation with honesty, to give strength and strength to the nation, to give strength and strength to the nation, to give strength and strength to the nation, to give strength and strength to the nation, Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh Now we translate all the prayer. One universal creator God, by the grace of the true guru, almighty God, we call you by many names, but you are one. Keep your divine hand over the members of the city council as they help steer the future of our great city. Keep truth on our tongues, love in our hearts, and sound judgment in our minds. Remind us of our purpose to love and serve one another and create a more peaceful world. We ask for blessings unto all leaders as they work for the common good. Give all who go on this land humility and courage, integrity and compassion. Release each one of us from ego so that we may sow selflessly. Help us remember that we belong to one family. Recognize the entire human race as one. We ask of the Almighty to also keep watch over our nation's protectors who work tirelessly day and night to ensure our safety and our freedom. You are everywhere. All are yours. Whatever is seen, O God, is your form. My Lord, you are but one. We ask you to bless this great nation and its people. In the name of Nanak, may we find everlasting peace, love, unity, mutual respect, service, and dedication to all humankind. With your will, Almighty God, may there be welfare for all of humanity. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Richardson, please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

All right. Good morning. Please face to your left and my right.

And this way, head over your heart. For the military, welcome to the military. Salute and salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, one flag at a time, one flag at a time, one flag at a time, one flag at a time, one flag at a time.

Thank you.

All right it takes us over to the approval of the agenda. City clerk are there any changes or items removed from the agenda any announcements.

Yes. First of all, I would like to make the public aware that we do have interpreters available for today's meeting. We are providing virtual interpretation through the Wordly system in Spanish and Punjabi. We also have virtual interpreters for Hmong language as well as American Sign Language. If you need access to those interpreters, there is a QR code up front. You can also find that on our website. With regard to changes to the agenda, And announcements, we do have a separately noticed special meeting today at 3.30 PM or thereafter for an open session item file ID 26-816 regarding resolution establishing PRAC guidelines ad hoc committee, as well as a closed session item file ID 26-815 regarding conference with legal counsel. Existing litigation, Government Code Section 54956.9, Subdivision D, Subsection 1, City of Fresno Fire and Police Retirement System et al. v. City of Fresno Merced Superior Court Case Number 25, CV-02-170. With regard to items removed from the agenda, item 2V, ID 26-576, regarding approve the First Amendment to the Community Development Block Grant, CDBG, was removed with no return by Councilmember Arias. Item 5C, ID 26-757 regarding conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation government code section 54956-.9 subdivision D subsection four. One potential case was moved to June 18th, 2026 by city attorney Jans. With regard to items moved to contested consent for further discussion, item 2Z, ID 26-640, regarding bill for introduction, amending section 2-603 of the Fresno Municipal Code relating to the publication of legal notices citywide, was moved to contested consent by Councilmember Arias. Item 2E, ID 26-640, 655. One moment. Regarding award of construction contract to Alpha One Engineering PC of Fresno, California. was moved to contested consent by Councilmember Richardson. Item 2AA, ID 26-747, regarding actions pertaining to establishing entertainment zones one, adoption of a finding that the proposed amendment is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, was moved to contested consent by Councilmember Richardson. Item 2BB, ID 26-741 regarding actions pertaining to the Fresno Police Department Helicopter Skywatch Unit 1 was moved to contested consent by Councilmember Richardson. This is the extent of the changes to the agenda.

City Clerk, can you repeat just all the items that were moved to contested consent?

Yes. Item 2Z, item 2E as in Edward, item 2AA, Apple, and item 2BB, Boy.

Was that 2E or 2EE?

2E.

Can you confirm 2V as in Victor not removed or it is removed?

2V is removed from the agenda with no return date. Thank you.

Okay. Council members, any additional changes?

I don't think, I don't see any.

Council Member Karbasi? Can you pull two DDs and David David, please? Thank you.

Or contested? Or contested? Contested. ANY ADDITIONAL CHANGES, COUNCIL?

COUNCIL PRESIDENT, I JUST WANT TO CONFIRM THAT 2Z AS IN ZEBRA WAS RETURNED BACK TO CONSENT. THE CITY, I'M SORRY, NOT 2, 2EE.

SO 2EE WAS NOT FULL FOR CONTESTING CONSENT, IT WILL REMAIN ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. BUT 2E NOW IS ON THE, OKAY. AND 2E, THAT WAS COUNCILMEMBER RICHARDSON? OKAY. WE GOT OUR NOTES STRAIGHT. ANY ADDITIONAL CHANGES? All right, I think we are good. I'll just, before we do approve, I do want to read one disclosure. Required to know on the record that I have two EE regarding State Center Community College Districts. Everyone knows I am employed there. Do not have an interest in those agreements. Just for the record.

For the record, I went through the same disclosure.

All right, great.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Council President, Council Member Richardson, were you going to register a no vote on an item?

Yes. Item 2, Romeo.

Okay. All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve. All right, we have a motion, we have a second. Any opposition to approving the agenda? Seeing none, agenda is approved, great. Let's move on to our ceremonial presentations. We have a few this morning. The first one is gonna be sponsored by Council Member Karbasi, and that is a proclamation for Central High School Swim and Dive Team.

Okay, good morning. If some of you guys want to get over on both sides. Get a couple of you over there. Oh, there you go. See? You're ready to go. They're still in swim mode. Game mode. Well, good morning. I'm Mike Carbasi. I have the honor of representing Northwest Fresno, which includes part of Central Unified. And I have to say, I'm very, very proud of this team of athletes we have here today. This is the first year you've had your own standalone swim and dive team. And I got to say, you kind of started setting the bar really high, and you make me look bad. I still wear my floaties in the pool, guys, so I don't know how you do it. So you captured the 2026 North Yosemite League Championship and you were undefeated. Congratulations. Also a lot of other firsts, the first league title in school history, 26 total medals for all the athletes we have here. And here we go, we're gonna call you out. We got Leonardo Hernandez here. He actually got an 11 dive record. He broke the record. Congratulations. So you're going to read in the proclamation that it says it established a strong foundation for the future of the program. Man, you guys set the bar so high. I would not want to be the next team after you because they've got to go for excellence just like you guys did. Way to go. And I think it really shows the investment by the school board and the community. It was well worth it in your swim and dive team. Coach, you want to say a few words? Yeah. And this is a great time to embarrass your athletes with emotions.

Good morning, everyone. So on behalf of Central High School, thank you for recognizing our boys swim and dive team with this proclamation. It's honestly an honor to stand here today amongst them. The season was special for all the reasons that Carbasi mentioned here. And the success extends beyond the league championship. We mentioned they earned 26 medals at league finals. We took 12 swimmers to CIF Central Selection Championships. Several advanced to that second day and placed. And then again, a shout out to Leo, earning a sixth place medal at CIF Championships, breaking a school record that existed for over 20 years at this point. So that was an excellent achievement. Also, I want to recognize Brian Easter. Brian, where you at? Come on over. Right, Brian, come on up. Come on. Right, Brian once again was selected as the league most valuable swimmer unanimously, and also was named as Central High School's Student Athlete of the Year. Again, we're so proud of these kids. They represent Central High School with pride, character, sportsmanship throughout the season, supporting each other, holding each other accountable, and showed what it means, what they can accomplish when a team commits itself to a shared goal. Again, thank you to the city of Fresno for recognizing these boys. They had a heck of a season.

Thank you, Coach. And while the athletes earn the medals, you are the person that guides them and mentors them and makes it possible. Thank you, coach, for your years of service. Thank you. Seriously. There you go. Now, I got to call you out and ask you a question since you're the number one. What do you eat for breakfast? What's the secret? What do we need to do?

Come on.

Orange juice and eggs, strictly. Orange juice and eggs, that's it. That's what the athlete ordered. So I'm going to present this to you, Coach. Thank you so much, and we're going to have our clerk read this into the record, and we'll get a photo together. Amy, thank you.

Thank you. Whereas Central High School made history by completing its first season as its own standalone swim and dive team, marking an important milestone in the continued growth of Central High Aquatics. And whereas in this inaugural season, the Central High boys swim and dive team achieved an extraordinary accomplishment by capturing the 2026 North Yosemite League Championship with an undefeated league record. And whereas the championship represents the first league title in school history for Central High swim and dive, setting a new standard of excellence for the program. And whereas the team demonstrated exceptional talent and depth by earning 26 total medals at league finals, showcasing outstanding performances in individual swimming events, relays, and diving. And whereas athlete Leonardo Hernandez broke the Central High School 11 dive record with a remarkable score of 326.05 at the Clovis West Dive Invite No. 2, a performance recognized as one of the most significant diving achievements in Central High Aquatics history. And whereas Central High's success extended beyond league competition with multiple athletes qualifying for CIF Division II section finals in individual swim events, relays, and diving. And whereas CIF qualifiers included Grant Newton, Christian Lovato, Brian Easter, Evan Sanchez, Israel Fuentes, Lucius Turna, Lorenzo Santos, and Leonardo Hernandez, each representing Central High with pride and competitive excellence. And whereas through hard work, perseverance, and commitment, Central High Swim and Dive has established a strong foundation for the future of the program and contributed to the continued success of Central High Aquatics. And whereas this historic season brought immense pride to Central High School, the Central Unified School District, and the greater Fresno community. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry Dyer and the Fresno City Council, hereby proclaim Central High School Swim and Dive Team Day in the city of Fresno.

Thanks for making a good look at that. Good job. Welcome.

All right, let's move on to our next proclamation. It's going to be a proclamation for John F. Kennedy, seventh grade CBAL Boys Volleyball Champions. And that's gonna be presented by Council Member Vang.

Thank you very much, Council President Esparza. Good morning, everybody. It is appropriate that we are here today to honor our student athletes as our schools are coming to summer sessions. Can I have the student athletes, coaches, administrators from JFK Middle School come up here, please? Come on, guys, congratulations. A little bit of disclosure, I know some of these student athletes as they were in strollers, and so that's how I got to know them. It is an honor to recognize today the student athletes, in particular the seventh grade boys volleyball team from John Kennedy Middle School. This is their first year at JFK. Now, JFK do not have an eighth grade yet. Starting next year, they will as the seventh graders will be eighth graders. And this recognition is especially meaningful to me because as a school board member, I had the opportunity to oversee the planning and opening of this particular site. And I remember the conversations about the vision and how we want not only in academic but athletics to excel at this particular site. And so I'm happy to invite the student athletes and coaches and administrators here to City Hall today. And to see you guys producing and working as champions for this site, it is an accomplishment. Just to put that into perspective, they played teams from Central Unified, Kings Canyon, as well as Madera Unified, and I believe is one of the toughest conference, and they defeated a team that has been, I believe, undefeated for many, many years. And so congratulations to this team. I know that your hard work, your discipline, and your teamwork to help and push each other to this successful level is incredible. And they went undefeated, 18 and 0. 18 and 0, yes, give them a hand. not only as the first year of athletics, but the first year of athletics and academics of any site. And so I believe that is an incredible feat. And I want to thank the head coach, Will Va, right next to me right here, and the assistant coach, Kelly Vang. The students are great, the student athletes are great, but it's the coaches that make the student athletes greater. And so thank you very much for your hard work, your dedication to our student athletes.

Yes, give them a hand as well.

And to the players, sports transcends life. Volleyball requires three touches. And so if you are a great player, you need the help of two other players to score a point. And so this is a team effort. It's just no one person. So this is your success in life, not only in athletics, but in academics. So congratulations to you as a team, as a winner of SEVAL 2025 7th Grade Volleyball Boys Champion. Congratulations.

And now I'm going to hand the mic over to Coach Va. Thank you, sir. All the hard work doesn't go unnoticed. Each and every single one of these athletes did an amazing job. US COACHES PUSHING THEM TO THE LIMITS, GOING UNDEFEATED AND MAKING SCHOOL HISTORY. EVEN SECURING TWO TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIPS PLAYING AGAINST EIGHTH GRADE TEAMS WHERE WE DEFEATED AND BECAME VICTORIOUS. IT AIN'T JUST ME, BUT COACH KELLY, COACH WILL AS WELL, AND THESE TEAM MANAGERS MADE THIS Remarkable season happening. Also, a big shout out to our team captains. One of our heart and soul, Edgar, right here, leading our team with amazing most kills that we've seen in school history. Our setter, Sebastian Telemontes, and our defensive MVP, Kyle Yang. We'd like to thank you guys.

And for the parents and the student athletes, I was there when you guys play your opponent, and I was there when you guys celebrated and won that championship. So a little bit of disclosure. Mr. Vizcarra? Yeah, you have something? Yes, sir. We have something for you to present as well, sir, as one of our championship shirts. Oh, I have a t-shirt. Oh, thank you very much. This is great. This is great. Thank you. And I wanted to read the last paragraph of this proclamation. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim June 4th, 2026 as John F. Kennedy CVAL Champions Boys Volleyball in the City of Fresno. Congratulations guys, congratulations.

