[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 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 13 2024 Madame clerk please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez here council member Aras here council member we here council member Smith I am here council member Freeman council member gray council member core thank you in keeping with council's new resolution public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I will call on the city city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and give your card to the city clerk we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on tonight's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a 2-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for all non-agenda item public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call for you at a later time so please listen carefully if public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when their item is called everyone in attendance 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 this meeting May result in expulsion and or the chambers being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn outbursts from the audience surpassing the two-minute time limit Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda mayor go we've received one speaker card for items not listed on tonight's agenda the first public speaker is Victor Garcia welcome yes and please introduce yourself just pull the mic towards you my name is Victor Garcia I'm ton Indian um I'm here to see if I could request uh some speed bumps in the area that I just moved in I just been there it's new track homes uh I moved in 2020 and we have a really um a area where they're really speeding and I had pictures of the wrecks that they've hit W cars that were parked and there's lots of children out there in the area and uh I have the all paperwork if you need to see that way I could you can give that to the city clerk and then Mr CLE if you could have staff follow up with Mr Garcia and can you give us your or just give the city clerk your address okay okay unless you want to say it aloud you can just give it to her okay mayor thank you mayor uh Mr Garcia thank you and welcome to the community if I think I heard that right new to new to town I've never welcome to the Bakersville city council and Welcome to our community um I just want to inform you uh this this within the last year or so the city council adopted a uh traffic calming handbook and this allows uh citizens throughout the community to actually look at possible treatments options for individuals to actually work with the city and with our public works department in order to calm traffic within neighborhoods throughout the city and so um that is available on our city of website and I'm going to ask staff we can reach out to you so that we can refer you to that traffic calming handbook and then you and your residents or your neighbors can work together uh to find an option that works best for you so we can we can reduce the speed of traffic because that is a major concern of ours most of us on the city council and so we want to thank you for coming today thank you Mr Garcia Madam clerk any other public speakers no additional speaker cards have been received thank you in keeping with the council's resolution I'm going to ask that the agenda item public statements be deferred until after staff's presentation Madam clerk next item please reports item 3A update on uh Innovative and efficient government Council gold priorities thank you city manager Cay thank you mayor and Council uh we've done an update like this um uh last year um but it's time to come has come again to provide an update on some of your Council priorities and progress towards those uh what's interesting about this particular uh Council goal is that many of the other Council goals have Council committees that are you know directly connected to those goals and often those committee topics get addressed in those committee meetings uh whereas this Council goal does not have a specific committee that um naturally it falls into and so uh it's good in these workshops to be able to give updates on this topic thank you city clerk just as a quick reminder to council these of course are your five Council goals and the fifth being Innovative and efficient city government um this is our definition for what that means it's about being professional effective customer oriented and also um uh bringing solutions to Bear within that goal these are the main objectives that are listed in our strategic plan that we'll have well-managed Finance es that will be able to address our talent needs and employee resources that will be a model of EXC excellence in efficiency and Effectiveness and best practices that we will have Innovation and continuous Improvement on an ongoing basis and also that we're going to elevate our presence through legislative advocacy so I highlight those because each of the updates are going to be within those five sections uh through our presentation well min well-managed finances has three specific strategies about around our reserves efficiencies and asset management I'm going to give updates on two of those today uh for our reserves this has been well uh discussed and established we're on the same track but just for the benefit of the public our retiree medical trust is approaching uh its uh full funding it is well-funded and is approaching the point at which it is fully funded our Reserve balance now according to the council policies approaching $60 million uh to go from um uh just a few dollars in reserve uh before the passage of the public safety vital Services tax to now being one of the few large cities in the state that meets the gfoa recommended Reserve amount and ours is again close to $60 million now we're in a very good fiscal position with those reserves we continue to do our longrange financial forecasting uh again that Reserve policy was adopted now um two fiscal years ago and we continue to put money away including that that next bullet of the pension trust fund so we've put away $4 million into our pension trust fund and we plan to continue to grow that our Reserve policy dictates that 25% of fund balances go first into the pension trust before we consider other uh funding options and then lastly uh we do have $5 million in a separate Reserve uh for facility and and other risk-based issues we our goal is to grow that to $10 million as is possible through our budget cycles and coming years uh wanted to spend a little bit of time about efficiencies and we we have ongoing efforts to look for cost savings and efficiencies sometimes those efficiencies Direct in uh excuse me result in direct cost savings sometimes it's Savings of City staff time that just means we get to direct our efforts to more important topics or or additional topics because of that time savings we continue to work with our Innovation and process Improvement coach uh we've had numerous leadership training workshops but right now the big focus is actually on that development process we're spending pretty much all of our process Improvement efforts right now on streamlining our development uh permit review and application process and uh We've created what we call our red team which means cutting the red tape we're actually going to have a workshop for the council probably in this next month that highlights more specifics of that program that's really where most of our process Improvement efforts are are going right now is U because that is was identified as one of the uh highest priorities of council we're digging deep on um the process improvements to that specific process just also want to highlight that in in your Council goals work plan we identified a couple of opportunities where we might be able to generate some new revenues uh and we know Revenue generation is uh a topic of Interest we don't want to be doing this necessarily at the um the cost to our residents or businesses this one is unique in that the fire service fees there there are fees that are charged to all consumers that buy insurance and those fees often do not get recovered and this would be a program that allows the fire department to recover fees for crash site or medical responses that are again already being charged to Consumers by insurance companies but then never collected uh by the city and this would be an opportunity to capture some of those lost um revenues through a fe recovery program that will also be coming to your Council in the next couple of months uh just a quick update on Recruitment and Retention with class and comp we continue to move forward with class and comp I would argue that some of the biggest lift is behind the council where we've made significant um cost of living adjustments and and also notable uh Market adjustments but that doesn't mean we don't have more to go so we still have several classifications that are far enough out of Market that they they um Merit consideration for further Market adjustments we've also been clear with the the employees and the community that those would have to be measured over time as finances allow and so we've had six Market adjustments in this fiscal year we had eight last year and we're still looking at a few more and the way that we've organized it is those that are farthest out of Market or still the hardest to recruit or retain we're looking at those first and working sort of down the list to continue to do Market adjustments again as able um with uh uh those that are farthest out of Market first and then also we we had uh a specific tactic in your Council work plan on our Labor Management relationships and just wanted to let you know that uh the um Police Officers Association had a notable um number of new folks joined their board in this last election cycle and so City staff sat and had a training and a workshop and and a um a get to know you session with those members to continue to build on those good relationships so Switching gears into the next objective around efficient effective and best practices uh so these are the overarching items with the Erp more process Improvement references our internal audit uh and performance audit program and then um technology governance I'll I'll um dip into each of those as well the Erp update's pretty short because we are not at go live today but we will be in the next couple of months both for financial and for human resources those are the two biggest modules of this really big lift and I think we've talked at length with the Council about the importance of the Erp and that it um we have a 30-year-old system that is not adequate it doesn't produce the types of reports um and also just you have to be