Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

It's 09:30. Why don't we

get

started? Madam Clerk, roll call.

Sir Isaac Chavez?

Here.

Sir Isaac? Here. Sir Isaac Mendez?

Here.

Sir Isaac Pacheco? Here. Chairman Bredefeld? Here. All present. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Tuesday, 02/10/2026 meeting of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. We'll begin today's meeting with the invocation and flag salute. The invocation will be led by district four after the invocation. Please remain standing for the flag salute.

Okay. I wanna introduce the invocation today will be provided by Rodney Hall from the Kingsburg Community Church. Rodney received his ministerial license in 2017. Currently, he's a student at Fresno Pacific University finishing his bachelor's degree in Christian ministry and leadership. He is an intern at Kingsburg Community Church under pastor Ricky Chambers. Please come up and lead us.

Let us prepare ourselves to go into prayer. Lord God, as the board continues to govern the county over many functions through various departments, we ask that you, father God, be the central guide in the midst of the final decisions and activities to maintaining a healthy influence of community. Bless the entire staff that participates and plays their role. In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost. Amen.

Now let us take the time to salute to our flag. Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all.

Thank you very much. Agendas are on the table at the back of the chamber for anyone wanting to follow along. Madam Clerk, the first item please.

Item number one, approve agenda. Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Item 20 from closed session is deleted.

Alright. Any comments from the board regarding the agenda? Is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries.

We now move to item number two, approve consent agenda item numbers 26 through 57.

Yeah, these matters are routine in nature and usually are approved by a single vote. Would any board members like an item removed from consent or discussion? Seeing none, would any members of the public like an item removed from consent for discussion? Seeing none, is there a motion and second to approve? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Motion carries unanimously. Item three.

We now move to item number three under Board of Sue Reisors presentation of retirement plaque to Calvin Bould, probation department, twenty eight years of service.

And probation, I assume, is here. Floor is yours.

This is Calvin. So good morning, chairman Bredefeld and members of the board. My name is Cliff Downing. I'm the assistant chief probation officer for the department. I'm here to provide some comments regarding Calvin who served our department honorably for just shy of twenty nine years.

Calvin's career can be broken into two halves, one working at a juvenile hall and the second as a deputy probation officer. He started working at our old juvenile hall on 10th Street as a custodial care officer in November 1996 and moved his way up to a juvenile correction officer. He worked in multiple housing units to include our transportation team, which he's most proud of. In April 2002, Calvin was selected as Juvenile Hall's Employee of the Month for his assistance in mentoring youth and staff. Calvin was also part of the transition when we moved to the juvenile justice campus in 2006.

Calvin assisted on his own with writing articles for a department newsletter. On 10/31/2011, Calvin transitioned over as a deputy probation officer and worked in our adult division. Calvin worked in many assignments in all the various divisions, adult juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile in April 2022. Calvin was also involved in two critical incidents where he administered CPR to an adult who collapsed outside of one of our offices. And secondly, he provided CPR with the use of defibrillator to a person who collapsed in a courtroom.

In 2020, Calvin was recognized for his contribution, as we all know, with the Creek Fire. Reading through many of Calvin's performance evaluations, we were all positive. There were two areas that stood out, which were staff relationship and quality of work output. I would like to share some of those comments from his previous supervisors. He's well respected. He's liked by his peers. He maintains a positive attitude throughout the day. He writes a high volume reports per week and is detail oriented. Officer Wold assisted in reading additional reports often requiring to work after hours. Officer Wold can depend on can be dependent on for support and assistance.

Officer Wold has proven to be a great team player. In closing, on behalf of chief Haynes and the entire probation department, we thank you for your leadership and dedicated service to our department and the citizens of Fresno County for the past twenty nine years, Calvin. Please enjoy your retirement.

Morning. I didn't know that I was gonna be, required to speak, but, thank you for all those that joined me. They say you're only as good as the people that you work with. And I did wanna speak to everybody here because in some way, capacity, shape, or form, you serve. We all serve. And there usually always has to be a reason for that service or something behind it, something that drives it, something that gets you motivated and up in the morning. And so, I just want to personally share, I've been motivated to serve my family, to serve my god, serve my church, my community. And, I got a verse today. I always enjoy getting my verse of the day, and it just happened to dovetail. So I'm gonna just, say that real quick.

First Corinthians fifteen fifty eight. Therefore, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So for all of us who labor and for all of us who serve, we have to realize it's not in vain. We serve people. We serve, counties. We serve a state. We serve a country, and we serve a God, big God. So with that, thank you very much for the presentation today.

Any comments from the board? No. I would like to congratulate you for nearly thirty years of service. I know it's tough work that you do and you've obviously done it very well. So, we greatly appreciate it. Do you have, any, any comments from the public? Okay. Seeing none. Family here or anybody here?

Colleagues. Colleagues are.

Okay. Well, you wanna come up and take a photo with the board?

Mister chairman, item number four, the individual, let us know after the posting of the agenda that she was unable to attend unexpectedly. So we will now move on to item number five.

Sure.

Under supervisor Chavez and supervisor Pacheco proclaim February 2026 as Black History Month in the County of Fresno.

And I'll pass this over to supervisor Chavez and supervisor Pacheco.

Thank you, chair. Very special occasion today. It's the first time that I get to proclaim Black History Month as a supervisor, and we have with us today the representatives from the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce. They've done a lot of great work. But today is a extra special.

