Thread by @AndyHS

May 13, 2021 Fresno City Council on this already warm/hot morning! Among the items today are Housing Element Annual Report;Emergency Rental Assistance Program Workshop;Creating the Eviction Protection Program; 2 Planning Commission appointments @fresnoland @FLDocumenters #Fresno

Among CONSENT CALENDAR items:
1-C *Approve the First Amendment with Make Green Go LLC, and increase the contract amount by $20,000 for a total of $69,900 for the Provision of Cannabis Social Equity Business Technical Assistance @JePahl_White

1-D *ID 21-0374 ***RESOLUTION - adopting the 77th amendment to the Annual
Appropriation Resolution No. 2020-159 appropriating $50,000 for the Economic
Development Administration (EDA) CARES Act Revolving Loan Fund Program
(RLF) (Requires 5 affirmative votes)

1-E *Approve the appointments of Haley M. Wagner and Robert A. Fuentes to the Planning Commission

1-F *Approve the appointment of Destiny Rodriguez to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee

1-G *Approve the appointment of Raquel Busani to the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District Board, and the reappointment of Lawrence García to the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District Board

1-N ID 21-1868 ***RESOLUTION – It is recommended the Council approve the 78th
Amendment to the Annual Appropriations Resolution (AAR) No. 2020-159 in the
amount of $400,000 to retain a consultant for preliminary design plans to build a
Fire Department Regional Training Center

1-O ID 21-0405 Approve the First Amendment to the License Agreement in the
amount of $20,000 per year, between the City of Fresno, through the PARCS
Department, and New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC., to license use of certain
real property, together with access and utility rights

located at the Woodward
Park maintenance yard (Friant and Shepherd) (District 6)

1-P Actions pertaining to the 2020 California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant program 1. Authorize the Director to accept $1,263,368 in grant funding for the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant awarded to the Parks & Recreation

Department from the State of California, Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC)

1-R ID 21-0295 Approve an agreement with the County of Fresno for the purpose of processing Fresno Police Department Arrestees at the Fresno County Jail at a rate of $32.82 per prisoner

1-S ID 21-0400 Approve a consultant services agreement in the amount of $123,855 with Precision Civil Engineering for professional environmental planning project services related to an environmental analysis of increasing residential density maximums found within the development

within the development code for all mixed-use zone districts

1-T ***Adopting Substantial Amendment 2020-01 to the 2020-2021 Annual Action Plan; approving submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to reprogram $897,494.26 of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from prior year project savings; and

and approving the allocation of the funds to the development of affordable housing in areas of opportunity

1-V ID 21-0372 Approve a $1,633,112 HOME Investment Partnerships Program Agreement with the Housing Authority of the City of Fresno for the construction of 40 affordable rental units and one on-site manager unit to be located at 3039 N. Blackstone Avenue (District 7)

Watch the Council meeting live at 9 am as well as repeats all on cmac.tv/gov/ @CMACTV

Invocation by Pastor Ryan Kenny from Midtown Vineyard Church. @GarryBredefeld needs to recuse himself on any tenant rights items due to change in State law in December 2020. So 3-A;4-A;and 4-C. He owns more than three apartment units and as an abundance of caution will recuse

himself as City Attorney’s office will get more clarification. 1-C pulled to Contested Consent by Bredefeld; and 1-R by Karbassi. 1-O pulled for future date by Soria. 1-L pulled by Arias to Contested Consent. 1-I pulled by Soria to Contested Consent too. 1-K pulled by Arias due

his concern about Emergency Drought declaration by Governor. City Manager Esqueda promised a Water Workshop May 27th.

Proclamation of “Municipal Clerk’s Week” (video shown on topic) @LuisCha70215912 thanks Clerks for their work.

*Proclamation of “Apraxia of Awareness Day” Chavez: a neurological disorder with no cure.Thought and intent of thought occurs but transfer to body part doesn’t occur. Effects speech, motor skills and quality of life. How do we do research on this ?

