{"id":1699,"date":"2018-02-17T00:53:55","date_gmt":"2018-02-17T00:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:31:26","slug":"if-it-s-not-broke-i-mean-why-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/if-it-s-not-broke-i-mean-why-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018If it\u2019s not broke, I mean, why fix it?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Council agrees with Member Robinson; bylaw changes voted down<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Long time Madera Redevelopment Agency business manager Bob Wilson was appointed interim director of that agency by a unanimous vote of 7-0 Wednesday night after more than an hour of discussion by the Madera City Council and other citizens who spoke, debating an item which would have resulted in a decidedly different outcome.<\/p>

Wilson replaces former executive director Jim Taubert, under whom Wilson was business manager before Taubert retired at the end of December.<\/p>

The item under discussion, tagged as 4A on the city council agenda, was an inconspicuous, routine-sounding amendment that would have changed the agency\u2019s bylaws due to what was termed as \u201creorganizational necessities,\u201d which if passed would have placed the Successor Agency to the former Madera Redevelopment Agency, as it has been known for the past few years, under control of the interim city administrator. It also would have moved Wilson into the back offices at city hall, and could have made the agency building on East Yosemite Avenue and the agency\u2019s administrative budget available to the city.<\/p>

The item was nearly approved until Council Member Cece Folley Gallegos requested clarification.<\/p>

\u201cIf A4 passes PD (police department) is moving into the RDA building, and they will be over code enforcement,\u201d Bob Wilson replied after being questioned by Gallegos.<\/p>

This raised more questions from council members about whether the change was necessary or advisable.<\/p>

About a half dozen or so residents attending the meeting also made their opposition to the reorganization plan known.<\/p>

Gallegos suggested waiting until the permanent new city administrator was hired to review the situation.<\/p>

\u201cThere were promises made to residents \u2014 that the RDA money would be used for just for RDA (projects) \u2014 to make Madera a better place,\u201d she said. \u201cPromises made, promises kept,\u201d<\/p>

Council Member Derek Robinson said the staff and plan put into place to wind down the agency, according to state law, had been working well and was cost effective.<\/p>

\u201cIf it\u2019s not broke, I mean, why fix it?\u201d he asked, as residents applauded. \u201cBob (Wilson) has been doing a good job for years. I believe he should be running this … he\u2019s been doing the job. He needs to be moved up to director and stay put where he\u2019s at.\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>

Council Member Donald Holley agreed. \u201cThis has been working (as a separate department) for years. They tell us council is supposed to be over everything (going on in the city) but it doesn\u2019t look like that\u2019s been happening these last few months. The RDA has a good staff and good working abilities over there.\u201d Holley said.<\/p>

He went on to say he had been hearing of a lot of changes in the city that he hadn\u2019t been made aware of.<\/p>

\u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t sound or look good to me. So many things have (recently) happened, this council doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. I get calls from residents … And finding out what\u2019s been going on since (former City Administrator David) Tooley left in the newspaper. That bothers me and I\u2019m not going to let that continue to happen without people being accountable for it,\u201d Holley said as the crowd broke into applause.<\/p>

Mayor Andy Medellin said Madera was in a unique position, through previous good management and planning to even have redevelopment funds remaining to work with.<\/p>

\u201cThere are so many strings attached to this money. Once we define these dollars, (we need to) define what is our next plan to use these dollars … as they were intended for Madera.\u201d Medellin said.<\/p>

Former Madera County Chief Administrative Officer and Madera resident Stell Manfredi spoke, and said that as chair of the Redevelopment Oversight Board he could say that said that body had an excellent relationship with the existing RDA department, but he was speaking tonight only representing himself.<\/p>

\u201cSo let\u2019s cut to the chase \u2014 I have worked with Taubert and every RDA director before Taubert. It\u2019s been so well done by Bob and others, we haven\u2019t had to get involved. I would suggest you reject 4A and appoint Mr. Wilson interim director for the remaining life of the agency,\u201d Manfredi said.<\/p>

\u201cThe current city administrator already has his plate full and a steep learning curve. Mr. Wilson has the knowledge to wind down the agency as soon as possible. It\u2019s not a long-term process and shouldn\u2019t be. A year and half, at most\u201d to conclude the remaining RDA business.\u201d<\/p>

Manfredi also spoke directly to the council when he said, \u201cThere are some other issues. I also want to add that the admin budget is not $250,000, it\u2019s $500,000 based on the two (funding) sources.\u201d He also suggested the council remember \u201cYou are the bosses, not the city manager.\u201d Manfredi said.<\/p>

Until ordered dissolved by the California Legislature and governor in 2012, Redevelopment Agency missions statewide was to purchase blighted residential and commercial properties and through planning make them available for affordable housing or other projects benefiting local communities. About 60 parcels of land remain in the Madera redevelopment portfolio, which total several million dollars worth for action, according to city officials.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council agrees with Member Robinson; bylaw changes voted down Long time Madera Redevelopment Agency business manager Bob Wilson was appointed interim director of that agency by a unanimous vote of 7-0 Wednesday night after more than an hour of discussion by the Madera City Council and other citizens who spoke, debating an item which would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[39,43],"class_list":["post-1699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-government","tag-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}