[Music] [Music] the 3:30 p.m. meeting of the Bakersfield City Council is now in session good afternoon didn't meeting good afternoon it's my pleasure to call to order the 3:30 regular city council meeting of February 14th 202 24 Madam clerk please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez here council member Aras here council member Weir here council member Smith I here council member Freeman council member gray here and council member core here thank you in keeping with the council's resolution the public statements portion is now divided into two periods there's a period for items listed on the meeting agenda and items not on the meeting agenda statements for items listed on this afternoon's agenda are given a two-minute time limit 20 minutes total per agenda item statements regarding items not listed on the agenda are also given a two-minute time limit 20 minutes total if you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement give them to the clerk who will give copies to the council if you're here to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and give your completed card to the city clerk we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on this afternoon's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda portion those speakers will be called during the non-agenda portion of the meeting Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items listed on this afternoon's agenda mayor go we have not received any speaker cards regarding items listed on tonight's agenda nor for items that are not listed on tonight's agenda thank you madam clerk next item please reports item 3A staff report from City attorney regarding potential amendment to Charter uh council salary thank you madam City attorney thank you mayor vice mayor members of the council uh we have a PowerPoint presentation for you and this afternoon I'm going to be uh talking to you about a potential Charter Amendment specifically related to uh council salary a little bit of uh recap before we get into the meat of it uh you may recall that back in June of last year at the 3:30 meeting Moss Adams uh came to you and provided an overview of of the city Charter and presented to you a couple of different areas of the charter that could be modified to bring it into let's say a more modern uh document uh at the conclusion of that meeting there was a referral to the city attorney's office to return and give you some historical context um in particular for how the council would move forward um if you wanted to move forward with a a pay ballot measure at uh in in the year 2024 you also requested at the time that when we do the comparisons that we included the city of Oakland and and the City of Long Beach in our analysis so about 45 days later I came back to you uh that was on August 9th of 202 23 and I think it's important to realize that neither council members Freeman or uh core were at that particular meeting it was at 3:30 and um Ashley Z brano listened to the video of that particular meeting so that I could accurately uh accurately portray it to you again uh I think it's important to kind of understand the backdrop there but after I gave the PowerPoint presentation which was about 17 minutes um the vice mayor made a motion you can see that on the screen it was a motion to continue discussion to potentially bring forward items at the general election which would be uh this year November of 2024 and um we then went into a discussion I was really not part of that discussion you you had about a 17-minute discussion with primarily uh council member Cay some of you voiced your opinions on the council pay issue but it primarily was a discussion after that as to some of the other issues that uh you perhaps had an opportunity to address whether it was um changing the uh changing the pronouns within the charter or changing the franchise situation or changing the Civil Service rules really wasn't it really wasn't any direction and uh the mayor then said well you have a motion uh cast your votes and the motion passed three to2 with council members Weir and gray dissenting so I say that to you because in taking away from that meeting the the really the one thing that I took away from that meeting is that you did not want the council pay issue to go in March of 2024 which is good because here we are um but other than that there really wasn't any other direct direction to the city attorney's office uh to prepare for any type of uh ballot measure relative to council pay so fast forward to last month uh January 28th of 2024 city manager clay came to you again gave you an overview kind of gave you an update of the spectrum of some of those items that could be put on the on the next ballot on on November of 2024 with regard to a charter update and again there was a referral to the city attorney's office to revisit the council pay options and come back to you for a discussion so it is in that vein is it is with that backdrop that I'm presenting the PowerPoint to you tonight I will go through and tell you where the PowerPoint differs from August but primarily this is a mirror image of what was presented to you in in in August of last year and I again I started back then with a little bit of the history and I just find it I think you'll find it uh maybe amusing is not the right word but I think it's certainly interesting but we were officially Incorporated back in 1873 and we ran out of money and so we had to disincorporate and we did not uh really reincorporate until 1898 and our Charter was not ratified until uh 19 15 and our Charter has about 12 articles to it I did back in August explain to you the difference between a charter and a general law City I don't think there's a need to go into that today um suffice it to say that there are over um 480 cities in the in the state of California and there's only about 125 that are Charter cities and and and we're one of them so uh we're we're we're in the minority there but why does that matter for the discussion today well it matters because when one amends a charter you amend the charter the same way that one enacted the charter and when we enacted it in 1915 it went to the voters so if we want to amend the charter we have to go to a general election uh that's going to cost money I'm going to talk to you a little bit about that at the end of this presentation um or you can at certain times you can receive petitions by 15% of the registered voters that reside within the city of Bakersfield and typically when you're presented with something like that um it's a formality that the council simply approves it and again it it it goes to the voters so let's talk about um the let's hone in a little bit on on on why we're having this discussion we're talking about Council pay and section 18 that is the section of the charter where this language exists and you can see this is the original language in 1915 from the charter and um while I don't usually read things I think in this particular case um I will it basically at that point said that the salaries of the councilmen first elected under this Charter shall be $50 per month thereafter the council May by ordinance submitted to a referendum at any municipal election change the salary of members of the council I added the emphasis uh to referendum and also to the word any and so again that's what we were talking about back in August it was any election so we could have gone you uh next month we could have gone in March of 2024 and again uh your the forefathers basically said look the first time you change this you can either change it here in the charter where you can go ahead and you can enact an ordinance you can do a first reading and a second reading but that's fine you still have to give it to the voters through the referendum process and make sure that the voters approved that I will tell you that section 18 has never been successfully amended and I'm going to go through that history with you um again uh we did not update this I don't think there was really any need to you can see the you can see the the discrepancy um back in August this was on the PowerPoint it shows you the top 10 cities it shows you where Bakersfield is and it um followed through with the referral from one of you at it included Long Beach and it included the city of Oakland you see the little uh Aster at the bottom the $100 none of these includes any of the benefits from any of the Cities from Los Angeles to Anaheim including Bakersfield in the city of Bakersfield depending on what level of insurance you are uh whether you're a level one two or family plan you can go anywhere from $0 all the way up to $3,000 but the base your base salary is $100 a month here's the chart for the survey cities uh again shows you where the city of Bakersfield is and same caveat with additional benefits I believe last time council member core requested that we pull um what the uh salary what the base salary is for your colleagues across the street um this is what we have determined it's the total annual pay right now of a little over $110,000 a year and now I just want to go through again uh the same historical aspect that I did uh a year ago um again with great help from the city clerk since 1920 there's been a total of 173 different Charter amendments that the city