concerned a little bit about its ability to continue to perform with its age but I actually wanted to talk about three additional bullets that we haven't spent as much time on uh I think of course um we're we're creating efficiencies and creating a a more uh reliable and robust system but at this Council it's worth knowing that there's a lot of manual processes still in the city we use a lot of paper we have a lot of processes where humans are transacting these transactions that now a computer system is going to be able to help us with automate with a lot of those transactions not only is it quicker and faster and saves time for again our staff to be able to redeploy themselves to more meaningful uh uh exercises and and work but uh it also can reduce errors and it can uh again move us much quicker on internal controls it's also worth noting we do have policies and practices in place that establish internal controls but having a system that has flags and checks and and many things that are automated actually can improve our confidence that our internal controls are being met and they're being followed and that they are in place because the system is designed you can't do certain transactions unless that control has been entered into the system and then if somebody and I don't think you know we don't have examples or this is happening uh you know um with ill intent but if someone is not authorized to you know do a certain transaction the system just won't let him going forward whereas in a paper system there's more opportunities that could potentially happen we don't have issues we haven't received findings on our procedures just the system makes it that much more certain that you're going to be in good shape with your internal controls and then lastly around data analytics uh we have not been as data Rich of an of an organization that allows us to have more information to make those good decisions and this is not the only way to do that through the Erp there's a lot of other data collection systems we've been building but the Erp is going to allow us to have a lot better data and a lot better reporting of that data and in particular in visual representation so today we can pull numbers um you know out of our existing system but we don't get graphs and charts and a lot of those good visual representations we have to build those manually after we pull the data out of the system moving uh to our performance audit program uh uh and I I failed to actually um put up some of the things that we did last year and and so uh just as a quick reminder we we did several projects in our last fiscal year were helpful we had a technology Services um uh performance audit uh we had a um uh uh as well um some procurement work that was done and this year uh one of the projects was Charter review and of course we've taken recent direction from Council on that topic but Moss Adams did help with Charter review information in this current fisol year the other projects that we're working on right now we have a capital planning and programming best practice review to help us really understand and move forward with our our cips as expeditiously as possible we've been doing a space needs assessment we've actually you know through um principally the the public safety vital Services tax resources but also in some of our Enterprise funds we've increased the employee base significantly in the last four years and we haven't changed really our physical footprint in where offices are in any notable way and so we're needing to do some space uh planning of U where we house our staff and and where we grow uh and that's being conducted right now and then several um there are several different components around policies and procedures that are underway right now technology Services is really building out their policy environment economic and Community Development is looking at a specific process Improvement exercise with policy development and then we're also looking at some of our procurement policies and then lastly MOS has been helping us with a key performance indicators uh project I'll speak more about that in a minute but it's really about uh creating the metrics to manage our performance as an organization and be able to tell ourselves and the community how we're doing and that's the next slide so uh one of our overarching tactics uh is to build a data analytics and performance management system Citywide and so these key performance indicators we've asked every Department to pick five to 10 key indicators that really tell how again they they're doing as a department and then be able to share with Council in the community those same things Moss Adams has held uh workshops with all of our departments we have those key indicators established they're going to be going into the budget book in this coming budget book cycle with um uh updates actually on some of these items and some year-over-year data in the budget book that's a new requirement actually of the gfoa in budget books to have that information in there H but also we're going to use it to just create a CommunityWide report on how we're doing in those key performance indicators uh also wanted to knowe in this category Switching gears a little bit our our uh police department has a new unit called the quality assurance unit when I say new it's been last couple years they've been in in place now for a couple of years but the amount of data that they're Gathering and the reports and Analysis that they're conducting is really remarkable they're looking really hard at Trends and uh for example recently we've been able to uh you know analyze in depth uh the uh amount of resources that is going towards uh individuals that are repeat chronic low-level offenders but that take up a lot of our police staff time well it was our quality assurance unit who has these uh analysts um and and also sworn officer who can help um provide the direction and and context for that data to dig deep and really understand what is the problem um underneath some of the symptoms that we see and so we're getting you know smarter and smarter about how we use our limited resources around Public Safety and also around you know Community um trust building within our police department and then uh lastly Community vitality and that's you know we're referencing that around our homeless encampment efforts we're collecting a lot of data in that space as well we have a new system uh within our GIS system that's Gathering data about all of our encampments and all of our routine uh or I shouldn't say routine but all of our numerous interactions with individuals experiencing homelessness or who may be in encampments we're Gathering much more data than we ever have before that helps both to make our operations more coordinated and more efficient but also tell our story it helps tell our story to the community as well as to other agencies about what's really going on with homelessness in our community we're getting much more data informed as an organization but I will tell you we've got a ways to go still wanted to throw in some additional uh uh analysis so you're familiar with the help team as a council for the the viewing public our help team our staff and the city manager's office that field uh service requests or or asks you know for help both from the city council as well as from um the public and and they you fi numerous um email and and phone um contacts for the city and and um pull all of that information into reports and so the council's been receiving monthly reports with key trends and metrics of how many requests of which type whether it's landscaping or homelessness or um um Parks questions you get a good sense as council members of what your constituents are are requesting or asking about and uh for the benefit of the council and the public uh there there've been uh now more than 3,000 requests that they've processed in the last two years and they're at a 99% closure rate just also they've been collecting data now about Council referrals and so these are the formal referrals that Council make from the deis and and there's a small number of referrals that may come up out of a committee and then come back to the council de so for the benefit of your Council in 2022 we had 120 different Council referrals and in 2023 115 referrals uh for reference S it's advancing here um we've also made very good progress in addressing all those referrals for our ability to close out more than 100 referral r s uh over the last two years I think is good news and we're making um good progress on the others some of those that are listed as pending some are long-term referrals that may you know need to go to a committee and and be vetted out and they're waiting on a committee calendar or that may take a couple of years like some of our annexation referrals um they're still pending because it takes a long time to get at some of those issues I want to remind Council of when we did did a uh priority setting Workshop Council established 10 priorities within the priorities we had numerous um high priority items that were in part of our overall work plan within the five Council goals but this Council had identified homelessness housing police response times traffic safety and the ease of the of the development process as your top tier priorities and then the second five to complete out that top 10 was Economic Development Urban reinvest ment annexation capital projects and Charter review so uh staff has been trying to track the work that we do not only within the framework of the five Council goals in our annual work plan but also Within These highest priorities and so we've added a new uh tracking for the council referrals to reflect if those referrals are coming uh in one of those 10 areas and so this next chart just gives you a look that um of course you know you see their housing and traffic safety there's a lot of interest around those um and the rest of them uh you can see that they have uh some of those referrals it's worth noting that there's a much larger number that are not part of the top 10 priorities and I wouldn't say that that's necessarily automatically a bad thing because many of those tend to be where a constituent has come and said you know can I get help with this and a council member will make a referral for us to follow up with with that constituent and there are some other emerging emerging issues that do come up however I would point to the council that uh it is important to to recognize that you know there are enough either emerging issues or other issues that sometimes it can pull us away from our top priorities and important to uh maintain that Focus as much as we can switching to the last piece is around