Councilmember’s $1,900 flight from Las Vegas to Fresno under investigation

FRESNO, Calif. (KGPE) – A nearly $2,000 flight from Las Vegas back to Fresno for one Fresno city council member has put him at the center of an investigation into whether or not he broke state rules.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has opened an investigation into Councilmember Miguel Arias over allegations that he paid $1,976.44 to take a flight on a luxury private jet provided by Mid Valley Disposal – and then did not recuse himself from the council’s contract negotiations with the same company.

Arias facing FPPC complaint over private jet flight provided by Mid Valley Disposal

A check stub shows Arias paid JJK Acquisitions LLC, which is associated with Mid Valley Disposal, $1,976.44 from the one-way flight in March. In October, CBS47 reported on the FPPC complaint made against Arias accusing him of violating the Political Reform Act by not reporting the flight.

Documents provided by state investigators show that Arias bought a round-trip flight from Fresno to Las Vegas. He took the first flight on March 15 – but on March 18 deliberately missed his commerical flight back to Fresno to instead travel home on a private jet provided by Mid Valley Disposal.

JJK Acquisitions billed Arias an invoice, dated June 14, for the flight. A check dated August shows Arias paid the expense, but the check was not posted until September 13. That was one day before the council was set to vote on a contract extension between the city and the waste company.

Arias was absent from that meeting. He stated in an email to Council President Tyler Maxwell that he would miss the meeting due to his child’s medical appointment. The complaint accuses Arias of not recusing himself from the item due to a conflict of interest, and instead skipping the meeting.

Calendar and email records show Arias was briefed on the contract amendments and provided drafts before the September 14 meeting. CBS47 reached out to Arias, who did not provide a statement in response.

In an email to the FPPC, Arias said he paid for the travel with his personal funds, did not vote on the contract – and stated that he did not draft the contract.

As for why the invoice was not paid for months, Arias wrote that the delay was due to the invoice being sent to the wrong address.

After looking over the facts, the FPPC decided to open an investigation.

“Just because there is an investigation it does not mean, as it says in our we will investigate letter,” said the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Jay Wierenga. “It does not mean we have any conclusions at this point. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”

Wierenga could not comment on the specifics of the case because of the ongoing investigation but said the timeline regarding a decision on the case could vary based on the complexity of the case.

“Questions will be asked. There will be correspondence there will be documents, witness testimony, and anything you could think of that is in a normal process of investigation,” said Wierenga.

CBS47 reached out to Mid Valley Disposal’s Joseph Kalpakoff – who said due to the open investigation he could not comment.

Back in October, Kalpakoff sent our station the statement below:

CBS47 has also requested comment from Fresno’s Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Attorney Andrew Janz has not gotten back to our station.

You can read the full complaint by clicking here.

The original complaint to the FPPC was anonymous.

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