Thread by @AndyHS

Fresno City Council Meeting June 13th,2019! Among the items: Subcommittee on Parks&Public Safety ballot measure; Impact fee to fund more fire stations due to housing growth; Workshop on Prop 68 for 3 local parks; Need to pay garbage haulers more to take recycling due to China no

longer wanting them; streamlining permitting for EV (Electric Vehicle) Charging stations. Approve the appointment of Pablo Villagrana to the City of Fresno Capital Projects Oversight Board !!; Approve the Appointment of Lucio Avila to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee

Approve the appointment of Alysia Bonnez to the Fresno Regional Workforce Development Board; Approve the appointment of S. Matthew Cunningham to the Fresno Madera Area on Aging Board; FAX now seeks to advance on this work by improving bus service and schedule adherence along the

Shaw Avenue corridor between Willow Avenue and Polk Avenue by adding TSP technology along the corridor. In order to activate and interface with TSP technology, FAX will need to add on-board vehicle TSP units to 20 existing buses that travel down this corridor;A proposed ordinance

ordinance would create a non-transient lodging inspection program by adding Article 18 to Chapter 10 of the FMC, authorizing inspection of all rental units to ensure compliance with minimum health and safety standards. The proposed Resolution would initiate a text amendment to

the City’s Zoning Ordinance, directing staff to review and analyze the proposed draft ordinance defining and setting minimum standards for non-transient lodging. Approve Contract to prepare EIR for Commercial Cannabis: Approve a consultant services agreement between the City of

of Fresno and Quad Knopf, Inc., to prepare an Environmental Impact Report evaluating the proposed regulation and permitting of commercial cannabis activities not to exceed the amount of $300,000.

All Councilmembers present. SPCA contract extension has been continued. Proclamation for retired Police Officer Greg Jouroyan. Chambers are packed for his retirement including balcony. Chief Dyer says Greg worked more overtime than any other officer.

@MayorLeeBrand Thanks and hugs Officer Jouroyan. The officer thanks his father, mother and his wife Diane.

Presentation of the SPCA Pet of the Month by @MiguelArias_D3 Ruby needs a home! You can also get a license plat that will help fund shelters. Next: @MayorLeeBrand Presentation of a $25,000 check from PG&E to offset costs associated with operation of the cooling centers.

Government Finance Officers Association’s Distinguished *Budget Presentation Award Recognition, Budget and Management Studies presented by Mayor Brand. He thanks the budget staff for the complex budget the city has. Henry Fierro thanks his staff for all their hard work. City

Manager Wuaj knows they put in hard work and is surprised they are awake this morning 😜@Esmeralda_Soria Proclamation of “Immigration Heritage” Month. “An honor as a first generation American to present this. With the anti-immigrant sentiment in the country this is more important

Than ever to remember the vast of the residents are traced back to an immigrant. Many contributions provided by immigrants. Those being honored have done a lot to do positive activism for immigrants locally.@MiguelArias_D3 says he is an immigrant. We are not first to fight this

battle. Immigration Task Force will help but it is a fight for this generation and the next. “. Tea:Immigrants bring lots of talent to America. Proud of steps this Council has bright to this issue.

@PaulCaprioglio says his family came from Italy. His grandfather spoke five languages. His grandmother knew two phrases in English. Unscheduled Communication:”Advanced Peace “says pastor of UU Church. Good investment in peace will save lots of money later as well as lives. Fresno

can lead the way. He knows his Councilmember @GarryBredefeld cares about public safety. The $300,000 is a good investment. Next: Jim Grant of Diocese: anything with legislators it is important that you don’t twist their arms but to ask the same thing the Council wants. Make

Fresno beautiful. Council wants that too. Look at Advance Peace. This is exciting and will change pattern of violence. Law Enforcement is not the only way to deal with violence. Small investment over five years. Disarmament will address issue where it occurs. It is a disease.

Next: Commentator: Advance Peace was first heard about by him in a basement in Chicago. We have a chance to take Fresno in another direction. $300,000 is little amount to provide a lot. Aaron Foster: a West Fresno community activist. This program takes guns away from active shoo-

ters.”only” 8 people got shot last year. Next: budget priorities heavily focused on public safety. Addictions and blight in our neighborhoods need to be addressed as well. A broader way of finding prosperity. No more than 50% to Police. Advance Peace. @MiguelArias_D3 thanks the

ones that showed up. He makes budget Motion of$300,000 to Fund Advance Peace using Cannabis funding. @D7Esparza makes Second. Council knows shooting is throughout City. @GarryBredefeld thinks the term Police State is offensive. He won’t be supportive but would like to hear more.

