Parks, Recreation, and Arts Commission - Regular Meeting

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Good evening. It is 532. I would like to now call the Parks and Recreation meeting in order. City Clerk, would you please conduct roll call?

Certainly. Commissioner Barraza? Present. Commissioner Acala is present. Commissioner Dolan is absent. Commissioner Duran?

Here.

Commissioner Kucharski?

Here.

Commissioner Miller? Here. Vice Chair Ward?

Here.

And Chair McCoy?

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you. Is there a motion to excuse the absence of Commissioner Dolan? So moved. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Duran. And thank you, Commissioner Miller. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, say no. Motion passes. We will begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. Will everyone please stand? Ready? Salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag We will start with the approval of the agenda. City Clerk, are there any changes or proposed changes to the agenda tonight?

There are no changes.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Thank you, Commissioner Kalia. Is there a second?

I'll second the motion.

Thank you, Vice Chair. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. This item is approved. We will now move on to the approval of minutes. Are there any changes to the minutes from the regular meeting of August 17, 2026? There are no changes. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the minutes?

So I'll second.

Thank you, Commissioner Miller and Commissioner Duran. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no. This item is approved.

I was going to say, I wasn't here last time.

You can abstain. It won't change anything. It won't count.

You can vote because the minutes are displayed in the agenda. So you can read those minutes. So you do not have to abstain. And you can vote for it.

We will now move on to subcommittee reports. Does anyone from the ARC subcommittee have any reports for the commission? No, we do not. We will hear our reports when it's presented, our updates when it's presented from our workshop on the agenda. We will now move on to member reports and comments. Commissioner Barraza, do you have any reports or comments?

I'd just like to add that the subcommittee met and reviewed the draft rules that are going to apply to the selection process or the review of the candidates that are going to be participating in the ranking process. Thank you. And I'm assuming that at some point the final document is going to be approved by this commission.

Thank you. Commissioner Duran?

Thank you. I have a few comments. First, I want to thank Park's staff, the director, and our contractors who offered Tour to myself and fellow commissioners this past week of many different projects happening at three parts Radio Park Dolores Huerta Park and South Peach Park. It was a great Afternoon spent going around our city seeing these projects most of them in progress some of them close to completion and so it really brought to life a lot of the work we do up here with motions and things we talked about and Numbers on a spreadsheet, seeing what it's going to be for our community was really great. So that's my first update. And then second, as part of the subcommittee work that was mentioned, the cycle three application review committee application is open until September 30th. So we encourage anyone to apply who is interested and able and willing to serve. And I wanna thank the city for their outreach efforts. I know we're probably gonna get to that a little later in the meeting, but it's been great to see in the community, flyers, emails, a lot of outreach. So just wanna thank city staff for that, and that'll be it for me. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Miller? Thank you. Vice Chair Ward?

Not at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Kalia?

I have a couple things. One, We all get these little flyers in the mail for people who are running for office. And I got one in the mail the other day. And this person said that they were going to work on unsafe streets and clean up the parks. Yes, we have a couple of parks here and there that need work. But I have to say, the work that you're all doing with all the The things that have, like the stolen money and the regrouping and restarting everything, I think you're doing a phenomenal job. And I think you're on top of everything. So I don't know if this person is going to win or not, but I think that you're doing an excellent job.

And the other thing is, when you get to talking about the applications, I'm just curious to see what kind of response we've gotten.

Oh, see what kind of response we've gotten. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Kercharski.

Yeah, I want to echo what Commissioner Duran said. Thank you, Director Aguirre and your staff and the capital team for organizing those really awesome field visits. That was a really unique opportunity. I felt really privileged to be up here to represent folks from the city and be able to get an inside view on what it takes to actually put these projects together. multi-year projects, very complicated. Y'all are managing a lot of difficult things to try to pull it through. And yeah, I was blown away. I think the city, I think folks are going to be really happy when these come to the finish line and see the result. But I want everybody to just reminder to have patience because You have to hit all those regulations, all those different funding pools. Some of these projects started 10 years ago. I can't even believe it. And the fact that you get to pull it through the finish line is really, really cool. Super proud and happy to see the result when it's all said and done. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now move on to city administration and park staff reports and comments.

Excuse me, Madam Chair. I'm sorry. I missed a part on the reports of the members. I thought we were discussing the subcommittee reports before. Go ahead. So basically, I'd like to thank Park Director Aaron Aguirre and his staff. for a wonderful opportunity to visit the construction of three new parks at different locations in the city. Radio Park, the Dolores Huerta Park, and the Southeast Fresno Regional Park, or I don't know if it's a regional, but it's a community park at least. And I wanted to let you know how impressed I was with the components that were incorporated into those very small sites. The sites at Radio Park is not very large, and the Dolores Huerta Park is also not very large. But staff and the consultants have done a wonderful job of incorporating essential elements that makes it very exciting, very attractive parks. In regard to the one at Southeast Fresno that happens to be where I live, not too far from that park, I think they're also doing a wonderful job. For the first time in Fresno, we are going to have an artificial turf park for soccer and some other sport that I don't remember. And but obviously, because I've been very involved with that project, I still think that there are elements missing in that park. For example, I'd like to see a, what do they call those auditoriums where you can have music, cultural events? I think they call it music at the park. That would be awesome to have. And I think that it would be nice to have that. The other park that I didn't see bleaches where the soccer park is located, people say, well, you bring your own chairs. Yeah, that sounds so right. But in many places, especially softball, you see there are bleachers where members of the public can participate or be there. But anyway, some exciting things. And then the last comment is that I'm looking forward to the next phase for Southeast Fresno. That is the first phase. And it's almost under completion, I think, in December. It'll be ready to be occupied or be ready to be open to the public. But I really look, I'm looking forward to making sure that the funding for the next phase is allocated as soon as possible. And I know we have one of the items of the budget coming up. Hopefully we'll discuss that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I have a quick question about the parks tour for the commissioners. Where did it start and where did it end? What parks did you guys actually see?

So we met here at our office at 1 o'clock, and we wrapped up around 5. So from Dickey Youth Community Center, we headed out to Radio Park. From Radio Park, we went out to Dolores Huerta, and then we finished at the Southeast Fresno Regional, or not regional, the sports complex.

So you did Dickey Park.

No, no, Dickey is where we met, and then from there went to Radio, Dolores Huerta, and then the Southeast Sports Complex.

So no tour in West Fresno?

No.

No parks were looked, not even the Les Kemper Park that's up and coming with the exercise equipment around the trail?

Exercise equipment isn't in, and there were still some PG&E delays on that, so strategically we picked these so you could see various phases of construction. The early phase, 30% where you have a lot of the rough grading going in, The next phase would be about the 60%, 70% where Dolores Huerta's sitting in, and then Peach, it's almost at the final stage. You had the grass in, you had trees in, shrubs in. So I wanted to show the various stages of what a parks project looks like from start to finish.

You left out the first stage. So Les Kimber Park would have been excellent to show the development, what's going to go here, to give the commissioners an idea of why at budget the dollar amounts will make more sense. They're seeing a 30%, 60%, and almost finished, but they're not seeing something that's still like with PG&E and irrigation and stuff like that. So I think that... Well, that's what they saw at radio. Yeah, but it still would have been important to do the whole tour starting in West Fresno and then ending in Southeast Fresno after you did that. So we seem to keep forgetting the parks in West Fresno and it just seems to be bothering to me that we would take tours to Radio Park, Dolores Werther Park, Southeast Regional Park, but we don't do anything in West Fresno. So I just wanted to state that. And I'll stop there. And we will now move on to administration, city administration and park staff reports and comments. Does anyone from the administration have any reports or comments for the commission?

Ms. Erin Aguirre, parks director. I just want to thank the commissioners who were able to attend on this tour. You know, your time, your engagement support is much appreciated. A lot of great conversations and questions you all raised. You know, how about, you know, did this come about? You know, the funding sources, you can kind of see the various pots of money that go into you. developing a park from the early stages of acquisition all the way through the final stages. So appreciate your time, your insight. It's invaluable as we continue to kind of shape our park system here. So thank you for that. This afternoon was a busy afternoon. We actually cut the ribbon to Milburn Overlook Park. This is off of Milburn, just north of Alluvial. about a .68-acre park. Again, fully funded Measure P, Category 5. What an amazing park this came out to be. If you all recall, this park was previously a parking lot with some minor benches. Now you go out there, you have shade structures, natural shade, artificial shade. You have binoculars overlooking the bluff line there. So it truly is a remarkable project and another kind of feather in the cap for the city of Fresno to highlight such an amazing park project. So proud of my team, our capital projects team, and all that had a hand in making that come to fruition, including you all. So that concludes my remarks.

