Thread by @AndyHS

October 28,2021 Fresno City Council meeting!! Among the items today include hiring 54 persons from Measure P funds in PARCS and Public Work Departments; Meeting with Joint Powers Financing Authority;WaterSMART grants;@fresnoland #Fresno

Among the CONSENT CALENDAR Items:1-E #RESOLUTION - Authorizing an application by the Department of Public Utilities to the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation for a WaterSMART Grants: Water and Energy Efficiency Grant for Fiscal Year 2022 in an amount

not to exceed $500,000 for the Smart Irrigation Controller Direct Install Program.1- F #authorizing application, by the Department of Public Utilities, in cooperation with the Department of Public Works and Parks, After School, Recreation & Community Services Department, to the

United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation for a WaterSMART Drought Response Program: Drought Resiliency Projects Grant for Fiscal Year 2022 in the amount of $293,450 for the City of Fresno Recycled Water Retrofit Project

1-I Adopting the 18th Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2021-178 to appropriate $1,073,100 to complete the construction of Fire Station18 in Fiscal Year 2022.

1-J Agreement for automated utility bill payments 1.Approve a three-year Professional Services Agreement with First Mobile Trust DBA First Billing Services in the amount of $478,800 for electronic bill presentment & payment services provided to all City of Fresno utility customer

1-L #Actions pertaining to Commercial Cannabis Activity: 1. ***RESOLUTION - Adopting the 564th Amendment to the Master Fee Schedule Resolution No. 80-420 adding fees relating to Commercial Cannabis Business Permits @JePahl_White

1-N Authorize the Chief of Police to enter into a three-year contract to provide law enforcement services for special events at California State University, Fresno in exchange for payment of no more than $751,110.

1-P Adopt the Citywide Americans with Disabilities Act Self-Evaluation Update FY22-FY27 Action Plan.

1-S - Naming Outlot C of Tract 6100 near Armstrong and Dakota Avenues the “Jerry De Young Park” and “Jerry De Young Raceway”

1-T Actions pertaining to a speed bump pilot program: 1. ADOPT a determination that the proposed project is Categorically Exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15301/Class 1 (negligible expansion of the existing street

OPINION:I find it interesting City of Fresno may start allowing speed bumps again while Fresno County is starting to remove speed bumps (officially known as Undulations)

You can watch live @CMACTV beginning at 9 am.

1-P Adopt the Citywide Americans with Disabilities Act Self-Evaluation Update FY22-FY27 Action Plan.Some pages from this Update:

Agenda: fresno.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&…

9:07 Council meeting begins. All councilmembers are present.Invocation by Ron Killian.

3-A item Parks & Trail moved to November 4th. 1-H NOTE Arias and Soria not required to recuse themselves despite being Community College employees.

Proclamation for “Domestic Violence Awareness Month - Marjaree Mason Center”Mayor Dyer:thanks their board. We need to remember this not one month but everyday.Need Emergency and long term shelter in order to help these people can believe in themselves and be productive again.

Dr. Bonnie Her Domestic Violence in Hmong Community. Former PD officer:he had to respond to lots of domestic violence calls. Thank you for supporting this board for so many years. Councilmember Soria:Thanks the Marjoree Mason for being here. We need to continue to provide support

People need to know there is someone out there to help them.Chavez:City has always been a partner. They do a lot of work after the incident happens. They also work with men who have been victims.Bredefeld:they do great work. PD have to go out to tough calls for service.Karbassi:I

with Director Nicole.Some police officers were nearby and we asked what do they do after the initial call of Doemstic Violence. answer "we call Marjoree Mason Center" Esparza:I put on my purple in support.Unfortunately domestic violence in our town. Maxwell:My first job was in

Bay Area and first saw a part of domestic violence. In Fresno one of my jobs was to take photos of Domestic Violence victims sometimes 1,2,3 separate times and unfortunately some didn't survive. It is a pandemic in this town. Arias:I come from a family where domestic violence

occurred. I saw what damage happens to children in that type of family. Many victims who come to Marjoree Mason Center come from outside of Fresno City limits. We need to work with County to set up centers in other parts of County.