elevating our presence in Sacramento and Washington DC so wanted to share some of our uh wins around these topics at the state level with mental health reform there were significant um bills that were passed that uh changed how um some of the the rules of how we can address mental health and uh have you know been a genuine help in our ability to to get at uh largely those experiencing home lessness or other vagrancy issues that may have a Behavioral Health Challenge we've got some additional tools in the tool belt Public Safety is more so this coming year there are several bills that have been packaged up and we've been advocating hard through the Big City Mayors and through um the league of cities to support Public Safety bills that are gaining traction that you know will um have real impacts to our ability to again uh when necessary hold individuals accountable accountable in ways that have been problematic um um in recent years on the housing front there have been numerous bills um that have uh also um eased our ability to um pursue affordable housing and housing uh I would uh share both frankly on the public safety topic and the housing topic we still have a lot of work to do we have many needs with the state to address policies that um that appear in the housing Realm in particular to be conflicting uh we want to increase you know the safety and quality of life in our communities but also has to be done in a way that is you know fiscally um feasible but we are making some progress around easing of Housing Development policies at the same time seeing other moves and and rul making at the state level that does make it challenging to produce um Quality market rate and affordable housing um we had a large win in getting a direct allocation for MLK Park there $2 million um and you know I we were looking back at some of the history and and we didn't see a a a recent history for um a win of the size uh like the MLK Park as well as um uh MLK Boulevard saw a $5 million earmark on the federal level um and so we've we've got some big direct allocations that we haven't seen in in recent years um it's worth noting as well we have several staff as well as um mayor and council members that are sitting on boards with the league of cities and then mayor go has been very active with Big City Mayors and making uh our voice much more represented uh in Sacramento and then uh this last year we did contract with a federal lobbyist we've had our first formal delegation visit to Washington DC in January and made many inroads into uh Federal um agencies on that visit uh and we will have our uh Federal platform just like we have our state platform is under development with our new lobbyists and we expect probably by April to have our um our federal uh legislative platform back to the legislative litigation committee for consideration and then our last update is on our grants so we established last year Grant monitoring and application system that was a bit more centralized we're keeping a closer look on our grant and uh we continue to strengthen that process but I want to just point out that we have more than doubled our Grant income $68 million in Grant income this last year it doesn't hurt that we had some very large Awards which are nice but uh we had the TCC award $22 million the raise Grant was a very competitive process and very fortunate to get those $10 million the encampment resolution Grant um did not come uh directly to the city but we actually helped write that Grant Grant um for our partners and then the organized retail theft Grant $6 million to the police department for addressing retail theft and as I already noted that $5 million earmark for MLK Boulevard so we definitely have again um leveled up in our ability to go after Grant dollars and we still think that there's more to do uh there are um interestingly still at the I would say at the state level grants are going to be pretty slim in the next year or to um but at the federal level there are still going to be many grants coming down uh through the inflation reduction act we're still even seeing some of the the funding out of um Caris and arpa still trickling down through some of the federal agencies that weren't moving really fast on those dollars and of course there there are other existing programs that will be maintained both at the state and federal level and we're going to and even at the regional level like through krent Cog there's some dollars we still need to go out out and capture but we've definitely increased our capacity to go and get those funds so happy to take questions on any of those items and also just delve in a little bit further on some of our areas where we're making progress but that concludes the presentation thank you city manager CLE now we'll have public statements Madame clerk do we have any public speakers regarding this item mayor go we have not received any public speaker cards regarding this item okay it looks like Mr turnup seed uh welcome please introduce yourself Madame mayor of the board I'm Michael turnit seed I represent the Kern County taxpayers Association just a few points as your presentation City manag presentation one thing that was not listed was a deferred maintenance list I met recently with uh your Parks your parks department chair Le Mr Anthony and we talked about the the shortfalls of the park Department totaling like 38 $88 million not including not only the MLK Park but 10 Park sites the city promised to build parks on that have never been built and if that's just the parks department what's the Deferred promises and maintenance for every other department uh in my dealings with other districts and other government agencies you might and you might want to talk to the current High School District because they have plans future plans for 25e overhauls for their buildings and 50-year overhaul for the buildings you might want to consider that because you do have quite a few buildings running around town and I'm sure many of them need maintenance and last but not least I was glad to see that you're finally having some performance audits thank you very much and thank you for your time thank you Mr turnup seat Madam clerk are there any other public speakers regarding this item no additional speaker cards have been received thank you vice mayor thank you mayor uh I have a few questions today first let me just say uh Mr CL thank you so much for the presentation and thank you for bringing this uh report back to the city council I think it's important that we have regular updates in this particular goal um I mean obviously there's a lot of work being done and that's I think really encouraging to see um there's a lot of elements that I'm excited about but I won't go into in detail um I have a big picture broader question for you what officers would you close the door please just wait a minute go ahead so as we talk about Innovative and Effective Government um I I I I observed that there's a lot of focus on specific uh programs and performance reviews and um studies and and even policy change which is all great my question is about culture within city government what incentives do we offer uh our employees who are being Innovative who are thinking in an entrepreneurial mindset what what sort of uh incentives have we created as an organization to encourage that sort of innovative uh n and also that uh spirit of Entrepreneurship within the city yeah great question question vice mayor I I would first reflect that we don't really have e economic incentives for employees not not necessarily economic sure but I think that's actually a relevant you know um question as well um but would point to a couple different things one um we've have created our guiding principles which uh are are establishing the value sets that we want to uh instill in our employees and within those um Innovation is acknowledged in our Excellence we have you know five guiding principles one is um termed Excellence there's another resourcefulness that speaks a little bit to creativity but Excellence uh notes um our uh desire to Foster and encourage Innovation and as we move forward with these guiding principles they're actually going to be embedded into our employee recognition programs as well as our employee merit-based performance evaluations and so instead instead of just evaluating folks on maybe some of the more uh traditional bureaucratic um uh segments we are going to provide feedback to employees on are they showing collaboration and accountability and resourcefulness and excellence and and this service attitude and so your performance evaluations will be reflected are you being creative and Innovative as well as the employees that are recognized with either you know monthly Awards or annual Awards those that exhibit uh Innovation will be recognized in that way and then lastly um as we're rolling out these guiding principles this is very new by the way and so I appreciate the question we're looking at some creative awards that we um are going to be giving away some some sort special recognitions to people that go above and beyond who are doing you know really notable things and I don't want to say it yet because I'm getting ahead of some of the team who's created some of these um types of incentives but we're going to recognize folks that are doing really exceptional work in kind of new ways uh and the reason I mentioned the economic piece as well is that uh there are some organizations that that adopt um programs or policies where if someone identifies cost savings or a particular Innovation you know they may be able to actually get some economic consent as small you know whether that's a gift card or you know some little uh bonus or bump because they've saved the city a lot of money I would argue that we needed to do a few other things like creating the principles and the performance evaluations and the and the culture conversations before we created those other programs but that may be something that's down the road as well that's great I mean I can imagine many scenarios where there's great employees out there smart people who are working for the city who are thinking man we should be you know cutting grass this way or we should you know there there's a great idea that I have in my head but no one's asked me or there's never an opportunity for those ideas to percolate up and and we we we ought to create that culture so it sounds like we're heading that direction yeah thank you Vice May and if I could speak to one last point which an overarching theme of all of this is is empowerment and ownership we are asking all employees to own the work of the city and the and the work of this community and empowering individuals we absolutely