City Council - Regular Meeting

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All right, good morning. Welcome to today's council meeting. We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order here at 9.06 a.m. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Thank you. Good morning. Council Member Perea. Here. Council Member Carbasi. Excuse me. Council Member Arias.

Present.

Vice President Maxwell. Present. Council Member Vang.

Present. Present.

Council Member Richardson.

Here.

President Esparza.

Present.

Six members being present, we have a quorum.

Okay, fantastic. So next is the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. I will ask everyone to please stand if they can. And our invocation this morning is gonna be by Sherry Knott, who's Minister of Women over at St. Russ Baptist Church. Welcome. After invocation, I'll ask everybody to remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

If we all can, we'll pray. Oh God, we come before you with gratitude. We thank you for being a God of love who is with us now in this very room. You never leave us nor forsake us. Your grace has brought us safe thus far and your grace will lead us home, Lord. We thank you for making each of us in this room, every person we meet, every citizen of this city and every city in your own image with dignity and infinite worth. We thank you for the calling, that you have given every one of us to be good stewards of your creation, to love our neighbors as ourself. I thank you today, God, for these, your servants, our mayor, our city manager, our city staff, our city council members. I give thanks for the way of service they have chosen to take up on behalf of all of us here. We all come to this room today as complex human beings, carrying burdens, carrying joy and hope, trusting that you alone can hold us together, O God, in your love and peace. Help us, Lord, to trust you more, more than our fears and our wounds and even our accomplishments. And may we lean on your everlasting arms today in all ways. God, in your words, you make clear your expectation for those who sit in places of authority in Psalm 72. we hear the prayer of the king. The king will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. Through the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 22, you remind us that your blessing came on kings who defended the rights of the poor and needy, because isn't that what it means to know me, declares the Lord. And so we pray that you would be glorified today through the decisions of this city council. We pray that we would have the eyes to see how our lives are all connected and how our common good is upheld when we listen and respond to those most vulnerable among us. We pray that your kingdom would come in this city and county of Fresno as it is in heaven, through your power working in each of your servants. May your truth be revealed. May your light shine brighter. May the voices of those most silenced be heard loud and clear. Defend their cause, O God, through this governing body today. We pray for wisdom, for strength, for courage to do what is right and good for all seasons. And may we put the interests of others above our own. May we act with love for the common good. And may we be good neighbors, recognizing your image in every person here. We thank you again for this council, our mayor, our city staff, our first responders, our hospital staff, and all those who work to make this place we call home such a wonderful city. In the name of Jesus, whose perfect love sets us free from all fears. Amen.

Council Member Perea, would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? All right, move on to approval of the agenda. City Clerk, are there any announcements, changes, or items already removed from the agenda?

Yes, thank you. Items removed from the agenda. Ceremonial item ID 26-894 regarding proclamation for Young Parents Day was moved to August 27th, 2026 by the sponsor. Item 3A ID 26-regarding workshop South Sata Economic Analysis was moved to September 3rd, 2026 meeting per staff. Item 2P, ID 26-1061, regarding Resolution Adopt the Second Amendment to the Fiscal Year 2027 Salary Resolution Number 2026-157, was tabled by Councilmember Arias. 5I, ID 26-1073, regarding conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, government code section 54956.9, subdivision D, subdivision four, exposure to litigation, one potential case, was moved to August 27, the 2026 meeting by the city manager's office. Item 5G, ID 26-1071, regarding conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, government code 54956.9, subdivision D, subsection four, one potential case was moved to August 27th, 2026, meeting by the city attorney's office. Items moved to contested consent for further discussion. 2H, ID 26-1040, regarding resolution making certifications and claims concerning measure C extension local transportation purposes pass-through projects was moved to contested consent by Councilmember Richardson. 2M, ID 26-998, regarding actions pertaining to a lease agreement between the City of Fresno and Loperena antenna sites for city of Fresno was moved to contested consent by council member Richardson. Item 2Z, ID 26-1048 regarding bill B24 introduced July 30th, 2026 for adoption, adding article 38 of chapter nine of the Fresno municipal code relating to tobacco retailers license was moved to contested consent by council member Richardson. This concludes the changes to the agenda.

ALL RIGHT, THANK YOU, CITY CLERK. ANY ADDITIONAL CHANGES, COUNCIL, COUNCILMEMBER PREYA? COUNCILMEMBER RODRIGUEZ?

COUNCIL PRESIDENT, I JUST HAVE ONE DISCLOSURE OUT OF ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION TO JAY AS IN JACK. I AM DISCLOSING THAT I'M CURRENTLY SUPPOSED TO START SERVING ON THE BOARD OF THE Fresno Clovis Convention and Visitors Bureau, A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION IN WHICH THERE IS NO COMPENSATION TO ME OR THE CITY FOR. All right, thank you.

Council Vice President? Council Member Vang? Council Member Richardson? None. Okay, all right. I will entertain a motion for approval of the agenda. So moved. First, second, third, and fourth. Is there any opposition to approving the agenda? Seeing none, that passes. Okay.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. So we'll move on to the ceremonial presentations. We have a couple now this morning. We had one tabled. Our first proclamation is sponsored by Council Vice President Maxwell and Council Member Richardson. This is a proclamation for Ryan Simon Valdez Day.

If I could please have the Valdez family join us at the front and any friends and family that want to join us as well.

Have someone come on over to this side.

wherever you have maybe . Well, good morning everybody. This is a proclamation that I deliver with a heavy heart this morning. It is not one I've been looking forward to delivering, but it is one I am honored to present because we are honoring the legacy of an extraordinary young man, Ryan Simon Valdez, who unfortunately was taken from us too soon earlier this year, a day before graduating Fresno State with a degree in history. Over the past several months I have learned so many incredible things about this young man from his service to our country, to his interest in sports, to his activity on campus life, to his involvement with his family and his nieces and nephews. He is just an all-around incredible human being and I'm going to let the family talk a little bit more about him today and share some memories that they have about Ryan and invite a special guest speaker up afterwards. BUT I JUST WANT TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I RECOGNIZE WHAT A TERRIBLE AND AWFUL YEAR THAT YOUR FAMILY IS GOING THROUGH. AND ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF Fresno, I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT WE COULD DO, IF THERE'S ANYTHING I COULD PERSONALLY DO, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO CALL ON US. SUCH AN AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL SOUL YOU HAD IN RYAN. AND I KNOW THAT HE'S STILL HERE WITH US, WATCHING US HERE TODAY AND LOOKING OVER US. AND I HOPE THAT YOU FEEL THAT TOO. I'M GOING TO HAND IT OVER TO COUNCILMEMBER RICHARDSON TO DELIVER A FEW REMARKS.

Not going to take long. The only thing I'd like to say is you learn after some time in the military that there's no such thing as an end. Inside our own minds, we kind of deceive ourselves and we convince ourselves there's such thing as the end or the finality of something. And really, that's not true. When you first had your first kid, that wasn't the end of your life as a parentless person. That was the beginning of your life as a parent. Things that we see as the end really aren't. So it's going to take a lot. I know I can't imagine what the family's going through, but I want you to be able to view it. I mean, this is the beginning of Ryan's story being acknowledged and being honored by the city of Fresno. Didn't happen before, and unfortunately it took this, but it's happening now. This is the beginning of his ability to live inside all of you instead of just inside his own body. And this is the beginning of... the L word that, uh, that council member Maxwell mentioned his legacy. It's a beginning of a legacy, right? Legacy while you're still living is a lot harder to manifest than once you're gone and you live on in everyone's memories. So as tough as things are, whether it's the school community, sports community, his friends or his family, um, just keep in mind that, that although on the individual level, this really does feel like an end of something. This is the beginning of something beautiful that he was able to leave as a gift to the world. So, Very sorry for your loss. Know that our hearts and minds are with you.

Anybody want to share a story about Ryan? Anybody from the family want to share a memory? Say a few words.

I had a big sister over here to say a couple words.

I'm Jennifer. I'm the oldest of us three. I want to thank you for doing this for my brother, because he was the best soul that I knew. He was my best friend. He was my shadow growing up, and then he turned into my shade. And he protected me and my sister. And he would have done anything for me and my sister and my four kids. My youngest is not here, because he would run amok. We don't need that. But he was the best person that helped raise because he was always with me my dad and my mom they instilled so much in both of us and my sister but she's still young and mean and my brother I know he's watching on us and I know he's with me every single day and I just want you guys all to just carry him in your hearts and never look at a person and judge them because he never would And he would take the time to get to know you and just any little piece of information he was going to remember and he was going to ask you about it the next time he saw you, no matter what it was. It could be something as small as, look at that penny on the floor that he told you to pick up to have a lucky day or whatever. And then on that day, me and my sister too would like to ask that, call your siblings. go have dinner with them go have breakfast go on a trip we used to love going on our siblings trip and we would go disneyland was our favorite six flags universal the coast anywhere and just keep you guys closer because at the end of the day that's all you guys have and now it's me and my sister and I'm we're doing our siblings trip still and my brother is with us I know he is we just went to Disneyland like I was telling you and went on Grizzly Peak and tell me why me and my sister ended up the most soaked on that damn ride And he's here watching my daughter because that was her nono. And he loved her so much, and I would always complain to him about her, and he'd say, not my baby. And he loved my boys, too, so much. And unfortunately, my son Luca doesn't get to meet him. Well, he met him, but doesn't get to know him. But I will remind him every single day who his Uncle Ryan was. and who that gentle giant he was to all of us. So just please, on that day, call your siblings, even if you haven't spoken to them in a while, because you don't know. I wish I could have my brother every single day. and talk trash on our stink raiders. Well, the season hasn't started yet, but we will. I'll be out there every Sunday. And then, again, don't judge anybody. And anybody who's having the worst day, just a smile and a hi, how are you, is going to change their whole day, because that's what my brother did. He changed my date when he would show up randomly to my house, and I needed just to have a sibling talk with him, to vent or whatever. So, and then I miss him here because he would help pick on my parents with me. So do that too. Pick on your parents with your siblings. It's fun, I swear. But thank you again for doing this for my brother. I know he's looking down and he's in amazement that this is happening for him because he would just think that he was just doing his duty as a human being and being kind to everybody because that's who he was. He didn't care. He didn't care who. So just please move forward with kindness in your heart and love your siblings because that's all, at the end of the day, that's all you have.

Ryan was a devout Catholic. He was a family man. He loved to travel. I saw pictures of him going to Ireland and Prague, living his best life, going to the aquarium. He loved Pokemon. He loved anime. He loved Disneyland and Harry Potter. And the stink raiders, your words, not mine. But he lived a very full life. And as unfortunate that he can't be here with us today, I do know that he is watching over us and that I feel his love in this room with us today.

Would anybody else like to say a couple words?

Talk about an experience or a memory with Ryan?

Yes.

I'd keep it rather brief on my end. My name is Frederick Lisica. I was a friend of Ryan's, and I was in the same veteran education program as him coming into Fresno State. And I've, despite how unfortunate the circumstances are here to why I've gotten to know so much more of his family, friends, and acquaintances these last two months, it's very rare that we meet somebody who is consistently good to others and remembers to tell them what they think of them when they part. from friends, acquaintances, old teachers, old friends, family, people that haven't seen him in a decade. They all said the same thing, that when they parted with Ryan, he would tell them, I love you. Have a great day. I hope I get to see you soon. And I realized that we take those parting moments for granted. We assume and we believe and we know that we're going to have a second time or a second chance to even just say hi and say bye again. And Ryan was such an exceptional person that he somehow made it so that every person that he was around felt loved and cared for and appreciated. And that he, if nobody else acknowledged them that day, Ryan acknowledged them. And that's why so many people loved him. And it's clear to me that way. He did everything, and he gave everything to everyone, and he still had more to give. And I remember he told me when he started the program, he was like, I don't think I can do it. He's like, I want to get involved. He's like, I want to get to know people. I want to be a better man. And I said, all you have to do is just... go try your best. Go join clubs. Go do the best you can. I told him that in passing. I didn't think he was going to go with it, and now I realize he was a part of... I think the count was 11 clubs, and he didn't just sign up for them. He went to every single meeting. He was an officer at five of them. He was cherished, and he appreciated his time here more than... I have to admit that I haven't spent my time here as quality as Ryan has, and it makes me, forces me to remind myself that I have to take a little bit of Ryan with me and act more like him so that I can live with less regrets and that I can feel like I made him proud and that he won't laugh at me for overthinking.

So thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

Hi, I'm Angelica, I'm Ryan's mom. And I just wanted to say thank you, everybody that has come in honor of my son, because my son meant the world to me. And since he's passed, it's been so overwhelming to see how many people my son has left his imprint on, because that's who my son was. He was there whenever anyone needed someone at that moment. And he would be your best friend, he would be your protector, and he would be that person you just need to just open your heart out and cry or tell them what you're wanting to accomplish and you're just not feeling that you're able. that you have that within you to be able to do it and he'd be right there telling you, no, you can do it. You can do anything you set your mind to because that's what my son did. Because my son accomplished a lot within a short life that I am just so proud to be his mom. And I miss him every day. And this is such a huge honor. And my son would be probably saying right now, I don't deserve this or I'm just being myself. You know, because that's who he is. He was very humble. He just wanted to live life to the fullest and that's what he did. And he experienced anything and everything that he wanted to and he set his mind to and nothing was too small or too hard to accomplish for him. He would do his 150% to get where he needed to be and that's what he did. And I'm just so proud of him. I love him and I miss him every day. And again, thank you for this honor on behalf of my son. I am just so grateful.

Thank you for your son's service to our country. And may God continue to watch over his soul. Now therefore be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim Thursday, August 13th, 2026 as Ryan Simon Valdez Day here in the city of Fresno. Thank you. And I did want to invite Dean Stevenson to give a presentation to the family at this time.

Good morning. My name is Terese Stevenson, and I proudly serve as the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Fresno State. We honor Ryan today. Thank you for the opportunity. It is a privilege to be with you this morning. I'm going to ask Robin Gutierrez, who serves in our Veterans Service Department, and Dr. Laura Yeager, who serves as a university registrar, to come forth. On behalf of the state of California University System, on behalf of California State University Fresno, our president, Dr. Suol Jimenez-Sandoval, our vice president for student affairs, Dr. Fong Yang, our provost emeritus, Dr. Fonish Fu, and from veteran services, we would like to honor Ryan with his diploma. He has earned it. And he has all rights and privileges as an alumni of Fresno State, and it says Ryan Simon Valdez is receiving the degree of Bachelor's of Arts in History. Thank you for the opportunity to meet your son. Thank you for the contributions that he gave, not only to Fresno State, but his service to our country. We are deeply sorry for your loss. He will ever remain a Bulldog in our hearts and on our campus. Thank you.

Thank you. City Clerk, would you please read the proclamation into the record?

Yes, thank you. Whereas Ryan Simon Valdez lived with an open heart and a deep sense of purpose, giving freely of himself in service to his country, the people he loved, and every community he proudly called home. And whereas born on May 6, 1997, in Fresno, California, and raised in Selma, Ryan graduated from Selma High School in 2015, where ROTC first gave shape to the call to service that would guide his life. And whereas Ryan carried that call into the United States Army as a 19D cavalry scout from 2016 to 2022, performing reconnaissance in a role that depended upon the trust of those beside him and deepened his lifelong devotion to serving others and standing beside anyone who needed him. And whereas serving in South Korea and Germany with Fort Hood as his home station, Ryan rose to the rank of sergeant, becoming a non-commissioned officer and guiding the soldiers entrusted to his leadership. And whereas after his Army service, Ryan completed his studies in history at Fresno State and prepared to become a high school history teacher, hoping not only to share his lifelong love of history, but to also inspire the next generation of students and change makers and help them learn who they wanted to become. And whereas Ryan embraced campus life, taking every opportunity to learn, compete, connect, and contribute as a proud member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, the Fresno State Rugby Club, the Student Veteran Organization, the Fresno State Esports Club, and the Fresno State Taekwondo Club. And across every team and club, he brought sportsmanship, natural warmth, and a genuine desire to help others find their peace and feel part of something shared. And whereas, Ryan met life with a gentle spirit and joyful curiosity, proudly embracing his many interests, pursuing his ambitions with purpose, and finding happiness in history, gaming, family traditions, laughter, and every new experience he could share with his loved ones. and whereas above every title achievement and uniform ryan was the deeply beloved son of simon valdez jr and angelica ramirez a cherished brother to jennifer and natalie valdez a devoted uncle to patrick ethan and luca a loving godfather and nono to naya brie and best friend to preston carpenter and a man whose presence encouragement and example will remain in the hearts of all who knew him And whereas Ryan passed away on May 14th, 2026, at the age of 29, and the city of Fresno now pauses to honor and celebrate his life and memory, expressing profound gratitude for his service to our nation, admiration for his dedication to education and community, and deepest sympathy to his family, friends, fellow soldiers, classmates, colleagues, and all those whose lives were made better by knowing him. May his kindness, laughter, strength, and love for others endure as his lasting legacy in every life he touched. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council, do hereby proclaim Thursday, August 13th, 2026, as Ryan Simon Valdez Day in the City of Fresno.

Thank you, Council Vice President, Council Member Richardson, as well as the family, very heartwarming presentation. Our second and last proclamation for this morning is gonna be presented by Council Member Radius, and that is a proclamation celebrating Broadway Park and the South Tower Community Land Trust.

Hey guys, come on up. Council President, Council Vice President reminded me that it's Broadway Parque. Parque.

Parque. Is that how you spell it in Spanish? Yes. Parque.

Parque. I love that. Parque. Okay. See, I appreciate the Latino influence you now have, Council Vice President. Thank you. Thank you all for coming today. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize the one-year anniversary of Broadway Parque and the history. I think part of this work that we do in the city is that we have to continuously tell the authentic history of how we got to certain places and make sure the recognition is there for everyone who helped along the way, as well as to maintain the engagement of the public. In this case, Broadway Parque has a long history. One that included a location of a previous police station in the Tower District. And there were plans to do housing and other projects in that property. Kyle and the neighbors got together and advocated for a city park. At that time, we had no money. Measure P did not exist. But there was a will and an interest to build a park in a residential neighborhood in South Tower, as the closest park was too far away. So he led the effort, got a lot of community support, input on the design of the park, WITH THE PASSAGE OF MEASURE P FOR PARKS, WE FINALLY HAD THE RESOURCES TO ACTUALLY BUILD THE PARK. ULTIMATELY, THE CITY FUNDED NEARLY A $3 MILLION NEW PARK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND IT'S CELEBRATING ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY, AS WELL AS KAIO AT THE SAME TIME ESTABLISHED THE SOUTH TOWER COMMUNITY TRUST, WHICH IS ALSO DOING SOME GOOD WORK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. SO WE WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT TO RECOGNIZE THE HISTORY OF BROADWAY PARQUE AS WELL AS THE INITIATION OF SOUTH TOWER COMMUNITY TRUST AND TO THANK EVERYONE FOR BEING ENGAGED ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I FIND THE MOST CHALLENGING AS A COUNCIL MEMBER IS YOU KNOW IT'S THE THE TYPICAL CAN YOU SLOW TRAFFIC DOWN IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD AND CAN YOU SPEED IT UP IN SOMEBODY ELSE'S NEIGHBORHOOD SO I CAN GET TO WORK AND SCHOOL FASTER And ultimately, we tend to be a selfish society. Parks are no different. Everybody would love a park nearby, but everybody also wants a park that closes at 10 o'clock so they can sleep at night and get to work the next day. So there's always a balance. And ultimately, what we find is most useful is that the neighbors are engaged from day one. the neighbors continue to be engaged after the park opens, and the neighbors are the ones that create activities in the park while also not letting it become a concert hall so the neighbors can actually sleep and get to work and school the next day. So with that, I'll turn it over to Kyle. Thank you for your advocacy and for everyone else. I know you've got a bookstore now in your building, which I appreciate. Just a political platform. If somebody was advocating for a public building that gave away free books, I think some in today's society would argue that that was a woke and a socialist idea. So I'm glad that our forefathers recognized that free libraries and libraries are good, and community libraries are absolutely exceptional too. So thank you all for being woke, being engaged, and being part of the Tower neighborhood and community.

Thank you so much Councilmember Arias. I really appreciate your collaboration throughout the process of us doing the park as well as building up our organization building up the development capacity of our neighborhood to make an impact on housing and park access and community spaces as well as Doing it in a beautiful way along the process Very much all of this work has been collaborative and I've been honored to lead this work, lead neighbors, lead the formation of the South Tower Community Land Trust that now employs five people with well-paying jobs. I think nonprofits sometimes are under-recognized as job creators and economic drivers in our neighborhoods. I think we're doing that with South Tower Community Land Trust and making our neighborhood A better place to live with access to outdoor space. We have had one third of an acre per thousand residents of park space, while our general plan calls for three acres per thousand residents. So we're going to be back in this room fighting for more parks, fighting for more funding for housing. Also want to recognize Patience Millrod and Dan O'Connell, who have both mentored me around advancing community land trusts and community work in general. I think, you know, carrying this work forward and doing it in a collaborative way is really important and you see that with our board and staff here and really proud of the leaders that we're developing together. And one shout out, we have our Queer Housing Summit in August 21st, 22nd next week. Several of the council members have supported over the year. Annalise Preya, Nelson Esparza, yourselves, your office have supported this event. We're not just making an impact in our neighborhood, but we're using the work that we're doing in our neighborhood to draw in national attention and highlight national work around equitable housing for the LGBTQ plus community. And we're doing that with Queer Housing Summit. And so really honored to be doing that work together. Thank you.

Thank you, Kyle, and thank all of you for the time and the commitment. I'm constantly reminded that we are simply temporary caretakers of our city, government, and it is residents who are the permanent stakeholders of our neighborhoods and our communities. So thank you for playing your critical role. I love the fact that Tower has some of the most engaged residents, and you always tend to re-correct us when we go off basis. So keep up the good work, even at times it feels like you have to knock us over the head a few times. So it's all well worth it and appreciated. City Clerk?

Council Member before the City Clerk reads the proclamation. Kyle, I think it was about 10 years ago where we designed a banner and put it up at the Broadway Parque location. And it said, call your council member and start advocating for a new park. And we canvassed the neighborhood. And so it's really cool just to kind of see you specifically carry forward the mission and see it through fruition. So great work.

everyone i i just a closing comment as we're talking about the authentic history i forgot to mention candidate annalisa prayer was part of the work early on she was also part of the work of saving and preserving the tower theater and a lot of other good work and now initiator of a neighborhood library in tower so thank you for your work we expect to get us some money to take next year

Whereas the vision for Broadway Parquet was conceived by dedicated community members beginning in 2017, reflecting their grassroots efforts to enhancing their very own community and neighborhood, and whereas the design and funding of Broadway Parquet have been entirely achieved through local resources, including funds secured through Measure P, demonstrating strong community investment and desire. And whereas Broadway Parque represents the first green space in South Tower District in over 30 years, addressing a significant need for accessible recreational areas. and whereas the groundbreaking for broadway parquet occurred on july 31st 2025 marking the culmination of eight years of planning advocacy and collaborative effort and whereas the community advocacy group responsible for initiating the park project committed to continue the momentum of impacting community spaces and affordable housing by funding the south tower community land trust on july 26 2022 And whereas South Tower Community Land Trust since 2022 has created five jobs, created five public art pieces, hosts an annual queer housing summit that draws a national audience to Fresno, owns five properties, including two affordable homes, eight new homes and new farmers market in development. And whereas South Tower Community Land Trust is celebrating its fourth anniversary since incorporating, and Broadway Parquet is celebrating its first anniversary since opening, encouraging local presidents to organize, persist, and turn a dream into reality, utilizing local support and input every step of the way. Now, therefore, be it resolved, we, the Fresno City Council and Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, do hereby proclaim the 13th of August, 2026, as Broadway Parquet and South Tower Day in the City of Fresno. Thank you.

