Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey hey. Ding. Doo. The 3:30 p.m. meeting of the Bakersfield City Council is now in session. >> Good afternoon. It's my pleasure to call to order the 3:30 regular city council meeting of March 25th, 2026. Madame Clerk, please call the role. Mayor Go here. Vice Mayor Core >> here. Council member Aas. Council member Gonzalez >> here. >> Council member Weir >> here. >> Council member Smith >> I'm here. >> Council member Kleman >> here. >> And council member Basher. Thank you. Welcome. Are you a student from student? Well, welcome. We're glad to have you participate. You can see it's not exactly a soldout crowd today. Do you wish to make a public statement? >> Not today. >> No. So, uh, in that, um, madam city attorney, I'm going to just dispense with that section of it. And then, uh, next item, please. Close session item 3A, conference with labor negotiator, pursuant to government code section 54957.6. >> Thank you. >> And motion to adjourn to close session. >> We're adjourned to close session. So, welcome. The bad news is that uh we are going into close session. So, you're you're not going to get enough of credit. Who's your professor? >> Uh Holmes. >> Holmes. Will you please tell him to make sure students don't come to this one because this happens to so many people. Uh you're welcome to come back at 5:15 so we'll have our regular meeting. Sometimes we have more of an agenda, but I know he's not going to give you credit for two minutes. So, uh but thank you for coming and come back again. >> Thanks. Daddy. Hey. I can be a star. I can be a Oh hey. Beat. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Yeah, honey. Oo. I'd rather try and accomplish something fail. that try to accomplish nothing to fully succeed. All night I'd rather try and accomplish something fail than trying to accomplish nothing and slowly succeed. I'll just wait. Heat. Heat. The final ingredient fully exceeded. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey hey. Hey, hey hey. Heat. Heat. N. Hey, hey hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey hey hey. Heat. Hey Heat. Ooh. Ooh. Okay. Okay. Hey, hey hey. Deep. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Fire. Wow. Hey, hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Okay. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey hey. Hey, hey hey. I know. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Reconvening the city the open session at 407. Seven. Madam city attorney. >> Oh, I'm not there. >> We're back in session. >> Thank you, mayor. There was only one item on close session uh this afternoon. Conference with labor negotiator and uh by unanimous vote of 6 with council member Arius absent. Uh staff was given direction and the record should note that council member Bashier Tash entered at 334. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next item please. >> Reports item 5A second quarter 202526 budget update. Mr. Kle. >> Thank you mayor and councel. This is consistent with our commitment to bring you quarterly updates related to our finances this uh year and a little more depth than we have in years past. We're also combining though this with we're going to consider this our midyear update at the same time as we give you this quarterly report. I will apologize on behalf of Mr. Randy McKean, our finance director. is not feeling well and otherwise would be here to help provide um this update for you. But uh Tara Loveless with our finance department is here to help uh answer any questions that I can't because there may be some that I can't. So just to uh give council an update, we had our um public um workshop last week about highlevel revenues, high level expenditure estimates and our reductions. But we continue budget preparation over the next uh two to three weeks. We'll be finalizing um some of those numbers. Uh we will be presenting in early April to the over the the public safety vital services uh committee. um oversight committee on those PSVS uh related requests. Uh we only have capital requests as we have for the last couple years. We don't have any ongoing requests in um PSVS. And then you'll of course have your budget workshops in May uh that have more finalized numbers. Uh but uh over the next few weeks, we'll be finalizing uh the preliminary budget and be able to provide that uh to the council um in paper copy or electronically even ahead of your workshops. Uh also an important update for the council is that as we entertained our recruitment and retention needs and offered cost of living adjustments, that did change our four-year forecast. And so our four-year forecast had originally assumed about a 15% set of reductions over um that time frame. Uh we're looking at more like a 17% reduction over multiple years. And this year that's a 5% reduction uh that uh has um um been presented to the council at the workshop last week. Um the the notable piece here about our hiring freeze being initiated last June. We had um estimated uh in the first quarter that it could generate uh upwards of $ 8.7 million in savings. We are on target to surpass that savings mark and we'll talk a little bit more about that. Uh so where are we at in the hiring freeze? We've had a total of 293 positions vacant for the last two quarters. some of those positions beyond the the two fiscal year quarters and and up until the the current date. Um on our enterprise funds, uh we did determine after the first quarter that it made sense as we had deconlicted any positions that might have a a downstream general fund impact to go ahead and fill those positions. And so most of our enterprise fund positions have been filled, although we still have a few vacant just from standard turnover as well as finishing up some of those recruitment processes. Uh similar for our special revenue funds on the general fund side because we continued we started out at a number that was u below 200 positions uh vacant in the general fund. Uh and we grew to now over uh 200 positions that are vacant in the general fund. And so as we had additional turnover that we knew surpassed our savings target, we did determine some positions needed to be filled for service level impacts and wouldn't have an impact on our savings targets. And so we have filled 51 positions um since October. Uh there are 36 positions that have been approved to fill but have yet to be filled. But we have 140 positions that we've held. that 70 and 70 there to for clarity sake there are 70 positions that we have that remain frozen and the other 70 so it's 140 total there are 70 positions that we've recommended for elimination in next year's budget which is consistent with what you saw last week in the workshop so still 140 positions that we anticipate that will continue to be vacant through the end of this fiscal year and 70 of those eliminated next fiscal here. Um just a couple of updates on um our forecast methodology. Uh we we of course and we've presented this to the council before. You've seen that forecast. Um and it understands, you know, what is our fund balance? Uh what is our assumed revenues? What are our assumed expenditures? uh but each year we have to update that based on the actuals that end up in our budget module. And so uh very soon all of those numbers will be finalized in the budget module. We'll do an update to our forecast. Our biggest focus and costs since it's 70 to 80% of our total operating ongoing costs as personnel. It has been salaries and benefits. Um, and uh, we've you have to pick a point in time uh, for the forecast. And our point in time that we picked was salaries and benefits based off of February 2026. And our forecast um, continues to project remaining months based on our year-to- date total. And uh we're fortunate again as I noted that our savings target is looking to be closer to $11 million instead of just the $8.7 million we estimated in the first quarter. And that that is shown here in this slide. Uh we have some actuals um for our total uh budget there. uh what our amended budget looked like and then what our actuals to date as well as our forecasted um expenditures. And so that's how we've uh we've the purpose of this slide is just to demonstrate that it's not a loose number. It's a very u specifically forecasted number that we think we'll be at 11.7 million in savings, well beyond our target. And that sets us up well for next year. But I think it was needed. And again, I think you've we've all seen the wisdom of the hiring freeze that that gave us the flexibility to be able to do the necessary position eliminations to balance the budget without affecting people that were currently in their positions. Just want to make a reminder too, and I I actually apologize, this isn't uh not the updated slide. Um this number is uh off. Uh the number of our contingency reserve is actually $60 million. We actually have two different we have a general fund reserve and a PSVs reserve. And so I want to distinguish between a difference between our contingency reserve and our fund balance. Our fund balance is revenues that are just in a fund available to be appropriated. These reserves are not to be touched outside of a count exercising our council policy that states when we can use those reserves. Our balance uh our target balance for our reserves is $65 million. This last year because we knew it was going to be a tight year and because we were going to be reducing our budgets, we we chose in last year's budget to not add another $5 million to the reserve. So, our balance currently is $60 million. Again, I apologize that slide is is not fully updated. Our our balance is 60 million out of the 65 million target. And so we have $60 million in reserves. We're not recommending the use of those in balancing the budget. We're just pointing out that beyond our fund balance, we have these reserves also available. Our facility reserves target is $10 million. It's been at $5 million for several years now, and we haven't increased it. Um, and we we aren't proposing doing that at this point in time either. But we do have $5 million in our facility reserves. our pension stabilization fund, if council recalls, we started with about a million, a million and a half into that stabilization fund. We added a few more million, but we've actually seen some very good interest growth um in that pension stabilization fund. And our your your council policy as a reminder is anytime we have significant one-time savings that at least 25% of that go into the pension stabilization fund before it's considered for any other purpose. And so we've been able to build that up over the years and we've got a a healthy balance now. I'm not recommending in this coming year that we use the stabilization fund to balance the budget. Our target right now with Kalpers's pension spike is 2030 2031 will be the highest years of um Kalpers's cost increases. After 2030, 2031, we start to see our pension obligations reduce um um because of um several factors, but largely the pension reform impacts really start to kick in at that 2030 2031 uh timeline. Thine could shift a little bit depending on Kalpers's um return rates. We know that. Um, but we are saving up that pension stabilization fund to smooth out those peak cost increases in the years just prior to 2030 and 2031. Lastly here, uh, just again highlighting that we're going to continue our hiring freeze through the end of the year for those 70 positions and the 70 that will be eliminated. Uh I've already given you a quick overview of what the dates and timeline will look like for completing the the 2627 budget. And then we have a few uh last corrections that we're making that could generate small amount of one-time monies uh from the close out of last year. We're talking probably about a million dollars u plus or minus. And so I'm not recommending appropriating that funding to do anything at midyear currently and rather just push it forward into next year's budgeting process to help uh balance that budget. And with that I'll take any questions. >> Madam city clerk, is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak? Who turned in a card? >> Mayor Go, we have not received any speaker cards. >> Thank you. So we'll go now to council for comment. And have you opened up my request to speak? I just see something flashing with no names. >> I see no request to speak. Council member Gonzalez. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh thank you, Mr. Kle, for your presentation. Uh just a couple of brief questions. First and foremost, um regarding the city reserve balances, I want to thank you for including this slide. Um, I was hoping to see this slide tonight, uh, because I think it gives all of us on the council and certainly in the community a good sense of where we are in terms of building up that reserve fund. Uh, many of us have been for for years um, really adamant at making sure that we have a disciplined policy uh, in which we can uh, add to our reserves. I just want to provide a little bit more context if I can. Before Measure N, uh, that uh, contingency reserve was at 16.4 4 million. Uh today it's now60 million. Uh the facility reserves was at 3.8 million, today at 5.2 million. And I I wanted to clarify the pension uh stabilization fund that that's the section 115 trust fund. Correct. >> That is correct. And it is separate from our other trust fund. >> That's separate from Okay. And and we we established that though within the last five years. >> That's correct. So, pre-measure the the actual balance was $0 and now it's 8.2 million. So, um I'm really I'm really uh pleased with that number. I think we should continue to see how we can continue to increase that. Um I think the standard, correct me if I'm wrong, is a 60-day reserve for for cities. >> That is correct. And if I may, council member, >> yeah. Um it is that is the the government finance officers association recommendation is a 60-day working cash reserve. Uh that is considered an industry best practice to have that target of large cities in California and typically most cities across the nation and even you know small and mediumsized cities do not reach that because that's 16% of your your general fund budget. That's a large number. Most cities do not meet that target. of large cities in California. There are only two other cities that have met the 16% or two months working cash. Prior to this year, the city of Bakersfield had been for um two years at that target number. Uh and again, we're very close to that target number. Today we only um again we we decided to forego uh one allocation for this current fiscal year because we knew we were going to be seeing some reductions you know to the budget. But for us to be at that industry standard um is impressive when many other large cities are are at a much lower uh reserve percent balance. >> And what are our annual earnings on those reserve funds? You mentioned the pension uh stabilization fund, that's section 115, but I wondered about the contingency reserve. >> Yeah, our our interest income tends to be in the millions of dollars actually. Um I'm trying to think um I I know one specific number on our ARPA interest income. It was about $2 million when we had a similar sized amount of unspent ARPA dollars. uh we have we we pull our interest income um collectively and so um each each one of those categories uh we don't uh necessarily always report uh the separate interest earnings. We have that data but we don't necessar always report it that way but it is in the millions of dollars of interest income. >> Okay. So even though we may not be in a position to make a direct allocation this upcoming fiscal year, we will likely see that balance grow. >> That is correct, council member. And also we do continue when if we prepay our Kalpers, >> correct? >> Um annual costs. We gain significant savings and so we do continue to prepay that you know million plus dollars and it saves us about a million dollars. So just to be clear for the public uh we have a responsibility for making pension payments for that unfunded liability and traditionally city our city has paid I think on a monthly basis if we prepay ahead of time you know in advance of the 12 years 12 months uh we then are able to realize those those savings. That is accurate. And again, it's we we save close to a million or a little over a million dollars every year with that prepayment. And we're actually chunking that into the pension stabilization fund, that savings every year. >> Beautiful. Okay. And then I'll say my question is actually for the budget hearing. Thank you. >> Council member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor. I just had a question on the pensions stabilization fund. You said that, you know, the the plan is to spend that the last couple years of the peak or how's that really work? What is the plan? I mean, we're only four years out from what you estimate to be the peak. >> Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Smith. And I'll acknowledge that we don't have a set plan that it's going to be this amount in this year, but the it's really a mindset has been let's not spend it too soon. Let's wait until we're at those larger peak years. Also, we want to be conservative because what if Kalpers has a couple bad years and they push that peak out to 2032? We want to give ourselves a little bit of room there. But essentially, if you think about the the peak curve, we want to take off the the top portion of that peak that's roughly equivalent, you know, to the um reserve that we build up to level that out. But in the best case scenario, we actually have a little bit left over even after that and continue to keep this pension uh trust fund active just against future long-term pension costs. We don't want to exhaust it completely just to take off that peak. We want to have a little bit after left over. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. I don't see any other request to speak. Vice Mayor motion to receive and file. >> You have a motion. Please cast your votes. motion is approved with council member Aas absent. Thank you. And with no other business, we stand adjourned at 4:25. Hey, hey hey. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hey baby. Hey, hey hey. I don't know. Heat. Heat. Data. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, pick up. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey. I know. Hey Heat. Hey Heat. Hey hey hey. Welcome to the Bakersfield City Council meeting. This television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies, the county of Kerna, and the city of Bakersfield. You can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 700 p.m., Sunday at 10:00 a.m., and the following Wednesday at 7 p.m. You can download the agenda for this meeting at www.bakersfieldcity. us. Preciding over this evening's meeting, the honorable Mayor Karen K. Go. Good evening. It's my pleasure to call to order the 5:15 city council meeting of March 25th, 2026. Madame Clerk, please call the role. >> Mayor Go, >> here. >> Vice Mayor Core >> here. >> Council member Aas >> here. >> Council member Gonzalez >> here. >> Council member Weir >> here. >> Council member Smith, >> I am here. >> Council member Kleman >> here. >> And council member Bertosh >> here. >> It was forgot you. Well, welcome to everyone. It's uh wonderful to have you here participating in the civic process. We have a whole section of our interns who are in the youth job program and I hear that they are very very surprised that so much goes on in the city that they never knew about, including how trash gets picked up. So, to all of you, uh thank you staff and thank you to all of you who support city government. It's been a joy thus far to have you here and we just hope that you will consider coming back and serving tonight. We had the pleasure of having Pastor Mara Black of Dominion Worship Center to offer the invocation. Pastor, thank you so much for all that you do. I know that you're having a youth conference uh soon and it's been a pleasure to be with you during the women's conference and thank you for your service to the community. Thank you for providing meals to uh those in need and supporting Teen Challenge serving in juvenile hall and retirement homes. And then following the invocation, we have a very special person to lead us in the pledge, Amriita Singh, who's an eighth grader at St. John's Lutheran School. She is the Kern County Spelling B Champion. After spelling the word, let's see how many of you even know this word Chorton and after you after you uh do the pledge, maybe you can tell us yes. Spell it and tell us what it means. Um she's going to be representing us at the scripts national spelling bee in Washington DC in May and she secured first place in math counts at California's Kern County chapter competition. She's a has a 4.2 GPA. She plays tennis and basketball and she aspires to attend a top medical school following in the footsteps of both her parents. Dr. Jasine Dooall who's proudly filming right over there and then Dr. Jeet Singh. So at this point, would you all stand and we'll have Pastor Mara go first and then Amita, you'll go next. Hello everyone. My name is Mara Black and I pastor with my husband Larry Black for the past 27 years at Dominion Worship Center in our beautiful city of Bakersfield. Thank you, Mayor Go, for the invitation and I want to thank all of the council members for your service. I consider it an honor and privilege to pray with you today. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I invite and welcome your presence to come and abide in this room and in this meeting today. I ask that you would bring to the council's remembrance of why they desired or felt called to serve our community. Encourage them today. They are on the front lines and I ask that you would renew their strength. release a fresh boldness and courage to stand for truth and justice motivated with compassion. Where they may have felt persecuted at times for doing what is right, please bring healing to their hearts. I pray protection and understanding for their families as they unselfishly lead our city. Restore the council's faith and trust in you, Lord, where frustration or disappointment may have tried to settle in their mind and hearts. We thank you, Lord, for our city council. As they steward and govern today, I pray for wisdom, guidance, and direction in all the decisions they make. May they be peacemakers and not peacekeepers. May the council come into unity and peace in all that is discussed without haste. release new strategies from heaven, creative ideas to solve issues that we know only you can give Jesus. Help them to priority prioritize property properly the issues at hand for our city. Lord, I ask that you would raise up Bakersfield to be a model for those to follow and grant us favor in this state. I take authority over all the powers of darkness that would want to destroy, bring chaos, or confusion into our city. I declare that no weapon that would be or could be formed against our city that it will not prosper. I ask for anything hidden, deceptive, or manipulative to be brought to the light to be dealt with. I declare Psalm 91 as protection over our city. Now I pray Lord for you to bless be excuse me beautiful Bakersfield. May we all choose to honor you Lord Jesus. Walk humbly before you and acknowledge you in all our ways. Amen. Amen. Just go right there. Salute. Pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. You may be seated. And would you stay there? We're so proud of you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so what was this winning word and what does it Well, let's see whether anybody even knows what it means. >> So, my word that I won on was Chorton. Um, it's spelled C H O R T E N and it's a Buddhist shrine and yeah, that was the winning word, but I never heard it before. So, yeah. >> Did Does anybody in the audience even would anybody have known what that was before you said this? You're exceptional. I >> I know. Thank you. I really appreciate >> when I saw the word. >> I know, but I'm really grateful to be here. So, thank you. And would you like to introduce uh your special family member? >> Oh, yeah. So, uh standing right there is my mom, Joseline Dooall, and I'm really grateful that she could be here to bring me. >> Well, we are so proud of you. We're wishing the best. >> I feel very honored. Yesterday, we were invited to be a mom at me and my husband. We know a lot of in the community and it is so nice that not to be called a doctor but Amita's parents. >> Amita's parents. That's what it is. So, it's my honor to present this to you in honor of your winning first place in the 2026 Kern County Spelling Bee Championship and in recognition of your hard work and outstanding efforts to achieve excellence. Congratulations on this exceptional milestone. And then when you come back as the national champ, we'll just do it again. Should we take a photo there? We're gonna Next. Adam, you'll get that to Danielle right away. Okay. Here are a few guidelines to help our meeting run smoothly. We request that you turn off your phones. Please be courteous in the use of cameras and videos. For safety reasons, and as a courtesy to others, no signs are allowed in the council chamber or in the lobby. Applause is allowed during the presentations portion of the meeting, but not during other portions of the meeting. Everyone in attendance is is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council. Failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum, including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting, prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city. Consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance. That conduct that disrupts the meeting may result in expulsion and/or the chambers being cleared. Behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements, shouting, hate speech, interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting, speaking out of turn, and outbursts from the audience. Madam clerk, next item, please. Presentations item 4A, proclamation to Chad Provinol, assistant principal for Bakersfield Adult School, and Joe Turner, job spot administrator for Renaissance at Baker, declaring March 23rd to two the 27th 2026 Adult Education Week in Bakersfield. Well, it's always such a pleasure to visit the adult school because you have learners who really want to be there. It's not quite like in high school being forced to be there, but these are adults who are eager to learn and it's always uh wonderful to see that eagerness. It's my honor to be able to present this proclamation. Whereas the state of California will observe adult education week March 23rd through 27th. And whereas the Kern High School District along with its board of trustees acknowledges that the Bakersville Adult School serves the changing economic and cultural needs of a vigorous expanding community. And whereas Bakersville Adult School prepares more than 5800 students to meet their academic, personal, and professional goals by enrolling in one or more of the diploma GED programs. And whereas in 2025, 283 adults received their high school diploma. 51 adults earned their GED. 617 adults at the Bakersville Adult School and the Laro Detention Center completed one or more career technical education programs and 75 adults in the Laro detention facility completed courtordered parenting and neglect classes to reunite with their families. Now therefore, I, Karen go, mayor of the city of Bakersville, do hereby proclaim March 23rd through March 27th as adult education week in our city and salute the administration, teachers, and students at Bakersville Adult School and honor each of them for their efforts and accomplishments. It's my honor to be able to present this to you. Whoever wants to give the comments, you can vote. Thank you, Mayor Go. It's an honor and a privilege to stand before you to uh be recognized for the adult edet week, but it's truly the teachers and the staff members who are the champions here in receiving this award. Uh it's the ones that get up every day and open up the school to make the students feel safe and coming to get that education and to achieve that high school diploma to pursue secondary education. Uh this is one of the things that Bakersville Adult School want to be able to make sure that adult students have an opportunity to do so and we are really uh thankful here today to be able to do that and stand before you. >> Thank you. Madam clerk, next item, please. Presentations. Item 4B, proclamation to Paul Ge, coordinator for the Bakersfield Parkinson Support Group. Nancy Niles of the Bakersfield Parkinson's Support Group, and Harry Starky, president of the Parkinson's Association of Northern California, declaring April 2026 as Parkinson's Awareness Month in Bakersfield. Today we're here to bring increased awareness about an issue that we might not know that much about. But let me tell you a little bit about this with this proclamation. Whereas Parkinson's disease, a chronic progressive neurological disease, is estimated to affect more than 10 million people worldwide and approximately 1 million people in the United States. And whereas Parkinson's disease is the fastest growing neurogenerate generative got it disease with 90,000 new people diagnosed each year in the United States. And whereas there is no objective test or biioarker for Parkinson's disease and there is no cure or drug to slow or halt the progression of the disease. And whereas organizations and groups including the Bakersville Parkinson's Support Group are working diligently to bring awareness to our community and share ways residents can support those impacted by Parkinson's. Now therefore, I, Karen Go, mayor of the city of Bakersville, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Parkinson's Awareness Month in our city and encourage residents to raise awareness, support research, and create compassionate community for those impacted by Parkinson's disease. It's my honor to be able to present this to you, and you're welcome to share words. Thank you very much. >> Oh, I want to thank uh Mayor Go, her staff, and of course the members of the city council for their support of our proclamation. Parkinson's disease is one of the fastest growing neurological diseases in the country. A new case is diagnosed every six minutes in the United States. Someone you know or love has likely been affected by Parkinson's disease. The disease is so prevalent here in Bakersfield. We are the center of what's called Parkinson's alley. However, Parkinson's is not inevitable and there is much that we can do to prevent it. Education is one way to alert the public about the disease and the council's action helps us do that. While there is no cure for Parkinson's, there are treatments and there are support groups like ours that offer a welcoming environment for people with Parkinson's and their caregivers. We are here to help as much as we can. Again, I'd like to thank you for helping Bakersfield become more aware of the disease. And I'd like to introduce my wife, Nancy Nie. She's a person with Parkinson's. And with me today is um Ernie Mononttoya. His wife has Parkinson's disease. He's a local businessman. And we are part of the support