Documented by Rachel Youdelman
Correction: An earlier version of these notes stated that the California Health Sciences University in Clovis is not fully accredited. The for-profit medical school owned by the Assemi family is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission. Its pharmacy doctorate program failed to obtain pre-accreditation status in 2022 and has been suspended.
Summary: What you need to know
- Council members declined to give themselves a raise in salary.
- The council approved an agreement with a consultant to implement financing policy changes for its development-impact fees.
- Three members of the public were present to criticize the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and ask that the council endorse what they called a “permanent ceasefire.”
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
The Scene
The Clovis City Council met on Feb. 5, 2024, for its first of three meetings scheduled for this month.
The city’s Webex system abruptly failed shortly before the meeting began, and there was no livestream, video or audio broadcast. An audio recording was made available on Feb. 6.
Before convening the meeting, Ashbeck asked that everyone observe a moment of silence for the death of James Hallowell, a local businessman and philanthropist.
Mouanoutoua led the flag salute. Cha called roll; all council members and staff were present.
Ashbeck then announced “with a heavy heart” that Cha would be leaving her position as of next week for a family move to Colorado.
The meeting lasted about 1½ hours. At the end of the public portion of the meeting, Cross announced that they would reconvene after closed session, but that no action was anticipated on the single closed-session item. The purpose of reconvening was not mentioned, nor was any information about a reconvening made publicly available as of Feb. 7.
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 that 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, call 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 a joint meeting with the Clovis Unified School District (CUSD) and will be held at the CUSD Boardroom, 1680 David E. Cook Way, Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. There will be no Webex or livestream of this meeting, but a video of the meeting will be posted to YouTube by Feb. 16. 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 that does not appear on the agenda but is within the council’s jurisdiction.
Five people spoke. The first was Malcolm Gibson, who thanked the Council for its attention to making meetings more accessible to those with hearing impairments. Addressing Cha, the frequent commenter jocularly asked if she was leaving Clovis because of “something he said.”
San Juana Cantu was present to complain about construction near her property, which was impeding access to her house. She was “stressed to heck,” she said, and repeated her complaints several times. Ashbeck asked her to speak with Renee Mathis, planning director, who was in attendance.
Next, three members of the public spoke about their impressions of the war between Hamas and Israel. Such commenters have been widely reported to show up at city council meetings around the country and demand resolutions for a “ceasefire,” despite being nonbinding, since such resolutions are beyond the authority of municipal jurisdictions.
The first speaker said he was new to Clovis and identified himself as a neurologist at St. Agnes Hospital in Fresno. He described his distress about the war and what he called “wholesale slaughter,” complaining that “our tax dollars” were funding the Israeli army. He cited several anecdotal incidents without offering evidence or details; for example, he “heard about” a nurse who was fired when she was accused of being an “antisemite.” He was a Muslim, and Israel has “attacked” 200 mosques, he said. Other cities have passed resolutions, he said, and he would be “happy to draft something” on behalf of Clovis.
Mohammed Sheik, who said he was a Clovis native, compared the number of casualties in Gaza with those in Ukraine. His mother “was in tears” every day about the war, he said. He reasoned that Israel had a “right to exist” but that the number of war casualties was unjustifiable.
Layla Darwish said she was from the “metro area.” She pointedly mispronounced Ashbeck’s name, addressing her as “Ashcock.” She said that she was a “Palestinian American” and that she wanted to give the council the opportunity to “put a face to what you hear on the news.” Speaking slowly after Ashbeck asked her to “wrap up,” she made false statements about “indictments” for “genocide” on the part of the Israeli army. “I’m asking for a permanent ceasefire from you all,” she said, not clarifying which party or parties were implicated.
Consent calendar, agenda items 1-10 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.
This week’s items included, for example, approval of minutes from a previous meeting, approval of submission of grant applications and the like; there were also two items concerning rejection of liability claims, one against the Clovis police for “excessive force” on a disabled minor causing injuries and another for an injury sustained during a fall on a city sidewalk.
Ashbeck pulled item 2, which concerned the filing of a quarterly report from the Economic Development Corporation (EDC). She was “disappointed” in the report, which she found “too boilerplate.” Economic Development, Housing and Communications Director Chad McCollum said that he would advise the EDC to include more detail in its reports.
All items from the consent agenda were approved.