We have the one hundred year anniversary of Black History Month. There's some issues about you guys getting the shortest month, but we're gonna work we're gonna work on that. But I do have the honor of representing the second largest African American population in our community with Butler Park. My colleague, Supervisor Pacheco, represents the largest community in Southwest Fresno. But today, to me, this is really a tribute to the legacy of our African American community in the areas of agriculture, of education, of commerce, of, you know, amazing community work that's been done.

And more importantly, special to me is the human and the civil rights contributions of our African American community that we all get to enjoy and benefit from. So with that, I will pass it on to my colleague, Supervisor Pacheco, to say a few words.

Thank you, Supervisor. It's also my privilege to be a co sponsor for this proclamation today. Our black and African American communities are a very integral part of our lives. It uplifts and improves our county as a whole. The community, it strengthens and diversifies our community's culture.

And with your courage and advocacy and leadership is second to none. Black history is woven into the fabric of American history. And as Supervisor Chavez says, not just in February. We just had our tremendous celebration in January for Martin Luther King. But it plays a role in all of us in our everyday lives. I want to appreciate you for being here today and very proud to represent you for Southwest Fresno as well.

Have the representatives come up and say a few words. Big wood, please.

Awesome. I'm a little taller over here. Yeah. But first and foremost, thank you guys so much. My name is Tyree Ellison. I'm the new director of membership and community engagement at the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce. Thank you so much, supervisor Chavez and Pacheco and the rest of the board of supervisors. Before I share some words of encouragement, I do just want to acknowledge our team. We have June. She heads over our director of community development. We also have one of our board members James, Archie with us as well. And then also a superstar over here, Shatira Sankster. It's incredible. She just won a state award actually yesterday, so I just wanted to highlight the work she does

as well.

And on behalf of doctor Little and the rest of the the team at the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce, again, we wanna say thank you guys. Thank you for your recognition and acknowledgment to the work done at the chamber. As what was shared earlier, this month marks the hundredth year anniversary of black history celebrated in our nation and this is an incredible milestone in celebration for our businesses, our communities, our culture, as well as our people. As I reflect, I'm also reminded of another significant milestone here in the Central Valley. As this year, the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce celebrates twenty five years of service in the Central Valley.

So that is definitely a round of applause there. And, obviously, this cannot be, you know, fulfilled without the partnerships and the communities that surround us here in Fresno and the Central Valley. Again, thank you guys so much for your recognition. Thank you.

Alright. Anybody else wanna make any comments? Okay. With that up oh. Yeah. That was good.

I'm gonna make the motion.

Yeah. Let me see if there's any other comments. Any other comments? No? Any comments from the public?

No. I do want to recognize my good friend pastor DJ Kreiner who's here as well. And I will leave it to you.

The legend pastor DJ Kreiner is here.

With that, I'll make the motion.

I'll second. Jones.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Would you please step forward for the proclamation, take a photo with the board? Thank you. I'm gonna have to get around this gentleman. He's tall. Congratulations.

Congratulations. One

two, three. One, two, three. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We now move to item number six under supervisor Magzik, adopt resolution recognizing the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Supervisor Magzik.

Yes, I think we have someone here from Daughters of American Revolution. I think Karen may be here. And anyone else that you've brought with you, if you can step forward. We are approaching this nation's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. And a very special day, you know, I think about the liberties and freedoms that this country has, which are not only unique in the world today, but how this country operates, its form of government has never existed in the world.

You look back at the Roman Empire and the hundreds of years that it was in existence. You look at other empires that have risen and fallen, many of which operated with Caesars or dictators. But here, we are a country of laws. We are a country that was formed by the people and for the people. And we really need to celebrate that we get to live in a land where you can grow up in abject poverty like Abraham Lincoln did and one day become the president of The United States.

And so I would like to turn this over now to Karen and I had the pleasure of speaking to the daughters of the American Revolution, I don't know, maybe four months ago. And this is an organization that more people need to learn about because their membership consists of young women who can tie their lineage all the way back to some of the founders of this country. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Karen.

I'm one of the young women. Chairman Breitfeld, board members, and sponsoring board member Supervisor Magsig. I am Karen Bowser, regent of the Fresno Yosemite Daughters of the American Revolution, also known as DAR. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is a nonprofit, nonpolitical volunteer women's service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America's future through better education for children. Members are all lineal descendants of those who supported the cause and independence of the revolutionary war.

We thank you for inviting us today to accept this resolution honoring our country's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence. We are very proud of our heritage and our patriots who fought for our country's independence. We want very much to encourage all citizens to participate in related events and programs in Fresno County and beyond. Thank you for paving the way for educating our citizens on this important and significant anniversary.

Thank you. Any comments from the board? Any comments from the public? Okay. Would you come on up?

And I'll move for approval of this resolution. Yeah.

Those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? None. Nope.

I hope before November. Why don't you come on over here? We'll get a photo.

We now move to item number seven under supervisor Magsick proclaim February 2026 as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month in Fresno County.

Supervisor Magsick.

And we have representatives here, Jessica Saylor, Leticia Campos and Tiffany Apodaca, I believe. So if you can step forward at this time. And if there are other representatives as well, just gather around. And I know the Marjorie Mason Center is going to be receiving this, but when we think about just violence in general, our community needs to be talking about that more, especially teen violence. And we need to be aware of it and so we can nip it in the bud and prevent it. And so, Jessica, I'm going turn the floor over to you to talk about the significance of this proclamation today and what the center is doing and your partners are doing to reduce violence.

Thank you so much for honoring Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. My name is Jessica Saylor. I have the opportunity to be the prevention and education manager at the Marjorie Mason Center. I oversee the trademarked program, No More. We go into schools to educate students about healthy relationships. We're in 43 schools, five school districts. And just last school year, we educated over 10,000 students about healthy relationships throughout the entire county. This year, our tagline is know the signs, know your worth, educating students about the signs to be aware of and what teen dating violence looks like. It's not just physical. It could be emotional, verbal, digital.