of Bakersfield has proposed to its citizens and of those 173 there's only been six ballot measures that really deal with um Council pay it was in 1947 1954 the main one was in when I say the main one in 1956 the successful one was in 1956 we're going to get to that 1974 1988 and 1990 all of them failed by the way we're going to go through it other than 1956 so 1947 um again you can see that that was the actual language that went to the voters and in this time in 1947 uh your colleagues from that time they wanted to amend the charter they weren't interested in the code they just wanted to amend the charter um and they wanted basically to say that you were going to you were going to serve um without pay and uh thankfully that failed so then in 1954 they decided to do it differently and they said let's do an ordinance let's put the ordinance in in the code and they said let's let's just get $200 a month that failed in 1956 they decided to do the same thing they went by way of an ordinance but they said let's do it a $100 a month and then again a little bit on the Board of Equalization that's uh somewhat Irrelevant for purposes of this discussion but that actually passed and um it was an ordinance number 1079 it went to the voters at a special election not a general election and when that happened it was the ordinance and that was the first ordinance that went into the code um originally I think it was under 2.12 don't worry about that it was later renumbered and now if you go look in our code under chapter 2.68 you will see um where your salary is established at $100 a month um because of that particular ordinance that the voters adopted and that's where it is very simple language the salary of council members shall be $100 per month and then again they added this section having to do with um not just just the Board of Equalization but when you come uh and you sit through the lunch meetings regarding our annual budget uh you get $20 uh not to not to exceed for five days so if you're not getting that $20 let let Christian know um so because that passed back in 1956 what happened is um there was a little Aster that went into our Charter so the charter the first part of it stays identical to how it read in 1915 but there's one Aster and it says hey this was increased to $100 a month see section uh 2.68 so it's a very good it's a very good cross reference 18 18 years later back in 1974 uh your colleagues decided to try the charter Amendment again they didn't want to touch the ordinance they were going to go back to the Charter and they said why don't we just change the charter and have our salaries equal or um equal to what our colleagues in general law cities get that that failed in 1976 they went back and they said let's try to um amend the code and we're going to go to $300 a month that failed then again in 1988 they went back to the Charter they said let's try to amend the charter again and they went to $6,000 that failed tried it again in 1990 um again this time they tried to amend the code and for $700 a month a minor increase really uh that failed there has not been any measure osed on the ballot since 1990 um and again this this section here in 1990 was actually presented to the voters um as part of a special election it did not go during a general election we have not touched either the charter or the code relative to Council salaries uh since 1990 all of this again was discussed back in August this was also discussed back in August and um in front of you you should have a onepage it's entitled a leder scan uh it's front and back I put it uh on the dis for all of you there was a new law that actually went into effect in June of last year it modifies the government code and basically what it says is if you're a general law City or you're a charter City and you're a charter city that is silent on the topic of council pay and I'm going to get back to that but that's very important we are not right now we're not silent on it right because we have it in our Charter and we have it in our code but if you were silent on it um this new law basically says your your salary can be determined by ordinance based on your population so assuming we were silent on it um we obviously have a population of over 250,000 uh people and so the maximum amount per month would be $3,200 per mon month um there is a a um a CPI escalator that's in there you can read that on that third bullet you can also read it as part of the uh leder scan that I gave you uh the ordinance would not allow you to provide for automatic for automatic increases I'm going to get back on that on this so here are the options and again these options for the most part have remained uh the same although I would tell you that I have I think think made them a little bit more concise for your consideration tonight because if you're going to do this we need to get going and we need to do it option number one you can leave the charter in the code the way it is option number two you can submit a measure to the voters in 2024 that repeals the charter and The BMC section and this would be a sample shall section 18 of the charter and The BMC section 2.68 uh be repealed in in their entirety why did I say that to you I said that to you because if you were to repeal both the charter and the code you would then be silent on the topic if you were silent on the topic you then go back to that law that I talked to you about that was new in June of last year you could theoretically then um enact an ordinance have first reading have second reading and you would be at $3,200 a month you would not have to go to the voters if you did that again I think it's little bis and boy on that legis scan tells you that if you wanted less than that or you wanted more than that you could go to the voters for that but at a minimum you could at least establish $3,200 a month if you were silent on the topic that's option two option three uh we could submit a measure to the voters again in November of 2024 which would amend um both the code and it would add I would say two ascts to the Charter we would keep the first one and then we would add a second one again it would say something simple shall the city of Bakersfield fix the pay of council members at and you need to tell me what that number is I don't know what that number is it's a it's a policy decision but again this option would allow you uh to put a salary to put a number in there that's higher than the $3,200 a month uh should you R should you be silent on the topic the last option this slide is new I did not have it um back in August um and I think it it does have some Merit and that is to wait until November of 2026 get a little bit of feedback from the community on the pay issue I don't know how much feedback your previous councils had in 1956 when it was you know when it when it was successful um but perhaps you know again perhaps there's a Grassroots effort that favors a particular path forward um maybe they even submit a petition as I indicated to you earlier in the PowerPoint where there's 15% they don't have to um but at least you would have some type of I guess uh fuel uh to kind of help you guide you and in in in terms of which option option number two or option number three that you wanted to move forward with uh why do I say we need to get moving well um you have a couple you have more than a couple of meetings you have about seven meetings left until really the rubber meets the road and if you're going to do something we basically need to know I need to know the clerk needs to know what it is that you want to do because you have a couple of meetings where you need to decide which approach do you want to take do you want to repeal the ordinance in the charter and be silent do you want to amend the ordinance uh and the charter provision and put in a different amount uh what is that amount uh what is that amount to be what when is it going to take effect uh some of you caught me a little bit off guard back in January you talked about well it's not going to be effective on the current Council it'll go into effect at sometime in the future well you need to have that discussion you need to have a majority of you tell me what what does that language what does that language look like um to you we have to determine what the ballot label language is and again that's very specific for some of you that were here when we recently changed the charter uh to allow the city manager to choose an individual from outside the police department to be uh your potential next chief of police that took quite a few meetings I mean we were here at 3:30 and we were working until 5 o'l to really um get that language down that you felt comfortable with in presenting to the voters so again this is the last slide and then I'm I'm open for questions and and uh Direction option option one again leave everything alone option two repeal the charter and The Code by way of a measure option three amend The Code by the way by way of a measure um and add a second Aster or option four wait until November of 2026 and uh get support from the community my thought would be that should you choose that um there probably should be some additional guidelin as to how you want to do that you know are you going to establish an ad hoc committee are you going