group and we appreciate council support and Mayor Go's support. Thank you very much. Yeah. We're now at the public statements portion. In keeping with council's resolution, public statements are received at different times depending on the item. I'll call on the city clerk to call for public statements. If you wish to make a public statement, please fill out a public speaker card and place it in the tray. next to the speaker's podium. We ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on today's agenda or a matter not on the agenda. Speakers who do not identify specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-aggenda public statements. If you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda, you'll be called first to speak. Statements are given a two-minute time limit per speaker, 20 minutes total for all non-aggenda item public statements. If you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda, I'll call for you at the appropriate time. If public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting, you'll be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called. Madame Clerk, do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda? >> Mayor Go, we've received four speaker cards regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda. The first public speaker is Matthew Martin. Good evening, Madame Mayor and members of council. My name is Matthew Martin, and I'm here today to talk about Great American Cleanup, and it's such a a wonderful thing. So, keep Bakersville Beautiful. I'm the chair of Great American Cleanup this year. It's our 23rd. So, I'm here to invite the mayor, who's always a big part of it, and the council. This year, it's going to be Saturday, April 18th at Yokutz Park. It really is a great thing. For those that don't know what it is, we get 5,000 folks in our community that come together and volunteer. Last year we had 68,000 pounds of trash that we picked up just on that day. So, it's really cool. It's my eighth year involved with the committee and this year I'm chairing and uh we have a lot of great sponsors. Last year, we had the the mayor's challenge for the high schools, Miriam and BCHS tied. So, we're trying to get more folks out, more teams. So, I encourage you all to attend. It's a wonderful thing. So, thank you for letting me speak. Thank you, Mr. Martin. We encourage all of you to come out. Next speaker, please. Michael. >> Oh, let's look at the results. >> Oh, there. >> Uh why don't you come back up and can you just go over the results just so our council members know, each of you appoints two people to uh the committee, and these are the results. We had a rainy year, a rainy day last year, and these are still the results. 63,000 lb of litter, >> 2,000 lb of mixed recycling, 4,500 lb of organic recycling. And what's cool is we've engaged high schools and and so many different groups and community folks that have come together and sponsored. And it's such a beautiful thing. We always have a different shirt every year that's a different color. And to get folks out as a community and then we come together and celebrate at Yokutz Park with a barbecue. Shout out to Salty's Barbecue this year who's sponsoring Rya's Coca-Cola. We got so many folks. Cal Water. So, I encourage you to get out there, get a team. It really is a lot of fun. We start our cleanup at 8 and then we do the ceremony at the park around 11. So, it's a great time. >> Really. >> Thank you, Mr. Martin. >> Yeah. Thank you, Madam Mayor. >> Council member Tash. >> Yeah, I uh wanted to know I had an anonymous person uh send me a text and ask if they could contribute $1,000 to the first place prize for the schools and then $500 to the second place prize. And I said, I don't know. I can ask the mayor. I think it'd be great to get, >> you know, that sounds really good. So, let's >> Yep. >> move forward. >> So, it's done. It's on the books. >> All right. Even more incentives. So, with each of the high schools, they're allowed to get as many people. It doesn't just have to be high school students, although many of them bring many high school students, but parents, friends, and all. And so, usually the funds are uh designated to the ASB and they do whatever they need to do or some once in a while it's a specific club within the school that brings out the most students. But again, thank you. Next speaker, please. Michael Turnup Seed, >> Madam Clerk. >> Yes. >> Welcome. >> I use all this paper. I don't want to see it go to waste, you know. So, bring it here down. Uh, good evening. I'm Michael Turnup Seed. I represent the Kern County Taxpayers Association. And I'm going to talk about a very nerdy subject, your annual financial report. For the last four years, it has not been done on time. It's supposed to be done by January 31st of the following year. And for the last basically three years, they've been at least 21 months late and 25 hasn't even started yet. It was due two months ago. So I the issue matters especially because Bakership is likely approaching major sewer financing, maybe another utility financing. And this is the basis of what this is your financial statement to the world that everybody looks at. And I think it's very important. So I think it's very important that the city gets its house in order quickly. It needs to create a financial reporting task force. It really needs to bring in a government accounting specialist who can make sure that these are closed. Most cities try to have theirs done in four months and yours is now 22 months late for the 24 year. Uh number three is the establishment of an audit committee with the council. Many cities have audit audit committees. I don't think you have one. You need to modernize your financial systems. Again, adopt the 120day ACFR goal. And the larger uh governance lesson is a late ACFR is not just an accounting issue. It reflects the operational maturity of city government. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Turnipsy. Madam clerk, next speaker, please. Jamal Wy. Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> Hi, my name is Jamal Willie. I'm a political science major at Bakersfield College and a Lake View resident from East Bakersfield. And I wanted to talk um you know, usually around summertime we see a spike in uh violent crime. And so I wanted to approach the city council to see what your uh proactive approach is to this. Uh there's various different cities that have tried different approaches. I I passed around various examples. Baltimore was one which took a holistic approach to violent crime. Approach these uh small members of community that are causing the majority of crime. Offer them housing. Offer them job support. Offer them to get back in school. And more importantly, they offer them trauma counseling because that's what a lot of people in my community suffer for. They've experienced trauma throughout their life and never have dealt with that. And so in turn, they take it out on the streets. And so I'm offering various different ways so we could uh get this under control before anything starts. And it's a snowball effect. I'm a member of the community and I'm pretty sure if you drove down the street, you wouldn't be able to tell me from people that actually gang banging and I'm pretty sure other members of different communities that want to do my community harm wouldn't be able to tell the difference either. I have four young children that like to play outside and I'm hoping they can enjoy the summer without anything, you know, them experiencing any trauma. And so, uh, you know, there's various things. If you need a liaison, I'm I'm at the park every day working out with these gentlemen that are in the streets. If you need anybody that that can advocate for you guys to them, you know, I'll be more than willing. And there's also just quick uh there was a a misconduct from a small amount of police that we need to uh you know advocate for and get that settled for that that trust to be involved so we can make a difference. >> Thank you Mr. Willie. Vice Mayor, >> I just want to ask our city manager, could you share some information on what we are doing through whether it's Calvib and if um there's an opportunity to have a community meeting collectively with um the ward as well as with folks who are leading these efforts already and and I I appreciate you coming and bringing this to the city council um so that we can have a collective conversation and when we have willing people who volunteer for their time. I want to make sure that we take advantage of it and can form some kind of collective effort in in the local community. >> Yeah. Thank you, Vice Mayor. We're on the same page. Thank you Jamal for bringing forward these thoughts and ideas and I think uh we we can make a connection from our office of violence intervention and prevention staff with Jamal uh because uh as a new office that we've established in the last few years and been able to get grant funding we have initiated our gun violence reduction strategy uh that is very focused on violent crime. In fact, our technical assistance providers from University of Pennsylvania worked in Baltimore and we've uh worked with those same folks here as well as the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform is working deeply in Baltimore. They've come and done trainings with our new team here as well. And uh we have followed the data to identify that it really is a very small percentage of the population that is responsible for 60 to 70% of gun violence in any given community. And uh we've been very fortunate to be in implementation of that new program the last few years and from 2021 to 2024 we saw a 70% reduction in shootings and homicides as a result of that effort. There's always more that we can do and we're always looking for good partners who can help us do that particularly with um you know informed uh experience and and from the neighborhood. And so we look forward to connecting our staff uh with Jamal and and also looking there may be some other ideas and there in addition to a gun violence reduction strategy or community violence interventions there may be other ideas and we're always happy to look at some of those as well. >> Thank you and council member Gonzalez. >> Thank you mayor. Uh Mr. Wy, thank you so much for coming today and and um offering us um this report. I appreciate it so much. just taking a a first look at it. It sounds like uh it's it feels like a lot of the uh recommendations particularly as it relates to a credible messenger intervention program sounds a lot like our Calvette program. And so I I'd really encourage you to um to to reach out to our violence intervention team and and see what we're doing. I would also like to um reach out to you if you don't mind and and share with you some of the work that we're doing in uh in Lake View which is now W 2. My colleague Council Member Aas and I have been working uh partnering for a number of years now because we believe the same thing you do. Uh you me you said it really well in terms of taking a holistic approach to uh violence reduction and and actually improving the health and safety of a neighborhood. And that requires far more than enforcement and prevention, but also just building up a neighborhood and and making significant meaningful investments. And that's something that we're we've been working on for for some time. And I'd like to share with you some of that work and and get your thoughts as well as where we can continue to to grow that work. Thank you again for being here. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is that the end of that group? Mayor, go. We have one more uh public speaker. >> Would you please call that person? >> Johnny Alag. >> Hello. So, I'd like to read off of it just so I don't go off script. Um, so after listening to the speech on adult school, I have a recommendation for the council. Not all of you guys, just some of you guys. Um, the Bakersfield Adult School should offer morals and ethics for city council members, specific city council members, specifically those getting grants for $22,942,35. Uh, they just did a retroactive amendment for this city council member's church for 9,533,219 for the next 5 years. So morals and ethics are really important um to me at least. Um anyway, with that said, uh maybe we could use that money for this sewer rate that you guys are trying to do. Um, I mean, right now, or last time around, David Couch came here and I was here. David Couch offered to help with the sewer rates, uh, to do some kind of collaboration with the city of Bakersfield, but it appears you guys didn't do that because the rates are still going up way too high to I think everybody's liking. Um, just so you know, I actually had a provisional patent on a water conservation device that I invented. Uh, I also worked with Cow Water for years as their maintenance, not maintenance. I ran a company that was shut down as a result of you guys. Uh, and I did all the maintenance for cow water. So, I'm very familiar with water sewage. So, if you guys need any help, let me know. But I highly recommend the adult school provides moral and ethics classes for you know who. Thank you, >> Madam Clerk. Do we have any other speakers? >> Mayor Go, that was our final speaker for non-aggenda item public statements. We also have not received any speaker cards regarding agenda items. >> Thank you. And just want to make sure because this would be the time for to speak on appointments item 6A or items listed under consent calendar item seven. So uh seeing that we have not received any, we will now move on to the next item. Next item please appointments item 6A. one appointment to the keep Bakersfield beautiful committee ward six alternate member uh due to the resignation of David Baker. Applications for appointment have been received from Hovic Bedurian, Jesse Delewal, Leadonna Dodge, Troy Fitis, Naelli Franco, Jenny Kurtie, Daniel Nolan, Lindseay Parker, Sandy Turner, and James Howard Wheeler. >> Thank you. This appointment is by ward. Therefore, I'm going to call on council member Bashertosh to share his alternate keep Bakersville beautiful member nomination for ward six. >> Uh my nomination would be Lana Dodge, please. >> Thank you. And so we're going to say that that is a motion. Is it Liddana Dodge? >> A motion to approve >> Liddana Dodge. Ladonna Dodge to the Keep Bakersfield beautiful keep Bakersfield beautiful committee as award six alternate. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. Motion is unanimously approved. Thank you and thank you Miss Dodge for your willingness to serve. We'll see you there at 700 a.m. on a Saturday morning. That's what we do. Uh but thank you for your willingness to serve. Madame clerk, next item, please. Consent calendar items 7A through 7J for approval. Thank you. And we have had council member Bashertosh uh poll 7H3. We haven't received any other requests for recusal or to be pulled. So, madame vice mayor, motion to approve consent calendar items 7A through 7J with the exception of 7H3. >> Thank you. You have a motion. Please cast your vote. Mayor Go, we're experiencing technical difficulties. Um, can I please conduct a roll call vote? >> Yes, please. >> Vice Mayor Core, >> yes. >> Council member Arias, >> I. >> Council member Gonzalez, >> I. >> Council member Weir, >> yes. >> Council member Smith, >> yes. >> Council member Kman, >> yes. >> Council member member Basher, >> yes. Motion is unanimously approved. >> Thank you. And so now with 7HC, Council Member Basher, pull that. And I think council member Weir also wanted the same item for separate consideration. Council member Basher, >> can I get an explanation on what that is please? >> Yeah, council member, appreciate the question. At your last meeting, the council authorized staff to move forward with a purchase and and a lease and a potential purchase and sale agreement for uh this property located at 14:30 and 1440 Trxton Avenue. At that time there was a request to have some additional information uh by council uh and so staff u and an an effort to uh respect that request for that additional information. We didn't move forward with a deposit at that time. This number and this amount was included in that prior staff item. It's consistent with the lease and and purchase and sale agreement, but we hadn't appropriated the dollars yet to make the deposit until we gave uh you know one more meeting until um council could review some of the documentation that was requested. But this is just it's consistent with the same action of two weeks ago. It's no additional um uh documentation or or changes to the deal. It's just we hadn't moved forward with that piece until we came back. So that money goes before we spend the 400 grand on the due diligence aspect first right? >> Yes. And actually, thank you, council member, because I failed to mention that specifically this is a refundable deposit. If we choose not to move forward with the purchase and sale, that money comes back to us, but this is just like essentially like an earnest money to be able to, you know, be in the due diligence period. >> Thank you. I have no further questions. Council member >> Aware. >> Oh, okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, >> could you just paraphrase what the financial position that we're in now? >> Uh, in general, I assume, council member. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah, we're in a period where our expenditures are increasing at a greater rate than our revenues. And so we are in a mode where we're we're restructuring some of our our fiscal spend to be back in line with the lower revenues than we have um than than our expenditures have been. >> Okay. How about next year? What does next year look like? >> It looks to be probably the same, council member. I think we'll be in a a mode where we continue to uh identify ways to uh prioritize funding on what's most important, reduce spending, find efficiencies because we expect that our our costs will continue to rise faster than our revenues. And in the midst of that and then adding to that our water problem, we're going to spend 134 million to buy a building that I don't know if it'll be occupied or not. Apparently, we have some need for that. I'm not exactly sure why, but um if things aren't going well, why are why are we thinking of a $14 million purchase? >> That's a great question, council member. Uh this is actually part of our cost savings and restructuring plan. We're spending um a large amount of lease monies every year for staff office space. We we ran out of staff office space back in 2021. We were and this is principally for our police department. As we were growing the department with the public safety vital services tax, we needed new office space. There wasn't enough office space in this core set of city buildings downtown at the time. And so we leased office space. Unfortunately, that lease cost has grown over time. And this actually will help us save about a million dollars a year in ongoing uh annual operating dollars while also acquiring an asset that has a future uh you know value and life uh for the city. And so while I I appreciate your question that it may seem contradictory, it's actually part of a savings strategy that gets us out of a lease scenario. we stop paying those lease payments and we're able to have a city asset uh that can house our staff without further ongoing costs. >> And we're doing that by buying a $14 million building. >> That's correct. There's a few other aspects to this where the building has other occupants and so they help to pay u revenue uh they pay lease revenues to the city that helps um pay for the operating costs of the building. Uh, and it gets us out of uh, a lease that is increasingly um, you know, less sustainable for us to continue to pay for that space somewhere else. >> How how much is that lease? >> That lease this year is $900,000. Next year it will be over a million dollar. Okay. $14 million over here, a million dollars over there. I I What makes you so sure that tenants are going to thrive to that building because the building's I don't know. It doesn't seem like anybody wants to own it right now. >> Uh uh council member, there are actually tenants already in the building and several of those have long-term leases. Some others uh will have leases that may come up in the next few years. uh but we would occupy a portion of that building with our own staff and also there are tenants in there and we we we feel confident there will continue to be tenants in that building and again I I think the the one-time expenditure is notable uh but we're able to advertise that over time and be able to pay down the costs of that purchase but even in the short run we have a a notable savings on the lease costs or the office space costs compared it'll be cheaper for us to be in that building on our annual costs than being in this other building plus um our annual essentially lease payments back to ourselves go towards the purchase of that building over time. And again, in a short time frame, we will will be the owners and and we won't have that um payback of the cost for the building and that will be an annual savings of more than a million dollars a year. >> I hear what you're saying. It just doesn't add up. It just it it's contradictory to good finance and and what we need to do here. Um we're we're in a position here that money's very tight. We're in a position next year that money is going to be very tight. And yet we're going to spend $14 million on a building which we don't know if we will, you know, we have no idea what the tenants are going to be in there. It's an old building. It's going to need lots of improvements. We have a water issue here that uh you know, it's a billion dollar issue. It seems like to me it is this is the wrong time for any kind of notion of buying a $14 million building that we really I don't know. I'm not sure that we have a ne necessity for that. So I I'll make a motion to uh to not approve this. Thank you, >> Council Member Arius. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, thank you, staff, for the presentation. Um, we have had thorough discussion on this item. I think it makes total sense for the city. While we continue to struggle budgetarily, we are making adjustments as we speak um into the future that will also include this that will ultimately reduce the ongoing cost of the city. Um, again, it's been thoroughly discussed, so I'll make a motion that we approve 7H3. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? So, we take the second motion first and so we'll take council member Arius's motion to approve staff's recommendation. Do you have a motion? Please cast your votes. Motion is approved with council members Weir and Basher voting no. Thank you. Next item please reports item 10A community choice aggregation update. Mr. Kle >> thank you mayor and councel. Uh we are providing this presentation uh tonight in response to a council referral. We've actually had a couple of referrals on this topic in the last few years uh for staff to go and do analysis to determine if moving forward with the community choice aggregation u project uh would be feasible and and uh a good move for the city of Bakersfield. Um this presentation tonight actually is going to combine two different presentations. We have uh several um technical experts who have been helping us to do this analysis uh that are going to uh share that information with us. First from Cal Choice, which is a JPA that uh operates um community choice aggregators uh but also we we did a uh solicitation for individuals who could do this feasibility study for us and we selected Cal Choice to do that study for us. And so Barbara Boswell from Cal Choice will be providing this first segment after Barbara is done. Uh we actually have part our partners from WDAN who have helped us on some other energy generation energy efficiency um analysis will provide some information about uh the feasibility of larger scale actually energy production and municipal energy production. And so Scott Stum and Jason Codle will help us um provide that portion of the presentation. But as we kick it off, we'll turn it over to Barbara to walk us through their analysis related to a CCA. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm Barbara Boswell with California Choice Energy Authority, also known as Cal Choice. Um, Cal Choice was engaged um by the city of Bakersfield to prepare a um Cal community choice aggregation or CCA technical study. Uh we no longer call it a feasibility study because we know CCA as a as as a entity is feasible. It's how what the costs are and how competitive you can operate a CCA compared to the incumbent IOU. Uh the purpose and methodology of the study was to identify the program benefits and risks of operating a CCA in Bakersfield, identify the critical steps um involved in forming the CCA, and then review uh Bakersfield historical electric usage that we received from PG& for the prior calendar year to forecast resource requirements of operating the CCA program for eligible customers and then determine the financial results of that um program. Uh so what are the benefits of a CCA? Why would you consider forming one? Um we've identified three general uh categories of benefits. Uh one is promoting local control, transparency, and accountability. It provides consumers with a choice where they don't currently have one in terms of provider or where their energy comes from. It also prioritizes local goals and policy objectives. those revenues that are generated by the CCA are local and the city council determines how then that net revenue is spent for the benefit of the of the um city. It also is an opportunity to advance economic development. You can reinvest the CCA program revenues in in the local economy. There are no shareholders where there's a dividend being paid to and so those revenues then are available to the city. It has the potential of creating local jobs and developing new um energy projects. You can also utilize the funds for establishing local programs and energy resources. You can develop programs, for example, that are specifically uh targeted for um lowincome or disadvantaged communities. You can develop resiliency programs and local generation programs and also offer energy efficiency and other cost savings incentives for the community. Um Keith, there's several steps required to develop a um community choice aggregation program. It is a long process. It takes more than a year of planning and and steps involved to implement a CCA. Uh we're at the first step which is completing the technical study. Um, from here, uh, should the council decide they wanted to continue to move forward, uh, you would need to draft and submit what's called an implementation plan to the California Public Utilities Commission. That plan includes steps and information such as um what type of governance structure or um how you would uh um staff the program, uh what type of expertise and what that planning is for that. you would need to uh develop a financing plan for the program and also prepare an energy resource procurement plan that's then filed with the PUC and then they certify it to ensure that it include included all of the elements required. Once that's completed and assuming that the PUC did certify it, uh we would complete regulatory and compliance registrations. We would, the city would then begin developing its um operations and developing um operating policies and procedures and move forward with that. All of those steps take uh over a year and the city is you can uh you can direct staff to develop an implementation plan. That does not lock you into forming and operating the CCA. It's one step in the process. you wouldn't actually be committed to moving forward until April of 2027, which is after the PUC certifies the plan and you've started working in the um energy uh resource adequacy filing program. And so at that point, there's a uh pretty much the commitment to move forward. So there's still time to continue evaluating and determining whether it's right for Bakersfield. So this these two charts look at how does your uh customer base breakdown between number of accounts and then the energies used. The dark blue section is represents residential and so um over 95% of your customer base by count numbers of accounts is residential. However, however, when you look at how much energy is being used, that's really 50/50 between residential and then the uh various large, small, and medium um businesses in an industry in agriculture. In terms of what type of electric power mix um is is needed, CCAs must follow the state's requirements with regards to meeting the uh renewable energy requirements of the state. The laws um currently state that we have to procure 60% of the electric supply from renewable energy sources by 2030 and a 100% greenhouse gas-free mandate applies in 2045. So as a load what's known as a load serving entity CCAs have to follow and buy the same mix of power supply that the utilities do. Um in addition 65% of the renewable energy must be procured through long-term contracts which is defined as 10 years or longer in term. Um so once we had the um the energy usage and we understood the usage by customer segment, we were able to then determine what the costs of operating in potential revenue um uh we could realize through that program. Uh so we developed a proforma using a set of assumptions again there are assumptions based on today we know that our assumptions today what we are looking at terms of costs will change but it does give us the baseline of how does it look from a financial perspective we don't assume that all customers will participate so as you may be aware CCA program the way the law was written all customers must be automatically enrolled unless they opt out. And we do know that customers will opt out. And so we assume that at least 10% we assume 10% of the C residential and commercial customers will opt out. Lighting is generally municipal city accounts. We assume that those accounts will stay in. And we also our rates. When we look at rates, we do it on a cost of service basis. We don't anticipate there being any subsidy or general fund revenues being used to fund the program. We we bu build it to be a self- sustaining program. So cost of service program. Um so forming a CCA is starting a new business and as any new business you have upfront costs before you start uh bringing in revenue. The study um determined that we estimate that that upfront cost to be $16 million. About 6.8 million of that are the implementation costs. Those are the costs that you um incur prior to even uh selling any energy to the public. So you'll have staffing and overhead that are incurred in the process of developing the program, setting up the um department, and getting ready to serve customers. You need technical experts to help you with forecasting energy, with helping you with the procurement processes, with helping you with the regulatory requirements of filings with the public utilities commission. We have marketing and communication because the program is an opt out program. We are required to notice customers four times during a period of time. And so those costs are included