Documented by Rachel Youdelman
Here’s what you need to know
- The council approved the appointments of 15 local high school students to the city’s first Clovis Youth Commission. Specifics of their work and goals are yet to be determined.
- The council voted to change its municipal code to align with a new state law regarding permitting the delivery of medicinal marijuana. The discussion reflected the council’s opposition to state government, as well as its disapproval of the use of marijuana for any purpose.
Council and staff
Lynne Ashbeck, mayor
Vong Mouanoutoua, mayor pro tem
Drew Bessinger, Council Member
Matt Basgall, council member ABSENT
Diane Pearce, council member
John Holt, city manager
Andy Haussler, assistant city manager
Scott Cross, city attorney
Karey Cha, city clerk
The Scene
The Clovis City Council met on Dec. 11, 2023, for its last meeting of the year. Mayor Ashbeck called the meeting to order at 6 p.m.
It was Pearce’s turn to lead the flag salute. Cha called roll; Basgall was absent; all other council members and staff were present.
Ashbeck welcomed all attendees and thanked all public commenters. Her use of humor was observable, and she used the phrase “just kidding” several times.
About 65 people attended in person, about 50 viewed via YouTube and one via Webex. Several members of the public were present to comment on a variety of matters. The meeting lasted about two hours and 10 minutes.
There are several ways to participate in the council’s meetings: in person, you may comment on specific agenda matters as they are discussed, or on those not on an agenda at the scheduled time. Just show up. Commenters are normally limited to five minutes each. Note that laws regarding public meetings preclude council members from making definitive responses about matters which are not on the agenda. You can also call in to a Webex when the meeting is in progress, or you can submit a written comment. Easy instructions are found here.
All council members are elected at large; none represent specific districts of Clovis. To contact any of them with questions or to comment about issues, phone 559-324-2060 (one phone for all) or email:
Lynne Ashbeck lynnea@cityofclovis.com
Vong Mouanoutoua vongm@ci.clovis.ca.us
Matt Basgall mbasgall@cityofclovis.com
Drew Bessinger drewb@cityofclovis.com
Diane Pearce dianep@cityofclovis.comhttps://altasierra.cusd.com/Robotics.aspx
Members of the public may attend meetings at the Council Chamber, 1033 Fifth St., Clovis, CA 93612, or online via Webex. The next meeting will be Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. Videos of past meetings and agendas are available here.
Agenda item 11 The council approved the appointments of 15 local high school students to the city’s first Clovis Youth Commission. (Ashbeck moved this item to the top of the meeting, so the attendees involved would be able to leave the meeting before other business was addressed.) Mouanoutoua recused himself and left the dais because his daughter was one of the appointees, so the vote was 3-0 with one recusal and one absence.
Chad McCollum made a brief presentation on the matter.
All 15 appointees were present:
Emily Albertson
Mina Berumen
Victoria Chiu
Bonnie Barlow
Jocelyn De La Cruz
Kameryn Fedele
Camila Gutierrez
Rajbir Longoia
Kiera Mouanoutoua
Isaac Perry
David Perez
Eli Pugliese
Noor Riar
Avereet Samra
Daniel Salgado
Grace Yang
The appointment is for one term, which will run through May 2024.
Council members commented; Ashbeck advised the children to “hold on to the history of Clovis” and said that Clovis was “special, unique and imperfect.”
Bessinger talked about how important it was to hear “the voices of our young folks.” He perhaps unwittingly revealed his own parenting methods when he said, “There’s some things that as a 66-year-old man I’m not going to understand even with my children; I didn’t always understand, or I frankly wasn’t listening, because they weren’t doing what I told them to do,” and “A lot of times as parents, we learned to tune you out a long time ago.” He also remarked that “your perspective on things is going to be different sometimes, but because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s not important.”
Pearce said she was “just really excited” to see “how many people stepped up.” She thanked McCollum, Ashbeck and others for bringing the idea to realization and repeated that she was “just really excited.”
Ashbeck noted that the children themselves would be in charge of the commission’s agenda and that “in this first round, you all are going to get to define the commission, what it should do and what kinds of projects you could take on, so we’re leaving the entire trajectory of this work to your ideas.”