All right, fantastic. I'm gonna move on to council member reports and comments. Council member Perea. Council member, I'll skip over him. Council vice president, do you have any comments? Council member Ving.

Thank you very much, council president. D5 just completed our second annual backpack giveaways at Jackson Elementary and Sequoia Middle School this last week. We were able to provide free school supplies, haircuts, and health screenings for our students. I want to thank our sponsors who make these events possible. PG&E, Producers Dairy, Anthem Blue Cross Community Health System, Mid Valley Disposal, Legacy Construction, Vista Consulting, Central Valley Community Foundation, United Health Centers, Ironworkers, Local 155, and Target. And thank you to our community partners, Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central California, Fresno Unified School District Community Schools, Familias and Action, Love Peace Football, and the Jackson CDC who help make these events possible. And lastly, thank you to my staff for their hard work. That's all I have, Council President. Thank you.

Council Member Arias, circle back to you. Thank you, Council President. Just one announcement. The deadline to register to be a food vendor or a vendor in general for the annual Downtown Fresno Fiestas Patias is tomorrow, August 14th. So please go ahead and register if you want to be a vendor for the festivities. That's all, Council President. Council Member Richardson.

Yep, keep it quick. It's a beautiful day in District 6. We, on August 3rd, celebrated the grand opening of UCP+. If you're not familiar with UCP+, it used to be United Cerebral Palsy, and now they've expanded their services to extend to a large community of varying ability levels that teaches life skills like cooking and, you know, taking care of clothing and balancing a checkbook and things like that. And just seeing the family and the people that are affected by this sort of resource in the city was a... It was a... Very emotional experience. So next time you're driving by the northeast corner of Maple and Nees, take a look over there at UCP Plus, and you'll probably see them at future District 6 events. So congratulations, UCP Plus, on the hard work and the new opportunity. That's all I had, Council President.

Thank you, Councilman Richardson. That's everybody except for myself. I first off want to thank everyone who came out to our eighth and final Beat the Heat event at Romaine Park last night. It was incredible to have over 1,000 attendees enjoying one last summer celebration before school starts here next week. A huge thank you to our community partners who made it possible, from the nonprofits who attended to the Fresno Police Department and their cadets for helping, Fresno Fire Department, and one of my favorite taco shops, El Premio Mayor, for keeping everyone fed. And most of all, thank you to my team for putting together eight years of this event and making the final one such a special success. Very, very happy, very pleased. I think the kids all had a great time. As a reminder about our 20 mile per hour speed limit. As students across Fresno return to the classrooms this week and next, again, I want to remind everyone that our new 20 mile per hour school zone speed limits are now in full effect. Please slow down. Please stay alert and give yourself a little bit of extra time during your commute. Getting to school safely really starts with all of us doing our part behind the wheel. So you'll see those signs. You've been seeing them. I know in some of the more advanced cars, it kind of clocks the speed limit on your car and tells you if you're going over. But many of our vehicles don't have that feature. So it's incumbent upon us to be able to just watch and obey the new traffic law there within the school zones. Lastly, I want to invite folks to join Beautify Fresno team in my office this coming Saturday morning over at Homeless Playground for a community cleanup event. Volunteer and help beautify the First and Tulare area in District 7, and we hope to have you join us. Actually, that wasn't lastly. I did sort of want to address kind of the elephant in the room. And just for folks who are wondering or folks who are curious, I want to just kind of state a few things that are true as of this morning. with respect to these taxes that we're seeing, our tax proposals. One fact is that the Fresno County Clerk is still not in possession of the documents necessary to place the Measure C renewal on the ballot for November of 2026, and thereby still has not placed it on the ballot. Additionally, for folks who have been watching the news, there are now two active lawsuits seeking to prevent the Measure C renewal from appearing on the ballot, despite the efforts of AB 1923. And so as a result, it's looking increasingly like the fate of Measure C being on the ballot in 2026 will be decided by a judge or by our judicial system. And so as of today, where we stand this morning, there's one tax measure on the ballot, and that is the city's backstop tax measure that will go away anyway if the measure C does appear on the ballot and it gets passed. Obviously, the very short notice nature of yesterday's special meeting didn't allow for my attendance, but in case I have not been clear about my intentions to leave the city fiscally solvent, In case anyone was still wondering where I stand, we are not going to recklessly leave the city's finances in the hands of our judicial system. We will instead leave it in the hands of the residents of the city. Thank you, and with that, I'll ask if the administration or city manager has any additional comments on behalf of the administration.

Council President, real quick, do you have a time for that Beautify Fresno event tomorrow or Saturday?

Saturday, it typically is 9 a.m. I'll double check, but especially in the summer times, it may get bummed down to 8.30 because of the heat, but I'll double check that and get back to you. City Manager, any comments?

I don't have anything this morning, Council President.

Okay, sounds good. All right, we'll move on to our agenda. We will go ahead and take, at this point, we don't have any timed items. Those have all been punted or rescheduled, it looks like, from my side here. So we'll move on to the consent agenda. Before we vote on that, obviously we have some items pulled, but we're going to take public comments on any item that's on the consent agenda or the contested consent or the closed session agenda as well. So now would be the opportunity to be able to speak. COMMENT. I DO HAVE SOME CARDS, AND AGAIN, JUST FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC, WE'RE DOING PUBLIC COMMENTS ON THE CONSENT AGENDA, IT'S CONTESTED CONSENT, THOSE ITEMS THAT YOU HEARD WERE PULLED EARLIER FOR DISCUSSION, AS WELL AS THE CLOSED SESSION AGENDA. SO I DID HAVE A FEW CARDS. I CANNOT READ THE NAME ON THIS CARD. SHERMUA? ARMONA? I would spell it, but I can't really make out the handwriting. The first two letters, S-H, and then I think it's Mola or Mona. Okay. All right, well, I have some cards related to the tobacco retail license, so I'll call up David Rios. This item is on the consent agenda, or now contested consent. David Rios. Okay. Okay. Next card is for Elijah Davila. Elijah. Welcome, you have three minutes.

Hi, council. My name is Elijah. I'm a volunteer. Thank you. I'm a volunteer with the Vaya Project and the Tobacco Free and I'm a young person in this community. I'm here today to speak about the tobacco retail license. I've seen how vaping can affect young people. What may seem harmless at first can become a habit that is hard to break and can lead to addiction and other challenges. I've seen people struggle with using flavored tobacco products, and I know how easily it could become part of everyday life. That's why I'm asking you to strengthen the tobacco retail license by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products with no exemptions, keeping new tobacco retailers away from places where young people hang out, and opening up within a thousand feet of youth safe place. Set minimum in packaging size to reduce access to low-cost tobacco products. Don't allow coupons or discounts that make tobacco cheaper. Young people deserve to grow up without being targeted by products that can lead to addiction. We deserve leaders who listen to our experiences and take action. Council Member Maxwell, I live in your district. Please strengthen the tobacco retail license and help protect the health of young people in our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Next card I have is going to be for Bill Bunnell.

Thank you. Hi, my name is Bill Bunnell. I'm a board member of the APCA, the Local Trade Association for convenience stores and liquor stores primarily, as well as gas stations with convenience stores. I'm talking about the same tobacco bill that the gentleman before me just spoke on and what he just said is Gives light to the reason why it'd be great if we could table this item until we can talk to All the members or some of the members so far We haven't had a chance to talk to any of them But the thousand yard distance he was talking about were even in favor of a 250 yard distance or foot distance rather So that's one example of where I think if we all talked we could make the bill better. So first off and foremost, I'd like to ask if we could delay it. I'd like to point out some deficiencies in the bill and some things that might be added. One of the things that gentleman had mentioned was all these promotions that the tobacco companies force on us, we can't tell them no or our prices on things are so high that we lose our ability To keep that customer who also buys coffee and other things from us So we were we would like to see a minimum margin law and that's been tested constitutionally and it's even been done in tobacco states like Tennessee for instance and it showed that because the youth that smoked are the ones with the least amount of disposal income that smoking went down tremendously so that's one more example of how we could make the bill stronger the other thing is i think you're going to have your code enforcement running around chasing their tail because and you can talk to them directly The people that are doing this are mostly these cigarette tobacco stores. People like the people in our trade association have ABC licenses and all these things that are being done are illegal. So we're regulated by that. We could lose our liquor license. And if we lose our liquor license, we're 100% out of business. If we lose our tobacco license, you're still in business and they can still do wacky stuff here or there. So those are two of the main things I wanted to bring up. And I hope that you guys can delay this a week or two or however long. I know you've got your hands super full with this Measure C item. But if we got a chance to talk to you, I think we could make it better the same way we worked with Miguel to make the neighborhood markets act better and Over time, we're going to get to the levels that Miguel and Nelson had wanted in that bill, but we'll do it in a reasonable way instead of putting people out of business. I hope you'll consider delaying it for these reasons amongst others. Thank you.

Thank you, Bill. Next speaker I have is going to be Daniel Gonzalez.

Good morning, Council. My name is Daniel Gonzalez, and I proudly serve as co-chair for the Fresno County Tobacco Free Coalition. The coalition is committed to protecting the health of the community, particularly residents disproportionately affected by tobacco use and availability. We are a network of community members and public health advocates and health equity leaders within Fresno. I want to thank Council President Esparza, Vice President Maxwell, and Council Member Carbasi for bringing forth the Tobacco Retail License Ordinance for the City of Fresno. We believe this ordinance will build upon the steadfast work of community advocates to ensure a healthy and thriving Fresno. An ordinance such as this is supported by Fresno residents. A 2024 public opinion survey conducted by the Fresno County Department of Public Health found that 82% of respondents supported requiring tobacco retailers to obtain a local license to sell tobacco products. 88% support limiting the proximity of tobacco retailers in relation to schools and other locations frequently patronized by youth. And 77% support the phase out of flavored tobacco products. Although I stand before you today supporting this policy, it is by recommendation from the coalition that there are amendments added to the TRL to further ensure that this is a positive step towards health equity in Fresno. Recommendations indicated by the coalition were the following. Limit the density of new tobacco retailers and prohibiting new retailers from opening within 1,000 feet of youth-oriented areas, ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products with no exemptions, and a mandatory proactive annual inspection for all tobacco retailers. A comprehensive TRL with these recommendations maintains the responsible practices of good acting merchants and opens the door for all tobacco retailers to adopt the same responsible practices. I am grateful for the introduction of this policy that will address the harmful effects tobacco has done to marginalized communities in the city. I also look forward to working alongside the council president, respective council members, and city departments to ensure that the TRL being qualified into law is one that continues to protect Fresno residents. So I appreciate your time and I graciously urge you all to pass this landmark policy with the recommended amendments. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is going to be Andy Chikara. Welcome, you have three minutes.

Good morning, Council President, members of City Council. My name is Andy Chukara. I'm here to represent APCA and all the local city retailers. I've been very upfront for the last 15, 20 years of the tobacco uses and alcohol uses among the kids. All our kids are born and raised into the C-store stuff, and we sympathize and we totally agree with the city's intention on this goal. But first, I want to be very clear that we are not here to oppose enforcement against illegal tobacco sales or bad operators. But AFCA has supported the city before, including the efforts to clean the problem among the smoke shops, which when Ms. Nelson was part of it and openly AFCA members and myself had helped and supported that thing, which is going to go into effect, which is November. Last year, we supported your city tobacco ordinance in good faith because we believe action against the bad operators were necessary. The ordinance was only recently implemented, and we believe it should be given a time to work and show results. President Pryor's Tobacco Detailers Ordinance was adopted back in 2025. We believe that in November or so you will see the implementation implementations of that and results of that one. Our concern today is this process. We only recently became aware of this details of this new ordinance. Since then, we have been reaching out to the city council member, author, and co-authors. We have not been able to get hold of them. It was not possible to sit down and give our input to make it more effective. We operate this business every single day. We know where the problems are. We believe that our experience can help the city, just like the good condition use permit we had helped with Ms. Arias. We are respectfully asking you to table and continue this ordinance. Give us a reasonable opportunity to sit down with the the sponsors and city staff before it passes. If council decides to move forward with this one, we also have sent an email to each of your council members to consider those points. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Our next speaker we have is Balwinder Singh.