Proclamation for “National Disability Employment Awareness Month” ID 21-729 Sponsors: Office of Mayor & City Manager.Dyer:provides Shannon via Zoom this honor. Dyer says his daughter is a Special Needs teacher. This city needs to help those with disabilities find a job.Dr. Fitz-

-parker from Fresno State is here. Susan Coulter:truly inspired by all those who were nominated.Many had to work from home during the pandemic.Masks made it hard for those who read lips. Fitzparker:Associate Dean at Fresno State. Importance of access and inclusion.

Clerk:13% of Fresno County have some type of disability. Annual Achievement Award recipients:Sarah Harris;

Next Cleora:35 years of service. Developed many programs. Including Statewide model for housing in Porterville.Cleora Dittomma:Thank you! a great honor. Morris:Program director of RICB. Been at the table with City since ADA was created.Humbly thank you for this honor.We have a

hard working staff. Trish of City is being honored for going beyond call of duty to help those employees whose disability hindered using masks during pandemic.Trish: Adaptability during this pandemic is important.Chris Gray a City employee as well. Works with FAX projects that

help make it easier for those who have disabilities. Chris:a team effort with others from FAX Capital Project team. Pandemic hurt transportation.

Announcement of Fall Employee of the Quarter (EOQ) recipients Sponsor:Office of the City Clerk She reads list of employees from various departments.

Council Reports:Soria:Thanks Irrigation and Mayor for help in giving services for homeless encampment at Dakota and Fruit. Asks about status on Ashland Ave fire department station 12. Tommy Esqueda:$25 M for Fire Training. Design of facility is occurring.Perhaps in 30 months to

opening the facility. Francine:Fire Station #12 It is going through real estate review. Soria:turn temporary station into permanent station. Lastly:District 1 has Inspiration Park Fall Festival this Saturday afternoon. Halloween themed.Karbassi:100th anniversary Fig Garden Women

Club occurred. Armenian Ambassador to United States came and is interested in Sister City program. Also those who came yesterday to discuss cannabis dispensary. Arias:Thanks Mayor. 4-5 dispensaries denied but 17 were approved. mayor is batting .800 ! Also chinatown has piles of

trash. Streetscape improvements is on the way but we need to keep it clean meanwhile. Covid committee RFP on American Rescue Plan dollars is going out and any CBO who wants to apply can. Still awaiting Federal rules though.

@Maxwell4Fresno :Wifi on FAX busses along BRT route.Kudos to @gregorybarfield I think this will help bus ridership. Also Large Park clean up with @BeautifyFresno was great! Maxwell:honors a local comic book store at Barstow /Blackstone.Fall Fest at Vinland gave away 60 pumpkins

The more events there leads to less illegal camping. @GarryBredefeld Thanks the Mayor administration for the work on evaluating the Cannabis Dispensaries. Esqueda:took a year to evaluate them to the point they would be open. Bredefeld:You took a lot of crap from other council-

members yesterday. I don't quite get it. Also Liberty Elementary will host Bredefeld town hall. Will discuss crime and homeless. @D7Esparza Manchester Center had a Trunk or Treat with 100's of families present. Pumpkin give away at Burroughs Elementary. Fresno Mission on Dakota

and they have been great reaching out to neighbors. Aggressive effort by Mayor Administration in helping me transfer to Council President :I declare my run for President" he jokes. Arias:counters some of Bredefeld comments on cannabis dispensaries. District 3 had proposals that

shared fencelines with residents. Bredefeld's Distict 6 has many large shopping centers that have buffers from neighborhoods. Bredefeld"I am against dispensaries" City Attorney says not to get to far in this. Chavez says :Not to get far into the "weeds" but yesterday the council

was quite "blunt" he jokes. Also Mayor and Beautify Fresno did a great job in clean up. Mayor:Thanks Soria for driving her district to see what the needs are. I will do the same with all the counccilmembers. American Rescue Plan $85M to spend. Dakota/Fruit relocation occurred.

