Fresno ends online meeting participation, approves five-year solid waste rate hike

Fresno leaders pulled back on a COVID-era commitment that helped citizens stay engaged in their local government.

The Fresno City Council on Thursday approved a resolution that ends online participation through Zoom, supplanting the 2021 COVID-era resolution that looked to keep the online option permanent in response to the pandemic-induced quarantines.

The council resolution passed through the consent calendar with a 4-3 vote. Council President Annalisa Perea and councilmembers Tyler Maxwell and Nelson Esparza opposed the change.

“I was one of the original cosponsors of the public accessibility act, and I continue to support it,” Esparza said during the meeting. 

Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Garry Bredefeld, Luis Chavez and Mike Karbassi — all four who initially supported the 2021 act — approved the resolution ending online meeting participation through Zoom.

“I think since 2021 under council President Perea (and) council President Maxwell, we’ve really gone above and beyond to increase transparency of City Hall,” Karbassi said. “There are more opportunities than ever before during the meeting to participate.

“The pandemic is over,” Karbassi added. “We used to require there to be face masks and partitions between the councilmembers, and that’s done … There will still be every opportunity for people to participate. There will be translation available in multiple languages. We’re doing all those things…but we have to move on from the pandemic, and this is one of those remnants that we need to move on with.”

Karbassi added that his decision was also based on other California cities, including Modesto, Sacramento and San Luis Obispo, which also ended online meeting participation through Zoom.

Arias, who says he sponsored the 2021 item, also approved its repeal. He said the behavior from members who participate online helped him make his decision.

“What we’ve seen since we made this an ongoing feature is that we have callers who don’t identify themselves, use different aliases and have become extremely disrespectful and disruptive during their online comments,” Arias told Fresnoland.

“Some of the tone of those individuals have been very targeted and very individualized to members of the governing body,” Arias added. “and that could only lead to future safety incidents, and that’s something to be very conscious of.”

Arias added that council’s return to in person comments is in line with City Hall’s policies.

“Just as we have asked all our government employees to return to work in person. We think it’s time, I think it’s time for us to transition to having a community in person during these public meetings,” Arias added. “And if they can’t, for whatever reason, they still have the option to provide feedback online and via email. And on any item they wish.”

Bredefled and Chavez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The resolution — cosponsored by Arias and Bredefeld — also includes a recommendation, but not a guarantee, that the city manager allow free parking around City Hall for residents attending council meetings.

Residents submitted public comments to the city online and spoke in person and virtually during Thursday’s meeting to show opposition to the resolution ending online meeting participation through Zoom.

“Zoom allows even citizens who cannot leave their homes to participate in their local government meetings,” said Diana Diehl in their comment submitted to the city. “The City should be looking for more ways to include citizens instead of trying to limit our participation.”

City makes official new five-year rate increase on solid waste

The Fresno City Council also approved a five-year solid waste rate increase — the first rate hike in 15 years — during their Thursday meeting. The vote was 5-2 through the passing of the consent calendar, with councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez opposing the hike.

The five-year rate plan was put into motion after last week’s council meeting saw a protest vote fall well short of the threshold needed to stop the fee increase. During that meeting, Brock Buche, director of the Fresno Department of Public Utilities, said the increases were necessary to keep running solid waste services at current levels.

“The current outdated rate structure does not generate sufficient revenue to cover operating costs, and the Solid Waste Management Division (SWMD) of the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has been operating in a budget deficit since 2012,” city documents say.

The fee increase will gradually raise the monthly solid waste rates annually until the 2029 fiscal year. The current standard service rate will eventually increase from $25.37 to $45.24 — a 78% increase. The city’s alternate service rate, which is offered to residents who opt to downsize their gray waste cart from 94 to 64 gallons, will be raised from $19.20 to $41.21 — an increase of about 115%. 

The resolutions attached to the five-year plan include the introduction of a new city-wide credit program for solid waste modeled after their Water Affordability Credit Program.

Just like the WACP, the Solid Waste Affordability Credit Program will offer a $5 credit to eligible low-income residents once a month for a 12-month period — totaling 60$ in savings, or $120 if paired with the WACP. The WACP and SWACP are expected to be rolled into one singular application in the near future.

Council appoints new and returning commissioners

Fresno City Council unanimously approved several appointments and reappointments to their city commissions through the contested consent calendar on Thursday, including naming realtor Gurdeep Shergill to the city’s planning commission.

The decision to appoint members of the real estate and realtor community to the city’s planning commission — who hold a great deal of power in the city’s land use and planning goals — has drawn criticism in the past.

Jacqueline Gutierrez Lyday was controversially appointed in 2023. Arias questioned whether Lyday–a real estate agent–would remain objective on real estate and land use issues.

Another controversial appointment was that of Brad Hardie, president of Regency Property Management and RH Community Builders. Hardie, however, was not reappointed in 2022. 

Arias pulled the item to contested consent to confirm with city staff that Shergill had been made aware of the possible conflicts of interest and that he’d filed all necessary disclosures. 

A full list of appointments can be seen through the city’s page. 

$20 million in federal funding for city’s first senior center

The Fresno City Council unanimously accepted $20 million in federal funding through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development toward the construction of a new senior center. The motion was made through the consent calendar. 

The center will be in central Fresno, on 4343 N. Blackstone Ave., and will be the first dedicated city-wide senior center, according to the development’s page on the city website.

The city has been taking community input since last year on what services to include.

The center is expected to be 30,000 square feet, with an affordable housing development near the center to house senior citizens on fixed incomes. 

The city has been planning to begin building the center this year, with a construction agreement tentatively scheduled to come before council this November. 

Council matters moved for a later date

The council also moved two items from their agenda — an allocation of $800,000 for the selling and maintaining of two single-family homes as affordable housing stock, and the introduction of 24 tiny homes — with a tentative return date for their next meeting on July 27.