*Proclamation recognizing “Older Americans Month” (finally a month for @Coldrain76 ) @D7Esparza introduces Dr Bill. Older Fresnans are our friends and mentors. They possess the wisdom and covers all topics. Esparza says we need a Senior Center. Measure P team will help bring this

project to fruition. Dr Bill: homebound service for Seniors so they can get Covid vaccines.

@MiguelArias_D3 Last year Council put money aside last year for a Senior Center. Hopefully Mayor Dyer can make this happen. @MayorJerryDyer I support this Senior Month proclamation. 100% support for developing this Senior Center. Sometimes Seniors can be alone and forgotten.

Mayor’s Budget will reflect this Center. @GarryBredefeld supports this but didn’t like our past multi generational center effort. @Esmeralda_Soria 100 seniors have given us their input on McKinley and Blackstone Senior center that is part of new mixed use project there.

Councilmember Reports: @Esmeralda_Soria Facebook Live Coffee/Conversation on Wed May 19th. Emerson Island survey is still available for comment. Go to her online for link. Tower District Specific Plan proposal to update that hopefully at next meeting. @kmkarbassi This Saturday

9 am Logan Park @BeautifyFresno cleanup. Press Conference regarding San Joaquin River occurred last week with Congressman Costa, Mayor and Chavez. @FresnoGrizzlies game last night was fun! Social distancing and masks occur. “And there is beer”. @MiguelArias_D3 Youth Summit last

Year at Fairgrounds. We will have 15 internships occurring due to that. Also Arias went out to Motel Drive. Lots of human trafficking occurring. Can we do Contract Policing for the families houses there? We can do it for Apple Store and Wal-Mart. We need to make sure those pri-

vately owned motels and we need to hold them accountable. We need to know what water assets we have as we head into drought. We need to make sure our taxpayers are covered before we sell water to private vendors. Glass walls at Grizzlies Stadium are strong (his son ran into one!)

Robert Fuentes is a great choice for Planning Commission too! @Maxwell4Fresno Beautify Fresno near Granite Park in two weeks. @BeautifyFresno we can get 50-100 people for these events. Also excited to get Grizzlies back in action. Fortunate to still have them. @LuisCha70215912

rumor @kmkarbassi is actually Parker. Karbassi: I am hairy but that isn’t me. @GarryBredefeld welcomes back fans and Grizzlies. District 6 Zoom meeting with Mayor and Public. In person District meeting this Tuesday 6 pm at Woodward Park Amphitheater. Police Chief Paco Baldarama

will be there. @D7Esparza thanks PD,Parks, Code Enforcement for public meeting at Manchester Park. Grizzlies opened with a win! @LuisCha70215912 Traffic Department helped with Low Rider event. Over 1000 vehicles. Next week will be meeting to help improve for next one. Community

had fun with vehicles from around Fresno. Grizzlies opened their restrooms for the event too. Food Vendor meeting tomorrow at Mosqueda Center to make them safer and be included as part of local business. @MayorJerryDyer Go Grizzlies! Worry over changes from Triple A to low A.

There is good talent. Replaced some sidewalks , grafitti removal. Also helped clean around Boys and Girls Club. EOC , Workforce Investment and others to help hire 100 youth for PARCS and Public Works. Contacts restaurants are having tough time getting new employees. Eagle Scout

is repainting flag at SE corner of Roeding Park at traffic circle. Congratulates the new Planning Commissioners!They are from Downtown Fresno and Tower. Governor announced $12 billion for motel acquisitions to house homeless. Possible two new motel lease purchase soon. July

a focus on freeway graffiti. City Manager: we are exploring what housing stability fund can be used. Tax Sharing Agreement will becoming to Council soon. Vaccination rate of City employees will go live next Wednesday. Budget Planning and we are meeting with Council about that.