There's all different types of signs. And I have a great team that works in the schools to educate students and keep us relevant because we want them to think that the content is important but not boring. And so they keep us youthful and engaged with the students. We have awesome partnerships with the superintendent of schools, the district attorney's office, and local law enforcement to ensure that we educate everyone, parents, guardians, and teachers to know the signs and be aware of what's going on.

Good morning. Leticia Campos, chief programs officer with the Marjorie Mason Center. I oversee all of, really, all of our client services, so anything that intersects with clients and one of those being our prevention education department. Jessica's team are really the boots on the ground, I have to give kudos to her team. And she really just said it all.

One of the things that I wanted to make sure to reiterate here is how important this program is, how important it is that we continue to educate young people on healthy relationships. And the reason for that is because most often folks don't realize that the adult relationships that are experiencing domestic violence or sometimes end in homicide started very young, started in, middle school, started in high school. We know that domestic violence is a generational cycle. And so the more that we can be proactive instead of reactive, is imperative for our for our students. I always tell everyone, just imagine, imagine someone that you love.

Imagine your daughter. Imagine your son. I have two adult children. Imagine them and what you want for them. And the last thing that we want is for them to end up, losing their life to the at the hands of the person that they married, at the hands of the person that they love.

And so if we can put that emphasis in everything that we do with that at the forefront of, if this was my son or my daughter, what would I want for them? Then I think we can make a world of difference as we move forward. Just some quick stats to share. Since August 2023, data that's been collected through our domestic violence data dashboard, collected that seven thousand victims 18 were victims of domestic violence. There have also been over ten thousand victims between the ages of 18 and 24 showing that unhealthy relationship patterns often continue into, young adulthood.

And then those numbers represent real people in our community, real young people in our community. And so, again, thank you for recognizing Teen Dating Violence Award as meant. Thank you to our critical community partners. Jessica mentioned law enforcement, the district attorney's office. It really does take a village to

get

the word out and to ensure that, we try to eradicate domestic violence as much as possible. So thank you.

Any other any comments from the board?

Just briefly, mister chair. I just wanna probably thank the organizations and the group for doing the work that they do as a former school board member. I got a chance to see the program and what you guys do and I really appreciate that because I think oftentimes our kids don't have a role model at home to see and they don't know what a healthy relationship looks like. And so it's like that old saying, like, an ounce of prevention is better than the pound of cure. So thank you for being in our schools and keep up the good work. Thank you.

And I also appreciate the work that you're doing. It's critically important. I appreciate supervisor Magsie bringing this forward. Any comments from the public at all? Is there a motion and second?

I'll move for approval.

All those in favor? Aye. Passes unanimously. Would you come up for a photo? Thank you.

We

now move to item number eight. Under the administrative office, consider and take action on the request of determination of public convenience or necessity in regard to application for an alcoholic beverage control license type 21 filed by SAFE-one Incorporated to be used at 21007 South Fowler Avenue, Layton, California 93242.

It's all yours.

Good morning chairman, supervisors. Ron Alexander with the administrative office. As mentioned before, your board is a type 21 license, which authorizes the sale of beer, wine and liquor for consumption off of premises were sold. Management directive 2,400 states that the license would not tend to create a law enforcement problem, that the license would provide a needed service to the community, and that it would provide a positive impact on the local economy. The applicant has provided a written response to the three criteria and is available for questions should they arise.

Department of public work was contacted. There are no zoning issues with this, location, And the sheriff's department has been contacted and reviewed the application. The applicant is in Census Tract 74. Two off sale licenses are allowed in the census tract. There are currently five licenses. The applicant has an existing type 20 license on this this location. He is upgrading to a type 21. So effectively, won't increase the total number of active licenses at this location. This is a map of the census tract which depicts the location of the applicant as well as all of the other the existing licenses. This is this shows a depiction of the the location of all of the other licensees.

You can see there are several that are are with it pretty close to the applicant and the last one is 6.2 miles away. This is an aerial view of the applicant's location. We have the the view of the applicant storefront, the north view, south view, east, and west view of the applicant site. And, again, here are the three criteria to make, the determination of public convenience of necessity. That concludes this presentation. I'm available for questions.

There wasn't any, protest letters or?

I didn't receive any letters, any calls, anything in opposition to this allocation.

I didn't get any calls either. Right. Right.

Any other comments from the board at all? Any comments from the public? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. Is there a motion to approve motion by Supervisor Mendez?

I'll second.

Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

We now move to number nine. Approve amendment to the salary resolution adding one housing and homelessness division manager and one program technician one two, confidential to the office of housing and homelessness org 5428 and transferring five staff analysts one two three positions and one senior analyst position from Department of Social Services, org 5610 to the Office of Housing and Homelessness, org 5428, effective 02/16/2026 as reflected in appendix c in your board packet. Adopt budget resolution established fiscal year twenty five-twenty six six appropriations and estimated revenues for the house office of the housing and homeless org 02/1928 in the amount of $5,251,402. Adopt budget resolution decreasing fiscal year 2526. The county administrative office org zero one two o.

Appropriations in the amount of $76,546 and estimated revenues in the amount of $44,417. Adopt budget resolution decreasing fiscal year twenty five twenty six appropriations and estimated revenues for the Department of Social Services, org 5,610 in the amount of $4,846,051 and adopt budget resolution established in fiscal year twenty five-twenty six appropriations and estimated revenues for the collaborative applicant housing and urban development org 128 in the amount of $680,105

Clerk, could you repeat that?

