Observed and noted (July 1)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Forgive us our press passes:
If you drive on 6th Street between G and H streets, past where the old VFW Hall and county office building were, you will see a vacant lot now. Both those venerable buildings have been torn down. The Madera Redevelopment Agency is getting the ground ready to sell to the state, which will build the new Madera County courthouse on the site. The city will build an adjacent parking structure to serve the courthouse and other needs.
At his first Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday as the acting chief administrative officer of Madera County, Eric Fleming had a furrow in his brow. The resolution officially appointing him as interim CAO was buried in the consent calendar — item O. Once the consent calendar was approved, however, he visibly relaxed. Fleming, 41, had been on that job less than a week. He found himself called to occupy the hot seat when then-CAO Steven Rodriguez abruptly resigned after only about 10 months with the county. No pressure there. Fleming had been one of Rodriguez’s assistants. I probably am the only one who noticed, but in the board chambers Fleming sits next to Supervisor Vern Moss, which is appropriate. They both have the same outstanding haircuts, which are not unlike mine.
Another note from the supervisors’ meeting: Supervisor Frank Bigelow reported that work is about to begin on the widening of State Route 99, from Ashlan Avenue in Fresno to our own Avenue 12. That will mean three lanes of freeway in each direction — which will be welcome. He also mentioned a budding movement he had heard about which could do away with local governments in the Central Valley. He said he didn’t much care for that, and I don’t either. The last time I heard of something similar, it was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