are asking everyone for their best ideas and we've talked about again with a roll out of these guiding principles creating some some actual formal mechanisms where you could have a sort of a the the more modern version of a comment box obviously we're not just going to put a comment box out but creating some virtual resources that folks can provide those ideas but I think more importantly is really every manager and supervisor encouraging their teams to be empowered and own their work and bring up Solutions um we we definitely want to invite everyone to come up with their best ideas yeah there was a book written maybe 30 years ago now by Michael Gerber called the eth why businesses don't work and what to do about it and the emth uh or the entrepreneurial myth is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills when in fact most are started by technicians who know nothing about running a business and he actually outlines three different types of people within an organization the entrepreneur the entrepreneurs um the managers and the technicians and so uh so anyway thinking about the city government in that in that frame is sort of interesting to me because you know I know we have a lot of great technicians people who know their particular uh area their particular department and are very skilled and could you know tell us the history of their respective departments um and we have a lot of great managers my question is where are we hiring entrepreneurs great question I would argue in our civil service system the way that it's designed today we don't necessarily have positions that are created for entrepreneurs uh we do have some work areas that are uh more of generalists that often pull from folks who maybe are planners or project managers um that end up in both they bring those skills and end up in positions that are asked to be a little more entrepreneurial and problem solving again I would argue in our planner levels in development services and economic development our analyst levels and city manager office but frankly we're not really targeting entrepreneurship um as a um a talent skill level if I may just you know while I'm commenting um because I do geek out about this kind of stuff um you know we have to solve the problems of the city every day but when I have a moment to stop and think big picture there's actually a um a a growing uh body of work around what people are calling public entrepreneurship and that means you encourage in the public sector just trying things instead of trying to you know go and do a six-month study and create this big report that then doesn't totally work anyway or maybe sits on the Shelf it's it's important to actually try things but start really small and um make lots of early mistakes with lowrisk lowlevel um ideas and find those things that really work by some some trial and error and piloting instead of just trying to study everything to death and so public entrepreneurship is something we're talking about within the organization and uh it's given me some thought that you know we don't really hire entrepreneurs vice mayor and so I'm thinking about you know how do we adjust and think through that but we can also encourage and train entrepreneurship amongst our city staff even if we're not necessarily hiring entrepreneurs great and then final final thought is I'm glad that one of our highest objectives is the development of the and review of the permit process and for us to strengthen that process because when it comes to uh Innovative and Effective Government I think that's one of the the one ways that we can demonstrate clearly to the public where we're being Innovative and effective um and I'll just give you an example you know we have a an issue decades old in downtown Bakersville where we have lots and lots of space lots of opportunity building space vacant Lots we have lots of underutilized properties and we have entrepreneurs and more and more entrepreneurs who want to do things within uh our downtown and want to engage and want to uh have very creative great very creative ideas um and they try to open up um but they have very little capital and so the fact that we have an eoa program is really exciting and we should all celebrate all the great work that that has uh produced but the reality is is that even still um many of our businesses unfortunately get hung up in the process of Permitting TI permits way too long and for many folks who are have very very limited budgets and it can mean life or death I have a few business owners who may not make it uh and it's because of the process that is just continuously dragging on and so the more that we can do to focus on this and get uh more customer oriented uh the better off we will be in this city so and then and the better off downtown we'll be in the future thank you thank you I don't see any other request to speak so we stand adjourned at 4:13 motion oh we better oh NOP oh motion to receive and F make a motion to receive and fire give a motion please catch your votes it's right here motion is approved with council member Freeman and gray absent thank you and with that we stand adjourned at [Music] [Music] 4:14 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n 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[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welcome to the Bakersfield City council meeting this television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies the county of kar and the City of Bakersfield you can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 700 p.m. Monday at 10:00 a.m. and the following Wednesday at 700 p.m. you can download the agenda for this meeting at www. Bakersfield city. us PRD over this evening's meeting The Honorable mayor Karen K go good evening it's my pleasure to call to order the 5:15 regular city council meeting of March 13 2024 welcome to all of you Bakersville college students in Professor Holmes class welcome we're always glad to have our students here Madam clerk please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez here council member Aras here council member Weir council member Smith I'm here council member Freeman council member gray council member core here thank you we have the pleasure tonight of having Pastor Oscar Anthony of St Peter restoration Community Christian Ministries to offer the invocation I'm just so grateful Pastor for your Church's involvement in so many of our activities I see Outreach in southeast Bakersville and thank you very much for that and then following the invocation Fernanda canedo who's a senior at Ridgeview High School will lead us in the pledge over the past two years she's dedicated herself to the sport of wrestling she's achieved notable success winning the valley and Masters level championships she's um the first wrestler at ridg viw to reach the state finals finishing second in the state of California congratulations to you for that and plans to pursue a Collegiate wrestling career in well a major I guess first uh in William Jewel college division 2 School in Missouri and I'm so glad that her mother Dora moreles uh is able to join us tonight so Pastor would you please uh come and then uh you can follow right after you finishes would you please stand father we come before you in this very serious and important Gathering to invoke your name to call on your name we are reminded that the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof everything and everyone belong to you we are also reminded that if God doesn't build a house those that labor labor in vain if God does not watch the city those do not keep the city those who watch watch in vain we call upon you we're reminded to pray for all leaders everywhere and tonight we come to ask your blessings upon our mayor the city council every department head every staff member that serve this city and this County and this state we thank you for the privilege of the freedom of speech and the freedom to disagree we ask that you give us Harmony and peace to disagree but disagree agreeable we ask for your protection for your wisdom for this councel give them Clarity give them Unity as they serve this whole Community both rich and the poor regardless of political position or cultural background we ask your blessings tonight give them peace give them wisdom give them Clarity and continue to bless our city it's in the name of Jesus we pray amen amen salute pledge I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and the visible with liberty and justice for all thank you may be seated thank you Pastor and Fernanda thank you so much congratulations on your achievements you're free to leave now you're welcome to stay but if you need to go home and study you're welcome to do that too mayor if I may uh just as a fellow Ridge View Alum Fernanda I just wanted to congratulate you uh really proud of you and to as a former as a former Wolfpack member uh you know super proud that you're carrying our high school and our W seven to and our city to uh New Heights and great pride so super super proud of you congratulations 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 is 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 expected to adhere to the rules of Corum 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 this meeting May result in expulsion and or the chamber being cleared behavior that disrupts the me meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn outbursts from the audience and surpassing the two-minute time limit Madame clerk next item please public statements in keeping with the council's new resolution public statements are now received at different different times depending on the item I will call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and give your card to the city clerk we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on tonight's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will presume speakers for non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called to speak first statements are given a two-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for non-agenda item public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call for you at a later time so please listen carefully if public statements become disrupted then I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not on the agenda Maro we've received 16 public speaker cards for items not listed on tonight's agenda the first public speaker is Ray Scott followed by Sophia Felix followed by Manny Ramirez welcome please introduce yourself good evening mayor city council staff Ray Scott keep Bakersville beautiful and once again it is always a a privilege to talk to you about the beautiful things of Bakersfield and