You can take a breath.

The floor is yours, Amina.

Thank you. Good morning board. Amina Flores Becker, Deputy CAO. I am not going to repeat everything that this item does, but essentially this item is the next step in support of the action that your board took in November to establish the Office of Housing and Homelessness. This item officially establishes the budgets as were read. It, transfers positions, adds, positions as recommended, and identified as necessary for the operations of Office of Housing and Homelessness. That concludes my presentation. I'm available to answer any questions your board may have.

Any questions, comments from the board? Any comments from the public? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. Is there a motion and a second?

Motion. Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Passes unanimously.

We now move to item number 10, discuss the potential limitation of a transit occupancy tax in the unincorporated areas of the county and provide direction staff regarding preparation of an or public outreach and any required actions to place the measure before voters in November 2026, if applicable.

Good morning, chairman and members of the board. I'll begin the presentation. As as I've shared with your board in prior presentations, as as the county looks at its revenue sources and our expanding costs, we're finding some of our revenue sources are flat. For example, our sales tax revenue, but we're also seeing rising costs. As you may recall, in our last budget, we needed to use one time money, to address a shortfall in our budget, which is is something that's not sustainable.

And so one of the things that, we've been looking at is revenue sources, and I'd like to commend, Paige Benavides, our budget director, for her work on this. Today's conversation specifically is about transient occupancy tax or a TOT tax and, the potential of looking at one here in Fresno County. As your board has has heard from me and Paige, it was surprising for me to learn that we're really one of the only counties in the state that has the capability to do this with rentals but is but is not doing that or with hotels. With that, I'm gonna turn it over to Paige to get into the details of this presentation.

Good morning, board. Paige Benavides, County Administrative Office. As Paul mentioned, the item before you is an informational discussion on the potential implementation of a TOT, the transient occupancy tax, in the unincorporated areas of Fresno County. We'll outline what a TOT is and the potential revenues that it could generate to help the board decide if and when the county should pursue it and then seek your direction on next steps. Before we get into the details of what TOT is, we want to be clear and state what this item is not.

So at this stage, your board is not establishing a tax, not approving an ordinance, nor is it committing the county to placing a measure before the voters. A TOT is a tax imposed on short term lodging typically paid by visitors staying in hotels, motels, tourist homes, short term vacation rentals, RVs at campgrounds, etcetera, for periods of thirty days or less. The tax does not apply to county residents in their primary or long term residents. Most California counties have a TOT in unincorporated areas, and rates range from 4% to 14%, with most between 812%. TOT revenues are a common local funding source among California counties and are used to support general governmental services or voter approved purposes.

This table shows the fiscal year twenty twenty four TOT rate in each California county. And as I stated, County Of Fresno is one of only three counties in the state that does not have a TOT, but it's the only county that actually has lodging properties in the unincorporated area with no TOT. So of the counties that have implemented a TOT, you can see from this chart the majority have an 810%, or 12% rate. Some common uses of TOT revenues are they typically support a wide range of county services, including public safety, infrastructure maintenance, health and human services, and general government operations. Preliminary estimated TOT revenues for a potential TOT in Fresno County unincorporated areas would range from about $3,000,000 at 8% to $5,300,000 at 14%.

And these projections from our HDL company's partner are based on about 1,600 units in hotels and campgrounds and about six sixty in short term rentals. If the board directs staff to proceed with further analysis, we'll return with more in-depth revenue projections and then a potential use of those revenues. And then we would also discuss potential administrative costs related to that. If your board decides to proceed and give direction to staff to do so, We would continue to work with the county's consultant, as I mentioned, HDL companies, to refine those revenue projections. We would then work with council to draft an ordinance for public hearings sometime in April 26 and coordinate with the county clerk registrar of voters, to take that measure to the voters on the ballot in November 2026.

And this timeline is based on the November. So with that, I will turn it to Paul.

Thank you, Paige. As part of the process, as we've evaluated a TOT task, we've also been in contact with Lisa Oliveira, who is here today with Visit Fresno County. I'm gonna ask Lisa if you would to to come forward. And the reason I think it's important is just to hear a perspective for someone that's promoting tourism in Fresno County. So I'm gonna ask Lisa if she would just share a few words.

Yes. Good morning, supervisors. Good to be here. About two years ago, we discovered that Fresno County was the only county that was not collecting TOT. This came out through the Dean Runyon report that comes out every other year about visitor spending. We're very competitive in our office and we were lower than Kern County, so that was when the red flag started to pick up. But this is something that we're very supportive of. We think that this should be implemented in Fresno County and is it paid by the visitor and something that supports the county.

Thank you, Lisa. We move on to the slide page. So really at the end of the day here, just to get to the point of what we're looking for today, we've done the research, but really we're coming down to a question of whether we want to go forward with a TOT tax. And just to put this in perspective, to what Lisa was saying, so we have our not just the counties, but our own incorporated cities within the County Of Fresno that would have a TOT tax as well. So you could have a situation where you have a hotel or an Airbnb on one street in the city that is has that tax where across the street in the county or an unincorporated area, that is not the case.

What that means is residents who come visit Fresno County are are not paying for those services, but rather local county residents essentially are supplementing the services for the tourists in the area. We all know that there may be a number of tax measures in 2026 as we're looking to see what may happen with with the other measures. So that is a consideration. But as your CAO, I would say, right, you know, sometimes there's never a good time, but it is something that I recommend we consider. But what I'm looking for is, should we proceed? And the timeline that Paige showed earlier is a tight timeline.

