Clovis Council candidates oppose mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. They disagreed on this

Jim Guy
The Fresno Bee

Eight candidates seeking three open seats on the Clovis City Council took sometimes widely divergent positions during their first debate Tuesday night.

While all eight agreed they love the city’s small-town feel and strongly support its police and fire departments, the future growth and the best approach to dealing with homeless issues brought differences to the forefront.

Only one of the candidates is an incumbent on the council. The other seven are fresh faces to local government in Fresno County’s second largest city. The candidates are:

  • Matt Basgall, 54, former Clovis police chief/director of security at California Health Sciences University, a Republican

  • Drew Bessinger, 65, the incumbent council member and former police chief at Fresno Yosemite International airport, a Republican

  • Kyle Chaney, 47, realtor, a Republican

  • Des Haus, 33, energy company executive, no party preference

  • Joseph Hebert, 64, City of Madera parks director, a Democrat

  • Diane Pearce, 43, business owner, local Republican leader

  • Josh Phanco, 45, insurance agency owner, no party preference

  • Guy Redner, 36, caretaker, a Republican

The present council includes outgoing Jose Flores, Mayor Pro Tem Lynne Ashbeck and Vong Mouanoutoua. Council member Bob Whalen resigned after he was elected a Fresno Superior Court judge.

Candidates Martin Salas, 28, Fresno police officer, a Republican, and Mark Kazanjian, 58, owner of Neighbors restaurant, a Republican, were not at the debate.

Through a show of hands, all candidates were in agreement on two issues: None supported mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, and all were solidly behind the city’s twice-yearly bulk curbside trash pickups.

Basgall struck a chord that rang true with the other candidates when he noted that he has lived in the city since he was 5 years old.

“Clovis is our home,” he said.

That sentiment that was echoed by relative newcomer Hebert, a 13-year-resident who called the city “among the best places we’ve lived.”

But Redner said some things could be better in the city. He felt more work could be done to “make sure there is a Clovis life for everybody,” and argued that those living in south Clovis have issues with transportation and poverty not felt in the northern parts of the city. He called on the council to invest in the city’s infrastructure.

In terms of the city’s growth, Redner also took an opposing view from Bessinger.

“We need to invest in high-density residential development,” he said, a sentiment popular in Sacramento, and something that sent Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer on a recent fact-finding trip to Austria.

Countered Bessinger:

“Erosion of local control is the problem.” He argued that constructing multi-level housing forced a city to pay unaffordable prevailing wages to construction workers.

“Someone has to subsidize that,” he added.

Pearce agreed that the council needed to push back against “crazy Sacramento mandates.”

While candidates agreed Clovis faces the same issues with homelessness as other cities, they differed on solutions.

“The main issue is dealing with people with mental health and addiction problems,” said Chaney, who called for the use of the “force of law” to address the issue, if necessary.

Haus said the issue was “jobs. Before they become homeless.”

But Phanco noted:

“These are people, our neighbors, our friends.”

And, Herbert urged that the city “treat people with dignity and kindness.”

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