Supes make love, not war

Although the supervisors still have their disagreements, they are doing a much better job of keeping them under wraps, and their bi-weekly meetings have gone back to being the humdrum affairs they usually are.

On Tuesday, the good will was positively overflowing. While the board voted unanimously on non-controversial matters such as giving a raise to people who provide home-based care to disabled people, supporting adult education and clarifying meeting procedures, it was all those in attendance could do to keep from joining hands and singing “Kumbaya.”

Interim Chief Administrative Officer Lawrence Odle, who is always careful with his choice of words, said in regard to the board’s newfound unity, “I’ve been very pleased. The board has been functioning very well.”

With the election behind it and the redistricting process on the back burner, the board has gone from savage to suave in only a few weeks. But it’s likely that the real struggle has been taking place in closed sessions, where the supervisors have been butting heads over who will be Odle’s permanent replacement.

That announcement could come as early as Wednesday, said Oroville Supervisor Bob Beeler, who laughed off the idea that the board was irreparably split over any of the issues they have disagreed on in the past.

“We’ve had our differences, but democracy is not always supposed to be harmonious,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with a good argument.”

Beeler said the process of finding a CAO was being handled in a methodical and efficient manner, with all the supervisors treating each other in a “gentlemanly” way. Does that mean that, when the announcement is made, we won’t see another one of those 3-2 votes?

"I don’t make predictions," Beeler chuckled.