Former Clovis Police Chief Faces Retired Fire Captain in District 4 Council Race

Two candidates are running for Clovis City Council District 4 in the Nov. 3 election: incumbent Matt Basgall, who served 29 years with the Clovis Police Department and six years as chief, and Brian Wilson, a retired fire captain who has attended city council meetings on and off since the early 1990s.

District 4 covers northeast Clovis, roughly north of Bullard Avenue and east of Sunnyside Avenue, extending along Highway 168 past Harlan Ranch. It also includes the city’s landfill island about five miles north of city limits.

Basgall retired from the police department in December 2019, earlier than planned, after his wife was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. She now shows no signs of cancer but will be in treatment for the rest of her life, he said.

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Basgall first ran for council in 2022 to push for Measure Y, a public safety tax measure that brought in about $30 million in its first year. Voters approved it with 70% of the vote. Without it, the city would have faced a $5 million budget hole last year and would not have hired any more police officers, Basgall said.

“Nobody likes taxes. I don’t like to promote taxes. But if we want to talk about local control and being able to control our own destiny with certain things, I think that’s one that we definitely should invest in,” Basgall said.

Wilson’s involvement in Clovis civic matters goes back to the early 1990s, when he said he joined residents fighting a push for smaller lots that led to the FBI’s Operation Rezone corruption investigation. After Fresno and Clovis leaders were arrested for taking bribes, Wilson stepped away.

Wilson returned about three and a half years ago after hearing from a friend who builds pools that new backyards were too small. He also sat on a citizens advisory committee on policing and came away alarmed at staffing levels.

“I was shocked that Clovis had kind of slipped so far into the hole with their law enforcement,” Wilson said. “We were back down to like ’97 level of policing in Clovis.”

Wilson said Basgall, as police chief, “could have been a little bit more boisterous about it.” Wilson credited the current chief with taking the problem public.

The campaign started when Wilson believed Basgall was leaving the race, and continued after Basgall got back in. “I’m a man of my word. I’m going to follow through. I already told people I was running,” Wilson said. “No one else stepped up in District 4. So I basically just stayed in.”

Wilson also said the council needs younger members. “We’re all old on the council now. We need some young people on there.”

The Breakdown

• The district: District 4 stretches across northeast Clovis, north of Bullard Avenue and east of Sunnyside Avenue, out along Highway 168 past Harlan Ranch, plus the city’s landfill island five miles north of city limits.
• Basgall’s background: Joined Clovis Police Department in December 1990, worked as a sexual assault investigator, neighborhood corporal, and youth services sergeant before serving as chief for six years. Retired in December 2019.
• Wilson’s background: Retired fire captain who has attended Clovis City Council meetings on and off since the early 1990s, when he joined residents opposing smaller-lot development that led to the FBI’s Operation Rezone corruption investigation.
• Infrastructure challenge: The northeast urban village will likely be built within the next decade, requiring a new water treatment plant costing $50 million to $100 million. Basgall said the city won’t have the bonding capacity to help build it until 2032. The city used up its bonding capacity during the recession and must pay off those bonds before borrowing again.
• Roads: Both candidates cited incomplete road development as a concern. Basgall pointed to Shepherd Avenue being shut down three or four times for different projects, with each development paying to widen only its own piece. Wilson wants developers to take over the whole street width, with whoever develops the other side later paying back their half.
• Police staffing: During the Great Recession, the department went from 116 officers to 91, and injuries rose because remaining officers had to work extra shifts. The department was effectively down to 75 officers, Basgall said. Measure Y brought in about $30 million in its first year, which let the city hire more officers.
• Homeless shelter: Basgall said he doesn’t support a homeless shelter being built in Clovis, saying adding beds alone isn’t the answer. Wilson said he’s not for permanent housing on the government side, but has no problem with community groups or churches putting one up. “I don’t know what the answers are. I don’t have an answer to that, I’m perfectly frank,” Wilson said.
• Growth limits: Basgall said Clovis can reach 200,000 people and still be Clovis if it’s done in a controlled manner. Wilson put his ceiling at 300,000. “At some point we’re going to run into Sanger. We’re already into Fresno,” Wilson said.
• Water rates: Basgall would not support raising water rates again to pay for construction. “If it means that growth has to slow in order to figure that out, then so be it,” Basgall said. Wilson said raising water rates should mostly be done as a matter of keeping up with inflation.
• New taxes: Basgall said he would not push for a new tax. “Where we’re at right now, I don’t see us having to do that, to push any other types of taxes or anything like that,” Basgall said. Wilson said he does not support any tax increases, as growth must pay for itself.
• Mello-Roos: Basgall proposed a Mello-Roos district as one way to fund the water plant. A Mello-Roos district is a special tax district that adds a property tax assessment to new homes, spreading infrastructure costs across homebuyers over many years rather than requiring the city or developer to pay upfront.

What This Means for You

This is Clovis City Council’s first district election. The winner will join the council, which will decide after the first of the year how to pay for a new water treatment plant costing $50 million to $100 million. Basgall said the city won’t have the bonding capacity to help build it until 2032.

Both candidates said they oppose new taxes. Basgall proposed a Mello-Roos district, in which buyers of new homes pay for the water plant through an additional property tax assessment over many years, or having developers help pay for it. Wilson said growth must pay for itself.

What to Watch

Basgall said one of the biggest concerns about switching to districts was whether council members would look out only for their own part of town. “When we become possessive of just our area and not thinking about the whole city, then that’s going to be an issue,” Basgall said. “I don’t think that’ll happen right away … but it could.” Over time, council members running for re-election could start to focus more on their own areas. Wilson expressed the same worry: “I’m worried that the districts will change that over time.”

Both candidates say the same thing about the risk of district elections fragmenting the council’s citywide focus — which raises the question of whether either one would actually resist that pull once in office, or whether voters in other districts will have any way to hold a District 4 council member accountable for a decision that affects the whole city but primarily benefits their own area.

On infrastructure timing: Basgall said the northeast will be built within 10 years, but the city can’t afford to bond for the water plant until 2032. “The reason why it’s not talked about a lot is because nobody knows how to pay for it,” Basgall said. He and the council will start tackling how to pay for it after the first of the year. Basgall proposed a Mello-Roos district, which spreads the cost across buyers of new homes through an additional property tax assessment over many years. That is a developer-friendly financing tool that lets growth continue while homebuyers, not the city or the developer, carry the debt.

On Wilson’s rezoning concern: Wilson questioned the council’s recent vote to drop several parcels from the sites the city is rezoning for housing because of a lawsuit. He’s worried the city is handing power over its rezones to the state and its judges. “It could be a special master in charge of all zoning. It wouldn’t be anyone from Clovis,” Wilson said.