City Council

City of Fresno 2600 Fresno Street Fresno, CA 93721 www.fresno.gov Meeting Minutes - Final City Council President - Esmeralda Z. Soria Vice President - Steve Brandau Councilmembers: Oliver L. Baines, III, Paul Caprioglio, Luis Chavez, Garry Bredefeld, Clinton J. Olivier City Manager - Wilma Quan-Schecter City Attorney - Douglas T. Sloan City Clerk - Yvonne Spence, MMC Thursday, November 1, 2018 9:30 AM Council Chambers Special Meeting Present: 7 - President Esmeralda Z. Soria Vice President Steve Brandau Councilmember Oliver L. Baines III Councilmember Paul Caprioglio Councilmember Luis Chavez Councilmember Garry Bredefeld Councilmember Clinton Olivier The City Council met in special session in the Council Chamber, City Hall on the date and time written above. The meeting was called to order at 9:43 A.M. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag ID18-1317 ***RESOLUTION - Implementing a moratorium on fines for violations of water regulations until further Council direction. (Subject to Mayor’s veto) Vice President Brandau introduced the item stating that after a three month survey that the City entered into with the University of Chicago, there were a lot of complaints in District 2. The citizen are very frustrated with not being City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final November 1, 2018 able to get an answer and not being able to get their calls answered. After the three month survey, the City began automated monitoring of water usage and that generated a different group of people who were frustrated. The complaints were so out of control that we knew we had to do something and one of our ideas was to put a moratorium on issuing fines and allow the automated monitoring to continue and collect all of the right data. Vice President Brandau met with the Water Department and discussed the concerns over the automated monitoring of water usage. At last week's City Council meeting, Councilmember Bredefeld talked about a district meeting where he had several complaints on the same topic. We have data from the water survey that will be analyzed in January. We will have all of that data and the Council will meet to discuss this in January. Vice President Brandau feels that we have lost a lot of the trust from the residents. Today the moratorium is about re-establishing that trust. This was never about fines, it was about water conservation. The resolution today is a simple moratorium on the water fines between October 1, 2018 and when Council comes back to take action on this in the new year. It was decided to make this retroactive to the date that the automated system started. Any fines received from October 1, 2018 shall have the fine dismissed and receive a credit or refund on the next utility bill. Councilmember Bredefeld stated he had some concerns early on and it was his understanding that the Council would analyze the data and after we analyzed the date, the automated system would begin. His constituents had a hard time getting through to the City or waited weeks to have their calls returned. Some of his constituents are very good at conserving water and they received fines. He feels that this is too much government over reach. Mayor Brand fully supports the resolution by Vice President Brandau and Councilmember Bredefeld. The State of California SGMA (State Groundwater Sustainability Management Act) mandates that all cities have a water conservation program. Upon call, the following members of the public spoke on this item: Grace Solis, Ed Balfen, Ester Pedis Martine and Shawn Stewart. City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final November 1, 2018 Councilmember Olivier stated he has concerns about this issue and appreciates his colleagues bringing this item forward. Councilmember Olivier suggested that the council look for more ways to let the individuals make their own decisions about watering. He is interested in finding creative solutions to this problem. Councilmember Chavez asked what is mandated as far as water conservation is concerned. He also requested the conservation goals of the City. Director Carbajal responded that the mandates and goals are in the Urban Water Management Plan. Councilmember Chavez asked if the City of Fresno met or exceeded the goals since implementation. Can we view a customer or parcel to see what has been used and how far back can we go? Staff replied that they can go back to 2012. Councilmember Chavez stated that he wants the data on historical usage. Councilmember Caprioglio thanked the people who came down to speak on this topic. Councilmember Caprioglio suggested to the Water Department to use gallons and average gallons per households. This suggestion was implemented and can now be found on your utility bill. The average household uses 20,150 gallons per month. Councilmember Caprioglio and the Water staff came up with several ideas to help the residents better understand their bill. Vice President Brandau amended his motion to include “direction to staff to clearly communicate to utility customers in their utility bill that the City Council met on November 1, 2018 and they are implementing a moratorium to eliminate water fines until they can analyze the data from the pilot program in January”. The amendment was accepted by the second of the motion. There was discussion regarding Clovis being able to water two days a week and why Fresno cannot do the same. Director Carbajal said that is something that they can look at. Council President Soria thanked her colleagues for bringing this item up for action, and how we need more outreach to inform our citizens to include translating the information in Spanish and Hmong. City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final November 1, 2018 ADJOURNED The meeting adjourned at 10:39 A.M. The above minutes were approved at the meeting of November 8, 2018, meeting with a motion from Councilmember Baines, and a second from Councilmember Chavez, the motion passed on a vote of 6-0 with Councilmember Olivier absent. City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 4