Agenda item 11 Before unanimously declining to raise their monthly stipends, the council was presented with several means and formulas for raising their salaries between 4% and 25%. Council members are not staff employees of the city, and all either work at other jobs or are retired; each receives $1,513 per month.
A few members of the public endorsed raises for council members at the higher end of the possible increase, because, as one said, “I believe in paying for performance.”
Cha, city clerk, presented graphs with details of possible computations and percentages of increases, moving Mouanoutoua to ask a lot of questions while appearing to be weighing the pros and cons of each possible scenario. Bessinger remarked that “we’re paid volunteers,” and said that an increase was “uncalled for.”
Mouanoutoua blurted out, “We get health insurance,” and other perks, but Ashbeck, correcting him, noted that health insurance was available if they wanted to pay for it.
Speaking for the only time throughout the entire meeting, Pearce said, “Obviously, we don’t do it for the pay.” Pearce’s day job is managing her husband’s Elvis impersonation business, Ashbeck is senior vice president of Valley Children’s Hospital, Bessinger is a retired police officer, Mouanoutoua is the External Relations and Project Development Director for Community Medical Centers and Basgall retired as Clovis chief of police.
Before the council voted against raising their salaries, Ashbeck said that council members were “driven by pure love.” The matter will return to the council in two years.
Agenda item 12 The council unanimously authorized Holt, the city manager, to finalize a contract with a financial consultant to implement financing policy changes for its development impact fees.
At its Jan. 8 meeting, the Kosmont Companies, a financial consultant, gave a report to the council about various methods of financing developer impact fees for building projects. The city has historically eschewed such means as CFD bonds, but now it is open to considering them, based on the analysis conducted by Kosmont.
City staff, after reviewing Kosmont’s proposals for developing procedures and transition plans for financing mechanisms to pay for the fees, asked the council to waive the usual competitive bidding process so that Kosmont can proceed with its work. The contract will cost the city $30,000, which the council approved after minimal discussion. Much of the detail had been addressed at previous meetings.
Ashbeck has frequently talked about the need for the city to plan for new methods of paying for development over the long term, into the next several decades, with the aim of sustainability for the future.
Jerry Cook, of the Cook Land Company, commented, “We need to get moving,” noting that alternative means of financing, such as CFDs, were already being used elsewhere.
Agenda item 13 The council approved a change in the meeting schedule, presented by Holt, who said that the second meeting of February will be a joint meeting with the Clovis Unified School District (CUSD) and will be held at the CUSD boardroom, 1680 David E. Cook Way on Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. There will be no Webex or livestream of the meeting, but a video of the meeting will be posted to YouTube by Feb. 16.
City manager comments Holt said he would miss Cha, and thanked her for her work.
Council comments
Basgall said he was working with Holt to plan a memorial for George Rodriguez, a long-time employee of the city Police Department, who died in early January. Rodriguez served as police services manager for Youth and Animal Services.
Pearce said she had nothing to report.
Bessinger said he attended his final meeting as a member of the “air board,” on which he had served two three-year terms.
Mouanoutoua spoke for nearly 10 minutes about his doings, which included attending funerals, ribbon-cuttings, a Youth Commission meeting, a “housing committee” meeting and the like. Among his remarks, he referred to the California Health Sciences University (CHSU) and called Clovis a “medical hub.” CHSU is a private, for-profit university owned by the Assemi family. Its pharmacy doctorate program failed to obtain pre-accreditation status in 2022 and was suspended. He concluded by saying that the CalCities organization in which he participates wants “Sacramento to have less say” in decisions made by municipalities.
Ashbeck said that she attended the opening of the new Transit Center. She also attended the Youth Commission’s initial meeting, and called the participants “ridiculously adorable and smart.” Addressing Kim Armstrong, president of Clovis Community College, who was in the audience, Ashbeck asked if the council might conduct a joint meeting with the community college board. A reply was inaudible. Ashbeck also mentioned her attendance at the Fresno Council of Governments, (COG) at which the subject of “safe routes to school” was addressed, focusing on ensuring that city sidewalks are safe for children who walk to school.
Agenda item 14 About 7:35 p.m., the council adjourned to closed session. The sole item on the agenda was Desiree Martinez v. City of Clovis. The case is the affordable housing matter that the city definitively lost and has appeared on the closed session agenda repeatedly for months, with no explanation from the council. Cross, the city attorney, said that though no action would be taken, the Council would report back after closed session, but as of Feb. 7, no information about a reconvening was publicly posted.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
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