State lawmaker who secured funding for Fresno river parkway troubled by latest turn | Opinion

The state lawmaker who in 2021 secured $15 million in operations funding for the San Joaquin River Parkway is frustrated about how it’s being spent.

In a sharply worded letter to the San Joaquin River Conservancy Board and its executive director, Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula criticized agency leadership for, three years later, handing most of the money to the city of Fresno to help construct the long-delayed River West Fresno Open Space Area.

“The proposed transfer of $9.3 million for what is plainly a capital project flies in the face of the clear restrictions set forth in the State Budget Act of 2021,” Arambula wrote in the May 6 letter. “Specifically, the funds are for ‘the maintenance and operations of conservancy owned lands.’ ”

Arambula said he and staff members communicated their views to city and conservancy leadership, including Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi, who serves on the river conservancy board and whose district contains River West.

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Funds from the $15 million earmark had to be contracted within three fiscal years, a deadline that is fast approaching. If they weren’t, any leftover money would be sent back to Sacramento.

To avoid that scenario, the San Joaquin River Conservancy Board voted in January to use the remaining $9.3 million in operations and maintenance money to help bring roads, parking lots, restrooms and a 2.4-mile extension of the Lewis S. Eaton Trail to 290 acres of undeveloped river bottom lands stretching from the 41 freeway to below Palm and Nees avenues.

The city of Fresno is the lead agency for River West, which has an estimated $17 million price tag. The Fresno City Council, during the consent calendar portion of its May 2 meeting, voted to accept the $9.3 million transfer from the San Joaquin River Conservancy.

In his letter, Arambula wrote it was “troubling” that council members voted without a public discussion while stating such one-time expenditures could be “frozen” by the state Department of Finance.

“I am also frustrated by the amount of time wasted since the funds were secured in 2021,” the south Fresno Democrat wrote. “Surely plans and contracts could’ve been executed with other agencies and organizations capable of partnering on projects for maintenance and operations to open green spaces to the public, especially to children and families who don’t know this jewel is in their own backyard and would gain an appreciation for the environment.”

Karbassi, who authored the council agenda item, acknowledged speaking with Arambula and said he understood the assemblyman’s objections to using the leftover O&M money on River West.

Still, the District 2 council member noted he and other conservancy board members opted to invest the $9.3 million into a project that would enhance river access for the largest number of people before it “gets taken back by the state.”

“Both of us want more kids in Fresno to experience all the river has to offer,” Karbassi said about Arambula. “I respect what he did for us, but I have to vote for my district. This is the closest we have ever gotten to getting to do (River West), and I want to see this get across the finish line.”

River West, or some version, has been in financial, bureaucratic and legal limbo for almost two decades. A 2020 settlement between the river conservancy board and a nonprofit formed by residents living near Audubon Drive stipulates the project’s access points and construction timeline: new roads leading to the river bottom from Spano Park and Riverview Drive must be built concurrently.

Public agencies have about $15.5 million of the $17 million necessary for River West — provided the $9.3 million transfer is included. Karbassi said he is looking at cost-cutting measures to help narrow that gap so that “shovels can be in the ground” in 2025.

Too much money, too quickly

For a long time, the lack of operations and maintenance funding for the river parkway was one of the main reasons why so many publicly owned properties sat behind locked gates with “No Trespassing” signs.

Some of the $15 million O&M fund has been used to enhance access and add staff. For example, Sycamore Island Park is now open daily, with no entry or boat launch fees charged on weekdays. There are also plans for Ball Ranch to reopen this summer as the San Joaquin River Day Use Area. (Both are managed by the nonprofit San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust under state contracts.) And the river conservancy itself now has a dedicated recreation specialist and maintenance worker.

However, it was probably too much money — and too quickly — for a tiny state agency with its own internal divisions.

From the outset, board members expressed concerns over their ability to spend the $15 million within three years while disagreeing how. For example, Fresno politicians shot down proposals for a dedicated law enforcement presence by the Madera County sheriff and declined to spend seven figures rehabilitating dirt roads at Sycamore Island Park.

They also took no action to offer public access at places such as Camp Pashayan, River Vista and the Lanes Property (a house off Lanes Road with amazing river access that the conservancy plans to use as an office).

In December 2022, the river conservancy issued a Request for Proposal seeking “qualified contractors” to help operate and manage state-owned properties along the river parkway. That appears to have disappeared without a trace.

How come? Months after the RFP was published, board members ousted the executive officer and replaced him with a part-time interim for nearly a year. The new executive officer, Kari Daniska, was introduced at the April meeting.

Such dysfunction helps explain how we arrived at this point.

Arambula clearly isn’t pleased with the switcheroo. Still, it remains to be seen what lengths the state lawmaker will go to in order to preserve some (or all) of that $9.3 million.

“As stewards of public taxpayer money, we must be responsible and transparent,” he wrote. “We can’t redefine or twist or interpret to our liking what is written as law.”

Since the state’s 2022 fiscal year budget, the local picture has changed in that Fresno now has taxpayer funding to operate river parkway properties such as River West that are within the city limits. About 2% of the Measure P tax is set aside for “operations and projects consistent with the San Joaquin River Parkway Master Plan.”

Besides Arambula, the board’s decision to transfer the remaining $9.3 million also didn’t sit well with some of the conservancy’s nonprofit partners that have active contracts and proposals elsewhere on the river parkway.

But if the money stays local and is used to help build River West, which has practically become an albatross, that would certainly not be the worst of outcomes.