Jim Avalos represents District 1 on the Selma City Council, with a term running through November 2028. A lifelong Selma resident who grew up in a farming community, he first joined the council in 2004 and has also previously served as mayor and mayor pro tem, though his service has not been continuous — he lost a 2020 re-election bid before winning back a seat in November 2024. He worked for 34 years at Save Mart, including as a shopping-center manager, and is a director on the board of the Selma-Kingsburg-Fowler County Sanitation District. He has been active with the Boy Scouts of America, the Knights of Columbus, and the Lions Club. In a 2024 campaign Q&A, he cited fiscal responsibility, streamlining development permitting, and addressing homelessness and drug addiction through community collaboration as his priorities.
Avalos was among the council members sworn in at a December 12, 2024 special meeting that the Fresno County District Attorney’s office later warned may have violated state election law, after Mayor Scott Robertson proceeded with the swearing-in without a quorum present, over the city attorney’s objection. The episode was a procedural dispute about how the new council was seated rather than an allegation of individual wrongdoing by Avalos himself.