Whereas John F. Kennedy Middle School, the newest and second middle school in Sanger Unified, serves seventh and eighth graders by providing foundational skills and opportunities to discover potential. Middle grades are a crucial time for development, and JFK Middle School is committed to meeting student needs by building a safe and inclusive environment that fosters growth and belonging. And whereas JFK Middle School's very first seventh grade class was welcomed in August 2025, after receiving approval from the Central Valley Athletic League to compete against other districts in the Central Valley, the school's seventh grade boys volleyball began playing. During the spring season, the team achieved a total of 16 wins after playing each participating school twice. And whereas in early May, the JFK Middle School team played against Thomas Jefferson Middle School for playoffs and against Washington Academic for the championship, with a total of 18 wins and zero losses for the season. Additionally, the boys volleyball team won two weekend tournaments against seventh and eighth grade teams, both at the Edison Tiger Middle School Boys Volleyball Tournament and the Madera South High School Stallion Boys Volleyball Middle School Tournament. And whereas JFK Middle School's boys volleyball team has demonstrated the countless hours of hard work they put into practice and the results of this season highlight their dedication, passion, and athletic talent. As the first seventh grade class at JFK Middle School, The team reached an incredible milestone within the school's very first year of instruction. And whereas head coach Will Vaugh and assistant coach Kelly Vang have played a vital role in the success of the JFK Middle School Boys volleyball team through their leadership, mentorship, and dedication to student athlete development. Coach Va has also served as head coach for the school's football and girls basketball teams, while Coach Vang served as head coach for the girls volleyball team. Together, their commitment to excellence, teamwork, and supporting students both on and off the court has made a meaningful impact on the school community. And whereas JFK Middle School and the seventh grade boys volleyball team have brought immense pride to students and families of the city of Fresno and Central Valley through their remarkable achievements. Their hard work, determination, and commitment to excellence serve as an outstanding example and inspiration for future classes and generations in the city of Fresno. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim June 4th as John F. Kennedy CVAL Champions Boys Volleyball in the City of Fresno.

All right, congratulations again. Our last proclamation for the morning is going to be a proclamation for Pride Month. That's going to be sponsored by Council Member Perea.

All right, good morning, everyone. It is my honor to once again acknowledge that we have now entered Pride Month, and I am joined here today with Lady Diana from Casita Feliz, Javier from Rainbow Pride Coalition, Tracy Cisneros from PFLAG, and which one? Fresno Rainbow Pride. Fresno Rainbow Pride. It's all good.

PFLAG is just as important. PFLAG is great.

Yep. And from Planned Parenthood. And as we enter Pride Month, this is our opportunity to reaffirm our city's commitment to equality and inclusion for all. And being the first out council member, it's been my mission the last few years to ensure that we are investing historical amounts of dollars into communities that historically do not receive the funding that they should from their city. And on top of that, we are seeing devastating cuts from the federal government to many of these organizations. And so I do look forward to our budget process coming up because it's our duty to ensure that our budget reflects our community's greatest needs. And so the reason we have these folks here today is because they are doing the good work on the ground to ensure that we are Increasing not just visibility, but offering services, critical services in areas that are seeing a lot of these funding cuts. And so before I pass off the mic, I want to just invite everyone to our City of Fresno flag, pride flag raising ceremony this Friday at 10 a.m. tomorrow. And I hear that we will have rainbow pan dulce there. So something to bring you if you weren't going to come already. So I'm going to give you the mic first.

Thank you, Councilmember Perea. So I definitely want to thank Councilmember Perea and the other Councilmembers for their support. I work with many City Councils throughout the Central Valley and, you know, it's not every city that's willing to step up and be brave and support all their community members, including their LGBTQ community. And that's really unfortunate. And so for us who are part of that community, it's really important for us to be here and receive this because we don't take it too lightly that this is something that is being provided to the community. We understand that it's not always the most supportive, the most popular decision to be made. And so thank you council members because it means the world to your community members to know that you are willing to step up forward for them.

Yes, applause, applause, applause. Good morning, everybody. Goodness, my brain is tired. It's been a long week. Pride on Saturday. I hope you're all coming because I'm exhausted. Good morning. Good morning to our City Council members. Good morning, Council Member Perea. My name is Tracy Cisneros. My pronouns are she, her, and I am the volunteer coordinator for Fresno Rainbow Pride. I am also a proud ally to the LGBTQ community here in Fresno and a proud mom. to many other members of that same community. So on behalf of Fresno Rainbow Pride, and on behalf of allies like myself, I want to thank the Council for approving this proclamation today, but I also want to extend a special thank you to Councilmember Annalisa Perea for bringing this forward and for continuing to champion the visibility and importance of allyship in Fresno. Councilmember Perea serves as a powerful example for our young queer girls of color, Through her leadership, authenticity, and service, she demonstrates what is possible when you embrace who you are and pursue your goals without compromise. Of course. And so thank you all for your allyship, your leadership. It matters. It has impacted not just today, but to the future of Fresno. So thank you again.

Yes. I'm Lady Diane. I'm the founder and chief executive officer of one of the newest LGBT organizations in Fresno called Casita Feliz Latine LGBTQ Plus Center here in Fresno. We were established three years ago this month. And I came back from Fresno after living in Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and Mexico City was my last location. And I moved here back two and a half years ago, trying to fulfill a 25-year-long dream of creating a happy little home for the next generations of Fresno who identify as brown and who identify as queer. Because sometimes in our brown communities, whether we're Mexicans, Salvadorians, Guatemalans, we can't be as queer as we want to be. They tell us, Bring down your hoteria, bring down your queerness. And sometimes when we're in our queer spaces, our brown skin, they said, don't be so brown. And at Casita Feliz, we say no to all of that. We want people to come here to Casita Feliz fully embraced, fully liberated, and full of joy, and say, we see you, we celebrate you, we hear you. And you can be as authentic, as brown as you want to be, and as queer as you want to be. And so thank you, Annalisa Perea. and the amazing council members who have supported us over the years. This is not just a month-long celebration of who we are. We came from a moment of galvanizing fighting back police brutality back in the 1960s. And so we know that we're going to have a parade and a festival when it's all fun and glamorous at times, but we have to remember the history that our gay liberation movement happened as a riot, fighting the oppression and fighting the control. And so I wanted you to remember that, that every person within the LGBT spectrum needs that visibility, needs that representation, and more than... More than anything, we need the city's support. And so thank you. We are homeowners. When I moved back to Fresno two and a half years ago, I wanted a commercial building in the tower. And once they found out that I was trans and that I was going to open an LGBT center, they denied my bid. And so I said, screw it. I'm going to buy my retirement home, which I did near Palm and Clinton. And I opened up my sala, my living room, my kitchen, and my backyard to the community. Nelson Esparza actually was there for our first inaugural event for Dia de los Muertos, where we raised over $10,000. And because of that dream that I had 25 years ago to build a brown, queer, happy little home, we now have a brick and mortar building on Van Ness and McKinley Caddy Corner from Fresno City College. And last year, in 2025, we served over 3,000 individuals in Fresno. So there is a need for LGBT spaces. We're one of the few organizations now providing direct services. And thank you for the support, Annalisa Perea. Thank you for your support, City Council. And congratulations for the ones that are going to be running again in November. Good luck to your races. And thank you for the City of Fresno for supporting us as well.

All right, so with my friends and allies by my side, and I do want to say that this proclamation is signed by all seven council members, which as we know is, it doesn't always happen. Yeah, so thank you all for your support in this. But it's my honor to declare June 2026 as LGBTQIA plus Pride Month in the city of Fresno. Congratulations. City Clerk.

Thank you.

Whereas the City of Fresno proclaims June 2026 as LGBTQIA Plus Pride Month, a time to celebrate the strength, diversity, and resilience of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and allied communities. And whereas June was chosen to commemorate the dedication and bravery of those who led the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Tavern in Greenwich Village, New York City, which sparked the LGBTQIA plus liberation movement, marking a turning point in the struggle for justice and civil rights, laying the foundation for ongoing advocacy around issues like healthcare access, housing, legal protections, and the safety of LGBTQIA plus people everywhere. And whereas the City of Fresno embraces individuals and families of all backgrounds, identities, and configurations as valued members of our community who deserve to live, work, and thrive in a place where they are safe, supported, and celebrated. And whereas on Friday, June 5th, 2026, the rainbow flag will be raised proudly over Fresno City Hall as a visible symbol of unity and support for the LGBTQIA plus community, their loved ones, and allies across Central California. This act reflects our enduring commitment to fostering a more inclusive, just, and equitable Fresno for all. And now, therefore, be it resolved that the city of Fresno affirms its support for the LGBTQIA plus community. During Pride Month and throughout the year, we recognize their courage, resilience, and contributions to shape and strength our city. Let this proclamation stand as a symbol of recognition, inclusion, and solidarity, and our shared commitment to a Fresno where everyone belongs and thrives. Be it further resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Councilmember Annalisa Perea, and the Fresno City Councilmembers do hereby proclaim the month of June 2026 to be LGBTQIA plus Pride Month in the City of Fresno.

All right, fantastic. Next item on our agenda is going to be council member reports and comments. I'll start with council member Perea.

Thank you, council president. Just a couple updates. I want to thank everyone who took the time to come out to one of our movies in the park events that we had at Trolley Park. We saw quite the crowd come every Friday night. So follow us on social media if you don't already. And that's where we will be posting future movies in the park.

events throughout the summer and then lastly just want to invite everyone we are raising the pride flag in front of fresno city hall tomorrow morning at 10 a.m thank you council president all right council member carbasi thank you mr president very brief i just wanted to thank uh the parks department director aguirre i want to thank capital projects last night we had a community meeting at herndon barcelona elementary Really great turnout. One of the things we've talked about for years is the importance of more park space west of 99. Sorry, west of Highway 99 in those communities, which includes District 2. We do have the West Area Plan. This council approved after many years of delays. We're really proud of that plan. It's going to open up growth. But this park we're talking about is a one acre parcel. It wasn't part of the plan. It's something we were able to secure about two years ago in a purchase from DeYoung Properties. They were really great to work with. And now we're going to build at the corner of Veterans and Barstow a park. But the design is really up in the air. It's very important to be community driven. So we kind of started with a little idea. And I think some of the residents were surprised. We wanted their input, but it's their park. It's their money. And they're going to have to be the ones that hopefully support it. when they walk to it from their homes. It's of course publicly accessible to everyone. And they had some features I didn't even think about. I was very surprised, but that's the whole point of these sessions. So looking forward to the work of the design team for the next design and just really appreciate the residents for showing up in much higher numbers than I expected. So thank you to all the residents and our city staff and looking forward to what happens in the future. Thanks very much, Mr. President.

All right, great. Council Member Arias.

Thank you, Council President. A couple of updates. This week, we also start kicking off movies at the parks, starting at Broadway Parque, which will happen tomorrow. I think it's Lilo and Stitch is the movie, as well as Frank H. Park and Dickie Playground. They will be showing Shrek and Monsters, Inc. So appreciate the Parks Department giving our youth something to do on these hot summer nights, and I'm looking forward to also seeing some food vendors providing some service to these families that are using our parks. A quick update for the residents who on a weekly basis request for an update on the shelters at Roding Park that improvements and repairs begin this week and we're hopeful that they'll be done, be completed by July so families can utilize them. I know they're highly utilized by some of the advocates to provide services to the unhoused community at Roding Park. So staff is working on it and we should be able to make some progress. Lastly, congratulations to my colleagues who were on the ballot in this primary. Best of luck as you go into November. And last item, city manager, given that it's Pride Month, what's the process for us to get the water tower colors for Pride up maybe for Saturday in recognition of Pride Parade?

You said on the water tower? Yeah. I can talk with facilities about getting the programming done.

I know we're doing it for the 250th anniversary, which is very cool, but I think just having it for Saturday.

It just needs to be a request, and so we'll have to make sure. The programming is not as simple as it may appear, but we'll get them working on the options for the colors. I know we can, well, I think we can only do three colors, but I'll confirm that.

If it's possible, it'd be great for Saturday.

If it is only three colors, what do we do?

I'll leave it up to my colleague, Ms. Perea, to give me direction on what rainbow colors to use.

Okay, and maybe we can do a rolling. I'll see what the options are, and maybe I'll touch bases with Council Member Perea. Mrs. Perea, my apologies. We'll figure out what our options are. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, City Manager and Mrs. Perea.

Council Vice President? Council Vice President?

Council Member Vang? Thank you very much, Council President. I recently had an opportunity to meet with the business owners and operators along Kings Canyon Road and Ventura Avenue to discuss their experiences with the street renaming and how this impacts their businesses. I appreciate those who attended and those who shared their concerns with me and my staff, and I look forward with working this council and administration to help make improvements as we move forward. I am very happy to share that PetSmart is officially open at the Adventure Creek Shopping Center. Residents in District 5 now have access to the largest pet grooming area in Fresno, and pet owners no longer have to travel across town 5, 10 miles to get these services. And this is another example of the improvements and the growing services in District 5. And I want to thank my colleagues from D3 for mentioning about the election. I'll leave it at that. That's all I have. Council President, thank you.

Council Member Richardson.

Yeah, good morning. It is a beautiful day in District 6. This is the first time we've been back here since our Fit Fest at the end of May. So thank you to everybody who came out. It was a great opportunity for the community to go do something that is free and try foods and stores and Get information about their health and come try something just to invest in themselves. Look out for their bodies, their minds, their spirits. That doesn't cost anybody anything. Start instilling in kids good habits like taking care of yourself, eating properly, getting out, being social, staying active. It was even bigger than it was last year, so thank you to the city and everybody who came out to join us at FitFest. Congrats to the Fresno Chamber of Commerce Junior Board. who invited me to speak at their graduation. That was great. A lot of promising young leaders who eventually will come replace us on this dais. And then we had a couple new residents up in District 6. One, congratulations to Annika and her family. For privacy, I won't go into much more than that. And then the second one, Bernard, do we have that picture? We also got another constituent up in District 6. I believe he votes Republican. He... On May 17th, we were greeted with Theodore Thomas Richardson, Teddy, who also came to join us here. This is inappropriate. Other picture, please. There we go. Thanks. Little gentleman who came to join us. So District 6 is a little bit brighter now that we got that guy there. So outside of that, that's all we have comments-wise for District 6. Thanks.