to direct uh a particular Department to kind of gather some support but um that you would certainly have enough time to do that and so with that I am open for questions council member Freeman well I would like to um say I I'm for option four like to hear what my colleagues have to say but um I think getting feedback from the community makes a lot of sense uh we don't really know how they feel we know the past they defeat it every time so I think you're very handicapped when you don't gather information first and we just throw something out there I think that a you know very minor chance of of succeeding and we spend money on it so I think it's kind of a waste of time especially when you don't go to the community uh and I don't know what form that takes but I know for the most part the business Community is the one who is going to be against it unless you pers persuade them they shouldn't be and that's why workshops and talking with people and listening I won't say just to them but I'd say especially to them because they you know they have a lot of influence um I I think that' be the best way to go the the only other thing I'd say is if you really I would add a fourth choice to your 3,200 a month and all that if you really want to get this over with and just put something out that might pass if he just said Council gets minimum wage for the hours they put in and I was adding up okay couple of Council meetings some committees maybe that 15 to 20 hours a week and even if you use 20 bucks an hour you know $3 to $400 a month fine that the community might say well that's not much you probably have to estimate at but if because it's still very dimin but I think you'd get more sympathy for well should we at least pay a minimum wage for the hours they put in it's still a service job it's still a sacrifice and I think you you might eek that one by I don't think you get anything else past mayor if I may there's two things one I forgot to add um in talking with the city clerk it looks like it's going to cost a minimum of $175,000 to move forward with a uh in November of 2024 um and if I could mayor with your permission respond to council member Freeman on the prevailing on the minimum wage I would just tell you that if you really want to do that and you you have a majority of your colleagues that want to go that route um I would tell you that I would absolutely recommend that you wait until November of 2026 because I can tell you right now and sitting here that I can think of so many problems with that with that option and I'm just sitting here hearing it for the first time first of all I'd like to know if you're going to get time cards and if you're going to if you're going to uh clock in and clock out and then um if I'm a member of the public I am absolutely going to put in a public records requests and I am going to get those time cards from you and I going to audit you to make sure that you're spending you have to make it so complicated well that that's what you that's what you pay me the big bucks for language I'm convinced forget it okay but the language on that too would have to say is it the minimum wage now is it the M do you get a do you get a cost escalator so these are the types of things these are are good discussions to have council member Freeman I'm glad you brought it up but these are this is the type of dialogue that has to occur all of that could be if you took it to the public you had workshops one alternative do you pay a in wage one do you pay him a thousand one do you and let it all let them discuss everything correct you're right it was just a thought but um I I I've said I've said my piece thank you City attorney vice mayor thank you mayor uh Jenny can we go back to the slide that outlined the different uh times that this has been brought to the voters thank you since 1947 six ballot measures proposed to voters so a couple of thoughts number one is if we took a look at let's say 19 the year 1900 uh council members were receiving $50 a month $50 in 1900 has the equivalent purchasing power today to about $1,800 a month so we could argue that council members in 1900 were were being paid considerably more than council members today um if we look at 1956 uh where the an increase was uh passed they were uh awarded $100 a month compensated I should say $100 a month that has the equivalent purchasing power to today to about $1,120 there again so council members throughout throughout time until cost of living increased were uh being compensated at higher levels and the reason why is because this is a commitment of time sure it is a public service and and we all signed up for uh this job to run in Bakersville California knowing the uh knowing the compensation level uh and it is a public service for me uh but as we look towards future councils I think we ought to um address this issue um I like what council member Freeman uh has brought up I think it is really important for us to hear from the community um hear from uh stakeholders that have been good partners with the city over the years particularly uh in our last ballot measure in 2018 when we adopted uh the public safety and vital Services initiative and I would like to make a motion tonight that we uh direct the city manager's office and the city attorney's office to work with key stakeholders including but not limited to to the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce uh the Hispanic chamber of commerce the Black Chamber of Commerce the Realtor Association the current taxpayers Association uh to begin a conversation about Council pay and ask the Chamber of Commerce to lead a coalition a committee Community Committee that would then develop a recommendation for this Council as we look towards November 20 26 thank you now council member Smith please thank you mayor uh yes I agree with council member Freeman I think you know that the timing is such that my experience since I've been on the council going on 12 years is that most of the community thinks when people come up to me they you know you guys should get paid more you should get paid something but um to really engage the community and have conversations uh make sense to me so I would agree with that direction I would ask how how much can staff be involved I guess it's not like psvs where it was a tax measure and and staff could not Advocate or really being Madam City attorney mayor council member Smith um that's correct we're not going to be able to really spend tax money and that includes time in order to um I would say kind of get this up off the ground I'm not really I I would assume at some point that uh the vice mayor would would appoint some type of an ad hoc committee to really do uh most of most of the laboring or there as a City attorney I would tell you that I am reluctant to do much of it because I have to write the impartial analysis um and I think we could just do a little bit in terms of getting it up and running but then we'd have to turn it over we'd have to turn it over to the chamber turn it over to the ad hoc or something along those lines but ve very very little to answer your question very little very similar than to it's identical okay yeah okay yeah I mean in other words I could see us perhaps sending out an invitation or something along those lines but then I would want someone from the council to kind of take the take the lead with the chamber so Chris and I can look to that individual well even I mean you mentioned ad hoc committee but I mean staff attends those and stuff so that really wouldn't we would not be able to do that that's correct which is why I indicated it would have to be an ad hoc committee because that's generally not covered by the brown act and it wouldn't be staffed by staff okay yeah okay very similar as the vice mayor said to psvs the engagement of the stakeholders staff was pretty much not involved right okay thank you thank you council member Smith counc M we thank you mayor so one thing that I do want you to know is I was watching TV the other night and one of the ladies that's running for our Senate position stated that she thinks minimum wage should be $50 an hour so I don't think we want to do that um and I I like I like putting this off till 200 um 26 gives us time to think about it I I didn't under I didn't I didn't really hear very well the the last part of the vice mayor's um comments on that so maybe you could just repeat that for me yeah the the motion was to uh defer this to November 2026 and to direct uh staff uh to reach out to key stakeholders uh to begin a conversation and request that they form a committee uh to develop recommendations and bring them back to the full city council um and I identified uh a few uh key organizations that I could think of uh but I would not want to limit it to those key organizations but would ask that the Chamber of Commerce Baker Soul Chamber of Commerce actually take the lead on this effort okay um I'm a little leery on on having the Chamber of Commerce be uh the the spot on all of this I I think they need to be involved in it but uh this is this it it's not just a chamber it's not just a business thing this is for the entire community and there's a lot more people that need to be involved in that other than just the chamber or or some other uh you know