What's at stake?
While the city's insurance would pick up most of the bill (about $10 million) the city manager says Fresno City Hall could have major insurance problems going forward.
Half a dozen Fresno residents had a very clear message Thursday about a $15.4 million verdict that the City of Fresno is on the hook for in a discrimination lawsuit.
All of them, speaking during the March 26 City Council meeting, opposed the Fresno City Council’s appealing the the multi-million dollar verdict in the lawsuit — something Councilmember Mike Karbassi has said the City of Fresno doesn’t have the money for.
The lawsuit was filed seven years ago over racism and retaliation in a hostile workplace at the city’s code enforcement department. La-Kebbia “Kiki” Wilson, who is Black, said she was targeted by her supervisor, who, among many things, called her the N-word.
“Miss Wilson’s court testimony proved without any doubt that she endured years of mental and emotional mistreatment by a supervisor who referred to Miss Wilson by using racial slurs with no regard or respect for her as a person,” said Cynthia Sterling, a former city councilmember and the president of Black Women Organized for Political Action’s local Fresno chapter, during public comment Thursday.
Sterling added that the City of Fresno must compensate Wilson $15 million, as ordered by the jury in the federal civil case.
“When will action be taken to remove individuals who continue to subject both coworkers and community members to what appears to be unchecked racism?” said Sonia Davis, another Fresno resident who spoke during public comment. “While the council appears focused on whether to appeal the jury’s decision in Mrs. Wilson’s case, where is the concern for holding the perpetrators accountable?”
Another member of the public, Eugene Taylor, spoke directly to City Council President Nelson Esparza.
“Your city manager and your city attorney had a chance to correct it, and they didn’t, and now it’s a consequence,” Taylor said to Esparza at the Thursday meeting. “Hold them accountable. Put something on your record to stand up for the Black and brown community, because she’s only one — that’s the one that got caught. Be a stand up person and hold them accountable.”
Wilson’s case was on the city council’s closed session agenda. It’s unclear if councilmembers will support appealing the major verdict in federal court. Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz did not report out any information regarding a potential appeal following closed session on Thursday.
If the City of Fresno doesn’t appeal the verdict, it would have to pay only a third of the $15.4 million judgment because the city’s insurance policy will cover $10 million under an excess coverage insurance policy, City Manager Georgeanne White confirmed to Fresnoland.
However, White said the City of Fresno would be running the risk of losing insurance coverage.
“I cannot stress how detrimental that would be,” White told Fresnoland. “If we are not able to obtain excess coverage, the City would be 100% responsible for claims.”
White added that if the city doesn’t obtain insurance comparable to its current coverage, a future insurer for the City of Fresno could make the city’s deductible higher.
Council approves military equipment use report
Despite ample community concern about the Fresno Police Department’s noncompliance with state law, the Fresno City Council approved the agency’s annual military equipment use report.
For more than a year, community members have aired concerns over the Fresno Police Department failing to hold state-mandated community engagement meetings about the military equipment in its possession.
Even though Fresno police held its first community engagement meeting Wednesday night — in compliance with a four-year-old law that requires it be held annually — Fresno residents have criticized still-outstanding compliance issues.
The police department’s military equipment use report does not summarize how military equipment is used by officers, even though that’s required by a state law known as AB 481. It also doesn’t list personnel costs, another required disclosure under state law.
A handful of community members spoke during public comment Thursday, urging the Fresno City Council to delay the adoption of the annual report until the police department fixes its compliance issues.
The Fresno City Council approved the report unanimously.
Arieana Castellanos, a local resident part of Fresnans for a People’s Budget, told Fresnoland she was disappointed in Thursday’s outcome.
“There was opportunity for revisions this time around. The community and elected officials are part of the enforcement mechanism responsible for holding the police (accountable) to laws they are required to follow,” Castellanos told Fresnoland. “So it’s unfortunate that there wasn’t more consideration from council or a thorough review of last night’s community meeting.”
After the vote Thursday, Fresnoland asked Chief Mindy Casto why the police department’s annual military equipment use report doesn’t state how military equipment is used by officers.
Casto told Fresnoland that state law does not require a summary of how military equipment is used by police officers.
California Government Code 7072 lists a number of details that local law enforcement need to include in their annual reports. That includes “a summary of how the military equipment was used and the purpose of its use.”
However, Casto claimed it doesn’t say that.
“We vetted it, vetted it, and vetted it with the City Attorney’s Office, and that’s not an explicit requirement of it,” Casto told Fresnoland. “But it doesn’t mean it’s not something we could look at doing if that’s something the community is interested in.”
Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz did not respond to Fresnoland’s request for comment regarding his office’s legal interpretation.
“I’m not sure how you would summarize up like over 400 or whatever drone uses,” Casto told Fresnoland.
City officers can enter some private property without warrants?
The City Council also unanimously approved amendments to Fresno City Code, allowing any city enforcement officer to enter some areas of private property to examine whether state or local regulations are being followed.
“Just for context, this issue arose as a result of our rental housing inspections,” Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz said at the Thursday meeting. “It’s been a priority of this council to go after what some of you have called slum lords — bad actors — that take advantage of their tenants and for failure to follow just basic code violations.”
Janz explained that the changes “clean up” Fresno’s municipal code, and it came after a judge’s recent determination.
“The attorneys representing these bad actors that take advantage of their tenants are utilizing what I’ve described as a loophole in our municipal code that led a judge to basically conclude that we can’t do visual inspections of these apartment complexes from public spaces,” Janz said.
Since the item is an ordinance, it will need to be approved on a second vote at the next city council meeting in order to go into effect.
Fresno police get 30 new patrol vehicles
The Fresno City Council also approved 30 new vehicles, all Dodge Durangos, for the Fresno Police Department. The items were approved on the city council’s consent agenda, which means there was no discussion about it at the Thursday meeting.
The new vehicles cost $1.6 million through a contract with the Sacramento-area Elk Grove Auto.
