Fresno repeals fee refund program, as council clashes again over corruption allegations
The Fresno City Council repealed its money back guarantee program — an effort that at least one council member called a failure — despite the protests and accusations of corruption from its sponsor, Councilmember Garry Bredefeld.
Adopted in January 2019, the Money Back Guarantee Act was designed to refund money to businesses from the Development and Resource Management Department budget if city staff failed to meet city deadlines on applications.
The program was rescinded with a 6-1 vote with only Bredefeld voting to keep it.
“Like a lot of bureaucratic bills that make a good press conference, it’s all bark and no bite,” Councilmember Mike Karbassi said. “Money Back Guarantee has been nothing but a failure. A well-intentioned one but a failure nonetheless.”
The program guarantees have been waived since February because of the coronavirus pandemic. But even before then no developer had been refunded any money, according to Jennifer Clark, director of the Development and Resource Management Department.
Bredefeld argued the program needed to be refined but should stick around. He said the failure of the program should be blamed on bureaucracy at City Hall, saying the repeal only perpetuates that problem.
“It does nothing to solve the ongoing problem and the anti-business attitudes from this council — which was during the pandemic to shut them and keep them locked down — the history is very clear not to help businesses,” he said.
The council initially motioned to end the guarantee program during the Oct. 20 meeting on the city budget without Bredefeld, who left the meeting before it broke for lunch. He noted repealing the program had not been placed on the agenda.
Because the program was part of a resolution when it was originally adopted, city staffers said, the vote had to be put formally on an agenda and was on for Thursday.
For the second week in a row, Bredefeld accused his colleagues of corruption, saying they tried to remove the program he sponsored without his knowledge.
Bredefled previously accused his colleagues of corruption on Oct. 22 after a no-bid contract placed on the agenda for $250,000 was reduced and adopted on the day of the vote to $143,000 — the highest a bid can be under the no-bid process.
His comments on Thursday were followed by a rebuke from Karbassi.
“We can’t use this incendiary language. It creates a scenario where people lose confidence in their government in the middle of a pandemic,” Karbassi said. “It’s just a matter of opinion and not fact.”
Bredefeld doubled down in his response. “That’s duplicitous,” he said. “This is not opinion. These are facts.”
Rather than keep the guarantee program, Karbassi said Fresno would do better by business to improve the pay for city planners and retain them. He also said repealing the program creates a clean slate for Mayor-elect Jerry Dyer.
Councilmember Miguel Arias said the accusations of corruption were misguided. He said he asked Bredefeld what items he wanted to hear on Oct. 20 before he left early, and those items were raised while Bredefeld was on the dais.
“It wasn’t misleading. It was simply the evolution of a conversation that was done out in the open,” Arias said.
Arias said the guarantee program has been given its chance to work and hasn’t, saying Bredefeld hasn’t done anything in the meantime to improve it.
“I’m sorry that you did not spend the time since February trying to improve the program, but that’s not on us,” Arias said to Bredefeld. “This is the result of an ineffective program and, frankly, an ineffective council member.”