Public Comments:@LisaYFlores1 She wants to be on Planning Commission. I hoped to discuss my qualifications with mayor.Jim Mendez:New system for public comments had some issues. EPP proposal later today is not quite comprehensive as it should be. Judge should decide what is legal

eviction and not a City Law Clerk. Adequate funding for EPP is needed to ensure its success (4 years to get it going). @LisaYFlores1 (had tough connection last time) She wants 1-E item on Planning Commission to have open discussion on qualifications. What is about me that I don't

not be a good candidate? My age? Disability? No doubt in my mind that i am not one of the best candidates to ever come along (tearful). Next: Support renters in danger of being evicted. Ivanka Sanders: Comments later on evictions? Yes. @LovesMercy place new motels in other places

are needed too. End Public Comments. @kmkarbassi Agrees some issues with new public online comment system. You can email Clerk questions to pass to council too. Planning Commission: I felt @LisaYFlores1 pain. She has a lot of experience but she called people people death merchant

on social media. That is not appropriate. @MayorJerryDyer Youth Interns would be working for City paid with government dollars. Those interns working with private firms will be paid by private dollars. @LuisCha70215912 We will do better job with new public comment system. We want

people to comment whatever way they are comfortable. City Clerk:Thanks Lisa Flores for alerting the FresGo app had issues connecting to new system. our website's HTML agenda will allow direct comment there. @Maxwell4Fresno 1- H item:Counsel will add some info before we vote on it

(Counsel reads legal info into record now). Non contested Consent Calendar approved 7-0. 1-C Approve the First Amendment with Make Green Go LLC, and increase the contract amount by $20,000 for a total of $69,900 for the Provision of Cannabis Social Equity Business Technical

Assistance. Bredefeld:why are we extending this contract when we are getting $120,000 grant to do the same? A:RFP being published and want equity access applicants to still be covered. Esqueda:RFP will decide who will do this in future.Staff:Grant only provides funding but not

actual work. Passes with Bredefeld voting NO. 1-L Stating the City’s position regarding the $50 million operation, maintenance, and replacement project budget and cost share for Phase 1 of the Friant-Kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project (Subject to Mayoral veto)

Arias:Thanks City for helping ratepayers unlike past when we wanted to give Temperance Dam money. This will protect our ratepayers. Esqueda:This allows administration to determine water cost value in Porterville. We are not to get any benefit but we want to be sure do so.

Chavez:Our priority is safe water access. SE Fresno has 42 food processing plants and have connection to Ag as well. How can we leverage these dollars by lobbying for more water as partners with Ag and rowing in roughly same direction. Water is complicated issue. Approved 7-0

1-I Actions pertaining to the purchase of liquefied carbon dioxide. Soria:Are we not getting enough bids on this? Asking us to add more funding but not getting any more bids? Utility Department Head Carbajal:Bidders took exception to our insurance requirements. We are trying to

make revisions where we can. New bids are now due June 1st. We can't shut off our water treatment plans and we need the CO2.Soria:This is an Enterprise Dept but insurance issues will cost our ratepayers. "this is pissing me off"says Soria.What happens if we don't have bidders in

6 months? Carbajal:We are working with Risk Management and Purchasing to see if we can get a successful bid. (CORRECTION:Bidding will open June 1st and not due then) Staff:Workshop on this issue will be May 27. Policy is driving the cost.Arias:policy call to determine the risk.

Risk Management has taken upon themselves to make these changes such as Special Event permits such as parade, block parties. I don't think we ever asked for that. I would like to see the rates for those just 5 years ago at our workshop May 27. It makes us less competitive.

Staff Georganne White: I didn't know that and as new administration we will look into this. City Manager Esqueda:will be working with Public Work head Scott Mozier on similar.Approved

1-R Approve an agreement with the County of Fresno for the purpose of processing Fresno Police Department Arrestees at the Fresno County Jail at a rate of $32.82 per prisoner. Arias:Every city pays this fee? Police Chief:cost us too much so we process it mainly and not Sheriff's

Not often and will cost about $25,000 in a year. If no flight risk or non-violence we will process it ourselves. Cheaper but takes longer. Karbassi:We pay a lot to county and PO have to go to two buildings. Chief:It is same rate as other cities pay though.Approved 7-0

10:10 HEARING to receive public comment on the 2020 Housing Element Annual Progress Report

This is only receiving the report but not necessarily approving it going forward.