Thank you. For city administration and parks?

No comment on the city administration part.

Okay. I just have one question before we move on to unscheduled communication. When will the irrigation at Mariella Brown be up and running so that grass won't catch on fire?

So we actually met with the contractor today. We are going to be saw cutting the concrete. The irrigation line did not extend south. So that will be done by next week. That turf will get restored and then the trees will get replanted that were once there. So by next week we should have an irrigation system in and within two weeks we should have all the trees replanted and then that turf will start coming back.

Are we working with Tree Fresno to replant the trees, or is that something else?

There's only like three or four trees that were missing, so we're just doing out of operations and replanting them in-house.

Thank you. We will now move on to unscheduled communication. Would any member of the public like to speak on any issue within the jurisdiction of this commission? You will have up to three minutes. As a reminder, if you would like to comment on a scheduled workshop or discussion item, now is the time to make those comments. If you would like to make a comment regarding any of the scheduled hearings, comments will be taken when each item is heard. I have two cards here. Can I get Leslie Hoyt?

Hello, commissioners and Director Aguirre. I am here on behalf of Fresno Area Pickleball. I'm the involuntary president. That's a nonprofit group founded in 2021 with the mission of promoting pickleball play opportunities for the community. Here's what we do. On courts without dedicated nets, we set up nets and provide balls for anyone who shows up. On dedicated courts, such as Rotary, we provide balls and help to direct the level of play. We do those things during the hours when we have volunteers to do the work, and that period of time is referred to as open play, which in other sports you would call drop-in. We provide some assistance to help the players know which nets the other players at their level of play are using. We also provide free beginner instruction to anyone who would like it with volunteer instructors and paid reserved courts. We cover that cost. We also supply court cleaning equipment that we have purchased and organize court cleaning days using the pickleball player volunteers. We do not require players to pay a fee to become members of our nonprofit. All proceeds go toward equipment that is not provided by the city. We do not turn anyone away. Some or maybe all of you are aware or very aware that I am referring to a large number of players. Pickleball continues to be the nation's fastest growing sport and our parks department is similar to other parks and rec departments across the nation in that they were unprepared to deal with the demand they are now facing. And they are also similarly unfamiliar with the needs of the sport, which include the need for structure and guidelines for play to prevent the Wild Wild West scenario that we have seen at the dedicated courts at Rotary when we were not providing direction. I wasn't there, but I heard it was pretty bad. I have empathy for our Parks Department because of this situation, but we are highly concerned that the policies they revised this August 24 appear to prioritize profit over people in a way that will severely limit playing opportunities for the residents of this community. Can I continue for a second? Currently, the Parks Department is threatening Fresno area pickleball with corrective action, because by their definition, setting a time for open play means that the play is organized, and any play that is organized requires a paid reservation. In addition, letting players know that play is available, meaning that the nets will be set up for them to use by using Facebook or some other source, automatically indicates that a reservation is needed. At our current rate of use, these reservations would be over $15,000 a year. We believe that the Fresno Area Pickleball nonprofit has been an asset and a partner to the Parks Department and to the entire city, and we would like for that relationship to continue. We ask for the commission's assistance to correct the policies that eliminate our ability to offer open play for free to the entire community. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, Randy. Is it wrap? It's okay. Come on up. You have three minutes.

I'm also with Fresno Area Pickleball. I'm the treasurer. I had a couple of points that weren't on Leslie's list. Some of it's going to be a little bit of a repeat. But I just wanted to say, recently Fresno Area Pickleball was told by Parks that our longstanding open play hosting which is free for anyone who chooses to attend, runs afoul of their athletic reservation policy. I just want to interrupt my own self here. Where do we find these policies? I don't know where they are. I haven't seen them. Somebody else was telling me today about some other policies. It's like, are they online? I don't know. So how you run afoul of something that you've never seen before, I don't understand. But anyway, As they quoted to us, quote, any individual or organization including any affiliated organization who publicizes, advertises, or accept registrations for a program, league, event, or other activity using City of Fresno Parks facilities without a confirmed reservation for the space shall be subject to corrective action. Strictly read, Regarding Fresno Area Pickleball's open play, we are an organization, a nonprofit 501c3 run only by volunteers, and we do publicize, mostly on Facebook, that there are pickleball facilities where anyone who wants to play can come. We do not ask for nor accept any sort of registration from people coming to play, nor do we put any expectations on those who do come. All are welcome. Are we a program, league, event, or other activity? I would say no to program, league, or event, but activity covers pretty much everything. So, you know, I can't say no to that. We were told that we constitute a league because, according to their definition, a league is, quote, an organized group of teams or individuals that compete against each other under standardized rules to ensure fair and structured competition. Well, we are not an organized group of teams or individuals. The people who participate in open play are a random assortment of folks who happen to choose that day to come to the park and play pickleball. Because by their own definition, we are not a league and do not accept registrations, I don't think we should be subject to this policy. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have anyone online?

We have no one online.

All right, I will go ahead and close unscheduled communication. And we will now move on to workshops. Workshop ID number 26-1255, update on expanded access to arts and culture grant program. Will someone from the Parks Department please begin the presentation?

Good evening. Shelby McNabb, Assistant Director, here to give a presentation on an update to the expanded Access to Arts and Culture program. I'll kick us off with the Cycle 2 update, and then Sarah will go over the Cycle 3 update. So happy to report that staff have met one-on-one with 100% of the awardees in Cycle 2, and we are, as a result of that, currently preparing 143 agreements. I'd like to give an update on our progress since the embezzlement and go over kind of some major milestones each quarter post-embezzlement and then give you a status update on cycle two as well.

You want questions after?

Yes, please. Thank you. So it's been approximately 154 business days since the public news of the embezzlement broke on February 7th. In the first quarter following that, the following deliverables were achieved. We sought review and advisement. We authorized physician requests and took those to council. We issued an amendment to the annual appropriations resolution to enable us to fund and receive funding. We identified alternative funding for the grants. We reviewed the existing agreements, did a financial reconciliation, recorded requests, and reviewed items. We did some contract drafting. We restructured the department to prioritize response. We developed technical assistance, templates, and training. We established a SharePoint so we could use secure file sharing. We provided updates to PrAC monthly. We advertised positions and began interviews and did a lot of interdepartmental coordination so that we could expedite processes as much as possible. Since that time, as we look at quarter two, it's been approximately 77 business days since Parks kicked off one-on-one meetings with awardees in May 2026, and there are approximately 16 steps in the contract and payment workflow. Each award has been meticulously tracked and shepherded through all steps in the contracting process, as demonstrated in the status report. I want to just pause briefly to thank all the staff that has made that possible. As I go over the steps in the contracting process, as well as the status report, you should each have a copy in front of you.

This is the status report? Yes. Would you be telling us what the colors are?