If we

were to do it in '26, we need to move now and that's why we're before you today. And also if we were to come back in '28, then we can sit back and and come back at that time. So with that, ready to answer any questions that you may have.

Got one real quick. What's what's the city's rate?

You have that page?

Well, city of Fresno 12

what's Clovis? Same. Same. Yeah. I think we should move forward with this.

And again, it goes before the voters.

Yeah, the

voters pick. I I would say, the fact that we're the only county well, it's good. It's also bad. Bad in the sense that, Paul just alluded to the fact that, especially in Shaver, significant number of cabins which were once owned and were vacation cabins have turned over to Airbnb's and so we get a lot of people circulating through and where there's calls for service, we've got a volunteer fire department up there that responds, sheriff's department is responding, garbage service is responding because a lot of people just dump their trash out on the side of the road. So I think this could be an opportunity where at least some of the visitors that we're receiving are paying for a portion of the services that they're getting. So I too would be supportive of moving forward and seeing what the voters of Fresno County truly want.

Just just a couple questions for our CEO. So do do we know the the number of potential, units that we would be assessing with this? What what is that number?

We do page has that.

The revenue estimates are oops. Sorry. Revenue estimates are based on, about 1,600 units for hotels and RVs, 700 for hotels, resorts, clubs, and then about nine fourteen units for RVs and campgrounds. And then for short term rentals, it's about $6.65.

And what's the potential total amount of assessment with those units?

Depending on the rate.

Is it four if it's 12%, it'd be $4,000,000 4,500,000.0 Right? $4,500,000

Yes, dollars 4,500,000.0 at 12%. So it ranges from $3,000,000 at eight percent all the way up to 5.3 at 14.

So being that we don't have any sort of agreement with Airbnb or BRBO, think there's a couple other platforms on there. How would the process work for somebody that wants to, utilize one of their properties for an Airbnb? Airbnb then transfer that information to us? Because those are the units that we do know of right now based on information that Airbnb provided or that we're estimating.

What I know is that there is a mechanism in place that we can contract, with set an RFP to, have a collections company do that on our behalf.

I guess what I'm trying to get to is the right now, we are not assessing anything. Right? We're estimating a certain amount of units that we just kind of went So would this also include an an agreement with Airbnb, BRVO? Because I know at the city, we went through that conversation and then the stipulations of where is it appropriate to put an Airbnb and where is it not so we don't end up with issues and party houses and a number of other things that we know will generate calls for service.

Yeah. We've looked at what the city has done, and I think that likely would be the next step when we move forward was if if the voters approve this, an agreement with both of those organizations, both for the identification, the collection piece of it.

Okay. That's what I just wanted to confirm. And I'm okay with going forward with that. Don't do anything in our community. Thank you.

Supervisor Pacheco, any comments? Yeah, I too support this. It is for rentals, it's for hotels, it's for visitors, not people who are residing here. It's in the unincorporated area. Fresno and Clovis does have a 12%.

We're not charging anything at this point. And yet there are needs for services. The issue for me is there are going to be competing measures on the ballot. I'd like to see this pass should we bring it forward and my only concern is that you know, we know there's a group trying to put a very flawed measure related to measure c on the ballot. We're looking at the possibility of a general tax order to come up with something that truly addresses roads and public safety and things of that sort.

And then we would have this transient occupancy tax. That's my concern. I'm not sure how best to address that. I don't know if the will of the board is to move forward. That's why we're having this discussion. Any thoughts on that from the board in terms of when we would do this and thoughts about that?

I would so I'm of the opinion, I think we need to explore this and do it sooner than later because as the only county in the state that doesn't currently collect and with our rising costs, it means that we're going to have to dip into other discretionary sources. This is something which is accepted by all 50 well, actually, I think there's 55 counties, but two of them don't do it because they don't have any rentals at all. So it doesn't make sense for

them to do So

I think how and you're right, supervisor Bredefeld about the challenge that we face, but you don't know what 2028 is gonna look like with bond measures that the state might want to do. And so it just really comes down to as we go through the process, if it looks like something that, you know, we do want to put before the voters, we just have to differentiate this particular measure from any other measures that may be on the ballot.

Yep, that makes sense. Makes sense.

Mr. Chair, just a quick thought on that. I think, one of the things that I wasn't sure of, what is our time? Because I agree with Regent Max. I think we should get the information, the data, and then obviously see the reaction from the platforms that do this Airbnb, VRBO. But what would be the timeline for us putting something like this on the what will be the deadline, I guess? Is it August? Is it sooner than that so that we can have some discussions during the budget process as well?

Yeah. So we would be coming back with a draft ordinance in April. And so with at that time and that that would be a public hearing. That would be a time to determine if we're making changes or if we're going to change course. In June, we would bring the ordinance and the measure to your board, for approval to then submit. So that would be our target timeline. July to November would be the public outreach period. So if your question is, is there a chance to change course between now and then, we would have time. But at this point, we need to expend resources. That's really why I'm here before you today is we have to do some contract and it's it's not just with the tax consulting piece of it, but also with the public outreach.

And so all of those things we need to arrange now and it is a tight timeline even with that. So we have to move quickly with direction today if we go forward.

Any comments from the public? Seeing none, I'll bring it back for a motion and direction second to direct staff. Anybody move forward along this timeline? Okay. Motion is second to move forward along the timeline that's presented by staff. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously.

And I apologize, Mr. Chairman. Who was the second on that? Supervisor Chavez. He's so quiet. Okay. We now move to item number 11. Under public works and planning, adopt Fresno County Safe Roads to School Action Plan for 15 school sites, which was funded by a grant from California Office of Traffic and Safety.