All right, congratulations and welcome to the newest resident in D6 right here in City Hall. Got to meet him this morning. So that brings us, am I the last person? Yes, I am. Happy Pride Month, everybody. It's going to be an exciting weekend getting to join the Pride Parade again this coming Saturday. We have the flag raising tomorrow here at City Hall, as you've all been invited to. And last week, no actually it was this week, it's been a long week. This week we got to raise the pride flag over at Fresno City College out in my district as well. So lots of festivities and looking forward to seeing everyone out and participating. Additionally, last week had the honor of joining the Central Valley Food Bank, ABC 30, and Amazon for the Feeding California event. It was very inspiring to stand alongside organizations and volunteers that are dedicated to addressing food insecurity throughout the Fresno and the Valley. Their work's making a real tangible difference, so I wanted to give them a shout out. Additionally, I had the opportunity to join the police department, some of my colleagues, the mayor, for the opening of the new family, the Eric Killian Family Kennels. So, you know, these highly trained canines that we have here at the city playing a very important role in protecting our community and This new space will ensure they have the care and training environment that they need to really, really thrive. So I want to extend our thanks and had a great time there kind of unveiling the new kennels as well. I'll keep it brief and short and that'll conclude my comments for the morning. City Manager, did you have any additional comments on behalf of the administration or the mayor?

I do not. Well, other than I'll just say the mayor is at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He left, I don't remember what day it was, the morning after Election Day, so Wednesday. And he's there the rest of the week serving on chairing a number of panels. So that is why he is not around. But Council Member Arias, behave yourself. And that's all I have.

All right, all right, so we have one timed item, but it's not quite 10 o'clock yet. So we're gonna go into the consent calendar. We're gonna take some public comments. I do have some yellow cards. This time we're gonna do public comments for any contested consent item, regular consent item, or closed session. So if you would like to speak on anything on the consent agenda or anything on the closed session agenda, please fill out a yellow card and bring it on up here. I do have a few so far. I'll go ahead and call up Elliot Bulch. So again, while we're doing these speakers, if there's any additional comment on consent or closed session, please fill out a yellow card. Thank you.

All right, good morning, and thank you, Council President and members. Elliot Balch with the Downtown Fresno Partnership, pleased to be with you this morning and to speak about item 2AA, the Entertainment Zone Ordinance. This ordinance has a history to it, legislative history to start. The idea began in San Francisco. There was legislation to allow this idea there. It was successful, and then there was legislation in 2024 to allow cities and counties statewide to adopt entertainment zone ordinances since that point our research has shown that even just in San Francisco there are 21 districts that are either established or in process and dozens more statewide our brewery district businesses saw the legislation saw the opportunity and said you know we think it could happen here and so that prompted us to bring some folks together, both those businesses as well as partners at the city, police, alcoholic beverage control to form a recommendation for how this tool that's provided by the state law could be implemented here in a good way. And what that means is that during permitted special events, and not generally, but during permitted special events, and not every special event, but only those that get designated as entertainment zone events, the way, if there's going to be alcohol in the street, that alcohol can be served by businesses that have liquor licenses along the edges of the designated zone. Of course, we already have events that have alcohol on the street sometimes. So in those cases, there's a one-day license and the alcohol is served in the street. In this case, what it means is that liquor-licensed businesses that have Year-round licenses and experience and really their whole livelihoods are at stake in terms of the proper Serving of alcohol are those that are doing it. So we think that's an inherent safety measure We're excited about that as well as the labeling of the cups that help trace back exactly where drinks come from the clear signage and boundaries that ensure that drinks don't come in from outside or leave the area and It's a one-year pilot, so we're eager to track attendance, small business benefits, safety issues or lack thereof, as well as the cost delta as we work with the city police department through the special event permitting process to find a first event and implement this new ordinance. So we thank you for your consideration, urge an aye vote.

All right, thank you. We are at 10 a.m., so I'm gonna briefly interject here within this public comment, and we have a 10 a.m. also public comment. Is Mary Padilla present? Mary, are you with us?

She is.

Good morning. I am astounded at what we are doing. I will thank God, amen. If a woman is born with a vagina, she's a woman. God doesn't make mistakes. Thank you, I love a man. has a penis. That's what it is. God made man and woman, not woman and woman. We have our morals and values gone. That is it. In God we trust. What God are you guys trusting in? And you let someone from another country come and say, they only believe Allah is a true God. There's one God, only one human Savior, Jesus Christ. I was put in a body bag in 1989 as I was out there drinking. So I'm going to give all the credit to Almighty God for saving my life. I was brain dead for two years. So tell me, you guys need to change. Let God, who you say we trust, let him change our thinking and our morals. That's all. Thank you.

All right, now we're going to resume the public comment on the consent agenda, as well as contested consent and closed session. Next card I have is for Ms. Lori Garcia.

Oh, thank you so much. That's fine. Good morning. My name is Lori Garcia. I'm a retired elementary school teacher and lifelong Fresno resident. When I was seven years old, my 16-year-old brother was killed in a driving-related accident, which tragically and profoundly altered my family's life. I'm here today to stand for families and victims of DUI fatalities. I vehemently oppose E-Zones. and kindly ask for your consideration in rejecting this proposed ordinance. No doubt, downtown Fresno needs revitalization, but this isn't New Orleans. According to a GV Wire article, half of Fresno's events have been incident-free. Half? Half isn't good enough. Public drinking will add to our problems. We Fresnoans want to be more than just a party city. A few things to consider. E-Zones work in cities which already have established shops, theaters, and art districts. We are a work in progress. Let's build the true entertainment center first. Will Fresno PD monitor the streets outside of the drinking zone? Will taxpayers foot the bill? If my family has an emergency, will there be a delayed response because officers are at the E-Zone managing conflicts, fights, and underage drinking? Fresno can't handle liquor. This is evident with recent year-long study at Fresno State. The alarming research shows that DUI fatality rates in central California nearly doubled the state rate. On weekends, we wake up to news of DUI incidents and shootings. Everywhere we turn, someone is driving drunk in the city of Fresno, killing our families and friends. E-Zones may encourage drunk tourism. Will Fresno become a party destination, a magnet for individuals to travel and overconsume? The E-Zone drinking hour ends at 11.59 p.m. Are these patrons going to drive home impaired? Public transit is too sparse and too unreliable to deal with the increase in intoxicated drivers. Promoting alcohol over consumption is associated with a number of dangers. Prominent among them is the threat of violence, robbery, and sexual assault. Is this the kind of city where we want to raise our children? Isn't it enough to just promote the brewery district as it is? How will the zones benefit the residents, or will they impede our public health and safety? Merely reading about DUI statistics doesn't do the victims justice. You have no idea how much of a lifetime of anguish is caused by the actions of one drunk driver. So much pain and nothing alleviates it. Council members come and go, but we residents must live with the consequences of your vote.

Thank you. Next speaker is going to be Krista Aranda.

Thank you. I oppose the entertainment zone for the fact that the area has seemed to have an uptick in crime, and I'm afraid that adding more alcohol to the area will create more incidents. I'm not against drinking, but I am scared that this party environment will encourage more incidents like the teen stabbing in April and the fight during the May event during Street Hop. I'm also very saddened by the fact that this event used to center artists and it's now become an outside party zone for teenagers to hang out at. No matter what age you are, you're allowed to attend. I would love to see a culture in downtown that is focused on a more family-friendly environment where everyone can feel safe attending. And I also do want to address this last City Council meeting. I was on Zoom because I couldn't attend it. I wasn't the only one attending through Zoom. When I hit the button for raise your hand for the public comment, nothing, I was ignored. And again, I wasn't the only one in the Zoom meeting, so I know it was not anything problem with my connections. So going forward, can we please allow people that are attending the zoom meetings that can't be here in person to have their time to speak to the public about their concerns within our city thank you our next speaker is going to be uh jamar woodward woodard

Good morning, everyone. I want the businesses downtown. The brewery district needs to change. There are families that do come down. They I feel that it is restricted. If you're going in one place and trying to take your family to a food trailer, they might want to go here. They can go there. Um, as far as the violence, the violence was done with minors. They had nothing to do with drinking. anything easy if each incident was because of a minor, even if it was down the street, it was a minor. All these incidents was no, there was no alcohol involved. I'm for it. I'm in favor for it. Thank you.

All right. Next speaker is going to be Joseph Solano.

Good morning, council members. Good morning, everyone else in the public. My name is Joseph Saleno. I'm a born and raised Fresno resident who has a very avid passion for the revitalization of downtown Fresno. We've invested a lot of time, energy, resources, in trying to bring up downtown Fresno, preach a positive culture, We have worked pretty hard on doing that. And we noticed a shift recently on that environment. And we, as business owners here in the Berea District, have been wanting to see a more positive change. I'm here to speak on behalf of the entertainment zone because we feel, and I speak FOR OTHER BUSINESS OWNERS WITHIN THE BREW DISTRICT WHO AREN'T AVAILABLE TO BE HERE TODAY, WE FEEL THAT THIS ENTERTAINMENT ZONE CAN BRING A POSITIVE CHANGE TO THE BREW DISTRICT. We're not asking to make this ordinance a permanent fixture within the culture. What we're asking for is just a one-year pilot to give us a chance to show you guys that we can pull this off successfully, make it a safe, inclusive event for everyone within the city of Fresno. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm stumbling on my words this morning, but I am a little bit passionate about this subject, and I do want to see this revitalization just like everyone else here who's opposed to it as well. We want to see downtown thrive. We want to see downtown succeed. We want to see inclusion. We want to see diversity as business owners who are going to be helping put this event on. Uh, we do want to bring in artists, uh, have make that possible for everyone as well. Uh, but that is going to be severely limited if we are just going to continue down the same path of one event every month, uh, tied to the same vendors, times tied to the same artists that are gatekeeping. Uh, with this, ordinance, if it's passed, it will put the power back into small business owners' hands to be able to do that. We can then hold public forums and public meetings with local artists and community members to see that actually executed. Again, strike it down if you have to, but I strongly urge you guys to vote yes on this ordinance and give us that chance to show the community that we are able to do this properly. Thank you.

Next speaker is going to be Jonathan Kelly.

My name is Jonathan Kelly. I'm without a doubt one of the leading security consultants in entertainment in Fresno. I without a doubt have closed down downtown and have an understanding of what drinking in the streets entails. All I hear is greed today. Those people that just spoke, they don't understand what fighting in the streets means. And it's ridiculous that we're here talking about it after we just had such a violent week in Fresno. I hope you guys have a great day.

Next speaker is going to be Alfred Aldredi.

Good morning, Council. Thank you for having me once again speak. In light of it being Pride Month, I'd like to start with reminding everybody that inclusion is not indoctrination. We do have some elected officials here in the city of Fresno who need to be reminded of that, unfortunately. And I will tie that into my comment, which is going to be in opposition of the entertainment zone, including everyone I think is super important and just as important The local artist behind me had just spoken, I think, involving and recentering a lot of these events that are in the downtown area around local artists and vendors and small businesses is really the way to go for bringing that financial power back to downtown Fresno and keeping it thriving, right? These entertainment zones, I think we've already spoken on the violence and the rate of alcohol and which it has contributed to a negative effect on Fresno. Fresno being the, you know, having the title, the dubious title of the drunkest city in America has not really, I think, done a positive factor for us and can, and by concentrating our finances, our Our events and stuff like that, like I said, around local artists and vendors and small businesses are a great way to kind of turn that back around and to lower the crime rate. Even though the Downtown Fresno Partnership speaks on this really having a positive effect to small businesses, It only really has that effect on a few, and I spoke last time on how the special cups that you're supposed to be buying from these small businesses so you can go around and drink in the public only are going to be released at a certain few businesses, so that leaves the rest of these small businesses in the downtown area just kind of on the outside looking in. So, in light of the violence, in light of the fact that, like I said, a lot of local artists and vendors and small businesses have kind of had the lights dimmed on them on a lot of these events that have been happening in the downtown area, a great way to just turn this all back around and give a lot of, include everyone, local artists, small businesses, vendors, and stuff like that would be

Opposing this and recentering and refocusing everything that the city can around local artists vendors and small businesses, so thank you for your time Thank you next week I have is Henry Henry I didn't see on your card what item but again, this is public comment only for consent agenda or closed session agenda and

First of all, about the public comment, about the public comment about this alcohol and this drinking. That's not going to never stop. It's not going to never stop nowhere. You have to shut all the liquor stores down, all the bars down, and the dope houses. So that's not going to never stop. You just got to put it under control because they're going to drink in the streets. They're going to drink on corners. They're going to drink in their vehicles. So my subject is about housing. I'm going to turn 70 years old. I was here last year trying to see Judd Dyer about me getting an affordable house. I'm homeless. What are you people going to do about it? You just got a budget. I seen it on the news when I was in jail, a budget for funding. Can I get an apartment? Can I get some shelter? I think that's a yes and no answer. It's quiet in here. We're telling this place, I'm homeless. I ain't got nowhere to go. There's an officer back there. I ain't scared of jail. I'm asking for some help.

So this is your opportunity to address us. We don't typically respond, but we're here to listen.

Can I get some help? I'm asking.

Yeah, we're gonna get staff to come down and talk to you. We have to continue the meeting. You're welcome to continue speaking. You have another minute and a half, but meanwhile, we will have staff come out and make contact with you.