Good morning Council, good morning Council President. I'm here today on behalf of APCA as the chapter president for Fresno and local municipality areas. Our goal here today is not to cancel this ordinance. We also believe in 90% of the ordinance is very well written and the stance that it does provide protection for community members around the area. The issue at hand is the fact that business members around the community have not able to give an input on how this ordinance will affect businesses and how they run on a daily operational stance. We are also businesses that carry alcohol licenses among the city. We also have strict rules and regulations that allow us to not sell illegal products which are enhanced in this ordinance. paraphernalia is not part of our businesses. We do not sell those items. We are restricted in many ways already on top of every rule and regulation that the city may put forth. So with the trust that this ordinance would be a lot better if we sat down with local representatives that are part of the business stakeholders and the people that put these businesses in clear light in the stance that we give back to the community 100%. So wholeheartedly, we are behind every community member behind us. We have also given the city council our stance on this with numerous actions to communicate and give our stance on what we feel that this ordinance could be in the future. We agree with the city council on presenting this. We also just want to make sure that the stakeholders involved have a say in due process in the way this ordinance will affect their business and overall operations from day to day. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next card is going to be for Baolia Xiong.

All righty, good morning, everyone. My name is Baolea. I'm a Fresno resident of District 1 and a member of the Fresno County Tobacco-Free Coalition. My work is a nonprofit and in public health, and ensuring communities' health is a priority. I want to commend the council members for spearheading the TRL efforts. It's been a long time coming. I understand no one likes additional fees. I get that, but when selling products that are addicting and makes people sick, having a program in place like a TRL helps establish and coordinate processes that ensures retailers operate responsibly and provide accountability when they do not. With budget cuts affecting many orgs, including my own, reliance on government funding for enforcement and code compliance efforts can be uncertain. A TRL program can help create a more sustainable approach to supporting these important public health protections. There's also opportunities to strengthen the TRL, like my colleague Daniel had mentioned, provisions related to retail proximity to use sensitive locations like schools and considerations around retailer density can serve additional measures to reduce the availability of tobacco products. This is my line of work. I do this full-time, but it's also personal. It's important for me to help educate cities on evidence-based approaches to build healthier communities. I work with schools and provide tobacco education. I have school officials sharing bags of vape products. If we were to ask them if they want these stores near them, they would say no. These provisions won't solve everything, but they will help make tobacco less easy for access and exposure, especially for our young people. I'm not here to press anything. I'm just educating. If this subject does come up at council again, the coalition we're here to support. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker is going to be Jasmine. And as a reminder, we're currently doing public comment for any item that was on the consent agenda, contested consent or closed session agenda.

Good morning to everyone. My name is Jasmine. I'm a Fresno resident and I'm here on behalf of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Thank you to the city council for introducing a tobacco retail licensing program. This is an important step toward protecting young people, reducing illegal tobacco sales and holding retailers accountable. We encourage the city the council to clarify the pathway and timeline for strengthening this ordinance after today's introduction, including opportunities for community and public health input before the second reading and through future amendments. To create a more comprehensive TRL, we urge the council to consider a license fee sufficient to fully fund administration annual inspections and compliance rechecks after violations. Strong penalties, including fines and license suspension or revocation for repeated violations, Restrictions on tobacco retailer density and proximity to schools, parks, and youth-oriented locations. A comprehensive local prohibition on flavored tobacco products. including products not fully covered under state law minimum prices and minimum tax sizes for tobacco products a prohibition on coupons discounts and other price promotions a prohibition on tobacco sales in pharmacies and stores containing pharmacies and on annual compliance inspections for every retailer and recheck within three months after a violation we appreciate the council moving forward with the trl and look forward to working with the city with the city community partners and residents to strengthen this policy over time. Many community members who care deeply about this issue could not be here today, as these items are scheduled during standard business hours and required to be able to take time off from work. So residents literally need to take the whole day off just to be here. So your decision on TRL will affect their children, their neighborhoods, and their health, even if they couldn't be here in this room. Thank you.

Next speaker is going to be Sukbir Bandal.

Good morning, respected council members and council president. Addiction is a real issue that cannot be ignored. A different program should be implemented to address it, emphasizing personal accountability. I moved here in Fresno in 2000. I was associated with retail business selling liquor and tobacco. I had two kids who crawled into stores, went to schools, Right now one of them is a physician, a second year resident, and the other one is doing RN. So what I'm trying to say is that, and I can assure for other retailers too, so by looking at or having the products availability does not assure that they're going to have the addiction. We can have different programs for that. Rather than creating new laws, existing regulations should be enforced to reduce the availability of tobacco and other harmful products. Imposing a 1,000 fee on all tobacco retailers is both absurd and unnecessary. It is unfair to penalize the majority of law-abiding retailers for the actions of few. The proper approach should involve imposing heavy fines on violators and penalties increasing for subsequent violations, potentially leading to a suspension and also creating strict laws. If a fee is deemed necessary, it should be negotiated and It should be amended to a more reasonable amount that won't burden retailers, especially in an economy where many businesses are struggling to survive. I request to delay this proposition for further studies and negotiations. Thank you.

Next card is going to be for Krista.

Good morning. I wanted to talk about item ID 261045, amending sidewalk vending ordinance. There's a part in here, section Q. It reads, vending of services or anything other than food or merchandise is unlawful and subject to chapter 10, article 6, as a public nuisance. Vending of services is unlawful even if the vending of services is combined with the vending of food and merchandise. I just had a question. I know you guys aren't answering right now, but when I read this as a vendor, I'm not sure what that means as far as services are unlawful. Um, I just, if I were to apply for this and let's say I do offer services, I would just want to know, like, what are the parameters that are deemed as unlawful? Um, we are a big vending community here in Fresno. So I feel like maybe the wordage can be a little bit more clear because, um, to me, I read it as, as, as vague. So it would be cool to have some clarity on that and that's it. Thank you.

Thank you. A city attorney, someone from code enforcement could briefly advise my question. Yeah, we have to move on to the meeting. Thank you. Next speaker is going to be David Rios.

Hello, council. My name is David. I'm a volunteer with the valet project, volunteer, and tobacco free coalition. I'm here to speak for the kids in my community. I see vaping around kids and teens, and I know that once someone starts, it's gonna be really hard to stop. I believe kids should grow up in a community where we aren't surrounded by tobacco products or encouraged to try them. Please help make our community healthier by stopping the sales of all flavored tobacco. Keeping new tobacco stores away from places where kids spend time, like our parks, and coupons and discounts that make tobacco products cheaper should not be allowed. Council Member Maxwell, I live in your district. Kids deserve to be healthier, safe, and listened to. Please listen to our voices and take action. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't have any more yellow cards, but I do have some folks on Zoom queued up to speak. Again, as a reminder to the public, we're on the portion of public comment with respect to anything on the consent agenda or the contested consent agenda or a closed session. So if you're in the chamber and would like to speak, go ahead and bring up a yellow card. Meanwhile, we're going to go over to some of the Zoom speakers. First up, we have Joseph Rodriguez. Hello. Yes. Welcome, Joseph. You have three minutes. Joseph, you have to unmute yourself. We're on public comment for the consent agenda. Hello. Can you hear me now? Yes. Now we can hear you. Yes.

Sorry about that. I just wanted to talk about the closed door session items. I feel like there are a lot of them seeing so much litigation from the city having to. Well, I mean, I don't know, really, because they're closed door sessions. So I would say maybe cities getting sued a lot from decisions the council's making. It's really disappointing. It's also disappointing. People don't show up to their jobs yesterday. Glad to see that the council's all there today. We had a really important meeting yesterday. Some of you guys missed and it's leading to litigation. All these decisions that you guys are making, I would say before you make them to really think them over to not just rush through, you know, proposals on 72 hours, wasting our taxpayer money, also our time. And then more taxpayer money now paying out different settlements, paying lawyers for litigation. There's so many things that come up when you guys make mistakes. And all it takes is maybe more discussion, maybe more public input, reaching out to the public to say things like, hey, what do you guys want? What do you guys think? Here's the plan. instead of just trying to ram through plans that don't have the public's input. Now we're all gonna have to rise up and vote no on things that are rushed and don't make sense. We definitely don't like blank checks being written to the city council and mayor. So I would say to the council to just really be mindful of the ramifications of your actions because there are future litigations and closed door sessions that I'm sure will be coming up for who knows how long. And it's just disappointing as someone who lives here in Fresno to see our taxpayer dollars going to so many different settlements and litigations. And just really guys, I mean, thank you to the three council members who showed up yesterday, You guys really need to do your homework. And for those who are not long for this council, please continue to still show up and do your jobs. Thank you.

Next speaker on Zoom is going to be Brian Lam. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Welcome, you have three minutes.

Sounds good. Well, good morning, council and city staff. My name is Brian Lim, and I am speaking on behalf of the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance. Just some background on us. We are a statewide trade association representing independent gas station convenience store owners across the state, including here in the city of Fresno. And I just wanted to speak on the proposed tobacco retail license ordinance. That's on the consent calendar, and I just want to start with saying, you know, we share the council's desire to protect public health as. Members of the community as well, but we respectfully request that council delay the item to collect stakeholder perspectives to. Help inform that decision and I also just wanted to call attention to. some regulatory strategies that were touched on by certain public speakers, namely the distancing restrictions on the city's tobacco retail license holders. Now, you know, enacting these excessive restrictions is honestly a blanket policy approach that will penalize responsible retailers While doing honestly little to address the issue at hand and demand will not disappear. It'll simply be shifted away from the city's local businesses towards neighboring jurisdictions or. In worst case, you know, the illicit market and with these. These customers will be taking valuable sales and tax revenue with them. So that'll be a detriment to the city as a whole as well. And I just wanted to close out by saying Fresno's retailers are open and willing to be a resource as these discussions develop. And I extend the invite to the city to work with us to ensure a balanced and effective policy approach moving forward. Thank you for your time and consideration.

All right, thank you. Next speaker is going to be Julio Lopez on Zoom.

Thank you so much, City Council President Esparza and City Council. My name is Julio Lopez. I am a Senior Program Manager with the Youth Leadership Institute and a member of the Fresno County Tobacco Free Coalition. And I just wanted to share my support for the TRL along with some, we request as a coalition, some provisions being made to the TRL, which is limiting density for new tobacco retailers and prohibiting New retailers are opening within a thousand feet of youth oriented areas such as schools and public parks. The end of sale of all flavored tobacco products with no exemptions and mandatory proactive annual inspections of all tobacco retailers and I also want to share a little bit about the young people that we work with at YLI. We have young people from all across Fresno, the city of Fresno, and they've been watching and listening to all the conversations around tobacco. They've written letters and we've had some of our staff go up and read those letters on behalf of our young people who are usually in school during this time. So our young people are watching as well and our young people are also listening and they also care about this issue. Thank you so much.

All right, next speaker on Zoom is going to be Lisa Flores.

Good morning, can you hear me, Nelson?

Yes, Lisa, welcome. You have three minutes.

Okay, two things. A thousand feet from a school or a sensitive receptor for the cigarettes or these vaping things is too short. I would love to see vaping in Fresno completely gone. Because as a high risk heart patient and somebody with congestive heart failure, it's difficult when I go out to deal with the people with cigarettes, the adults with cigarettes, these kids with those vaping things. I don't need those toxic stew that they're putting in their lungs and mind because that can hasten the process of my slow process of congestive heart failure. so be as restrictive as you possibly can be because it is not only about the kids being addicted but becoming addicted but it's also about those of us in the community that have to breathe the secondhand smoke the vapors second thing i want to bring up is i want to thank miguel arias mr vang and mr richardson for showing up yesterday um the rest of you you know you've got that big raise a few years back because your job was taxing and all, but you didn't show up last night. Now, I understand this home literacy is a very taxing, very intricate,

Lisa, we're on public comment related to the consent agenda, contested consent, or closed session. So please keep your comments directed in that direction.