Carla Martinez from @LCJandA Mobile Home assessment needed. Are they Clean environment ? Trust fund for affordable housing needs more. Code Enforcement minimal standards for renting. Rezone sites in desirable areas. @Esmeralda_Soria : mobile home parks ? What can we do more?

Staff Sophia P. We are committed to that program. Unsure what time line is. Jennifer Clark Planning Dept Head: still waiting from state on Contract and can’t move forward yet. Esqueda: Housing Trust Fund needs reoccurring funding source $500,000 per year to make it a qualified

Trust Fund. We are working on it. Perhaps one time deposit can occur but Council long term source needs to approve where that money can come from. Arias: City limitations on mobile home parks ? Counsel Sloan: Code Enforcement is different for Mobile Home Parks. If they find some-

they can pass it onto local code enforcement (us). Clark: Rent review committee needed to ensure rent doesn’t exceed State caps. Need to add to mobile home Committees. Mayor: we shouldn’t have to rely on outside entities to enforce these laws. Similar to cleaning State freeways

or canals. We want to have enforcing abilities to keep our city clean. Arias: funding housing sources come from different entities. Can we put that all under one fund so we can create more housing stock? My District had taken all homeless motel acquisitions. Need to be spread

throughout City. @GarryBredefeld Mobile Home Parks: State hadn’t notified us of code violations occurring where fire occurred. If we had we could have used our Code Enforcement. Sloan: we would have had to be notified before we can do anything. We would be responsible for cost

if we any to hire new code officers and abide State rules and decisions. Would take a bit longer. We can take on those responsibilities if we pass approval to cover all mobile home parks. We would have better control over it. @kmkarbassi housing simple solution by getting out of

the way. Perhaps Mello-Roos Districts. More regulations get passed onto consumers by developers. Land is more expensive in his district 2 so homeless motels would not cover as many beds. Approved 7-0.

3-A ***Emergency Rental Assistance Program Workshop

(Bredefeld recuses himself)

Almost $35 million to City of Fresno from Federal and State. Income eligibility documentation needed. Landlords accepting this need to agree to take 80% as the full amount. 100% of utilities to be paid. 136 applicants pending approval. 230+ approved at $900,000+. Number of appli-

cations by council districts are roughly the same. CBOs were roughly the same other than Karbassi which was lower than the rest. Arias: subcommittees have met often and good analysis. CBOs have a lower rate but due to rejection. @Maxwell4Fresno Appreciate the information. High-

lights the need and potential tsunami of evictions that can be coming. How many turned away due to landlords not accepting only 80%? A: unknown for sure. Can pull data from tenant application only though. @Esmeralda_Soria (connection a bit garbled) please meet with domestic vio-

lence providers. Marjoree Mason was selected locally. Families with children need to be priority for housing stability. Chavez: by district has low numbers. What is the outreach like? Social media, press conference; United Way; CDC, PIQUE newspaper. Chavez: please reach out to my

office. Arias: we are a bit behind in word of mouth so we need to reach ethnic media. Council will be back at 1:30 for items 4-A, 4-B and 4-C plus Closed Session.

When the Council comes comes back the first item will be 4-A ***Amending the Rental Housing Improvement Act, FMC sections 10-1601 – 10-1605.

Council is back! @GarryBredefeld recuses himself. @D7Esparza chance to evaluate the Rental Housing improvement Act. Change language a bit. 1 in 3 rental properties were inspected around the city. Tine landlord has to abate is cut in off from original 90 days to 45 days after

baseline inspection. After 45 days they will be moved to traditional code Enforcement. @MiguelArias_D3 Developed three years ago with some opposition. Code Enforcement has made some suggestions. Arias had 200 unit complex where only allowed to inspect 4 of units. Cap was $100 no

matter how small or large a complex is. We will make a change here. Arias has urban, suburban and rural in his district (3). Thanks Code Enforcement for making open and honest suggestions. Our goal; protect our existing housing stock before it falls apart or deaths occur. Some

landlords bought long time ago and are now pulling money out with fast rising rents. Esparza: yes these are targeted to slumlords and not the vast majority of apartment owners in town. Chavez:I was skeptical when this was first proposed but I was the fourth vote to approve it.