Okay.

He's on his way. Phil Skye's on his way down.

Great, yeah. All right, thank you. All right, is there any additional, I don't have any more cards, any additional public comments, consents, contested consents, closed session? Welcome.

It's actually a pretty good segue because I am addressing 2P, Q, O, I think it's O, not Q, S, T, U, and Y. There's quite a bit regarding shelter and housing, which is good to see, and very grateful that we have 2Q or O regarding the affordable housing on Ventura. Even as we face cuts by a federal administration that does not prioritize housing, shelter and continue to work and we continue to work on efforts. We need our council to do whatever possible to continue shelters throughout the city and that we ensure that they have the time to identify housing when they're in shelters and ensure that they're treated with dignity. I appreciate the continued funding for 2P for marginal maintenance as we anticipate the increase of need. Glad that there will continue to be funding under 2S and ask that we do have accountability to ensure that people are treated with dignity and that code enforcement ensures shelters are well or up to code. Regarding to why, I'm glad that with ENF funding that there is a place for those in Clarion to go, but want to make sure that we are focusing on using whatever funds possible to continue to identify shelters throughout the city. Serving our needs means, the art needs of our community means recognizing their individual needs And for many of the people who are there, it's close to jobs, close to where they feel safe. And it's unfortunate truth that for some of the people that might be there, they may not feel safe in the Poverell House area, whereas for other people, it is a great place for them to be. I'll never forget that there was a woman that I took to Naomi's house, and she will not get out of the car because of her past trauma. So we need them in all the places. And until we have... the housing element housing needs met, we will continue to need the shelter spaces. The last coordinated entry system shows that rapid rehousing priority list is at 691. Permanent supportive housing priority list is 263. Community Q reporting is at 1,337. Talking to those in Continuum FMCOC, they say that the biggest priority is longer shelter space and transitional housing. Regarding 2T, I am grateful that there is more funding that we can potentially get and want to ensure that those 40 that are identified end up in permanent housing, that their needs aren't met. I appreciate that there were people who were surveyed, including the continued care as far as the plan, and asked that we ensure that what they recommended and what their plan is, is met. I noticed that they need to follow the California... priorities on encampments, which means employee, person-centered, housing-first, trauma-informed, maintain awareness, and treat people's property with dignity. And unfortunately, the thing that I worry about in this is with HEART, even though it mentions that HEART does not provide enforcement outreach, that as long as we continue to not hold them accountable, that this won't be met. So ensure those are met. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Next speaker we have is going to be Michael Cruz.

Hello, my name's Mike Cruz. I'm president of Tioga Sequoia Brewing Company. I'm here to show our support of the entertainment zone along with about a half a dozen businesses and stakeholders surrounding the brewery district. We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't have the support of the other businesses and everyone wanting this as a future tool to use to create an experience in downtown Fresno. And we also wouldn't be doing this if we felt that there was an extreme concern for safety or any other public concerns that's been coming up. And I just want to just voice our support. And also for anyone here that's still around that has any concerns that want to speak to me, I'll be hanging out for the next half hour or so to have some discourse on that. But that's it. Thank you.

All right, next speaker is going to be Joseph Rodriguez.

hi good morning council uh... thank you for having us here the public to give our opinions and to check in with you guys you know so we've been making a lot of noise on social media and a lot of people have reached out to us thanking us for this noise So I know there's a lot of maybe of the business owners that are here, maybe some property owners I don't know about. But when we're talking about this easy zone for us, we talk about it from the community standpoint. So we're not business owners downtown. We're artists. So we understand that the brewery is struggling. There are businesses that need people to be down there, not just once a month. We totally understand that. As we were making noise about it, we started hearing that, well, who's going to front the bill for this? That's really what we started focusing on, because these small businesses are struggling. They're being asked to sponsor these entertainment zone events. So for us, it's like, wow, these small businesses are already struggling. And they put their liquor license on the line for these events. Those liquor license, we all know, are very hard to get. There's not many of them available. It's not like you could just come here and grab one. And if you lose it, that's $20,000. That's where they start. And they go up from there. So these businesses are not only losing money on the event if it's a poorly attended event, but then if there's a fight that breaks out with these little special cups in the middle of the street, ABC is going to come down and say, well, where did they get the liquor? Where did these two gentlemen who are now in the hospital for stab wounds, where did they get the liquor from? So they're going to go into the business and say, well, we sold it during this special event and they're going to get shut down. Maybe not permanently, but maybe just long enough to be shut down permanently. So we really, really want you guys to reconsider saying just yes to it with a rubber stamp. Maybe thinking about it a little bit more when it comes to the funding and implementation because DFP, you know, they have good intentions, but they need to get their plan together.

All right. Any additional public comment on consent agenda, contestant consent agenda, closed session? All right, seeing none, go ahead and close public comments on those categories. I'll entertain a motion for approval of the consent agenda. We have a motion and a second. Any opposition to approval of the consent agenda? Seeing none, that passes seven to zero. Let's see, that'll take us over to, we've got a few folks here. You guys okay with doing the, was that item pulled? Yeah, we'll go ahead and do the entertainment zone items. I know a lot of folks are here for that. To contest the consent. What letter is that? AA. AA, AA? Yeah, we'll go ahead and take on two AA. So we have several folks here for that.

I believe, yeah, it's AA. Good morning, council members. Jennifer Clark, director of planning and development. So I appreciate the conversation this morning. So I wanted to spend a little bit of time to lay out what is an entertainment zone. So when a business, a restaurant or a bar, decides that they would like to have a liquor license to serve alcohol on site, they're required through the Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control to establish a footprint. What is that footprint? That is the boundary. So maybe it's just inside the restaurant, maybe it includes a patio, but they have a footprint or a boundary and that alcohol must stay within that boundary and they are in control of what happens within that boundary for the purposes of this permit. So when an event happens in the public right of way, like a street festival or something where there's a special event and the roads have been closed, the alcohol that's served in those businesses has to stay in those businesses. So all the small businesses along in any kind of entertainment zone footprint or any kind of special event footprint are limited within their within their business that has been licensed by alcohol and beverage control. So when the state changed the law, they looked at, well, what if we essentially for special events or when an entertainment zone is activated, we establish new boundaries, right? And any small business that has this alcohol license for on-site consumption can operate within this footprint. Instead of my footprint, just being the boundaries of my business or my interior interior plus my patio, I can now. Have a customer still my responsibility, leave my business with a special beverage cup and go out into the public right of way. The controls are still the same. So the event area is still the same. Those who are in the area that are carrying a cup would be required to have a wristband and some kind of identification showing that that particular person had been ID'd so that there is an understanding of who is allowed to carry a cup within the right-of-way. As a participant in this event, I cannot leave a business with my cup and then go into another business with my cup. That cup is then disposed of. And if you're going to get a cup from another business, you have to get a new cup again, the responsibility of those businesses. So they've just expanded the footprint of their business within the zone. Um, when, uh, the downtown partnership did reach out to us, we had a really great conversation, um, police department, alcohol beverage control. We all sat down and talked about this. What, what does this look like for the community? And the thought was to establish a pilot, right? So identify a couple of areas in downtown. There are three identified in this proposal that would allow for an event and an entertainment zone to be established for each of these areas. it's not permanent it's not all the time it is only when the event zone or the entertainment zone is activated it requires a special event permit and it does require an entertainment zone lead so for each time the zone is activated there would need to be a responsible party who would be responsible for the road closures for the special event permit for the special specific security plan for identifying who is going to participate. And each business who participates must register with the ABC. So that's kind of in a nutshell, that's what an entertainment zone is. and how it operates, I'd be happy to answer any specific questions. But just summarizing, it allows for an expanded footprint of the alcohol license for those established businesses. And the entertainment zone lead would be responsible for submitting an application to activate the zone. And it would include the special event permit. security plan, the geographic boundary, and the hours of operation. They can have it shorter than what's in the maximum allowed. And then they would be responsible for the signage, the cut materials, the disposal, and the notification and insurance. So I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any. But I think that it is an opportunity for us to test it out for a year. and come back to you in 10 months and tell you how it's going to see if you wanna extend.

Council Member Richardson, you pulled this?

I did. Director Clark, thank you for being here. Upfront, this is not my district. This was not my project. This is not my agenda item. So I'm obviously going to take very heavily the comments and consideration and opinions of my colleagues who do represent that part of the city. But I still wanted to kind of be part of a backstop, right, and ask some of the questions and address some of the concerns that the public brought up. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily going to fight for this or oppose to it, but I want to make sure that enough of the information regarding the entertainment zones comes out and it's available to the public and to us. So a couple things here. If there are businesses along this strip in the entertainment zone, so you've got business A, B, C, D, E, I own business C, Do I have to participate in this entertainment zone or do I have the ability as a business to self-exempt and not play ball if I do have some of the concerns that some of the residents brought up? Hey, I don't think this is going to be beneficial for my business. I don't want to risk it if there's a fight out in the street and someone has one of my cups. I don't want to be on the hook for any of the activities taking place outside my doors or outside the actual perimeter of my business. Is that an option for a business owner to be able to self-exempt from this?

Yes, absolutely. So once an entertainment zone is established, any currently licensed business, type 47, 48 business, would have the responsibility to register with the State Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control. So they can select to participate or not participate.

Okay, and then to the point of I believe Joseph number two, who spoke today, we're Joseph Rich this morning. If my business were having financial issues or difficulties or whatever else, we didn't want to foot the bill for one of these events. We just kind of wanted to operate business as usual. In theory, this would even be a benefit to me and my business because now I'm going to get increased foot traffic outside my doors despite the fact I'm not participating in whatever the event may be. But I also wouldn't have to bear the burden financially of helping to sponsor one of these events. Is that correct?

Yeah, and I would actually defer to the downtown partnership to kind of explain their business model. But the way other districts in the state have handled it is there's a fee on the cup, and that's the responsibility of the purchaser to purchase that cup, right? So there's a cost of the cup that's passed along to the participant. And so whether that's $1, $2, $3, whatever that is extra to be able to take your cup outside that business. So the businesses that would participate would purchase the cups and the stickers up front and then would pass that cost along to the consumer. If a business does not want to participate, they don't register, they don't buy the cups, they don't pay the fee, absolutely there would not be any additional cost to businesses who are not participating.

Okay. I love a good idea. force a good idea on businesses that don't want to participate, especially in times of economic struggle. And then to Juwan's point, if I want to take my family to a restaurant, I want to take my kid to a pizza place or whatever else, not necessarily go join that bar scene, but maybe a place that's directly next to one of these entertainment activities or you don't wanna go to a gallery or go to a shoe store, get a haircut or whatever, something that isn't participating in an outdoor social event that involves alcohol, I have the option to do that and the business has the option to maintain their business operations as usual.

Absolutely.

Okay, I appreciate that. The second part of my question has to do with the accountability loop. I've sat up here from the dais and had people come present things and it's gone essentially every year I have to come back and present our success with this program. It sucks. The program is bad. but we're still in a contract, so there's nothing in our contract to make us do anything about fixing it. I don't like that. So when we mentioned a pilot program, I'm a little biased. I love pilot programs, but I want to make sure that we get the information out there about the moratorium. What is the actual date this will go into effect? What is the actual date that we're going to be sitting in this chamber having the conversation, analyzing the effectiveness of this? What does that feedback loop look like? And you don't have to answer this all at once, just Elliot, I know I kind of conveyed some of these to you earlier. What metrics are we using? Are we looking at the financial solubility of these businesses? Are we looking at turnout? Are we looking at public transportation increase? Are we looking at crime? What metrics are we gonna use when we come back in a year at the end of this pilot program before we decide if it's something that's really good for the city or hey, it was a good idea, good intentions, good initiative, bad judgment, let's not take it forward?

Yeah, absolutely. So I can address the specific implementation. So it will take effect on the 31st day after the second reading, the reading for adoption. So depending on when that happens, 31 days after that, it would go into effect. That doesn't mean that automatically that very first day there would be an event. Again, there would need to be an activation of the event zone for an event to occur. From the city's perspective, we're absolutely going to look at how well it operates, right? Do we have any incidences of violations of ABC laws, right? So are there those who have alcohol that shouldn't? Are those selling alcohol that shouldn't? Has alcohol moved into a place it shouldn't? Absolutely, we will look at those events along with police feedback, other resources? Is the area being left clean after an event? Are there issues with the barricades, et cetera? So certainly we'll look at all of those pieces. In terms of the effectiveness, I would defer to Elliot on that to let you know what they're looking for as the business organization on what would support vitality in the area.

Okay, I appreciate that.

Do you want any more questions from me before I?

I don't think so. I think I appreciate your comments. Someone else may, but Elliot, I think you may be next, but I'll actually, I'll give you a second. Administratively, just to make sure that we're the right process here, the vote today doesn't matter because this is the first hearing of this and we'll come back to have the second vote, the second hearing, is that correct? Yes, correct. All right, just to clarify. I appreciate it. Have there been, either of you can answer this, who knows this, have there been any public workshops, public input, sit down, a little town hall, anything like that where the public can kind of weigh in, business owners, private residents, decision makers?

Well, there's this today. We've worked very intensively with the business owners recognizing that what we're envisioning is a technical change to how certain special events that are permitted and go through the special event process work. are allowed to operate. So the main stakeholders that we've gathered together in the process are the business owners primarily on the property owners in the area that would be participating to your previous question.

Totally important. And you and I have worked together to make sure that businesses downtown are getting the attention they deserve as well. However, businesses are phenomenal and necessary, but residents are too. Do we have any plans going forward to have any workshops, town halls, or anything outside of the city council meetings to address this?