taxpayers Association they'll be involved but um we need to broaden that out some to where everybody would would have a chance to speak and participate in that and I hope that we can do that and and I I think we want to make sure that we put not that we put that we have an organization or a group that is very um far reaching in their in farl looking in what we're doing so when we actually do uh start start this process everybody knows about what it is that we're we're trying to accomplish is there's nothing behind the table there's it's all above board and I think we need maybe somebody other than other than just the chamber I think we need to uh go out and and interview people that could make this work for us and um go from there I I don't really want to kind of box Us in tonight go ahead go ahead May no uh council member we're thank you so much for the the comments I I um agree with you I I don't want us to uh limit the conversation to our business associations I was just thinking as a as a practical matter what organization uh in the community really is best um positioned and has capacity to actually lead out on an effort um so I I I agree with you and I hear your concern I I would like to amend my motion uh to direct staff to bring back uh this item in a future council meeting uh and establish a timeline so that we can work on this committee and actually um work towards the November 2026 uh timeline thank you m thank you that's much better for me I I would also indicate and again I defer to the Council on this um I have no problem taking this PowerPoint presentation to all of the groups that the vice mayor mentioned and any other group that a council member so desires and giving this it's facts and and letting that group know that hey your your council is looking for your input and and so reach out to the vice mayor reach out to your council member um let them know you know where you stand on it and maybe in that vein maybe the Grassroots effort again just kind of uh get started you know it it's a seed to it um but I I hear your motion and certainly that can be done so are we amending your motion yes sir okay thank you thank you council member gray good evening thank you mayor um first of all I just wanted to go on record that I I do support this motion that's on the table uh with option four I do think we need to have Community input but the last time this was brought up I almost felt I left here feeling like things should have been explained to the public better we always talk about a $100 month compensation well it's not $100 a month it's $100 a month to serve it's $700 $780 a month roughly for Mileage Plus our health and Insurance Plus our dental insurance plus our eye insurance and for me that's a total package of over $20,000 to sit on this de so I felt like that needed to come forward that people understand what our total compensation is even though you call it benefits it's still not $100 a month so that was that was um the thing that the last time I wish I had brought forward I didn't bring it forward so I want um to bring that forward for the public's information um but I do think if I'm I'm satisfied with just leaving everything as it is but if my colleagues feel like that we need to get more um Community input then I can support that thank you thank you council member gray council member core JY just a question for you with um the Senate bill that we're reviewing um how do what takes hierarchy um just so I have an understanding of the legal process City Charters versus state law and does this mean that we are not complying with this state law how does how does that work if you could help me understand the legal of view uh mayor council member core the way that this particular law is written it it would apply if you're silent so it our Charter basically trumps um but as I say if you change that Charter uh you you then follow state law okay got it thank you um just in conversation with uh our colleagues um it's clear that the vast majority are leaning towards option four and um based on kind of the community discussions that will come from this you know it'll I I firmly believe it'll come to light that this is something that is sorely needed necessary and delayed um within our city and in reviewing the list of cities um kind of across the state and and those closer to us in population um you know having a more modern context to a city that's growing as quickly as ours is um cities much smaller than us have understood the need to allow for teachers firefighters electricians folks who are retired and still have expenses um veterans those folks who still had demanding jobs St demanding um kind of have demanding needs in within their lives uh who aren't able to see themselves as being policy makers locally because it's not sustainable um having having Council pay is more of an appreciation of your time and and treats it like uh the the real the real work that it is and um goes goes beyond uh sometimes even what a full-time job requires so um I I liked council member Freeman's point of the minimum wage question uh and and that being a possibility to explore but at least wanted to just um you know share that folks in the community the sentiment is still strong that as council member Smith mentioned it is folks are in disbelief when they learn that this isn't something that comes with some kind of um it doesn't mirror what they've heard of in other cities and also their own expectations of their council person they residents are expecting for their Council people to be available full-time to meet the needs of their District um and I think that's actually where the uh where the Gap is is we the expectation is that we are available fulltime we are there we are serving but it's challenging um and I I'll speak for myself as someone who is a young person who um has attained higher education and is driven is on the council but would love to be able to focus my full-time energy here it is um the reality is that you basically work two full-time jobs and uh in the future I hope that's not the reality for other young people other retired folks um people who see themselves joining um a council and and being able to give back into their community and knowing that maybe we missed the mark some places because this isn't full-time uh so yeah thank you thank you council member Freeman just two two two remarks U one if if in future years you did you know significantly expand the compensation of council members so they had salaries and staff remember you will have to significantly expand uh city manager staff to service those people so it would be it would you could probably multiply it by five how much money it would cost you because they will need staff to service this the staff anyway but um what I'd like um sort of added to the U the purpose of whatever committee formed uh T Force which won't be the city it'll need to be whoever the chambers all the service clubs how you get out to the community but you might um Jenny you might consider expanding your PowerPoint because uh one of the reasons you probably always have this turned down is nobody knows what the council does and doesn't associate any value with what the council people do not nobody but the vast majority and I mean the majority do not know what city council people do then what city council is in charge of um I don't think that we have a terrible problem in getting people run for office when any of us run on a POS that's not a good thing it means nobody cares nobody's interested lots of capable people could step forward and don't and I don't think the community knows what we do therefore doesn't attach any value to it I don't think it's that they don't step for because it's $100 a month I think they just say you guys don't do anything what do you do I have people call me that talk about school issues or why aren't we fixing Isabella Dam things none of the things things the Count's in charge of they do not know what the city council does and therefore it's hard to describe value to an organization when you have no idea what they do in the first place so I think that's a big problem and it if we could maybe combine the purposes of this whatever task force communication effort to educate what does your city council do anyway uh so that they knew if you're going to talk about compensation compensation for what what do these people do I think it's very important that our community which knows I think less than nothing about what the city council does they don't know what the county does either but we have a big educational problem here and awareness and I think maybe we could help solve the problem a little and we'd get more people stepping forth to serve and run for office and that would be a huge benefit to the community if they finally knew oh maybe this maybe it's worth doing whether I get paid or not but right now I think U I think we did on the street quiz nine out of 10 of them would have no idea what the city council did so that's my that's my comment thank you council member Freeman VI mayor thank you mayor uh one one actually two comments one uh to council member Freeman great point I I agree with you um you know many people do not know what a city council does or what each council member really is responsible for and what