Well, it is in regards to closed session, because that's what you were going to talk about yesterday. And I would hope that the city also sues Gary Bredefil for attorney fees, because I believe it's outside his realm of authority to do what he's doing. and he needs to learn a lesson, not to quit wasting people's time and especially to quit wasting taxpayers' dollars, not only of the County of Fresno, but also of the citizenry of Fresno. Thank you.

Thank you, Lisa. I don't have any other speakers punched up on Zoom. I don't have any other yellow cards or any additional public comment on consent, contested consent or the closed session agenda. Seeing none, would enclose public comments. And I'll come back up to the council. I'll entertain a motion for approval of the consent agenda. Motion? I'll second that. Any opposition to approving the balance of the consent agenda? Seeing none, that passes. Any question?

Yeah.

All right, seeing none, that passes five to zero. I think, yeah, five, zero. All right, it looks like at this point we've got the contested consent agenda. Clerk, remind me which items we have on the contested consent?

2H, 2M, and 2Z.

H, M, and Z?

Correct.

OK, great.

All right, let's. Sorry, was P added back to consent? Was P moved? I still have that as pulled from consent to contest. P, I believe, was removed.

Was tabled.

Was tabled. Got it, thank you.

Yeah. So let's see, we'll move on to item 2H here. And Council Member Richardson, you pulled this?

Yes, I did. Santino? No. Thanks for coming up here. Can you give us in the public just a little background on what this is talking about and the necessity for it?

Yes, absolutely. Good morning, council, council president. This is an item that we bring for council consideration and approval annually to accept the annual approval. apportionments and certifications of Measure C allocations from Fresno County to the City of Fresno. So this is business as usual for our 26-27 allocations for this current year.

Okay, so this time next year we will not be seeing this come back given the expiration of Measure C, is that correct?

Your guess is as good as mine at this point, but... I think we'll all know more soon in the coming weeks.

Regardless of if anything comes back to us like this, it won't say measure C on it because measure C doesn't. That's correct, yes. Okay, that's all I had. Okay. Yeah, motion to approve.

We have a motion and a second. Is there any opposition to approving item 2H? Seeing none, that passes four to zero. Yeah, four to zero. All right. Item 2M, also pulled by Council Member Richardson. Director Horn here.

All right. Director Barr, good morning. Good morning. How are you? Not too bad. Just speak real quick, if you don't mind. to Owens Mountain and how Owens Mountain, as a retran site or otherwise, is able to augment the city's communication capabilities. It seems like it's a little out there.

So I'll talk about it at high level. If you want to get into the details, Director Horne is here behind me. So essentially, this is an essential communication site for the city's public safety communications, and it covers the majority of North Fresno. It covers other areas, but primarily North Fresno.

Okay, so is it actively used by the city as a retrans? Is that the purpose it's serving up there? Is it a retrans site? Is it an amplifier? Is it connecting us with outside agencies? Or is it internal to internal?

I'm going to allow Director Horne to get into the weeds on this. I'll do that. One moment.

Morning, Council. Brian Horne, CIO for Information Services. So Owens Mountain is very high. It blankets the city, actually the valley in Fresno. It originally was used for North Central Fire District and us when we have more central here We still have equipment there. It's basically, you know a Transponder receiver, you know for North Fresno, but it does cover all the areas because it will go far as tranquility So it is it is very high. It's very important very essential for our public radio station system

Okay, and this is used by PD and fire?

Yeah, we use it. It's for us. It's a site that carries multiple, you know, county. We have it. City of Clovis is up there. But we're up there with our equipment, and this purpose is for us. Copy that. But it is actively used. Okay. And it is essential to the, if I don't have Owens Mountain, I don't know what I'd do. for the entire coverage that I need because there's nothing else out there that high. So it's very strategic and very valuable to us.

Location, location, location. Okay, I appreciate that. With that, Council President, motion to approve to Mike.

We have a motion, I'll second that.

President, I do have one question for IT on this item. My apologies. Director, why aren't we securing our own facility? if it's mission critical to the infrastructure? Why are we leasing private space?

So Councilmember, you were out when this conversation was happening. So Owens Mountain is at an elevation of 1,000 feet. I understand. Which is well above the elevation of the city of Fresno. So it covers a wide range of Fresno, which we would have to have foreign tennis sites on the ground just to make up for this, which is why it's so critical for us to have it at 1,000 feet.

But my question is, why aren't we acquiring property at 1,000 feet? and having our own facility versus leasing private facilities?

That would be a multi-million dollar investment. Obviously, location is important. There are no parcels. When you talk about county property, we're talking about hundreds of acres. In fact, the minimum that you can purchase in the county is 40 acres, which is what this site is, specifically on the top of Owens Mountain. We have a smoking deal at $23,000 a year, which is far less would it be than constructing our own facility. Thank you.

All right, we have a motion, we have a second. Is there any opposition to approving item 2M? M as in Mary? Seeing none, that passes five to zero. All right, on contested consent, we're going over to item 2Z, tobacco retail license. This item is sponsored by myself, Council Member Karbasi, and Council Member, Council Vice President Maxwell. It was pulled by Council Member Richardson. Council Member, I'll let you have the floor. Would the sponsors like to speak on it first? No, we had this discussion last week, so we'll hand it over to you for now.

Okay. Looking through, so I know that when we had the discussions about the smoke shops last year, and we also heard this echoed today from the audience, there's nothing in this ordinance that speaks to proximity from sensitive locations. Is that on purpose? Is that something that maybe we'd be open to an amendment to discuss? That's one of the things I'd like to talk about. I think that even the representatives here from their respective industries have spoken about being in favor of some sort of distance from schools and other sensitive areas. I think that would be something responsible to add to this. City Attorney, if what we passed last year already applies to this and there's no need, it would be double dipping. If there's no need to add that distance to this as well, that's okay, but please advise on that. if you want to right now.

Yeah, just preliminarily, and I can have Angela or Erica come up and get in the weeds on it, but my understanding is that this ordinance is strictly about the licensing procedure. Um, and so anything about, uh, distance from sensitive use areas, uh, we can address outside of this and we might meet, we may actually have existing, uh, laws on the books. Okay.

Good morning council member. Um, so you may recall last fall, uh, This body adopted the tobacco retail ordinance, which provided code enforcement the tools to enforce on things such as sensitive uses. And so it is included in that prior ordinance. And as the city attorney just indicated, this particular ordinance establishes the fee, and that's it.

Okay, so when it talks about the applicability and the issuance of the license, that distance is something that, because we already have the TRO, would be taken into account along with everything else that's on page 11? Yes. Okay, copy that, thank you. I know it was brought up and I received from the public some, hey, kind of requests, would you consider this? Would you consider that when it comes to TRL? And I'll be honest, not all of them did I agree with. Some of them I think were worded differently, but I do think there's some opportunity there for what we get paid to do, which is kind of work together and make concessions to come up with a good middle ground that helps everybody, or at least the most people. The second thing, so with the legal investigative costs, I would imagine there's a broader city policy that applies to this, and I haven't run into it yet. So again, city attorney or maybe even somebody from code, you might be able to speak to this a little bit. When the city goes in and whether it's code enforcement or otherwise initiates it, and they do some sort of investigation. Once that's done, if there are any legal actions that go on after that and it's found that the person investigated or the entity investigated is indeed at fault, can you speak, and to the extent you can't speak to it, that's fine, just tell me, does the city have a cost of recourse or a recuperation of cost for legal fees, investigative fees, and all those other things that are factored in when the fines and fees are paid or levied upon the other entity?

When the fines and fees are paid?

when they're levied upon whoever we investigated. So say you go, you bust some business because they're, you know, selling vodka to kindergartners or whatever. When you go in there and you bust them for whatever the violation is, all of our investigative fees, all of our legal fees, if there's a legal challenge, whatever else, those costs are then imposed upon that entity we investigated.

So with respect to tobacco specifically, we did impose a fee per illegal package that they would be cited for. We also imposed a fee for, I mean, there's a fee in the master fee schedule for like an unlicensed business. And so they have been issuing citations and that would be levied against the property owner, yes.

Okay, let's take this one step further. If there's a legal challenge. Council Member Richardson, and just to expand, just real quick, I'm sorry to cut you off. Section 9-3812 sub C includes citations different avenues for the city to recover costs, including attorney's fees, investigation costs, abatement, things like that?

Yes, it does. I'm worried about the other direction. This is why I'm leading this this way. What happens in the instance that something is pursued or investigated or whatever else, and it's determined that whatever is being sold, that there's an issue, right, or there's a mistake in the course of enforcement and investigation, Is there any sort of recourse that the entity can take to recover those costs from the city for legal fees or what have you?

Well, typically with all of the citations, they have an opportunity to appeal. Okay. So they would appeal that to the administrative hearing officer, and at that point they would be heard and given an opportunity to be heard. If there was a mistake, we would certainly consider that in waiving the fee or negotiating some other settlement.

Okay, so in the instance, they could waive the violation potentially, but whatever cost they expended to pursue that appeal, they're not going to recover that.

The cost to pursue an appeal, they typically pay that to the city manager's office to hear their case. But, I mean, if they have a violation, we typically wouldn't waive the fee, typically. Okay. if the violation is confirmed, right? Okay. It would be very unusual for us to want to negotiate a waiver of a fee if there was, in fact, a violation. Okay. It's not unheard of, but certainly we would consider all factors associated with that.

Okay. And then, thank you. That's all I had on that specific line of questioning. For the authors, I'm... I appreciate Section 9, TAC 3809. It's on page 14 if you have your copy. I think that in part of it, we're not quite strict enough, and I'd like to see it potentially be stricter. And in another portion of it, we are too strict, and I think it doesn't necessarily need to be that strict. And I don't know if any authors are following, but here's what I'm talking about. Section 3809 on page 14 talks about the sale and transfer of the permit and or the business. So if you join me on page 14, it talks about the licenses not being transferable. If we'd be amenable to an amendment... What I would propose is that given some of the costs and some of the feasibility of the small business or whatever procuring these licenses, I would propose that license be transferable. If I'm going to operate the same kind of business that you are, that I'd be able to transfer the license as long as it remains with that location in the same type of business. With that, I would also propose for a little accountability, and this is where I think we can make it more strict. I would also propose that any violations attached to that license stay with the license. Then you give the business owner an option. You can either buy the license of a bad actor and keep operating under that license, but all their violations are going to follow you and all the fees and assessments that go along with that. I think that would drive accountability and it would make it harder for a bad actor to be able to sell their business right away and reduce costs, right? Thereby, it penalizes more the bad actors. And if you don't want to buy that because you realize it was a bad actor and you're replacing them, then you can go take that $1,000 and apply for your own license. I think that raises the accountability for these bad actors, and I think that gives the good actors, it sort of saves them the cost of having to worry about purchasing a new license. If we'd be amenable to that, that'd be on page 14 again, section 3809. That's something I'd be very interested in. Next... Fourth point on page 19, if you'll join me, section 3811, paragraph I as in India. I don't see in here really any delineation between an admin or like a code issue, i.e. fraying wires or something like that, an exit door marked but the lighting on it has gone out, and actually sales violations. I think that if you're deciding to not card somebody or sell something that's illegal, that's a far bigger deal than hey, the light and the X in your exit sign went out and therefore it's a code violation. If there was a way to delineate that in this licensure, I think that would reassure some people. I think there's a difference when it comes to bad actors between I'm knowingly selling things that I'm not supposed to and look, the light switch went out, we're working on it, we're minor staff or something like that. I would be interested in an amendment that provided for that. The ability for the city to mark these things up, this is gonna be a city attorney question. What ability do we have as a city? Does this have to be a vote thing? Does this have to be an amendment? What ability do we have to artificially mark up the sale price of particular types of item? For example, if the city wanted to institute a 10% alcohol tax, would we be able to do that, or a 10% tobacco tax or anything? Is that within the jurisdiction or the authority of the council, or what would that process look like? It seems like an excise tax, but a very specific excise tax. And if I'm not mistaken, that's generally done at the larger municipality level.

Yeah, we're going to have to look at that. I mean, there are issues with state law. State law may occupy this area of space. And so we may be limited in what types of excise taxes we could put on some of these retailers. But typically, as you know, and as we've had discussions over the last couple of weeks, taxes are generally imposed by council. And then they have to go out to the voters if you want to do it from here. But we'd have to look to see if this is occupied by state law.