Well, when you were talking about the kind of data that you would want to see in a year coming back, the other place my mind was going was to be surveying the public that participates in the events that come out. And really part of the goal here, of course, is directly to have small revenue go to small businesses when there are events, but also that there be a more enjoyable, comfortable experience for participants. So we want to hear from folks if they are enjoying those events and bring that back to you as well.

We don't have all the, all the answers up here, nor do we have a monopoly on good ideas. So if someone out there in the public has an idea, hey, this is something I'd like to see measured effectiveness-wise for a year from now, I'd love to hear that. If you want to get a hold of our office, you can kick that to us, whether it's enforcement-related, it's entertainment-related, it's safety-related, whatever. I want to make sure that a year from now when we come back and measure this thing, that we're measuring something accurate, timely, something that's valid. So I would appreciate that.

Council member, also the special events permit process is through my office. And so we look at things very, very closely. We always, we don't sign off on special event permits until we're very clear that there's an approved security plan by PD, proper insurance is in place, those types of things. So in addition to the planning and development department, downtown Fresno partnership, the special event permit process runs through my office.

With David.

David overseen by Ruthie Quinto.

Fantastic. Council President, that's all I had for now. Great.

Council Member Perea, punch that.

Director, The entertainment zone is only activated, you said, when a special events permit is pulled and approved, correct?

So, and not for all special events. The entertainment zone lead would have to request that the entertainment zone be activated for a specific special event. So, it's layered on top of the special event permit, yes.

Okay.

And so, whoever pulls that permit is also responsible for the security for said event?

Correct. So... security insurance Any kind of street closure? Cleanup plan those are all included in both the special event permit and in the entertainment zone There's a sample management plan So the entertainment zone lead would need to submit a management plan of how they would manage that entertainment zone during that special event

Okay, and then beyond Prez Yes Fest, what other events can we anticipate in the next year? Maybe this is a question for Elliot. I just want to get an idea of who is currently looking at possibly applying for a special events permit that would then activate this entertainment zone.

So the conversation as it stands among participating business owners is we need to, with the ordinance in place and being able to work with PD and the city, to really know what the expectations are operationally, that's where we want to be able to plan what a first event might be. I think generally so far there's less desire to bring into current events, like leave Art Hop alone, for example. There's interest in how could this be part of new events, like maybe there's a New Year's party or something like that. But that planning hasn't happened yet.

There was a concern that the entertainment zone would be activated during Art Hop, but you're saying that's not the plan?

Yeah, the consensus is it's operated well and people have been attending and the community support for street activities on Art Hop Nights has been strong and folks are coming out and no need to change how that works. But it'd be interesting in a year from now to see as we have been successful with perhaps the first couple of events, to come back and see, okay, should we think about other events that it makes sense for or not?

Okay. And then I want to understand better the boundary. If the zone is activated, does that automatically activate the entire boundary under the ordinance or can the footprint be smaller based on whatever the approved site plan is for said event?

There are three, this particular ordinance establishes three initial boundaries. This can always change in the future and different boundaries can be identified by the city council. They're essentially kind of larger, each one is a larger boundary. So event zone A is Fulton Street and it's from the southern edge of Inyo to the northern edge of Mono. including all of the public streets, right-of-ways, and sidewalks within that boundary. So it doesn't go into businesses. Entertainment B is Fulton Street between the south edge of Fresno Street and the northern edge of Mono Street. And it also includes Mariposa, east of Congo Alley to Fulton Street, Kern, East and Kern Street, east of Home Run Alley to Fulton Street and along, again, public streets, sidewalks and rights of way. And then C would essentially be just an extension from Fulton, all of Fulton from Inyo, or excuse me, to the southern end, Fulton from Inyo to Mono and the eastern edge of H Street. So it's really just three distinct boundaries. The first two are kind of one smaller and larger and the other smaller. So you're asking, could it be smaller? Right now it's established that this is the zone. So they would have to, the responsible entity, the entertainment zone lead would have to say, hey, I'm picking this one this time.

Understood. Okay. Those are all my questions. Thank you, director.

Yep.

I appreciate the comments and the feedback and the interest from my colleagues, because ultimately, as I tell folks, downtown is my day-to-day responsibility, but it's everyone's in this city, including on this dais. So I wanted to just provide some clarifying points on a couple of fronts. One is, if the council was to approve the zones, and a business is in violation of their ABC requirements, for example, they decide to sell or provide these cups to minors, whose license is at risk if that was to take place? Is it not the ABC license of the business?

Correct.

If the Downtown Partnership ran its first event and it was a disaster, fights, security concerns, Would the city manager have the authority not to approve a subsequent event?

Absolutely.

If there was a major incident that resulted in, you know, hazards caused to the city, would we not then have the ability to go after the insurance provider of the sponsoring entity?

I would think so, depending on what the claim was. Usually the insurance comes in when there is a claim filed with the city, and then we tender the defense of that claim to the insurance company.

So I just want to point out there's at least three levels of accountability if this doesn't work. The fourth level, which I think is the ultimate one, is it's a one-year pilot. My tenure is coming to an end in six months, and I want to be very intentional that my predecessor needs to be involved if this was to continue. Because if we're two or three events in and it's not working, like we had a press reset on our hop, because the level of safety concerns that were occurring at the event, then my predecessor will have the responsibility to say, let's make adjustments, let's stop, or let's do something different. Finally, if we don't approve this zone, can any applicant in the city still come forward with a special events permit to allow this type of activity to occur?

A special event permit is, certainly anyone can come forward and apply for a special event permit. the difference would be that instead of the businesses that were within that district being the ones that benefit, that there would have to be individual one-day licenses in the public right-of-way. So they can't they can't act in the same place. So for us, yes, they couldn't have this activity because they can't have one day licenses in the public right-of-way. It can only be established businesses. If you did only a special event permit, it would only be one day licenses from anyone who already has a license.

So I want to be thoughtful on that because there's a reference to gatekeeping, which in my tenure, I've had to wrestle with the gatekeeping that occurs in our city around special events. and who gets awarded special events permit and who doesn't get awarded special events permit and who benefits from that special events permit. In my experience, promoters have become really good at getting a special events permit, having events and generating a lot of revenue for themselves. not necessarily for the brick and mortar businesses in which the event's taking place or that is impacted. That's where we get into the issue of parking is going up because Chachancey's having a concert. Chachancey gets to sell booze for Mexican concerts at 50 bucks a pop when they sell them for five bucks for baseball. There's a whole lot of shenanigans that occurs in the world of event promotions and hosting those type of set events. What I'm also extremely concerned about is food vendors. I'm continuously getting more and more complaints that certain promoters, certain special event applicants are charging up to 40% of the food sales from food vendors, which is making it extremely hard for them to make a profit, and is resulting in many of them choosing to sell their food outside the event area. which then requires businesses or event holders to come and complain to us and have code enforcement go out there enforcing the hot dog vendors. Because being inside the zone, it's a 40% tax for your food sales. You can't make money in this kind of economy doing that kind of stuff. So I want to be thoughtful that I'm open to doing this. Absent of this zone, we would still be able to host these type of events, but without the four layers of accountability that this pilot creates. But I'm gonna be very vigilant and to see how it operates. And I know there's a question about, you know, where was the engagement out of the public? This zone has been discussed numerous times at the Downtown Partnership, which is the appropriate venue for events that occur in the downtown PBID area. And those meetings are open to the public. They take public comment. People are welcome to be there and provide feedback on what they think the partnership should be doing differently. But there was also one feedback from Youth Leadership Institute. They were concerned that event zones would allow minors within them. And they were concerned with that. I can appreciate that, but it's also true that when you sell alcohol inside the Save Mart Center, you also have minors there. When you sell alcohol inside to Chansey, you also have minors there. Ultimately, the operator, their liquor license holder, must check for ID, and if you're selling alcohol to minors, or an adult is giving the alcohol to a minor, there's consequences for that behavior. So I wanna be very thoughtful that downtown, we've made significant amount of investments, it's in our collective interest, to make sure these events take place safely, that they generate activity and revenue for everyone, and it doesn't create unintended consequences. And I'm hopeful that we are a big enough city that we can pull this off. One of the complaints I get from the public quite often is why can't we do what big cities do? Why can't we have festivals like big cities? Why can't we have, why can't I buy a drink in front of the brick and mortar of a small business and then take my drink outside as I wait for my hot dog or my hamburger or my burrito that's five feet away? That's the type of stuff that occurs in big cities already and automatically. It demonstrates a level of maturity by the public and by the community and by the municipality. And I think we're ready for that. And I'm happy that we're taking baby steps to get there and that we've put several errors of accountability as we go down this path of testing it out. So I appreciate everyone's feedback. I WELCOME EVERYONE TO ART HOP. I WELCOME EVERYONE TO DOWNTOWN. COME SEE FOR YOURSELF. I'VE TAKEN MY KIDS AND MY FAMILY THERE. AND I WILL ALSO TELL YOU IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS WHY WE HAD TO INTERVENE ON ART HOP. BECAUSE AT THE POINT THAT IT'S NOT SAFE TO TAKE YOUR KIDS, THEN YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY. AND MY LAST COMMENT AROUND DOWNTOWN AND ART HOP, WE ARE CREATING EVENTS AS A CITY FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY. It doesn't mean you get to send your teenager and all his friends without adult supervision. We're not babysitters. You ultimately, as parents, are responsible for your child. If you buy them an e-bike that goes way too fast, it's your responsibility. If you send them to a public event that's free and open to the public, and they show up with all their friends, in misbehavior mode, you are responsible for them. We're gonna do our best to have the structures, the amount of police officers and security guards, the environment and the atmosphere for everyone to be in a good place and have fun, but we are not the parents of every teenager in this Central Valley who decides to allow their teenagers to come to a public event with no supervision. Thank you all. Council Member Karabasi.

I apologize. I have to step out for a moment.

I've asked this question before, but I just want to reiterate, Director. To be clear, if we move forward with this, does the council retain the authority? If, God forbid, the worst-case scenario happens, can we go back and undo it?

Absolutely.

Okay. Thank you.

Yep.

All right, great. I don't have any more members bunched up.

Council President, just one last clarifying question.

Yeah.

I may have missed it, but did we set in stone when we would come back and do the review to see how it went?

So this pilot will expire 12 months after its effective date. We talked a little bit about effective date. So we would need to come back about 10 months after the effective date to bring you back how it went, the metrics that we were just talking about, and determine whether or not you want to extend it. either one year or in perpetuity.

Okay. I would be favorable, I don't know how my colleagues feel, but I would be favorable in being a part of that conversation if my colleagues have an appetite for that, if we could do the review maybe beginning of December, assuming there's been some events that have occurred between now and then. Is that okay?

Yeah, we can do that.

Good idea. Thank you.

All right. Council, we want to, this is the first introduction. There's a motion. We have a second. We don't, it's not required, but we, a motion was made. So we have a motion and a second. Is there any opposition to approval of 2AA? Okay, seeing none, that item passes 7-0 on introduction. All right, let's see, I'm moving all around the agenda today. Let's take on, we'll do the 3A general admin item, the presentation regarding the bargaining unit vacancies. Are you in the bargaining unit?

Yeah, hold on. I'm looking to see where personnel is. I'm sure they're probably running up here right this minute.

If you could just give us... We'll do DD then for Council Member Carbasi's request while they run down here.

If you could just give us two minutes to get staff in here.

That's fine. DD should be quick. All right, we're going to DD. Council Member Carbasi, you have that pulled?

Yeah. And thank you so much, Director. I apologize for not giving you a heads up earlier about this item. It's really simple. I've noticed a remarkable difference with Caltrans since the mayor has come on board. I mean, great relationship, a lot of good work together. I only have one hiccup. So I know this item is about the 99 corridor. One of the streets that feeds onto that is a very proud road called Veterans Boulevard, appropriately named. A couple of years ago in the budget, with the help of the council, we secured money to fully fund the installation and first run of veterans banners, kind of like they have in Porterville to honor our veterans, different local veterans. And the only hiccup we had was the state wouldn't allow us to do that because of certain rules and regulations. We have a future assembly member here today, so we need to lobby her to get us help when she goes to Sacramento. But Any comments you can provide, I'd really like to get some awareness out there. I'd love to work with Caltrans to make this happen because we would allow it in the city, but not being able to put that on Veterans Boulevard and we marketed it to folks in DC that this is a way we're gonna celebrate our veterans, that's a really tough pill for me to swallow. Any suggestions, any conversations with Caltrans? I think, do we have someone from Caltrans here today?

Good morning council Scott Moser Public Works Yes, we do have the Caltrans team here today to be able to respond to that question Banners and such they do fall under the Caltrans encroachment permit process but we have the Caltrans team who could address a that process and questions about delays or difficulties with, with banner installations at the interchange.

Great. And thank you for being here. I appreciate it.

Good morning. How are you today? I'm doing, how are you doing? I'm a newbie, so please be gentle. That's okay. No, you're good.

Let's, let's work together. Let's get this done. So what is your thought? What are your thoughts on this?

So I kind of did. Yeah, I'll tell you what.

If we can't work together, I'm going to stick Miguel on you. So we're good. Thanks, Council Member.

So I'm a little new to permits themselves also. But I just kind of started getting some information. And I think it's more of the access control that we have the discrepancy, actually. Putting things up overhead, I think, on the bridge,

There's a bridge and there are poles, yes.

So it's putting them on the poles, correct?

