Environmental attorneys representing a community group are seeking more than $2 million in fees, court documents reveal.

The group, South Fresno Community Alliance, sued the city in 2021, alleging that the city’s environmental studies did not adequately mitigate pollution harms. Last year, a state appeal court sided with the alliance, ruling that builders could no longer use the city’s blanket environmental study to approve projects. City leaders said this would cause delays.

San Francisco-based Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger, and Fresno-based Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability referred to a state law that not only entitles them to attorney’s fees, but permits those fees to be doubled. In this instance, the total tab to the city could be $2.1 million.

The lawyers also partnered with the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic at Golden Gate University.

Listed attorney fees range from $250 an hour for a paralegal, to $850 an hour for SMW senior partner Ellison Folk.

“Two million dollars is unconscionable. Do they expect us to layoff police officers and firefighters to pay them? It’s grossly unfair to the hardworking taxpayers of the city of Fresno,” Fresno City Council President Mike Karbassi said.

Folk says the the fee request is fair.

“California law is very clear that successful petitioners are entitled to their fees when their litigation results in the enforcement of an important public right,” she said. “Petitioners in this action have long borne the brunt of industrial warehouse development in Fresno. Petitioners exhausted all options to work out their concerns with the city before litigation was filed and to settle their fee claim after the litigation was successful. The city did not even respond to petitioner’s attempt to resolve their fee claim.”

The council last discussed the item Jan. 30, on the closed-session agenda. The council took no action.

The court hearing takes place April 24 in front of Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Hamilton.

GV Wire’s Edward Smith contributed to the above item.

Fresno Honors Women of the Year

Kelsie Igasan aspired to be a top cheerleader and gymnast at Buchanan High School. But injuries led to addiction, which led to crime, which led to a suicide attempt.

But Igasan turned it all around, and today she runs a nonprofit The Butterfly Inside, mentoring young women and girls through mental health challenges.

Igasan was one of nine women honored by the city on Wednesday as Women of the Year.

“There is no greater gift than being given a second chance, but then also being able to sit across from the youth in district six who are broken,” Igasan said accepting her honor.

She held back tears, as she told her story of asking for help at the age of 16, and attending rehab in Los Angeles and Fresno.

“My whole world opened up and it changed my life and it made me the woman I am today to be able to love every walk of life. Trauma does not discriminate. Addiction doesn’t discriminate, mental health doesn’t discriminate,” Igasan said.

The full list of honorees:

• Mayor Jerry Dyer: Ashley Webster, associate publisher of The Business Journal
• City Council: Marisol Sanchez, longtime City Hall employee; and Adrienne Kinney, Fresno senior account clerk
• Annalisa Perea (District 1): Serena Dohi, executive director of the Foundation for Central Schools
• Mike Karbassi (District 2): Melinda Marks Mehlhoff, retired executive officer for the San Joaquin River Conservancy
• Miguel Arias (District 3):  Harinder Kaur Rai, Punjabi language educator
• Tyler Maxwell (District 4): May Gnia Her, executive director of Stone Soup Fresno
• Nick Richardson (District 6): Kelsie Igasan, founder of The Butterfly Inside
• Nelson Esparza (District 7): Cheri Cruz, Fresno State educator

Note: there was no District 5 recipient.

Also at City Council …

The city’s Eviction Protection Program is asking for a Fiscal Year 2026 budget of $2.5 million to fully serve its clients, the City Attorney’s Office told the  council at an update.

The current budget is $2 million, but the council recently added $500,000 at the request of City Attorney Andrew Janz.

City Manager Georgeanne White said there is money in the upcoming budget, but she didn’t reveal how much.

The program received approximately 2,600 calls for help since its 2021 inception, of which 1,500 were referred out to an outside attorney. Service peaked in 2022-23 with 720 referrals. That number is down to 101 in the past fiscal year. One reason is the expiration of COVID-era rental policies allowing for more legal evictions.

Former City Councilmember Brian Calhoun spoke publicly, complaining about trash trucks using Audubon Avenue. Calhoun indirectly became a subject of an ongoing defamation lawsuit between Karbassi and former councilmember and current state Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria.

Karbassi accused Soria of implying he had a criminal record in a flyer for a 2022 election. It was Calhoun — a Karbassi consultant at the time — who had a prior assault conviction, that Soria referred to.

The case continues through Fresno County Superior Court, with a trial date set for Dec. 1.

The city is changing banks. On the consent calendar without discussion, the council voted 6-0 to move from Bank of America to Wells Fargo. The five-year contract will cost the city $869,575. JP Morgan (Chase) offered a better deal at nearly $9,300 over the five years.

“The committee found that the pricing was incomplete and created uncertainty around the conversion process, particularly with respect to the large number of deposits made by utility customers using bill pay,” a special city committee said about the JP Morgan offer.

There was no drama over the bank contract, unlike 2018 when then-councilmember Garry Bredefeld led an effort to temporary derail a BofA contract renewal over concerns of its racial discrimination history.

Councilmember Tyler Maxwell ties the knot. Karbassi congratulated east central Fresno council representative Maxwell from the dais for his March 22 nuptials to his wife, Fernanda.