Madera Unified School District trustees have again tackled the issue of developer fees, as they must every year, and individual board members left no doubt as to where they stand individually.
When it came to making the decision, however, the parliamentary waters became a bit clouded, and the district had to turn to its attorney for legal advice. At press time, it was waiting for that opinion as to whether or not MUSD had actually set its developer fees.
The issue as it was presented to the board at its meeting Tuesday evening called for a vote on two items. First, it had to approve the school facility needs analysis presented by School Facility Consultants. Second, it had to decide then between two different resolutions, one of which held the developer residential fees at $5.97 per square foot and one that raised the fees to $6.04 per square foot, and that is where the board stumbled.
Tuesday night’s vote began with Trustee Ray Seibert moving to keep the developer’s residential fee at $5.97. His motion was seconded by Trustee Jose Rodriguez. Before a vote could be taken, however, Trustee Michael Salvador noted that Seibert’s motion did not include the required approval of the school facility needs analysis but went instead directly to the developer fees themselves, which did not comport with the published agenda...