in that $6.8 million. And then you have working cash flow. uh there is timing differences between you the time you provide the energy to customers until when they actually pay their bill and so we have to finance that with working capital in addition to the implementation costs. there's a financial res security requirement uh required to be posted and then you have to have some upfront power supply costs and so that's where the $16 million um estimated cost startup cost comes from. Uh this chart just demonstrates that over time the program uh would generate sufficient revenue to cover its cost utilizing a cost of services program. We also assume building into the costs uh in the revenues is uh funds for reserves and then those reserves funds build up to provide a financial stability rate fund as well as funding for programs out into the future. So how would uh your rates based on the cost of services study compare to what PG& customers would pay? Um, and we compared the rates that were assumed for the Bakersfield CCA to PG and what we considered the high time and the low time. And we're currently in um P Gen's rates are in the low time. So if you were to to be operating now, we project that your costs and customers would pay more as a customer of Bakersfield CCA than they would if they were with PG. if you were operating last year, they would actually realize a savings. Um, one of the key drivers of that difference is related to what's known as a power charge indifference adjustment or PCIA or exit fees. Last year, the PUC changed the methodology in how they um uh determined values of energies in certain rates um rate processes which resulted in PCIA for CCA customers to be higher than it has been over the last few years and that's been driving the rates and then generation rates are are low because of it as well for the utilities. It's not unique to PG&E. CCAs throughout the state are dealing with with this current rate um problem ince territory, Southern California Edison territory and STG territory, SD San Dieio gas and electric territory. All of the CCAs are finding themselves in this current situation and looking at what they can do to lower their rates to be more competitive. Do we think that's going to be the same next year? We don't know. It's a rate setting process that happens every year. Um it's possible we'd be back more in a more normalized time and the CCA rates could be lower, but this is what it would look like today if you were um operating today. So in summary, the study determined that if you were to establish the CCA program, the benefits are increased local control and decision-making for the city of Bakersfield. Uh it does again provide choice. Customers can choose to opt out and stay with the IOU or or take service from the Bakersfield CCA. Currently that choice doesn't exist for residents and businesses at Bakersfield. you could develop programs that would be responsive to community needs, interests, and policies. Um, and we do expect it would be competitive, but there would be years when you might be higher and also years when you would be low lower and offer a savings to businesses and residents. And um as part of the process of of the CCA, you would develop um policies to address, you know, procurement, risk management, and financial reserves. Um so, um I'm part of Cal Choice, California Choice Energy Authority. And just quickly who we are, we're a JPA of eight member agencies. They're all cities that established CCA programs as city enterprise funds. They're not a separate JPA. their part of the city and an enterprise department within the city and they joined Cal Choice um to get the benefits of aggregation in terms of um energy procurement to have um better buying power out in the area as well as to have um administrative savings in the form of again aggregating and hiring consultants that are doing the same thing for all eight as opposed to each individually hiring. So they receive cost savings in in the administrative portion. We offer a turnkey approach because we already have the technical experts and um necessary professionals on staff as part of our service that you wouldn't have to go out and do RFPs and processes to determine and find those um experts to help you with operating your CCA. um we would estimate that you could realize about $4 million per year if you were to join um Cal Choice. The study was prepared did not assume that you would be a member, but this information is um being provided to understand if you were to become a member what what kind of cost savings there might be. And that does conclude my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you, Miss Basel. We'll take questions later. Uh coun uh city manager, would you like to make comments before we go to the next presenter? >> Yes, thank you, mayor. Just very briefly, uh as we transition here, I would note that um typically historically over the last, you know, um decade plus, most community choice aggregations have seen about a 2 to 3% savings in customer costs. It's been an interesting scenario in just this last year where PG& has um for the first time in a long time reduced some of their rates. And so as we think about some of the your council actually has a goal around energy independence um in um our strategic plan and as we thought about in the long run these continued escalating costs of utilities, what are some of our options? And again, this is in response to a referral to to look at this topic, but also wanted to note that um there's a fair amount of work that would go into this process and there is merit in that work even at a potentially a two or 3% savings. But really in the big picture, we're trying to think about more creative solutions that could produce gamechanging results that aren't just the 2 to 3%. And so as we transition to this next portion, I think coupling this concept with some of these bigger opportunities makes a lot more sense than just doing it for a 2 to 3%. And so we'll turn it over to our partners at WDAN to walk through this portion of the presentation. >> Welcome. Well done. >> Thank you very much. Um Mayor Go and council appreciate the opportunity to speak with you this evening. Um, I'm Scott Strom, uh, the, uh, city of Bakersfield program director, uh, for Wilden with me this evening. I have Aaron Bis, our director of engineering for the state of California. Julian Aniple who is a financial services project manager and then Jason Codddle who is his uh reputation precedes him with with many uh many accolades uh being the former city manager of Lancaster uh forming the Lancaster Choice CCA moving into the energy space and now a partner with our team as well. So, uh just want to quickly expound on um um city manager Kle's introduction of Wilden and some of the things that we are doing very uh quickly uh but we are doing for the city uh here very quickly. So, as as uh Mayor Kle mentioned or excuse me, city manager Kle mentioned, we are the energy services partner that was uh selected by the city about 18 months ago. We are in the process of conducting comprehensive investment grade energy audits for all of the city's uh buildings, infrastructure, parks, and all of your other assets um to develop and implement solutions that create significant in the multiple millions uh for the city related to utilities, operational costs, and other uh revenue sources. And this is done through energy efficiency, on-site generation, water savings, combining with tackling needed CIP projects given the budget situation to modernize your facilities for the better betterment of the city and the community. uh and also facilitate funding vehicles that leverage that savings with grants and incentives as well to ideally provide no or low out-ofpocket expenses for the city to make these significant improvement to to your city uh uh bu buildings and infrastructure. So tonight's focus though is for the purposes of this presentation, we want to introduce how the city of Bakersfields uh can benefit from getting into uh municipal energy. Um that can uh that can complement uh the previous presentation regarding CCA and also independently benefit the city and community for the long term. Um, additionally, our team at Wildan has the full spectrum of capabilities to identify, develop, build, and support the city on any of these possible pathways that we discussed this evening for either city owned or or other um contractual uh relationships uh that could financially benefit the city. Uh before I jump in here, uh I do want to uh put out a disclaimer on a few acronyms. You're mostly uh familiar with uh many of these, but distributed energy resources or deer um encompasses solar batteries uh and other um on-site generation uh um opportunities uh for energy. JPA, you're obviously familiar with Joint Power Authority, BESS, Battery Energy Storage. We take for granted that we read all these acronyms off all the time. So, um, and again, I my last disclaimer is my grandma always told me that brevity is not my strongest suit. Um, as you can already tell, uh, but we will do our best to, uh, be expeditious through this presentation. So, so how, uh, do utility rate trends impact the city? Bakersfield is in one of the highest utility rate regions, uh, in the state of California. um your current rates. Uh as you can see on the top left of the slide there, uh we have obviously intimate knowledge of the city's um specific commercial rates related to your buildings and other commercial uh and industrial properties throughout the city and then also the residential rates as well. So that spreads anywhere from a blended rate which combines consumption or kilowatt hours and kilowatts uh demand to come up with this cost per kilowatt hour unit uh ranging from about 28 cents to 42 cents per kilowatt hour consistent with Cal Choic's analysis. And then on the residential side it's actually about 34 cents to 48 cents a kilowatt hour uh for your standard citizens uh rates. Um so the trend o over the last five years has been a uh an average uh utility rate increase of about 10.2% um annually and that's not the same every single year. Some years lower, some years higher, but over that 5year period it's been the uh average. So realistically when you look at you know 10 years from now in 2036 your uh this commercial scenario would escalate to um nearly uh 45 to 65% increase in utility costs uh for the city and for other commercial commercial users. Um and so that's uh just indicative of what uh you know rates will continue to uh to do um you know over the course of escalation over the next few years. How does that impact uh the city's goals? And you know, you've obviously had numerous budget talks and other ways to be as efficient as a city as possible right now. And the bottom line is as utility rates continue to increase without the ability to uh make up that uh um loss on increasing expenditures, util utility roses are going to further exacerbate a lot of your operational costs as a city. Uh and then obvious obviously um you know creating increasing challenges in the imbalance in revenues and expenditures for the city and further um you know causing issues within uh the budget particularly the general fund uh as you try to continue to balance that as well. And obviously the same goes for your standard citizens and commercial and industrial users as well cutting into discretionary income and increasing expenditures for everyone. So why now for municipal energy? Well, the benefits uh that we want to speak to this evening are putting uh the city in a better position to reduce these rates not only for the city but obviously for the community citizens and commercial rateayers. you know, being able to show you opportunities to prevent further budget cuts, staff reductions, or raising taxes elsewhere to offset these increasing costs. Uh, and providing that general fund relief that uh was discussed earlier through cost allocations to a new enterprise and other means as well. Uh in addition creating absolutely new revenue streams for the city and increasing economic development pursuits, making Bakersfield attractive to new industries and other uh commercial and residential developers to want to uh you know be a part of these uh type of um utility areas that we're going to speak to here shortly. So, I'm going to actually hand it off to Jason now to talk a little bit about the rate spread and uh >> Mayor Wr. >> Mayor Go, council members, good to see you again, mayor. Um, thanks for having the opportunity to have have me today. I'm Jason Cot. I'm the CEO for First Public Hydrogen Authority. And just quick background of what that is. We are a JPA of cities Fresno, Chhater, Lancaster, industry, Montabelloo and more to come who are engaged and um active in the municipal energy space. And what we found um I was the former city manager of Lancaster as well as the former city manager in Tahhatchropy um heavily focused on energy CCA specifically but then also behind the meter efforts like the you're working with with Wildan but also we started engaging and say how do we handle some off-grid demand issues from an economic development perspective as you know when new companies come when jobs are created there's a heavy demand on the energy system um there's a heavy demand on the cost you can see about those systems so when you look at a new developer a new development opportunity um they're balancing, they're weighing their options between Bakersfield, potentially Nevada, Arizona, whatever we're talking about. Um energy rates are a key component of that. So, at the time in Lancaster, our mayor said, "Let's figure out a solution for that, right? How do we engage in identifying off-grid solutions that are cheaper than the incumbent utilities?" Um, cities have a very unique authority under the constitution to do municipal energy. Um, and we have history of doing that far cheaper. And you look at the opportunities. Oh, um, there's a number of different opportunities in way you engage in municipal energy. We talked about CCAs as well. That's one opportunity. When you look at the behind the meter opportunities that Wan is talking about, that's another opportunity where you have complete and absolute control over that. You can put them on your building, save money, no cost to you. There's some others that are very unique in this setting for for municipal government. That's that's actually uh create a spot municipal utility where you actually become the service provider of that utility to your customers and future development. Um there are ways you engage in the energy space with regard to hydrogen as it relates to demand management and deer programs that they talked about where you can actually provide services on an off-grid basis to agencies with not only a combination of solar, battery, hydrogen, some natural gas resources and you can actually be the be the provider of energy to some of these resources and and accomplish that through your utility itself. Couple examples of where this is happening. Um the members that we're working with are are engaging on a number of different levels. So when you look at Lancaster, Lancaster has just entered in through a partnership with First Public Hydro Authority, the development of a completely off-grid 300 megawatt data center. So if you look at the volume of energy that's coming through a data center, not only property taxes that are generated off that data center, use taxes and sales taxes that come off that data center, but also margin on the energy. Um, if you look at the energy production from a from a Southern California Edison or a P Gen, you're looking at 35 cents per kilowatt