What happened?
At its Monday meeting, the Clovis City Council declined to give itself a salary increase, approved an agreement with a consultant to implement financing policy changes for its development-impact fees, and heard three members of the public who expressed concerns about the war between Israel and Hamas.
Before declining to raise their monthly stipends, the Clovis City Council Monday considered several ways to increase their current monthly salaries between 4% and 25%. Members of the council, who are not staff employees and who all either work at other jobs or are retired, each receive $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 approvingly said, “I believe in paying for performance.”
City Clerk Karey Cha presented graphs with details of possible computations and percentages of increases, moving Council member Vong Mouanoutoua to ask a lot of questions while appearing to be weighing the pros and cons of each possible scenario. Council member Drew 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 Mayor Lynne Ashbeck, correcting him, noted that health insurance was available if they wanted to pay for it.
Speaking for the only time throughout the meeting, Council member Diane Pearce said, “Obviously, we don’t do it for the pay.”
Before the council voted against raising their stipends, Ashbeck said that council members were “driven by pure love.” The matter will be reconsidered in two years.
Consultant to implement changes in development-impact fees
The council authorized 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, reported to the council about various methods of financing developer impact fees for building projects. The city has historically eschewed such means as bonded Community Facilities Districts (CFDs), but now is open to considering them based on the analysis by Kosmont.
City staff, after reviewing the consultant’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 could 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.
Members of public ask council for a ‘permanent ceasefire‘
Three members of the public were present to talk about their impressions of the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel. Such commenters have been reported to show up at city council meetings around the country and ask for ceasefire resolutions, despite being nonbinding, since such resolutions are beyond the authority of municipal jurisdictions.
The first speaker was a new transplant to Clovis who identified himself as a neurologist at St. Agnes Hospital in Fresno. He described his distress about the war and what he called “wholesale slaughter” and complained that “our tax dollars” were funding the Israeli army. He cited a number of anecdotal incidents without offering evidence or details, such as a nurse he “heard about” who was fired when she was accused of being an “antisemite.” He said he is Muslim and that Israel has “attacked” 200 mosques. 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 high 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 said that she is a “Palestinian-American” and that she wanted to give the council the opportunity to “put a face to what you hear on the news.”
“I’m asking for a permanent ceasefire from you all,” she said.
Since the requests and statements were made during the public comment period, by law, the council cannot respond or take action.
The Clovis City Council will meet again on Feb. 13. It will be a joint meeting with the Clovis Unified School District (CUSD) Board of Trustees, and is available to attend in person only at the CUSD boardroom.