@Esmeralda_Soria a thoughtful discussion is needed. We have done the same thing for awhile yet violence has continued. A strategic plan is needed to create jobs. Stockton, Richmond, Sacramento have used similar ideas as Advance Peace. She values Police Department. It is a tool.

@D7Esparza there is a lot of private money involved but City will help with people on the ground. Council reports: Caprioglio likes to see students taking photos of the Fresno State architecture. A kickball tournament. His team made it to Finals. Thanks NBA player Quincy Pond-

-exter being there. @D7Esparza Lotus Kitchen grand opening near Olive and Cedar. Asian Pacific proclamation presented. Link Up with local School Unifieds and Philharmonic. City supported the program by covering some fees. Week ago First Five Esparza attended. Will be 7-8 pm on

KSEE 24 tonight. Blackstone merchants met. UCSF tonight will have graduation at Saroyan Ceremonies. @Esmeralda_Soria Congratulations to all graduates and the educators. Thanks City for opening Cooling Centers. Partnership with Fresno/Central unifieds for opening pools. Also

weed abatement seems to be lacking. Consent Calendar: Bredefeld registers NO vote on 1-M (Cannabis EIR) Soria pulls 1-N. Nelson pulls 1-L and 1-S. Moving on to TEFRA HEARING - To hear and consider information concerning the proposed issuance of Revenue Bonds by California

Municipal Finance Authority (CMFA) for the purpose of financing and refinancing the acquisition, construction, furnishing and equipping of The Terraces at San Joaquin GardensThe Borrower is seeking to obtain financing and refinancing for the acquisition, construction, furnishing

and equipping of the Project, with an amount of not to exceed $18 million for The Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens, located at 5555 North Fresno Street. The new tax exempt bonds will be issued by CMFA. As a jurisdiction in which the facilities are located, the City Council must

hold a public hearing
Should the City authorize the issuance of Bonds, the City would have no obligation or liability. Representative for Terraces and Human Good. This complex has been around since 1966. No obligation to City. Passes 6-0

Essay on Fresno; Homelessness by Kahlan Fitzcharles @Esmeralda_Soria heard her essay. She says “we need homeless shelter. We often walk by them with out giving them a second thought. Stop ignoring. Think about what they want and not just problems they cause to us” Soria Thanks

her for stepping up and sharing her essay. She is an example of the students at Dailey Elementary with critical thinking. @MiguelArias_D3 pulls consent item 1-w and 1-z. (He needed to get a coffee and missed the portion to withdraw consent items). Appearance by Cesar CasaMayor

to discuss the Measure Cannabis Business tax and the need to define the regulations. Cannabis Committee needs to consist of every day working people and not just professionals and law enforcement. How will Cannabis business help to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. We

should be looked as part of the solution and not “just get out of the way and let City handle it”. WORKSHOP - Update regarding Proposition 68 California State-wide Grant Opportunities for Quigley Park, Radio Park and new park development at Orangewood and Church Avenue. Master

Plan and stakeholders voted on their favored plan for Quigley. Dog park and moving baseball diamond. Radio Park: outreach is occurring now. Two renditions. Thematic art. Also expanding size of park. 51/2 acre at Orangewood. Hopefully Prop 68 Funds can be awarded. Saturday 22nd

at Sunnyside and 29th at Radio Park. Prop 68 grant will be Aug 5th

@MiguelArias_D3 Arias: asks if radio tower is still needed at Radio Park. A: Staff says yes. Still active. Also may be a historic tower. Made into art once it it is no longer needed ?? @D7Esparza would like electronic copy of images. Staff: outreach to surrounding homes but not

much response. @Esmeralda_Soria Excited about Quigley Park. Effective outreach by Council staff at existing events seemed to work. Jane Sumpter has reached out to City Department that runs Radio Tower. Next: ANDREW . BENELLI:The current Fire Impact Fee is not generating adequate

revenue to fund construction of new fire stations. The City of Fresno Fire Department has identified three areas of the City where developments that have been proposed will create conditions where they will not be able to meet the National Fire Protection Association’s standard

for response time to calls-for-service without construction of new fire stations. The most pressing need is within the service area of Fire Station No.18. The current temporary station is located on Bullard Avenue east of Grantland Avenue. The station is essentially a home with a

large garage for a single fire engine. This station has always been considered a temporary facility. Many new residential developments have been proposed in the Fire Station No. 18 service area. The Fire Department has studied the response time in this area, and determined that a

that a new station must be built before new homes are occupied. 20 fire stations currently. Ten more needed of General Plan is built out. Caprioglio asks if existing City owned buildings can be used? A: hard to retro fit. Needs large garage, sleeping quarters etc. Stakeholders

ie builders and developers and see what their response is to impact fee. 143% increase. Not a large portion of home price though. Can’t build without fire departments. Caprioglio asks if PD will need a substation too? We keep stretching city and his district 4 seems to be not

benefiting. Staff: more personal and trucks at existing stations of new stations are not built and not really built for that. Also response time will fo Up. Caprioglio has trouble supporting this increase. Department Head Scott Mozier says outreach to builders has occurred.