Canal clean up will take a few days to allow canal bank to dry up.FID worried about integrity of banks after rain. Also tiny homes that can go as high as 500 feet. That may be helpful for homeless. also @MarkStandriff is putting on a BOO-tify Fresno cleanup. Esqueda:Claw Cleaners

have arrived that will be used for Beautify cleanup. Thanks Jennifer Rees for evaluating the Cannabis Dispensaries. Chinatown Clean trash clean up expired so we are out there every morning.Olive alley clean up will begin soon. Even caught someone illegally dumping while we were

cleaning the alley! Public comment:@LisaYFlores1 Chavez will get 12 tamales if she is first speaker again! Also Roeding park has lots of tree clean up after storm. Many dead trees.We need trained arborists hired. Thanks Soria and Arias for listening about dispensaries. I worried

about trash and over saturation.Robert McCloskey:October 14 meeting Aris mentioned why we were waiting when we are sitting on $75 M for housing and homeless. Are we sitting on that? Also tiny homes is a good idea. Homeless need access to toilets and water. What is status on the

homeless showers? Ivanka Saunders:from @LCJandA Thanks Arias for Speed Bump item to rescind 2006 speed bump moratorium. Many parents want those around schools. Anthony Molina:echos Saunders comments for speed bump. Pedestrian/bicycle safety is important in Fresno .Fresno has a

speed problem. Courtney McCluland:I was one of the homeless at Dakota/Palm and we were able to get a hotel room. Need to pay for ice and that is expensive. Encampment were raided by others. We are trying to get our stuff to storage units. Also my husband had his photo taken and

put on City's website. He didn't like that. Dez Martinez:why was Bredefled allowed to speak on Domestic Violence Proclamation when he had an employee who was an abuser.

We need Speed Bumps.People speed by homeless camps and someone will get hit soon.

Karbassi:We need to restore decency to this council. I don't always agree with Gary but he is decent and those comments should not have been allowed by public. Bredefeld:Dez Martinez doesn't know what she is talking about. IS that illegal camp she is running still there? Esqueda:

NO. Soria:someone criticizing Bredefeld and then he criticizes her. Chavez:probably why we shouldn't respond as it feeds this type of behavior. It spirals out of control and makes us look like clowns.

1-C,1-D, 1-F, 1-K, 1-N, 1-R and 1-T moved to Contested Consent. 1-D: Maxwell asks why the only bidder was turned down. why is that? Utilitiy director Lima: Hard to find Liquid Dioxide due to insurance. also it is more expensive than it is usually is. We are going with Air Gas

instead. Maxwell:why didn't Air Gas bid initially? Lima:not sure. Esqueda:it is a public health and safety item so we could go around bidding. It is happening everywhere unfortunately. Lima:normally we would get multiple bids and level prices. We asks to approve this direct con-

-tract. We need to maintain this gas for water treatment. Arias:uncomfortable with this direct negotiations rather than bid. Esqueda:this industry has figured it out. Arias:cannot vote for this as it is going around bidding law. Approves 6-1

1-F:1 authorizing application, by the Department of Public Utilities, in cooperation with the Department of Public Works and Parks, After School, Recreation and Community Services Department, to the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation for a WaterSMART

Drought Response Program: Drought Resiliency Projects Grant for Fiscal Year 2022 in the amount of $293,450 for the City of Fresno Recycled Water Retrofit Project Arias:I know we will use it at Roeding. We should make this a showcase so public knows recycling water is safe.

