After six years with the Resource Management Agency (RMA), Jake Raper will be retiring. He started in 2008 as the assistant director of the RMA and was promoted to director in 2009. He was not only complimented for his work ethic but for his camaraderie. The Tulare County Supervisors expressed that they will not only miss him around the office but the cookies he brought every Tuesday and left in the break room.
Raper is credited with making the RMA a friendlier place for the public to do business and a friendlier place for business in general. It only takes three months to get a special use permit now, whereas it used to take years. A regular permit only takes three weeks. Raper was thanked for changing the culture at the RMA to a place where people can come realize their dreams.
Supervisor Steve Worthley said that if someone wants to build something new, start a new business or create a new business, Tulare County makes the permitting process possible. Raper said that the RMA had come a long way since 2008 but “there is a lot more to be done.” He expressed his confidence in Mike Spata, his heir apparent, in being able to finish what he had started.