hour as it relates to that margin between 35 cents. You're looking at 15 cent kilowatt hour off-grid. So that's the kind of savings we're talking about. The margins are opportunities for your community. Um, and it's not just data centers. These are neighborhoods. These are opportunities for commercial new commercial opportunities that are happening that you have this opportunity with solar battery and this technology hydrogen to participate in that. City of Industry, a member of ours, has their own municipal utility. So, they have their own wires, they have their own production, they have their connection. Um, they're working on some users where they're where they're integrating hydrogen not only for the mobility sector. If you're familiar with industry, they're very close to the port and they have a lot of rail and transportation issues, very similar to Bakersfield. Um, you have this opportunity engage in the mobility space as well, actually powering mobility with with the city and with hydrogen. Fresno has their uh federal or Fresno Express which is a hydrogen-powered bus. Um get bus already has some hydrogen powered buses as well. So we have cities that are engaging in the mobility space and the decarbonization of their transit systems. Um cities have the ability to do this and are engaged in that. Montabella is a good example of of a transit agency as well and uniquely Rancho Cukamonga as well as many others. Ranch Cukamonga is a great example. They're not a member of our agency, but they have successfully implemented a spot municipalization where if you go through Bass Pro Shops or if you're familiar with Rancho Cukamonga, Bass Pro Shops, Victoria Gardens is supplied energy by Rancho Cukamonga. Um their prices are about 40% less than the incumbent utility. So they they have they have these these processes as cities that many times when we talk to councils, we talk to other city managers, um we know we have these authorities, but sometimes we don't know how. Um, and then one thing we've learned from our perspective working in cities for 25 years, the formation of being a member of Cal Choice is that there's strength in numbers, right? When we work together, we have these unique opportunities to accomplish greater goals. And I think that's part of the conversation today is, you know, let's see what we can do in Bakersfield together as communities. Um, I know some of your assets you may have, you have 6,000 acres of land that is being utilized for maybe underutilized. Um, how how do we turn that into revenue generating assets, whether it be production of energy or development of some kind, right? You have some master plan communities that are coming in. I know Bakersville very well living in Tachby. How do we engage in those those developments and potentially have them connecting to a micro grid that you guys manage and own and operate to save them money but also generate revenue? So, there's some ser some some serious opportunities in municipal energy and um would love to engage with you as a member of First Public or as a partnering with your staff um to try to accomplish some of these goals with you guys. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Scott. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Kyle. >> Thanks, Jason. And we did just want to show another quick um case study example that's you know very specific I think to a lot of the interests um you know that we've discussed with uh uh city staff to date. Um so this is actually uh a concept of full turnkey delivery of a micro grid for a private developer by the wild team where we uh fully designed and implemented the project turnkey um for uh a that private developer. private de developer fully funded and financed the project. Um, and the city actually elected to sell the property, which is actually um the more short-sighted solution than what we're proposing this evening, which is the city is the spot. MUN owns the energy assets and benefits from all of this increased revenue and uh and utility spread as part of um being their own u municipal utility or or JPA. So, um, on a scale of how this would look for Bakersfield, it makes a lot of sense in a lot of the different areas in town with significant growth not only near, um, you know, new, uh, transmission lines going in the south, southeast part of the city, uh, but as Jason alluded to, really the opportunity to be off-rid as well. And so, um, this project, uh, generated significant savings for the actual commercial industrial client. um had the city uh kept these generation resources for themselves, they would have um you know been able to obtain tens of millions of dollars a year and increased revenue for the city. Um, and so again, this is just an example we wanted to show you of our ability to fully design, uh, develop, construct, build the substation, all of the infrastructure to the utility infrastructure, the interconnection to do all of this, you know, in uh, in one partnership with the city. So, so as far as proposed next steps, um I guess the ask this evening is uh to move forward with a preliminary analysis with our city uh or with with our team uh to look at municipal utility and utility scale deer opportunities um either in very specific locations or maybe a little bit more hypothetically about just what options may make sense for for the city. Uh we can work with the city manager's office and public works on what may may make sense. As far as the city's commitment for this, you know, we're willing to conduct this uh initial preliminary analysis at no cost to the city uh with your only real commitment to uh providing time and feedback and direction for us when we do come back with the uh deliverables. Um we'll draft up a memorandum of understanding defines the scope of work. um the zero cost obviously to the city deliverables, economic analysis, timeline and other expectations um you know that are uh set forth by the city. So thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you Mr. Storm, >> Mr. Click. >> Mayor and council, at this point uh we don't have additional presentation content. We're happy to take council questions. Thank you, madame city clerk. Are there members of the public who wish to speak? >> Mayo, we've received one speaker card from Michael Turnupseed. >> Welcome, Madame Mayor. Uh members of the council, Michael Turnips seat, I represent the Kern County Taxpayers Association. Uh we spent a lot of time the last few days when we saw this was on the agenda. We spent a lot of hours trying to find a feasibility study that was conducted and evidently it's not readily available. It wasn't on your website, but we had a PowerPoint presentation that made it virtually impossible for us to comment on. Once again, this is an ongoing problem with the city. So we have some questions. How can the council and the public comment on the direction of the CAA without a feasibility study and more important time to review it? It appears the city in the past the initial feasibility stage and it seems it's they're past the feasibility and moving into a data validation implementation pathway evaluation eventual governance and launch disc uh decisions. The council obviously did not learn from the previous sewer debacle that city should not be directing the staff to move forward, but the city should be council should be uh directing staff to proceed with the community outreach and education efforts. Not too long ago, we had a disaster when people proper outreach didn't happen. information the public needs to know is not just project cost, but how it will affect residential and business bills, both solar and non-solar customers, the additional understanding of the process and not participation in the CIA, and possible costs. And then there's a thing that's not mentioned called the PCIA exit costs that vary tremendously by who you are. And the last time the city of Bakersfield had a chance to renew their franchise agreement with with PG&E was usually for 50 years. They gave PG&E an evergreen contract. Evergreen contracts go on forever. Have you explored what that means and what complications that's going to bring you? Because the city has not filed the last two years of consolidated annual financial reports. How how can not only the sinister but the financial institutions and investors needed to finance this project know what the city's actual financial status is. Thank you very much for your time. >> Consider this deeply before you make any uh uneducated moves. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Turnup seat. Madam clerk, is there anyone else from the public? Mayor Go, that was our only public speaker regarding this item. Thank you. We'll now go to council for comment. Council member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor, and thank you staff and consultants for the presentation. I appreciate it. Um, yes, I've been talking about this for some time and it has never been uh, you know, just the CCA and the one or 2% savings, 3% that could be had there, but it was the opportunities because of the acreage that Beggarsville owns and the opportunity to be the power provider. and therefore uh make a real difference in how we serve our constituents. Uh as stated and you know this is relatively new to me is the the deer opportunities and the municipal utility and the opportunities it gives us for bringing businesses in. You know, we we've tried numerous times and and had trouble bringing businesses in because of PG&'s problems. Our our Cal Dair success was partly because they ended up putting up their own solar field and and bypassing PG&E. And at our budget meeting, you know, that it it's obvious that we need to grow businesses in this community. That's the part of our tax base that is too small. And so this would help bring in businesses. It's a great opportunity and and many cities are moving forward and you know we can sit and do nothing or we can try and be on the forefront and make our city better and and that's what I would propose. So, I will make a motion if we seem to be headed that way, but uh I'll listen to what the other council members think. Thank you. >> Thank you. Other request to speak. >> Council member Coleman. >> Thank you, Mayor. Can somebody answer this question for me? uh in order to to do these other things that Wildan talked about uh I guess creating a joint powers agreement. Do we need to have a CCA to be able to do that or can we just generate power and sell it to the utility? >> Yeah, they're not one and the same. You can be a CCA and you can be a municipal utility. You can be a municipal utility without being a CCA. So, they're very distinct and separate programs. All right. So, I I feel like you guys jammed a bunch of stuff together here that overwhelms this decision making process here. Um I I think they're two separate things to talk about on the CCA part. There's a woman from the CCA here. >> Miss Basel. >> Yeah. I'm sorry. What was your name? Barbara. Hi, Barbara. Thank you for coming. I appreciate your presentation. Um I had a chance to attend a presentation. I'm not sure if it was Will Danda did it or whoever did it regarding uh the uh CCAs and uh and I've done a little bit of my own studying on this and so I just have a few questions. From what I can tell, there's been no new CCAs approve CCAs approved since 24. Is that correct? Um, there's been cities that have joined CCAs, but I don't know that there's been any new CCAs since 24, but Clean Power Alliance in Los Angeles has had cities join them in the past year. And I believe also a CCA on in PG territory has had a new community join them. So, cities have created establish brought CCA to their community, but not necessarily a new CCA. Isn't it true that some cities are are withdrawing from CCAs? >> Um, there have been, but I'm not aware of any currently. >> This uh this this is called community choice, but uh basically it requires the people to opt out. So, if we were to initiate that, people would automatically be on the CCA uh payment plan or whatever it is that was run by the city. And so, I would have to opt out of that in order to be it go back to PG&E. Correct. >> Correct. So the way the law was written, it was written that all customers within within the city's boundaries would be automatically enrolled um with the opportunity or the availability to opt out. And so with that law, we're required to notice customers two month at least two months prior to the initiation of the enrollment and then two months afterwards. But even after that, customers can opt out at any time. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate your you're answering the questions. Thank you. Um, you know, from my standpoint, uh, I I'm just not So I, like I said, I think we just crammed a bunch of stuff here together. I think we need to look at the CCA is whether or not we really want to do something like that. And then we need to look at what we can do with our land to generate power. And and I think that those are two separate discussions. So, I don't I don't I can't support whatever this is we're asking for tonight. Um, you know, I'm a little concerned that this enthusiasm for CCAs is is diminishing as regulations come come in and and we have more more oversight and uh uh also the issue of the the cost savings and and what it takes to create that. He's I just don't see the benefit. And frankly, I can't see us creating a CCA and going out and telling everybody that they're now on the uh city of Bakersfield's power grid when when your power goes out, you're going to call PG&E because they're the ones that fix the wires. So, I just I just don't see that. So, I would like to have another conversation about the the joint powers or something of that nature, but for now, I can't support this. >> Any other requests for comment? >> Council member Gonzalez. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. Uh I just first and foremost want to thank my colleagues and thank um Council Member Smith in particular for bringing this forward a few years ago. Um I think it's really important for us as elected leaders to look towards the future and look at new possibilities of continuous improvement for the city of Bakersfield and I appreciate u this uh coming to the council and for us to continuously look at uh how this might fit for the citizens of Bakersfield. Um, I respect my colleagues uh remarks from Council Member Coleman and I want to thank you for those concerns as well, but um I hope that you know um the council can continue this conversation and not close the door on it tonight. Uh because I think there's some real opportunities here. Um I do though want us to along the council along with staff to really identify what real problem we're trying to solve. I mean, there's one is utility rates for rate payers that continue to escalate year-over-year. We I think we heard it was something like on average 10% each year over the last 5 years. Um, that's one real problem. And if there's a solution that we can reduce rates for the rate pair, I I think that's a worth worthwhile and worthy cause. Um, we can debate if two to 3% is worth all of this work. Um, and I think that's a fair debate. Um, the second concern though, uh, or or issue is with regard to how much money this might generate for the city of Bakers. I I would not support this if that was our sole motive here. And I I don't think I heard that from anyone, but I want to be cautious that we're not uh pursuing this endeavor to somehow meet some of our uh structural financial issues within the city. You did you want to comment on that? >> Yeah, thank you, Council Member Gonzalez. I think that's a good point. Uh we as staff, we have not considered this to be a revenue generator to help support the general fund. uh if if we would pursue this, we see it much more as a benefit to rateayers, a benefit to community programming, and a benefit to economic development. Ultimately, I I think does it help us um in the general fund to have some savings and we're not paying higher rates? Uh, I think those are are valid benefits, but we're not looking to this to be a revenue generator to support general fund operations. No. >> Great. And then the I think the third problem is, you know, how do we spur economic development and job growth within our region, which is critical. Uh it is critical that we that we figure out how we can lead the way as a city to generate new goodaying jobs for our local workforce. Um and we need to bring in new industries. Uh and we know that when we are working to uh bring in new industry, there are certain bottlenecks and part of that is um part of that is connectivity. And so I think that uh if this is a potential solution for us to um help energize projects and sites uh much much more quickly. Um I think that's an opportunity that we ought to pursue and explore as well. Um and so I I'm in support of us continuously looking at this and and continue to work on um some areas here that that might make sense for the city. Um, and again, I want to thank all the presenters. I want to thank Council Member Smith for bringing this to the city council's attention. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Arius. >> Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to all of those who came and spoke to us today. Um, I feel like I learn more and more about CCAs each time that it comes to the council. Uh, so much to unpack. Uh, I I'll start with some of the the positives that I saw in the presentation. Um, I I I agree with my colleague that, you know, there there are thousands of acres of underutilized land, uh, some of which are in Southeast Bakersfield and in Ward One, um, that would tremendously benefit, uh, from an investment of large-scale solar. Um, I I think that that's true for just about every single ward in in the city of Bakersfield, and I would love to see, you know, some additional analysis of what we could do with that existing land. Um so so that that was number one. Number two is diversifying our energy portfolio in general. Uh finding those unique ways to diversify um you know what is coming through our lines I think is going to make us more independent um as a as a community and as a city. Um but I I did have some concerns about the CCA itself. Um I saw on there that there's it's a $6.8 million cost for implementation. Can we can we speak to how we would fund that and or finance finance that number? >> Yeah, I think a council member uh we didn't specify that in particular in our presentation. So, I appreciate the opportunity to clarify on that. We do not anticipate trying to generate that much um budgeted expenditures from our existing, you know, general fund resources. We we can't afford that level of expense. It's fairly typical to finance uh the startup of a CCA and then uh th those financing costs are actually paid back by the revenues you know generated into the CCA. Um and we have not proposed a specific financing mechanism but I don't think that it's feasible in our current you know fiscal uh circumstances to do this without some kind of a financing mechanism. That would be our recommendation if we moved forward. >> Got it. So, if I hear you correctly, it probably won't amount to that $6.8 million amount initially. Um, and we would look for some sort of financing mechanism to be able to cover those costs initially. >> Absolutely. And I I would just to add a little bit more detail, you know, in as was noted, you know, we wouldn't be moving into an implementation cycle until 2028. There there could be some startup costs that we may contemplate from our own resources as well as sort of the the initial step would be completing the application itself. There's you know minimal cost towards that as noted in the administrative report but um but the the lion share of the $16 million would be financed. Yes. >> Got it. In the past, I believe we've talked about um there being a required team or even department um within the city of Bakersfield um in order to operationalize and and maintain the CCAs. That's still the case. And what would the scope and size of that team look like? >> Great questions, council member. Again, mayor and council. My recommendation would be that we contract out for the majority of the functions that can be contracted out um just as a starting point. Uh there's other ways we could create our entire own department to to try and carry out all of those functions, but I would argue as was noted earlier that there is strength in numbers. There's also expertise that's been developed by these other uh CCAs or or JPA that have CCAs. And so my recommendation would be that we contract out as much of that as possible. We would probably still need a small team. That's probably like three to four people um who uh would be responsible for managing those other contracts and managing some of the local aspects that that need to happen here at the local level. Um for sake of just uh knowledge of options, um we could also piece out certain components. for example, uh the analytics and the and the um purchasing of power, we are not experts at that. And we could create job descriptions, but uh uh I would much rather allow other people who have that expertise to do that work. But if we wanted to separate out, let's say, customer service or billings, there's some ways you could split that up, but I think it makes the most sense to contract that out to other entities and have a very small team at the city. >> Got it. Thank you. Um my next question is related to I believe that there's a franchise sir charge fee um that has been um utilized as revenues um to the city of Bakersville to pay for things like the trip program in the past and potentially other roads construction uh projects. Is that true? And do we know how much it's bringing in on an annual basis? Uh we do have a utility sir charge that has been used for um some of our local transportation uh funding. I don't have that number top of mind and actually I'm not uh certain how the formation of the CCA actually um impacts that. If there are others who can speak to that, I'm happy to have them speak to that. But I don't I don't have that answer on how that that search charge is impacted. Yes, >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. Um, the formation of a CCA does not impact the franchise fees that are collected by the cities from PG& the PG&'s franchise fees would still be um stay the same. Those fees are based on what they would have charged customers if they were providing the um generation portion which is what the CCA takes over and that's still build to the um customers and it's still paid and comes to the city. So the general fund revenues don't change. >> Okay, got it. Thank you so much. Can >> I make one additional clarification as well? um to uh Councilman Kleman's um inquiry earlier, the Wild Dan and utility generation is completely mutually exclusive of the CCA decision. So, while the CCA will open up doors for what we can do, there's much beyond that um that we're proposing to you this evening as well. So, I just wanted to make that clarification that we are not here for the CCA. We are here for the utility deer opportunities for the city. And I really appreciate that clarification because I think I'm more interested in that component to this work. I think from just based on all the information that's been provided, the CCA while it may provide, you know, benefits um although marginal uh to rateayers, there's a tremendous amount of risk and investment that is uh necessary to get that up and running. Um and I agree with my colleague, Council Member Khan, I wouldn't be ready to move forward with that. Thank you. Thank you, Council Vice Mayor Core. >> Thank you, Council Member Audias asked a lot of the questions I had, so I'll save some time. Um, first, thank you for this conversation. Um, there are a few truths that exist that one, our constituents are feeling that their electricity bills are very high. Um, but the truth also is that we need PG& today as it stands. Um in in the summer my ward I think South Bakersfield experiences power outages and that's when I'm calling and bothering everyone that I can as to how we resolve that. Um and the truth also is that we need more capacity. We need grid power. We need somewhere to put this um energy even as we diversify it. Um most more often than not we're meeting with developers both family developers local as well as corporate developers and usually one of the places in which we find a sticking point or projects face delays is when they're coming online. Um I have I do have a few questions uh to just seek some more information and for public knowledge since we have a lot more information here with us uh than that's available to our residents that are in attendance. Um you've shared that you are working with some of our neighboring cities, the city of chapter, city of Fresno. Can you speak a to a little bit more as to what the work there is, how it transpired? Um because I I think it makes for us to have a better understanding of fellow central valley cities and and how that emerged and how we could possibly see that here in the city of Bakersfield. Mr. K. >> Sure. Thank you. Um as I mentioned, Fresno and Sha specifically in the Central Valley are members of our agency and each of them very unique and very different. Um Fresno's case, they're they're converting their bus fleets to um hydrogen powered. So they're decarbonizing their bus fleets by law. We're all required to do that. Um so they're engaging in the the purchase and aggregation of supply of hydrogen. So if we need to acquire hydrogen as a group of cities, if we're just small users, we have zero impact in the market. If we all join together and buy all of our hydrogen together, we now have a bigger case and a bigger opportunity. Um, with the goal of building green hydrogen developed in California, which doesn't exist. That's the that's kind of where the m the transit agencies fit. When you look at Shater, they've got a inland port they're working on. I think obviously neighbors of yours with your inland port, too. Um, there's a significant volume of goods that go from Shater and Bershill directly to the ports. The ports have a rules or a requirements to decarbonize their fleets. So every but every truck that goes into the port there's a fee charged if they're not decarbonized. So Shaft hopefully you guys too can engage in that process of decarbonizing these fleets where they're going directly into the ports with zero emission buses or zero emission trucks that exist in the marketplace that can be fueled in Bakersfield that the hydrogen can be manufactured potentially on that 6,000 acres you talk about. So there's this integration of this energy system that municipal entities have very unique opportunities to engage in. Um so you can generate power with them, you can move vehicles with them and move goods with them. In in in addition, the ports have a significant amount of revenue and grant money to actually decarbonize their fleet. So we would look to Shater um as some of their member agencies. it would say some of their users, their economic development there, how to engage in some of those funding opportunities to decarbonize their trucks as well. Um so that's kind of where they're engaged. Shaft has also um expressed interest in the manufacturer of hydrogen. Um you can take egg waste and forest waste. We're working in Sacramento. They're care they care about forest waste and egg waste. Obviously egg waste in the Central Valley is very huge from an air quality perspective. you can turn that egg waste into affordable hydrogen and put those in your trucks and decarbonize that space. So that was kind of we're engaged there and would engage with you in that same level. >> Is our Could you share for a GET bus system where where do they acquire hydrogen from? Do we know? >> I do not know. >> Okay. Do we know? They have their own. >> They have their own. Okay. Um thank you for sharing the example of the city of Shatter. Um and then sorry you may have to back up. I have a few more questions. Can you speak to um in you've worked as far as Marin to as local as Shaft and and going south um in as your as the CCAs were coming online. what were challenges but also pleasant surprises in in those in those in any of those kind of case studies that you could share that would kind of address some of the curiosities that folks would have about CCAs. >> Absolutely. Thank you. So, um we'll use Lancaster as a perfect example as the former city manager there. There were a number of programs we implemented as a result of CCA. Um the deer messaging that you heard today is where the city of Lancaster has the opportunity to actually be the provider of that solar and battery on somebody's rooftop. Right? So if your residents are saying my PG bills are too high, you could develop a program and I would say with CCA or without CCA that says we you want to beat uh PG's rates, city of city of Bakersville has a program, right? We can engage with developers to put solar and battery on your rooftop for free. you you save the money on your electric bill, but there's financing structures and ways to do that. Um, you can do it for renters, right, where renters typically wouldn't get solar on their house because the tenant or the landlord is not going to do it because the renters's paying the electric bill to engage in that from a standpoint of lowering their energy bills for your tenants and renters. Um, we've done things as much as commercialize. We've got a brewery who took battery and solar on there and their brewery lowered their prices through a city program. We've got multiple cities that are doing different programs in Santa Barbara who is in Cal Choice. they're not so price conscious. So they've got a 100% green grid that that they've chosen as a city to say we we want we want green matters to us. So they they've chosen to do that. So there's in every case each city is very unique. Um so and there each city has their own story to tell um because of CCA. Um, and then in the same token, you've got somebody like Rancho Cukamonga who doesn't have a CCA and they have their own spot MUN where they can say we've got new development along that corridor that is 40% cheaper from an economic development perspective. So, we all have these unique stories to tell with CCA or without CCA. Okay, thank you for sharing that with I was also curious about your um there's spot mun but also there's the micro grid systems for private developers. Can you share because it's I council member Kman's point we have received a lot of information. Can you break down um how that has kind of come online in other municipalities and what that could look like in a city like Bakersfield if that is an option that is pursued here locally? >> Sure. Um so if you look at uh I'll use um Ranch Cookam example or or industry as an example. Industry is a a large a city that has their own municipal utility. So when you look at their their needs for providing services, a data center is looking say they're looking in industry. Um industry has the ability to provide them energy right they also have the ability to provide them resilience from a standpoint of the energy services associated with that. Um, when you look at an off-grid or a micro grid