what your community our community does uh this this upcoming month in April which is Earth month of course keth Bakersfield beautiful has its Great American cleanup but along with that we also have the mayor's High School challenge which we encourage reach out to high school students to form their own groups and so the the groups that have the largest amount of students also receive a cash award first through third place and then second we have a a new drivethru recycling drop off um event on April the 20th at the um Bakersfield recycling services on L Street it's a free drive-thru event for all residents here in Bakersfield good evening Maro council members my name is Sophia Felix I am the current 2024 chairperson for ke Bakersville beautiful I would like to invite you community members and Community officials to join us in our different and various activities we have going throughout the year he Bakersville beautiful sorry oh goodness uh um sorry oh I'd like to thank you all for helping us to continue our efforts in reducing litter recycling more and adding a beautiful Community to our city with Gardens trees flowers murals over the past 24 years without all of you and all of your help we would not be able to stand here tonight I would like to also invite you to some of our upcoming activities that we have coming up this Saturday March 16th we are having a litter cleanup with the vice mayor Andre Gonzalez and KBB appointe Zachariah Garcia on April 19th we have our Greenfield Walkin group doing a community cleanup with clean California in our community days and on May 27 I'm sorry April 27th we are having our main event with the honorable mayor go with our Great American cleanup where we'll have over 2,000 volunteers doing litter cleanups community garden and more murals here in town so if you'd like any more information about our volunteers and community activities you can please call us at 661 326 3539 now I'd like to introduce our 2024 Great American cleanup chair thank you Mr Felix welcome please introduce yourself mon AMZ good evening Madame mayor members of the council so as this year's chairperson for the Great American cleanup do want to invite you and the public out to join us April 27th uh cleanups are going to be going from 8: a.m. to 10: a.m. with a community celebration at yit's Park uh from 10: to 1 p.m. uh we are taking volunteers if you like volunteer information you go on the Great American cleanup City website um and contact uh through there or sign up one of the various Community groups um we also want to thank Solid Waste for all their support uh for the Great American cleanup and if I lift anything up please let me know perfect thank you so much thank you and keep bers so beautiful volunteers thank you so much for your service we appreciate it Madam clerk next speaker please Samir Abu Daga followed by kasan kanafani followed by Lorena as they're coming up just a reminder just uh adjust the mic according to your height so that we can hear you please welcome please introduce yourself Karen here's what you said a couple days after October 7th I'm grateful for the deep bond between the United States and Israel I stand resolutely with Israel and then Andre this is what you said five months later after 30,000 Palestinians have been killed we don't have time to deal with foreign policies stuff that we have zero influence over I would encourage any of the uh protesters who have uh concerns uh to reach out to their representative in Congress so which is it do you have time for foreign policy when you say that you stand resolutely with Israel or are you saying that you don't have time for foreign policy just so that you can justify ignoring our demands for more than 10 weeks your hypocrisy is blatant and obvious so I will ask again from everyone in this room including every single one of you and just so that I'm very clear raise your hand if you condemn the murder of Palestinian men women and children Eric Mr are you going to raise your hand I'm not talking to you yet this is a reminder to the audience I'm not talking to you yet reclaiming my time are you going to raise your hand no Okay can does not engage with raising on any topic Bob are you going to condemn the murder of Palestinian men women and children we know where you stand Andre yeah yeah of course you're going to stare blankly or you're going to give us a response cuz you realize by saying silent you're telling everyone in this room that you're absolutely fine with the murder of Palestinian families R PR you not only raised your hand but you told us directly on multiple occasions that you stand against genocide sir I'm saying it again your time is up your comments to a close we need action now introduce the resolution this community has submitted or it's no just please bring your comments to a close thank you next speaker please Gan kanafani followed by Lena followed by Maria canteros welcome look Karen go did you enjoy your play last Friday I noticed that you weren't in the reception area for very long because it seemed that as soon as a few of us showed up you scurried inside is this because you feel ashamed do you feel shame for the fact that you have yet to call for a ceasefire do you feel shame for the fact that you have yet to condemn the genocide of my people do you feel shame for the fact that you have yet to issue even a single word of support or sympathy for your Palestinian population here in Bakersfield were you ashamed when you had six cops have to come and pick up your car outside because you're too afraid to show your face and come outside were you instead scurried out the back exit like a rat I'm embarrassed for you frankly I did some digging and I wish I could say I was surprised by what I found but frankly I'm not but it seems that blind and rabbit support for Israel runs in your family because your brother David founder and senior pastor of the gardens church here in Bakersfield on October 7th posted on their Facebook pray for Israel and with some images and yet these images were not of Israel these images were of death and destruction in Palestine and in Gaza and the slaughter of my people yet they were misconstrued as pray for Israel and this is something that happens all the time where our suffering when it's portrayed as suffering of Israelis people are angry people are upset people are sympathetic and yet second they find out that it's actually a Palestinians radio silence so you keep doing what you're doing but I'd like you to pass on a message to David and it's a message that we repeat here to you again expect us wherever you go and to all the students here talk to go back to your classes and talk about the mayor that you have here the shameful disgrace whose sympathy seem reserved for only a certain race of people who believ that Palestinian blood is cheap and after four City Council meetings has yet to issue a single word of sympathy for over nearly 40,000 slaughtered Palestinians this is for you thank you next speaker please Lorena followed by Maria canteros followed by Karina welcome please introduce yourself hi Karen this is now my fourth time coming here and I don't know whether you're sick of seeing me but I'm definitely sick of seeing you guys here and the only thing that we need is to to be out of your hair to get on with maybe actually being part of the community raising funds for what we need here instead of throwing it away to what to play valet for you for the police to do your dirty work for you to ignore us every single time we try to confront you even just today just right now you came up and you took pictures with some of the audience members here even when you say you can't engage with the audience members and when we asked if we could have a picture you complet completely ignored us as if you can't hear us we know you can we know all of you can hear us Eric I've even seen you peeping on my Instagram stories and yet you don't say anything like this is every one of your guys' responsibility here to speak up for your constituent and that's all of us as well I don't know what it is if you're intimidated by scarves a piece of clothing or if you're intimidated by your own conscience because you know that if you were to actually look in and see what you're standing for then you would see ugliness you would see a part of this machine that has created a monster that is decimating so many and you can't pretend to ignore it because at this point with all of us coming and bringing it up to your attention with everything that's in the media all the news you can't say that you're ignoring it so at this point if you're not saying anything about it it's entirely because of the person that you are so want you to guys to sit with that think about it and demand a ceasefire because you know that it's the right thing whether you want to admit it or not thank you next speaker please Maria canteros followed by Karina followed by Omar welcome please introduce yourself hi this is the fourth time that we show up to city council without any acknowledgement without any empathy for the the 40,000 precious lives that have been murdered in Gaza people in this room are some of the kindest people that I know and they have family members being slaughtered and forceably starved we have come to say no more to anything that stands in the way of ending this genocide I'm speaking to the Christians in this room now Jesus the Palestinian Jewish revolutionary stood in Fierce opposition to inequity overturning tables systems structures and leaders that stood in the way of Liberation for all people throughout the biblical Cannon Jesus reserves his sharpest critique for local Elites teachers of the law and moral and religious authorities these people refuse to show Mercy to the vulnerable he gave warning saying they love their places of honor at Banquets they are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but inside they are full of Bones and they are dead and everything unclean these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me 40,000 precious lives have been murdered please do not stay silent when you read the scriptures do not think that you have the right to put yourself as the innocent one in the story in Matthew 25 Jesus declares that those he's going to separate sheep and goats and those who do not do just ice and mercy for their neighbors he will say depart from me you who are cursed into the Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink he will reply whatever you did not do for the least of these you did not do unto me a ceasefire is the least thing that you can do there is still time for your heart to change there is still time to come awake Palestinian lives are holy and they are