I sure will. Thank you. All right, so the status report that you have in front of you, I apologize it's small. There's 140 contracts and multiple steps to keep track of there. But it is available online and linked. The link is available in this slide for anyone who'd like to view. And you can zoom in on the computer, so it makes it a little easier. So the status report tracks along the column there the name of the organization and the award name. It goes over the agreement type. You'll see that on the printed copy in the digital version. And then you'll see things that are in green or dark green. Those are completed or they're not applicable depending on the type of award and the circumstances around each of those agreements. We met with each of the awarded organizations and went through the particular circumstances that they were in. And in some cases, they needed both a settlement and a grant agreement to enable the funding to be issued. So we worked with them. So some of the steps are applicable to some of the parties, some are not. Within each of the steps along the process, which I'll go over next, that's going to be the gray column along the top there of the document you have in front of you. We have everything from the contact sheet where we ask who do we contact to work with you through this process. We have SharePoint access. We have a one-on-one meeting. We have their vendor status. We have the signature authority documents. And we have a variety of other steps I'm going to go through in more detail on the next slide. But you can see the progress. Green, again, is complete. Orange are going to be where we've requested it from the contracting party, the awardee, and we're pending their response. Red is returned for corrections in most cases, so that file's been reviewed and returned. There's some colors that indicate that items are under review, and then you'll see a number of extensions requested from the other parties, because in many cases, to settle, they're providing documentation of the funds that have been spent, along with receipts and other backup support material that are required to issue payments. So you can see that we see a lot of progress toward that end goal, and I'm happy to share that we've routed a few contracts for signature today. So we are making significant progress in delivering on all of these agreements simultaneously and navigating many groups through a process that may not be familiar to them. As you can see, there's many that we're getting set up as vendors, and that will serve them well for all future cycles and any other business they'd like to do with the city. So we are happy to report that organizations have told us there are steps, but we are learning about the process. And the team has been very responsive and helpful throughout that. So I'm going to go over more of the steps next, and then we can take questions at the end. So please be noting down any questions you may have. So the boxes, the rainbow ombre boxes in front of you on the presentation correspond to the gray boxes across the top of the report. These are the steps that we've asked the organizations to go through. Many of them, we've been doing that simultaneously so that we can get through them a little faster. First, we asked for a contact sheet. Many of these things should look familiar with the graphics we've shared previously, but we asked for a contact sheet, which is a one-page report on who we can work with to contract, who's your financial contact, who's your executive director, that type of thing. SharePoint Access was issuing a link so that we could file share in a secure environment. That can take some time due to technical glitches and security layers, but we've been very diligent in working with both parties to work through that. We scheduled the one-on-one meetings and completed all of those. We sent them through the vendor status process where they submit banking information, and if they want to do direct deposit, they provide a check. Our general services department goes through that, and they call to make sure they're a real person so that whoever's getting paid is actually the intended party who's going to get paid, and then they get set up in the vendor process. Signature authority, we collected documents from their board stating that they have the authority to sign on behalf of their organization. That protects them and that protects the city to make sure that the parties entering into the agreements are the legally authorized parties. Budget modifications, if there were some brief changes that were made to the budget, let's say they had a cost overrun in craft supplies for their art project, but they had savings in other areas, we were very reasonable about that to provide a justification and make sure that they can get the funding that they were awarded. Same for scope and budget updates. Had there been updates, because it's been a while since it was awarded, we've worked through them. The expense workbook is applicable mostly to those who are settling so that they can account for the expenses that were already incurred as they've completed the scope of their project. We ask for final progress reports, and you can see that many of those have been turned in. They're not relevant to the grantees, but they are relevant to the settlementees. Deadline extensions have been given with grace and understanding that it does take a bit of work to pull things together, but we're committed to moving through the process together. The financial risk assessment is applicable to grant agreements and was completed to ask questions about financial controls and other standard questions. By completing it, that kind of puts them ahead for future cycles should they be awarded because they've got all those documents ready to roll. The agreements, there are about six different types currently, maybe seven, depending on their unique circumstances. So rather than fitting everyone into a completely standard agreement, we wanted to recognize the needs. And all of the terms are very similar. It just recognizes if they fully expended their funds, even if they hadn't been awarded and so forth. But we've customized those with the help of the city attorney. After we get there, all the hard part's done, and we just do signature routing. So the next steps are signature routing, insurance review for grants only, a second round of signature routing, and then it gets set up in our system. We collect an invoice, and then we can pay. So you can see that there are many steps for each server purpose to make sure that funds are headed to the intended party and that we're being flexible as possible so that people can get all the funding that they were awarded. So each of these steps is cataloged by organization on the spreadsheet, and you can see where they're at. This was pulled on the 15th, and so you won't see the two contracts that were routed today. We've got another four that will be routed likely tomorrow, and then I signed off on another, I think, five or six. So we're getting really close to the critical mass of routing all of the contracts, which will allow us to pay the organizations. I've gotten the question a lot, how long does it take to contract? It really depends, and I wanted to provide you with an update on what it depends on and about how many business days a contract can take between two parties, one being the city. So based on my experience and based on the timeframes that we're seeing, if everyone is an expert in the process, all parties have extensive experience with contracting, insurance, expenses, reporting, municipal and nonprofit governance. The contract template is standard. All authorities are in place. No prior expenses were incurred in existing right-of-ways secured. You can do it in as little as 30 business days, doing it all simultaneously if you're an expert. Now, all things have to align. There's no one out ever, right? And the workflows have to all align, but it is technically possible to do it in 30 business days. Intermediate would be 60 to 90 business days, which functionally looks like about three to four months. That is some experience with contracting. Insurance and record keeping need some technical assistance and training, but demonstrate the ability to follow through with assistance. Most documents are in order, and there's minimal corrections needed. Right now, we're providing that intermediate level of service. That's the pace we're on to execute many of the contracts. And that's 60 to 90 business days. We're at 74. and that's with a lot of new organizations and a high volume. The developing speed with contracting is 126 to 168 business days or six to eight months. That's where you find individuals that might have limited experience at all steps of the way. They may need repeated technical assistance and reminders. They might have variable responsiveness, incomplete authorities, and corrections needed. There have been parties that have taken until late August to provide their contact information. The vast majority have moved through those steps, but there are some who it's taken longer for a variety of circumstances. And so the speed at which we move through contracting is not just dependent on the city, but it's also dependent upon the parties that are involved in the contracting. At times, we may see that boards can take 30 to 90 days to issue a resolution that says that they can sign the contract. And so, again, the speed is partially driven by city processes and capacity, but also partially driven by the other party. And I hope that this gives you a better sense of the expertise level and the relative business day timeline. Again, we're at 74 business days. We're at intermediate. And I count that from the time in which we started meeting one-on-one to really get a good handle on it, not from February 7th when the news had just broke. So process improvements and continuous improvement, I think you've heard me say before that we really thrive on continuous improvement and we constantly are looking at ways to optimize and ways to address systemic issues that might prevent things from moving faster and work through them. So contracting at scale, at this scale, this is probably the highest number of contracts the city has ever simultaneously executed. And as part of that, we've identified some areas to improve. Staff have identified recommendations for a variety of processes, and we are exploring those while adhering to all of the legal requirements and administrative orders that we're required to follow. When you have This many items moving through a system, you get to see where things might get stuck or where additional educational materials might be needed for the other party. And so this has given us a really good experience to provide those tools, develop them, and work through systems to make them smoother. All right, I'm going to hand it off to Sarah, and then I can pop back up here for questions if you have them on cycle two.

Good evening, Commissioner Sara Gaitan, Program Manager for the Parks Department, and I will be giving you an update on Cycle 3. As of August 15th, the eligibility screening form has closed, and as of September 16th, which was last week, we had a total of 204 submissions for eligibility. We had a total of nine organizations who fiscally sponsored other organizations. Five of those organizations will be fiscally sponsoring more than six projects. In total, there's going to be 81 fiscally sponsored projects from those nine fiscal sponsors. 119 project support applications were sent out. 54 of those applications were core operating support applications. And sorry. Of the 204 submissions, there was 119 that were for project support. 54 were for core operating support. And we have 31 that were remaining in different categories. And that could be because of duplicates or ineligible statuses. We have continued to keep the website up to date at the Fresno.gov slash EAAC. And the current grant applications that are out to everybody will be due on September 30th, 2026 by 3 p.m. A reminder email has been sent out to all of those applicants on the 17th, and we will send out one more reminder just to keep them on track with that date. As mentioned before, on the 17th, the Application Review Committee Member Selection Subcommittee was formed during our last PRAC meeting. Their first subcommittee meeting happened on August 20th, where there was a review of the draft ARC application and also a promotional plan where we discussed what outreach efforts were going to be had for the ARC application. The application went live on the 31st of August. It is up on the website right now for anybody who wants to apply to be a part of the panel. Promotional materials have been sent out via email. We've had over 14,600 recipients. We've had social media posts out. And we've also been using local community boards to post the application. Sorry, not the application, but flyers leading people to the application. And we also have information at all of our community centers. The subcommittee and ARC training materials are currently being created by park staff also, so we will be helping the subcommittee through the process of the ARC selection process. Canvassing has been also happening throughout these last couple of weeks. In addition to digital methods, printed materials have been posted at colleges, coffee shops, music centers, libraries, restaurants, and other local businesses throughout the city of Fresno. We have some pictures there of some local community boards that have been used. Organizations and schools outside of Fresno have also been identified to inform about the opportunity. located some arts councils, school arts departments, cultural districts, and other similar organizations in other counties outside of Fresno to also share the information with. In these next 30 days, we will continue to meet with the cycle two grantees and move forward with contracting and payment steps. We will continue to update the city website with the cycle three information as it becomes available. Grant applications will be due on September 30th, and like mentioned before, we will send out reminders for that. We will continue promoting the ARC applications until the September 30th deadline. We will be training the ARC member selection subcommittee to use the submittable platform, so we will have a subcommittee meeting where we have that training available for the members. We will begin the ARC pre-screening process, and we will also assist the ARC member selection subcommittee with review of the ARC applications to prepare recommendations to inform for PRAC selection. While all that's happening, we will also be developing the training plan for the 30 members that are going to be selected for the ARC. As always, we would like to refer everybody to our Legistar website and our EAC website for any continued resources that may be needed. I would also like to take some time on this slide here to remind everybody to read the grant guidelines in their entirety. I'm going to briefly review page 23. There's a section titled regulated communications. And I just wanted to briefly go through this so that everybody is reminded of this. The regulated communications in city procurement process ordinance became effective April 29, 2004. With certain specified expectations, the ordinance provides that no respondent, bidder, or proposer shall initiate, engage in, or continue any communication to or with any city elected official concerning or touching upon any matter which is the subject of this competitive procurement process. So this can be found in the grant guidelines. Again, it's on page 23. And it's just a reminder that there is an ordinance, and it needs to be followed when you are actively participating in this process. We will continue to have ongoing updates. The City of Fresno will provide updates during monthly PRAC meetings. PRAC meetings are held the third Monday of every month, except for October and November when we do have two meetings. So the next upcoming meetings, we have October 12th, October 26th, November 9th, November 23rd, and December 14th. Our phone number is there, and we also have the email where questions could be submitted. And then, of course, we have our website also. And with that, I will close it off for any questions.

