Documented by Rachel Youdelman
Summary: What you need to know
- The board unanimously approved the county’s state legislative platform. The county’s lobbyist made a presentation and some members of the board expressed hostility toward the state government and governor.
- Supervisor Buddy Mendes shouted at a member of the public, but no one remarked on his misbehavior.
- Following heated testimony from an appellant, the board voted 4-1 to deny an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval to build an 80-foot cell tower in Laton.
Board
Brian Pacheco, 1st District
Steve Brandau, 2nd District
Sal Quintero, 3rd District
Buddy Mendes, 4th District, vice chair
Nathan Magsig, 5th District, chair
Staff
Daniel Cederborg, county counsel
Bernice Seidel, clerk of the Board of Supervisors
Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer (CAO)
The Scene
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors held its first meeting of the month at 9:30 a.m. on March 5.
Chairman Magsig opened the meeting promptly. The public portion of the meeting was two hours long and was followed by a closed session. Throughout the meeting, the voices of Brandau, Magsig and Mendes were consistently heard. Quintero spoke only briefly, and Pacheco was silent for almost the entire meeting. The meeting was notable for an outburst by Mendes, who shouted at a member of the public.
The invocation, as usual, was given by an evangelical Christian; this time it was Matt Markarian, a pastor of Peoples Church in Fresno. “I pray for each and every one of these supervisors and their staffs and their families,” said Markarian. His prayer was followed by the flag salute.
Meetings are open to the public and are held at the Fresno County Hall of Records, 2281 Tulare St., Room 301. Public comments on matters on or off the agenda are welcomed. If you plan to make a comment in person on an item not on the agenda, note that this portion of the meeting is always last on the agenda. Each agenda item is otherwise accorded time for live public comment as they are introduced. Meetings are live streamed; agendas, are live streamed and meeting video may be accessed here. The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 19 at 9:30 a.m.
Each supervisor represents one of five districts. Wo is your county supervisor? Find out here.
To contact your supervisor about any issues or agenda items for a particular meeting, call or email with your opinion or question:
Pacheco District 1 District1@fresnocountyca.gov 559-600-1000
Brandau District 2 District2@fresnocountyca.gov 559-600-2000
Quintero District 3 District3@fresnocountyca.gov 559-600-3000
Mendes District 4 District4@fresnocountyca.gov 559-600-4000
Magsig District 5 District5@fresnocountyca.gov 559-600-5000
Agenda Item 1 The board approved the March 5 agenda 5-0.
Agenda Item 2 The consent agenda, items 16-49, includes items considered routine or administrative, grouped together and decided with a single vote; however, supervisors or members of the public may pull an item for discussion. Brandau pulled two items, 33 and 44. They were discussed after item 4.
Agenda item 3 The board proclaimed March “American Red Cross Month.” Present to accept the honor were Laurie Wilson, executive director at American Red Cross of Central California, and board member Jordan Scott of Kaiser Permanente. Quintero thanked them for their outreach to the supervisors during emergencies. Everyone posed for a group photo.
Agenda item 4 The board proclaimed March “Social Worker Appreciation Month in Fresno County.” Director of the Department of Social Services (DSS) Sanja Bugay and some of her staff were present to say a few words about their work. With 2,700 employees, including 512 social workers, the DSS is the largest department in the county. In 2023 alone, DSS staff received 19,597 calls and reports about abuse and neglect of children and others. Bugay said she was “honored” by the board’s acknowledgement. Everyone posed for a group photo.
Agenda item 33 This item concerned a 4% salary increase for the Sheriff Office’s correctional officers. Undersheriff Steve McComas and Director of Human Resources Hollis Magill were present to make the case for the increase, without which recruitment and retention were issues, they said. Since the last salary increase, there has been a decrease in retirements, it was noted. Approved 5-0.
Agenda item 44 This item concerned the agreement with the city of Clovis about the land to be used for the new Clovis branch of the Fresno County Library. Brandau pulled he item because he wanted the public to hear about it, he said. Deputy Director of Planning at Fresno County Public Works and Planning Bernard Jimenez said that the library construction would be complete in 2026. Magsig said that he wanted the schedule to be “accelerated,” though no one offered a new timeline. Approved 5-0.
Magsig then said he would do “something unusual” and mentioned that he wanted to acknowledge consent agenda items 19 and 20: 19 was a proclamation declaring “Hye Sharzhoom Day,” recognizing 45 years of the publication’s existence. A supplement of the Fresno State student newspaper, Hye Sharzhoom is the newspaper of the Fresno State Armenian Students Organization and the Armenian Studies Program. Item 20 was a proclamation recognizing the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Armenian Students Organization at Fresno State.
Agenda item 5 The board unanimously approved the county’s state legislative platform. The county’s lobbyist, Paul Yoder, was present to discuss the nuances of the platform, but the remarks made by the three Republican supervisors generally reflected their hostility toward the governor and the state government, rather than particulars of the platform. The two Democrats on the board were quiet.
Magsig said that he wanted to hear about “all the amazing things happening in Sacramento,” and complained about the state budget deficit. Mendes bellowed that the state government was a “bunch of drunken sailors” who “blew $100 billion.” Straying from the subject and always twisting a pencil in both hands as he spoke, Mendes moaned about what he called “disciples of our lunatic governor” in the California State Association of Counties (CSAC). Then he grinned and remarked, “That’s all the good news I have to say!”
Both Yoder and Deputy CAO Samantha Buck outlined the county’s major legislative issues, such as support for water for agriculture, wildfire mitigation measures, shelters for foster youth in need, and the like. The county’s general principles entail support for agricultural issues, child support services, criminal justice issues, economic development, elections, energy, environment, labor, libraries and public health.
