Strong words came from council member Mike Karbassi on Thursday after General Services Director Brian Barr proposed spending millions in taxpayer dollars to update Fresno’s vehicle fleet to comply with state clean air mandates. The mandate requires medium and heavy-duty trucks to transition to zero-emission vehicles.

Karbassi responded, “So, If I wanted to give CARB a giant middle finger, we can do that at this point?” CARB is the California Air Resources Board, which sets statewide air-quality policies and regulations.