Well, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I believe we do have questions, but I would like to start with cycle two first. Hi, Shelby. Hi. How are you? Doing well. Doing well. Good. So I have a couple of questions for you before I go down the line to the other commissioners. So far, how many extensions have been given?

I would have to hand count them here. But on the column... You'll see it is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. So pretty much. Nine away from. Yeah, so you'll see extension number one and then extension number two.

Okay. And how many extensions are they allowed to get before there's anything else that may happen?

So we are going to be doing another review of what everyone turned in. A lot of the extensions were to last Friday. So I meet with the team twice a week. So we'll be looking at what came in and then really trying to assess, because we don't want to prolong this any longer than it needs to be prolonged. And we will send more information to them. So we sent an initial deadline. They requested more time. We sent another deadline. And then we will reach a point where we'll have a firm deadline in place there.

OK, my next question is, I know that you have it very color coded on this paper of the agreement type. So how many, when it says grant and settlement, does that mean that they've been granted and the settlement has been sent to them? Can you break that down?

So that means that they are going to have two contracts. So there were 134 awards that were made. Five organizations opted out of receiving funding prior to it coming over to the city. So we were working with 129 awards. In working through where each organization is in their journey to completing their project, it was determined that some organizations may need a settlement and a grant agreement because they may not be fully completed with the scope of work that was awarded. And so in that instance, they have two awards. So that's why you see the lime green there. So that results in two contracts with the city instead of just one.

And then the one that's highlighted

pink that says grant that's just one contract yeah that's just a grant agreement so up to date till today how many awards have been completely paid out there have been zero words completely paid out there were two contracts routed for signature today there will be additional contracts routed tomorrow and then there'll be additional contracts routed within the next 10 days based on city attorneys review so we are making a lot of progress as far as sending them out And one of the things that we do is we update this daily. So you're looking at this from the 15th is when we pulled it so that we'd have time to get it on the agenda. But I would think we could update it and post it to the website to show progress. What do you think, Director?

Yeah, I think that's something we can do, whether it's weekly, daily, as they come in. Because these are being updated as staff. It's not just one person. As staff is making contact and going through this, they're going in and adjusting these. Maybe it's every other day. I think daily might be a little worse.

Yeah, or maybe weekly, depending. But I say that to share that once the contract's signed, we need to set them up in our payment system, our financial system, which is Tyler Munis, and take an invoice where they say, please pay me this, and then process it through there. So once we get the contract, that's really the critical piece, getting them set up and issued payment from there. takes a little time, but it moves a lot quicker because they've already accounted for all their expenses and stuff. So it's really like we're right there at the threshold to being able to pay them.

So no one out of the 129 awards have been paid?

Well, some of them were paid by the Arts Council, the 90%. But yes, the remaining 10% or in some cases 100% because they hadn't been paid. You are correct. So that last column, paid status, is gray because no one's been paid, but it will be green as soon as they're paid. It'll even have another color when we submit the invoice to be processed, just so we can keep track of where they're at.

I first want to acknowledge that I appreciate the hard work that the Parks Department in the City of Fresno has been doing to make this process as smooth as possible, but it's not a smooth process. And that was what I was afraid of, that this was going to bleed into cycle three. And I felt that we should have wrapped up cycle two because it's still, we're going on almost, what, we're in September, October, November, December, January, February, five months left from the first time that the embezzlement broke out. And there is still no one who is 100% paid or fully paid or got their last 10%. And then they're expected to apply for a cycle three while they're still trying to get the documents for cycle two that the city is requiring. And it could be a bit confusing. And I'm glad that you mentioned that you've been hearing from awardees how great this process has been because my phone and my email is flooded with how horrible this process has been for them. that this is not a good process, that every time they reach out to someone who is responsible for this, that they don't get any responses, that they don't get their emails answered, that they don't get their phone calls returned. And this was something that I was afraid of. I pray and I hope that this can be wrapped up by the end of the year so we can fully concentrate on cycle three. And those are my questions. And if you have a response.

Understood. And if you have specific organizations that need follow-up or specific issues, I'd be happy to address them personally.

And that's, sorry, Shelby. I just, Chair, I wanted to say behind each one of these boxes, there's notes as to when they were contacted, when things have been requested, when corrections have been added. What you're not seeing here are the notes. I think that's where Shelby was going with that.

I think it would have been helpful just to see it so we can be able to refer to, because I'm probably not the only one that are getting phone calls about this process. So I have no answers to give to them until we come to this meeting to see what's the holdup. Why is this being done? Why is that being done? And again, in my opinion, I feel that we should have wrapped up cycle two because of the unfortunate embezzlement that took place before we even went into cycle three. Because now we have people who were awarded in cycle two trying to get their documents to satisfy the city's requirements and still trying to do cycle three. So this is something that's very challenging for those awardees in our art community. and people who are applying in our art community. And I just don't want people to lose distrust in the portion of Measure P when it comes to our art community, because that's what it's feeling like right now.

And I don't know if they are, based on the numbers of applicants we're receiving and the interest. So I think the interest is still there.

I mean, they're going to keep applying, because this is how they survive, right? This is our art community. But the process is very tedious. The process is not being. handled in a timely manner to where we're dealing with two different cycles. I understand that.

But I think the tedious process we have are the safeguards from future issues with granting money out to folks. So I understand your frustration. We deal with grants on our end on a daily basis. So we knew going in, some of the outside organizations were going to potentially struggle with some of the processes. That's why Shelby and this team made it a point to meet with each individual awardee, grantee, nonprofit to make sure they understood. And in some cases, they were multiple meetings with some of these groups, hours of meeting with them to walk them through the process. So the first go-around is rough in some cases if they're new to that world. But I think as Shelby mentioned, going forward, it should be much easier with these documents in place and setting up as a vendor. So we anticipate cycle three, if anyone is a recipient that was in cycle two that's set up this way, will go much smoother.

I appreciate the guardrails that are being put in place now. But maybe those guardrails should have been in place cycle one so we wouldn't be experiencing what we're experiencing in cycle two going into cycle three. And I can go on and on, but I don't want to take up a whole hour and a half going back and forth about the process. So I will go ahead and thank you, Shelby, and pass it on to Commissioner Barraza. Do you have any questions in regards to this presentation?

Yes, Madam Chair. I happen to agree with your observations. I kind of question whether you folks have enough staff to be dealing with this, the matter of cycle two versus cycle three. I totally agree with our chair. How many people do you have assigned, and I say FTEs, full-time equivalents, for cycle two versus how many people do you have, parts people, assigned to work on cycle three? What's the total staffing available to move this process forward? Because I totally agree that cycle two has to be completed and out of the way, and we have to start a new cycle, which is cycle three.

Yeah, so... What we did, because we couldn't just sit and wait until we built a team and got everyone on board to respond to cycle two. The community deserves a faster response. And so what we did is we have about 10 people supporting. Some are in a full-time capacity, and others are doing this as a portion of their assignments. So for example, we have a grant writer who's supporting and leading a community coordinator who is full time on EAC. So we leveraged our experienced staff, and we've brought on new staff so that we can move through this process. Had I waited to do anything until everything was perfect, nothing would be done. So we have about 10 FTE, but it's not fully an FTE because they do have some other assignments. We tapped our senior management analyst who worked on capital. I think many of you got to meet her on your tour. And she's supporting new staff to mentor them and guide them through processes which can be complex. As we look at cycle three, we have Sarah and her team supporting on the front end and submittable with the communications and the review forms that have to be developed. And then we're continuing interviews to hire two more of the positions that we were granted. As we look at the overall scope and the time frame, I think cycle two has been a gift in that we can see what it takes. And as we look at resourcing for the future, it may be that there's additional resources needed. Because this wouldn't be possible unless we had some expert leadership and a team that is exceptionally talented at following through and meeting people where they are. So to answer your question, yes, additional support will likely be needed. And what that looks like will be for us to work through. And I do hear the frustrations about speed. I will just state, you know, 77 business days for 143 contracts having met with everyone. And meeting them where they are I'm happy to take a personal call if someone has a complaint But I do stand behind the work that we've done and the work that we will do for a cycle three So we're already looking ahead. We have what this Monday board here It looks a little different for cycle three We have every single milestone that has to happen to get these grants awarded as expeditiously as possible while ensuring that community process that you all voted into place with the guidelines and so that the ARC committee is representative and that the process is transparent and the scoring happens with rigor and structure. So we're aware of the giant workload that it is and we're working through any ways that we can make it smoother and then looking at what resources are needed.