BIA (Builder’s Aseociation) is neutral on this.( I ask if more infill and more vertical building is needed so we are not spreading out to our borders.) @MiguelArias_D3 thanks Fire Chief for meeting. Wonders why we are waiving fire fees to Amazon? For industrial development?

Quan asked when were those dates ? Arias: 2107. Quan says we don’t waive fire fees. Mozier: police fees have been waived. Mozier says it is not allowed legally to waive fees and raise fees. Arias: it is done two years later. Same thing. Mozier: creates General Fund pressure. What

is effect from spreading out. Arias: how much did General Fund kick in? One fully funded and half funded. Arias: how much more? A: 11 new stations and then expansion of 11 current stations. Quan: it is a balance. We have worked with industry. Not waiving fees. Arias: asking tax

payers to raise their taxes. We can’t do this and waive fees. Small mom and pop businesses will have to make up difference for Amazon waived fees. Deputy Chief Simonian says impact fees are a small part. If developers go to edges of city than we need to have stations for them

If we go vertical and infill it will help. Fees currently collect are barely making do. We won’t be able to build a new station for 20 years otherwise. General Fund will have to take burden. Arias: developers need to pay for it and not rely on current residents to do so. Soria:

Have we done comparisons to Clovis etc? A: Clovis is more than our current but less than our proposed. Our proposed sq footage fire department is lowest though. Very spartan. Soria: would like to see impact fess from other cities. @District5Chavez need to have discussion on Ama-

Zon like buildings. What does this new Council make up feel about thirds types of proposals so we speak as one voice. Arias: what is our economic strategy? We can’t be hypocrites and give some waivers but not others. Sumpter: there was direction during budget to see Amazon etc

info and that is being compiled. Mayor @MayorLeeBrand ( has a sore throat) moratorium on growth? In past our fees were too low on new residential buildings. General Fund took blunt. Gap, Amazon etc helped benefit schools and jobs. Lowest unemployment now. We are making people pay

the true cost of building. Many people want to buy single family homes. Chavez: when will budget memo be available ? This needs to be a separate item on agenda. @GarryBredefeld purpose of program? Mozier: Economic Director did it. One time impact fees. Not for Amazon but for

in industrial zones. Bredefeld says we try to help both big and small businesses. He knows some of the Councilmembers are supportive of a congresswoman (AOC) who got rid of Amazon from her district but he doesn’t. He was on Council when City gave GAP property worth $10M for only

$1. He would like to see multiplier effect on that. He knows in past that developments didn’t pay their fair share and so roads and parks suffered. The fees are now adequate. Do we want to help expand current businesses and attract Amazon like businesses? Makes Motion. Soria:

Says Bredefeld is inaccurate on her views. (Getting testy on Dais). She says it is good to find out how many jobs from Amazon are going to City Employees. Need zip codes where they reside. She will continue to support good economic development. Some have cost us money like get-

ting EIR first in industrial Zones. @MiguelArias_D3 part of our role here is to ask critical questions. When GAP was sold maybe critical questions should have been asked or City would have not been sued for $7 million by FAA. @GarryBredefeld asks Mayor if he is supportive of de-

laying this one week. A: YES. Vote 4-1 to Continue (Soria left the dais after exchange with Bredefeld ). General Adminstration. 3-D $10M for grant application for Veterans Blvd interchange. Approved. Passing thru items without much discussion now. Went thru 7-8 items quickly.

RESOLUTION - Approving the installation of a Fresno Public Safety Memorial in front of City Hall, on the north lawn, and donating the existing Fresno Police Department Memorial to the Fresno Police Officers' Association. Needs to be relocated due to pedestrian mall creation.

