Documented by Kristina Mansfield
Here’s what you need to know
- The board voted (5-0) to enter into an agreement with Harris Development Corp. in the amount of $307,830 for construction of a bus stop with shelter on the north and south sides of Avenue 12 near Road 36.
- The board adopted a resolution appointing Amy Toler as Madera County’s director of Animal Services effective Oct. 10. Her salary is $83,000 per year and includes a cost-of-living increase and other benefits available to department heads.
- United Domestic Workers Local 3930 showed up “in numbers” to the meeting, according to Gracie Lepper, Lead Union Rep. “The group is in negotiations with the County of Madera representing in-house support services,” she said. Thirty members of Local 3930 were in attendance, including two that made public comments.
Follow-up questions
- What kind of new programs will Amy Toler create as Madera County’s new director of Animal Services?
- What’s the timeline on construction for the two new bus stops in the Madera Ranchos?
Notes
The regular meeting of the Madera Board of Supervisors took place Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, at 9 a.m. in Supervisors Chambers at 200 West 4th St. in Madera. It was open to the public and also available via Zoom. The public is invited to attend and participate. Detailed instructions on how to do so can be found on the agenda.
According to its website, the Board of Supervisors is the legislative and executive governing body of Madera County government. One supervisor is elected from each of the five supervisorial districts of the county. The board meets at 9 a.m. the first three Tuesdays of each month (and occasionally Mondays) in the Board Chambers of the County Government Center in Madera.
ROLL CALL
Madera County Board of Supervisors members present:
Chair David Rogers, District 2
Chair Pro Tem Robert L. Poythress, District 3
Jordan Wamhoff, District 1
Leticia Gonzalez, District 4
Robert Macaulay, District 5
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman David Rogers called the meeting to order at 9:02 a.m.
1. Additions to the agenda:
- There was one item added to the agenda. A letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom for the board to review and consider was added as agenda item 7.
- Macaulay made the motion, which passed unanimously.
2. Closed session:
- Karen Scrivner, chief clerk of the Board of Supervisors, said of the five items to be discussed during closed session item 2-B will not be read into the record. The board then retired into closed session at 9:06 a.m.
- Item 2-B is a conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation against Madera County. Government code section 54956.9 (d)(1) allows a legislative body of a local agency to hold a closed session meeting to confer with, or receive advice from, its legal counsel regarding pending litigation when discussion in open session concerning those matters would prejudice the position of the local agency in the litigation. The case is item 2-B, Valley Groundwater Coalition v. County of Madera, et. al. (MCV087677); the litigation is considered pending since it has been initiated formally.
OPEN AND CLOSE THE MEETING IN MEMORY OF:
Rogers requested a moment of silence for the people of Israel. “From what I know there were nine Americans killed or injured in those attacks,” he said.
3. Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance:
Poythress led the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance.
4. Public comment:
Per the agenda packet, the first 15 minutes of each meeting are set aside for members of the public to address the board on any matter not on the agenda.
- Ryan Rebbie, deputy chief information officer, Network & Security. Rebbie appeared as part of his department’s Cyber Security Month and shared a short video presentation about social engineering. “One thing that I’d like to convey this morning is that hackers don’t break in. They log in,” Rebbie said. The video included common warning signs of phishing attacks and tips to prevent them. Examples include avoiding responding to any type of message with a sense of urgency, making sure any links match an actual website address prior to clicking through and being wary of generic greetings.
- Tha Xiong, IHSS provider in Madera County. “The work that we do, taking care of people that live in this great community, is important. But we need you, our elected leaders, to take care of those taking care of others. Getting paid a liveable wage is crucial,” said Xiong. “We do not have health care or any benefits. We are asking for the county to invest 23 cents an hour for a PPO vision and dental plan, as well as a life insurance plan, which would only cost the county about $120,000. This would help us work to close the benefit gap and help attract people into this fast-growing industry.”
- Diana Casanova, In Home Supportive Services (IHHS) provider in Madera County. “We’ve been in contract negotiations with Madera Country for almost a year now with nothing but an offer for five cents. It’s a very huge insult to us because fast-food workers will be getting $20 per hour … next year,” Casanova said. “IHSS provides an alternative. Real attention to detail, you get to know the person and you get to help them out.”
- Sue O’Connor, resident of Oakhurst. O’Connor called into the meeting to share concerns regarding the fire risk evaluation and management in her area. “Here is one thing that the board has a responsibility to do: to make sure that our infrastructure is sufficient, that our ingress and egress, our water, our wildlife, it is your responsibility to make sure those things are protected and accounted for,” she said.
5. Consent Calendar:
Next, Rogers pulled item 5-J for discussion.
Item 5-J: Bus Stop with Shelter construction on Avenue 12 near Road 36.
- The board voted (5-0) to enter into an agreement with Harris Development Corp. in the amount of $307,830 for construction of a bus stop with shelter on the north and south sides of Avenue 12 near Road 36.