A few members of the public made approving comments. Everyone posed for a group photo and shook hands with each council member, after which Bessinger announced that parents should be “proud” because each child had a “big-time handshake,” which he defined as “firm” and accompanied by a direct look in the eye.
Ashbeck concluded that the moment was among the most special in the council’s history, and here interjected one of her many “just kidding” remarks, after jokingly saying that the rest of the meeting would be “downhill.”
Public comment This is the segment of the meeting for members of the public to raise any issue which does not appear on the agenda but is within the council’s jurisdiction.
Six people were present to comment on various issues, each with a five-minute limit. Issues brought forward concerned an allegedly illegal recreational vehicle liquidation center, illegal dumping, the need for street lighting in certain areas of the city, a comment on a continued item (the speaker was asked to come back in January), and complaints about what was described as a homeless encampment in a cul-de-sac.
The person who raised the issue of the homeless encampment presented details about what she said she has observed, such as transactions with cash which she called “drug deals,” “people on bicycles,” public urination and the like. She suggested that razor wire be installed to keep people out, and remarked that arrested people only taunt police by saying they will be back in a few hours. She said that she has called the police 15 times recently and when she called today, she was told they had received “14” calls about this same problem. Were the previous 14 calls hers? Some follow-up discussion ensued between Holt and Ashbeck, who said the commenter “did the right thing” by coming to the council meeting. No one commented about local laws regarding homelessness, public camping or services available to the destitute.
Consent calendar, agenda items 1-6 Approved 4-0, with 1 absence and 1 exception in item 2. The “consent calendar” is a group of agenda items considered routine; they are decided with a single vote. A council member, staff person, or a member of the public may pull any single item for discussion; otherwise, the vote proceeds without discussion.
Item 2 was pulled by Cora Shipley of the Business Organization of Old Town (BOOT), who expressed objections from Old Town merchants about the day of a scheduled car show in spring 2024. There were other events scheduled on two of three Saturdays in the same month, and merchants didn’t want a third Saturday when streets would be closed to parking, thus inhibiting business in local shops. A representative of the car show, Patrick Evans of Hot Rods Fresno, complained about having received phone calls on the matter, which he called a “diatribe,” noting that he was “tired of talking about it.” The car show had previously been held in Fresno in the Tower District, and now people were “reluctant” to go there, he said. He didn’t like the food trucks there, he said, only “brick and mortar” shops. Could the car show be moved to a Sunday, Ashbeck asked. Evans is a pastor, “so, no.”
A Clovis resident named Cody Clem of the Hot Rod Coalition said that his organization’s emails to Evans’ group were unanswered. Was there a dispute between the two parties? Details were unclear.
Shipley said that BOOT is happy to have the car show, but that merchants were objecting to three Saturdays with street closures in the same month in April. Bessinger, Mouanoutoua and Ashbeck commented, and agreed to return to the matter next month and postponing this point in item 2 from the consent agenda vote. Per Holt, the matter would be continued to Jan. 8. Ashbeck reiterated that the event was “welcome in Clovis,” and that they would “resolve the conflict on the merchant question.”
Agenda item 7 The council voted 3-1 with 1 absence to change its municipal code to align with a new state law (Senate Bill 1186) regarding permitting the delivery of medicinal marijuana. The “no” vote was Pearce’s. A lengthy, fraught and repetitive discussion took place before the vote.
Matthew Lear, deputy city attorney, gave a brief presentation, and a long discussion ensued. Cannabis use is legal in California, but municipalities and counties are allowed to prohibit cannabis businesses, such as physical shops. Hence the state has areas where cannabis businesses are legal and areas where they are not. Cities and counties can also decide if they will allow delivery, distribution, testing or manufacturing. Business rules are set at the local level, and cities may have different rules from the counties in which they are located.
However, SB 1186, effective as of January, will prohibit local jurisdictions in California from banning the delivery of medicinal cannabis only.
Council members expressed fears, anger and other concerns. They appeared to conflate recreational marijuana use, of which they seemed to disapprove, with medical use. They also expressed resentment of state government, and appeared to misunderstand state law: SB 1186 concerns only the delivery of medicinal marijuana, but council members complained in general about the state government, wondered how they would know who was delivering cannabis and to whom, who was using it and for what reasons, and speculated that “it was already happening in Clovis.”