worth protecting thank you Mr canteras and just a reminder to the audience clapping and snapping disrupts the meeting anybody feel disrupted next speaker please Karina followed by Omar followed by Gabby hello audience not the council my name is Karina today I saw a Palestinian child climbing electric Pole to receive his kite even though others offer to make him a new one he still climbed to get it down to others it might seem like a silly kite but as a mother and a person who saw others growing up in trauma and being a child myself feeling helpless to help them that is not silly when you have experienced trauma after trauma you have on you you hold on to small glimpses of happiness you see it isn't just a kite it is the Last Hope Of Joy the very thing still holding your sanity in place losing the kite would make the weight of the world around you reality and having to accept the fact that indeed I am in a hellhole I cannot Escape but at the same time I don't want to escape I don't want to leave this is my home raise your hand if you stand with Palestinians and for Humanity I see the council is still cowards to the people standing for freedom I read you a message from Karam Miss great gratitude flows from the depths of our struggles to those who Champion our cause every day as we say as we Face uphill battles your voices become a bomb to our Shattered Dreams and bruised hearts in the face of mental weathering by the weight of our challenges your un wering dedication gives us the strength thank you for sharing our stories and casting a light on our silent suffering your voices like lifelines Echo our pleas for help ensuring our struggles are not overlooked in a world that turns a blind eye just like the council has turned a blind eye week after week and I'm speaking to all of you now you are constantly chasing the evil dollar to fill the pits of your empty Souls because you have no souls you and your colleagues have heard multiple people describe the horrors that are happening in Gaza and yet the decision has not work wavered you have not called for a ceasefire will today be that day that you regain some of your Consciousness and try to obtain what is left of your morality to make history and call for a fire or will you continue to be complicit in a genocide I know Karen I know that you're not going to call for a genocide because you support and you look up to people like Ronald Reagan who supported up please bring your comments to a close to support the Care Act that criminalizes unh people slaves for this system next speaker please Omar followed by Gabby followed by Leslie we're here to listen just a reminder you each have two minutes and we will be respectful and listen to you welcome please introduce yourself Salam alaykum uh my name is Omar Samara I'm a resident of ward 3 um today I am a f fasting for Ramadan and in this blessed month we take two of many lessons number one patience through hardship number two the Pains of hunger and in Gaza for over five months people have been under siege and it's been harder and harder every day for them to get food and every day over the last few weeks we've seen an increase more and more and more children children the elderly and people dying of starvation their skin clinging to their body you can see the outlines of their bones they are like skeletons with flesh it is horrible and it is disgusting and for me as somebody who works in agriculture who learned about farming and learned how to help grow food in Bakersfield here in Kern County to avoid this sort of pain I am in pain and I am in shock that people here that claim to represent California Agriculture would allow for an artificial starvation to occur it may seem like a little bit uh may seem like nothing to say you know calling for a ceasefire there is not much we can do as individuals but together we can move mountains we have a moral imperative to join the the growing collection of voices calling for peace and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza so I implore you especially you Canen we my representative of ward 3 and you mayor go my representative of Bakersfield to call for a ceasefire thank you thank you Omar next speaker please Gabby followed by Leslie followed by Amelia Martinez welcome please introduce yourself hi my name is Gabby I'm a resident of Andre Gonzalez hi Andre hey thanks for the smile wow that's cool um so Eric Ken Bob Karen Andre if you could still listen to me I'd appreciate it manprit Karen I come before you today not just as a concerned citizen but as a witness to the silence that pervades in the face the silence that pervades in the face of immense Suffering The Silence that allows oppression to thrive that allows the systems uh of Injustice to govern unchecked the crisis in Gaza is not just a distant tragedy it is a stark reminder of our Collective complicity complicity our Collective silence that perpetuates these cycles of violence and suffering as the conflict violence Massacre artificial famine ethnic cleansing genocide continues and approaches the 159th day the toll on innocent lives continues to mount tens of thousands have been killed many of them children as the world watches you all watch [Music] silently the United Nations called for a ceasefire emphasizing the urgent need to end the appalling suffering and loss of life yet your silence persists let us not forget silence is not neutrality it is complicity we cannot turn a blind eye to the karmic consequences of our inaction The Silence of the city council The Silence of so many people across the world only serves to perpetuate the very systems that oppress us if we do not act now if we don't break these Cycles we're going to repeat it the positions of power the power balances always change therefore I implore you those who have currently the influence and power rise members of the city council rise above the silence break the chains of these ince in the ceasefire immediately for Gaza allow humanitarian Aid stop sending money to Israel bring your comments to a cled your time let us stand on the right side of history and let us work towards healing the collective wounds of humanity Gabby thank you thank you next speaker please Leslie followed by Amelia welcome please introduce yourself hello my name is Leslie I am um my council member isn't even here Patty gray um so thanks Patty um so um everyone here especially to the students of Bakersfield College um these are your city council members this is our fourth time coming and they continue to just stare at us with their blank faces Time After Time After Time Karen um on Friday you were at your play and you use the police force as your like personal security to go get your car because you couldn't even Face the People of Bakersfield to call for a ceasefire you literally use your personal little security team that terrorizes and murders our community as your personal security because you were too afraid to come out and at least engage and you keep saying oh yeah um engage with us keep coming um we wanted better the city but yet you um continue to silence us and continue to turn a BL and eye to a literal genocide um and you use BPD as your personal security which our taxpayers pay pay to but that's your priority to keep funding a police force that terrorizes us and that victimizes us um with a sales tax of of measure n you can look it up 42% of that sales tax goes to funding this police force that you use to escape your own constituents like that's so sad Karen like grow a backbone grow a backbone call for a ceasefire each and every single one of you call for a ceasefire there is a literal genocide I don't want to keep coming every week or every two weeks I'm tired I'm really tired of seeing people die die and I leave you with this just as my U colleague was saying earlier Matthew U 19:24 it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person a person in power yourself look in the mirror to enter the kingdom of God thank you lesie audience just a reminder that clapping and snapping is not [Applause] allowed next speaker please Amelia Martinez Amelia Martinez go ahead and go to the next person Mr Jones welcome please introduce yourself I think it's incredibly fitting that again I don't get my full two minutes um my name is Gabriel Jones resident of Bakersfield uh I didn't actually write anything this time CU figured I wouldn't get wouldn't get the time you know um so yeah I just sat here before the meeting and I prayed to be like what what do you think think you know like God what would you have for these people um and it's crazy ironic because what came to my heart was Matthew 25 you already heard it but I'll run through it again for you guys and really any Christians here please look up Matthew 25 and you come home like seriously and then he will say to those on the left depart from me you who are cursed into the Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels for when I was hungry you gave me nothing to eat when I was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink when I was a stranger to you and you did not invite me into your home when I needed clothes you did not closeth me and when I was sick and in prison you did not look after me they will answer Lord when did we see you hungry when did we see you thirsty when did we see you in prison when did we see you need clothes and he said truly I tell you whatever you did not do for one of the least of of these you did not do for me 40,000 people have died Karen whatever you don't do for them you will have to answer four you will and thank you Mr Jones your time is up call for a SE please bring your comments to a close we are at the end of our 20 minute segment for this portion Madam clerk we'll now move on to public statements listed on the agenda if you're here to speak on items under consent calendar item 7 your time to speak is now again each speaker is given a two-minute time limit and each agenda item is listed to 20 each each agenda item there is no conversation like this at this point from the audience and each agenda item is listed to 20 minutes total you're disrupting the meeting you're disrupting the meeting I've already given you a warning if that continues I will have to ask for the police to escort you out I'm going to start this section again spech we will now move to the public statements listed on the agenda if you're here to speak on items listed under consent calendar item s your time to speak is now again each speaker is given a two-minute time limit and each agenda item is listed is limited to 20 minutes total the consent calendar as a whole constitutes one agenda item if you're here to speak on hearing item 9A now is not the time to speak you'll be given