Okay, and I have reasonable suspicion that it is because I've seen this used in different industries as well as far as excise taxes go. Next point I have is if there's any interest in limiting this to actually who we're targeting, to the shops that, call it what it is. We need the tobacco retail license because we as a city don't have any licensure that we can remove from a bad act or breaking rules. It's important. And those who vend alcohol, whether it's a bar or it's a liquor store, they operate on the same thing with ABC. I know because we get all their ABC licenses and applications in my office as well when they apply in District 6. With that, if they're already operating with a CUP, is the intent of this to make them apply again to get a different license when their CUP already has strict standards? If not, I would say we make this apply not to those who already have CUPS and their ABC licensure and inspections from the state, but specifically those who are selling tobacco. If it's a tobacco retail license, I think we make the thing the thing, you know, make the main thing the main thing, and we focus on that. With, you know, the smoke shops, we're able to kind of hone in on that. I think this is another opportunity to hone in and not be overbroad and require too many licenses for a single business with different entities. limiting the density. I know we talked about this and really where I'm most concerned, I'm not really worried if a place that's a big commercial center wants to have multiple of these, but I am concerned with the distance from the sensitive locations. So that's already in the licensure considerations as spoken to earlier by code enforcement. I think I'm fine with that. And I spoke about 3811. So, If city attorney, those are deemed to be minor enough adjustments that this could be passed with those amendments, and I'll recap them here shortly, great. If not, I would, I think that taking into consideration those who operate honestly and legally in the industry have more subject matter expertise than us sitting up here, and I would be interested in hearing their opinions and moving this to a future meeting so we could make tweaks. That is if the authors are amenable to that. If not, city attorney, I'll leave this to your prudence over there to determine whether or not this would be applicable. And again, if the authors are interested. So the first one would be the amendment. I would like to protect the sale and transfer of the business. The change would be specifically in 9-TAC-3809, page 14. under transferability and licenses not being transferable. I think we give the option for the license to be transferable. And I say, if you want to transfer a license, all of the violation history that goes with it should travel with that license. If not, if it's a bad actor and you don't want anything to do with that, they're going to undergo a little more of a hurdle trying to sell that business and get out of their bad business by making the new applicant buy a new license. I think that makes sense. I think it reinforces the spirit of this ordinance. The second one, I'd like there to be a clear delineation in here between admin or code issues, i.e. they paid something late, they were a week late on this payment or whatever because they were struggling, or we talked about frayed wires, and violations, knowing violations of sales. If that's what we're trying to attrite here, and we're not out to put a license out to bring the people's elbow down on those who have code violations for lights that are out or things like that, then I say we take that seriously. and we draw the delineation there. Whether that looks like different fines or fees, different periods of time, you can have a violation within five years or what have you, I think that distinction's important. Looking for bad actors, right? I would consider limiting this to specialty shops, i.e., including an applicability portion that if you already have a CUP, this is essentially another conditional use permit. If you already have a CUP and you're operating with the legal retail of alcohol, that this won't apply to you because you're already gonna get inspected. And if we have in the tobacco retail ordinance already the limit on sensitive distances or distances to sensitive locations, I would appreciate just putting that in here. In the application process, your distance from a sensitive location will be taken into account. I don't think that's a substantive change because, again, it already exists. It's just reaffirming that they're not going to pop up, you know, or reaffirming to people that their location from a sensitive area is respected in the license in accordance with the ordinance. Is that all of your proposed amendments? Those... Likely. It'll depend on the answer to this question. When it comes to product updates, because, city attorney, we've had this conversation before, the state issues updates to the legal and illegal list of potential sales, right? Before instituting this, the state has had the prerogative to communicate that to all the vendors, to be fair, right? You're being licensed through the state, the state's gonna tell you what's legal and not legal. Now that the city is enacting this license and they will have a licensure through the city of Fresno, I don't think it automatically subscribes us to the responsibility to communicate to them legal and illegal. However, would we have any capacity on a semi-annually or even a quarterly basis because we're going to have a register of everybody who's operating legally in the city to send out to them updates to the legal and illegal list. Is that something that we have the manpower to do? And is that something that would become our responsibility more or less?

I think that would depend on how many folks we have signing up for these licenses, but, um, very happy to take a look, probably. I mean, if it's just sending out a quick email. It's an email list, yeah. Yeah, we could probably do something like that. But we've always taken the position that the operators need to be on their own, aware of the law. But absolutely happy to consider doing that if that's council direction.

Yeah, when they were forced to bridge the gap between the private business owner, pass the city, pass the county, all the way up to the state, totally. If we're going to institute this as a city, which I think is responsible, I wouldn't mind kind of reinforcing that communication, right? Call this our own little Owens Mountain Parkway tower, reinforcing that communication to the business owner to make sure they have the up-to-date gouge on what they can and can't sell. That would be it. That's the entirety of my amendments. If those are found as substantive, I would be interested in coming back and talking with the industry and taking a vote on this next time. If not, I would be okay with this as amended.

And, Councilmember, to your point, we do believe those are material changes that would require a third reading. Specifically, I do have some... some legal advice that I'd like to provide in terms of 9-3809 sub A in your proposals there. There are a number of legal and policy reasons why we don't make licenses transferable, but we can connect offline on that.

Okay.

Understandable.

All right, thank you, Council Member Richardson. You know, I'm open to a conversation on some of these. I was taking notes as you were going through Maybe half of them I'd be open. You know, if you read the language of the TRL, we don't address the radius or the sensitive use areas. I think we have addressed those at length in other pieces of legislation, and we really wanted to keep this one fairly narrow, right? We're not really... applying a new set of laws to follow per se. We're implementing a sustainable enforcement mechanism of existing laws, whether that be our own local ordinances or state law. And some of this has been occurring through grand dollars already. So this will create a sustainable mechanism to be able to continue those efforts regardless of whatever outside money may come in and support that. So I did want to keep it fairly narrow in that sense. I appreciate wanting to take it a little further, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable within this particular legislation. You know, the CUP idea, excluding those, I mean, I'd have to take a look at what our standards are to CUP languages, because to your point, they are being regulated. I just don't know that the tobacco portion is included within the CUPs. City Attorney, I mean, do we, off the top of your head, I mean, all of these shops that have CUPs already, I mean, are we enforcing on the tobacco side? or is it just with respect to the CEP they may have for the gas pumps or the CEP they may have for the alcohol? Does tobacco get bundled into that?

Yeah, no, I can have... Erica jumped in, but we do have a dedicated tobacco team, and so we are inspecting and showing up to all retailers, whether that's gas stations, grocery stores, that sort of thing. I know that we've been awarded. We haven't received a grant yet, and I can let Erica get into that. One thing that I did want to add to your point, Council President, is also just to think about in terms of the ordinance that we passed last year and in terms of CUP versus this licensing process, the CUP is really about the land use, right? And so this process here that we're talking about in terms of the license is actually about the business operation itself. And so it's, at least in our mind, very important to maintain that distinction. Then I'll let Erica jump in.

Yeah, and I'd like to also address the fact that our FITE team, our Fresno Illegal Tobacco Enforcement Team, is sitting here in chambers and are available for questions as well. But yes, with respect to the grant, there are two phases of the grant. The first grant that we received through the Department of Justice Attorney General's Office has already been in effect for two years. We had to wait until that last tobacco ordinance was passed in order for us to start enforcing that under the grant. And so we do still have funds under that first grant, but then we've also applied for a second grant. And so we're hoping that the state will respond to us soon with the amount that we'll be getting for that grant. Yeah. And so if you have any other questions with respect to the grant, I'm happy to answer those.

No, I mean, I was, yeah, I mean, I think you answered the question about whether we're, you know, enforcing on tobacco currently. And again, with respect to how sustainable that might be and where the funding is coming from right now. Yes.

And so the first year of the grant, when we did not have enforceable ordinance in effect, the team did go out and canvass a city and probably met with over 500 retailers, just educating them about the, you know, the effects of tobacco and illegal tobacco and all that. But now that the ordinance is in effect, they've been able to really go in and inspect upwards of 20 or so retailers and have found unlicensed retailers, have found illegal tobacco products. They've cited, I want to say, probably issued over $300,000 worth of citations just with illegal tobacco that they've found in some of these retailers. And so they're definitely being very productive in their enforcement. Yeah. All right.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Councilmember, with respect to the transfer business, I would like to hear some of the legal counsel offline where appropriate. And then with respect to the delineation between the kind of administrative and code issues versus issues more related to the actual violations of sale, I'm open to that conversation. I would say, generally speaking, again, there's some decent ideas here. I think what I would want to do today, if it was the will of the council, is press forward with an approval, and then maybe if you wanted to author some amendments, put some pen to paper, uh after hearing from the city attorneys i mean that's that's an option any any given thursday to consider amendments to any any existing ordinance that we have on the books here within the within the city um i don't know if my co-author has any additional thoughts on this before i go down the line of uh of people punched up but those are my thoughts right now uh first person i had punched up was councilman bradius followed by councilmember perea thank you council president and to the authors um

This is where I love to geek out because we're a legislative body and this is kind of our primary function. So a couple of things I wanted to just provide input on as some of the amendments have been suggested. First and foremost, I did just now receive the email you guys sent yesterday at 4.30. I think if you pay attention to news, we were all busy at 4.30 yesterday. So I just read it on the dais now and reviewed the proposed amendments. I HAVE SOME REACTION TO SOME OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS, BUT I WANT TO START OFF WITH COUNCILMEMBER RICHARDSON'S, YOU KNOW, SUGGESTIONS. ONE IS I'M VERY HESITANT ON THE TRANSFER LANGUAGE, JUST BECAUSE FROM MY EXPERIENCE IN SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS, EVERY TIME WE'VE GONE TO A POINT OF BEING ABLE TO ENGAGE IN A REVOCATION OF CUP, A TRANSFER OF LICENSE OCCURS. AND THAT BECOMES, YOU KNOW, THIS, YOU KNOW, MOUSE AND CAT GAME OF FINDING WHO'S WHO AND THEN YOU GOT TO START ALL OVER AGAIN SO I'D BE VERY HESITANT ON THE TRANSFER LANGUAGE BUT I'LL BE HAPPY TO HEAR LEGAL COUNCIL'S RECOMMENDATION ON ON THAT ON THAT PROVISION ON THE BUILDING SAFETY ONES AS YOU MENTIONED YOU KNOW THERE'S A DISTINCTION BETWEEN AN EXIT SIGN LIGHT NOT WORKING AND USE SOUNDING LEGAL PRODUCTS MY ONLY HESITATION THERE COUNCIL MEMBER IS The exit lines, exit signs are considered a very basic and critical component of building safety features in case of an emergency or a fire. For me, we have so many dilapidated buildings, so many spaces that need to be addressed, and I don't want to start setting a secondary standard for a certain business versus any other type of building that we have a responsibility to oversee. So if we expect a daycare, a 7-Eleven, a me and Ed's to all have working exit lines, exit signs, and other features of the building code, then we need to do that across the board. Instead of saying, in your case, this won't be a fine, or we'll waive this fine here, but not in this other type building. So I'd just be hesitant to set a secondary standard FOR ONE TYPE OF BUSINESS VERSUS ANOTHER WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING SAFETY REQUIREMENTS BASED ON THE CODE OF THE CITY. WHEN IT COMES TO THE AMENDMENTS THAT WERE SUBMITTED, YOU KNOW, THERE'S BEEN SOME REFERENCES TO SOME RETAILERS ALREADY HAVE A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. SO I WANT TO GET CONFIRMATION, CITY ATTORNEY ERICA, IN MY SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS, I'VE NEVER WITNESSED THE CITY REVOKE A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. Is that the case? We have not revoked any CUP that's resulted in the sharing out of a business, right? That might be a Jennifer Clark question. Because I know code essentially creates a paper trail and the, you know, fines and the, you know, corrections. But I think it's officially planning director who revokes the CUP. Can you confirm that whether we've ever revoked the conditional use permit?

