The old County Bank building on Main and M streets may soon house county government offices, since the Merced County Board of Supervisors voted to buy the building.
But who will occupy one of Merced's best buildings?
It looks like Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II has been salivating over the structure since before the county even bought it, so his many offices can consolidate.
Not so fast, Mr. Morse, says Supervisor Deidre Kelsey, who knows Morse has wanted a new space for his offices for some time.
The district attorney's office is not the only county department needing space, she said. "Nobody gets to cherry-pick anything," she said."We got to share what's served on the dinner table."
While Morse could not be reached, Mike Salvadori, the real estate agent on the deal, could. He said he didn't think the county was interested until Morse mentioned it to one of his employees. "Larry Morse, if I'm correct, brought it up to Kim Rogina's attention," said Salvadori. "I imagine he probably would want the building, anybody would want to be in the building."
Well, Mr. Morse, you can't always get what you want...
Inferiority complex
Kelsey seems to have a complex lately -- an inferiority complex. At the last supervisors meeting she made sure people knew she was lookin' out for her district and her turf.
When the head of the federal census in Merced County stood before the county board to outline his efforts here, he listed the locales where census workers are based. That list did not include Snelling, which is in Kelsey's district. That is when Kelsey made sure that little oversight was fixed. "I did that just to put it on the record," she said. She wanted to make sure her constituents know she has their back.
But what really ticked off Kelsey was the dissolving of a committee she has been on since 1990 -- the general plan steering committee. You know that committee, right?
"That caught me by surprise," she said.
It looks like she didn't even know about the decision until the night before it occurred.
"The problem with what happened with the general plan steering committee was this: I have been on it a long time. No one person told me they intended to take that off the list of committees," she said. "I was very, very blind-sided."
Well, keep your dukes up Kelsey. And your ears peeled.
Chief Farmer
While the Merced County Farm Bureau still has yet to officially announce who will replace Diana Westmoreland Pedrozo as its executive director, word is someone has been chosen. And she is a young someone. Twenty-six years young.
According to the Farm Bureau, Amanda Carvajal will be the bureau's new executive director.
Westmoreland Pedrozo, who departed abruptly in late 2009, said she has known Carvajal since she was in high school. "I think that she'll do an outstanding job," said Westmoreland Pedrozo.
Carvajal, for her part, said, "I am tickled to death that they feel that I can do this."
Lips hopes they're right.
