What happened?
The Fresno City Council elected new leaders this week during its first meeting of 2024.
Councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Mike Karbassi were unanimously voted in as Fresno City Council’s new president and vice president, respectively.
Perea takes over the president’s role from councilmember Tyler Maxwell, with Karbassi now slotted in the role of vice president, replacing Perea who served as vice president in 2023.
Maxwell ended his term as council president by endorsing his successor during Thursday’s meeting.
“She is one of the most competent people to ever set foot inside Fresno City Hall. She is going to be a fierce leader…a fair leader,” Maxwell said. “I’ve seen her judgment in play time after time and she’s never let me down…she’s never let the city down. I think our city is going to be in better hands, and I’m excited to serve under her leadership over this next year.”
The new Fresno City Council president started her term by thanking her predecessor, Maxwell, who she looks to model her leadership after and said he left “big shoes to fill.”
Maxwell also praised Karbassi, a man he says he’s grown close to throughout their time working together in council.
“He is one of the most sincere and kindest individuals I’ve met in this line of work,” Maxwell said, “and that counts for a lot in leadership, and I know he’ll be a strong right hand for council president Perea in this upcoming year.”
Mayor Jerry Dyer expressed his satisfaction with the new Fresno City Council president, citing his relationship with Perea which started when she was younger.
Perea has been a councilmember since 2022 when she captured the seat left open by Esmerald Soria, who was elected to California State Assembly.
Karbassi has been a councilmember since winning election in 2020. The seat was open after the expiration of Steve Brandau’s term. Karbassi ran unopposed in 2020 but will face competition in his 2024 reelection campaign attempt from challenger Matthew Gillian.
Fresno awards nearly $1 million for local groups to hire young people
Also on Thursday, the City Council awarded funding to six organizations to help hire more young Fresno workers.
The Fresno City Council unanimously approved to award a total of $985,993 to six local non-profit groups looking to employ and mentor Fresno youth. The organizations are Career Nexus, CMAC, Fresno County EOC, Neighborhood Industries, Poverello House and The Downtown Association Of Fresno.
The money comes from a 2022 Youth Job Corps grant award of about $7.4 million from the state through California Volunteers. The city put out a notice following the award for local organizations looking “to provide meaningful work experience at their worksites to youth ages 16-30,” according to the city’s resolution.
Councilmember Miguel Arias raised some concerns he had about the possible harm that could come from young Fresnans working for some of these organizations.
“Are we gonna have 16-year-olds picking up trash at six o’clock at night downtown? Are we going to have 16-year-olds in a shelter feeding folks,” Arias asked during the hearing.
Sumeet Singh, the city’s personnel director, acknowledged none of the jobs have been filled. The city plans to host an event to help match prospective workers to jobs that match their interests.
“If it’s a fit, then they’ll be placed with that specific (community based organization), in which that CBO would be the employer of record,” Singh said. “They’d be subject to their traditional onboarding process with city oversight.”
Arias still had concerns over some of the approved organizations, particularly the Poverello House — who will likely place workers in their in-house coffee shop Mike’s Cafe.
Arias added that the Poverello House, which he said “feeds the unhoused, including sexual predators; everything under the sun,” asked for assurances that the city wouldn’t be complicit in placing young Fresnans at risk by working in locations where special training may be needed.
However, Singh added that he would go to the future job sites to familiarize himself with the different orientation processes, and would report back if there was any reason to hesitate.
“At this point, at least on my end, I don’t see a concern or hesitation for a lack of training,” Singh said.
Assistant City Manager TJ Miller also added that the grant allows the city to raise the age threshold to 18.
Council approves new funds for splash pad
Council also injected funds toward the completion of a years-long city project in district three.
City leaders unanimously approved a $15,000 increase to their contract with engineering company Quad Konpf Inc. for the construction of a splash pad at Fink-White Park. The contract now amounts to $83,400, “with a remaining contingency of $500, for design and construction support services.”
The contractor chalked up the funding increase to “unforeseen underground utilities not identified in the original approved construction plans. The underground utilities included electrical lines, water lines, and a concrete foundation, not reflected on City as-built records,” according to the executive summary by Fresno Capital Projects Director Randall Morrison and the city’s Director of Parks, After School, Recreation, and Community Services Department Aaron Aguirre.
Fresno and Quad Konpf Inc. have been linked together over the splash pad project as early as 2019. Fink-White Park is located in downtown Fresno at 535 S. Trinity St.