Yep, we have our flags there now.

Yeah, so I think it's just more of the safety as well. If some of that, for whatever reason, after multiple years becomes damaged, it actually falls into the roadway itself. I mean, it can happen, but...

I hear you. I mean, we could agree to replace them every year.

No, well, and again, you know, I think it's something that we can go back and look at and see if there is a plan, like you said, you know, of, you know, maintenance for it. Sure. You know, but I do believe that this went all the way up to headquarters for their approval, but it doesn't mean that we can't go back and re-look at it as well. From my understanding, it has been a little while since that permit was...

It has been a while, yeah. We ran into a lot of brick walls.

Yeah. So it was done so we can revisit it again and, you know, have those conversations and, you know, continue to try to build and work, you know, towards, you know, honoring our veterans. And I'm a firm believer of doing that.

I'll tell you why I'm a little annoyed and I appreciate your response. Um, there was a veteran who just passed away at a hundred. He was a great man and I was hoping he was going to be the one to leave this off and we lost him. Um, And that really makes me angry. We did our part. We got the money. There's no obligation from you guys. We're trying to do our part. But bureaucracy killed it. And so I get it. Things can happen. All kinds of things can happen. But, I mean, it's like death by a thousand cuts here. So what do we have to do to really get us across the finish line? Whose attention do we have to get?

Um, you know, again, I can bring it back. Um, you know, we can have those discussions, you know, with the city, with headquarters, you know, and, and really try to work on a solution for this. Right. Um, that's really all I can, I can say about it right now, but, you know, just kind of working that, having that relationship and working towards getting that, um, you know, we'll try our best to actually do it as well.

Okay. Let's give it one go one more round. Let's see what happens within a month. So thank you very much. Appreciate that. And I have no other issues. What council member?

Council Member Carvalho, are you suggesting that we tape all the item for a month and give you guys time to incorporate it? Because I'm assuming this is a maintenance agreement. The maintenance of those flags would be in this agreement. Is that the thinking or to approve it and then?

Hold on.

Good morning. Harmon Dhaliwal, Assistant Director of Public Works. So the banners themselves are not a part of the maintenance agreements. The streetlights are. And we'll confirm the ownership of the streetlights if they're owned and maintained by the city or owned and maintained by Caltrans. But working with Rene and his team, I think we can get to a path forward where we can get those banners up for this year.

Let's do this. Let's at least hold off the next meeting. Let's see how serious they are, and then we'll come back. Yeah. So I motion a table item in the next meeting.

Okay, I'll second that. Okay.

Any opposition to tabling?

We'll table for the next meeting.

Quick question. If it's going to be tabled specifically on those grounds, are there any issues? Are we putting ourselves behind a timeline or anything, Director? Are we missing a mark or a deadline for any of that kind of stuff?

So this item is just to do a cleanup. We already have an existing maintenance agreement for Freeway 99. This would just be a cleanup to take care of some of the items that were constructed with Veterans Boulevard. And then when high-speed rails and Caltrans realigned in 99, From Clinton to Ashland, it's clean up and adding additional items into the agreement. So we can hold off to the next meeting if that's okay.

We're not going to enter a gap period or missing.

Okay. If I may just clarify, I did meet with staff early on this item. The original agreement to maintain the state highway was signed in 1992. As we build additional infrastructure, they update the agreements to reflect the additional projects. This would have updated to reflect veterans. but if we still don't have clarity on the light poles, then I think it's worthwhile to give it two more weeks. Thank you, Council Member. All set. Thank you.

All right, great. All right, items, tables.

And just clarification, do you have a future date you'd like it to come back?

It was set next meeting.

Thank you.

All right, let's move over back to 3A then, regarding the bargaining unit presentations.

Good morning councils meet my lead director personnel So our presentation today is to go over our status of vacancies Our recruitment retention efforts and any identified obstacles that we might have in our hiring process so as a quick overview of For calendar year ending in 25, we averaged about an 11% vacancy rate towards the end of the year and about on a monthly basis. It's also important to talk about what a vacancy is. Vacancies exist when someone promotes, someone retires, there's a separation within the position. So when we talk about vacancies at the bargaining unit level, no bargaining unit had more than 20% vacancies within the bargaining group. That includes, not on this slide, is Unit 2 and unrepresented positions. So when we talk about recruitment and retention efforts across the city, we had on April 1st a new recruitment application and personnel that was launched called NeoGov. This allows us to get a wide diverse group of applicants. It's a really cool platform. Individuals can register once and apply to multiple jobs. And we definitely have seen an uptick in applicants utilizing the software. We also meet with departments to identify any hard to fill positions. We post on special job boards. We go to a variety of recruitment fairs or activities to help solicit positions, put out flyers, social media posts, try to gather and connect with the community in any which way to get some of these applicants. And part of our vacancy numbers, about a third of our vacancies last year were a direct result of promotions within the city. So people promoting up within our organization, which is always a good sign that we like to see. And then with respect to hiring challenges, so there are a variety of, well, let me back up. The city of Fresno, we followed the municipal code, which outlines our civil service process, which outlines procedure to get a classified job within the city the fmc as you know is not necessarily always the most up to date and there are some challenges with the language right now that staff have identified that we believe will make a dramatic impact to speeding up the recruitment process one such language change that we're looking at proposing which of course any changes to the municipal code we'd have to meet with the legal representatives the bargaining units along with the council One such change is on lists. So right now, individuals can have eight eligibilities to get to a certain position before they're selected. And there are instances in which a department may interview someone eight times before they're off the list. Things like that are what we're looking at to ensure that we have a timely recruitment effort, particularly when our departments are asking to fill these positions. But like I said, these changes will be working with you in the next fiscal year to come forward to council to make these recommended updates. Additionally, internally, after every recruitment on a biweekly basis, I have an internal meeting with my staff. We go over the type of applicants that we get and we have robust conversations on are we meeting the market demand? Are we having any issues with our language? What is our challenge if we have a challenge? With that, I'll open up to any questions.

Council Member Richardson.

These vacancies, whether they're maintained or held vacancies or they're just kind of incidental based on the factors that you provided, are the filling or maintenance of these vacancies, do those ever come up during the labor negotiations that don't take place out here, they take place back there? Do the vacancies, again, either maintained or otherwise, ever come up as terms of negotiated agreement with any of these labor groups?

I think in general, during labor negotiations and conversations, if there is a vacancy issue, we generally get into what we call class and comp studies. So the bargaining unit may say, this position, we're out of market or in market with it, and we work with them and come up with changes.

Okay. You've never seen that it's terms of negotiation that, hey, you're going to fill these spots or you're going to keep these vacant or anything like that?

Not outright in those terms. Okay. That's all I have. Thanks.

All right. Councilor Vargas? Is the administration holding vacancies open intentionally for the purpose of balancing the budget?

Absolutely, 6.18% attrition at a minimum for most departments, with the exception of the fire department. There are a couple departments that have more attrition. You'll see that when we do department budget PowerPoints. Yep, we are holding vacancies.

So, and City Manager, confirm with me, that's been a standard practice, right, as a way to manage the budget?

We've done that. I believe this is our third, if not fourth year that we have been doing the 6.18% attrition.

Is that the standard percentage for all departments or some department exempted from that attrition?

So what I'll say is how we came up with the 6.18%. You may recall that I believe the mayor's first year we had 10% was the goal. And we knew that was a bit high. 6.18 is about the natural attrition rate in the city just from people coming and going. So really what that means is we, instead of letting departments keep their salary savings when they have natural attrition in their departments, we have swept that savings and are using it to balance the budget. When departments present their budget to us, we just make sure that we absolutely can at least hit a 6.18. I would say, like I said, fire department has a 1% attrition goal. Other departments, it's in the PowerPoints. I'm almost sure the goal is 6.18. There are other departments that have a higher level of attrition. Some have seven, some have eight. Some have a little bit more, like I said, I've been reviewing PowerPoints and it's noted, I can't remember exactly, but the main goal is 6.18.

So I know the goal is six point-ish, but are we intentionally going beyond that goal for certain departments or just the natural attrition that's occurring?

Go ahead, TJ.

Thank you. No, we're not intentionally going beyond that goal. There's something of clarification, and it gets a little confusing. But the 6.18 represents the total budget for all of the positions that are appropriated and 6.8% of that cost. 6.18. These numbers are the physical position numbers that are vacant. So when it may be an average of 10%, that's probably tracking right with a 6% financial savings. That makes sense.

So it is kind of a one-for-one.

Correct.

I'm going to be very hesitant to change any of the procedures around hiring that you've indicated around the MMC.

Sure.

Because... it's for me it makes sense to change the policy and process to speed up hiring but not if you're intentionally keeping vacancies open for balancing the budget because then you're going to end up in the same place so right now what how long does it typically take you to fill a vacant position if you're not holding it for yeah so

I'll answer it from, let's say we have to establish a new list. To establish a new list requires us to go to a written examination.

Go away from the HR mode. Just how long did it take you to hire a police officer from day one to day start as a full officer?

I mean, that depends on when there was a, you know, either cadet recruitment or a class. I think ballpark would be about 60 days. I think that's a fair estimate.

So what about, say we approve the budget on June 30th and authorize five new positions in whatever department. How long should we expect before those people actually start work?

Yeah, using the police officer example, assuming there is a graduating class of cadets and that's all lined up, I think within 60 days would probably be a fair assessment.

Does that include folks coming from other agencies that don't have to worry about being part of a graduating class?

That 60 days would be our internal process to interview staff and background individuals so that they can qualify. Okay.

So it is pretty, you guys are pretty efficient when it comes to is the body available, is the money appropriate? Sure. Because a 60-day window is pretty efficient.

I would think so.

It's all the other factors that you don't control that dictate whether It takes you six months to fill a vacancy if there's an eligible applicant pool, if there's people coming out of whatever cohort of training that they need to go through. And assuming there's no intention of withholding those vacancies to be vacant.

Yeah, I mean, I have this long, exhaustive list right here of all of our active recruitments. We're perpetually in a cycle where we're trying to establish updated lists. And yeah, I think 60 days is pretty.

Council member, I want to make sure that it's clear, though. So, you know, we've got between at any given time between forty four and forty eight hundred employees working in the city. know six point one eight percent or the value of that or eleven percent is is a minuscule portion every day though we still have to hire obviously police officers firefighters garbage truck drivers bus drivers public works laborers so i think the proposed changes that we're talking about um i i totally get what you're saying about you know we're holding vacancies But we need to streamline some processes to get people in place for the other 90% of our employees that, for instance, garbage truck drivers, when we have missed routes because we have people no-showing, we need to have more drivers, bus drivers. we need to be able to streamline any process that is hindering the timeline of recruitment, getting lists together for the rest of the city, the 90% of our employees.

And I can actually give another example of another part of the FMC that we're considering. So right now, let's say an applicant applies to be a bus driver or name a position, and there's dishonesty in the application, they have appeal rights to the CSB, and that would prohibit that list from being established. So if it goes past our analyst level, my assistant director's level, my level, and that's three rejections, the applicant still has rights to go and go through that motion, which could further delay things like that.

So if I lie on my resume, I get to hold up the hiring process for everyone else? Potentially. That makes no sense.

Agreed. That's why we wanna change it.

Was that language bargained? It's in the municipal code. So why does that require then a whole lot of time if it's just a municipal code change and it's common sense?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

You trailed off towards. If it's not bargained language, why do we need to take so much time to resolve that if that's been an issue?

Well, we need to change the municipal code. So we have proposed changes to bring forward, but like any change, the bargaining units would have opportunity to weigh in on those changes along with the council.

So we have to meet and consult, meet and confer on it?

It's meet and confer, it's not bargaining, right?

Well, it'd be the effects of the language.

Okay.

Thank you. Those are all my questions. Appreciate the time.

