What’s at stake?
The chair of Fresno’s regional transportation agency said a member was removed from their county tax advisory board for “lies and personal attacks” against the renewal effort and members of the committee.
City leaders question the chair’s authority to remove their representative.
The chair of Fresno’s regional transportation agency stood firm Friday on their decision to remove one of the city’s three representatives from a county tax advisory board.
According to Fresno Council of Governments’ policy board chair Alma Beltran, the City of Fresno member, Brooke Ashjian, was removed from the Measure C steering committee for what she described as “lies and personal attacks” Ashjian made recently in local news programs and websites.
Confusion and chaos ensued on Thursday, the first day of Measure C’s new-look steering committee, following news that Ashjian had been booted from his seat. The committee recently added 12 members from local advocacy group Transportation for All, a move that Ashjian and a vocal minority of other Measure C decision-makers have railed against.
In an interview with Fresnoland on Friday, Beltran said she and other COG leadership decided to remove Ashjian, a local paver and CEO of Seal Rite Paving and Grading, for allegedly sharing false claims and making personal attacks about steering committee members.
Beltran even called the comments a form of “sabotage.”
“We can handle the fact that there’s people that are going to have different opinions. That’s always going to be the case,” Beltran said. “But when you’re working with someone that said that they’re going in to work with you and they do otherwise, why would you want to continue down that same pathway and expect a different outcome?”
Ashjian could not be immediately reached for comment Friday, but on Thursday, he said he wasn’t sure what rule he had violated to draw the committee’s ire.
Ashjian said on a Thursday, July 10 appearance on KMJ’s “Broeske & Musson” talk show that the steering committee’s new activist membership bloc wanted “50% of Measure C funds to go toward buses.” He also had an op-ed published on the topic in local outlets like GV Wire.
According to Beltran, Ashjian’s “50%” comment is incorrect.
Beltran said that the steering committee has yet to recommend any funding appropriations — as did COG staff at Thursday’s steering committee meeting.
“We have never discussed percentages. That still has not been discussed yet,” Beltran said.
Transportation for All also disputed the 50% claim in a statement Friday, saying “any assertion that the coalition has already shared its recommended percentages for transportation categories during this process is simply untrue.”
Beltran added that comments Ashjian made about specific members of Transportation For All also contributed to the decision to remove him from the steering committee.
She said that the decision to remove Ashjian ultimately falls on her and Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez, who also sits on the COG policy board.
Robert Phipps, executive director of Fresno COG, said in an interview with Fresnoland on Friday that while multiple organizations were present during the discussion of Ashjian’s alleged violations of committee ground rules, Beltran was ultimately the one who “directed” him to remove Ashjian.
Phipps added that the conversation took place during COG’s facilitation team meeting Wednesday, which included leadership from Transportation for All, the Central Valley Community Foundation and COG.
Transportation for All emphasized in a statement that their leadership did not call for anyone’s removal from the steering committee. The coalition also applauded that the first meeting of the expanded committee Thursday was still productive.
“Transportation For All has been clear from day one that we support an open and collaborative process,” the statement read, “and that rules of engagement should be clear and evenly applied in order to ensure the success of the Steering Committee, but we did not make the decision to remove any member of the committee.”
Beltran said the decision was not made lightly.
“We really did consider not removing him, but it just wasn’t stopping,” Beltran said. “He kept doing it and doing it, and then we had no choice. And he knew that he was doing this intentionally, and he knew that he was upsetting a lot of our mayors that were reading these articles.”
Beltran did not specify which mayors told her they were upset with Ashjian’s comments.
“I know that Victor (Martinez) and I are the ones who are going to take the heat all the time, because that’s our job, and we will protect our mayors,” Beltran said. “That’s why they support us, because they know that we are going to do what’s right.”
Is Ashjian still on the committee or not?
The news of Ashjian’s removal was first announced publicly at Thursday’s Fresno City Council meeting, during a routine presentation by COG staff.
The move was met with opposition from city leaders, with some calling Ashjian’s removal an attack on his First Amendment rights.
Fresno City Council President Mike Karbassi said he believes Ashjian should remain on the committee and even suggested renominating the paving CEO.
Beltran said that the power to remove members rests with her, since cities do not appoint members, she said, but rather make recommendations to her and the COG committee. The process, she said, makes it so that anybody from the community can apply to be on the committee.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer echoed Karbassi’s sentiments. In a statement shared to Fresnoland through City Manager Georgeanne White on Friday, he said he would “have a conversation with Brooke as to how” he makes comments to the media, but that he does not “have the right to control what (Ashjian) does or says outside of the Committee meetings.”
Dyer added, however, that he does not believe Beltran holds the power to kick Ashjian off the committee.
“I spoke to the Chair of COG, Mayor Beltran on Thursday, expressing my concern with Brooke being noticed for removal without consulting with me first,” Dyer said in the statement.
“I do not believe anyone has the right to remove Brooke from the Committee other than me. I will be having a conversation with Brooke about his desire to remain on the Committee. Brooke did not seek out this position, but rather was asked to serve by me. I appreciate the sacrifice of time he has made to serve in this capacity as I do all of the Committee members.”
Beltran said she expects tensions between the two sides to continue as efforts to renew Measure C continue ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“I don’t expect it to get toned down anytime soon,” Beltran said.
The Measure C steering committee will meet again July 30, and a COG policy board meeting will follow July 31.
Transportation for All said it expects to compile and share results at that next steering committee meeting from its surveys of thousands of county residents regarding the “types of transportation investments” respondents want to see prioritized.
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