Esqueda:When Grizzlies turf gets torn up next recycled pipe will be put in then. Maxwell:do we have enough recycled pipes?Lima:need to separate drinking water pipes etc and this will provide the funding. approved

1-K Cannabis FeeMaxwell:do Social Equity applicants have to pay this? @JePahl_White Staff:they get some help in covering some fees. Some renewed every year. Maxwell:tough for some of these social equity applicants as they don't have the capital.Can we give some assistance?They

are advantage to Hollywood cannabis companies that have 20 stores and more capital. I would like to continue this until next meeting. Esqueda:there are ways to do that.Staff:permit fee needs to be paid first. Esqueda:Once we award all of these we can do a time out and fix that

ordinance before next time they pay.NOTE: item continued.
1-N Authorize the Chief of Police to enter into a three-year contract to provide law enforcement services for special events at California State University, Fresno in exchange for payment of no more than $751,110.

Arias:with labor agreement occurring does it include language on contract policing? Dyer:I don't think we will reach the cap. Maxwell:sometimes hard to get contract police such as Fashion Fair. Chief:the police officers have the option to choose which events to contract with.

5 officers at each Fresno State football game. Public safety events such as concert at Chukchansi Park. Fashion Fair is not a public safety issue. Esparza:non-traditional sources like reserve officers or airport officers?Chief:hard to stay ahead of attritions. We cannot use air-

port officers as they are outside of our contracts. We need to pay adequately to make us more desirable police agency. Approved.
1-R: Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2021-178 to appropriate
$512,500 for new capital improvement projects in the Public
Works Department

How long does this Hawk Crosswalk take to put in? Hybrid crosswalk beacon says Scott Mozier. A minumum number of pedestrians needed to put in a full traffic signal so Hawk type is getting more popular due to that. Maxwell:a learning curve is needed when this type of light goes in

Mozier: a flyer will go out when this is put in as well as PSAs. Orange Elementary is in County so we will need to do it or City needs to annex. Arias:City distribution centers are causing the increase in traffic. Mozier:3 of these Hawk have been put in. Maxwell:near Ericson Ele-

-mentary would be a good spot . Approved.
1-T Actions pertaining to a speed bump pilot program: Chavez:we need to remove "pilot" part of name. Arias:agrees. Will increase pedestrian safety. Chavez:they have there place near schools and neighborhoods.Arias:this is near Computech.

Need it large intersection for FAX but also makes it attractive for donuts. New versions of speed bumps around too that solve solution for why they were banned earlier. Soria:Emergency vehicles was among reason to initially ban it in 2006. Can we get some feedback from Fire Dept.

Are there other ways besides speed bumps? They cost $7500 or so. Arias:proximity to fire department etc is looked at.Soria:Chokers, bulb outs etc can be used as well to slow down traffic. Ashlan and Van Ness the County put in choker there and it slows traffic down. Staff:bumps

can be part of tool box along with chokers, etc. Type of road, lights etc are all looked at. Can bring more noise, increased traffic speed between bumps. Soria: Is funding the issue? Staff:yes as well loss of traffic spaces. Vision Zero is a whole package and not just speed bumps

Arias:100 year old neighborhoods with wide roads is where it is tougher. New neighborhoods can have it added up front. Soria:Sacramento has made some changes.Dyer:Alternative Safety items. We used to have worse traffic light runners, drunk driving. There are things we can do.

Karbassi:long overdue issue. Have to weigh increased smog v child safety.If people obey traffic laws we don't have this issue. More people die from traffic accidents than murder. Enforcement helps as well as speed bumps. We are moving towards legal speedtrack. Audobon has been

more dangerous as drivers avoid Nees. Perhaps target around schools first. Esparza:We were led to believe speed bumps just were not feasible.But here we are.I want to support a version of this.If we take "pilot" off of this it will be a free for all and everyone wanting a speed

bump. LA has speed bumps everywhere. Not sure we want to have that here.Chavez:A time and place for speed bumps.Calling it or not a pilot is not important. Not every district may need these.Arias:this will give us permission to test these.where Esparza:rubber hits the road is

