Two candidates are vying to unseat incumbent Clovis City Councilmember Drew Bessinger in the race to represent northwest Clovis in the newly created District 5 in the Nov. 3. general election.
District 5 covers northwest Clovis, roughly from Willow Avenue east to around Sunnyside Avenue, and from Highway 168 and Sierra Avenue north to Behymer Avenue. It includes the Buchanan High School area.
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Sarah Almond
- Job: Instructional assistant in Clovis Unified’s Braille transcribers office
- Age: 56
- Residency: Buchanan area, near Clovis and Alluvial avenues
- Notable endorsements: Fresno County Stonewall Democrats, Clovis Democrats, Fresno County Women’s Democratic Club, Fresno County Young Democrats
Who is Almond?
Almond grew up in St. Louis and moved to Clovis in 2007, when Almond’s husband took a job repairing surveying equipment. When the recession hit, the company Almond worked for closed and Almond’s husband was laid off, and Almond went to work in human resources.
Almond has an associate’s degree in physical therapy and a bachelor’s degree in business. After seven years at home with the couple’s children, Almond joined Clovis Unified in 2017 as a one-on-one instructional assistant for a visually impaired student. Almond later spent four years at the Girl Scouts office before returning to the district, where Almond now works in the Braille transcribers office and is close to certification as a Braille transcriber. “I think a lot of Clovis moms go back as instructional assistants,” Almond said.
Why is Almond running?
“We were having a conversation about Republicans running unopposed. And I said, maybe I should run for city council. And several people said, yes, you should,” Almond said. After talking it over with family and friends: “We decided, why not? What’s the worst that can happen?”
The race is nonpartisan. “At first, when we first started, I was like trying to not be out there, I guess, as a Democrat, but then I started getting endorsements,” Almond said. Almond describes the campaign as grassroots: “I don’t have the backing of, like, the police or the fire department,” and “all of my donations have come from individuals.”
Almond thinks more Clovis residents share those politics than it seems. “In Clovis … there’s more liberal-minded people than they think,” Almond said. “For the longest time we were afraid to put our Obama bumper stickers on our cars because we thought our windshields would get smashed.”
Now, Almond said, “I think a lot of people have decided that we’re tired of hiding and it’s time for us to stand up.”
What does the ‘Clovis way of life’ mean to Almond?
“The Clovis way of life is, for us, it’s been great. We put down roots there. We built our village there, right? We raised two of our three kids there … but I feel like everybody deserves that,” Almond said.
Almond’s family has already felt the cost of living. “Our son got married and he and his wife moved back to Missouri, which is where we’re from originally, because they couldn’t afford to live out here,” Almond said. “Within six months of being back there, they bought a house.”
“I feel we need to be more aware that Clovis isn’t completely white, and so many people in Clovis don’t feel represented by our city council, and that’s one of the things I really want to change,” Almond said.
How does Almond view the switch to district elections?
“I honestly, before it happened, didn’t have an opinion on it either way,” Almond said. “I don’t know if it makes it easier or harder to run in Clovis.”
What are Almond’s priorities for District 5?
“We need to be working together more. We need to repair the rift in our society,” Almond said.
The first priority is housing: “For me, it’s the affordable housing issue.” The city is under pressure to find sites for denser housing, Almond said. “Right now they’re scrambling to find places to put high density in,” Almond said, but “we still need to take into consideration that the people that are already there.”
Almond was the only candidate on the ballot this year who spoke about improving public transit.
“Our public transit system, it’s a completely different system than Fresno, the FAX system, and it is not user-friendly at all,” Almond said.
“From my house, I live near Clovis and Alluvial, and to get to Clovis Community College at Willow and International is an hour and a half and three buses,” Almond said.”If it was easier to use, I think more people would use it.”
Almond also wants “roads where it’s safe for the kids to walk to school, ride their bikes, things like that, as well as the public transit system.” “I am a Measure S supporter.”
She also wants to start a conversation about the city’s Flock license plate cameras.
“I know a lot of people who support me are like, we need to get rid of the Flock cameras. And I’m like, I don’t know if that’s realistic. I mean, do we really need to be in a surveillance state? … I don’t think so.”
“If we can’t get rid of them, we definitely need to have better oversight on them,” Almond said. “And that’s bipartisan.”
How should Clovis grow?
