Documented by Rachel Youdelman
Summary: What you need to know
- The council approved an agreement with Fresno County to exchange the existing Clovis library building for the vacant land at the Landmark Square site, allowing the county to proceed with building a larger and updated Clovis branch library.
- The council received a staff report regarding an annual community opinion survey on the level of satisfaction people feel as residents of Clovis.
- The council rejected a request from Fresno County that the city of Clovis permanently supply water service to County Service Area 10A.
Council and staff
Lynne Ashbeck, mayor
Vong Mouanoutoua, mayor pro tem
Drew Bessinger, council member
Matt Basgall, council member
Diane Pearce, council member
John Holt, city manager
Andy Haussler, assistant city manager
Scott Cross, city attorney
Karey Cha, City Clerk ABSENT
Rebecca Simonian, administrative assistant
The Scene
The Clovis City Council met on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, for its second meeting of the new year. Before Ashbeck called the meeting to order, she asked that everyone stand and observe a moment of silence for George Rodriguez, an employee of the city’s Police Department, who died last week. Rodriguez served as police services manager for Youth and Animal Services.
Bessinger led the flag salute. Rebecca Simonian substituted for clerk Karey Cha. Haussler called roll.
About 60 people attended in person, about 50 viewed via YouTube, and an unidentified number via Webex. The meeting lasted just 1.5 hours, ending at 7:30 p.m. At the end of the meeting, Cross announced that the meeting would reconvene after the closed session, but there was no video recording after the initial adjournment, and there was no announcement or report otherwise made.
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.com
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 Feb. 5. Videos of past meetings and agendas are available here.
Public comments 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.
Only one commenter spoke: Jeni-Ann Kren of Clovis commended the city and the police department for last Saturday’s Martin Luther King Jr. annual breakfast. She said that it was “nice to see” both cities — Fresno and Clovis — come together, and she cited an “excellent” speech given by Clovis Community College President Dr. Kim Armstrong and said that she wanted to make sure that Armstrong was acknowledged. Kren then mentioned that she was planning a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. and hoped to see the MLK Jr. monument. She was apprehensive about a potential government shutdown should Congress fail to pass a budget resolution, in which case public museums and monuments would not be open.
Ashbeck also congratulated Armstrong and thanked her (Armstrong attended the council meeting but did not speak) for sharing her “personal story,” which Ashbeck said was “inspiring” and “meaningful.” Throughout the evening, others also mentioned Armstrong and referred to her speech at the MLK Jr. event.
Consent calendar, Agenda items 1-10 Approved 5-0. 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. No items were pulled for discussion. Though most items concerned procedures for administrative completion of previously decided council items, item 10 concerned rejection of a liability claim for the death of Melchor Madrigal, who died in July 2023 when struck by a Clovis city firefighter operating a city vehicle.
Agenda item 11 The council unanimously agreed to continue to a date uncertain an item regarding real estate development of 155 acres of land on the north side of Shepherd Avenue, between N. Sunnyside and N. Fowler avenues. Great Bigland, LP., is the landowner/applicant, and Harbour and Associates their representative. The item was continued from the Dec. 11 meeting.
Planning and Development Services Director Renee Mathis made the brief presentation. Mathis said that residents of the area have been given notice and will be further notified about the progress of the development plans. Cross said that members of the public could comment only on the continuance, not on any substantive matter of the issue. There were no comments.
Agenda item 12 The council unanimously approved a contractual agreement with the Fresno County to exchange the existing Clovis library building for the vacant pad at the Landmark Square site, allowing the county to build a larger and updated Clovis branch library. Thad Avery, city engineer, led the brief presentation.
Avery explained that the county will construct the library and that among the responsibilities of the city of Clovis will be to provide a parking lot and water/sewer connection. County obligations are to build the 26,000-square-foot structure within three years, install electricity and gas and maintain water/sewer.
Mouanoutoua asked what would happen if the building were not completed within three years; Avery said that the city could “take possession” of the project, as outlined in detail in the agreement, which was included in the meeting agenda packet and has been publicly posted as required by state law for 72 hours before the meeting.
Ashbeck asked about the condition of the existing library building: was it “occupiable”? Avery said that it was.
Public comment was opened on the matter. Judith Preuss said that she was an 84-year resident of Clovis and described her many years of volunteer work in support of the library. Regarding the long-standing plans to build a new library, she said, “I attended the first meeting with the architect to look at the plans 18 years ago. This has taken way too long. But I appreciate your decision this evening.”
Fresno County Deputy Director of Planning Bernard Jimenez was present to reply to Ashbeck’s question about the design of the library — would it be “complementary” to the new senior center? Jimenez replied “yes,” and noted that revised design proposals would be shared with the council and the public for feedback.
Bessinger asked if the county librarian was present; Jimenez introduced interim Fresno County Librarian Sally Gomez. Bessinger praised the library and asked Gomez to “please accept my compliments.” He then said that he had been in the library “a few months ago” and was pleased with the services. Was he not a regular library patron? He did not clarify. “A few months ago” marked the time when Council member Pearce had provoked controversy about LGBTQ-themed children’s books in the Clovis library, leading to the formation of a book-censorship advisory group by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. No one mentioned these events. Ashbeck simply said after the vote that the motion passed “joyfully” and that the planning process had been a “long road.”
Agenda item 13 The council unanimously rejected a request from Fresno County that the city of Clovis permanently supply water service to County Service Area (CSA) 10A.
Paul Armendariz, assistant director of public utilities and the city’s engineer, Thad Avery, made the presentation. They explained that CSA10 was both outside the Clovis city limits and not within the city’s sphere of influence.
The rejection meant that no further action would be necessary.
Discussion preceded the vote.
