Updating a story from earlier today, officials reinstated Brooke Ashjian to a Measure C advisory committee, less than a week after his removal for “derogatory” comments about the process to renew the Fresno County transportation sales tax.

The comments broke decorum guidelines, Fresno Council of Governments Executive Director Robert Phipps told the Fresno City Council last week. During the first steering committee meeting on April 26, Consultant Kendall Flint talked about not publicly disparaging the process.

Ashjian, a former Fresno Unified School District trustee, is the founder/CEO of Fresno-based Seal Rite Paving and Grading and a staunch advocate for fixing roads.

Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran, chair of the Fresno COG Policy Board, told GV Wire Tuesday afternoon that Ashjian is back. While Measure C staff appoint members to the committee with recommendations from local mayors and community groups, Beltran and Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez enforce the rules.

“It is OK to have our disagreements, but it is important to stay united,” Beltran said.

Beltran said she spoke with Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer on Monday, and spoke with the rest of the policy board — composed of mayors from the 15 cities within Fresno County and Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld — before making a final decision.

The move to dismiss Ashjian did not sit well with Fresno City Councilmembers and staff.

The steering committee will suggest what the Measure C renewal’s spending plan should look like.

Measure C, the half-cent sales tax first approved by voters in 1986, expires June 30, 2027. The Measure C authority and social justice coalition Transportation for All are meeting to recommend priorities for a renewal on the 2026 ballot.

Transportation for All’s involvement came as a compromise deal, after the group floated the idea of placing its own initiative on the 2026 ballot.

Ashjian declined comment on Tuesday.

Ashjian in Trouble for Inaccuracies, Not Opinion: Beltran

Ashjian, on GV Wire and local media outlets, criticized the makeup of the committee, mentioned local political officials by name in a negative fashion, and said that up to 50% of Measure C will go toward buses.

Beltran and others told GV Wire that it was not Ashjian’s disagreements, but his floating of the 50% mass transit figure that got him in trouble.

“No one is trying to censure him. He has his freedom of speech. His inaccurate comments hurt Measure C. It was untruthful,” Beltran said.

Beltran said Measure C officials are still collecting data from public opinion data.

“I don’t know where the 50% is coming from,” Flint said.

Espi Sandoval, a former Kerman City Councilmember, recently added to the committee representing A Higher Education for All, also disputed Ashjian’s claim.

“I’m hoping we can all work together, not lie like Ashjian,” Sandoval said. “We want our roads fixed. We are the most neglected communities. It’s becoming really nasty and ugly, and it shouldn’t.”

Sandoval said he supports 80% of Measure C funds going toward fixing roads.

Dyer on Ashjian

Dyer said that he not only spoke with Beltran, but other members of Fresno COG and the Fresno County Transportation Authority — the government body created by Measure C. He was not notified of Ashjian’s removal.

“(Beltran) asked me what was my preference. I shared with her that I wanted Brooke Ashjian either reinstated or the notice rescinded. And to my knowledge, that either has occurred or will be occurring,” Dyer said.

Dyer said he fought for three Fresno representatives on the steering committee — recommending Ashjian, labor leader Chuck Riojas, and businesswoman Karen Musson.

“I recommended those people because they have strong wills, strong opinions, and they’re going to go in there and do what’s best for the city of Fresno,” Dyer said.

Dyer said it is not his goal to “muzzle” his representatives.

“When we do that, you know, we start interfering with First Amendment rights,” Dyer said.

Expanded Committee Met Last Week

Measure C started taking applications for a renewal committee last fall. When Fresno COG hired Flint, she reached out for recommendations from local mayors and other city officials. Despite some confusion in public statements, neither mayors nor other elected officials appointed members to the steering committee.

Doing so would subject the committee to state open meeting laws. Flint said the committee was specifically set up to avoid that level of scrutiny, to foster open dialogue. However, the meetings are broadcast live on Zoom, and archived on Fresno COG’s YouTube page.

At last week’s Measure C steering committee meeting, the group agreed that fixing roads should be the top priority. But several suggested allocating money to trails, public transportation, and “transformative” projects.

Committee Members Like Their Cars

At the July 17 meeting, at least 25 attended in person. Others attended via Zoom, or were absent.

With some committee members advocating strongly for mass transit funding, GV Wire decided to ask them how they got to the meeting.

GV Wire left messages to all the in-person attendees, asking what mode of transportation they used to attend. Of the 11 respondents, 10 said they drove alone. One chose not to respond.

Flint was not aware of any member taking public transportation or carpooling.

Measure C will reimburse members for mileage or transportation fare for attending the meetings.

Do Measure C Members Live in Cities They Represent?

The committee started with 26 members — 18 who represented specific geographic areas — and eight members representing community groups.

Each of the 15 cities in the county has one representative, with Fresno getting three. One member represents unincorporated areas in the county.

While the members are supposed to live in the city they represent, that is a soft rule, Flint said. GV Wire checked voter registration records for the 17 members (no city of Orange Cove representative is on the panel). At least four do not live within a city limit.

Joseph Amador, a former Mendota councilmember and retired law enforcement officer with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, lives in Fresno. However, he still works in Mendota running a motel.

City of Fresno representatives Riojas and Musson are registered in county islands.

When the Fresno COG Policy Board added members in a compromise with Transportation for All, 12 more joined the committee, expanding the potential roster to 38.

An Alternate Transportation Initiative?

Former Measure C officials Mike Leonardo and Tony Boren previously told GV Wire they are considering gathering signatures for their own transportation sales tax initiative.

Boren said it would be based mainly on the 2022 renewal plan that failed at the ballot box — it received 58% but needed two-thirds to pass.

There was a committee established in 2022 to raise funds. In a recent campaign finance disclosure filing, the group officially called Fix Fresno Roads, sponsored by California Alliance for Jobs and the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, spent $1,970 on attorney fees in the first six months of 2025.

Scott Miller, president/CEO of the Fresno Chamber and a Measure C steering committee member, said the account remains open, pending the Measure C process. The committee lists $1,800 cash on hand.