So what is the target date to complete all the contractual agreements that are necessary to be able to a word and start the work for phase two.

I would like to have it done before the end of the year. But as you can see, with the extensions granted, there were organizations that did not give us their contact person until the end of August. We reached out in June. And so it's partially driven by the other parties, but we will be looking at a deadline, a firm deadline, so that we can close these items out.

So what is the target date?

Before the end of the year. But we will work to see where everyone's at. I'll get an update on the status and see what's going to be feasible. The last thing we want to do is not get somebody their funding. But we also want to move through that so that when the cycle three awards are made, the vast majority are settlements. And as soon as they're funded, they're done in cycle two. There's only, I think, maybe 24 or so grants. That will manage for a longer term because they weren't able to start work under cycle two But otherwise the settlements once their contracts done we can get them paid and close it out. I Don't have a firm date for you. Mr. Barraza, but it'll be hopefully before the end of the year Thank You manager Thank You Commissioner Duran Thank you beginning with

the cycle two presentation, if we are looking at slide three, I had a question for the financial reconciliation line. Would you be able to share a little bit more about what that means? I know it was mentioned, but just any specifics.

Yeah, so after the news broke and that was worked through, there were a variety of files that were provided to the city, including spreadsheets, hard copies of all past agreements, and other documents. So we really got what I think has been referred to publicly as a data dump of documents to go through. And as soon as those were obtained, we began going through them in detail to reconcile who was funded, how much they received, and when. That took a few weeks to get through. I remember giving an update here at PRAC that we were going through the files, and so before we could just hit the gas and start contracting, we needed to assess and see who had been paid, how much, when, what type of award they had, had they declined the funds, because there were some records indicating that they had, and untangle those records so that we could proceed with an informed path.

Okay, got it. And then with that, is there anything that's still in progress with that, or is that a complete process? Where are we at with that?

So that has been completed with the best records that are available. We have met with all of the awardees that hadn't been funded or had only gotten 90%. And based on our reconciliation in our meetings, it appears that our records are tracking accurately so that we have a good handle on who is owed what.

OK, thank you. And then moving on to slide 13. So, and forgive me, I tried to go through the spreadsheet, but I just wanted to confirm that everyone, if we're talking about cycle two, the status color coded of SharePoint access, everyone, you mentioned kind of technical difficulties delaying some, but the spreadsheet's correct, though, that everyone, or I'm sorry, not everyone, what have been the issues with SharePoint access, and for anyone who, as of the printing of this spreadsheet, have they been able to get in touch with the city and kind of sort that out or have a plan for that?

Yeah, so it did take a little bit of finagling because of different security systems that are in place, but some of the issues that we've seen, there are some applicants I'm not going to They may or may not have access, but there's been some health issues. There's also been some discomfort with using digital tools. What we've offered is that they could drop by the office or mail in documents and we can load it for them. We have said, send us your receipts and we can work together to fill out the form together. You can come into the office if that works for you. And we can sit down and do the Excel sheet together and work through the math. When I say like meeting people where they are, short of going to their house, which I think we're gonna draw a line there, but really trying to accommodate as best as possible. So even if they don't have SharePoint access, there have been some other workarounds, or they email it to us and we upload the files for them. The vast majority have gotten through, but where we haven't been able to do that, we found other accommodations above and beyond what any other grant funder would typically do.

Absolutely, thank you, and I'm glad you had the opportunity to share that. Because again, in addition to all the work that you've mentioned here, that didn't make the PowerPoint. But that's time and a lot of effort. And I appreciate the accommodations. And then slide nine, for process improvements, I know you talked about any recommendations for improvements moving forward. Have there been any? larger, consistent ones that you might be able to share about, broad strokes there?

Yeah. I think one of the things that can be challenging is the signature authority documents. We do have an administrative order that helps organizations to try to determine what documents would be legally permissible to use, but it can be written in such a way that it's a little bit more on the legal side of things, and so we've been working to give some examples from other grant programs that are in more maybe plain language. That's one of the things, and you'll see in the signature authority column there that there's return for corrections, or we've requested it but we haven't received it yet. Once they have those in place, any other contract that they enter into with the city should be smooth sailing cycle three for example if they're awarded cycle three they'll basically jump ahead of maybe five or six steps because they've already got all this in place the vendor setup takes a little bit of time because it does require like an actual phone call from the city to the person and so that can take some time to connect with them and make sure they know we're not spam But as we identify that, we're trying to adjust our communications. The other thing that you'll see is the expense workbook. So when we're asking for people to account for their expenses with receipts or invoices or proof of payment, there have been some individuals that have expressed that they use cash only and have no records. They've lost the receipts. And so there are forms that we can use to account for a lost receipt, or maybe did they have a Venmo screenshot that they could turn in? So we're really giving them alternatives. Maybe they went to Costco 15 times and didn't get a receipt. Well, can you log into your account and see past purchases to get it there? We're really working with folks whose records might have some gaps so that we can account for the expenses and feel confident that when they're paid, it was for costs that were legitimately incurred.

And Shelby, can you explain to the commission not all of this is housed in parks? There's other city departments, city attorney, finance?

Yeah, so of course. When we send something to the city attorney's office to verify maybe signatory authority, they do have a 10-day turnaround. So if the document was correct, then within 10 days, they'll say, good to go, and we'll route route that for signature. But if the document wasn't correct, maybe it didn't identify a second signatory or it didn't have the right information, then it may restart the clock. So we have been working to turn things in as soon as we get them, once we've reviewed and send them off. Our partners and other departments sometimes don't take 10 days. Sometimes they take three. Sometimes they take seven. It can certainly vary based on their workloads. But we are driven partially by other departments as well in their turnaround time.

Thank you. And one question I forgot. Hopefully it's brief. The spreadsheet we're looking at with the color-coded agreement type, If we've met with all awardees, and if we're still preparing the agreements, before this spreadsheet was shared with us today, do all of these organizations know that they're either receiving a settlement, grant and settlement, just grant? Are they aware of that?

They should have a copy of their sample agreement in their SharePoint so that they can view it. Where they might have some variance in what they've seen is if they needed an extension and now we have to change a sentence in the agreement. But for the most part, when we met with them and when we connected them, we provided a copy of, here's the path based on what you've shared with us. And in some cases, it's been more complex. And so we'd have to come back to them to say, we're going to do two agreements so that we can make sure you get paid for what you've done. to date and that you have bandwidth to complete the rest of your award. So they should be aware. If they're not, we can certainly comb through them and check to be sure. But for the most part, the only final edits we're doing now is just to reflect that an extension was granted. So the dates we had in the contract of August 15 or September 15 are, well, we're now in the 21st. So we wanted to change that template. But we do believe we've landed on about six to seven templates based on all these unique scenarios that can accommodate just about every award. And like I said, we routed some for signature today. Others will be routed later this week. And we're starting to reach that critical mass where the contracts will be all issued.

Thank you. Thank you for all that. And my last question is for cycle three. OK.

We're doing cycle two first. Oh. Yeah. And then we'll move into cycle three. How do we save that one? Yeah, we'll get cycle two out the way and then come back to cycle three. Okay.

Yeah, that's it for me. Thank you so much.

Commissioner Miller? I just wanted to thank the team for making the best of what is a horrible situation. And I think that you're all doing a very good job with the hand you were dealt, which was not your fault. So thank you.

Vice Chair Ward. Thank you. Yeah. So thank you, Shelby, to you and your team and all the departments that have been putting so much time and effort into this. I did have a few questions. I couldn't locate if you had somewhere posted a legend of what the colors mean for your color coding for the Cycle 2 status spreadsheet. And I just checked where it's on the website. I didn't see it there. If that could be posted, or if it is somewhere, maybe let me know where to look.

