SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today named twelve individuals to serve on four governing boards responsible for dissolving local redevelopment agencies in cities and counties where local agencies elected not to manage the task.
Each governing board, also know as a designated local authority, consists of three county residents responsible for winding down the affairs of dissolved local redevelopment agencies. This work will include: paying existing bond debt and following through on pre-existing contractual obligations, maintaining reserves, enforcing former redevelopment agency rights to protect and benefit bondholders, disposing of former redevelopment agency assets, managing properties until contracted work has been completed and preparing an administrative budget and obligations payment schedule.
Appointees will work closely with former redevelopment agency staff to accomplish these tasks. They will be overseen by a seven-member Oversight Board consisting of representatives of the taxing agencies in whose boundaries the redevelopment agencies were located.
Los Angeles
Timothy McOsker, 49, of San Pedro, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Los Angeles. McOsker has been a partner at Mayer Brown since 2008. He was chief of staff for the mayor of Los Angeles from 2001 to 2008 and chief deputy city attorney for the City of Los Angeles from 1997 to 2001. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation. McOsker is a Democrat.
Nelson Rising, 70, of La Cañada Flintridge, has been appointed and designated as chair of the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Los Angeles. Rising has been the chairman of Rising Realty Partners since 2010. He was the president and chief executive officer of MPG Office Trust from 2008 to 2010, chairman and chief executive officer of Catellus Development Corporation from 1994 to 2005, and a senior partner at Maguire Thomas Partners from 1983 to 1994. Rising is a former chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Rising is a Democrat.
Mee Semcken, 54, of San Marino, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Los Angeles. She has been the president of Lee Consulting Group LLC since 2004. She was a partner at Garcia McCoy and Lee Consulting Group from 2003 to 2004, senior vice president at Marathon Communications from 2002 to 2003, and vice president of real estate development at Douglas Emmett, Inc. from 2000 to 2002. Semcken was vice president of corporate real estate and public affairs at Warner Bros. from 1992 to 2000 and served as the city council liaison for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles from 1991 to 1992. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern University School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Semcken is a Democrat.
Merced
Robert Carpenter, 70, of Merced, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Merced. Carpenter has been a partner at Leap Carpenter Kemps Insurance Agency since 1971. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Carpenter is a Republican.
Mike Gallo, 61, of Merced, has been appointed and designated as chair of the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Merced. Gallo has been the owner of Joseph Gallo Farms since 1972. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Gallo is a Republican.
Ralph Temple, 71, of Merced, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Merced. Temple has been a partner at the Law Offices of Ralph Temple since 1966. He is a member of the board of trustees for the University of California, Merced. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Temple is a Democrat.
Stanislaus
Paul Baxter, 67, of Modesto, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former development agency in Stanislaus. Baxter was a consultant for Stanislaus County Capital Projects from 2002 to 2007. He was the interim clerk recorder for the County of Stanislaus from 2001 to 2002 and deputy city manager for the City of Modesto from 1989 to 2000. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Baxter is a Democrat.
Wendell Naraghi, 69, of Denair, has been appointed and designated as chair of the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Stanislaus. Naraghi has been the owner of Wendell Naraghi Farms since 2006 and the owner of the Naraghi Group since 2000. He was manager of H. Naraghi Farms, a family-run farm and real estate company, from 1967 to 2006. Naraghi has served on the California State Food and Agriculture Board and the UC Hastings Foundation. Naraghi received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Naraghi is a Republican.
Walter Schmidt, 65, of Hughson, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Stanislaus. Schmidt has been a partner at Crabtree Schmidt since 1971. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Schmidt is a Republican.
Ventura
Rodney Diamond, 69, of Newbury Park, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Ventura. Diamond has been the principal of Diamond Consulting since 2010. He was the secretary-treasurer of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 from 2002 to 2010, and he held multiple positions there from 1971 to 2002. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Diamond is a Democrat.
David Maron, 53, of Camarillo, has been appointed to the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Ventura. Maron has been the chief executive officer of Maron Computer Services since 1979. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Maron is a Democrat.
Sidney White, 60, of Ventura, has been appointed and designated as chair of the designated local authority for the former redevelopment agency in Ventura. White was the manager of the economic redevelopment division at the Community Development Department for the City of Ventura from 2002 to 2011, manager of the economic redevelopment division for the Community Development Commission in Los Angeles County from 1995 to 2002, and was a partner at Economics Research Associates from 1986 to 1994. This position does not require Senate confirmation. White is registered decline-to-state.
For more information, visit: http://www.dof.ca.gov/assembly_bills_26-27/view.php.