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Clovis City Council Reviews Multiple Topics J.T. Gomez jt21gomez@gmail.com
With multiple topics discussed at Monday’s City Council meeting, the following article will be presented in a summarized format. To begin the council meeting, City Councilmembers took the time to proclaim the month of June as “Men’s Health Month”. The proclamation read by Councilman Bob Whalen, a proponent for exercise and health in his own right, read “Whereas despite advances in medical technology and research, men continue to live on average five years less than women.” Whalen went on to state in the proclamation that Native and African American men have the lowest life expectancy. Upon mentioning the Men’s Health Month Website that has been established at www. menshealthmonth.org, Whalen finished the proclamation by stating that the City of Clovis will ” …focus on a broad range of men’s health issues including heart disease, mental health, diabetes, prostrate,
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remembrance of those who have fallen reminds Lorenzo Rios, CEO of the Clovis Veterans Memorial District. Rios spoke about the importance of the organizations that were in attendance to the Memorial Day event. “Look at the organizations that are here. You’ve got Boy Scouts, you’ve got Girl Scouts, you have veterans organizations, you’ve got service club organizations. That’s not by accident.” He went on to explain that these groups were at the Memorial District deliberately to “bring Americans together” and to make the community a “better place”. This also comes at the mention of COVID-19 which he called an event that “divided our country, and instilled fear and suspect of the other.” In pushing politics aside, Rios said the only agenda the Memorial District has is assisting in making the community of Clovis the “greatest community to live in” and by
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and continue to make for them.” Halterman also mentioned the two year absence of the event due to COVID-19 concerns. “Well I would say it’s a rebuilding year, we haven’t had it the last two years because of COVID.” She then went on to speak about the turnout of runners as well as spectators. “We have a pretty good turnout but I think it will continue to grow as the years go by. I mean at one point we had about 600 to 700 people.” There were about 300-400 runners at
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testicular, and colon cancer.” Then, the council brought up the TOT tax they intend to place on November ballots. Presented to the council as a public hearing, City Clerk Karey Cha summarized the past discussions and events taking place regarding the approval of this tax. What started with a call for help from Police Chief Curt Fleming morphed into six meetings of the Citizens Advisory Committee in which discussion was held into how they could give the police department the proper funding with which the Chief had asked for. The City’s final decision came at their May 9th City Council meeting in which they decided to propose a Transient Occupancy Tax that will affect those buildings housing mostly out of town visitors to the community of Clovis. A 2% tax increase will be proposed on the ballot as a general tax come the time of the November 8th General Municipal Election. The City Council approved this action at Monday’s council meeting. There was discussion on the proper
wording for the ballot to which Mayor Pro-Tem Lynne Ashbeck had concerns. With the possibility of asking for further funds in future elections, Ashbeck believes that asking for $500,000 dollars at a time is going to be too demanding on the public and won’t last as a long-term solution. As of now, the $500,000 the council is asking for from the public on the November ballot is only the start and nowhere near the original numbers the police department feels it needs to be properly staffed. The public works department held a vote for multiple districts. A short discussion was had on the recent diagram and assessments for the 2022-2023 Annual Levy for Landscape Maintenance District Number 1. A vote to improve the lands through proper funding was held in two zones, zone #1 and zone #5. In zone #1, the vote passed with 63% but in zone #5, they missed the vote by two votes at 50.09%. Because of this, Assistant Public Utilities Director Glenn Eastes reported that the public works division will resort to reducing watering,
mowing, edging, and will only remove playground equipment without replacing if damaged or broken. Finally, the council discussed the possibility of creating a Historical Preservation Commission. One of the last items on the agenda also turned out to be one of the most important for a select group of citizens that were also present at the meeting. The item on the agenda was to consider a request to create a Historical Preservation Commission. The request came ultimately from citizens’ push to fight against the tearing down of the Carnegie Library, a building that now stands under the Clovis Chamber of Commerce’s discretion. Historically, the City of Clovis has never had any type of historical preservation society, and it’s due to those who wanted to save their Carnegie Library that there looks to be one now in Clovis. The council considered the item and directed staff to get started on creating the commission, a move that the council deems “will get done”.
letting the veterans in the community understand that their sacrifice matters, and “making sure everybody understands how blessed we are to live in this great nation.” The Clovis Veterans Memorial District was established in 1946, a move that Rios calls “a will of the people”. On this Memorial Day, Rios stated that the Memorial District stands as a “permanent living memorial”, that seventy-six years later stands at the center of a number of community activities including this Memorial Day Event. Bringing the people to interact with each other is something that Rios calls “something novel” of the community of Clovis. “This day is about remembering the fallen…Those who pay the ultimate price in defending our freedoms would be, I would offer, happy to see that their sacrifice made a difference. That we can celebrate.” said Rios. He represented the fact that the community as well as the nation is allowed to celebrate is something that he hopes those who have passed would have been able to realize. “While you see the celebration, you don’t
forget what today is about.” “Some people will tell you, the order is Armed Forces Day are those in uniform, Veterans Day are those who had the opportunity to take off the uniform, and Memorial Day is for those who never had the opportunity to take off that uniform because they laid it down while in uniform.” Rios explained this distinction between the three days of observance, something that one writer had learned within the two days of covering Memorial Day events. In speaking about the community’s support that the Memorial District has received, Rios also mentioned that the community has been fully supportive, “very generous” and has “never forgotten the district”. He replied that the Memorial District has made it a point to honor the community of Clovis and each hold a symbiotic relationship where “you can’t have one without the other.” “When you walk in [into the Memorial District’s vicinity], there’s this very warm, welcoming experience. And that’s to everyone, which I would offer, is part of the Clovis
way….There’s this sense of welcoming, and appreciation for the other, and that’s what you’re seeing here. A number of organizations were in attendance at the Memorial Day Event. Many of their missions were similar in that they were supporting veterans and the Memorial District. This includes the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association who’s mission includes “supporting veteran organizations through financial and physical support”. The motorcycle organization is organized by those who love to ride, yes, but also through their efforts they support veterans through opportunities like CalVet homes where affordable long-term care to aged and disabled veterans is possible. Inside the Memorial District was both the Concert by the Clovis Community Band as well as the Memorial Day Luncheon that took place from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. All free to the public, the Memorial District gave a celebration like no other and is happy to do it in remembrance of those who gave even more for the nation.
the 2022 Memorial Run and about eighteen vendors according to Administrative Assistant for the Clovis Senior Community Center and leader of the planning for the Memorial Run, Moniqua Randolph. Being there since the inaugural Memorial Run in 2009, Randolph illustrated that the run got started when those at the Community Center “..wanted to do something to give back to our local vets, our active military. So we decided to try to do a memorial run and eleven years later we’re still up and running.” In thanking the sponsors and the community for their support of the run, Ran-
dolph stated, “They’ve given us 100% of their support. I think the fact that it’s more of a family orientated event brings in a lot of families with their children because we also provide a Kids Race as well as the Walk and Roll Race.” She explained that the thought here is to find ways to get as many people involved from children to the seniors who can participate in walking or rolling their wheelchairs across the finish line in the Senior Walk and Roll race. The point of the runs continues to be an opportunity to show respect, reverence, and give remembrance to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice as well as those who
have served or are currently serving in the armed forces. Moniqua spoke on the significance of the run to commemorate veterans, “I think because with the veterans and active military they’re always active, they’re always doing something, there’s always movement involved in whatever they do for our country.” “I’m just glad that we had enough out here to have a good group and get the people out here to start their Memorial Day Weekend the right way.” Results for the race can be found on the Memorial Run website.
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