really is our fault and not by the way um but also uh I think think you know one of the things that we now have at our advantage and at our disposal disposal is that uh we are now tracking all these different issues and service requests uh that come into the city in our respective WS so I think that might be a a really valuable tool to share with uh the community actually what really each one of us and each Ward is um addressing every single month and then finally I the reason I to speak again was I wanted to lift up council member Gray's point in um in in total compensation I think that's a really important point I think you know we really need to have an honest conversation with our constituents with the citizens of Bakersville about really what we're talking about here and it is total compensation we we should share that in fact we do receive health benefits and other um health related benefits um but to to other cities and and that has to be outlined as well and I think that even still when you see uh comparatively we are still far uh below uh the average and so we we should do uh some additional leg work and research uh to get Fair comparisons and really shed some more light on what what really is the total compensation and how that relates to the total compensation in other places I know that's much more difficult than what um than what we did before with moss Adams but um I think that work is required in order for us to have a real meaningful conversation with our community thank you now council member Smith please thank you mayor I would just reinforce a couple items the you know coming back with the timeline and you know what how this really falls out because we're kind of extending because we let it slip in my mind a little bit um so two years flies by pretty fast so you know what really is the plan and and I would say this reinforce also that you know educating the community on what council actually does you know when when I answer the you know my cell phon numbers on the website and when I answer it they they're surprised you know I thought I'd get staff you know I thought that'd get somebody but uh so you know nobody mentioned we have committee meetings we have a lot of conversations and a lot of time time and we do a lot of things and you know I'm proud of the progress that the city makes and and where we're going and so I think that's part of the education so that's my comments thank you thank you council member Smith council member arus thank you mayor I just want to um say really quickly that I agree with um just about everybody on this di on this issue I think it's wise of us to support the vice mayor's motion um and move forward with a um a ballot measure for 2026 engaging all of our community and stakeholders um I I just wanted to make a quick comment um if I'm not mistaken it was last year when we were having conversations about um moving forward with the park rangers um and there was considerable conversation about how much we should pay those individuals um at the time we had not adjusted for the rest of City staff and there was some concerns because we had gone just a little bit over to make sure that our Park Rangers were going to be compensated at a competitive level uh not just do what we do for the rest of Staff um and most of the rationale for that was that there were some serious concerns because of covid because of the great retirement that we could not get anybody in the door to apply in the first place um and furthermore uh the second concern was that we wouldn't get folks who were actually competitive for the jobs that we want that they were applying for well we went on on a limb and we decided that we were going to move forward with that pay uh rate which was higher than the rest of City staff for those similar positions I believe we floated 18 to 20 positions if I'm not mistaken Christian and uh I hate to put you on the spot but how many applications did we get for those 18 to 20 positions I want to it was more than 100 or more yeah so council member RS mayor and Council just a couple quick um data points best I can off memory um I would reflect that we we on the where we landed on the salary you know we did um tier it at the same tier as code enforcement so I want to be clear that we weren't necessarily you know paying a higher wage than than like positions that we thought were at that level of um responsibility but we did say we you know we do recommend that higher level of responsibility not a lower level entry position uh we it is for 18 positions uh we did have uh more than 100 applicants we actually had 60 qualified that met all of our minimum qualifications it was a long set of interviews but did lead to having a very large candidate pool of very qualified folks we've had some challenging entry level classifications that have continued to see turnover over the last two to three years that may run of a 10% vacancy rate which is above average if you look at industry standard it's probably a 5% vacancy rate and for our park rangers we're actually able to fill 16 of those 18 positions within about a two to three month period and move really fast because we had a very strong cidate pool and we've had very little turnover um since we hired those those folks thank you so much for that information I think the point holds true that when you make these salaries competitive whether that be for staff um or for this Council we should use the same rationale U make it competitive and getting back to council member Freeman's Point um that is part of what we have to do in order to increase uh participation at the highest of levels so with that I support the vice mayor's motion thank you council member arus council member core just to return to uh Council Freeman you had made a point about the Staffing and an interesting kind of um survey of other cities with each Council for example in the City of Fresno which I referenced previously but they more recently in more recent history have kind of changed their layout Council pay and that sort of thing but um what I've heard what I've learned from folks who are like the chief of staffs of their city council IL those folks actually remain even longer than some of the council members themselves and so they retain this institutional knowledge that becomes not um a burden to the city manager's office in their city or in for other departments actually become supportive and um actually supplements the work and and they they kind of have a a history um that they're able to share across those offices not only that but uh those who and up taking up jobs as legislative assistants admin assistants Chiefs of Staff um and and who tend to work for these city council members uh have ran for office themselves so they have they had such an intimate experience with learning how City governance Works uh they were able to imagine themselves in those offices and I think that is an important place to cultivate local leaders as well and not necessarily just think of it as like a financial burden but if we want to really imagine how we are you know you're saying that any election where there where someone doesn't run against you is you know that's not a good thing I agree I think uh in any working democracy you have a competitive election but uh it's also for us to think of how we're creating those um positions uh where leadership can be cultivated in the most intimate way and I can't think of a better way than young people or anyone really uh to have the opportunity to do even legislative research um at the very local level at the city level um and and even folks who work in City Hall maybe we'll be able to recruit them to you know work and do some of that legislative research but I I wanted to add that uh as being something that maybe goes into the points discussed um when when we see this move forward so uh and I wanted to Echo council member adi's point of making it competitive we may start with a minimum wage but um if this is something we're punching to 2026 we may as well we might as well research how this becomes um a livable wage for folks to actually see themselves there and transition from other careers and see themselves as policy makers as well so thank you thank you I don't see any other request to speak you have a motion please cat your votes motion is unanimously approved thank you next item please close session item 4A conference with legal councel existing litigation close session regarding bring back the current water Audit California at l versus city of Bakersfield at L move to Jour to close session we're Jour to close session and welcome it looks like we have some students in the audience welcome it's always good to have you here we go into closed session we'll be back uh for the next meeting which starts around 5:15 or whenever we finish that session but thank you for being here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I'd rather try and ACC something and try to and succeed I'll all [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i' try and ACC TR to and [Music] suceed [Music] [Music] anded fully suceed [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] o [Music] [Music] [Applause] 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[Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] reconvening