All right, that'll conclude on your side. I have one card for Sam Frank here. Are there any of the other bargaining units that are present? I don't see anyone else that I recognize. Yeah, Sam, if you want to come on up. Hello, ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

I'm here on behalf of STA to give our presentation as it pertains to the state labor code requiring this hearing. The reason the state of California decided to require a hearing like this is because cities took it upon themselves to achieve savings and to be able to spend money in other places other than hiring people. And by keeping vacancies open, the state realized that this would impact the employees that are left. And that's what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about the impact This city's decision to hold jobs open, which is clearly stated and has been going on for years, on the rest of the people. I'll give you a quick example. Councilman Richardson, are you a helicopter pilot? Okay, if you were required to perform maintenance on your engine as part of your duties because you were short and you don't have to answer, because you were short maintenance technicians, and the military was saying, oh, we're holding off on that a bit, why don't you just give a hand? Would you be able to fulfill your mission? Right, these additional duties would impact your ability to do your mission. I'll just say that as an ex-military man. Okay, that's what we're talking about here. We lose 150 people out of my unit every year just as retirement, terminations, promotions, just as a course of business. Now, if you looked at the part of the presentation that he didn't put up on the screen and talk about, my unit is 15%. 15% short-staffed. Most of the others are below 10. That extra almost 6% of short-staffing pertains to my unit. Giving aggregate numbers at this hearing doesn't work. I expected to see numbers that pertain to FCA because my unit is at the bottom of the totem pole. We have the most classifications, the most jobs, and many of these jobs only have one or two people trained to do those jobs. So when you have a position open that needs to be filled, there's not a lot of bodies left to fill that position. Okay, here's the impact. People show up, they work eight hours a day. That's what they're expected to do, okay? And whether you want me to do my job or you want me to help out doing a job that's vacant, okay, I'm still working eight hours a day. But at the end of my year, what I deal with as an employee representative is people who are given evaluations by the city of Fresno. And this is something we're gonna be talking about at the negotiating table. Because these evaluations are insufficient because they do not recognize how many employees have to work other people's jobs. How many employees have been given additional duties in addition to their own? And I saw this when I was still working for the city in UBNC. I can give you the names, I can give you the dates, okay? I can come into your office with people who've retired, supervisors that have left the city. Lydia Montelongo, Laura Tensio. We could talk about this process, how when people are given these additional duties and said, oh, you know, we're going to keep this desk. It's going to be open a little while. Maybe it's a month. Maybe it's two months. Maybe it's a year that you're given these additional duties. But at the end of your rating period, guess what? You come in and you know what? You only made 500 widgets this year. Last year, you made 800. What are you doing? Well, I'm doing all these additional duties. Oh, and this million-dollar software packet, guess what? You're doing a lot of software purchases, right? Do you know how much training that entails when you have a new software system? When I was still working at UBNC, we had a new software system for finance, and everybody was pulling their hair out trying to get that to work. Okay, that impacted my ability to do my job, as well as other people in finance. getting up to speed with that software. So layer that on top of the fact that you're keeping positions open, that you're bringing in all this software that people have to deal with. And when you're rolling into positions, if you talk about changing the civil service code, you know why that was established? Nepotism and cronyism, okay, in this country was rampant. So you established this procedure by which people could fairly be hired for these jobs. They could come in, they could get an extra five points for being in the military like I did, like Nick will when he applies for a job after his term. I'll get you on as a USR. This system is important. It's important because nepotism and cronyism can rear its ugly head again. You take away these protections, you want to talk about somebody's appeal process? like was just stated. See, I don't know any of this, because we're not involved with this. They're going to bring you a package of change, and you're going to vote on it, and we're going to be like, what? Right? This isn't coming to the table, changing the civil service system. This isn't going to involve us. Right? And now the three African-American applicants for a job are now kicked out and said, no, no, you lied on your application. What? I didn't lie. No, you lied on your application. I'm sorry, we're going ahead with this recruitment. Your app got kicked out. I want to appeal. Oh, we did away with that. We needed to streamline. I want you to think about this. I want you to think about this hard and fast. You are holding positions open intentionally. 15% for FCA. That's 68% more than the positions that are unfilled in fire, police, So you're not filling the positions, but you have to streamline the process to get applicants? How does that work? You've now taken the input and you squeezed it down to this very small trickle of people coming in, whereas you should be filling all of them. You should have more recruitments. You've got less. You're filling less positions. But you're saying you need to streamline so you can get more applicants. How does that make sense? How do you need more when you're actually hiring less? I want you to think about that. What we're gonna bring is solutions to what I see as a problem every day working with people who are overworked, who've been given more to do, and then they're given an evaluation where it needs improvement. Gosh, Sam, what happened? Your widgets pile was not what it should be. Well, I've got all this extra stuff, plus I'm having to train this new person because we're having this high turnover, all the stress around here. Well, the numbers speak for themselves. I'm sorry, but you need improvement. Yeah, but I took on all this extra job. I had to learn this new software. Sorry, Sam. Sorry, the numbers don't lie. The city has gone from a review process that used to be pretty current and up to date way back when I was hired, where it was a supervisor, your direct supervisor, did your evaluation. They gave you your work, you did your work, they evaluated the job you did, they wrote up what it was on your, and they evaluated you fairly. And if you were a substandard, they had firsthand knowledge of that. The process now is people are getting their evaluations late all the time. And I'm not talking a month, two months. I'm talking five months, sometimes a year. They're getting late evaluations, five months late, and there's a needs improvement on there. And they're looking at it going, Sam, I was never talked to. I was never even coached on this. And I asked him, why didn't you coach me? Oh, we don't have time for that. Gosh, we're all just, we're all working hard. We're all filling in. We're all doing other people's work. The impact to this is more than you can imagine. If I brought people in individually to your offices and you swore not to tell management so they wouldn't be retaliated against, because trust me, I attached some people's comments and I hope you read those. on the attachment. I hope you read that closely. Those are the people who were brave enough to put those comments down. Because in doing so, they have already been identified by their department, and they know this. And they're still brave enough to do it. And they're brave enough to face whatever possible retaliation there could be. Not saying there will be, but there could be. For every single person that made comments like that, there are people who said, I wish I could, I can't. But I'll tell you what's happening to me. This is happening more and more and more. Where people, to add insult to injury, who've been doing their best, who've been doing other people's jobs. Sometimes these jobs are out of class or from somebody at a higher level. And they're saying, hey, we need you to do 20% of this person's work. It's kind of low level stuff. We're going to have you do it. OK, great. I'll do it. Then they get evaluated. What? Yeah, you're not up to speed. You made a mistake. It's not even my job. Yeah, but you were told how to do it. You made a mistake. You know, we're going to evaluate you low. People are getting dinged and it's insult to injury. And you could say, oh, it's, you can't appeal it. It's just an eval. It's no big deal. It is a big deal. It's a big deal because that sits in your record and you want to be promoted. You see these vacancies opening up in the supervisory unit, right? And there's a large percentage of people leave our unit because they get promoted. Why? Because there's vacancies there. Why? Because people leave the city. Right? Supervisors get promoted, people leave. There's a constant stream of people leaving. But every time somebody's getting promoted, that's still a vacancy in our unit. That's still work that's not getting done unless somebody else does it. This impacts. It has an impact right now. Right now on the amount of service that is being given to the public on the ability to process water bills, it's impacting. It's impacting because the good people who've been doing it for years have just thrown up their hands and said, I've had enough. All right? I know I only have so much time here. But I'm not wasting your time right now, OK? I'm giving you the flip side of the coin that the state wants me to give you. That the people who work in this building want me to give you. And it's important that you hear this. Because this is important. The civil service system as designed is important. The people who designed it, they're all dead and buried. But they died proud of the system that they created. That system kept nepotism and cronyism at bay. It made sure that the people who, why do we want that person working here? We made sure that they had an equal opportunity with every other applicant to be chosen for that position. That's why it's designed this way. And I want you to be protectors of that civil service system. I don't want you to think that, oh gosh, we're holding all these positions open, oh gosh, we can't fill them, and oh, we need to change the process, that's going to make it so much better because we're going to get more applicants faster. Why? You're not filling the positions. Why do you need more faster when you're not filling the positions? If you were trying to fill the positions and couldn't, that would speak to something. The main thing about these vacancies is we have people who leave just because of what's happening right here, right now. We have people who go work for other agencies. We have people who leave because when you are evaluated by a person who is not your supervisor, and that's what's happening, that's what got changed with the evaluations. That's why it's so important and we're gonna ask for changes in the evaluation system. I wanna see a checkbox I want to see a checkbox under responsiveness, because that's where you're evaluated for your ability to adapt to change, your ability to get work done in a timely manner, effective use of your time. I want to see a checkbox that says this employee was assigned work during this grading period. That was in addition to their regular duties. so that that evaluator needs to justify if they're gonna evaluate them as needs improvement, right? Because part of this system is, oh, we don't have any money, we're saving money. How are we saving money? We're giving you this extra work to do. We expect you to get it done. What, you need overtime? Oh, no, no, no, we're not gonna approve overtime. Ask about overtime approvals. They very frequently do not exist outside of public safety. Ask about that. Ding. I should have brought my own little bell like George Ann had so I could ding you back. All right. Am I done? I got a minute? Okay. I'll just say this. You have a chance to slow the tide. You have a chance to turn the boat around, turn this ship around. You have a chance to start to realize that a lot of these jobs, a lot of the services that you provide, you can't keep operating like this. Just because you've achieved success in that you've managed to kind of get things done under this new model, this new normal, doesn't mean you should keep going in this fashion. We're going to ask for some changes. We're not going to leave the table until we get them, and they're going to be on the evaluation form. We're gonna make sure that evaluations are done by supervisors and they're done fairly. We're gonna make sure that they get done on time. Thank you.

All right, that's two, sorry, that was 3A. Let's see, it's 1134. Here's what we're gonna do, council. We are, we have left for open is a few contested items, two or three of them, and then a couple appointment items, committee appointments, including the special meeting. So we're gonna do, we're gonna go to closed session right now. We're gonna go to lunch, and then we'll come back here probably about 3, 3.30 for the special meeting and then wrap these items up. Unless we finished closed session a little earlier than that, then we'll come back earlier. But I predict, just for the benefit of the public, probably about two and a half to three, three, three and a half hours. We'll come back out public and wrap up these items. State Attorney, go ahead and read the closed session agenda.

Today in closed session we have item 5A, conference with labor negotiators, all units listed on the agenda. Item 5B, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. Item 5C, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. Item 5D, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. Item 5E, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. My apologies, item 5C was removed to June 18th. Item 5F, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. Item 5G, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, One potential case, item 5H, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, Joseph Perez versus City of Fresno. Item 5I, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, City of Fresno versus the Bracken Daniels Trust. Item 5J, public employee performance evaluation, city clerk. Item 5K, public employee evaluation, city attorney.

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All right, we're gonna go ahead and reconvene, open session. We're not quite done with closed session yet, but we wanted to come back out here roughly on time to finish out public portion. City Attorney, are there any announcements?

Yes, Council President, I have a couple of announcements as to the first, item 5I out of closed session. That is Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, City of Fresno versus the Bracklin Daniels Trust. In closed session, the City Council approved a proposed settlement in this eminent domain case, court number 24CECG02988. The settlement provides for a global resolution consistent with the City's project objectives. Under the terms of the agreement, if the court so approves, title to the subject properly will vest in the city upon a payment of $3.5 million plus the legally required interest on the deposit of the probable compensation up to $6,000 in reimbursement for appraisal costs. $2,817,900 has already been deposited by the city to the State Treasurer's Office Condemnation Fund. The settlement shall be paid from Measure C in California Local Partnership Program, formulate grant funds. This item was approved by Council by a vote of six to zero with Council Member Karbasi being absent. As to the second item, that is item 5J, Public Employment Evaluation, Appointment, Performance, Discipline Dismissal, City Clerk. A motion was made by Council Member Arias with a second by Council President Esparza. approved by a yes vote of six to zero with council member Carbasi abstaining to formally appoint Amy Ahler as the next city clerk, effective June 15th, 2026, and to bring back an at-will employment agreement in open session at the June 18, 2026 regular council meeting. Congratulations.

Congratulations, clerk. All right, so let's continue to move on through our open session. We had a few contested consent items that were outstanding. Was item 2Z, was that still pulled by Council Member Arias? 2Z? Go ahead and hear item 2Z.

Good afternoon, Council President and Council Members, Ashley Atkinson, Assistant Director for Planning and Development. Just to quickly walk through this item, this is something that was identified in the course of preparing our budget proposal for the Planning and Development Department this year, looking at some of our expenses and trying to identify some efficiencies. We had previously considered publication of our legal notices in other local media and identify that the Fresno Municipal Code actually specifies that the Legal notices shall be published in the Fresno Bee and also in the Business Journal when a second publication is required by law. That's in Section 2-603 of the FMC. State law only requires that we publish in a newspaper of general circulation, as it's defined in the California Government Code. The two newspapers of general circulation in the City of Fresno are the Fresno Bee and the Fresno Business Journal. So this amendment would just remove that requirement to publish in the Fresno Bee and also in the Business Journal when a second publication is required by law. and just state that legal notices must be published in a newspaper of general circulation, so we would have the option to choose either as the publication schedule or the cost made it more practical and cost-effective to do so. Most of the legal notices subject to this requirement are in the Planning and Development Department. Those include CEQA determinations, notices of funds available, housing element related notices, and items under HUD's public participation process. But I will note that it does also include all notices of public hearings. So that would create a potential citywide impact. But again, this would just remove the specific names and allow us and other departments the flexibility to publish in either publication or if those publications shift with time and one or both no longer qualify as a newspaper of general circulation, we would have that additional flexibility built in as well. So happy to take any questions that you have.

Any questions?

I do. I appreciate the staff's work on this. I did ask a couple questions in terms of what is potential cost savings, and I think the number you guys provide is potentially $50,000.

Well, the cost per column inch of the business journal is about, well, it is half of the cost of the Fresno Bee. Their circulation is also less. It's about 43% of the bees' circulation, so the cost is kind of commensurate with the number of folks who are getting those subscriptions.

