What's at stake?
The Fresno County Sherriff's Office will likely move to a pair new buildings on O and P streets in downtown Fresno. The move comes following plans to build a new courthouse.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors approved plans to begin acquiring a pair of commercial office buildings for the sheriff’s administration in downtown Fresno.
The county plans to acquire two neighboring properties on 650 O St. and 705 P St. The properties are owned by 7355 N Palm Avenue LLC and Assemi Investments LLC.
Both LLCs are co-owned by prominent local developer Darius Assemi. Supervisor Nathan Magsig recused himself from the vote, and referenced California’s Levine Act. That state law requires public officials to abstain from voting on matters involving their political donors.
Board Chair Garry Bredefeld said at Tuesday’s meeting that he was looking forward to the sale potentially going through, so that “sheriffs have their needs met, and this body has its needs met, and the people in this building will have their needs met as well.”
The need for more office space is not new for Fresno County, as noted on documents related to Tuesday’s hearing.
Last year, Bredefeld reinitiated efforts to look for a new building for the county board of supervisors and the rest of the staff at the county’s aging Hall Of Records.
The buildings the county will look to purchase were built in 1989, according to data from Co-Star, a commercial real estate data provider. The property was last purchased in 2022 for about $28 million.
The two properties will provide almost 300,000 square feet of property and parking space for the sheriffs office.
Veronica Stumpf, a local commercial real estate broker, told Fresnoland that the county’s purchase price of $25 million for the two properties could be considered above average, but “not automatically unreasonable,” especially since purchases of this size “are pretty limited” in Fresno.
Fresno County Sheriff Jon Zanoni told Fresnoland that the move comes following plans to build a new courthouse. The new building includes plans to demolish the current Sheriff’s Administration at Courthouse Park.
The plans also gave the deputies a move-out date of April 2027, he said, putting pressure to facilitate a move soon. The size of the PG&E buildings would provide opportunities for the sheriffs office to consolidate their departments into one building, a luxury their current building doesn’t provide.
“Its proximity to the court, proximity to the jail, how close it is to what we do downtown, it just all seems to make sense,” Zanoni said.
Other locations were looked at, Zanoni said, including the old University of California Extension building on Fresno and Shaw streets, across from Fashion Fair Mall.
However, many of the other options either would have not fit their move timeline or necessitated an additional investment for infrastructure improvements. Zanoni said the shape of the building allows for the county to hit a tight turnaround time.
“I think we’re going to be cutting it really close to that one year time frame,” Zanoni said. “Once this sale goes through, we’re gonna be full steam ahead on improvements for that building to make it work for use so we can move in.”
Pacific Gas & Electric are currently tenants at the two buildings. They are expected to move out soon. PG&E declined to comment on the potential sale, and on their plans to move.
The purchase plans were approved unanimously by the board in a 4-0 vote, with Magsig’s recusal.
Following Tuesday’s vote, the county will undergo a 90-day due diligence period, which includes a review of the property and its lease agreement. Should the sale go through, the county would close the sale on the property on July 7.
The Fresno Police Department moved last year to a new building across the street from their old offices, choosing to stay in the heart of the city. That deal saw the city pay about $42 million to Ed Kashian, a local land developer.
Supervisors OK independent audit of Fresno’s DSS
The board of supervisors also authorized the county administrative officer to hire an auditing agency to conduct an independent review of Fresno County’s Department of Social Services.
Calls for an audit started earlier this year when Lorraine Ramirez, a former county social worker, appeared at a board meeting to say she was retiring following years of concerns from her and other workers that foster children were being placed into situations of abuse and neglect going unaddressed by their department’s leadership.
Board Chair Garry Bredefeld and Vice Chair Luis Chavez introduced the item at Tuesday’s meeting following a private meeting with Ramirez.
“My goal in this audit is not to ascribe blame to anyone, but define what changes are needed and make them,” Bredefeld said. “…We must be committed to having accountability and having positive outcomes for these children. Our children deserve this, and we’re going to make sure they get it.”