And we'll have a presentation for public works.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Mohamed Alimi with Fresno County Public Works and Planning Department. So last year, we received a grant from Office of Traffic Safety to study the safety improvements around 15 schools in unincorporated communities. The slide that is showing the locations of these unincorporated communities where we studied the safety around the schools with the name of the schools.

So the goal was to come up with the action plan that that identifies the needs for those safety improvements, infrastructure improvements. We hired a consultant tool design associates to assist us. And the the action plan was developed a few months ago, but it's taken us a few months to bring it to your board for adoption. And the the communities that were involved, they had great inputs. We had several, at every project site, actually.

We had walk audits, and these walk audits was, to coordinate with the school administrators, with the parents, with the children themselves to see what needs to be done to help them, you know, get to a school safer and also promote active transportation, you know, biking, walking to a school. So, some of the needs, are all identified in the action plan that is accompanied with the with the agenda item. So, we are asking your board to adopt this action plan so that we can get to the next phase of this project to do some demonstrations and also evaluate what improvements are really, works best for for these locations. You know, as I mentioned, there were walk audits, you know, that that we identified the needs that needs to be implemented. And and also there were some online and as well as interactive maps that were given to the students to see what what the pattern is for these students to get to a school so that, you know, we can help them use use bicycles and walk to a school in a more safer environment.

So with that said, the next step of the project, we actually received a second grant from OTS, to do demonstration projects at three locations. And and once we do these demonstration projects and see whether the, planned improvements are viable and feasible, then we're gonna get into the actual construction of these improvements at different sites. So if you have any question, I'll be happy to answer it.

Any questions or comments from the board? Now

we're just getting started. So there's basically outreach is done. We know where it is, but none of the engineering work's been done yet. Right?

That's right. The engineering work would be kind of the last phase.

Yeah.

So the second phase is the demonstration projects where we're gonna put temporary improvements and, like, there are some raised crosswalks. We wanna make sure those improvements work with emergency vehicles, school buses. We don't wanna do something that we're gonna regret later. So, these are temporary measures. If they work, then we're gonna get into next phase and look for funding to do those permanent improvements.

Any other comments, questions from the board? Yes.

Just a quick comment. I want to commend Mohammed and his team but just acknowledge it was in the agenda item but I had the privilege in November to be at an event where this project was actually awarded the Transportation Project of the Year for Planning by Women in Transportation at the Central California Chapter. So it was receiving recognition. So I just want to commend and acknowledge that recognition. Thank you.

Excellent. And some of the ones you've done over the years are fantastic.

Thank you. I mean

The improvement to the communities.

Yes. We are getting more into planning grants and this was a planning grant that, know, gets us more ahead of the ballgame before we get into the actual design of the project and construction. We wanna make sure that it's planned properly. There is, you know, community outreach and and the community is involved with whatever improvement that we're planning for them.

Any other comments, questions from the board? No? Any comments from the public? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. Is there a motion to approve? Motion by Chairman. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you.

We now move to item number 12, approve amendment to text application number three nine zero and adopt ordinance modifying tax of tax of Fresno County's ordinate ordinance to correct omissions, typographical errors, and unintended ambiguities following approval of 2024 comprehensive zoning ordinance update and determine that recommend action one is an exempt from California Environmental Quality Act and direct staff to file a notice of exemption with Fresno County Clerk's Office and designate county councilor for a fair and adequate summary of proposed ordinance and direct clerk of the board to publish and post and publish required summary in accordance with California government code section two five one two four b one.

Good morning, mister chairman, members of the board. Chris Mata with the Department of Public Works and Planning. This amendment, text of the county zoning ordinance, is a cleanup item to make corrections to the document after its complete reformatting with the 02/20/2024 adoption of the general plan review and zoning ordinance update. During the last several months, department staff has compiled a list of typographical errors and corrections and clarifications to come to this point where we have this really housekeeping item before your board. These have been noted in exhibit a of attachment b of your agenda item, is planning commission staff report in red line format. And at December 11 hearing, the planning commission recommended approval of the proposed text amendment based on staff's recommendation. This concludes my brief presentation. I'm available for any questions.

Any comments? Questions? Yes.

So, I was talking to public works a little bit about this yesterday. There was one other thing that I wanted to add. I wanted to find out if this is possible to do today to this cleanup item and it's in relationship to mills. And since 2016, we've been operating under a state of emergency and we allow mills in the agricultural zone districts. Don't know if it's limited to just the AE 20, but I think it might be in the ag zone districts altogether.

I wanted to see if there's a way that we also, as we do this amendment to the zoning ordinance, could also just include an agricultural zone district even outside of an emergency that we can allow mills as a use in that particular zone district. So

The answer is it's not possible.

Not possible. It would require

CEQUA clearance that was in 2016, we use a statutory exemption specifically because of the emergency declaration. So the way the amendment detects was written at that time and adopted by your board was to have temporary mill planing operations to address the bark beetle trees. The, in that sense, that it has a temporary life and they're actually required within one hundred and eighty days to vacate the use after the declaration is pulled or actually withdrawn. So that said, that's written very specifically to deal with that emergency. We didn't have to do sequel work on that amendment to text because of the fact that it was an emergency and and the provisions allowed for that.

In this case, if we were to apply it countywide, is what would occur, there would have to be analysis of truck trips, you know, road miles, pollution, the safety of the vehicles moving in and out of the facilities and the like. The answer would be short answer is the county would would it would not be prudent and highly ill advised to try to include it in this effort.