Here's my overarching concern, and I'm gonna make a motion to table this item for the following reasons. One is the business journal clearly states that its target audience are business owners and CEOs. And the legal notices that the city is required to publish for the public range from CEQA environmental determinations, public hearings, the use of federal funding under CDBG, the consolidated plan, the annual plan, a whole bunch of stuff that impacts communities of color, communities of poverty, neighborhoods of poverty, IT'S NOT THE CEO AND THE BUSINESS OWNER WHOSE TARGET AUDIENCE PER THEIR DESCRIPTION AND THEIR DESCRIPTION IS THE BUSINESS JOURNAL'S TARGET AUDIENCE. YOU DIDN'T MAKE A NOTE OF THE CIRCULATION DIFFERENCE. I HAD MY STAFF LOOK INTO THAT. ON THE WORLD OF CIRCULATION, THE B HAS 225,000 WEEKLY READERS. BUSINESS JOURNAL HAS 47,000. THE DIGITAL OUTREACH FOR THE B IS 1.8 MILLION MONTHLY VISITORS. FOR THE BUSINESS JOURNAL IS 90,000. THE AUDIENCE IS MULTIPLE COUNTIES, DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF COUNTIES FOR THE PRESIDENT B THAN THE BUSINESS JOURNAL. AND THE TARGET AUDIENCE FOR THE B IS THE GENERAL PUBLIC. IT'S NOT LIMITED TO THE FORTUNE 500 EMPLOYERS. or the business owners of this community, the vast majority of the notices that we're required to notify the public for don't impact exclusively business owners and CEOs. It's typically things around rezones, neighborhood impacts, funding availability for the general public. So I appreciate the work you guys did to try and find some potential savings, but PRIOR TO LOOKING AT THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT'S BUDGET AND THE CITY'S BUDGET, WHICH WE'RE ABOUT TO DO, I THINK, NEXT WEEK WITH BUDGET HEARINGS, I'D RATHER WE GO THROUGH THE BUDGET HEARING PROCESS AND CONSIDER THIS AS PART OF THE BUDGET PROCESS, BECAUSE YOUR PRESENTATION, ESSENTIALLY, YOU DID THIS FOR COST SAVINGS POTENTIAL, WHICH I DO APPRECIATE YOU GUYS DOING THAT, BUT I'D RATHER WE FIND $50,000 IN THE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET THAN LIMIT PUBLIC NOTICING OF THINGS THAT ARE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPORTANT TO THE PUBLIC FROM THE CITY, SO I'M JUST GOING TO ASK THAT WE TABLE THIS, AND I WILL LOOK AT THE BUDGET AND SEE IF WE CAN FIND THE $50,000 BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO MAKE SURE THE PRIME DEPARTMENT IS LOSING MONEY, BUT I ALSO THINK THAT $50,000 SAVINGS IN A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET IS NOT WORTH SIGNIFICANTLY SHRINKING THE POTENTIAL AMOUNT OF PUBLIC THAT GETS NOTICED ON THESE REQUIRED NOTICES.

Yeah, absolutely council member. And we appreciate that. And that's, and that's fine. We did want to bring this forward. I didn't want to clarify for the record. Essentially, circulation for the purposes of the municipal code is related to print circulation, not online circulation. There are certainly many other methods we could advertise. The Fresno Bee circulation, their print circulation is Sunday is 3,769 actual subscribers. Fridays is 2,803. Wednesdays is 2,782. The business journal does print. Again, we have to print only. So this is about what we're talking about. So business journal print circulation on Friday is 1,100. So they all have very few, and I am very concerned as we go forward. the world of print media is going away and trying to figure out a way how we continue to meet these legal obligations to print notices and to have more flexibility. That's really, you know, that's absolutely, it's great for us to save money in our department and in other departments, but that print circulation is what we look at. And so the Fresno Bee, On a Friday, which is the comparative head-to-head, is 2,800 versus 1,100. It's minuscule as to who is reading those print versions. Correct.

And the B prints three times a week. The Business Journal, once a week.

Right, and so we would only have that option if we printed on a Friday.

Correct. But these notices also show up in the digital platforms. So when I open up my electronic version of the Fresno Bee, I also get all the notices that were in the print version. And the reach of the Fresno Bee is far greater, which the original intent of these legal requirements is to notice as many people as possible around these critical matters. So I have never opened up a digital version of the business journal, probably because I'm not their target audience, right? So I want to be very thoughtful of that. I do appreciate you guys looking for some budget savings potential, but I like to see this in the context of the rest of the budget and see whether we can, you know, find a way to close that gap.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you. on the context of we're trying to be more transparent and set up a transparency portal and I don't want us being blamed for trying to notify less people. So with that, Council President, I'd like to make a motion to table this item.

All right, we have a motion and a second. The table, any opposition? All right, item's tabled. I don't think we've done 2E. E isn't out of order yet, have we? This was pulled by Council Member Richardson, 2E.

Hi, good afternoon, Council. My name is Anita Luara. I am a project manager with the Capital Projects Department.

All right. Just for the, this is going to be quick, just for the public who's looking at this and seeing that this pump station 208-2 is getting this construction contract awarded, but doesn't fall into any district, it falls into Fresno County. Can you just explain how that money from the city is going to benefit the residents of the city, despite the fact this pump station is on county property?

Right, well, this is a county island located in the area of Gettysburg and Morroa, and the city of Fresno Water Department does serve that area with water and wastewater. So the dues to those customers will be going to the city.

That's literally all I had.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I'll second that. We have a motion, we have a second. Any opposition to approving item 2E? Seeing none, that passes five. Yeah, five to zero. All right, on to item 2BB, as in boy, boy. This was pulled by Councilmember Richardson as well. BB. Helicopters. Bravo, bravo.

Good afternoon, Council. W.T. Burke Fair, Fresno Police Department. This item is a renewal of an existing maintenance contract with Saffron. They service and provide loaner engines for our helicopters when they need repair. This project allows us to pay by the hour for maintenance. Question, sir?

Yep. Thank you for being here. Just a quick question. Is this preventative maintenance? Is this taken into account? Obviously not parts, but is this more of a retainer And what's the plan scheduled for their maintenance? Why do we have this fixed number on there?

Right. So what this does is this allows us to maintain the helicopter as we move forward for any engine issues. What's unique about this is instead of getting hit with a big bill every time something comes due, we pay by the hour. So it's measurable. And if we're not flying as much, that reduces our costs and makes us more efficient in managing the helicopter program. It also accounts for certain things that we might not have on the radar that might not be scheduled maintenance. If the FAA calls a recall or something on one of the engine parts or something, Saffron handles that. This last year we used Saffron. We had an engine that needed an overhaul. They do that work, and while they're doing that work, they actually ship us a loaner engine, which allows us to put that right into the bird and maintain flight. So it's very important to us. We've been in a relationship with this company for over 20 years. They've done good work for us.

The fact that this is a renewal of an existing contract in previous years, have there been overruns? What do the overruns look like of this money that has gone to suffer from us?

No, we haven't had any overruns as far as I'm aware of, sir. And the actual hours versus what we budgeted, we should come in under. That's our projections that we will come in under.

Fantastic. That's all I had. Motion to approve?

All right.

We have a motion. We have a second on item 2BB. Any opposition? Thank you very much. All right, we're at 325. Let's come down over to item 4A. So that concludes contested consent. It's not quite 3.30, so we can't take on the special meeting yet. But if you move over to 4A, this is an item regarding appointment to Fresno Madera Area Agency on the Aging Board. Council Member Richardson, I'll let you take it from there.

Okay, so far, so the city of Fresno rates three positions on the Fresno-Madera Area Agency on Aging Board, one of whom has to be elected. The other three can be, but do not have to be. The only requirement is that they're over, I believe, 55 years old. 55 or 60 is a requirement. Being that this is a council appointment, not an administration appointment, my office even though this is all of us we kind of took the liberty of going out and seeing if there was any interest out there we do have interest from a couple people in district six but I'd kind of asked my colleagues if there's anyone who is very active looking for a new way to be participating in the in the civic process here and wants to serve on that area on aging board You are an elected, actually, so technically you could do it. It doesn't matter. I don't think a decision has to be made on this today, but this is more of, so we can start the conversation of looking for people. Essentially, if our elected representative, who's currently me, cannot be there, oftentimes they have difficulty making quorum, which really puts, I mean, tens of thousands of people in the area kind of at risk of sometimes losing services, and that's not really fair to them, just because we can't fill seats.

Council member, are you asking for an alternate from this body for you, or are you asking for additional public appointments?

Well, I'm asking that we fill the seats that they've allocated to the City of Fresno, so it wouldn't necessarily be an alternate for me. They would be expected to attend as well. They'd be a full-time alternate.

I think if you have two people who are interested, I think you're just bringing it forward on a council agenda, right?

We can do that, but I wanted to extend that to everybody since it's not just a District 6 thing. If you have someone who you have on your project review committee or whatever who's really champing at the bit to get another opportunity, I just wanted to make it even to everybody, not bogart it.

I'll have my staff send you. I think I may have two names for consideration.

Fantastic.

Okay.

Any additional conversation? All right. Thank you, Council Member Richardson. Appreciate it. So we don't have any, yeah, just it was a discussion. There was no action on that item. All right. Let's move over to, before we get to the special meeting, we'll open up unscheduled communication on our regular meeting. So at this time, I'll open it up to members of the public who would like to speak on any topic. Unscheduled communication. Is there anybody in the audience who would like to do public comment on scheduled communication? Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close unscheduled communication at this time. And that's, uh, I'm not going to conclude the regular meeting actually, because we do have still some pending closed session items and not been completed yet. Um, but we'll just wait a few minutes here, a minute or two, uh, before we can start the special meeting. of which there's one open item, public item on special meeting.

Since we got another 30 seconds, I wanna take the opportunity to congratulate our city clerk for her appointment. And my hope is our transparency portal will be activated soon.

Thank you, yes, that's my goal as well.

City clerk, could you reiterate the two items that are on the special closed meeting? Sorry, special meeting generally. There's one open, one closed.

Yes, we do have one item. file id 2618 which is an open session item that's the regarding the resolution establishing prac guidelines ad hoc committee and we also have a closed session item file id 26-815 regarding council with our conference with legal counsel existing litigation okay great well uh the clock is struck 3 30.

So we'll go ahead and at this time open up the special meeting with those two items that you named off here. And again, the one for open session here is regarding ad hoc committee.

We do need to take roll, Council President.

Oh, sure. Okay. So go ahead and open up that meeting. Please call the roll.

Thank you. Council Member Perea. Present. Council Member Karbasi. Present. Council Member Arias. Present. Council Vice President Maxwell. Council Member Vang.

Present.

Council Member Richardson.

Here.

Council President Esparza.

Present.

Five members being present, we have a quorum.

Okay, fantastic. I'll make a motion for approval of the agenda.

So moved. Second.

We have first and a second. Is there any opposition to approval of the agenda? Seeing none, the pass is 5-0. We have an agenda approved. So we'll move over to the open session item now regarding ad hoc committee. City Manager, I'll hand it off to you.

Thank you, Council President. As you are all aware, the city is going to be administering the Cycle 3 Measure P Arts Grants. We also have been working with the PRAC to develop the guidelines and I'd say we used the old guidelines as a base and we're recommending changes. We have a very tight timeline in that We need to put the NOFA out for the next round of grants by June 30th. Therefore, we need to get the grant guidelines adopted by this body by June 18th. And I know that that is a really compressed, tight timeline. And I was trying to think of the quickest and best way to get as much involvement in council as possible so that we can try and get any questions or concerns out. So I thought about requesting establishing an ad hoc committee of this council of three council members that the parks team and our office can work with to review those guidelines. and share what the prac has already suggested and put forth, and then talk about what you all may want to see changed from that. So I am requesting that you establish an ad hoc subcommittee or committee, not subcommittee, ad hoc committee for us to work with.

Okay. So as long as we have a very short term timeline here, two weeks or so. COUNCIL VICE PRESIDENT STEPPED OUT, BUT BEFORE HE STEPPED OUT, HE DID EXPRESS SOME INTEREST. SO I THINK COUNCIL VICE PRESIDENT, I COULD APPOINT HIM. WHO ELSE IS INTERESTED?

I'D BE HAPPY TO SERVE GIVEN THAT SOME OF MY OLDEST AND HISTORICAL BUILDINGS ARE VENUES FOR THESE ARTS. I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT'S PUT INTO CONSIDERATION.

THAT'S TWO. WE DON'T NEED THREE, BUT WE HAVE ROOM FOR A THIRD. WE'RE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SERVE. OKAY. Nice and easy, okay. You're appointed.

Okay.

You're appointed, yeah. Is that what the resolution says, I appoint?

We do need to take public comment.

Oh, got it, okay. So before any action is taken, I will take public comment on this item, this special meeting item to appoint an ad hoc committee regarding the PRAC guidelines. Any member of the public wish to speak on this particular item? Okay, seeing none, we'll go ahead and close public comments on the special meeting item regarding the ad hoc committee. Bring it back up here and is there a motion that's required or do I just declare the members appointed? What's the process here?

I think you have to adopt the resolution, don't you? Or no, I guess I'll defer to you guys.

All right, so we have a motion to, just to review, your microphone was not, but.

Make a motion to establish the ad hoc committee and approve the council president's appointments.

Second. Is there any opposition to, we have a motion and a second, is there any opposition to the motion to approve the resolution and appoint council members Arias, Vang, and council vice president? Seeing none, it is passed and members appointed. Good luck, a lot of hard work in the next couple weeks. Yeah, so we'll see you back on the 18th. Let's see here, so that takes care of that item. I do believe that concludes everything for open session. Yeah, so that's gonna conclude open session. Yeah, so at this point, we'll go ahead and retreat back to closed session for the balance of that, but we are finished with the open session portion of this meeting. All right, thank you all. Oh, she didn't read the whole thing? Okay, sorry, go ahead and read the closed session.

For today's closed session special meeting, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, City of Fresno fire, and police retirement systems and others versus City of Fresno.

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We're ready when you are, Claudio.

Okay, one last report out of closed session as to item 5G, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. The Fresno City Council in closed session by a vote of four to zero with one abstention. authorizing the city attorney to retain counsel with expertise to pursue all legal avenues against the state of California and high-speed rail to defend against any tax splitting with high-speed rail. The motion was made by Councilmember Arias, Councilmember Richardson being the second. Yes votes were Council Members Vang, Arias, Council President Esparza, and Council Member Richardson. Absent were Council Members Carbasi and Maxwell. And that will adjourn our meeting.

Thank you for joining us. We are adjourned at 4.57 PM.