Fresno leaders held news event on ‘transparency.’ They wouldn’t take questions
In a peculiar display on Wednesday, two Fresno City Council members held a last-minute news conference to discuss transparency and walked out after five minutes without taking questions.
Staffers for Councilmember Brandon Vang sent out an announcement for the news conference at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday requesting reporters attend the noon event. The invitation included little context.
“Councilmembers Brandon Vang and Nick Richardson will hold a press conference to address concerns related to contract oversight, transparency, and accountability in the use of public funds,” the announcement said.
The new conference lasted less than six minutes before the council members left the room without taking any questions even as reporters began asking about the context of their remarks.
The news conference appeared to be connected to a story published Wednesday by the nonprofit newsroom Fresnoland from that examined into the city’s public reporting policies around contracts paid to third-party consultants.
Neither Vang nor Richardson referenced the news story. But Vang appeared to reference his predecessor, former councilmember and current Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez, though he did not name Chavez.
The Fresnoland story found that, between 2020 and 2025, some city leaders, including Chavez, handed out third-party contracts that exceeded the $100,000 threshold that requires a vote from the council. In some cases, the accumulation of multiple smaller contracts exceeded the threshold.
“This is a clear need that stronger transparency and accountability is needed,” Vang said during his remarks.
Vang said he “will be pursuing all avenues” to recover any money paid out in those contracts that could be recovered. Vang did not answer questions on how or why any of that money could be recovered.
Vang won a special election in April after the District 5 seat was vacated by Chavez, who won the Fresno County supervisor District 3 seat the previous November.
On his first day after getting sworn in, he canceled a $100,000 services contract awarded by Chavez to public affairs firm Local Government Strategic Consulting to provide outreach services for the district. The firm is owned by Alex Tavlian, who is featured in the Fresnoland report.