- Jared Carter, Madera Public Works Department, gave a presentation to the board about two new bus stop locations at the west end of Madera Ranchos. He said two bus stops on the east end of the Madera Ranchos were recently completed and these next installations are on the opposite end of the road.
- The two new bus stops will be on Avenue 12 near Road 36, one on the north side and one on the south side. They will also have a shelter. Harris Development Corp. was awarded the contract. The construction will be funded by transit funds in the budget.
- “There is a pretty healthy push for alternative modes of transit in the state,” said Carter. “And we can’t use the money outside of transit.” There was no mention of the timeline of the project.
- Wamhoff made a motion that passed 5-0.
6. Discussion items:
Item 6-A: Presentation of a proclamation naming Oct. 10 Thomas Hurst Day in Madera County.
- Wamhoff presented a proclamation naming Oct. 10 2023, Thomas Hurst Day in Madera County. “We recently learned that a longtime legend of Madera Ranchos was moving to Arizona,” Wamhoff opened. “Before this actually happens, we wanted to make sure to take a minute to acknowledge … Tom Hurst…,” he said.
- Wamhoff read the full proclamation into the public record and asked Hurst to give a few comments. Hurst clarified “I am not moving to Arizona … I live in Madera Ranchos and I’ll be here until I die. We do have a second home in Arizona and I go there about five, six months out of the year because I like to play golf. I also love to fish, and I used to hunt in the backcountry but as I get older … it gets a little cold in the high country for the old man and so I’ve left that to the younger men.”
- Hurst also “gave a little praise” to the Planning Department and said “you can complain all you want about our Planning Department, but they make you cross all your t’s and dot all your i’s if you want to build something out here.”
Item 6-B: Presentation of a proclamation recognizing October 2023 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
- Mattie Mendez, executive director, Community Action Partnership of Madera County (CAPMC), was presented with a proclamation recognizing October 2023 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Upcoming events to recognize October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month include the Victim Services’ Annual Soup Bowl Event and Domestic Violence Day Oct. 19.
- According to its website, the Victim Services Centers at Community Action Partnership of Madera County (CAPMC) provides compassionate and comprehensive services to victims of crime, sexual assault/rape, and domestic violence. Mendez said in 2022-2023, CAPMC sheltered more than 44 women in their emergency shelter.
Item 6-C: Discussion and consideration of entering into an amendment to MCC No. 12522-23 with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (State Agreement No. 4CA06353) in the amount of $13,736,252 for fire service and operations for fiscal year 2023-2024 and authorize the chairman to sign.
- Justin Macomb, Cal Fire assistant chief for the Madera division, appeared to discuss the item. “This is a simple amendment to our one-year Cal Fire agreement that you signed on June 20,” Macomb said. “There was some oversight on our part. What we missed was our Amador staffing for the winter for the Bass Lake, the Ahwahnee and the North Fork stations. Typically that is included in the total package.”
- The amendment modifies the contract amount by approximately $596,000 by including Amador staffing for Madera County, which was inadvertently excluded. The Amador Plan allows local governments to contract with Cal Fire to provide year-round fire protection services, provided by Cal Fire stations which would normally be closed during the non-fire season.
- Gonzalez moved to approve the item, and the motion passed 5-0.
Item 6-D: Discussion and consideration to adopt a resolution appointing Amy Toler as Madera County’s director of Animal Services effective Oct. 10.
- Roman Noriega, director of Human Resources, presented. The board adopted a resolution appointing Toler to the position with a salary of $83,000 that includes a cost-of-living increase and other benefits available to department heads. Gonzalez’s motion passed 5-0.
- “I hope to do good things for the people and animals we serve,” said Toler.
Item 6-E: Discussion and consideration of approving the Madera County Sheriff’s Office
(MCSO) Employee Referral Award Program.
- Roman Noriega, director of Human Resources, presented. The county has created an incentive program to assist in the recruitment efforts of “hard-to-recruit classifications.” The program provides MCSO employees up to $3,000 for referring full-time lateral hires and $1,000 for full-time entry-level hires. Current qualifying hard-to-recruit classifications include: Correctional officer (up to the level of correctional captain), deputy sheriff (up to the level of sheriff’s lieutenant), and public safety dispatcher (up to the level of supervising dispatcher).
- The board approved the Madera County Sheriff’s Office Employee Referral Award Program, which pays current employees $1,000 for referring full-time entry-level hires and $3,000 for lateral full-time hires.
- Poythress’ motion passed 5-0.
7. Pending legislation
This section of the meeting is designated to discuss, support or oppose legislation presented by supervisors and/or staff.
- Earlier in the meeting, a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom for the board to review and consider was added to discuss. A copy of the letter was not included in the materials prepared for the meeting available to the public.
- “We have one pending legislation item,” said Rogers. “We have a letter before us, consideration for extension on Executive Order N-10-23. This is important for reimbursement circumstances for disaster so this has to be promoted properly.”
- Macaulay made a motion to approve, which passed 5-0.
8. Supervisor and staff reports
No one had anything to report.
The board returned to closed session at 11:05 a.m. The next regular meeting of the Madera Board of Supervisors is Oct. 17.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.