90% of landlords are mom&pop operations. We ended up with a good compromise by removing bad landlords and bad tenants. Housing shortage currently. Tightening the requirements on those who code Enforcement had problem. Arias: no fines previously for those that didn’t repair. Now

City Attorney Office: penalty will be $250 for first violation and upwards to $1000. Chavez: can that be higher? Sloan: yes but would add up quickly. Arias: Rental Inspection currently has zero fines. This just puts traditional fines into it. Chavez: fines could be used for rent-

-al assistance during budget hearings. Public: Greg: gentle correction the fine was $100 per unit and not $100 per complex. Property owner has to work hard to get onto Asset list. Registry automatically transfers? If an item can take more than 15 days to repair is there some la-

-titude ? A: 1)yes a way to update. 2)If there is a proven reason not to get repaired extension can be made if due diligence is being mase such as waiting for permitting . @LovesMercy Brandi: thank you for protecting the most vulnerable worries about retaliation. Shortening the

repair time is good. Next: Juan Carrillo (in Spanish)Next: Ivanka Saunders from @LCJandA thanks for this. Approved 6-0 with Bredefeld recused.

Bredefeld is back.
4-B ****WORKSHOP – Second update to the Council regarding 2021 redistricting

Arias: a budget is being worked with attorneys office. Staff: Census Bureau will out “legacy “ numbers out by August 16th. Because if this delay we were asked to us American Community Survey numbers to make estimate. Caveats: based on 2010 blocks and not 2020. Some lag but will

give reasonable numbers. 75000 would be ideal in each district. District 3 and 7 under populated. Subcommittee has been meeting with stakeholders. Demographer RFP has gone out. Also outreach plan has occurred with four public meetings before council with live translations into 4

Languages. Materials translated into three languages. Advertising via postcards and working with good government and civics groups. November 29 will be deadline to submit map on website and December 15 final legal date for Council to adopt. Arias: $150,000 budget request. State

may move primaries to August so it is a curveball there to allow more time. @kmkarbassi his district has highest population but then 4 % deviation. Seems like my district will shrink? Staff: yes probably. Arias : we have met with all community groups have requested but that is

mainly one group that has requested (labor). We are open to meet with any. Karbassi: what is penalty if we don’t meet Dec 15 deadline ? A: it goes to superior court to draw mine. Esparza: robust outreach is needed. Still malleable due to data still coming in and potential state

legislation. Assistant City Manager Georgeanne White: we have placeholder for outreach and to hire demographer. We would like to be invited to subcommittee meetings too. Arias: this will be first time public can draw own lines on map online. Karbassi: for legal purposes what is

Factors when we and public look to decide what a “neighborhood “ is ? A: specific criteria is required. Continuity , recognizable boundaries( freeways, railroad tracks), compactness, community of interest ( found in one part of town only like Ag) but subjective. Karbassi: how to

keep it objective? Slornell: groups may differ in what is a community of interest and then falls to the council. Council will find out in December what their districts will be.Karbassi: midway some of my constituents will lose me before 4 years are up? A: yes possible.some of

those constituents may vote two years earlier and others two years longer. Just nature of the beast. Arias: this is a workshop and we don’t typically allow public comments but can we. Chavez: yes. @LisaYFlores1 I have done redistricting before. It is hard. Is it possible to add

two more districts to this map? Next : Dillon Savory: thanks subcommittees for meeting with us. Items we requested were added by subcommittee. But some not. We have had requested to meet again but have not heard back. Disappointed to stumble across this meeting when we have been

trying to meet. A hybrid redistricting subcommittee meeting can be possible. We propose we do this to allow more meetings in more areas Two meetings per district. You are doing much better than your counterparts at County but still some more can be done. @dtaub89 why is there a

discrepancy of 20,000? Thank you. Next item 4-C **RESOLUTION – Creating the Eviction Protection Program Esparza: moratorium on evictions are looming. Possibly it will be delayed but unsure at this point. Public comments first : Dr Janine Nicosy of Fresno State Sociology Dept and