the 3:30 city council me uh meeting Madam City attorney thank you mayor there was only one item tonight in Clos session and uh there is no reportable action on that item it should be reflected the council member core recused herself based on a potential source of income and appearance of impropriety thank you thank you and with that we stand adjourn at 527 thank you all for being so patient uh we will start the next meeting in just a few minutes we need to give technology just a minute to switch out and our council members come in from close session but thank you all is our the young person who is leading the pledge here yet [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 karna and the City of Bakersfield you can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 7 p.m. Sunday 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 priding 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 February 14th 2024 uh welcome to all of you we're glad that you're here Madam clerk would you please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez here council member Adas here council member weer here council member Smith I am here council member Freeman here council member gray here council member core here thank you tonight we have the pleasure of having one senior Perry kavian pastor of St Elizabeth and Satan Catholic Church to offer the invocation he's beloved and known for his humor and compassion and under the mon senior's leadership the parish has grown to approximately uh 4,000 families uh St Elizabeth n Sean is the First Parish in the dicese in 40 years and uh its blessing bag has helped so many in our unsheltered community we're very very grateful and following that we'll have the invoc I just want to make sure that Daniela is not in the audience don't see her so in which case council member we will offer the invocation would you all please stand I mean the flag salute sorry thank you so much for the invitation to uh offer the invocation this evening this is not only Valentine's Day but it's also the beginning of Lent Ash Wednesday for many Christians throughout the community who are beginning the 40-day period of preparation for Easter so lots of exciting things happening today let us pray father and God of all people we ask your blessing on these your servants our mayor and city council members and all who have been called and chosen to lead our community in which we live and work and Play Guide their discussions this evening give them the wisdom and courage to do what is right and good and just for all the residents of our city be with all of us who call Bakersfield home help us to care for one another regardless of our politics religiosity ethnicity or Walk of Life help us to find ways of allev alleviating the burden that many people carry the homeless the poor The Immigrant the unemployed the incarcerated the sick and the elderly give us a generous heart so that we may respond with love to those who live on the margins those who are alone and those who are forgotten we thank you for our diverse Community Farmers business People First Responders corporate Workers Health Care providers religious leaders teachers and all who work hard for a living thus contributing to the well-being of our city and on this Valentine's Day father grant us a healthy dose of love for each other so that we may demonstrate the true heart and spirit of our city we ask this in the name of Jesus your son who is our Lord and brother amen amen you I toag of the United States of America and to the rep for stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you you may be seated monor thank you so much you're welcome to stay or uh if you need to leave uh we certainly understand that here are a few guidelines to help our meeting run smoothly we request 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 chambers 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 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 going off topic shouting outbursts from the audience and surpassing the two-minute time limit madam clerk next item please public statements thank you in keeping with council's resolution the public statements portion is now divided into two periods there's a period for items listed on the meeting agenda and items not on the meeting agenda statements for items listed on tonight's agenda are given a two-minute time limit 20 minutes total per agenda item the consent calendar as a whole constitutes one agenda item statements regarding items not listed on the agenda are given a 2-minute time limit 20 minutes total if you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement give them to the clerk who will give copies to the council if you're here to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and give your completed 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 present speakers for the non-agenda portion those speakers will be called during the non-agenda portion of the meeting we're very interested and concerned with your issues however due to the public notice requirement of the brown act the council cannot take action when an item isn't on the agenda the council can however refer your matter to committee or request that staff contact you madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items listed on tonight's agenda mayor go we've received one uh public speaker card for items listed on tonight's agenda the first public speaker is Jose Wrangle regarding item 6A thank you welcome welcome please introduce yourself hi wow I'm nervous a lot of people um Jose rangle seeking to speak on item agenda 6A um I was looking to also say something else but I don't think time will allow it upon my uh non-agenda listed item W allow those in attendance their opportunity to speak so I will merge what I have to say into this I'm being considered for the vacancy on Ward 2 ke Bakersfield Beautiful Committee the alternate vacancy and I just wanted to say a few things um me there's an old say out there they say time will justif a man who means to do right but who's to justify what is right and what is wrong the judge he's no more human than you or me the jury H jur couldn't spell legislation by themselves even if you wrote it out for them so again I ask what constitutes right what constitutes wrong consensus a consensus that establishes that my neighbors out in 7even Oaks are no better than my neighbors out in sumoner a consensus that establishes that my neighbors out on Mount Veron Avenue are no worse than my neighbors down at the Stockdale Country Club we're all just merely playing the hand we were dealt but as of late I'm under the impression that it's time to shuffle the deck Bakersfield used to be Kern irland this used to be Alpha Alpa field used to be a place you could leave your horses to graze it was a place no visitor went hungry missen Baker wouldn't allow it not in 100 years this September marks 100 years since Sur passing I'm sorry but may I have 30 more seconds can go ahead and finish uh you have about five more seconds go ahead um go ahead and bring your comments to a close please thank you allow me to regain myself my eyes are sometimes too big for my plate but I never bite off more than I can chew I Envision greatness I en Vision Prosperity I Envision understanding I Envision the unity growth and development of my community and Community surrounding thank you Mr Ringle may I have we we have finished uh two minutes and I've gone over two minutes so that would be the end thank you very much for your comments um Madam clerk do we have any others related to the agenda mayor go we have no other speakers relating to agenda items thank you do do we have any public speakers regarding regarding items not listed on the agenda Marica we've received 19 public speaker cards for items not listed on tonight's agenda I will call the first three speakers a yes go ahead and so she's gonna call them just so you can be ready for your turn so we can move through quickly go ahead Madam clerk please Oscar Ingo Lorena Selenas Mildred Gonzalez thank you and just a reminder when you come up here just adjust the microphone so that we can hear you either raise or lower it welcome please introduce yourself good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Oscar Ino I coming to over here to see what's going on Mr Gonzalez uh I I feel you still remember me over over phone calls that we had two years ago on the agenda of having sidewalks and so forth put around the area on w three so I don't know whether I should direct my question to Mr Weir of what's going on with our area over there that uh I was told at one time that we're going to have sidewalks put in and to this date nothing has happened so I like an explanation of what's going on I know it's a budget thing money or whatever but it keeps on getting diverted somewhere else I feel real strongly that um if our area gets a little bit Improvement maybe people will improve their homes and so forth like that but yet there's nothing coming out from anybody whether it's a city however that works I don't know but again I'm here for that reason is to find an explanation why our part of the area is not getting any type of attention being sidewalks uh road maintenance and so forth and um I addressed Mr Gonzalez one time that