Two candidates are running in the Nov. 3 election to vote on a representative for District 1 in the Clovis City Council’s first district elections.
District 1 covers the city’s southwest corner, roughly from Willow Avenue east to Clovis Avenue and from Highway 168 and Shaw Avenue south to Ashlan Avenue, with an arm reaching south toward Dakota Avenue. It includes some of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.
Read more about where the candidates stand on key issues below.
Mason Magsig
- Job: Commercial banker at FFB (formerly known as Fresno First Bank)
- Age: 22
- Residency: Near Clovis and Shaw Avenues
- Notable endorsements: California Republican Assembly, Clovis Firefighters Association (IAFF) Local 1695
Who is Magsig?
Magsig graduated from Clovis High School, spent two years at Clovis Community College and two semesters at Fresno State, and is finishing a business and management degree through an online school based in Maine while working full time. At Clovis Community College, Magsig founded and led the campus Turning Point USA chapter. Magsig is also involved with the Central Valley Young Republicans and has spent four years as a junior high youth leader at New Covenant Community church in Fresno.
Magsig works in commercial lending for businesses across the Valley. As a teenager, Magsig worked for a consulting company run by Magsig’s father, then spent nearly four years scooping ice cream at Scoops, Soups & More in Old Town.
Why is Magsig running?
“Obviously I kind of grew up in that realm. I’ve always loved local politics,” Magsig said. “At 12 years old, I was walking precincts and doing all those things for different candidates for local races.”
The first campaign Magsig remembers walking for was “for my father in 2016 when he was running for supervisor.” Magsig’s father is Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who is on the Nov. 3 ballot for the 12th state Senate district and an ex-Clovis Councilmember.
What does the ‘Clovis way of life’ mean to Magsig?
“When I think about the Clovis way of life, I think about my childhood and just growing up playing outside. My parents not necessarily having to worry about safety because Clovis has that good reputation and our first responders do a great job with that,” Magsig said.
Asked about the biggest threat to it, Magsig said: “I don’t think that there’s any direct kind of threats to that. I think that it’s important to be proactive instead of reactive.”
Magsig pointed to the 2008 recession, which he said cut the number of officers per capita and took the city almost 20 years to recover from. Avoiding a repeat means paying for public safety, and “politicians talk all the time about public safety, but they don’t talk about how they’re going to pay for it,” Magsig said.
Magsig’s answer is more business, not taxes. “When you look at the map of Clovis and particularly like the zonings, there’s not a lot of industrial. And I want to see more industrial in the north and in the east,” Magsig said. That doesn’t mean smokestacks: “I’m thinking like service business. So your HVAC companies, your developers, construction, a lot of blue-collar stuff.”
When Magsig asks business clients why they aren’t in Clovis, “they tell me we would love to be in the city of Clovis, but there’s nowhere for us to go.”
How does Magsig view the switch to district elections?
Magsig expects the council to keep a citywide view. “I don’t see the council only caring about their one district. I see all of us looking at the council as a whole and the city as a whole and how we can benefit each part of the district.”
Magsig also said the whole council should invest in District 1, which he said has the lowest household income of the five districts. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So, in this case, I want the council to invest in District 1 because it is the oldest part of the city and arguably needs the most revitalization.”
What are Magsig’s priorities for District 1?
First, streetlights where there aren’t any, because “creating light at night mitigates crime more than people realize,” Magsig said.
Second, Old Town. “I want to have more events in Old Town as well. I think that already Old Town is the heart of the city.”
Third, sidewalks, potholes and repaving. “Luckily, Ashlan is getting paved right now because that was long overdue.”
Asked what Magsig would want to show voters after a first term: “Whether it’s streetlights, whether it is sidewalks or … properly fixing streets, I think those things are super important and things that people care about.”
How should Clovis grow?
“As the city continues to grow, it’s obviously going to be a strain on public safety,” Magsig said. Part of the Clovis way of life, Magsig said, is that when people call 911, “within two minutes, there’s cops and there’s fire and an EMT if needed.”
“It’s not fair to people, let’s say, in Loma Vista, if they have to wait longer than people closer to the already developed parts of the city,” Magsig said.
Magsig expects Clovis to keep growing “because people want to be here,” but on certain terms.
“I do want a city that grows outward and not on top of each other,” Magsig said. “I don’t want to lessen the importance of public safety and just the Clovis way of life for new people, just so we can say that we build more houses.”
