City of Madera approves draft response to county grand jury on golf course and business licensing

City Manager Arnoldo Rodriguez presented the City of Madera's draft responses on Aug. 20 to the Madera County Grand Jury's final report (24‑25‑11), which focused on the municipal golf course and the city's business‑licensing processes.

Rodriguez walked through the grand jury's 12 findings and 12 recommendations and explained the city's proposed positions. In several instances staff disagreed with the grand jury's factual conclusions; for example, the grand jury found that a city administrator instructed a business owner to change a license name, while Rodriguez said the city manager merely suggested the owner contact finance staff. "I did not instruct," Rodriguez said in the draft response and explained the interaction was limited to advising the owner to contact staff to align business and ABC license names.

On findings alleging lack of documentation, potential conflicts of interest and perceived trust impacts, the draft responses either disagreed with the findings or said the city will address procedural improvements where appropriate. The city agreed in principle with recommendations tied to improved documentation and committed to implement enhancements over an 18‑month period; it declined other recommendations the staff judged unwarranted or impractical (for example, hiring external audits at city expense).

Council reviewed the draft responses and voted to approve staff's recommended submission to the grand jury. The motion passed unanimously.