Remarks by Miguel Arias
198 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 7 of 8
- Play at 5:34:06
“Council Member Arias, followed by Council Member Vang. Thank you, Council President. I want to kind of pivot a little bit to the types of questions we've been kind of going through so far. Not so much into the substance of the policy, but more into the implementation of it. I know that there's been some reference to the fees that will be captured for execution. Can staff walk me through, one, is this item, when would it take effect? Is it this traditional 30 days after adoption? Two, is the item vetoable by the mayor? THREE, HOW SOON WOULD STAFF BE READY TO EXECUTE THIS NEW POLICY FROM…”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:35:58
“Just slow down for a bit. I want to be able to get timing right because the public's probably hearing this for the first time. So if this goes gets approved today or going to affect 30 days from now. Basically end of September.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:36:18
“So are we talking effective January 1st where there is a portal for them to be able to apply?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:36:40
“When will a system be ready to accept the first application for a license? Because that's what this is about. It's a license. It's not about inspections. Is that more of a finance question? Because we currently have the authority to do inspections on these issues already. So this is requiring a new license. At least on the city attorney's end, we'll be ready in 121 days. I don't know administration-wise what needs to happen. So from the administration side, I'm assuming somebody's going to be able to go to the business office and apply for a license permit?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:37:21
“It's fine if we don't know then that's fine.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:37:26
“Got it. So we anticipate that sometime in January we will have the infrastructure set up where a business can begin applying for a license. Is that correct?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:37:57
“And what about allocation of funds? Does this work require additional positions over time? Filling of positions that are currently vacant that we've, you know, held vacant intentionally to solve our budgetary problems? Are we talking no additional people, existing people? Do you guys have enough capacity? You don't have enough work with the current enforcement duties?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:39:40
“And given the proposed fee license that we have on this ordinance, how much revenue do we anticipate generating on day one, assuming everybody comes and applies for a license? whenever they're ready.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:39:57
“So if the fee is $5 and we have 500 businesses that we anticipate would require a tobacco license, how much revenue do we anticipate generating just from the fee itself? Aaron, was this the math that you did earlier? Not the fines, just the application fee. Yeah.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:40:21
“WHAT'S THE COST OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER? IS IT MORE THAN $75,000?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:40:31
“SO A YEAR, WE ONLY ANTICIPATE ABOUT $75,000 IN REVENUE FROM THE LICENSE FEES, WHICH IS LESS THAN THE COST OF ONE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. CORRECT. SO IN ESSENCE, WE WOULD JUST ADD THIS TO THE EXISTING DUTIES OF CODE ENFORCEMENT AND CHARGE AGAINST THAT $75,000.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:40:49
“Yeah, that's what the offset of the grant. And the grant.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:41:16
“What I'm trying to process from my own head, I'm on my way out. So I don't want to leave this place in the worst place that I found it financially. I want to make sure that whatever commitments we're making as I exit the council, that there's sufficient revenue to cover those commitments in terms of execution of the work. That come January, you guys don't have to do a budget amendment slash from Peter to pay Paul to cover this body of work because we didn't have the money set aside. So that's what I'm trying to get clear in my head is are we ready to essentially execute on day one, which…”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:42:35
“We're in year two. Starting in year two? So it ends when?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:42:42
“So come next October, you won't have any grant funds to charge us against. You would have to get general fund or you'd have to raise fees significantly to cover the cost.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:43:00
“And what's the funding source for the grant? Do we know what the funding source is?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:43:05
“Okay, so it's not like the tobacco tax that's dwindling every year. It's DOJ? Correct.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:43:13
“The other questions, city attorney, is there an end period for this ordinance? Or if it doesn't work out, can the next council, through one action, simply cease the program? Or is this kind of baked in permanently?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 5:43:37
“So the council can sunset it. It is not working out as envisioned. All right. Those are all my questions for the moment. Thank you.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 19:40
“COUNCIL PRESIDENT, I JUST HAVE ONE DISCLOSURE OUT OF ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION TO JAY AS IN JACK. I AM DISCLOSING THAT I'M CURRENTLY SUPPOSED TO START SERVING ON THE BOARD OF THE Fresno Clovis Convention and Visitors Bureau, A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION IN WHICH THERE IS NO COMPENSATION TO ME OR THE CITY FOR. All right, thank you.”
City Council · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 41:23
“Hey guys, come on up. Council President, Council Vice President reminded me that it's Broadway Parque. Parque.”
City Council · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 41:34
“Parque. I love that. Parque. Okay. See, I appreciate the Latino influence you now have, Council Vice President. Thank you. Thank you all for coming today. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize the one-year anniversary of Broadway Parque and the history. I think part of this work that we do in the city is that we have to continuously tell the authentic history of how we got to certain places and make sure the recognition is there for everyone who helped along the way, as well as to maintain the engagement of the public. In this case, Broadway Parque has a long history. One that included…”
City Council · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 46:59
“Thank you, Kyle, and thank all of you for the time and the commitment. I'm constantly reminded that we are simply temporary caretakers of our city, government, and it is residents who are the permanent stakeholders of our neighborhoods and our communities. So thank you for playing your critical role. I love the fact that Tower has some of the most engaged residents, and you always tend to re-correct us when we go off basis. So keep up the good work, even at times it feels like you have to knock us over the head a few times. So it's all well worth it and appreciated. City Clerk?”
City Council · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 47:55
“everyone i i just a closing comment as we're talking about the authentic history i forgot to mention candidate annalisa prayer was part of the work early on she was also part of the work of saving and preserving the tower theater and a lot of other good work and now initiator of a neighborhood library in tower so thank you for your work we expect to get us some money to take next year”
City Council · Aug 13, 2026
- Play at 52:03
“Council Member Arias, circle back to you. Thank you, Council President. Just one announcement. The deadline to register to be a food vendor or a vendor in general for the annual Downtown Fresno Fiestas Patias is tomorrow, August 14th. So please go ahead and register if you want to be a vendor for the festivities. That's all, Council President. Council Member Richardson.”
City Council · Aug 13, 2026