there's uh safety issue over there kids walking on the street when there's Vehicles passing at a mod f fast way and nobody's doing nothing about it it's a safety issue there's people on wheelchairs because there's no sidewalks they're going on the street also so being said i' like to know why we're getting pushed aside and not nothing happening to War 3 and our area could somebody please explain that to me thank you Mr Eno uh we have a request from the vice mayor and then council member we thank you mayor um thank you sir for for being here this evening uh because of redistricting this is uh no longer a part of my ward um but I I had been working on it and um Mr St loose in public works team had been uh working on I believe it is design for Homemaker Park um and we're uh I believe it was working we were working through uh cdbg uh funding I'm sorry what was the exact intersection it was off of Q and uh um 28th 28th yes 28th Street yeah so we are working on the funding source in order for us to uh uh progress with the with the project uh Mr C did you have an update yeah thank you vice mayor uh we typically fund large scale areas that don't have Curb Gutter and sidewalk through our community development block grant program uh it is unfortunate that we have many areas of uh the historic neighborhoods in the city that or areas that have been annexed in from uh the county that don't have curb and sidewalk so we've had a long list of those type of projects but we did get the 28th Street area in q and it is actually in this current cdbg action plan to do curb Gutter and sidewalk in that area this cycle it took a couple Cycles to get to that project but it is funded great thank you thank you Mr Cay council member wear thank you um I don't have anything further to add to that or ask about it but could you keep me updated on the progress in that area and we see if we can get that completed for you I appreciate that thank you Council m w and thank you uh your time H is up and staff will follow up with you thank you very much Madam clerk next speaker please theena Selenas followed by Mildred Gonzales followed by Adela so if you're in the middle and she's already called your name if you could move somewhere where you can get up quickly please welcome please introduce yourself all righty hello city council my name is Lorena Selenas in the 21 days since the last city council meeting the icj has determined that there is clear evidence of genocide being conducted by Israel against the people of Palestine they have listed the war crimes and ordered Israel to stop all actions that would lead to the deaths of any more Palestinians also in those 21 days Israel has ignored the orders of the international court of justice and continued to Massacre civilians in a fullscale attack against Rafa that is reminiscent of the Nazi final solution ution bringing the total number of deaths up to over 30,000 that is over 30,000 human lives that have been completely erased some of those being relatives of community members that we have here with blatant disregard for international law and Humanity Israel is also blocking humanitarian aid from reaching the displaced refugees and has increased the severity of their brutality with impunity under the icj ruling these are deliberate acts of genocide and anyone who contributes to this genocide should be held equally accountable by allowing our tax dollar and resources to be used to fund this genocide you are all complicit by saying I stand with Israel like mayor Karen go has stated you stand with genocide you stand for infants being murdered you stand for civilians being shot while in line waiting to receive humanitarian Aid you stand for an entire culture and people being erased for the sake of of profit my fellow community members of Bakerfield and high are here to say that we do not stand for this and we do not consent to our hard-earned money being used to fund this war machine we call on you to pass an immediate ceasefire resolution to stand with your community and to send a message to our state and federal governments um to end all contributions to the senseless killing now is your chance to really show what values you uphold and what kind of people you are thank you thank you Miss Selenas just a reminder to the audience that this is not uh a forum where we can have noise interrupting the speaker so I'm just going to ask you not to disrupt the meeting please next speaker please Mildred Gonzalez followed by Adela followed by gasan K welcome please introduce yourself hello thank you I'm here today to address you with a heavy heart concerned about the dire situation in the Gaza Strip in Palestine for too long their voices have been silenced by oppression and violence it is our moral duty to amplify their voices and demand an end to their plight in the besieged Gaza Strip over 2 million Palestinians including innocent children women and the elderly suffer from poverty unemployment and malnutrition the Israeli blockades now in the 15th year has devastated their economy turning Gaza into an open air prison hospitals lack supplies clean water is scarce and electricity is limited the consequences are devastating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens due to excessive use by force by the Israeli military resulting in countless civilian casualties including innocent children schools hospitals and residential areas have been targeted leaving destruction and despair behind the situation in the occupied West Bank is equally dire with systematic discrimination arbitrary arrests and land confiscation the illegal construction of the Israeli settlements violates international law and undermines peace prospects we cannot remain silent we must condemn the Israeli occupation and demand a ceasefire let's offer vital humanitarian assistance to Gaza and Palestine aiding them in rebuilding their lives and communities their struggle is our struggle for justice equality and self-determination together we stand in solidarity demanding an end to their suffering let us make let us make it clear to the world that we won't tolerate the continued occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people thank you thank you Miss Gonzalez next speaker please Adela followed by gasan followed by Sophia Galvan welcome please introduce yourself um hi my name is adelay and I'm 12 years old I am here in a support of a ceasefire in Gaza because as a 12-year-old I am hearing about kids my age and younger getting killed in front of their families then their families getting killed right next to them I was raised by my parents and my family all around me talking about how I should always have a voice on the topics I believe in and to speak for the children that can't use their voice or some that are too scared to speak up and I want people to know that what is happening in the world right now is not okay and if we want change we have to use our voices for a change and I don't want to I don't want to grow up in a world where there is no where there is no PE PE and people keep getting hurt and I want to see kids have the same Freedom that I do right now I was nervous to come here today because I know this pop this topic is unpopular to the city council members and they think this topic is too big of an issue to change but because of the many history lessons my teacher has taught me what my family has taught me I know that I know that change doesn't happen from staying silent so I came here today to be brave and speak of my opinion of the kind of the kind of world I want to live in because because the decisions because the the decisions of our world leaders affects my future in conclusion I am here to encourage city council to vote for a seized fire because my future depends on it thank you very much thank you thank you for your bravery it's not easy to speak in front of an audience and uh thank you thank you for speaking next speaker [Music] please Gan K followed by Sophia Galvin followed by Carter Beardsley welcome please introduce yourself hello my name is gasan kanafani and I join you guys here today as a Palestinian constituent of Bakersfield raised between Bakersfield and Palestine from my earliest years here I've experienced hostility at every turn from racist teachers and faculty who would openly denigrate me in front of my peers students and peers to law enforcement shown up at my doorstep for speaking openly about my experiences in Palestine to harassment in this very City by people who have served with the Israeli Defense Forces in the occupation of my people to having a mayor who wasted no time less than 48 hours in issuing a statement standing with the people of Israel following October 7th yet after 5 months of a brutal wanton remorseless genocide that has seen over 35,000 slaughtered has yet to find it within herself to so much as issue a moment of lip service in support of her very own Palestinian community a community that includes Palestinian families such as my own who have fled the violence dep and depravity of Israel's decade long occupation ethnic cleansing and colonization of our lands doctors lawyers business PE Business Leaders and people from every Walk of Life who continue to exist and contribute to a city that had yet to ever in its history acknowledge our very existence