Carefully, and not before the roads and utilities are there. “When we first moved in, like, Alluvial, Nees was the edge of town,” Almond said. “We’ve seen it grow out so much and we miss seeing farmland.”
Of the Vista Ranch area to the north, Almond said: “There’s a lot of infrastructure work that is going to have to happen for anything to build out there.”
Homes there now are rural: “Everyone’s on wells. … Fowler is not sufficient to handle the traffic that is zooming up and down Fowler with no shoulder.” Almond said: “It can’t be rushed.”
“Everyone’s already upset about the utility rates,” she said. “We need to look at what we have, obviously.”
Would Almond support a homeless shelter in Clovis?
Almond didn’t commit either way. “I don’t think the solution is just shooing them over into Fresno. I know, and I’m the only one that’s going to tell you that. But I don’t know what the solution is,” Almond said.
Almond framed it as a moral question. “How many people say that they’re good Christians, and isn’t that part of it, is loving your neighbor and helping take care of those that are less fortunate than us? I think so.”
What has the council gotten wrong?
Representation, Almond said, starting with Almond’s own council member.
“I think Drew lives in my neighborhood. How long has he been our city council person? And did I know he lived two streets away from me? No.”
Almond promised: “If I do win, I’ll be out there more.”
Almond also faulted the city for “using taxpayer money to fight a lawsuit about that, not meeting our affordable housing mandates.”
“It shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit for us to focus on affordable housing,” Almond said.
Asked if that pushed Almond to run: “I think so, for sure.”
Who are Almond’s top donors?
- $1,140 from Peggi Vaughan-Dotta
- $950 from the Fresno County Democratic Womens’ Club
Drew Bessinger
- Job: Clovis City Councilmember (ballot designation); retired Clovis police captain
- Age: 69
- Residency: Near Clovis and Alluvial
- Notable endorsements: Clovis Public Works and Employees Association; Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer; Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua; and State Sen. Shannon Grove
Who is Bessinger?
Bessinger, a New Jersey native, joined the Army at 18 and served four years as a military police officer, about two and a half of them in Germany. Bessinger then worked for the U.S. Department of Defense police in Virginia, in law enforcement in Santa Barbara and at a university police department in the Fresno area.
“I took a fairly substantial pay cut to go to work at Clovis PD in 1987,” Bessinger said. Bessinger rose to captain, working SWAT, detectives and community policing, earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Fresno State, and retired in 2009.
In retirement, Bessinger served as an interim police chief in Kingsburg, Parlier, Fowler and Atwater and as police chief at the Fresno airport. Bessinger won a council seat in 2017 with 68% of the vote after being outraised almost 3 to 1, Bessinger said, and served two years as mayor starting in 2019, which included the first year of the pandemic.
Bessinger said the city was right to let businesses reopen: “There came a point where it appeared to many people that this was more about power control than it was protecting the public.” Bessinger said a flooring store owner called, fearing bankruptcy. “I told them, open up. Wear a mask, socially distance, play the games that you have to. But the city of Clovis isn’t going to hound you as long as you act responsibly.”
Why is Bessinger running?
“I’m running for re-election because I have gas left in my tank. There are things that I want to do,” Bessinger said.
Bessinger’s first campaign was about police staffing. “The reason that I ran in 2017 was to rebuild the police department,” Bessinger said. The department fell from 116 officers in 2006 to 93 by 2011 even as the city grew, and with Measure Y it’s back to about 135, according to Bessinger.
“We’ve recovered and now we have a stable funding source that we can make sure that we grow our public safety, both police and fire, as the city grows.”
What does the ‘Clovis way of life’ mean to Bessinger?
Safety first. “We’re the safest city in the Central Valley, and we have been for over the last 10 years,” Bessinger said. “You can have a really nice home. You can have nice businesses. But if you’re not safe, your quality of life just isn’t there.”
“The safety of our community enhances everything else,” Bessinger said. “People want to live in a community where they’re safe, where there are good schools, there are parks and trails, community events, things like that.”
How does Bessinger view the switch to district elections?
Bessinger, who was elected citywide, doesn’t expect much to change soon. “I think things are going to be governed the way they used to be for at least two or three cycles,” Bessinger said. “The downside of districts is if you have a concerned citizen, they have five people they can call.”
Bessinger said the whole council has watched out for the city’s oldest area. “We have all been focused on Southwest Clovis, which is our older area and the area that struggles a little bit with a lot of things. And when you have five sets of eyes on it, that’s a good thing. Now there will be one, but I think that we’ll all be vigilant for that.”