Sanja Bugay, the director of the county’s department of social services, said that the caseload for child welfare workers has improved, but that “workload for our social workers has really increased when it comes to the amount of work per case.”
Nine members of the public spoke at the hearing Tuesday, all in support of the county’s proposed audit. Among those speakers were current and former social workers and members of the county’s foster care and oversight committee.
Hunter Morton, an ex-social worker for the county, said he’s had similar concerns to Ramirez. He said at Tuesday’s meeting that he now works for the county’s in-house supportive services, but that the problems there are the same as the ones shared by all public commenters at the day’s meeting.
“Our clients, they try to reach us. There’s no standard of getting back to them,” Morton said. “I’m at a different agency now, and it’s the same thing…you can’t reach your social worker.”
Ramirez also spoke on Tuesday. Appearing visibly emotional, she thanked the board for their approval.
“My heart is overjoyed that all of those…current and past employees will now have a voice through this audit,” Ramirez said. “The lives of our most vulnerable in this county can now be heard loud and clear.”
Fresno County poised to add new hotel tax for tourists
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors seem poised to add a tax on the ballot that would charge out-of-town visitors and tourists when booking short-term housing rentals and hotel lodging.
The board unanimously approved the measure on Thursday, during the first hearing to place a Transient Occupancy Tax on this year’s November general election ballot.
The county is looking to add a 12% tax on those hotel stays — a rate that matches those already established in other cities like Clovis and Fresno, and the counties like Los Angeles and Sacramento.
That rate should bring in about $5 million in annual revenue, according to Paige Benavides, the county’s budget director, at Tuesday’s meeting.
The tax would also only be applied to lodging properties on the county’s unincorporated areas, allowing residents to avoid a situation where fees from the city and county would stack on top of one another.
Plans to place the tax on the ballot were first discussed earlier this year. County staff noted that Fresno was one of three counties across the state that do not have a Transient Occupancy Tax, a move that they said could be leaving over $5 million in revenue on the table.
Since it would be a general tax, it would only need a simple majority, or one vote over 50%, to pass should it make the November ballot. The general tax status also allows the board to have flexibility on where to allocate those funds.
Transient Occupancy Tax funds typically go toward paying for public safety and infrastructure improvements and maintenance, especially in areas surrounding the short-term housing properties.
A second hearing must still be heard before the tax can officially make its way to the ballots. The second hearing is scheduled for the board’s April 21 meeting. An approval would bring the tax’s final ballot language before the board in a June meeting.
Remote particpation coming back this summer
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to pre-emptively approve online and telephone participation in their meetings starting in the summer, following newly approved state guidelines.
Introduced in 1953, California lawmakers passed the Brown Act, establishing clear rights for the public as it relates to government meeting participation. It was recently updated following the approval of California Senate Bill 707 to require jurisdictions with 30,000 or more people to allow for online or telephone participation in their government meetings starting on July.
The new guidelines would somewhat mirror the participation model many government bodies had during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the new guidelines would notably limit speaking time for public commenters from three to two minutes. Bredefeld said that he still holds the power to extend public comment periods, and that he trusts his ability to exercise them when necessary.
“I think I’m, and I hate to use the word, ‘very liberal’ in that,” Bredefeld said, “because I think it’s very important we work for all the people that come in here.”
The new guidelines are still being worked on, according to Bernice Seidel, the county board clerk. Public drafts could be ready some time around July.
Ban on spreading ashes on county land passes first hearing
Fresno’s supervisors unanimously approved the first of two hearings to forbid the spreading of human remains and compost throughout county land.
The law would not apply to private property, unless that property grows food for human consumption.
Violators of the ordinance would face fines of $1,000 for a first violation and double that for a second within the first year. The fine would increase to $5,000 for subsequent violations. Each day results in a new violation, subject to their own fines. Violations could also subject the violator to jail time and litigation from the county.
A final hearing to approve the new law will be held at the next board meeting on April 21.
The board noted that it was open to changes on the new law to make sure the ordinance’s language would not punish those who spread human remains for personal or religious purposes.