Basgall said that he had a relative living in the affected area; would he have to recuse himself? Cross said he wouldn’t if he had no financial interest in the matter. Were any payments for other services coming to the city from the area in question? Armendariz said no. Bessinger asked about the Tarpey area, which had presented a similar issue some years ago; was it in the city’s sphere of influence? Yes, it was. Mouanoutoua asked several questions, repeating the phrase “in regards to” [sic] and phrasing his queries in confusing ways (“Is that the way I see it?”).
Mouanoutoua wanted to know if Clovis could be “mandated” by the state government to provide water to the area. Armendariz said that the request did not constitute a “mandate.” Ashbeck pointed out that such mandates applied only when disadvantaged communities were involved, and that CSA10 was not one “by any stretch.”
Public comment was opened on the matter. Chris Bump of the county’s Public Works Department said that CSA10 was under a “compliance order” because nitrate levels in the water exceeded acceptable levels. The county had already met with the state Water Resources Control Board, and as a result was investigating possible solutions, including this one. A denial from Clovis would mean the county would continue to look for solutions.
Ashbeck remarked that if the city approved the request, it would be “a precedent we’d never recover from.”
Agenda item 14 The council received a report from Director of Economic Development, Housing and Communications Chad McCollum regarding an annual community opinion survey which is designed to gauge the level of satisfaction people feel as residents of the city of Clovis.
The fall 2023 survey was conducted by a contractor called Polco over a period of six weeks. Cards were sent to 3,000 “randomly selected” households, and 394 people responded. McCollum called this 13% response rate “excellent.”
Clovis has contracted with Polco every two years since 2013 to conduct these surveys, and McCollum pointed out changes over the years with a series of graphs. Covered in survey questions were issues regarding public safety, housing, economy, utilities and parks.
Clovis survey results were compared with comparable cities in California and several other states. McCollum presented a long list of areas in which Clovis emerged as “No. 1” in comparison with other cities, such as being a place “to raise children,” having a “sense of community” and “quality police services.” McCollum pointed out that many of these topics were influenced by the late George Rodriguez of the Police Department.
McCollum noted that among survey issues, “housing jumped out as interesting,” including a precipitous drop in the perception of availability of affordable housing, which a graph showed went from 60% to 30% over 10 years. But he added that “we don’t know what ‘affordable’ is.” “Air quality” was seen by survey respondents as “very low,” a remark McCollum quickly followed with “but we have nothing to do with that.” Trust in government was down, but it was down “across the board,” said McCollum, especially regarding the federal government.
A discussion followed McCollum’s presentation, with many questions and remarks from Mouanoutoua, some from Bessinger and Basgall, and some from Ashbeck. Pearce was silent.
Ashbeck asked how the survey data would be used to inform the city’s strategic plan. The material would be provided to all department heads as well as to the city manager for their consideration, McCollum said. Ashbeck also asked about correlated data, such as variations in opinions based on gender, race, length of residency, etc. McCollum said, “We can dig into it.”
Mouanoutoua remarked on the low public meeting attendance rates and low levels of engagement with local government. McCollum suggested that residents had so few problems or complaints that they didn’t bother “reaching out.” Mouanoutoua concluded that “we’re doin’ phenomenal.”
Basgall took issue with McCollum’s description of Clovis as “one of” the safest cities in the Valley. He wanted to call it “the safest.” Ashbeck said, “Touchy subject, eh, chief?” (Basgall is a former police chief.)
Public comment was opened on the matter, and Jeni Kren returned to the lectern to ask how the survey was controlled for preventing it from being confined to “a particular slice of the community.” McCollum said that the survey questions were weighted for a variety of points such as age, gender, income.
Fresno County Supervisor and former Clovis Mayor Nathan Magsig was present to comment that “approval of Congress is low” but that local government had a higher approval rate. He did not cite any data source. More anxiety on the part of Magsig and the other elected officials in the room about the public’s approval of the government and about Clovis being the “safest city” was expressed in jocular remarks.
City manager comments Holt said that traffic enforcement along Sierra Avenue would be increased in response to complaints about speeding and congestion.
Council member comments
Pearce praised the earlier-mentioned MLK Jr. breakfast, “just kind of echoing what others have already said,” and repeated that it was “an excellent event.”
Bessinger also talked about the MLK Jr. event and noted that it was the first time he heard the “I have a dream” speech in full. He attended an event for an anti-human trafficking group, Breaking the Chains. He called it “Breaking the Barriers” and was corrected by Ashbeck.
Mouanoutoua also attended the MLK Jr. breakfast as well as a march, to which he brought one of his sons, he said. He attended the Breaking the Chains event and appeared to say that the city of Clovis had provided hamburgers and hot dogs to the crowd. “We do it better,” he said.
Basgall thanked Dr. Armstrong and called the MLK Jr. breakfast “one of the better events.” He spoke fondly of the late George Rodriguez and noted that George had helped to plan this event. Finally, he said that he had been appointed to the public safety committee of the League of California Cities.
Ashbeck said that she also attended the Breaking the Chains event and that “human” and “trafficking” were two words which don’t belong together, but that “it is present in Clovis.” She spoke about adding to the agenda at an upcoming joint meeting with the Clovis Unified School District an item about “safe routes to school.” She mentioned a specific area on Ashlan west of Leonard which “needs attention” because it was “glaringly unsafe” for children walking to and from school.
At 7:30 p.m. Ashbeck said that the council would adjourn but reconvene after closed session. The sole item on the closed session agenda was again the affordable housing case which the city lost, Desirée Martinez v. City of Clovis (Fresno County Superior Court case F082914). However, the Webex closed, and it was unclear if the council would reconvene. An administrative staff person confirmed that there was no report or announcement made after the closed session.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