Excellent. I would just offer up maybe in the future, because we do text amendments from time to time, but I think that is one where as we do CEQA analysis, if we can show that by properly managing our forest through allowing mill operations actually reduces pollution because you don't it limits how fires can really run and break away from us. I think it would be a good thing. And I recognize we can't do that today. But I would like to direct staff to look into that sooner than later to maybe update something. I think it would benefit the county greatly.

Understood.

Any other comments from the board? Any comments from the public? Seeing none, bring it back. Is there a motion and second to approve this item? Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Passes unanimously.

We now move to item number 13, Board of Supervisory Committee reports and comments.

Anybody, Supervisor Mags?

Just real quick. So, today is my wife's birthday. I wanted to say that because my mother-in-law watches these videos and

she's going be tickled to death

that I'm talking about my Julie. So just wanted to say that for the record. Then also, our neighbors to the south, Tulare County has their farm show that kicked off today. The opening ceremonies were at 08:00. I got to run down there briefly and it's going to be an amazing next couple of days at that farm show and I just want to encourage people who are watching this video to go check that out. And I know that our the farmers I have to my left, they get out there and do a great job. That farm show promotes the entire Central Valley and people from all over the world come here and it's a special time.

I don't have time to go. Too busy for me. Yeah. Just kind of a curiosity, you know, we're they're expecting rains, big rain event starting next week. And it's not out of the realm of possibilities. The Kings River could actually be in some sort of limited flood release. It won't be a managed deal, be managed by, the care WA users would probably do a lot of water banking and what irrigating they need to do. So I'm just saying just putting that out there.

Okay. Yes, Supervisor Shaul.

Just two quick things, Mr. Chair. This past week, last week actually, we announced for First Five Fresno County, the RFP process. We have $3,000,000 available for, resources, grants, and programs that'll support, children zero to five. I think the last count was 88,900 children that we have.

I just want to make that notice out and if anybody's interested in applying for that, they can go to the first5resno.org website and download the, grant, proposals and submit those before March 4. And then just lastly, supervisor Pacheco, supervisor Maxig and I had a chance to go and receive the $5,000,000 from, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria for our fire training, Center, Mid Valley. Welcome. That was phase one, but we're hoping to get money for phase two, in the next cycle. So to my colleagues that are planning on going up to Sacramento, hint, hint. Thank you.

Nothing there. First of all, happy birthday to Ms. Magsie. And I I just wanted to take a a moment to address the recent high school walkouts that took place in the city of Fresno protesting the deportation of criminal illegal aliens by ICE and other federal law enforcement. These walkouts raise serious concerns about student safety, educational priorities, and frankly, lack of leadership at Fresno Unified.

While students have a right to express their views, which I fully support, why didn't students express those views in protests on campus? Many students carried signs that contained profanity and inappropriate language. Large numbers left the campus during school hours with some abandoning the protest altogether to skip class, placing themselves at risk and undermining the very purpose of public education. Even more troubling, these walkouts were not merely tolerated but actively encouraged and chaperoned by school administrators and teachers. Taxpayer funded school buses were used to transport kids to certain locations in the community to begin their protest.

In one instance, a school board member of Fresno Unified marched with the students while explicit music was played loud loudly to the point that the Fresno Police Department had to intervene and instruct the organizers to turn it down. Critical police resources were also used to ensure the safety of the students at some somewhere in the street creating dangerous situations for motorists and the students. It's well known and documented that Fresno Unified, its superintendents, and school board members have failed Fresno's children for decades. Many students are significantly behind in reading, writing, and math and not close to not even being slightly close to being at grade level. The priorities for educating these children are not where they should be and that was obvious with allowing and encouraging walkouts with no penalties for this disruptive and in some instances potentially dangerous behavior.

Additionally, are these students being taught about both sides of an issue that they're protesting? Are they taught about the crimes of the criminal illegal aliens that the federal government is trying to deport? Are they aware that many have been deported or rapists, murderers, committed sex crimes against children, or engaged in drug and sex trafficking? Are they aware that president Obama deported 3,000,000 illegal immigrants? Or that hundreds of thousands of children went missing at the border?

Are they aware of the implications of overwhelming medical and educational service by having open borders? About allowing 15 to 20,000,000 into our country without vetting them, the problems and dangers of having sanctuary cities and states and encouraging people to openly defy federal law. Are they aware of all of that? Or are they being indoctrinated to hate law enforcement, hate this great country, and not respect the rule of law? Encouraging and allowing students to leave school is not education.

It's indoctrination and manipulation. Students should be taught how to write letters to their federal rep elected representatives if they want to change laws, how to engage in thoughtful dialogue, how to research and use critical analytical skills in understanding both sides of an issue. The bottom line is the emphasis at Fresno Unified should be on getting students up to grade level so they're proficient in reading, writing, spelling, math and acquiring the skills necessary to become productive citizens. These students walkouts at Fresno Unified are a reflection that the superintendent, its administrators and the school board members continue to fail these students miserably and that remains completely unacceptable. With that, we'll move on to

I got one

I'm more sorry.

Ahead. Know, there's been a lot of news about the fraud on Measure P. I think it was a million and a half missing. And the same people that wrote that initiative were the same people that have writing a new initiative for transit. And one of the things they're doing is eliminating the Transportation Authority.

So my prediction, if that deal passes, there will be huge amount of fraud placed on that transportation money. So the public needs to be very careful because the system has worked pretty dang good for the twenty years that it that it's been involved in the twenty years before that. There was no there's never been an issue of fraud on measure c.

I appreciate you bringing that up. Excellent point.

We now move to item number 14, board appointments.