perspective, your 6,000 acres, um, depending on what demand there is, and I don't know specifically everything about the 6,000 acres or it's loc location location or proximity, but if you have a large volume of acres that are approximate to new development, whether that be data, logistics, or housing or um, you you have the ability to generate that that solar and that energy on site, store it with batteries, store it with hydrogen, use natural gas fuel cells, or you can actually provide energy to that entire complex completely off-rid. So the city would be the actual utility provider for the wires, the power and everything associated with it. An example of you know we had we looked at a a 200 unit housing track where solar and battery on the rooftop would generate enough electrons to power that neighborhood 24/7 365 never connected to the grid. Um there was a resilience issues where now you bring in hydrogen and a fuel cell. Now you've got an operating micro grid that'll never shut off in a power shut off that the city completely owns and operates that system and generates revenue off that system. And the way we looked at the rate structure was far less than the incumbent utility. Um if you picture the cost of generating solar, solar is about 4 cents a kilowatt hour to make an electron with a solar panel. We're getting charged 50 and 60 cents a kilowatt hour. The minute it touches the grid, the minute everything spikes from a pricing perspective. So if whatever you can do to stay off of that grid, you're going to save money. >> Yeah. I we have, you know, the Calary's example locally and and and I'm in agreement with Council Member Gonzalez's point of, you know, our economic and job development is dire in the Central Valley and so any exploratory anything we're doing in that department of being exploratory is a conversation to be had. Um I I do feel these are two different conversations uh that we've could have I think could have been two different conversations and uh certainly um while also on the same topic um and in having more conversations I do feel this should be a collective community decision. Um if we are proceeding further with doing more research um I think we need more community input and we bring in local industry, local institutions, even educational institutions and those who are building and providing energy jobs locally. Um, and that be something that we have collect a conversation we have collectively if it's already not had um in in exploring what a CCA looks like in in our entire city community. Is that something we've already done? Is that something that could be explored? >> Thank you, Vice Mayor. It is not something we have done, but it is just just for some context again. uh we wanted to before we invest significant staff time and and also I I think even your collective time and some of our resources this was sort of a checkpoint to say what's the level of interest and do we continue this conversation further I sense that there's you know clearly interest in um further thinking through it but that we're not you know um collectively all prepared to move forward at this point in time but even in the case of the CCA is just one of the that you know the two paths that process between now and 2028 was planned to include significant community outreach, significant community, you know, engagement. Um I think uh because there are a couple different ways we could solve some of these key, you know, problems as have been identified by council. I do think it that it makes sense uh to take a little bit more time and uh flesh out some of the differentiations between those options. Uh again, I sense that there's enough interest that it's worth our time to engage with key developers and community partners um on some of these options at a high level uh and then be able to come back to council with a little bit more information uh before we you know invest even further uh in uh both uh dollars as well as um our our time and and pursuing down that path. So I I appreciate uh the the the growing knowledge of you know how these tools can be distinct. We thought that there was connectivity and and strategy that could uh and you know often better to have you know that broader information for this council as we try to balance you know how much information versus other times where there's not enough information. And uh so I think it makes sense for us to be able to what I'm hearing the feedback here is uh while we look at both potential strategies do a little bit of decoupling of those and uh look at the uh opportunities uh and alternatives that both of those options create as well as do a little bit more engagement and and then we can come back and uh take a little bit of a deeper dive after we provide that additional analysis to council. >> Thank you, Council Member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, again, I I I think what I'm hearing is is the uh deer part of the proposal, the the Will Dan stuff seems to be pretty acceptable. So, I would move to go forward with that. And I think what I'm hearing is CCA, let's stop and look, which I think is uh basically what we were doing. I mean, there was quite some time before we got out. So, um, I'll listen to my colleagues some more, but I I think definitely to go forward with the Will Dan Z proposal is is not a very hard sell. And I I really I think there is some synergies. Maybe Jason, could you speak to to what synergies maybe had with the CCA and the and the municipal utility? >> Yeah, I think when we look at CCA for for my experience in in my career is that engaging in CCA gave you a base level of understanding of the energy markets, right? And I think that was very key, but a lot of us have learned that already, right? So when you look at where your margins lie in that energy market, your margins are you have margins in the CCA space, um you have margins in the spot mun space, you have margins in the deer space. When you look at that margin of opportunity, the greater margins are in those other spaces, municipal utilities, spot util spot munis and others. When I say margin, >> opportunities for saving money for your citizens, right? So um so when you look at CCA, there's a heavy lift, right? And but there's synergies there. Um, but at the same token, when you look at the margins in this energy space, the margins are not at CCA. That makes sense. >> If, if I may, Council Member Smith, in your uh agenda, we had three different bullet points as part of staff recommendations, excuse me, city council potential recommendations to staff. And that the third bullet there says to provide direction to staff regarding whether to proceed with utility scale deer implementation planning. I think we would probably need to come back to you with a a recommendation about anou and what process to follow. But I think if you give direction tonight to say yes um come back to us with uh some recommendations on utility scale ter we could take it from there. Okay. >> Is that your motion? >> That is my motion. Thank you, >> Council Member Basher Tash. >> Uh, this is for Mr. Kle, and I I appreciate the presentation very much. I You did a great job. I just I am I'm I'm a little frustrated uh because the past few meetings have felt a little bit like this is Shark Tank. We have someone pitch an idea uh for their company and then we get to make a decision. But the problem is this is taxpayer money. This is none of our businesses and we have a company just like a few minutes ago a real estate agent pitching on why we should buy a building and he's going to make a the fattest commission of his life off of it and we're supposed to just take that as an unbiased opinion as why we make a decision. The same thing tonight. I would have much rather had some of these other communities that are engaged in some of these contracts their feedback so we have some unbiased like hey is it working for you? Does it work? versus, hey, buy what we're pitching and hopefully it works out and you guys don't have any recourse to know if it's good or bad. And I don't mean to be disrespectful. I appreciate what you all are doing and I'm sure there's some truth to it. But you got to I represent the tax people and my constituents. And you know, it seems well, but it's one-sided. We're getting it from we're getting a sales pitch. That's what last time was. This is another sales pitch as to what we do. And and you know, it means wealth, but it's it's it's bias. It's the whole thing is bias. We're not getting both sides of it. We're going to get this is why you should do business with our company because we're going to X Y and Z. I mean like this is sales uh through and through. Um and it's a little bit frustrating with that. So I would be happy to learn more about this from some unbiased sources and some people that have maybe done it or in it right now and how it works out for them before we we move forward. But I I really don't want to, you know, spend my city council career hearing sales pitches. uh over and over again. So that's that's all I'm going to say about this. >> Thank you, madam. Uh do you wish to say anything? >> I was just going to point out I appreciate the feedback, council member. I I would argue respectfully we've gone through procurement processes that are competitive to that have, you know, multiple individual or multiple companies or consultancies that that can uh acquire those contracts. Uh and I would ask you to also consider that city staff is looking at the multiple different options and so there is objectivity in this process. Um I I appreciate the feedback about having other folks who can also come as um other municipalities. We've given many references to those municipalities tonight as well. And so we do build in processes that help to have transparency and objectivity as well as city staff review and analysis of those, but do take your feedback to heart about wanting to provide as objective of feedback as possible for the city council to consider. >> Thank you, Mr. Clay. Madam City attorney, would you just clarify the motion before we vote, please? >> Yes, of course, Mayor. Um with council member Smith's motion I believe clarified the motion is to move forward um to provide direction to staff regard uh to proceed with utility scale distributed energy resources implementation planning with an understanding that additional information and a potential contract would return to council. Is that clear everyone? >> Clear but I believe I had sent a request to speak. >> Oh I see you have a request to speak. Council Member Coleman. >> Thank you, Mayor. I'm sorry to jump in here last one last time >> because I'm concerned about uh the the zero cost to the city and I guess I wanted to ask you >> what the relationship is with Dan and the city currently because I zero a zero cost uh survey or study when Will Dan is going to gain from that concerns me a little bit. That is not objective. And so I I I think that was saying some what other council people were saying. So >> yeah, thank you. >> If I may before the city manager responds. Um that's one reason for clarifying the motion. The a will Dan specific proposal is not on the agenda for a vote tonight. Um there's not a a proposed contract. Um it's >> Yeah, it is. It says right here it's conducted by Will Dan at a zero cost to the city. Uh, Council Member Coleman, that's in the presentation. I think what what our deputy city attorney is referencing is the agenda packet itself. Um, and we wanted to clarify though uh that motion again uh because we do have some of our processes that we need uh to to follow. Um, as well just to answer your prior question about uh our relationship. So we conducted a very thorough RFP process. It was 18 months ago about 18 months ago to contract with an entity that could provide us analysis and recommendations related to energy efficiency and other energy, you know, savings projects. And it was again a very thorough process, very competitive. Uh some of you may recall that uh we had several different vendors who uh were vying strongly for uh that uh contract. And so we are under contract currently with Wildan to provide that level of analysis uh again through a process and an approval by the city council um about a year and a half ago. Um, but I I do think that the feedback is fair from council about what what does it really mean to have a zerocost uh analysis? What would that lead to? You know, could it lead to other jobs, you know, subsequent? That's why we're not asking council to make a motion to pursue that specifically, but to really direct staff to go and follow up on the deer possibilities and consider what's the best process to acquire those services. I have no further questions. Mayor, >> thank you. Council member Coleman. Anyone else? Council member Smith. >> Thank you. I just I thought I heard two separate spot MUN and deer. Are they one in the same? Separate. Same. Same. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, >> my motion stands. >> Uh, your motion stands and you have a motion. Please cast your votes. Motion is approved with council member Weir absent and council members Kleman and Bashier Tash voting no. Thank you. Thank you to all of you presenters. And now next item, please. Council and Mayor statements. Council members Smith. Thank you, Mayor. I just didn't want March to get away without saying congratulations to Christian Kle. Six years since March of 2020 and you're still here. You must be over the 80 percentile by now as far as how long people have stayed. and city manager post. Uh appreciate working with you and uh many more years, I hope. Thank you, >> Council Member Coleman. >> I almost forgot I pushed the button. I'm sorry. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to say happy spring and tomorrow MLB baseball. We're on opening day of baseball. So, Dodger Stadium. >> Thank you, Council Member Arius. Just as exciting as baseball, we have the first development review process ad hoc committee coming up on April 6th, which is a Monday. Um, that is a joke. I'm just kidding. Um, but the meeting is actually happening. It's the first been a long time coming. I'll be joining uh Council Members Coleman and Council Member Smith and we invite everybody um you know who develops any types of projects to come and learn more about our processes and figure out with us how we can make them better. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Arius. Vice Mayor, >> thank you, Mayor. Uh, in the in the spirit of March and March Madness, uh, hopefully someone's bracket is still intact. Um, but March is also women's history month. So, I just wanted to congratulate our mayor uh, for being a a woman in leadership and and all of the women, our city attorney, our assistant city attorneys, all the women at the city of Bakersfield. We recognize you. Uh thank you for being leading voices in every corner uh of our city and serving our our constituents and the people who love Bakersfield and call it home. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Last week, one of our solid waste employees, Jesus Carrera, passed away from cancer. Jesus is known as Chewy, and he worked for 21 years in the city of Bakersville. He supervised teams that were involved with the downtown street ambassadors, our clean city initiatives, and bulky item drop off events. He was extremely kind. He was a devoted worker for the city, and we mourn his loss. And I would ask for a moment of silence at this time. Thank you. Our thoughts and prayers are with Chewy's family, his friends, our colleagues in the uh public works department. And in Chew's honor, we adjourn this meeting at 7:22.