Councilwoman sees need for consultant to help city

By Charles Doud The Madera Tribune Bound by what she felt might be a possible violation of the state’s open meetings act, City Council Member Cece Foley-Gallegos Wednesday evening told her fellow council members, “I just want to ask our council how they are feeling about what’s going on out in the community. Should we bring in a consultant?”

The council was participating in scheduled meetings as the governing boards of the former Madera Redevelopment Agency and the Madera Housing Authority.

Foley-Gallegos was reacting to calls for one or more investigations into the council after the unexpected departure in December of David Tooley from the city administrator’s post he had held for 25 years.

The consultant would be “somebody who really studied and looked into certain issues,” Foley-Gallegos said, “It would bring somebody into the city to fully discuss what the city can do.”

She said besides the recent uproar over the salaries of Tooley and some others, “water and utility rates would be subjects that are getting a lot of attention out there in the community.”

Mayor Andy Medellin said he might back an outsider looking into the city procedures, but only for specifics.

“I do have specifics,” Foley-Gallegos said.

Council Member Donald Holley agreed the council members should know more about what the council can and cannot do.

“The council needs to know what’s going on before the streets know what’s going on,” Holley said. “As a group, we need to know what’s going on in our city. We need to understand what we’re talking about. I think we need to find a way we can all start communicating.”

Bob Wilson, the interim executive director of the Successor Agency to the former Madera Redevelopment Agency, reported on the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule for the coming year — which might be the agency’s last year, some heard to their surprise.

Interim City Administrator Steve Frazier, who happened to be attending the meeting, said one intention was to move the redevelopment offices from their building on East Yosemite Avenue to City Hall.

“We’re just moving forward with the dissolution of the RDA agency,” Frazier said, “with Bob’s expertise.”