Are there any appointments? None? We got them out of the way. Supervisor Chavez? No. No. No. Oh, I do. I'm sorry. One, reappoint Scott Bailey to the Law Library Board of Trustees, member of the bar position. And two, appoint Lindsey Daniel to the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission at large position, previously held by Charles, Garabedian. I'd like to make a motion to approve that. Do we have to go out to the public? Any comments from the public? Okay. I'll make a motion and there's a second by supervisor Mendez. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

We now move to item number 15, public presentations. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons designed to address the board on any matter that's not on the agenda as well as any closed session items 17 through 25. Any public comment for that as well?

Okay. Any comments from the public on any matter not on this agenda or on the closed session item 17 through 25? Please step up.

Good morning. Walden O'Neil with the Fresno District Attorney Investigators Association. I just wanted to say thank you to the Board of Supervisors, the CAO, and to our HR department for, working through a rough budget with us. That's it.

Okay. Thank Thank you. Hi, Cindy.

Hi, I'm Cindy Fukuyama. I just want to say thank you to Gary for bringing up his comments. As a retired educator of thirty three years and administrator in Medea Unified, There are many teachers that would agree with his comments and many parents have been quite upset and I've heard from a lot of parents the last two weeks from several districts. But I just want to thank you for bringing up that issue and it is concerning and I appreciate your, openness to talk about it. Thanks.

Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, ma'am.

Good morning. I got to take these off. Are not reading. Good morning, supervisors. My name is Lorraine Ramirez.

I am I have been a servant of my community in the role of an emergency response social worker for the Department of Children and Family Services for twenty five years. It's with a heavy heart that I have come to a decision that I'm gonna retire, not due to an illness or any personal circumstances, but because I can no longer support a department that places children at continued risk of abuse or neglect, ignore services to families, and walk away hoping no new allegations are made. I can no longer be at a job site that places myself and my coworkers at emotional distress daily due to administration ignoring founded allegations of employees in the workplace. When advocacy becomes a when you become an advocate for the county, you become a target, and you're labeled the problem, which leads to employees going out on stress leave or quitting. A lot of these employees have gone back to school, and they're leaving with a loan willing to pay that back.

DSS is has a lot of issues right now, and, I've come before you guys before when we had kids sleeping on the floor. And some things were changed, but what what I'm seeing now is just heartbreaking. It is so heartbreaking and it's to the point where you don't feel that you're being heard as an advocate for the children, for your your coworkers, or for anyone. It has gotten so bad that even the own county our own county council couldn't risk could not ignore the risk to the children that they subpoenaed the director, the ombudsman, and a deputy and a DC now on the stand under oath to explain the why children are being being left at risk and services not provided. This department has focused more on its image, being in competition with other counties, and ignoring those advocating for the children's safety gets dismissed.

I know a system was put in place like the foster care oversight committee, but how can they do what is intended if all the stats and information come from the department? They have to make appointments to go out to see mod c where a lot of our children are placed. You ain't gonna get the true picture when you're making an appointment. Things are cleaned up. So what's the bottom line I'm asking?

Sorry. The bottom line is you guys need an outside audit. Please hire someone, an outside agency to come in and audit the department. Audit the FR cases, the family reunifications, kids going home early, the FR panels. These FR panels are making decisions on children and ER investigations. Please. That's what I'm asking.

County Clerk, do you get the name and number of each? Yeah. Because I would like to talk to you further just to hear. I mean, DSS does a lot of great work, but there's always ways we can improve it. Right. So I appreciate it. I'd like to talk to you further and so we'll get your information and I'll be in contact.

Alright. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else?

Good morning, board. My name is Nina Lamboy. I'm an employee of the Department of Social Services. I'm also a union member of SEIU five twenty one. And I just wanted to report oh, sorry. Thank you. Some of the concerns, that Lorraine did report. I wanted to just speak to concerns that directly affect this board's budgets, investments, and the safety of the families that we serve in our county. Fresno County has made significant efforts towards recruitment and retention, but these efforts are often undermined when operational gaps, result in preventable turnover. What we are experiencing is not simply a staffing shortage, but it's a structural issue that affects stability, continuity, and public safety.

Across the department, when frontline professionals elevate safety gaps or compliance concerns, the subsequent response has been focused on administrative handling of the reporter rather than addressing the risk it identifies. This practice has led reported concerns from frontline staff being narrowed, procedural actions being initiated against the report without resolution. When internal reporting does not result in mediation, it produces a predictable and costly pattern. Safety issues remain unaddressed. Experienced staff disengage or depart.

Vacancies increase and institutional knowledge is lost. And the county incurs significant costs related to recruitment, onboarding, training, overtime, and temporary coverage. This is not a labor shortage. It's a preventable fiscal loss. I was just requesting that there is a channel for frontline workers to address concerns that are outside of departmental structures so that the board can hear from frontline staff the risks that are happening, the concerns so that the board has an accurate picture of what's going on without filtered information.

Okay.

That's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else from the public? Okay. We'll move on.

Item number 16, County Council reports from previous closed session.

Yes, have a couple of announcements. On January 27, the board in closed session unanimously approved settlement of Watson versus the county. And on February 2, the settlement agreement was signed providing for the county's payment of $280,000 to the plaintiff. A copy of the agreement can be obtained from the county council's office. Also, for today, because we were at the City Of Fresno during some of the events involved, chairman Bredefeld, vice chairman Chavez, and I will be recusing ourselves and not participating in the CMG construction closed session matter today. And then lastly, I do not expect any announcements following the closed session today, you may adjourn from the closed session.

Okay. Is there a motion and a second to adjourn following closed session?

Second.

All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Passes unanimously. Motion carries. With that, we