Would Magsig support a homeless shelter in Clovis?
No. “I think that other solutions might be better. I don’t know, in my opinion, government is not great at fixing issues. The smaller the government is, the better,” Magsig said.
Magsig would rather the city support groups like the Fresno Mission, which Magsig called “a phenomenal nonprofit where they truly turn people’s lives around.”
“If the City of Clovis can assist the Fresno Mission or existing nonprofits alike, I think that’s where the city could invest in terms to have a true beneficial effect rather than just saying, yes, I’m a council member and I just provided these amount of beds for the homeless population.”
What about water rates and taxes?
Clovis recently raised water rates, and voters approved Measure Y in 2024 to rebuild police staffing.
On water, Magsig said the increase was steep because the city had gone so long without one. “The reason why Clovis had … such a higher rate was because we haven’t had a water rate hike in, I think it was 2008.”
“I obviously would love to be in a position where we don’t have to raise water rates, but that’s just sometimes not how we’re able to do things,” Magsig said. “I don’t want to raise sales tax. Life right now is already super expensive. I don’t see another water rate hike happening.”
Who are Magsig’s top donors?
As of Sept. 30, the top donors to Magsig’s campaign include:
- $5,900 from the Associated Builders and Contractors Northern California Chapter PAC
- $5,000 from Mid-Valley Disposal
- $5,000 from Cook Land Company
- $5,000 from SG Marketing & Design
- $3,500 from Richard Spencer
Maeketah Sayasane
- Job: GIS specialist in the Fresno city planning department
- Age: 36
- Residency: Near Ashlan and Winery avenues
- Notable endorsements: None shared with Fresnoland
Who is Sayasane?
Sayasane grew up in Salinas, moved to the Fresno area in high school and graduated from McLane High School, then earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and legal studies at Fresno State. Sayasane has lived in Clovis for more than a decade on its western edge: “Right across the street from my house is Fresno.”
Sayasane worked for the Fresno Police Department as a cadet, community service officer, crime prevention officer for the Northwest Policing District and crime analyst, then took a GIS specialist job at Fresno City Hall that placed Sayasane in the planning department.
That job came after Sayasane ran for Clovis City Council in 2019, when someone at a candidate forum asked about the planning process. “I knew nothing about the planning process, what it was. I didn’t even know what a planner was,” Sayasane said. “And now I love planning.”
Sayasane has never served on a city commission but chairs the Winery Warriors, a large neighborhood watch group that works with both Clovis and Fresno police. (Fresnoland suggested the group be renamed to “Wino Watch, which Sayasane agreed she’d ask around about.)
Why is Sayasane running?
“I want to feel like we’re part of Clovis too,” Sayasane said.
Sayasane said the city grew faster than it hired the needed staff, and raised that in the 2019 campaign.
“In 2019, I talked about that. I said, we are expanding at a quick rate and we’re not filling and hiring the police and fire to … follow that expansion.” Sayasane supported the Measure Y tax: “I was in support of that tax raise.”
“Public safety will always be number one and how we tie it into everything,” Sayasane said.
What does the ‘Clovis way of life’ mean to Sayasane?
Sayasane said Clovis police are why Sayasane lives there. “I could have bought a house in Fresno and paid $30,000 less in 2015,” Sayasane said, but working at Fresno PD and seeing its response times changed that. “I can tell you Clovis PD, they are fabulous. I feel like every law enforcement agency should be like Clovis.”
“The Clovis way of life to me is neighborly, community police, good police service, clean … vibrant,” Sayasane said. “Being a good neighbor and really embodying what the Clovis way of life is, it’s really neighbor helping neighbor.”
How does Sayasane view the switch to district elections?
Sayasane said at-large elections left southwest Clovis behind. “All of the council members live very north, in the northern part of Clovis. And not to say that that was a bad thing, but sometimes when things are happening in Clovis, it felt like our area was left out. So we are really the underserved part of Clovis.”
What are Sayasane’s priorities for District 1?
Canal trails, as Fresno has long wanted to build under an agreement with the Fresno Irrigation District.
“We have a lot of canals in District 1. So I would like to see trails built along those canals and connected to the greater part of Clovis,” Sayasane said.
Sayasane says she wants everyone to see the Clovis difference when they’re driving in from Fresno: more green, more shade.
“Driving down northbound on the Willow corridor, I would like to see that transition … for people to see they’re entering Clovis based on the landscape or something changing, transitioning from Fresno to Clovis.”
