Here’s what you need to know:
- At the August 12, 2022 meeting, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve Measure C, a resolution to place a measure on the November 2022 general-election ballot to extend the current one-half percent local sales tax to be used for certain transportation purposes.
Board
Brian Pacheco, 1st District, Chairman
Sal Quintero, 3rd District, Vice-Chairman
Steve Brandau, 2nd District
Buddy Mendes, 4th District
Nathan Magsig, 5th District
Also present
Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer (CAO)
Daniel C. Cederborg, County Counsel
Bernice E. Seidel, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
The Scene
At 3 p.m., Chairman Pacheco opened this special meeting to take a vote on advancing the Measure C tax renewal for placement on the November ballot. The board had postponed voting until the Fresno City Council had made its decision about the measure, which occurred on Aug. 11. There were very few attendees present. Despite the brevity of the schedule, Pacheco ran the meeting with all the usual formalities, including an invocation, which preceded the business. The county’s Public Information Officer Sonja Dosti led a prayer in the nearly empty room. “Let us bow our heads,” she said, leaning over the podium. “May we emulate you, Christ.” Dosti concluded, “In your powerful and holy name, Jesus.” Flag salute followed. The entire meeting lasted about six minutes. Agenda and video are available here.
Agenda Item #1 The board approved the resolution to advance the Measure C tax for placement on the November ballot. Clerk Seidel read the agenda item, and Chairman Pacheco asked CAO Nerland, whose office presented the item, if he had anything to say. He merely re-read the agenda item, after which Pacheco asked fellow supervisors if they had any questions. There were none. He asked for comments from “any member of the public” present, but the room was nearly empty.
Motions were made to vote, but Supervisor Brandau asked to speak first. He wanted to explain why he now supported the measure, when he had previously voted against it twice and had spoken so vehemently in opposition to it. “Today I’m going to be very supportive and vote ‘yes,’ ” he began. He was compelled to talk about it, he said, because “people get confused,” and they wonder “why would I do that?” He continued that “in my mind,” today’s vote was “substantially different” from his previous votes, though he didn’t say how. He said that he had been “working through the process” and that he was “a part of the process” but that today, “all of that processing” is done. He said that he supported putting the measure on the ballot, so “voters could make up their minds.”
He further said that, regarding a vote on a different tax, he got “two emails” asking how he could support it, but the people who questioned his vote “misunderstood” him. Just because he voted to put something on the ballot “doesn’t mean I support it,” he said. It means, he explained, that he would “let the voters make the decision.” The board’s vote was 5-0.
Agenda Item #2 This item was for the public to comment about items not on the agenda. There were no attendees present, so there were no comments.
Pacheco adjourned this special meeting a little over 6 minutes after it began.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.