\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stake?<\/p>\n
Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz made the bombshell announcement Thursday that his office advised former city Councilmember Luis Chavez in 2023 to bring his contracts with Alex Tavlian’s consulting company for a city council vote. He never did.<\/p>\n
Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz on Thursday directly contradicted statements from Luis Chavez<\/a> about the former councilmember\u2019s contracts with political consultant Alex Tavlian\u2019s company.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe City Attorney\u2019s Office properly advised former Councilmember Luis Chavez in January of 2023 that any future agreements with LGSC for the same services prior was required to go to the city council for authorization under Fresno Municipal Code Section 4-107(e),\u201d Janz said from the council dais at City Hall.<\/p>\n After months of not speaking to Fresnoland about his city contracts with Tavlian\u2019s consulting company, Chavez broke his silence last week and told Fresnoland that he couldn\u2019t recall receiving any legal advice<\/a> about entering into contracts with Local Government Strategic Consulting.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also told Fresnoland that all his contracts received complete sign-off<\/a> from the Fresno City Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n Janz refuted Chavez\u2019s claims only after the Fresno City Council unanimously voted in closed session to issue a \u201climited waiver of the attorney-client privilege.\u201d That allowed Janz to share information with the public that his office did provide legal advice to Chavez about his contracts with Tavlian\u2019s company.\u00a0<\/p>\n After receiving that legal advice in January 2023, Chavez went on to award three contracts to Tavlian\u2019s consulting company \u2014 worth a total of $245,000. None of them went before the Fresno City Council for review.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using taxpayer dollars, Chavez\u2019s former city council office paid Tavlian\u2019s consulting company $318,872.85 between January 2021 and January 2025. The public was in the dark about those payments until they were revealed<\/a> in a Jan. 7 Fresnoland investigation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n About 70% of those payments \u2014 or $224,346.82 \u2014 went to Tavlian\u2019s consulting company after the Fresno City Attorney\u2019s Office advised Chavez he had to get city council approval for contracts with Local Government Strategic Consulting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chavez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The contracts were a focus of Fresnoland\u2019s two-part<\/a> investigation<\/a> into city contracts that, under a certain policy<\/a>, get handed out by city leaders with no oversight.\u00a0<\/p>\n Contracts worth $100,000 or less are not required to be brought before the Fresno City Council for approval, and they are effectively undisclosed to the public. Fresnoland\u2019s investigation found that, between January 2020 and January 2025, city leaders regularly handed out contracts to consultants using the policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some consultants ended up getting more than one contract worth $100,000 or less in a single fiscal year. Fresnoland found a dozen examples of companies with multiple contracts in a single fiscal year \u2014 which cumulatively were worth more than the city\u2019s threshold for contracts exempt from city council approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n Additionally, Fresnoland found that some consultants billed more than the initial contract value, even though the city\u2019s contracts threshold applied.\u00a0<\/p>\n For three consecutive fiscal years, Chavez paid Tavlian\u2019s consulting company more than the city\u2019s threshold for contracts exempt from city council approval. For years, that threshold was $50,000. It was doubled to $100,000 in June 2024.<\/p>\n Fresnoland also found that Chavez\u2019s payments to Tavlian\u2019s consulting company peaked right as Chavez was simultaneously running for District 3 county supervisor \u2014 a seat he currently holds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between July 2024 and January 2025, Chavez\u2019s council office paid Tavlian\u2019s company for constituent outreach services \u2014 a total of $99,999.99<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chavez\u2019s council office also paid Tavlian\u2019s company another $31,042.36 for Facebook ads<\/a> leading up to and during the November 2024 election.<\/p>\n One city leader suggests a private committee to find solutions to transparency issues<\/p>\n One week after Fresnoland\u2019s investigation, it\u2019s unclear what reforms could possibly look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier at the Thursday city council meeting, Councilmember Mike Karbassi announced his intention to create an ad-hoc committee to discuss changes to city policy, including the city\u2019s Transparency Act<\/a>. Typically, ad-hoc committees are closed to the public, so Fresno residents would not be able to observe how city leaders discuss how to amend the city transparency under that framework.\u00a0<\/p>\n Karbassi has a history of preferring closed-door policy discussion over tense subjects. Back in April 2023<\/a>, he questioned why a budget conversation was slated for an open public session, instead of first taking place in a private, closed-door budget committee meeting.<\/p>\n He said over email to City Manager Georgeanne White that it would be better to have the conversation in private, since a public one could lead to \u201ca fight, which won\u2019t look good publicly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n