Good morning, Councilmember, Jennifer Clark, Director of Planning and Development. Yes, the city has revoked a conditional use permit. So the development code allows for... Which one was it? There have been several. There was a materials location essentially at the northeast intersection of the 180 and the 99.

Was it a retail establishment?

Not on a retail establishment. There have been a number of CUPs. Again, we have CUPs for a number of things. So the code allows for the issuance, the modification that was adopted last year, that's new, right? Or the revocation of a CUP, any CUP, right? Whether it's for alcohol or something else. I will note, specifically as it relates to this conversation, There are two very big distinctions between the tobacco retailer's license, right? That goes, that is for the issuance of, it's like a business license. It's for the sale of tobacco, regardless of the type of institution or the type of business that is selling. The Smoke Shop CUP ordinance that you adopted last year was specifically to a smoke shop, not a store that happens to also have alcohol. So some people with a TRL will have a CUP, some will not. They are very distinct. One goes with the business operations, one goes with the land. The smoke shop CUP goes with the land for a business that is primarily in the business of selling tobacco products. not anything else. So they're very different.

Director, back to my initial question. What retailer have we revoked their CUP based on alcohol issues or tobacco issues? Have we revoked any retailer CUP?

Not a retailer CUP, but we have revoked CUPs in the past.

Okay. My second question is in terms of CUPs. do we still have a significant amount of businesses that do not have a CUP because they were grandfathered into the city?

Are we talking about smoke shops?

Convenience stores, retail stores, liquor stores. I know we have several dozens.

The pre-1994. Correct. Conditional use permit that was issued for businesses then that is related specifically to alcohol not to tobacco Was specific to businesses that already were in existence prior to 1994 and There are businesses that have been over the years. They do have code cases. They're required to come into compliance. We have not specifically revoked a retailer-type CUP.

But those that were grandfathered in do not have a CUP for us to revoke.

They do. It's the 1994. It's a special class, and they're required to follow certain rules. conditions of approval, but they are lumped together as one type of CUP. So it's the pre-1994 CUP.

Got it. The other recommendation was a mandatory Retailer Education Opportunity to Cure amendment. Doesn't the state law require businesses to already do some level of training to the employees when they sell alcohol or tobacco? Isn't that already a requirement? So that exists already. So there's, in my view, there's no need to mandate a thing, because it's already a condition of your operations of a business. In terms of, the other one was centralizing court enforcement, which I think there are recommendations that they should be under the mayor's office. And the answer is absolutely no. Mayor has a responsibility under the city charter and the council has a responsibility to city charter and the council members offices are responsible for neighborhoods. So code enforcement reports to council. So for me, that's just a clear no. The mayor has enough to do and the council debate that issue years ago and concluded that the code enforcement would be more responsive to neighborhood concerns if it were reported directly to the council. It should be clear. You're not talking about my amendments. You're talking about what was submitted to us in the email yesterday. I'm trying to go through one by one. Minimum tobacco pricing. I know we had this discussion years ago on the Neighborhood Market Act. My concerns there continue to be the same. Essentially, it would guarantee a certain profit margin to businesses. It gets us in the business of manipulating the market. I don't know enough. I'm not the economist on the council. I'M JUST NOT COMFORTABLE GOING DOWN THE PATH OF MINIMUM MANDATORY PRICES FOR CERTAIN PRODUCTS, ESPECIALLY AS THE WORLD OF TOBACCO, BATE PENS, TOOLS ALL CONTINUE TO EVOLVE AND IT WOULD PUT US IN A PLACE TO ESSENTIALLY MICROMANAGE A VERY SPECIFIC AND EVOLVING INDUSTRY. LATE PAYMENTS SHOULD AUTOMATICALLY NOT JEOPARDIZE A LICENSE. Code enforcement, city attorney, what's typically the process when we find somebody? Do we expect payment the next day?

No, typically the first violation is a notice issued to the owner operator and sometimes the property owner. We give them an opportunity to cure whatever defect we find in their establishment.

So in this case, the first find is $250, correct? We can levy up to $250 fine, yes. I think it reads the first one is $250, the second one is $500, the third one is $1,000 in the same year. So walk this through me, city attorney. You find somebody on Monday. Do you then put them on Monday as a business out of compliance and therefore their license at risk? Or do you give them time to cure the issue and to pay the fine? We educate and give them time to cure the issue. 14 days, Erica? 18 days. So right now our current practice is that we give somebody 18 days to cure the violation. So they at least have 18 days to cure it and not have their license at risk if they pay the 250 and cure the problem.

That is correct. We do have the authority.

On the mic, please. Thank you.

That is correct. We do have the authority, however, to cite for the unlawful or illegal tobacco that is being sold. Correct. But with other violations, yes, we typically give the 18 days notice to cure.

All right. And Council Member, even sometimes if there's a scenario where they need a little bit more than 18 days, if they're working towards compliance, we try to help them along.

And then there's a request for us to remove that each day is a separate violation. So if I'm understanding this, if somebody is selling illegal tobacco on Monday, that's a fine. If we go back on Tuesday, then still selling it, that's another fine.

Correct.

If we go back on Wednesday and they're still selling it, that's another fine. Correct. and so what they're proposing is let the one fine just be the one fine and don't attach each day as a new fine. Is that?

If that's the proposal?

That's how I'm reading it. And keep in mind, gentlemen in the audience, this is just my layman's term reading of it now. Again, I just got it on the dais an hour ago. There'll be plenty of time for me to ask you guys questions, but I'm trying to think this out loud because this is part of the legislative process. the reciprocal recovery of legal fees and investigation costs. What's the current process if somebody gets fined by the city and it goes to the hearing officer? The hearing officer can waive all fees or fines that were imposed by the city, the hearing officer finds that we were in error?

If he finds that we were in error, then that is, I suppose, a possibility, but typically he does not have the authority to waive our fees.

Even if he finds that our fine was in error?

If the fine was issued in error, then yes. I mean, he would have to find that the violation was not in existence or we made some mistake. But if everything is correct, he does not have the authority to waive or decrease that.

Correct. But if we were in error, he has the ability to waive all fines.

Right. Right. Well, what he would probably do is dismiss the citation. Correct. Not necessarily waive it, but just dismiss the citation.

And the dismissal would essentially waive the fines.

Correct.

Erica, does the hearing officer have the ability to award attorney's fees for if we lose? I've never seen that, I don't think.

I haven't seen him award attorney's fees.

I think that was Council Member Richardson's question earlier.

Yeah.

So let me ask you this. Is there another vehicle where somebody can litigate us, they win, and they recover all legal fees?

If they ritted, if they filed a writ with the court.

Correct.

If they did not agree with the administrative hearing officer, they could file a writ with the court. And if they prevail in court, then yes, they can recover attorney's fees.

So there's already a vehicle for them to recover legal fees if our error is of such magnitude that a court would fine in their favor.

Yes. Ultimately, in court, yes.

Council Member Harris, I don't want to cut you off or correct you, but the last item, I read that differently, and I don't know if that factors in at all. I read it not as a reinstitution or an upping of the fine for every inspection, but as that being fine, what they were worried about is, hey, inspector comes on Monday, there's a violation, inspector comes the following Monday, Instead of that being the single upping of the fine, if you will, them instituting every single day in between those days as an increase in the fine. Every day, not every inspection. That was a distinction made when I read it. Got it.

So I'm glad to point that out. How does it work now, city attorney? If we play out his scenario, you inspect it on Monday, you find them. you come back 10 days later, you find the same violation. Is that a new fine or do you tack on a fine for each state in which they failed to correct their violation?

That is an option. We could escalate the citations. However, I think, and team could correct me if I'm wrong, but currently we're working with PD and we're seizing some of those products that are illegally sold. So they wouldn't, if we came back, it would be a brand new product that we would be citing on.

Got it. Which would be deserving of a new fine. I mean, we've confiscated their legal products. We come back on Tuesday. There are new products there. From a policy perspective, I think it warrants that.

It's a new fine because it's a new violation. Got it. But you're not going back and saying, we're going to retroactively fine you for the 10 days each day being a new fine.

Yes, typically in practice we do not do that.

It would just be an additional fine. So if they were selling illegal products on Monday, you come back 10 days later, they're selling a new batch of legal products that use the previous ones. You go from a $250 fine to a $500 fine 10 days later?

If it's a new product, a new violation, we would have to start with a $250 fine. But then we also have under the tobacco ordinance the fine per package as well.

Thank you for the clarification. A sell-through period for newly prohibited products. I struggle with that provision, and I don't think that I'm going to be supportive of it. I recognize that laws change, but whenever a new law goes in effect in the state of California, it's usually for the new calendar year, and we all know months in advance what is expected from everyone in the new calendar year. I wouldn't want to have a fire sale at every retailer of illegal products and give them a waiver, even though they're technically illegal at the time of the fire sale. The quarterly reports, of course, I'm supportive of. I think this court enforcement publicly reports to us, which is another provision that didn't exist before when they were under the mayor's administration. Now we consistently have public presentations. They tell us exactly how many inspections, who's been fined for how often, where are the gaps, and that usually happens a few times a year. Ultimately, I think this is a big legislative body of work. I'm willing to be supportive of more time so I can get some clarification from legal counsel on the transfer sales and a couple of other provisions. THAT I SEE, I'LL BE SUPPORTIVE OF BRINGING THIS BACK NEXT WEEK OR SEEING HOW THE REST OF THE COUNCIL FEELS. BUT I DEFINITELY, AGAIN, HAPPY TO HEAR YOU GUYS' COMMENTS. I DON'T WANT TO GET INTO BACK AND FORTH NOW ON EVERYTHING, BUT I DO WANT TO GIVE ONE OF YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS ANYTHING THAT I MIGHT HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD OR INTERPRETED INCORRECTLY FROM MY OWN UNDERSTANDING AND MAYBE THEY'LL SEND ME A MEETING NEXT WEEK. SO WHOEVER YOU THINK is best equipped to ring the bell on my comments. Whoever.

So I appreciate all your comments on this one, and this is the reason we wanted to have a seat on the table, just like we worked on the Good Neighborhood bill, because there's so many other lakes that you read one or two books about it, and the rest of the other books, we have the knowledge of it. we started with 150 dollars a state license tobacco license fee back in days today we are paying 680 dollars license fee from the state you could have all those licenses fees by the city and county it will not have 100% cure. There will be always a bad player. We as an association and retailers of Fresno, Fresno County, we have always been supportive that whoever the bad actor is, let's go ahead and find them and give them two or three opportunities. If they're not complying with it, let's go ahead and close that one down. Some of these comments which when you were asking, these are great and this was the opportunity. We were hoping that we could sit on the table and give you the information with the written proof that these are some of the rules and regulations are existing in there. With the conditional use permits, we have languages in there that our conditional use permit could revoke if we are selling any drug paraphernalia. When Council Member, President was supporting the tobacco license, full-heartedly supported because we saw a need. Whenever there's a bad apple comes in, we're sending emails and information to code enforcements. Those rules are existingly there where code enforcements could find, but their hands are full. They're not able to comply. Putting these other rules and regulations is all good, sounds good in the book, but practically it's hard. So that's why we are just saying that we want to make sure that there's no loopholes and stuff if we could sit together on some of these four five six items and make it more proof and educate our members themselves to in meetings and through our own meetings it would be more impactful so that's all we are asking if we could table this one and make it more effectively just like we thank you thank you and i will defer to the authors um

In this body, each of us spends days and months working on a piece of policy while the rest of us get to see it when it gets published. And this is our opportunity to ask questions. So I'll be respectful of the authors and defer to them if they think more time is warranted or whether they want to proceed with today.

All right. Council Member Perea.

