What this means:
Tuesday's Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting will hold a hearing to potentially canonize which holidays county staff can participate and recognize in any official capacity.
Critics of the proposal say the policy could politicize the use of county staff at community events. One supervisor isn't necessarily denying those claims.
Follow this link for the most recent developments in this ongoing story
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing on Tuesday to formalize the way it determines which holidays and celebrations the county recognizes and participates in throughout the year, potentially adding another buffer to how resources are spent on non-county-sponsored events.
The hearing comes after the board approved a policy last month requiring county department heads to seek approval from the board before spending “discretionary” funds.
If Tuesday’s policy passes, county staff would also have to get approval from the board to celebrate holidays that are not officially recognized by the county. Which holidays would be formally recognized by the county would also be up for discussion on Tuesday.
Supervisor Garry Bredefeld initiated both policies after criticizing the county’s use of taxpayer money in this year’s Pride Month celebrations. Bredefeld told Fresnoland on Friday that county staff should only be recognizing their paid holidays as a standard, with other celebrations, like Pride Month, subject to board approval.
He told Fresnoland that his specific issue is not the department’s presence at the events, but their use of that money going toward the disbursal of items like condoms and lubricant — actions he said cross the line toward “advocacy.” At the June meeting, Bredefeld said the department of public health spent $5,000 toward the event.
“I have a lot of concerns and a lot of complaints from my constituents about having gay Pride Month celebrated in the libraries, and that’s a problem,” Bredefeld told Fresnoland on Friday. “I would hope that if, in fact, this passes, next year when that comes up, somebody wants to bring it before the board, the board will have to take a stand. I certainly don’t support it.”
Bredefeld said the frustrations he and his constituents share with events like Pride Month, which he described as “woke bullshit,” stem from the celebrations being prominently displayed and promoted through taxpayer money.
On top of the county’s public health staff participating in events like the Pride Month parade, Bredefeld also has issues with the county library having displays celebrating the month in their buildings.
“If (a child) wants to get a book that is involved with being gay or homosexual, those books exist in the library,” Bredefeld said. “They can pursue them and look them up, but they shouldn’t have to walk into the library, have a whole bookshelf pushed into their face with that being promoted.”
He added, “Libraries should be places where people can go read what they want to read and learn, but they shouldn’t have political ideology shoved in their face. Enough is enough.”
This is not the first time the county’s board of supervisors has taken issue with LGBTQ+ content at the county library. Bredefeld’s predecessor, Steve Brandau, created a controversial committee to review public library book that contained “complex and controversial gender issues.” LGBTQ+ activists criticized Brandau’s committee as an act of book banning and censorship.
The committee never got off the ground as state lawmakers banned such practices the following year.
Susan Renfro, community relations officer for the Fresno County Public Library, said that lead staff at the county’s library branches have discretion to choose what displays are presented in their buildings. She added that displays are ultimately intended to be representative of the communities they serve and wide-ranging: leading to displays of Swedish culture at the Kingsburg libraries, to information on dogs and pets at the Woodward Park branch.
“I always say, if it’s in the Dewey Decimal System, if it is a topic of a book that we have here, we might cover it. It is so broad,” Renfro said. “I’ve seen so many over the years, and our staff are so creative. But really it just gets down to what those staff want to create, and that’s where that power is, it’s with them.”
Renfro said the library gets feedback from the public on their displays and that they’re receptive to them.
“We always say our goal is that anybody who walks into our doors can see themselves somewhere in the library through our collection or the services we’re offering. Everything we do, it’s really not about us, it’s always about the people that we serve. So we take everything into consideration, from positive feedback, to complaints, because at the end of the day, we’re really here to serve the community, and that’s really, truly important to us.”
Local LGBTQ+ advocates have criticised both board policies, arguing that it’s a loss for the community to not have county staff, especially from the department of public health, present at their event. Advocates were present at last month’s hearing, and will likely show up again at Tuesday’s meeting.
Bredefeld disagreed with the criticism.
“Services are not denied to anybody, regardless of their sexual orientation,” Bredefeld said. “Services provided by the county are given to people when they’re needed. That has nothing to do with having ideology, political ideology, gender ideology, shoved in people’s faces in the library. And that’s the problem.”
County documents show that other current events could also be in jeopardy if the board chooses to adopt a more rigid approval process on Tuesday. Events that select county departments currently participate in and recognize like Black Maternal Health Week and National Child Abuse Prevention Month — which are not categorized as county or federal holidays, could also be forced to undergo an approval process.
Bredefeld is largely credited with bringing both last month and this Tuesday’s policies up for discussion with the board. However, he said it’s not enough for him just to have the proposals discussed, he wants to see change.
“I’m not interested in just having a discussion and then the political ideology continues in the library,” Bredefeld continued. “The win for the community is for these places like the library to be free of having political ideologies and gender ideologies shoved down their throats and shoved down the throats of their children. Libraries should be places as it used to be where you just go to learn and read books and enjoy the experience, not have some political agenda shut down your throat.
“That crap needs to come to an end, and that’s what I’m fighting for,” he later added.
Last month’s proposal was approved by a slim margin of 3-2. Though the two policies complement each other, that’s no guarantee that Tuesday’s vote could go down the same way.
Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who voted to approve board oversight last month, told Fresnoland on Friday that he hadn’t reached a decision yet for Tuesday’s hearing.
At last month’s hearing, Magsig said he believed county staff, especially those from the department of public health, “need” the ability to show up at community events. He told Fresnoland on Friday that his stance remains the same.
“Nothing has changed,” Magsig said. “As far as I’m concerned the people who live in Fresno County — regardless of lifestyles they have, regardless of their belief system — everyone at the county level needs to be able to have access to services. So I am committed to that.”
He added that it’s “reasonable” for the board to weigh in on what holidays are celebrated due to their roles as elected officials.
“We’re the only entity that sets policy for the county. So I think that is reasonable,” Magsig said. “The voters elect us. We’re accountable directly to them, and so I do believe that the Board of Supervisors does need to select and kind of identify what holidays we celebrate.”
When asked if he’s leaning one way or the other ahead of the hearing, Magsig said he was noncommittal. He said he wants to take into account all the feedback from Tuesday’s meeting before reaching a final decision.
“I would say that I am open-minded going into the meeting,” Magsig said, “but the decision that I come to will be one that I believe is going to be most inclusive and one that represents everyone who lives in the county.”
The item will be heard at the next board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at 9:30 a.m. at the Fresno County Hall Of Records.
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