Documented by Rachel Youdelman
What you need to know
- With the council’s unanimous vote, the city of Clovis and the plaintiff in the long-running lawsuit, Desiree Martinez v. City of Clovis, reached a settlement agreement, ending years of litigation about the city’s land use policies and availability of affordable housing. Martinez brought the case, with the help of Central California Legal Services (CCLS), the Public Interest Law Project (PILP), and the Law Office of Patience Milrod, to urge Clovis to plan and zone for people of all income levels.
- The council received an update on tourism from Fresno Clovis Convention and Visitors Bureau President/CEO Lisa Oliveira, who reported that the Transitory Occupancy Tax (TOT), or tax on hotel rooms, generated $4.1 million for the Clovis in 2023.
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
Rebecca Simonian, administrative assistant
The scene
The Clovis City Council met on Feb. 20, 2024, for its last of three meetings scheduled for this month. The Feb. 13 meeting was held jointly with the Clovis Unified School District (CUSD); per a CUSD administrator, there was “no business” conducted, nor was there any action taken at that meeting. Note that no recording of the joint meeting was made, despite previous notice that a video would be posted two days after the meeting.
The public portion of the Feb. 20 meeting lasted 30 minutes. At Ashbeck’s suggestion, two substantive agenda items were continued to a date uncertain, and the meeting went into closed session at 6:30 p.m.
Bessinger led the flag salute. This was the first meeting after City Clerk Karey Cha’s departure, and administrative assistant Rebecca Simonian filled in for her. Assistant City Manager Andy Haussler called roll; all council members and staff were present.
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 March 11 at 6 p.m. Videos of past meetings and agendas are available here.
Agenda item 1 The council presented a proclamation honoring Mike Leonardo for his 35 years of service in the transportation field. Leonardo was, among other positions, the executive director of the Fresno County Transportation Authority (FCTA), succeeding the late Harry Armstrong, a revered mentor and oft-mentioned council colleague of Lynne Ashbeck. Leonardo was present to accept the proclamation. “We are a better place because you served, and that’s the meaning of public service,” Ashbeck told him. Mouanoutoua and Bessinger also expressed their thanks.
Agenda item 2 The council received an update on tourism from Fresno Clovis Convention and Visitors Bureau President/CEO Lisa Oliveira. The organization is funded by Fresno and Clovis hotels and motels through a Tourism Business Improvement District (BID). The annual assessment rate is 2% of gross short-term (under 31 days) room rental revenue, Oliveira noted. There is a requirement that 84% of the organization’s annual budget is spent on marketing and promoting tourism in Fresno County.
The Transitory Occupancy Tax (TOT) in 2023 generated $4.1 million in revenue for the city of Clovis. An increase in the TOT was approved by voters in 2022 with the goal of generating revenue to fund the hiring of more police officers, but no mention was made of how these funds were being spent.
Ashbeck called the local statistics “impressive.” Concluded Oliveira, “Clovis is doing wonderful” [sic].
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. There were none.
Consent calendar, agenda items 3-11 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. Items concerned the receipt of reports, approval of previous meeting minutes and the like. None were pulled for discussion. One item was marked as a conflict of interest for Mouanoutoua, but City Manager Holt noted that was a mistake. The consent calendar passed 5-0.
Agenda item 12 An update on the “restaurant rewards” program was to have been presented by Director of Economic Development, Housing and Communications Chad McCollum, but Ashbeck suggested that this item be continued to a date uncertain. The council agreed.
Agenda item 13 An update on the city’s Information Technology Division was to have been presented by I.T. Deputy Director Jesse Velez, but Ashbeck suggested that this item be continued to a date uncertain. The council agreed.
Ashbeck wanted to move these two items to a future meeting because the closed-session item was important, she said, and time would be needed to address it.
Agenda item 14 At the suggestion of City Manager John Holt, the council agreed to cancel the March 4 meeting and schedule the next meeting for March 11.
City manager comments Holt said that an oversized American flag had been recovered after being removed from a previous site. It was unclear where the flag was now flying, or if it was flying, but Holt seemed glad that it had been recovered.
Holt mentioned that members of the public who wished to comment during meetings would have to show up in person or submit written comments, at least until a new clerk is installed. Until then, no public comments will be permitted via phone or Webex, since a skilled staff person is not available to handle the calls.
Council comments
Pearce had none.
Basgall said he wanted to proclaim March “Red Cross Month.” Holt said to do that, a consensus among the council was needed before it could be added to the agenda. Basgall also mentioned his desire to make improvements at the Clovis Recreation Center, which needed upgrades, he said. Holt suggested there was little in the budget for it, but Basgall said there could be other sources of funding. Ashbeck suggested a joint venture with the CUSD.
Bessinger had no comments.
Mouanoutoua had no comments.
Ashbeck, a board member of the Fresno County Transportation Authority, said that a new executive director, Terry Ogel, had been appointed.
Closed session At about 6:30 p.m., the council moved to closed session but announced that they would reconvene after it had concluded. The one item on the closed session concerned a legal matter, Desiree Martinez v. City of Clovis. This case was the affordable housing matter that the city lost, then lost again on appeal in 2023, and which has appeared on the closed-session agenda repeatedly for months, with no explanation from the council until Tuesday’s meeting.
Though the Webex transmission of the meeting remained on throughout the 30-minute closed session, it abruptly shut off when the council reconvened about 7 p.m. There was no audio or video of the remainder of the public portion of the meeting, but an update on the Martinez affordable housing case was posted to the city’s website not long after the end of the meeting.
With the council’s unanimous vote, the city of Clovis and the plaintiff in the case, Dez Martinez, reached a settlement agreement, ending years of litigation about the city’s land use policies and availability of affordable housing. Martinez brought the case, with the help of Central California Legal Services (CCLS), the Public Interest Law Project (PILP) and the Law Office of Patience Milrod, to urge Clovis to plan and zone for people of all income levels.
Per Director of Economic Development, Housing and Communications Chad McCollum, Scott Cross, the city’s attorney, announced the vote on the settlement and read some of the main points of the agreement:
- The city of Clovis will establish a local housing trust fund and has committed to contributing at least $1.8 million to support affordable housing developments.
- The city will dedicate city-owned sites to the development of affordable housing.
- Clovis will rezone small infill parcels throughout the city to accommodate approximately 1,300 multi-family dwelling units.
- The city will adopt an ordinance to require that up to 10% of units in mid-to-large-scale new housing development projects will be affordable to low-income families.
- The city of Clovis will create a development impact fee-deferral program, deferring the payment of significant portions of city development impact fees for qualifying affordable housing projects.
Ashbeck spoke as well, acknowledging the work of the plaintiff’s attorney, Patience Milrod, who was present. Attendees reported that the mood was “celebratory” and that the council chambers were suffused with a palpable feeling of relief.
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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