We could definitely develop a key. So what you see here, with each of the squares, there's usually multiple options that it could be. So we can certainly do that. But if you'll look at maybe the top line at one of the oranges, the essay requested, that signature authority requested. So we've tried to put in text what it means, but we can also add a key if that would be helpful. Oh, okay, so the color, I guess, does orange mean requested?

Generally speaking, it does, yes. Okay, and lighter green is approved and then darker green is a different, okay.

Yeah, and then red is returned for correction so that we can see if something is stuck and can follow up on it.

Okay, great, thank you. And then another thing I wanted to ask about is, I think, One of the things that got lost in all of the transition and confusion is there never was any reporting to this commission or to the public about the impact of who was served and all that by the cycle one grantees. In the city of Fresno, I believe Parks Department received a report about that or received information about that. And then I know that all the cycle two awardees a lot are at different phases, but at some point are reporting, submitting reports about what they're accomplishing, who they're serving, how many people they're reaching, and all that. Will we be potentially seeing that information, and is there a chance we'll see information about cycle one and cycle two impact after you have a better handle on what's been accomplished with cycle two?

Yeah, so I know that there were some, like an annual report that may have been provided to PRAC at one of the meetings. But it did not include all of the data on reach. And so we have received some of those files. And that was a request that we've received, I think, from PRAC and then also Council. So we do plan to report out. Obviously, we've been focused on cycle two and cycle three. But it would be helpful, I think, to show the reach and the impact. So that's noted, and we'll definitely put that on our list. to get over to you all. OK, great. Thank you.

Commissioner Kalia.

Hello. Are these all the people from cycle two that turned in the paperwork they needed to do? Was this the whole list?

Yeah, so this is the whole list of all of the awardees that are working on either a grant, a settlement, or both so that they can get their funding.

Okay, when was the deadline for them to have all this information in?

So the deadlines have been extended. Initially, when we reached out, we prioritized the folks who had received zero percent, and there was an initial deadline in prior emails of August 15th. More time was requested in many cases, and so we said September 15th. And then a little more time was requested, and so we said September 18th. And so we need to land on a final hard deadline so that these things get through, but we do know that many are applying for cycle three. But we will sort out a reasonable firm deadline so that we can make sure everyone gets everything in.

So September 18th will be the drop deadline?

That was an extension for some parties who requested it, but we will come back to you with a drop dead deadline soon.

OK, thank you.

Commissioner Kaczorski.

Thank you. I just want to say thank you again for all the hard work. This is pretty incredible to pull this kind of thing off in a short amount of time. Clearly, there's a lot of people motivated and focused on the end goal. And that shows we're all working towards the same thing. And I appreciate that. I guess a question maybe you can't really answer, but I'd be interested to get maybe your take or opinion. When I look at this, I go, how could, I mean, were we expecting a group like the Arts Council to do this level of like, project administration and oversight, or are we kind of setting up community groups for failure when they have to meet all of these government standards? I mean, it's like a question between how do we engage the nonprofit groups that are doing the work, but then we have all these, like, I mean, you guys, this is like, I mean, you're going to put me to sleep, but this is like stacks and stacks of processes and things, not because it's not important. And I'm not saying this like we shouldn't have them, because we saw we trust the community group, and then the trust is broken. I mean, there's embezzlement to it, not a small degree. That was a very large degree. I don't know, I guess in your opinion, do you see groups being able to manage at this level these kinds of programmings without the capacity and the staffing and the expertise that clearly your team has and that you've recruited for over the years? I mean, I don't know. It might be more of an opinion and maybe hard to answer, but I just wanted to pose the question.

So I'm not going to weigh in on the Fresno Roads Council. But what I will say about our nonprofit capacity, there is a learning curve. But I also feel that we shouldn't underestimate people and say that they don't know how when we're willing to help teach them and show them and work together. I've seen a lot of underestimating occur in the past, and I don't think that that's fair. I think that we can rise to the level that we're expected to, especially when we have help and people who are really dedicated to helping. That being said, many of these things that are required help protect them in all of their other work. Having appropriate insurance for the work that you're doing, especially working with children, is really critical to your long-term success and risk management. Things like having signature authority. They may be in a situation where they're signing things that they have no legal authority to do. This process, even though I know it can be arduous or you may say boring, there's lots of colorful boxes, they're trying to make it fun, but I truly believe it sets them up for success in other endeavors. Even their record keeping, keeping receipts. I mean, your board should be looking at your financials, and your receipts should be there. And if you are not keeping them, we're happy to show you the expense tracker. So I just, I mean, you asked for an opinion, and my professional opinion is that they're capable. We just need to help, and that's what we're doing.

One more question. What happens if one of the grantees cannot find their receipts?

There is a lost receipt form.

And how many lost receipts can they have up to?

I think we have to use our judgment. So if somebody lost $50,000 in receipts, we might have a different situation than $100 for an expense that's substantiated with something else. And so there is a level of judgment there. But we do try to find and exhaust every effort to have legitimate backup documentation.

So a $50,000 loss receipt will result into?

I haven't encountered that yet. But once I do, I'll let you know. I hope not to. For the most part, it's like $30 from Starbucks or, well, that's a bad example because the food wasn't eligible. But let's say $30 in, I don't know, art supplies. And we see that the end product got done, and they explain what happened. There is a reasonable loss receipt process. We're trying to be fair and reasonable in all the different... Just through this cycle or for every cycle? For all cycles, because we generally strive to be that way.

Okay. Well, thank you. Cycle three. Hi, and thank you for the presentation, Sarah. I'm going to go ahead and start with Commissioner Barraza. Do you have any questions in regards to cycle three? Thank you. Commissioner Duran.

Thank you. Yes. One question. Looking at slide 11 and the five organizations fiscally sponsoring more than six projects, do we have that number of, if it's more than six, what's the range and kind of what does that look like?

Correct. So between the five organizations, we had a range from, six projects to 13 projects that they were going to be fiscally sponsoring.

Got it. Okay. And then compared to previous cycles, how does that compare? Have they been able to have kind of the support that they need to have that many or, you know, any feedback you, we are getting back on how that's going?

You know, looking at previous cycles, we haven't looked at those numbers in particular, but that would be something interesting that I could look back on and provide some more information on.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. That'd be great. That's it for me.

Commissioner Miller.

I think my question is sort of anecdotal and probably hard to answer as well, but in regards to these groups that are doing a lot of fiscal sponsorships, are we developing a track record that they are more or less successful than the organizations that are not with fiscal sponsors. I'm just curious about that, because a lot of money is going out to fiscal sponsors.

Right. And we didn't have this information for cycle one and cycle two, but for cycle three, we are keeping really good track of who's being fiscally sponsored, what they're doing, by who. And so we will have a lot more of that in place for cycle three reporting. So we will definitely keep all of those things in mind, but just know that, yes, we are tracking a lot more details.

because hopefully the fiscal sponsors are helping to prevent some of these lost receipt issues. And I agree, Shelby, the people who are engaging in this kind of work and don't have insurance for work with children or policies or boards that are tracking this kind of stuff. It really, I just feel for you all so much, the complaints you're getting when your job is to keep this money protected and to keep the children protected. And so again, thank you very much for the work you're doing.

Thank you. OK, my question, I think, if I recall correctly, for this cycle three, for what we're calling, I guess, maybe the large fiscal sponsors, was there some sort of vetting or qualifications? There were some additional standards that were in place. I can't recall. I don't think we saw that. I think that was something maybe that was happening Yes. And can you speak to a little bit about the vetting process?

Yes. So during the eligibility screening form, if an organization was going to be a fiscal sponsor, they noted that. And then if they were going to sponsor more than five projects, they noted that as well. So whoever checked off that box received another eligibility screening form where we discussed what their financial record which way they were tracking all of their financial records. We had some questions about their board, the way that it was set up, also their staff. We just wanted to see how they were going to have enough staff on hand to help these other organizations. So they did go through that process, and we did vet them all, and they have all received their applications.

Okay, great. Thank you. I think that was my only question. Commissioner Collier? Do you have any questions on Cycle 3? Commissioner Katarski? None at this time, thanks. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I believe that concludes this item.

Yes? Mr. Aguirre? Mr. Aguirre?

Yes, ma'am.

What? I heard 14,000, something like that. How many applied?

I wish we had 14,000. I don't think we have that many.

We don't have that number yet, because it's still an ongoing process. But we will have that at the next PRAC meeting, where we will break it down the way that we did with the applications. Thank you.

But we're shooting for 14,000, right?

OK. Thank you. I believe that concludes this item. And the next item will be ID 261256 workshop presenting the mayor's parks after school recreation community service department budget for fiscal year 2027. Would someone from the parks department please begin the presentation?