The risk, Bessinger said, is a council member telling colleagues “don’t stick your nose in my district.” “And then you become issue-centric on your district at the cost of another. And that’s my concern.”
What are Bessinger’s priorities for District 5?
Asked what sets the district apart, Bessinger pointed to how Clovis’ growth north is straining county roads the city doesn’t control. “We can’t improve those roads because … they’re not ours,” Bessinger said.
“There’s already been a couple of fatalities up north of Shepherd that people are rightfully or wrongfully blaming on the growth from the city,” Bessinger said.
Traffic to Clovis North and Clovis Community College gets pushed onto roads “built as rural roads, not as arterials,” Bessinger said.
“We need to make sure that we try to mitigate the problems that our growth causes outside of our city limits.”
How should Clovis grow?
With the infrastructure paid for first. As Clovis grows north, “we are going into areas that have … no infrastructure in the ground, no sewer, no water,” Bessinger said.
The city will also need different kinds of housing: “We’re going to have seniors that are looking to downsize, young families, some more dense housing that’ll be more affordable.”
The general plan now being updated means “the decision that this council makes … will affect people 25 years from now.”
On the Northeast Urban Village, around Clovis Community Hospital: “If anything happens there, we’re looking five to ten years out, just from my estimation,” Bessinger said.
The city will likely need to pony up the money for some new waste treatment capacity.
“The sewer capacity on the north end will max out if we don’t do something,” he said. “What we might need to do is create another treatment plant up in the north end and do what we’re doing down south with our purple pipe water, with the reclaimed water,” Bessinger said. “We’re going to need to build another facility.”
Would Bessinger support a homeless shelter in Clovis?
No, but Bessinger said Clovis can’t leave it all to Fresno.
“Do I think that we should push this all on the city of Fresno? No, I do not. We’re a city of 130,000 people. We need to play a role in this. Do I think we should have a homeless shelter in Clovis? No, I don’t.”
After more than 30 years in law enforcement, Bessinger said: “The homelessness that we see are generally speaking because of mental health issues and substance abuse issues.” Bessinger said changes in state law took away the drug courts that used to push people into treatment, and “this is a problem that has been caused by state laws and the opening of jails.”
“I think we need to be strong working with our nonprofits,” he added. “There needs to be carrot and stick.”
What’s the one thing Bessinger would change?
Bessinger said it’s already underway: turning irrigation canal banks into trails in older neighborhoods.
“If we use our irrigation canals like they are linear parks, it will connect the neighborhoods. It will be a good thing for our seniors,” Bessinger said. The city’s second canal trail, at Letterman Park, just opened. The first is in southwest Clovis at Peach and Ashlan avenues.
What has the council gotten wrong?
Bessinger pointed to the closure of Shepherd Avenue for sewer and road work.
“People were mad about it and not without cause, and I think that we could have done better,” Bessinger said.
Bessinger said he has asked staff three questions, and they are due to report back: “How did we get here? What are we … going to do to fix this now? And how are we going to avoid this in the future?”
Who are Bessinger’s top donors to his campaign?
- $5,000 from the Clovis Firefighters Association PAC
- $5,000 from California Heart Medical Associates Inc
- $2,500 from Todd Cook, with Cook Land Company
- $2,500 from Valley Housing Affordability Advocates PAC, a group of local suburban developers
- $2,500 from Clovis Public Works Employees Affiliation
- $2,500 from Karen Spencer
- $2,500 from Richard Spencer
- $2,500 from Clovis Herndon Center II LLC, affiliated with Paynter Realty and Investments
Des Haus
- Job: Director of legislation, policy and business acquisition, Southland Industries
- Age: 37
- Residency: Kings Crossing neighborhood, near Clovis and Teague avenues
- Notable endorsements: Clovis Police Officers Association, Peace Officers Research Association of California, California Rifle and Pistol Association
Who is Haus?
Haus grew up in Huron and graduated from Coalinga High School in 2007. Haus and herHaus’s husband have two daughters, 6 and 7, and chose their house near Woods Elementary for the school. Her grandmother also lives with her family.
At Southland Industries, a design-build mechanical, electrical and plumbing firm, Haus works with cities, counties and school districts nationwide on infrastructure projects. “I read bills for fun, which is probably very weird for someone to hear,” Haus said. Haus is president of the League of California Cities’ partner board and co-chairs the Measure Y oversight committee.