Though the platform purports to support library development, it does not mention the Parents Matter book-banning resolution passed in November 2023.
The platform’s language promotes “local control” and opposition to legislation that supervisors feel might “usurp” their authority.
Yoder answered the supervisors’ questions, but most of the questions were framed to highlight what they felt were shortcomings of the state government: Magsig wanted to know about funding for Medi-cal; when Yoder tried to explain the Managed Care Organization (MCO) tax, which is a tax mostly on providers designed to generate state funds that can be matched by federal funds, Magsig said that this tax would “bankrupt private insurance,” and Mendes blurted out, “That’s how socialism works!”
Pacheco and Quintero said nothing throughout the discussion.
Agenda item 6 The board, sitting as both the board of directors of several water districts and as the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, received the 2024-2025 Water Year Annual Conservation Report and unanimously approved resolutions for these districts, as detailed in the report submitted by the Department of Public Works. There was no discussion.
Agenda item 7 Following heated testimony from the appellant and members of the public, the board voted 4-1 to deny an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval to build an 80-foot cell tower in Laton. The “no” vote was Pacheco’s.
Rosemary Chan, the appellant, said that her family had lived in Laton for generations; she thought she was “safe from technology” and cited health concerns from radiation, for which she conceded she had no evidence. She said that the area already had adequate access to broadband and that the plan for the cell tower was “for the benefit of Verizon” and the Laton Lions Club, not the community.
A representative of the Laton Lions club said they will receive $6,000 annually from the arrangement but that the money will “go back to the community.” He said that the community had been “noticed” about meetings regarding the proposed cell tower and, as proof that the cell tower is needed for safety, that the Fire Department says they lose reception in the area.
Chan, the appellant, was given a chance to rebut the Lions Club’s representative. Regarding the $6,000, she said “we don’t want it,” and remarked that the money would not go “back to the community.” She said that there were no connectivity issues and that the school district already had a contract with Comcast.
A Verizon spokesperson was present to make the case for the cell tower with data about the proposal, as was the Verizon attorney, who spoke very briefly.
Mendes was heard shouting, “We’re done, we’re done!” though his mic was off. He then, with mic on, said that he, “bein’ a member of the Riverdale Lions Club,” felt that what Chan said about the Lion’s Club was “slanderous.” Chan’s voice was heard from the audience, and Mendes repeated, this time bellowing loudly with the mic on, “We’re done, we’re done, we’re done!” No one commented on his behavior.
Agenda item 8 The board unanimously rejected an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of a conditional use permit for a pistachio-processing facility to include two drive-over dumping pits, two pre-cleaning areas, two 22,040-square-foot huller buildings at 42.5 feet in height, 40 dryers, 48 silos at a height of 50 feet and a 155,169-square-foot processing building. Variances are needed to allow the proposed heights of the silos and huller buildings. The area in question is an agricultural-only zone. The proposal also included a request to permit processed water from the proposed facility to be conveyed via existing subsurface piping to irrigate 3,760 acres of agricultural land.
The appellant, who wanted the pistachios to be dried with electric dryers, was not present to make his case. It was pointed out that such dryers are not normally used with pistachios.
Pacheco spoke. The area in question is in his district, he said, and the appellant not being present “speaks volumes.” The appellant was from outside the county, and the appeal was “an unnecessary delay by an outside source that caused this company 30 days of delay” and “didn’t have the courtesy to show up after filing the appeal.”
Agenda item 9 Committee reports and comments. Only Magsig had comments. He said that “today is election day,” and that the voter turnout was “historic — on the low side.” He wished Quintero and Brandau well, as both were challenged in the election, as was Magsig. Then he flattered his colleagues by saying that they as a group were “different” from other public bodies in the county, suggesting that they were above pettiness, infighting and the like.
Finally, Magsig said, “Get out there and cast your ballots,” to which Mendes interjected, “Know what I like about today? Tomorrow I won’t have to listen to political ads!”
Agenda item 10 Board appointments. Only Mendes made an appointment — just one to the Mosquito Abatement District.
Agenda item 11 Public comments regarding issues not on the agenda. There were three people who made comments: first was frequent commenter Brent Burdine of Clovis, who announced that there will be an event on March 29 at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District honoring veterans of the Vietnam War.
Next Mary Helen Lopez said she had planned to “just listen” and not to comment, but she “had a problem when someone yells,” adding, “this is to Buddy [Mendes] for yelling at women.” She referred to the earlier incident when Mendes yelled at the appellant in the item 7 cell tower case. Again, Mendes began yelling, now at Lopez: “She [Rosemary Chan] was out of order!”
The third commenter was Sean Burdine, son of Brent, who also frequently shows up to comment. This time he talked about one of his pet issues, voting. An election denier, Burdine complained that it was not “election day” but “election season,” because he didn’t like expanding the period when people can cast votes. He was worried about “potential problems” which he has been “witnessing,” because “there are bound to be mistakes.” He also claimed to be “witnessing” what he said were “very expensive potential technical problems down the line that create massive bottlenecks in the system.” However, he did not offer any evidence of any problem, nor did he describe any. “I could go on and on,” he said, nevertheless.
Burdine is a member of a local right-wing group, Constitutionalists of California.
Magsig responded that “poll watchers” were “critically” needed. Brandau, addressing the last commenter as “Sean” as though he were a colleague, said that it was a good idea to “add a person to the team over there [in the elections department] to scrutinize some of the potential problems.”
Agenda items 12-15 Closed session. Four of these items concerned litigation; one concerned labor negotiations. County Counsel Cederborg confirmed there would be no announcements after the closed session.
Magsig adjourned the public portion of the meeting at 11:23 a.m.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
