Brandon Vang represents Southeast Fresno on the now seven-person Fresno City Council. City of Fresno stream screen shot

This story was originally published by Fresnoland, a nonprofit news organization.

In a tearful speech after taking his oath of office Thursday, Brandon Vang thanked the people who came before him. 

That included his father and eldest brother — who were both among the thousands of Hmong people recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to fight in the Secret War, which spanned 1964 to 1973 in Laos. 

“To my father and other veterans who fought in the Secret War in Laos, I thank you for your courage, for your sacrifice, so a Hmong refugee boy born in Laos can be sitting here on the dais at Fresno City Hall,” Vang said in his inauguration speech.

After three months without a councilmember, southeast Fresno finally has its representative on the council. Vang far outpaced the competition during the District 5 special election and won the seat outright, garnering 50.19% of all votes cast. 

He thanked all who voted for him in southeast Fresno, including the Hmong community — which Vang said is an extension of his family. 

He also thanked his wife, May Lee. 

“It’s true that wherever I go — my wife is not behind me — my wife has always been with me and sometimes ahead of me,” Vang said Thursday, adding that he wouldn’t be there without his wife’s support. 

Vang also thanked his family and extended relatives. 

“We faced adversity. We overcame challenges. We are stronger today because of you,” Vang said. “This is vindication. This is the result of truth and hard work.”

Vang’s presence on the dais can be decisive moving forward: while it’s unusual for city councilmembers to sharply disagree with each other, a fierce debate ensued in March over cracking down on smoke shops in Fresno. 

Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Annalisa Perea and Nelson Esparza attempted to advance a policy that would close at least three dozen smoke shops in Fresno, but it failed in a 3 to 3 vote, with the District 5 council seat vacant.

Council approves ordinance to go after scrap metal thieves

The Fresno City Council also approved the first reading of a new ordinance to issue penalties for scrap metal thieves. 

The ordinance would specifically go after anyone without a business license who receives, possesses or transports commercial grade scrap metal. Violating the ordinance would lead to a fine of up to $1,000 and up to one year in county jail, along with a fine equal to the reasonable cost of repairing or replacing the damaged property. 

“These are people that regularly go out there and they will steal copper wire from HVAC systems, from irrigation systems,” Fresno City Council President Mike Karbassi said at the Thursday council meeting. “They go out there and they give them to a fence or they sell them. Unfortunately, they cause a lot of damage.”

On Tuesday, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors adopted a similar ordinance. However, Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp told Fresnoland that the county’s ordinance may conflict with existing state law. 

Smittcamp said she would have to consult the California Attorney General’s Office before moving forward with any prosecutions under the ordinance. 

Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz — a former criminal prosecutor — doesn’t agree.

“We have no concerns regarding the legality of this ordinance,” Janz wrote to Fresnoland in a statement. “Once passed, the Fresno City Attorney’s Office will take (the) lead in prosecuting these crimes regardless of what other agencies decide to do.”

Janz added that California Attorney General Rob Bonta has partnered with his office in the past and the “City of Fresno and I fully expect that relationship to continue.”

Supervisor Garry Bredefeld made an appearance at his old City Hall stomping grounds, praising the council for moving forward with their own ordinance tackling scrap metal thievery.

“I know the city attorney is going to prosecute the cases. I hope we’re going to be doing that as well at the county, because it’d be a terrible message that the city is going to prosecute but the county’s not,” Bredefeld said. “Because then they’re going to go to the rural areas. So I just wanted to be here to express my incredible support and gratitude for this council.”

Councilmember Miguel Arias said he wanted confirmation that Smittcamp’s office would prosecute violators of the county’s ordinance, and he does not want the city to be pulling more than its weight on a regional issue. 

The ordinance’s second reading will also need to be approved in order for it to be passed into law.