Ashbeck wanted to know if there was any “verification process” to determine if a product is indeed “medical” marijuana or just plain marijuana. Was anyone checking a doctor’s order? She didn’t know for sure, but said she thought a medicinal marijuana “card” or permit could be bought online.
Bessinger complained that the original ballot measure that gave local jurisdictions the choice of “opting out of commercial cannabis,” passed in California but did not pass in Clovis, and “since then, the Bureau of Cannabis Control has been trying to undermine that.” He did not discuss how the laws draw a distinction between medicinal marijuana and commercial shops that sell cannabis for recreational use. He continued, “I can’t foresee a situation where a police officer is going to say to someone, ‘Who are you delivering this to?’ ‘I can’t tell you; I don’t want to violate HIPAA rights.’ ” He added cynically that “our friends in Sacramento” were forcing this decision on Clovis.
Later Bessinger acknowledged that there were “two issues” — medical marijuana, which has been legal for about 20 years, and “commercial” marijuana, but he did not change his position. Further, he had forgotten, he said to “reach out” to the Police Department and ask if “CBD” products can be sold legally in local “smoke shops.”
Mouanoutoua asked about licensing of delivery drivers. Lear said he didn’t know about that, and said he’d have to “double check.” Mouanoutoua appeared to be thinking out loud as the discussion flowed on: have the restrictions “caused headaches?” Or “should we go the other route and legalize it?” He wondered how “we could gauge it somehow.” Holt offered, “Survey Monkey?”
Pearce was focused on the state government, which she felt was forcing itself on Clovis. She had just one question: What would happen if the council voted “no” on aligning the current city code with state law? What happens if Clovis chooses to flout the law? Holt replied that “we don’t have the luxury of not having our municipal code comply with state law.”
Pearce did not comment on any aspect of the law but asked, lowering her voice, if this was “just an exercise in futility.” Lear pointed out that noncompliance with the law would invite legal trouble from individual patients or from the state attorney general.
Public comment was opened on the matter. Jeni-Ann Kren of Clovis asked why the council would consider violating state law when this was “just a cleanup” of the municipal ordinance to align with the new state law. Lawsuits would likely ensue, and the city’s money would be better spent elsewhere, she said.
Next a man whose name was unintelligible, suggested making the delivery process “incredibly difficult,” but he gave no reason for such a measure.
More discussion among council members followed, with more questions and imaginary scenarios about delivery-driver regulation, drivers with “unmarked bags,” repetition of remarks about “anybody delivering marijuana to anyone and calling it medicinal,” “why does it smell like that in your car,” “state stuff coming down” and the like. While Lear pointed out that no objections had been heard from the Clovis Police Department about the matter, Pearce said in response to Kren’s comment, “As far as like what would be the point of not being compliant, and it’s simply what council member Bassinger kind of alluded to. It’s this idea that when Sacramento put something out there and it was a proposition on the ballot, and it says municipalities will have local control over these things” [sic]. And now Sacramento was “removing that local control.”
Agenda item 8 This item, which concerned multiple city responses to nuisance violations, was continued, by a 4-0 (1 absence) vote, to a date uncertain.
Agenda item 9 This item, which concerned several aspects of real estate development of 155 acres located on the north side of Shepherd Avenue between N. Sunnyside and North Fowler avenues, was continued to the Jan. 16 meeting by a 4-0 (1 absence) vote. Three people were present to comment on the matter, but they were advised to address only the continuance. They all mentioned the need for traffic studies in the area.
Agenda item 10 The council approved, by a 4-0 (1 absence) vote, a salary increase for John Holt, the city manager. As of January, his annual salary will be $274,116. The matter had been discussed in previous meetings in closed session.
City manager comments Holt had none.
Council comments
Pearce wished everyone “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”
Bessinger also wished everyone a Merry Christmas.
Mouanoutoua said that he attended a retirement event for Tom Roberts of the Police Department. Then he began thanking staff for a “tour of the city” without explaining what he was referring to. He mentioned a Hmong Christmas party coming up on Dec. 28. Finally, he made extended thanks to various people for managing the Clovis Youth Commission matter.
Ashbeck gave Clovis Museum 2024 calendars to fellow council members and staff. She wished everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and mentioned Hanukkah (Dec. 12 was night 6), adding “however you choose to celebrate.”
The meeting was adjourned at about 8:10 p.m.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
