what's at stake?
The council leadership makes the ultimate call on what gets put on the agenda for discussion, and how council meetings are run, including public comment.
The Fresno City Council re-elected Councilmember Mike Karbassi for a second term with the president’s gavel on Thursday during the first meeting of 2026, the last year that most of these politicians serve their term in their respective districts.
Central Fresno Councilmember Nelson Esparza was also elected as vice president.
The vote comes after an ordinance passed in 2024 amending city code to allow for re-elections, as opposed to a procedural rotation as seen at the county’s board of supervisors.
This year marks the final year this makeup of the city council will still exist, as a majority of the dais leave or seek a different office — offering local voters the possibility of introducing a massive shift to the city’s political landscape.
Councilmember Brandon Vang will seek re-election this summer for the southeast city district, after winning a special election to finish an incomplete term; Councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Mike Karbassi will seek higher office, with the west city districts up for grabs, and a chance at an opening of the northwest seat should the latter win a bid for county supervisor; Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Nelson Esparza will term out of their seats, guaranteeing new representation in the central and southwest districts.
Esparza announced on Thursday morning a bid for the California Board of Equalization.
Mayor Dyer reassured of Gov. Newsom’s $250 million commitment to Fresno
The last of a $250 million commitment from the state toward the city’s downtown revitalization efforts is in the governor’s recently announced budget for the next fiscal year, according to Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer.
The mayor said at Thursday’s council meeting that he was assured by the director of the state’s department of finance on a recent call that the remaining $100 million is in the recently presented budget by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“There were a lot of naysayers out there that said it would never materialize, that the governor wouldn’t come through,” Dyer said. “I’m here to tell you, looks like the governor’s going to come through with all $250 million.”
Newsom initially pledged the funding in 2023 to help the city replace severely outdated infrastructure to Fresno’s downtown district — a problem the mayor and developers have singled out as one of, if not the most, significant hurdles in Dyer’s desire to get 10,000 living in the heart of the city.
The governor’s investment inflated to nearly $300 million after an influx of housing infrastructure support.
However, it remains to be seen whether the nine-figure investment will survive the budget’s May revisions. The governor’s commitment to downtown Fresno funding has been delivered in installments, at least in part, due to the state’s need to constantly shore up projected deficits.
The state budget has a projected $18 billion deficit heading into the next fiscal year, and the state’s independent analysis group has already poked significant holes into Newsom’s proposals.
How conversations at City Hall have changed, following Fresnoland investigation
One week after Fresnoland’s two-part investigation into city contracts, the Fresno City Council is already having detailed public conversations and debates about city contracts and their nature — the likes of which seldom take place inside the Fresno city council chambers for the public to see.
After questions from Councilmember Vang, Janz clarified that his office’s role in the process of signing off on contracts is only to make sure “all the Is are dotted and Ts are crossed.” Janz said his office only signs off on the legality of contracts and nothing more than that.
Councilmembers Karbassi and Miguel Arias co-sponsored an item increasing the value of an existing contract with a consultant and former city councilmember Blong Xiong from $62,000 to $110,000.
The increase to the contract makes it greater than a city threshold that requires city council approval. Hence, the two councilmembers brought the contract before the Fresno City Council.
Richardson questioned why the city is using taxpayer money to pay for a consultant to represent specific people and communities to the City of Fresno. He also asked Arias to confirm that the money used to pay for Xiong’s consulting services would come out of either his or Karbassi’s council budget.
“The intention is that the money that I’ve contracted for this vendor has come out of my district budget,” Arias said. “My intention is for it to continue coming out of my district budget from my allocation.”
The contract was approved by the council in a 6-0 vote, with Karbassi absent at the time.
Earlier during the Thursday council meeting, city leaders discussed other ways to use small-dollar contracts. Instead of handing out contracts to consultants, Councilmember Tyler Maxwell asked if they can be handed out directly to contractors who can make infrastructure improvements — like repairs to sidewalks and gutters.
“That’s just something my office would be interested in,” Maxwell said. “We have a lot of these little minor infrastructure projects that can sometimes take longer than larger infrastructure projects because we don’t have these contracts in place. I think having some of these might expedite some of that work.”
City Manager Georgeanne White said it could be possible and that she’d be open to discussing more details about that with Maxwell.