Commissioner Ward, while that's being pulled up, I forgot to make an announcement during my portion of it. And chair said to go ahead and do it in between. I wanted to just welcome Rich Rodriguez from my team. He is my new assistant director. He replaced our previous assistant director. Rich has been with us for, I'm going to underestimate this, I'm going to say 20 plus years. I know it's more than that. But Rich has been with the Parks Department pretty much his entire career here at the City of Fresno. recreation, adult sports, youth sports, operations. Rich has seen it all, aquatics as well. And so happy to have him on my team, happy to have him in this role, and excited for what he's going to do for the department. So I just want to introduce him to you all. Chair, as you're walking in, I was introducing Rich Rodriguez, our new assistant director, and all the great things he's going to do for the department. Thank you.

Looking forward to it. Welcome.

All right, hello and good evening, Commissioners. I'm Tujong, Business Manager, Parks Department, and I'm here this evening to present to you the Parks Department Fiscal Year 2027 Measure P Adopted Budget. Before we proceed with the presentation, I wanna just give a quick thank you to all of our parks team staff, from Director Aguirre to Assistant Director Shelby McNabb to the Parks Fiscal Team, along with our Parks Capital Project Team, all of our program managers, area managers, and, of course, this commission, too, for your support during this year's budget bill. It wouldn't have been possible without your support, so thank you all.

All right.

So tonight's presentation will consist of... So tonight's presentation will consist of the following key components. We will be reviewing the breakdown of the FY27 adopted budget, as well as reviewing the FY27 commissioner recommendations made this fiscal year as well. We'll explore the FY28 tentative budget timeline. I know it's kind of hard for us to talk about 28 or imagine 28 when it felt like we just started FY27, but it's fast approaching, too. So, of course, we'll end the presentation with any questions from the commission. All right, so commissioners, I present to you the FY27 Measure P adopted budget. And as a refresher, this table provides a snapshot of each Measure P funding category. We have the funding broken down by revenue. And then on the bottom, we also have appropriations too. So if you look at this table, Parks Department houses category one, two, three, four, five, and six. And then Department of Public Works, Department of Public Utilities, House Category 5 funding. And then looking at the revenue, we have the beginning balance, which is the carryover from the prior fiscal year. That's estimated at a little bit over $65.9 million. And then we also have, on the other hand, a tax revenue, which is a projection from our consultant, HDL. projected at a little bit over $49.1 million. And then we also have other revenue, which consists of interest that was estimated to be a little bit over $2.1 million. So in the next preceding few slides, we'll examine the appropriations within each category, and you will see where the fundings were appropriated. So the following slide outlines the revenue and appropriations for Category 1. And as you can see, Category 1 funding is housed in the Parks Department and is divided into two sub-funds, one for existing parks and facilities in Citywide and the other for existing parks and facilities in locations identified as highest needs. So our parks operating and capital sections accounts for most of the appropriations in this category, with some dedicated towards the parks ranger program, in which you'll hear more from the park ranger program as we, I think it's going to be in the next prac meeting in October. Okay, and so similar to category one, category two consists of two sub-funds, one for citywide and the other for highest needs. As we examine the appropriations of this category, you'll notice that majority of the appropriations are in capital, mainly dedicated for land acquisition, new park development, and with some appropriations in the parks operating budget as well. In the next, we have category three. Category three funding is housed solely with the parks department under operations. The parks operating budget for category three consists of program delivery to support senior programming, youth job training, and veterans. In the next, we have category four, appropriations. The appropriations in this category, as you may know, it's for arts and culture. And the appropriations in category four consists of cycle three and four funding, along with the 2% admin delivery costs. And then finally, we have Category 5 funding, which predominantly resides with the Department of Public Works and Public Utilities, with some appropriations in the Parks Department. And those appropriations are to account for soft costs pertaining to the Millburn Overlook project. So I just want to note that our fellow colleagues from DPU and DPW will be providing a little bit more of a detailed breakdown of these funding. in our upcoming PRAC meeting in October. Okay, so the next few slides will cover FY27 budget recommendations made by this commission. So I won't be highlighting all, but I will be highlighting some. However, the recommendations are listed on the slide for your reference. All right, so the first slide, these recommendations were not included in the FY27 adopted budget. However, as we approach the FY28 budget meetings, commissioners are more than welcome to revisit and entertain these recommendations again if you choose to. OK. And then this slide. Funding for some of these recommendations are listed or are included in the FY27 adopted budget. such as the request to provide support of a standing committee for the cultural arts subcommittee. I do want to note that there was a recommendation for the Roading Small Dog Park improvement. And although that recommendation wasn't included in the adopted budget, we do have ongoing capital improvement projects that are occurring right now at Roading Park. OK, and then with regards to the Tech Easy program, that budget does not include additional funding beyond December. However, as a department, we've submitted a grant application for additional funding to continue supporting the Tech Easy program. So in addition to that recommendation, the adopted budget does include funding in our park maintenance operations to analyze the existing filtration system at Roading Park. Okay, so this is the last slide, and here we are taking a look at the tentative, a breakdown of the tentative schedule for our FY28 budget timeline. So we will be meeting in October and November, so those meetings, you will hear from our capital projects team, our park ranger program, along with Beautify Fresno, our Department of Public Works. And then you also have the opportunity to make any budget recommendations during those meetings as well. So with that, in December of 26, that's when departments will prepare our mid-year projections, which would essentially serve as the carryover for the FY28 budget bill. And then from January to February, that's when departments really start building our base budget. And then in March, that's when the departments will submit the base budget for review. And then in May, we're anticipating that the mayor will present the FY28 budget to city council. immediately after that we will then present to you the mayor's proposed budget which should occur sometime in June and then the beginning of June we'll have City Council will be hosting the budget hearings and then city will then in turn adopt or should adopt the budget by the end of June so with that we'll leave it with any questions

Well, thank you for that presentation. Really appreciate it. You put that together to let us know that none of our recommendations were accepted, right?

Most of them. Well, I'm sorry. Some were accepted.

One and a half. I say a half. Vice Chair says one and a half. She's being nice. I'm not. I think as a commission, we work really hard to come up with recommendations. We've even met. with Parks Director Geary to help formulate the wording for them to be accepted. And still, I've been myself, Commissioner Miller, Commissioner Barraza, and Commissioner Dolan. We're the longest commissioners on this commission, and we still have not seen any of our recommendations accepted by council. So it's very heartbreaking. that we sit here and we try to come up with recommendations to represent the people that we are representing and they fall on deaf ears. And I don't wanna speak for all commissioners, but that's just how I feel. So I will go ahead and thank you again, but I will go ahead and pass it to Commissioner Barraza.

Excuse me. Thank you, Madam Chair. I totally agree. I also happen to be very disappointed that the recommendations of this commission We're very involved in the community. We represent the community. We're very engaged. And therefore, that's a matter of concern. As one commissioner, I wish to express that concern. The other question I wanted to ask you I noticed that in some places you apply for grants to fund some projects that may not be a high priority under Measure P. My question is, when you have projects that have a sports facility, but also it has a parks in general usage, how do you prepare those grants? Do you go, for example, in the area of soccer, there is national associations that provide funding for soccer facilities. So I don't know, how do you handle that? I mean, that is good. I'm very pleased that park staff is seeking other sources of funding, but I'd like to know how you handle that. Director Geary, do you have any input on that?

So specific to soccer or just grants in general? Grants in general or specific to soccer? Yes. Just overall?

Well, overall for parks in general, but when you have sports facilities, do you go after sports foundations that provide money for those type of opportunities?

Yeah, and I'll talk about soccer. So for instance, soccer, we've worked with the U.S. Soccer Foundation looking at grant opportunities. Oftentimes, some of those grant opportunities are for smaller projects. You know, it wouldn't be for necessarily like new construction, maybe like a rehab or resurfacing of a existing tennis court for like futsal was one of the, we explored options with them. We currently have an application in right now with the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Program for actually phase two of the Southeast Fresno Sports Complex. So that would complete out phase two, again, using Measure P as a match. So as we go through, we leverage Measure P to try to extend those dollars as much as possible. I think it's a 50% match. I think the construction estimate for phase two is about $12 million. So we're seeking six from that agency. And then we would front the six out of Measure P if awarded. Great. That's how we are trying, instead of spending $12 million out of Measure P, let's spend six and get the other six from other granting opportunities. In addition to that, we would meet with our lobbyist that would kind of lobby to, whether it's the state or the federal government, on our needs here in town. So a lot of different ways that we get noticed of grant opportunities and or get our needs to the lobbyist who then spreads that through, whether it's Sacramento or back in D.C., Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Commissioner Duran.