an opportunity to speak when that item is called later in the minute meeting Madam clerk sir sir our time is up for that section Madam Clerk you're disrupting the meeting mam clerk mayor go we've received one speaker card for um items on tonight's agenda the public speaker is Emma delar Roa regarding item 7 C1 Miss Del Roa Emma deloso I don't see her in the audience so now vice mayor does any member of the council wish to recuse themselves from any item seeing none I have a request to pull item 7 C1 for separate consideration with that I'll make a motion to adopt all the other consent calendar items you have a motion please cast your votes motion is approved with council member Freeman and council member gray absent thank you and now council member Arius thank you mayor um after many many conversations and deliberations with staff um and also the building Community uh specifically on this item tonight but also on the previously proposed item that includes the parking requirements um at the last meeting we did talk about the need for a baseline requirement that protects us and allows for us to hold some of the bad developers accountable while also getting out of the way for the 95% of our good developers um who are building in the city so council member arus would you just stop for a minute outbursts from the audience are disruptive to this meeting if you continue you will be asked to leave council member you are disrupting the meeting you're disrupting the meeting by your C officers please clear the chambers [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] sh [Music] reconvening at 603 council member Arius continue thank you mayor um just to reiterate uh some of the comments before we went on recess um I know that I've met with staff a number of times had many conversations about this very item um and also in addition to what's on our agenda tonight we've also talked about the previously presented parking requirements um as proposed by staff at the last meeting uh We've ALS I've also engaged uh many of the stakeholders who came before uh this very Council and talked about the need for additional time the need for additional vetting um and to be frank I I don't want to pecem this I think it's important that we take a holistic and comprehensive approach and um in the name of transparency I think that uh we we really need to look at this very document that changes to title 17 in addition with those parking requirements uh but in addition to that um I want to reiterate the fact that I agree with my colleagues 95 to 99% of our developers in the community uh know what's best uh for the very projects that they are putting forward um but for reasons um for various reasons there could potentially be a developer who either is not in the know as maybe new to uh the fields um who maybe might take advantage and manipulate the fact that we do not have a baseline um regulation uh to hold them accountable when it comes to parking standards uh so with that uh tonight I would like to um make a motion to bring back this item to the March 27th city council meeting and in addition to that I would like to make a referral that we ALS oo include the previously proposed parking regulations with the following amendments and bear with me because there's five pieces to this uh the first being that we eliminate minimum parking standards for single family residential development the second be that we eliminate minimum parking standards for deed restricted affordable housing projects the third being that we eliminate minimum parking standards for all residential development in the central district and Oldtown Kern the fourth be that we eliminate minimum parking standards for multif family residential development with 19 or less dwelling units but uh we require that for multif family residential developments with 20 or more dwelling units to allocate a minimum of .25 parking spaces per unit 025 parking spaces is a very very low requirement uh compared to what we have pre previously had um on our books um I do feel confident that this stays out of the way for many of our developers particular developers who are trying to build additional housing of which we need all different types and sorts uh but it also provides that Baseline um so that we can um hold those folks accountable um and actually I would like to make one uh tweak to that motion um that we also add an opportunity for a developer who is developing a multif family development above 20 units or more uh to also have the ability to appeal to the Planning Commission and ultimately this body um should there be particular circumstances um that need to be um communicated um so that they do not necessarily need to adhere to these restrictions thank you thank you I don't see any request to speak is that a motion you have a motion please cast your votes go ahead and read it again please happy to do that uh so the first part is to bring back this very item at the next meeting um but in addition to that to also bring back bring it back correct so the motion is to bring it back with with the additional parking um restrictions as or the elimination of parking restrictions as proposed by staff previously um but to add those additional amendments that I made tonight I'm happy to read those if you'd like me to Mayor if I could just for clarity uh purposes so the council understands that on your agenda tonight is the second reading or the adoption of the housing element and my understanding that council member arus has a two-prong motion one is to continue the second reading so that that second reading is going to be uh brought back um at the next meeting which will be March 27th and then the second component of council member Arias's motion is what he elaborated on uh with the referral on the various parking uh parking components so that will go for first reading on March 27th uh it will be a proposed second reading of the housing uh element and again depending on what happens on March 27th my guess is is that you will see everything then uh move to the first meeting in April and have second reading of everything but there will be time uh to discuss the specificity of the parking elements at first reading come some where does that clarify it for you so we will be talking about the parking regulations at the next meeting the March 27 27 correct and as long as they are again within the within the parameters of what council member arus has referred we can go ahead and have first reading on March 27th but if they are more restrictive if the council ultimately ends up with more restrictive components on March 27th then my recommendation to you at that time is going to be that you'll have to have first reading um the first meeting in April if you stay Within These boundaries uh we're okay for first reading on March 27th okay I okay [Music] thanks he just voted motion is approved with council member Weir abstaining and council members Freeman and gray absent thank you next item please hearings our next item is public hearings each side will be allowed 15 minutes it's 15 minutes for all speakers per side so it's important that you identify yourself make your statement succinctly So Others May speak we'll hear statements from those opposed to the staff's recommendation first that is those that are against the resolution ordering to vacate an easement on a portion of O Street then we'll hear from those who'd like to speak in favor of the staff's recommendation those that support the resolution ordering to vacate an easement on a portion of O Street if there's testimony on both sides each side will be allowed a 5minute rebuttal there's a lock on the TV screens behind me which indicates 15 minutes please step to the microphone identify yourself and after 14 minutes the yellow light will come on at the end of 15 minutes a red light will flash indicating your time is up quickly end your statement you may ask questions during your statement but they won't be addressed until the public hearing is closed if you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement give them to the clerk she will provide copies to the counsel please be courteous to others who wish to speak Madame clerk please read the public hearing item public hearing to consider a resolution ordering to vacate an easement on a portion of O Street the 11.25 foot wide easement is located on the west side of O Street and East side of jeta Avenue abing 40230 Street ward 3 thank you Mr [Music] CL thank you mayor and councel I will turn the time over to our Public Works director Greg stalo thank you city manager c um mayor city council I do have a brief presentation on this item um if you would like to see that um I'll go really quickly through it uh this is a partial RightWay vacation at 40230 Street um the image above on the screen shows the subject property uh abing both jwi and O Street uh public rights of way provide for many public uses public uh the right of way is created as communities are planned and streets are platted for connectivity and utilities a vacation of right of way transfers all or P or a portion of public rights over to the adjacent land owner decisions to vacate right of way depend on a variety of factors such as urban planning goals Community needs and potential impacts to Public Services process to vacate is a rigor rigorous and comprehensive one involving City departments numerous utility companies the Planning Commission and of course the public uh it also must abide by California state code section for streets and Highway um a petition to vacate concludes with city council determination by resolution to vacate or not the defined area of public RightWay uh portions of JT and O Street have an exist in right of we of 82 1/2 ft which is about 22 1/2 ft larger than our current standard our current standard provides for travel Lanes um Pathways uh bike lanes and also uh utilities at 60 ft wide the picture on the right is a picture of the parcel and question the utilities are located within the public G of way um on the picture to the right the vacation would take it to the fence post just behind the fire hydrant and the there is a 10-ft easement requirement to be preserved from that fence post back to the utility pole so there's one and a/4 foot that would be uh a transfer of without any encumbrances over it to the property owner um city has been vacating portions or strips of jwi and O Street for many years since 1968 so there is precedence for this vacation um after issuing U proper notice the department found that there were no objections from other City departments no objections from utility providers provided that a 10- foot public utility easement would be prever U preserved on um the uh eastern