Haus ran for council in 2022 and lost. “I ran it very much as a homegrown campaign. I funded my own election,” Haus said. “You learn more in your losses than you do in your wins.” This time, Haus has knocked on “over a thousand doors.”
Why is Haus running?
“I want Clovis to remain a small town filled with big town opportunity,” Haus said. “I think that I’m a good representation of what our district is. It’s a young family, young mom, I work for a living.
Haus said “it is time for a little change of guard.” “We need representation of who’s investing in our city as we grow, and I believe that’s what I am.”
Haus pointed to the Clovis police union’s endorsement. “I think it just says a lot of where our public safety is, the boots on the ground, of having faith in kind of a change of guard, and they put their faith in me.” Haus said the endorsements have flipped since her last run: “In 2022 when I ran, I had the firefighters endorsement and Drew [Bessineger] did not, and this year it’s kind of switched.”
What does the ‘Clovis way of life’ mean to Haus?
“I’ve never felt unwelcome in Clovis, and I truly believe that the Clovis way of life just means having equity through opportunity,” Haus said, “especially because I am a Latina and I am a minority.”
Haus prefers a different slogan. “Instead of using, like, the Clovis way of life … that’s skewed depending on what side of the life you’re on.”
“I say ‘Clovis first, Clovis always,’ because I’m a person that believes if you put your community first you will always succeed.”
“Clovis is always willing to give expertise, good, bad, or indifferent,” Haus said. “They want to figure out what makes Clovis Clovis.”
How does Haus view the switch to district elections?
Haus prefers at-large elections, calling them “very beneficial in a city of our size” and warning that districts “can silo communities,” as Haus said has happened in Hanford and Avenal.
“You don’t put District 5 zip code 93619, right? You put Clovis 93619. That is where you live,” Haus said. “So it’s not about siloing districts or populations. It’s really about bringing everybody together.”
However, Haus did credit districts with drawing more candidates.
“Being in district has given people the unique opportunity to feel that they can throw their hat in the ring because it’s not as intimidating as being at large.”
How should Clovis grow?
“Sustainable growth at the end of the day. Do not grow if you don’t have the infrastructure. So you could have a plan to grow, but you can’t build a house on a foundation of sand,” Haus said. Haus wants more economic development to help pay for that infrastructure, though “I’m not saying build an IKEA tomorrow.”
On the Northeast Urban Village: “We cannot overbuild if the infrastructure is not there, so if it means we need a new wastewater treatment plant or whatever it may be, we have to make sure that before these homes go in, our constituents are provided with the quality of life that’s expected with living in Clovis.”
“The worst thing you want to do is put up 30,000 units and then none of them have adequate water or adequate utilities or adequate safety services. I mean, we pride ourselves in having an under seven minute response time. In fact, I think it’s closer to six minutes with PD and fire,” Haus said.
Would Haus support a homeless shelter in Clovis?
Not now. “I just truly believe that you can’t just give them a bed and expect something to change,” Haus said. Haus supports the Fresno Mission’s City Center: “My family, we donate a lot of money, time and resources to them because we do believe in the mission of what they’re doing with the homeless population out there.”
“I don’t see where we could do that in Clovis right now, but that would be something that I would want to speak to our staff about,” Haus said. Haus said homelessness “does come down to mental health issues,” and added: “It almost be like a false hope type of thing if you built a homeless shelter right now and didn’t have the adequate resources to serve them.”
What’s the one thing Haus would change?
“First things first is I just want to understand the budget fully and how those pieces of the pie are getting cut,” she said.
Haus also wants to keep Measure Y money going to public safety. “I think the biggest thing with Measure Y is just ensuring that it’s not a bait and switch for our constituents,” Haus said. Haus noted, “It all goes into the general fund, so they don’t necessarily have to use it for [public safety].”
What has the council gotten wrong?
Not much, said Haus, who is challenging a council member first elected in 2017. “I don’t think we’ve necessarily done anything wrong,” Haus said. “I’m very thankful to the current dais and the dais before them. I think that they built a solid community.”
Under districts, Haus said, each council member “is going to be responsible for advocating on why growth is either correct at that moment or maybe we should hold off.”
Who are Haus’ top donors to her campaign?
- $2,500 from the Clovis Police Officers Association PAC
- $1,000 from Kuldip Thusu, a Dinuba City Councilmember