Sayasane said crime is a bigger concern in the district than up north. Sayasane pointed to businesses along the Willow and Shaw corridors and to an affordable housing development where “unfortunately, there has been a lot of crime associated with the people living there,” referring to Butterfly Gardens.
Sayasane also wants big trucks off residential streets near Old Town. “On 3rd Street specifically … it’s a residential neighborhood, and you see these big commercial like 18-wheelers come through the neighborhood,” Sayasane said. “That damages the roads, especially in a residential neighborhood. I don’t think that should be allowed.”
And Sayasane wants the city to fix broken sidewalks. Sayasane described being hurt tripping on a lifted sidewalk in Old Town and learning that the homeowner was responsible for the repair and had to submit a plan to make it.
“A lot of the elderly people who live in Old Town, for example, they don’t have the money. I mean, especially if it’s a sidewalk, it’s clearly a sidewalk, something the city should pay for.”
For homeowners falling behind on upkeep, Sayasane wants the city to chase grants and line up volunteers and trade apprentices.
“A lot of the times it’s elderly folks who just can’t get out and mow their lawn and they need help,” Sayasane said. “When people care, things get done. So you just have to have a person who cares.”
How should Clovis grow?
Sayasane said growth decisions need to start with public safety.
“In planning, that’s what we always look at beforehand. Before we start anything, we’re always planning, well, where would we put a police station if we’re doing this or where would we put fire,” Sayasane said.
“We need someone on council that they’re thinking about those things before they allow more development.”
Would Sayasane support a homeless shelter in Clovis?
No. “I think Clovis is still too small enough to accommodate any type of infrastructure at this point. So I think we would still rely on the services from the city of Fresno,” Sayasane said.
“If you have a big shelter here and they’re getting money, and then you have another one [in Fresno], it just wouldn’t make any sense. Because then now we’re competing for who’s going to get how much dollars.”
Sayasane said Clovis could help pay for services, pointing to agreements the two cities already share, such as FAX bus service into Clovis.
What’s the one thing Sayasane would change?
Sayasane would hold affordable housing managers accountable for crime at their properties. “We’ve expanded so much, we now have to abide by the state’s regulations for affordable housing,” Sayasane said. Sayasane said residents’ complaints about calls for service at one complex went to council members, who said the city bore no liability.
Sayasane said she’s concerned that the residents at a nearby affordable housing complex are dealing drugs to the homeless.
“They do a lot of drug deals outside there. I have friends who refuse to run by there because there’s always people dealing drugs,” she said.
“It’s the person[s] living in the apartment dealing to the homeless.”
She said that as Clovis builds more affordable housing, the council needs to step up to avoid outcomes like this.
“Since we have to have affordable housing, I mean, we’re kind of bound to by the state, we need to start holding management accountable because, yes, I want to see people have … an opportunity to have a roof over their head,” Sayasane said. “Management needs to be held accountable to with the people they’re renting to.”
The model is one Sayasane says they worked with in Fresno PD’s Northwest district: fine property owners until they evict tenants who cause repeated problems.
“If they were on Section 8 or any type of affordable housing, we would say, okay, if you don’t get them out, then you have to pay the fines. And so then they would be motivated to evict them.”
“The city has a lot of power. They do. They can implement fines,” Sayasane said. “Nine times out of ten, the management will always say, okay, I’ll get them. I’ll get rid of them if I don’t have to pay the fine.”
“It has to be city, police and management and community … Everyone has to work together,” Sayasane said. “It’s okay to say crime is not welcome here. We don’t want it. No one should want it on any side of the political aisle.”
What about water rates and taxes?
Sayasane said rising costs come with a growing city. “When you become a bigger city and you expand at such a quick rate, you get the big city problems.” Sayasane said the water rate increase phases in over three years.
To offset costs, Sayasane wants the city to look into community choice energy, a way to buy power other than through PG&E.
“It’s called community choice … where you get to shop around for your energy, and I think that’s something the city of Clovis, we can look into.”
“A lot of my neighbors, like I said, we are the underserved part of Clovis. We are. So income levels are lower,” Sayasane said. “If there’s something I can do by help mitigating one cost to help them afford other things, that’s something I’m willing to do.”
Who are Sayasane’s top donors?
According to filings dated Sept. 28, Sayasane has not raised any money for their campaign.