@FaithInFresno A robust housing trust fund would be huge. (I attached some slides from Facebook). Seniors are on fixed income but rent goes up. Young renters are finding they have eviction record now. Eviction Protection will help some renters but it could have a larger impact

with growing homeless population. Next : ivanka Sauders @LCJandA Quick program for those that have been unjustly evicted. Hotline. Commitment of 3 year funding. Proactively stabilize evictions before State moratorium ends. Next : Greg of apartment owner association. Illegal ev-

ictiions are just that illegal. But I am concerned that callers are wanting to change this program before it has been done. Governor may make tentants whole with rent and utilities. Most landlords are mom and pop who are holding on by a thread. Next: Alexandra Alvarado:hope that

tenants can be allowed to sign a lease or go month to month. Landlords are getting creative form ways to charge fines for having a chair Out front or having a bbq. She spoke to a mother who was in a illegally converted garage but was even kicked out of that. Next Maria R: of

National Right to Counsel. A comprehensive plan must have legal component. This currently change language to define what a unlawful eviction that will include most evictions. City Attorney has too much power. Thanks Councilmembers for a long meeting. Ruben Espinoza:Thank you for

this step in the right direction but we need to go further to allow those unlawfully evicted has ability to get legal aid. Sustainable funding this program for four years. This will help our most vulnerable. @LovesMercy evictions can be devastating. Homeless causes issues.

Unlawful detainer is preferred term. Need to help tenants early in process. Need people who know how to work directly with tenants. Many don’t know their rights. Jasmine Leiva: a renter in district 4. Housing is main issue in Fresno. Students have to often live in their car.

Housing summit occurred where Spanish speaking mothers coming on Just to ask advice. There are large complexes that treat tenants as interchangeable. Many young people have to live at their parents longer. Legal assistance hotline needs to be culturally sensitive. We can prevent

homeless. She has heard youth talking about infill as they want to remain in the Central Valley. End Public comments. @Maxwell4Fresno thanks all those who called in today, advocates etc as well as apartment association. Thanks Chavez for the framework of this. This is a good

policy. It may not check off all the boxes though but this should get passed by June 30 deadline when moratorium ends. Esparza: we will take proposal from outside law firms. An internal vetting system will be created. Mediation between the tenants and landlords. RFP to determine

efficacy of program. Big question is what is termed “unlawful”. I trust our attorney office to decided that taking into account changes from Covid legislation. Hotline will need a RFP. We Will continue to take feedback from all stakeholders. Passing this today coupled with budget

hearings next month. Karbassi:priced out of Tower District remark alarmed him. We can solve that by creating more housing. When landlord knows they can evict a tenant knowing he can always find someone else. Competition between landlords is good. We want to solve this problem.

City Manager: researching state dollars for legal assistance. Soria: need to make funding for those being evicted. First and last months rent. ERAP dollars for those in pipeline to be evicted. Arias:Covid has demonstrated this City need to fill gaps in healthcare. Same thing

with this and mobile homes. We know advocates are asking us to build completely out but we have had success starting small. We can’t sit on our hands and watch homeless population increases and County won’t help. Some cities wash their hands clean and point elsewhere. We need to

build higher density housing. Not everyone will want or embrace that. Need to work on current and new housing. @MayorJerryDyer I won’t be able to speak on these conversations for the same reason Bredefeld had to recuse himself. Chavez: illegal eviction is when a party doesn’t

Correction does follow all the rules but one party does break the contract. SF model has varied success. Too much wasted money and still tenants becomes homeless. This will create a framework. Defining /narrowing term of illegal eviction by not wasting money on things that won’t

work. Rental assistance took money for paying utilities too. Approved 6-0 with Bredefeld recused.
Going into Closed Session now. Many of them regarding motel conversions it appears.
May 20, 2021 - NO MEETING
May 27, 2021 - 9:00 A.M. MEETING

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