Soria is back on dais. Arias thinks City should contribute $60,000 for memorial as these officers are City Employees. FPOA (Fresno Police Officer’s Association)would like current memorial donated to them thus creating two memorials. Bredefeld asks about names on memorial. Arias

says we know names on current Memorial. We may add names of other city employees that died on duty. Approved 5-0. Amending the “Council Residency Act” and renaming it the “Council and Mayor Residency Act” The Residency Act was amended to include residency requirements for the

Mayor, and to clarify the minimum acceptable documents for verifying residency. Approved. Discussion of Parks & Public Safety Subcommittee:
1. Announce creation of an ad hoc Council subcommittee to work with Mayor and make recommendations on a potential ballot item for parks and

parks and public safety; subcommittee will report back to the full Council within 90 days;
2. Announce appointments of Vice President Arias, Councilmember Soria, and Councilmember Chavez as the committee members. Arias: with defeat of Measure P there is Mayoral proposal to put

another initiative. This would allow us to get ahead of this. @District5Chavez Thinks he needs to remove himself since he is currently running for Mayor. Esparza agrees to join Committee. Arias has heard rumors of this ballot so would toget ahead and be part of it. Lunch Recess.

Councilmembers are back from Lunch. 1-z Assistant City Manager Jane Sumpter asks for a 6-month extension for SMG Contract. Only two companies that perform this and Spectra is focused on East Coast. This will give Council time to negotiate. Arias: what is our option? A: do it

ourselves which is expensive OR shut it down but we would still have our debt service. $1 million per year to support Convention Center with budget of $5.5 million. Not a true enterprise. It is a public entity. Save Mart hurt it. Starting to focus on smaller shows and often

local bands etc. SMG may have run facility with fewer staff / contracted help than City did. @District5Chavez what Contract Agreement if not renewed? A: None. We would shut it down. Chavez: would like to see Audit. Chavez asks SMG rep: Bookings increased? Yes including Convention

business that has left. New Exhibit Hall is starting to be popular. Chavez: circus replaces with? A: lots of sports like wrestling. People are afraid of PETA for circus acts. FFA May come back. Soria: is six month just to help council negotiate? RFP can be sent out. Very few comp

-anies That Manage all three: Theater, Convention and concert hall. Soria: healthy competition is needed. Do we get fair shot when SMG books Save Mart too? Quan : brought local business stakeholders when working on RFP. Sumpter: breaking them up may not be cost effective.

Five could make a bid but two only do theater. Spectra only does east coast& AEG merged with SMG. Sumpter thinks they did their due diligence. Arias: how hard to negotiate for 90-days instead of 6 months. A: hard to do RFP that quick. Arias: makes Motion; Approved 1-w Lease agree

-ment for Special Investigation Bureau At 5051 E McKinley. SE Substation is in property owned by City. Mozier: 10,000 sq ft that cost $5 M which is $600 sq ft for substation. Approved. 1-N New Law That requires Fire Dept to Report on inspections of certain occupancies. Soria: we

have one of the most active fire departments. Fire Staff: We found we had missed some of these inspections. A new funded hire would be helpful. More educationional facilities were inspected than hotels , offices etc. @District5Chavez when there is a fire what percentage is owners

negligence. If it is owner’s fault do we get cost recovery since we had already inspected ? A: $400 up to $25,000 can be repaid. Approved 1-L professional plan check. DARM’s Mike Sanchez says extension of contracted work. RFP for other vendors. @D7Esparza what are we doing to

eliminate those and do it in house. Sanchez: we have some unfilled positions that if filled would help. New code updates mean uptick in plan reviews. Multistory hotel or senior residential plans takes a lot of review. Soria: how many hours contracted work takes ? A: 3 days at

A percentage of what we normally charged (typically 80%). Soria: would love to not have to rely on contract work. Now four years using them. She cannot be supportive if this will take until September. Sanchez: approved Budget will cover personnel needed. Jennifer Clark$250,000

budgeted for outside contracting when we don’t have internal capacity. RFP will Be Back to Council by end of August. Arias: what is total budget for plan checking ? A: $11 million for portion that includes those mostly for personal costs. Approved. 1-S: paving on Blackstone &

Shields intersection. Originally was going to have intersection closed but that isn’t feasible. Delays cause this contract to be more for sign rental etc. Mozier : outside lane can be used for bicycle lane safety. FID (irrigation district) didn’t want pedestrian walk way. Arias

says this is why we often have incomplete streets in older parts of town. Approved. Budget Motion: $4 M for multigenerational Center. $200,000 for Fulton Street plus two bike police in District 4. @D7Esparza Match operating budget for mayor and make it same for council. $4.5M

split among 7 council districts. Arias jokes he wants to make Motion to take the $4 M for multigenerational Center and move it to his project. Caprioglio pretends Arias’ microphone doesn’t work. Caprioglio thinks he may need Security to walk out of here. Arias jokingly asks

Police Office in room to escort Caprioglio. City Manager Quan jumps in to say “ only she can direct staff” 😜 Heading to Closed Session and then adjournment.

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