Fresno City Council approves audit of credit card use after hours of political attacks
After hours of heated and pointed political attacks, the Fresno City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a city-wide audit of credit card use and reimbursements for the last five years.
The audit came a week after Councilmember Garry Bredefeld held a news conference to blast four of his council colleagues’ use of their operating budgets and their city-issued credit cards. In response, the council’s finance and audit subcommittee met Wednesday to discuss audit scope and procedures.
Council President Nelson Esparza amended the agenda item so that the audit cost would be covered by Bredefeld’s District 6 operating budget. Councilmember Mike Karbassi offered to cover any shortfall if costs surpassed $250,000. Esparza’s amendments also included a cost-benefit analysis of the external review.
But before the unanimous vote, dozens of residents sat through upward of two hours of the council arguing and lobbing accusations of corruption and hypocrisy at one another.
“It’s been an unusual week for all of us,” Karbassi said. “I think it makes us look less than stellar.”
Bredefeld rehashed many of his usual criticisms of Arias, Esparza, Maxwell, and Soria, including overspending money on masks and their credit card use and unfounded allegations they violated the Brown Act over Granite Park.
“I will not be silenced about it,” Bredefeld said. “I’m glad you’ve joined me and recognize the fact that there needed to be an audit.”
While Councilmember Tyler Maxwell and Mayor Jerry Dyer called on the councilmembers to reel back the rhetoric and promote unity for the good work being done at City Hall, others on the council dais continued to berate one another.
Maxwell said he was approached by a woman in Dollar Tree who called him a gang member. He also played an expletive-laced voicemail he received after Bredefeld’s news conference.
“We need to bring decorum and a reasonable demeanor back to this body because what we say and what we do has consequences after we leave this room,” Maxwell said.
Dyer reminded the council who it serves.
“I want us to all remember we serve the people of Fresno,” he said. “We work for them, and we are going to do it with all of our hearts. So thank you, guys. God bless you, and I pray for unity in the city.”
Bredefeld accused Maxwell of playing the victim and Esparza of playing games with him. Bredefeld said he wasn’t going to stop calling out what he called their wrongdoing.
Arias and Soria defended some of the expenditures they made that Bredefeld criticized in his news conference.
Arias said he jokingly calls Bredefeld “Councilmember Chicken Little” because “it’s always something new, and the sky is falling.”
“He has been emboldened because no one is holding him accountable for his deranged behavior,” Soria said of Bredefeld. “This, to me, seems hypocritical, political, and even personal.… My hope is that the public hears the truth and that this council is able to work together to regain the trust of the public by doing what we were elected to do: uphold transparency and provide effective solutions and services to the most pressing issues that impact the residents of Fresno.”
After the audit was passed, advocates said residents who hoped to speak during public comment didn’t get time and had to leave. Many of the residents in the audience were residents of Trails End Mobile Home Park and at risk of losing their homes.
“My heart is literally breaking for all of the people who are there in person and who are on Zoom having to hear this conversation when they are so stressed out,” said Janine Nkosi, a Fresno State sociology professor and housing advocate with Faith in the Valley.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 4:37 PM.