when constituents call wanting a speed bump but we don't have criteria set yet.Arias:Take names of neighborhoods that want this and put them in the queue.
These can be removed if it doesn't work.First rescind the ban.Set criteria. Then test it out. Esparza:we are putting cart

before the horse. It will be hard to get these pulled out once they are put in even if they don't work. Bredefeld:Criteria before in 90's? Staff:criteria include how wide the road is, gutters etc. Bredefeld:Is this study needed as we did this before? Mozier:a 90 day time frame is

welcome and we are already 80% finished with the framework. The neighbors who have both the speed bump in front of their homes gets the noise, leaves not picked up by street sweeper.Then the neighbor that has the "speed bump" sign in front. Both types of neighbors are important

to get these bumps put in place. Geroganne White:we don't have a lot of data on the temporary speed bumps that were not invented back in 90's. Also insurance claims of owners whose vehicles were damaged by bumps. Mozier:some ambiguity in 2006 when roads were re-paved do we re-

place the bumps even though they were banned.White:it was an air quality issue back in the 90's due to the acceleration coming away from bumps. Esparza:I will support but we need to be clear with our residents that criteria is needed. approved 7-0 "Speed bumps for all"says Chavez

Back at 1:34 pm. 10:00 AM to Consider Development Permit Application No.
P21-02326 and related Environmental Assessment for ±2.97 acres of property located on the east
side of North Dante Avenue between East Escalon and West
Bullard Avenues (Karbassi is by Zoom)

@LisaYFlores1 Public comment:please announce which item you are on for benefit of those at home. and what type of meat does Chavez want for his tamales?? approved

0:05 JOINT MEETING WITH THE FRESNO JOINT POWERS FINANCING AUTHORITY (JPFA). (MEMBERS OF JPFA BOARD: MAYOR DYER, CHAIR BREDEFELD, AND COUNCILMEMBER ESPARZA
JPFA Action HEARING to Designate and authorize certain Finance Officers of the City of Fresno (“City”) to
sign various

investment and commercial banking documents, and to provide verbal instruction
required for prudent financial administration and safekeeping of Fresno Joint Powers Financing
Authority (“JPFA”) funds and property.HEARING to Consent to and authorize the
investment

monies in the Local Agency Investment Fund (“LAIF”) in the custody of the State Treasurer for purposes of prudent financial administration and safekeeping of Fresno Joint Powers Finance Authority (“JPFA”) funds, and authorize certain Finance Officers of the City of Fresno in

connection therewith. Michael Lima with the presentation. Mayor Dyer makes motion. Approved 3-0

CITY ACTION

Appoint and authorize certain Finance Officers of the City of Fresno ("City") to sign City checks and various investment and commercial banking documents, and to provide verbal instruction required for the prudent financial administration and safekeeping

of city Funds. Consent to and authorization of the investment of monies in the Local Agency Investment Fund ("LAIF") in the custody of the State Treasurer for purposes of investment and authorize certain Finance Officers in connection therewith. (Bredefeld is leading the

presentation as head of JPFA Board). Arias:asks Lima to name who exactly will have power to sign these funds. Lima does and they can only sign off on items authorized by Council. approved 7-0

3-A #Actions Related to Improving Operations and Maintenance in Parks and Trails: Reminder this item was continued to November 4th meeting.

CLOSED SESSION (only one item)
5-A CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - EXISTING
LITIGATION Government Code Section 54956.9, subdivision Case Name: Renee Barton and Sheila Carollo v. City of Fresno (Department of Trans.); Fresno County Superior Court Case No. 19CECG03951

NOVEMBER 4, 2021 – 9:00 A.M. MEETING NOVEMBER 11, 2021 – NO MEETING NOVEMBER 18, 2021 – NO MEETING (CANCELLED) NOVEMBER 25, 2021 – NO MEETING

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