and western most portions closest to the roadway um and after public noticing there have been no no objections from Property Owners within a 300 foot radius of the site uh the Planning Commission has seen this petition and has approved it uh in terms of consistency with the comprehensive plan in December 19 2023 and a resolution of intention for this vacation hearing uh was brought before Council on February 28th and here we are today to determine uh whether this vacation moves forward um so conclusion and recommendations the vacation process as provided within the California streets and Highway code section has been followed for this petition public works department received zero objections uh to the vacation with uh provided that a 10- foot public utility easement is maintained and the Planning Commission has determined that the petition is consistent with the Metropolitan Bakersfield General General plan uh staff does recommend adoption of the attached resolution and approval of the vacation uh stand by for any questions thank you Mr strial loose city manager CLE is there anything further no thank you mayor thank you at this time item 9A is open is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition if there's anybody in the lobby I see that assistant city manager has gone out to check whether anybody is in the lobby who would like to speak in opposition seeing none is there anyone who wishes to speak in support or in favor thank you indicate none seeing none I'll close the public hearing and return it to council for comment and action and I know that this is in council member we's Ward coun M we thank you mayor so basically this puts this piece of property in line with the other properties that are next to it [Music] and it brings some um I can't think of the word it it puts them in line for it it does um there there is long history of vacations occurring um along these two streets and the vacations have been consistent in terms of 11 and a/4 feet on either side of the street um the properties to the North and the South haven't yet petitioned for vacation but if you move further south you start to see those vacations that have occurred so this is not abnormal it's it um it happens frequently along these two streets yes and vacations as a general category though do not happen frequently yeah but this will put it I I if I'm consistent with other prop consistent with the other properties correct correct okay thank you I I move approval thank you is there anybody else who wishes to comment you have a motion please cast your votes motion is approved with council member Freeman and council member gray absent thank you Madame clerk next item please Council and mayor statements I don't see any request to speak vme uh thank you mayor I just wanted to make a referral tonight um well first let me give uh some praise and kudos to both the city of Bakersfield and to calr uh coming into town a few days ago driving Northbound um w 7 on the 99 is looking pretty good council member core um Hoskins uh looks pretty good Panama's looking better and better uh but then we start getting into Central Bakersville and we start observing some issues there so I want to want us to continue to uh work towards some Landscaping improvements in in that 99 Corridor I know that staff has been working on that and I trust that we're getting closer to a longer term plan and strategy but part of this includes also the delegated maintenance agreement with calr between the city of Bakersfield and and uh the state agency and so I understand we do have a current delegated maintenance agreement that allows for the city of Bakersfield to maintain certain um elements um but I'd like us to explore how we can enhance that um maintenance agreement so that we can really ensure that the look and feel of our um 99 Corridor 58 now with the centeno corridor connecting that we're we're looking really good for our residents to enjoy and certainly looking good for our visitors as well um so elements including weed abatement graffiti removal debris and litter as it relates to encampments all of those elements I think are really critical that we have uh a very clear maintenance agreement that allows the city to proactively address issues when they occur thank you and good night thank you I don't see any oh council member Arius oh yours isn't try again it's up now thank you mayor barus uh tonight I'm so grateful to the vice mayor uh for reminding me of two things that I wanted to bring up um one of them being um when it relate when it comes to the um uh 99 Freeway and some of the changes we're making into Landscaping I just wanted to ask um staff if they knew what size trees we are installing um currently and whether or not that is us that is doing that is that calr that is making those installations uh thank you uh council member and mayor and Council um right now the installations you're seeing are happening by calr I would take the opportunity just to note that we have requested um several times for enhanced landscaping or hardscaping along the 999 um Caltrans region 6 has found some dollars to do that although the city has also contributed significant funding for design and uh infrastructure improvements on the 99 above and beyond what calr you know sort can afford or is able to do and I think realistically for us to really um increase the look and feel along the 99 even though it's not our jurisdiction it's likely going to have to come from either City efforts or funds or Partnerships where we go and get grant funding um I don't know about the size of the trees we can get you that information but right now that's cow trends and putting those in thank you so much I I I realized the question is very very specific um but the reason being is that The Interchange looks great um but I have serious concerns about the small size of those trees uh we know that because of the homelessness challenges because you know there are folks who tend to meander into those areas uh I just you know I we planted trees in parks next to schools and we know that those trees often times are um you know uh usually vandalized in some way shape or form and I know that the hardiness and the ability to survive some of that depends on really how old the tree is that we install so I would like to ask for staff to have a conversation with calr if there's a way for us to negotiate for uh older trees that are going to frankly survive a whole lot longer 10 20 30 years down the road um I think it would be wise of us to have those conversations early on while they're making those in Investments uh the second comment that uh vice mayor made I think is a very good and pointed one which is that I really think that we need to continue to be proactive particularly on some of our empty infill lots um I am still a huge fan of us going to contract um there are partnering organizations out there nonprofits um that do weed batement um you know litter abatement uh tumble weed abatement throughout our entire city and I think it's time that we while we work as hard as we can um on trying to uh increase the amount and supply of affordable housing particularly as it relates to infield development uh we have to do our due diligence to make sure that there is a decent looking feel on some of these properties um and so I am in huge favor of that and I ask that staff uh take a look into that opportunity as well thank you thank you council member Arya speaking of trees thank you to the volun that planted 33 trees this Arbor Day at yit's Park and the trees are more mature than they used to plant before for the reason that you described council member Weir thank you mayor um one question about the garus circle and calr uh work on the garus circle is that ever going to come to fruition council member we appreciate the question mayor and Council it will in fact although it has been long awaited I can give you an update that the city just received back bids for our portion of the project and uh we will be bringing forward a council item to uh aboard a contract to go and build the improvements um the traffic um and um multimodal improvements to garca Circle as well as there's a few components that are still City jurisdiction adjacent to garca Circle but unless our Public Works director has updates on the timing for the portions under the overpass from calr we'll have to get that timing update for you and I don't have a specific update I can say that there are deadlines associated with um getting underway for work and um so we've been neck and neck with calr to get to construction I know they're close by though um we will be at Council this next meeting on the 27th on um toward the contract for City's portion of improvements and and their portion is going to follow it should follow closely behind us um we are ahead of them in terms of getting the approval from Council uh they will get their approval from their District uh to move forward and they they haven't gotten that yet okay so a couple months month I will check thank you thank you council member we council member core thank you mayor uh looks like the memo we're sending to calr is going to be pretty long um but the vice mayor's and council member ai's comments reminded me that I was driving to the council meeting today and was just thinking about how I'd really like us as a city to engage um both calr and the auto mall and kind of thinking about that Corridor and how we can improve just a look and feel as we're driving through our city um it's such an important part of our city it's frankly right off of the freeway and if there's ideas or if there's um more thought that can be put into even that Corridor while some of w 7 is definitely looking prettier so all Kudos going to the city and calr as well um I think there's some work to be done there especially when those beautiful trees were taken out and um if there's something to be done about uh even the walls on the on the east side of the 99 um you know any kind of improvements that can be done there I think there's ways we can get creative if that's a conversation we can get started as well thank you thank you council member core vice mayor my apologies I had one more comment to add to this um we have a number of Remnant signs from businesses of yester year that are still up throughout the city City particularly along the 99 the 58 the 204 um and I think it's time that we kind of go through and have a plan where we systematically engage Property Owners to work with them to remove those signs because it is uh starting to look pretty long in the tooth thank you thank you I don't see any other requests to speak so we stand adjourn at 628 thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a