Thank you, Council President. I'll keep my remarks brief. I just want to thank APCA for your comments today and the email you sent in and thank the kiddos, some of our youngest residents who took the time to come out and advocate for their community. I'm looking at you guys over there. Just want to thank you for stepping up and speaking good truth to strengthening and protecting our neighborhoods. That's much appreciated. You know, I think there were some good questions and suggested changes that were mentioned by Councilmember Richardson, and I'm definitely open to seeing if we can work collaboratively to get to a point where this is the best version that it possibly can be at this point. I am hesitant to approve it now. It goes into effect, and then we immediately have to start enforcing it after 30 days. SO I, TOO, WOULD BE SUPPORTIVE OF JUST POSTPONING AND BRINGING THIS BACK AT OUR NEXT COUNCIL MEETING IF THAT'S, IF MY, IF THE CO-SPONSORS ARE SUPPORTIVE OF THAT AS WELL. THAT'S IT, COUNCIL PRESIDENT.

CITY ATTORNEY, WERE YOU PUNCHED UP?

WERE YOU ADDRESSED ALREADY? OKAY. ALL RIGHT, COUNCIL MEMBER VANG. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, COUNCIL PRESIDENT. AGAIN, I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO PROVIDED COMMENTS IN PERSON AND ONLINE. And I am appreciative of both sides having their opinion here. And my conclusion is we are very close to having 100% agreement on this. As one gentleman stated earlier, it's 90% agreement of what this legislation has. As stated earlier, this is the second reading of this legislation. The first one was the last time we had council meeting here. And that was an opportunity for us to ask questions and also for the community to provide comments on this legislation. And I want to thank the authors for bringing this forward. Again, our concern is to protect our community as much as we can. And sometimes we may need to listen more from our perspective opinions. to ensure that we have the best legislation when it is finalized and when it is in full force and effect. And so this is that process. Staff, I have a question for you, and that's regarding the page 23, section 9-3816, the implementation period. And it says here, the existing tobacco retailers shall be, or they have 90 days to obtain a license. And the question that I have is, is that 90 day period something that is reasonable for a tobacco retailer to start the process and then to submit their application? Or a seat attorney? I think that would be a question for the retailer folks. Anybody can answer? Is 90 days a good timeframe when and if this legislation becomes effective for the tobacco retailer to start the process to get their licensing?

I would say it would be if you guys will have somebody, sometimes a lot of our owners are from different countries, and English is their second language, and they get a little timid about these kind of forms and what they're signing. And so if we had somebody from your group that could handhold them and help them fill out that stuff, that would be possible. Okay. And then also, Miguel, I wasn't talking about a fine every day. Like, if you guys come in and tell somebody they've been doing something wrong, but maybe they've been doing it wrong for two weeks, our lawyers' reading of that was you could get a fine for every day. Like, if you've notified us, and then when a guy continues to do it, getting a fine every day was 100% okay with us. But yeah, if you could make staff available to us and handhold and maybe even if you had language, people that speak, some of our members are Hmong and they don't speak English too great or East Indian or a lot of Yemeni dealers as well.

Thank you, sir. I think you answered my question. May I please?

Go ahead, sir. The state of California charges are $685. If it helps you that combinedly the license could be combined in that, that helps and somehow that county or city takes that fees which one you are doing out of that one so there's one less license and one less process of check okay again sir thank you very much for clarifying my uh my question i appreciate that i believe it's been answered and as some of my colleagues here stated um

I'm open to perhaps having even a third reading. As the city attorney mentioned, if the amendments by my colleague from D6 is considered, it's going to be a material change to this legislation. And so to hear what the legal ramification is, if that is the case, then we may have to have a third hearing on this. But again, I'm appreciative of the authors bringing this forward to this body to consider voting on this. Thank you. That's all I have, Council President. Thank you.

Council President, just wanted to make a final point. I know one of the authors is not here today. instead of maybe taking substantial changes that I, at this point, I'm not willing to be supportive of substantial changes because I haven't had time to talk to a legal counsel about what all the implications are. So I would just, as a friendly request, maybe request that we bring this back at the next meeting when the third author is here, or at least we have time to discuss the potential substantial changes with legal counsel so that we don't maybe create some unintended consequences that the authors you know, have submitted, I am supportive of the vast majority of the proposal as written.

I'll make a motion to continue this to the next scheduled council meeting.

Okay, we have a motion to continue to the next council meeting. Before you vote on it, just can you give me one minute? I just want to make sure we don't need a fourth reading and that whatever we bring back is not technically reintroduction. Give me one second, okay? Before you vote on it.

I'll make some comments.

Unless you're fine with coming back potentially for a fourth meeting.

I'll give you a minute to clarify. But while you do that, I'll just make a few last comments discussion here. I appreciate everybody who came out today to comment, whether you were at the coalition or whether you were at APCA. You know, between myself and my office, we've had a chance to meet with all of these advocacy groups in one format or the other. It's interesting kind of the range of where the interested groups and interested parties are all landing. I've got one group who wants to pull this one direction, another group who wants to pull it the other direction, and then a small handful of groups that like it right, you know, just where it is. And so, you know, we've got nearly the holy trinity of kind of the sweet spot there, and that's usually a good sign we're close to or at the optimal point of the legislation when you have these varying kind of opinions So I've heard from my colleagues, it doesn't sound like we're gonna be advancing today, but I do think I do think we could possibly advance. We will wait for one of the sponsors and that'll provide time for additional discussion with all the interested parties, continued discussion. I'm not sure how they've had a chance to meet with the rest of my colleagues as they have with my office and myself. So that'll conclude my comments on this. City Attorney, do you have an answer on that?

We have a consensus on legal side that If we reintroduce material changes at the next meeting, that would be reintroduction, then you would need a following meeting after that.

Correct, yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right. Okay. Well, we will see where this goes here in the next several weeks, but right now, motion is to table this item to the next regularly scheduled meeting. Any opposition? All right. That is tabled. Thank you all for attending this morning. Um, city attorney, uh, we have, uh, you said one or two kind of time sensitive items with some of the attorneys.

Close session items. We're ready to go on them.

Okay. Um, let's knock out the, those couple items. Um, I don't know if we'll make it back out here before lunch. Uh, that just depends how long these take. Um, but go ahead and please read off the closed session agenda.

Good morning, today in closed session we have item 5A, Conference with Labor Negotiators, all units listed on the agenda. Item 5B, Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, City of Fresno versus Pinedale Water District. Item 5C, Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, Westco Distribution Incorporated versus City of Fresno. Item 5D, Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, Roberto Martinez Ramirez versus City of Fresno. Item 5E, Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, Diana Zavala Sedano versus City of Fresno. Item 5F, Conference with Legal Counsel, Anticipated Litigation, One Potential Case. Item 5G was removed. Item 5H, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation one potential case. Item 5I was removed. We may expect to have reportable items after closed session. Thank you.

Thank you, City Attorney. If we don't make it up before 12, then for sure we will be here by 1.30. We'll come back. into open at that time, not closed. We'll round out the balance of open session at 1.30 at the latest. Understood, thank you. Yeah, thank you.

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All right, we're adjourning back into open session, looking at the... Agenda looks like our last open session business is gonna be unscheduled communication before we go back and finish out closed session. So I do have a number of cards, yellow cards here in person. Again, this is gonna be unscheduled communication so any topic is fine. I'll read off the cards here and folks can feel free to punch up on Zoom as well in the meantime. So the first card I have is going to be for Paul Gibson. Is Paul with us? Rihanna Hernandez, or Rina Hernandez. Sorry, I forgot if I didn't say that correctly. Jessica Spears, I believe. Crystal Rivas. Crystal. Crystal. Joan Lopez or Joanne Lopez? Real Ving? Kay Burton? Is there anybody else in person in the chamber would like to speak with respect to unscheduled communication? Come on down. Then we'll go over to Zoom.

Hi, my name is Krista Aranda. This is for anything.

Yeah, this is for any topic, not scheduled.

Again, I would like to deflock Fresno. I don't believe that flock cameras are helpful. I don't like the fact that they do follow people around. They document where you go from your daily life, and I believe in helping fight crime, but there's also different ways to go about using cameras to help solve any murders, carjackings, all of that. Also, gather my thoughts real quick. Also, the way that the flock cameras are set up, there's a certain way you're supposed to set up, like let's say stop signs. There's no safety with the way that the poles are set up. I guess when you hit a pole, it's supposed to fall over. I don't know the terminology of it, but I have been seeing that it can lead to fatal accidents should someone run into it with their vehicles. And yeah, Deflock Fresno. And also I would like to once again ask for the Fresno Police Department to hold another meeting for the community. The last meeting that was had, not everybody was able to be heard due to time. Yes, so please, Mindy Castro, Fresno PD, please hold another meeting very soon regarding the flock cameras and safety. Thank you.

All right, thank you. I'm gonna come over to Zoom, and if there's anyone else in the audience, you're welcome to, but I think we're gonna be done in person. So I have an unidentified call-in user. There's no name on it, so go ahead and you'll have three minutes.

Can you hear me?

Yes, yes.

Thank you, my name is Renee Campos, and I live in District 7, and Rouse, Spousa, you're very corrupt, and you're a dirty nigger, you suck too dick.

Yeah, we'll go ahead and cut that off. All right, any additional public comments that isn't racist or derogatory? All right. Next speaker on Zoom is going to be Brandy Nusviegas.

Hi. I am one very upset and sorry for, well, that's my fault. Sorry for what you just heard beforehand. That is unacceptable. I am not in town, but I did want to comment because I've heard from my community members about yesterday's regarding the meeting, the special meeting and stuff. I know that a lot of my fellow community members were present to be there and to be able to speak, to be able to have a say and very much wanted our our council to take a vote on that and I'm disappointed that there was not a quorum, especially as the deadline was yesterday. As far as you were my council member, you weren't present. It's very, um, as we had from the discussion at the last meeting, extremely important. And I know that three of our council members had put this on here to consider because the deadline was yesterday. And so I know that there is a lot of disappointment, disapproval with not be able to have that opportunity for the council to discuss and make a take an action on that and for the community to be able to speak on that so i asked that want to address that i know that is too late to be able to bring that back but wanted to address that as well as um As far as noting that, there was a lot of cards that were called, but people were not there. We do need to have a time that people would know when unscheduled comments could be. It would be ideal if it was something like right after lunch so that people would know when to expect. As many people have other matters they need to take, they cannot be there all day waiting to know. And also because in the past we've had issues with We've had, because it could be any time, it's been right before lunch all of a sudden or right after everything, please, because our community needs to be able to have a voice on things that are important to them. And so the council consider, especially our president, that there be a time that is reliable for people to be able to speak, as I know that the people who are on the card, their voice is very important. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Our next speaker on Zoom is going to be Lisa Flores.

Hi, Nelson. You can hear me, right?

Yes. Welcome, Lisa.

Okay. Two things I want to talk about. The first thing is, at what point in time is the city of Fresno going to be very transparent about how they're paying out the lawsuits, the $15.5 million, and how are you dealing with the $40 million? $40,000 interest payment that's due on that judgment every month. Have you guys paid that out? And also, too, have you taken care of the problem that caused that $15 million lawsuit? Second, are you guys ever going to discuss your litigation plan? I know you can't talk about your litigation plan, but you can talk about the money that is going to be expended from that. on that issue, and are you going to seek, when you win, because you will win, are you gonna seek a reimbursement from the county for your legal expenses? I would hope so. And then third thing is, once again, last night was not a good look for any of you guys that did not show up. Not a good look. Just such not a good look. You talk about representation and you didn't show up. And with that, I'm going to let you go on with the business of the day. Thank you.

Thank you, Lisa. Is there any additional public comments on schedule communication on any topic? It's either anyone in the chamber or on Zoom as well. I don't see anybody popping up on Zoom either. We're going to go ahead and close unscheduled communication. That concludes the public portion of the meeting. We still do have a closed session to do. City Attorney, you already read those off. Do we expect any announcements?

We may have announcements.

Okay. All right. Thank you all. Let's head to the back.

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Good afternoon, we have one item to report out of closed session today. We have one item to report out of closed session today, item 5F, Conference with Legal Counsel Anticipated Litigation. One potential case by a vote of six to zero with council member Harbasi being absent, the Fresno City Council has voted to initiate litigation against an unnamed defendant, which will be disclosed at a later date when legally permissible and upon being asked by a member of the public.

Thank you for joining us today. Council is adjourning from closed session at 3.11 p.m. Have a good night.

Bye.