Thank you. And thank you for the presentation. I'll continue that theme just around one question for the TechEasy program. That was a motion I was able to make last go-around, and I was glad to hear that We're still going with that one until we can't, but we have that grant. Not looking to quiz anyone on the grant, but do we have an idea of when we would find out if we've been awarded or not? And then depending on if we are or not, kind of at what level the programming may be sustained?

Yeah, we can definitely get back to you on when we expect to maybe receive word on the funding. We can definitely get back to you before the next meeting.

Oh, OK. Can you get that to all of us so we can all be in the loop?

Yeah, we can send you all a memo and make sure you all get the answer to that response.

I appreciate that. And then my last question, correct me if I'm wrong or if this would be in the wrong place, but when we're talking about the different allocation categories and things like that, if the city recovers any stolen funds, would that be reflected in these documents, fiscal year 28, another kind of budget?

You're speaking of the category four? Category four, yeah. I know we're utilizing general fund for the missing money. I assume that would be some sort of a payback. I don't know if that would be shown, how that would be shown, but we would definitely... I'm assuming reimburse category five, or I'm sorry, category four? That sounds...

I believe so, but we would have to, we can get a clearer answer and get that to you. We'll work with the attorney's office to see how that all would work through, but Director Aguirre is correct, we're using general fund money to pay the cycle two grants.

Thank you, I'd also appreciate that. Thank you so much.

That's a sign. We all need to go. It's over.

I adjourn. I'm just playing.

Commissioner Miller? Thank you. Vice Chair Ward? No, thank you. Commissioner Kalia?

Nothing at this time.

Commissioner Kercharski? Ari, I got two questions. Go for it.

You can ask five. The lights are turning off. And I actually was going to ask about PG&E, so... that's probably why you did it you know maybe we're paying too much that's what I was actually curious with the operating public utilities the 1.6 under category 5 is that PG&E bills like what does that represent that would be for beatify Fresno oh that's just the beatify Fresno yeah that's the allocation in category 5 funding that is dedicated towards beatification okay So Measure P funds aren't being used for other utility costs for the parks then?

So we do have, if you look at category, where do we have them? It's not broken down in here. But yes, Measure P is funding utilities, PG&E, water, and so forth.

Would that be under the operating?

So that would be under the parks operation line. And it would be housed in category one.

And the $11 million. Right. Part of that, correct. Actually, two $11 million ones. OK. Another question was the park ranger category one existing and highest needs, the $1.5 and a half million. Is that? the full amount to run the park rangers, or is that just contributing to the total cost for the park ranger program?

Well, that is the total budgeted amount to operate the park ranger program.

Okay, so it's totally housed with the Measure P funds, the park ranger program. It doesn't come out of the other, I don't know, city?

No. Okay. It doesn't come out of PD, so it's in Measure P Category 1, as you see here, the 1.9.

OK, like it's not shared across the city. OK, interesting. OK, thank you for answering my questions.

Well, one more thing before you sit down. Yes, Chair. When this commission was formed, we had about nine members. And during the time that this commission has been together, we've lost a member. And each of our commissioners, past and present, have asked and made a recommendation for Dr. Francine Aputa to be remembered, who is such a great asset to this commission. And it seems to fall on deaf ears. I would love to see the city of Fresno or the Parks Department to do something in her honor. So I just wanted to state that.

Thank you. Definitely noted. Thank you.

All right, we will move on to hearings. ID number 26-1253, hearing to receive public input on expanded access to arts and culture grant program. Will any member of the public like to make a comment regarding this item? You will have up to three minutes for comments. I see no cards. Anyone online?

There is no one online. Oh, I'm sorry. Spoke too soon. There's one person online. They barely made it in. Nikki Real, you have three minutes.

OK, hi. When I was listening to you guys, there's a couple of things I wanted to bring up. What was it? Somebody asked, what could be done to make sure the same thing doesn't happen? Well, that's really, I think, the board's responsibility. You act as the middle ground between the public and city council. But as you've seen, they didn't take your recommendation. So you're going to have to get serious about what you're asking for or something to that effect because you're our sort of safeguard, I would say. And when the lady was mentioning insurance being needed, sometimes I think that these officials making these decisions need insurance, should be required to carry their own insurance instead of this immunity that they walk around with. So you know what I'm saying? a little more work, but you're going to have to get into law and really pay attention to this money because that's the only thing that's going to, if not, it's going to be continuous, always going to be this way. And it's going to come to a point where people do get kind of tired of being walked over. But also if you'd like to make sure there's some strong language in these contracts and After a certain amount of money being spent, that means approval, some type of safeguard like that would help. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

There is no one else.

All right. I will now close public comment. Does any member of the commission have any questions or comments regarding this item? All right. We will move on to the Next hearing, ID number 26-1254. Hearing receive public input on allocations related to Measure P, updates to the Parks Master Plan and Cultural Arts Plan, and annual Parks Department budget and capital improvements. Would any member of the public like to make a comment regarding this item? You will have up to three minutes for comment. I see no cards in the chamber. Anyone online? Yes, I have Nikki Real.

You have three minutes.

My bad. I don't know what I was speaking on earlier, what that was. I thought it was like a general public comment. But yeah, I guess it was more, my comment was more to the, thank you for reminding me, admin, admin costs. Yeah, a lot of the stuff is money. We have grant writers, people sitting there like trying to figure out all day, like how to get more money. And Yeah, so a lot of this is like admin cost. And when our focus is not really on the goal and it's on other stuff, that's how stuff happens like this, or other stuff happens. But yeah, we need just someone to, I don't know. But yeah, that's it.

Thank you. Anyone else?

There is no one else online.

All right, I will now close public comment. Does any member of the commission have any questions or comments regarding this item?

I do. I was wondering about, I want to make a comment on the pickleball. It is the fastest growing sport in America. And there was an interesting conundrum of trying to organize games, but not being able to be an organization yet. But yet, we have the facilities. So I was wondering if the parks department needed more a budget recommendation to help support that, or if that's something you all are working on already.

We have the athletic reservation policy in place already, and I've met with the pickleball group on an ongoing basis since I came into this role. As pickleball becomes more popular, the courts become more popular. So drop-in play versus reservation becomes kind of the issue here. So it's not really an operating or a need on our end. It's really the I guess the liability issue where you have organized events going on on a reoccurring basis that require reservations, just like we've done with soccer, just like we've done with football, just like we've done with other sports, just to limit our liability should there be an injury or some other item out there that, you know, occurs without that in place. So, I mean, inline hockey is the same thing. They were in that, and now they are reserving, have their insurance. So it's really more following the athletic reservation, the reoccurring every Tuesday night league type of deal. You know, if you look at our athletic reservation policy, it states what that looks like. So we'll definitely be reaching out again. I did meet with the president who was here today this past June to go through that, so we can definitely send a reminder of what that policy looks like and share it with the group, so. But no real need at this point as far as, you know, staffing or anything like that on our end.

OK, what I'm hearing is the best way for the groups to move forward is to maybe organize better into a league so they can better take advantage of the public facilities that are there. Because they could do it more, I guess, properly, so to speak, to better protect their interests and the city's interests.

Yeah, and I think the argument is reoccurring versus drop-in. Drop-in is once a month, twice a month. not every Tuesday, not every Tuesday, Thursday, or not every Wednesday. So it's the reoccurring events constitute a league play, just like we did with our soccer groups, our inline hockey groups. It's the same process we've had them follow that they are all abiding by. Again, just as these facilities open, I think the issues just become a little more upfront because it is a popular sport.

Yeah, okay, thank you for the clarification.

If I could jump in, I don't mean to speak for the group, but for myself, having been at the drop-in, I've used the equipment. As far as I know, what was communicated to me as a participant, it is every single day that they meet, they do have that drop-in opportunity not planned. Anyone can come and use the equipment. And it's like a rotating, depending on the order in which someone arrives, they can have the next court.

I think that's the advertisement to their 3,300 followers on social media that the Wednesday night league, the Monday night league, you know, so trying to get that, you know, to follow the other leagues that have followed suit, you know, trying to get them on that page. So it really just kind of comes down to reoccurring versus dropping. What does that mean? And it's spelled out in our reservation code. facility policy. So policies have not been changed, as was mentioned. Same policies have been in place for the last couple years, so I'd be happy to send that over to him again and meet with him if need be.

All right. I will go ahead and It is 722. As always, I would like to adjourn the meeting in the memory of Dr. Francine Aputa, who's greatly missed. Thank you for coming out and enjoy your day or your evening with your family. This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.