vice mayor Andre Gonzalez when asked about a ceasefire resolution you did what you do best and deflected claiming that there's nothing much we can do at the city council's Office unable to even Fain concern for Palestinians in your own district and Ward who are hurting and losing more friends and family day after day you say you have no sway in international issues that it's a job of Congress but what have you yourself done if you care for the bville community nearly as much as you claim to what have you done who have you spoken to in order to try to keep our taxes that bville uh taxpayers pay here within Bakersfield rather than being sent abro abroad to fund a war machine what have you done to reach out to the Palestinians here in your city who are in a Perpetual State of Shock mourning and grief as we see the corpses of our loved ones on TV and social media day after day you say we need to focus on our community here and that's precisely what we're here to do today we're here to be the voice of the Palestine Community that you have all ignored for far too long and we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that you can no longer ignore us we call on you to do the absolute bare minimum and introduce a ceasefire resolution to stand with the Palestinians of Bakersfield CE now your time is up go ahead and bring your comments to a close please thank you next speaker please Sophia Galvin followed by Carter Beardsley followed by Karen Olsen Johnson wel introduce yourself hi my name is Sophia Galvan um I'm here because a genocide is being live streamed to our phones people ask how could the Holocaust happen it's because that people that tolerated the crimes the Holocaust happened because of millions of individual choices the people of Palestine are asking for our help they are asking to be seen as humans an acronym used by Aid workers in Gaza is WC NSF wounded child no surviving family let me describe some images that I have personally seen in case you are oblivious to the suffering designated safe areas are being bombed civilians waving White flags are being shot and killed by snipers strangers helping to dig people out of the rubble babies freezing to death limbs being amputated without anesthesia C-sections being performed with no anesthesia an 11-year-old girl shot by a sniper children's bodies shaking from trauma exposure people trying to get Aid are shot at by the occupation babies born in a genocide and dying in a genocide weaponized starvation children so severely burned that they die from their wounds babies left to die alone and besieged hospitals hospitals bombed with doctors and patients inside people getting kidnapped stripped beat and tagged with the number babies screaming for their dead mother whole families bombed and buried under the rubble animal feed ground into flower for human consumption a child picking up body parts of his family member and putting them into a grocery bag a father holding his a grandfather holding his lifeless granddaughter opening her eyes to see them for the last time a mother refusing to leave the dead body of her son and Carries him from con yunus to Rafa a six-year-old trapped in her vehicle with her surrounded by her dead relatives was martyred along with two paramedics trying to rescue her a 12-year-old girl hanging by her shirt with half of her body intact what body part would you choose to write your child's name on in case they get blown to Pieces what if it was happening to your loved ones will you call for a seiz fire resolution and be on the right side of History thank you Miss goon next speaker please Carter Beardsley followed by Karen Olsen Johnson followed by Kevin Moreno welcome please introduce yourself good evening mayor and Council my name is Carter Beardsley and I sit on the Bakersfield youth commission representing W 4 the last time that I was here speaking to you all it was on the presentation it was a presentation of some of the hopes that I had for the future of our youth commission I spoke about how over the past few years there were certain aspects of the commission that I found that I were I was eager to see develop and I wanted to speak to you guys tonight to update you first and foremost we now meet here in council chambers which may seem minor but the upgrade from conference room a across the street at City Hall North has I feel filled us with so much more purpose being seated Ed the day has spoke to me that my voice matters and that the work we do will that we will continue to do from here on out is valuable while here a fellow commissioner and I also spoke about a bridge we'd like to see between Commissioners and their Council counterparts and since then I've met multiple times with my own counterpart council member Smith and have been very grateful to provide that youth perspective into life in Bakersfield lastly we came here previously requesting a budget for our commission for the past few years we've had no budget to work with forcing us to collaborate with pre-existing organizations rather than standing on our own two feet I'm excited to say that the next time that you see me here I will be joined by the other Commissioners with some of the other Commissioners presenting a budget proposal we've been working on very hard for count vice mayor Gonzalez's request I wanted to speak on this tonight both as an update and as a thank you your guys' support for our youth commission is deeply appreciated and it serves as a personal reminder to me that just because we are the future does not mean we do not have a place in the present I'm hopeful that the youth commission will SAR to Heights greater than I can imagine and thank you thank you for the update and thank you for your service on the commission next speaker please Karen Olson Johnson followed by Kevin Moro followed by Zachary Griffin welcome please introduce yourself I'm Karen olon Johnson I read an article in the Bakersfield californ about vice mayor Andre Gonzalez interest in revitalizing the train depot and the Baker Street summer Sumer Street area of our town the article referred to a company called lab in Costa Mesa that worked on the packing house project in Anaheim in May I was at the Anaheim California dental association annual meeting and I dropped by that old packing house as I have done from time to time what had been in disrepair and languishing for decades was flourishing that is special to me because Anaheim is the town I rode the horse in through all the Orange Groves when they used to be there the town has grown up around the park Packing House on all sides with a huge commercial District uh business Apartments uh ice rink walking districts um but the uh packing house was ignored but that particular company transformed that small parcel of land that has a raised loading dock for the Citrus to be loaded for food vendors at that um uh uh for the packing house to do a Brisk B business local Artisans were had their own spaces to uh provide business and it has become a destination spot in Anaheim and advertis in their hotels Miss Johnson your time is up can you bring your comments to a close please with councilman's uh and the council's assistant we have a classic train station we have space we have loved restaurants and we have apartment uh uh apartments and buildings available we can develop that into something really exciting and I'd appreciate your work on that thank you very much thank you Madame clerk next speaker please Kevin Moreno followed by Zachary Griffin followed by Mr Jones welcome please introduce yourself hello Council I'm Kevin Moreno and I want to start with the fact that I've lived in Bakersfield my whole life I've seen much of what the city has to offer whether it's its inadequate public transit its poor infrastructure its labor rights violations uh the environmentally unsustainable Suburban development the police brutality the sexism the homophobia the xenophobia and the uh and racism that's a lot right I wondered how my city could Harbor such traits but I needed to look no further than when I saw Karen go and Andre Gonzalez's not just their support but their indifference towards genocide because it sure as hell makes sense that you can let us the people your citizens suffer these conditions while you support a colonizer project that displaces murders and imprisons innocent women men and children your refusal to stand to for Humanity and agree to a simple ceasefire resolution one that has been handed to you is disgusting and dishonorable and it puts this whole Council to shame and in the end it tells how this Council isn't actually here for us I see it in the way you run this city because a lot of you make the point that you want to focus on improving this community but you would rather spend over 40% of the budget on police whereas Public Works parks and wreck and Community Development combined receive No More Than A Generous 35 so sure throw crumbs at us and we we know but we know you would rather expand A system that kills starves and freezes its disadvantage than help and improve this community you'd rather see this community be policed than improved so even if you we can't do it literally it will be through our Gatherings our actions and our stories our accounts of history that we will charge you with genocide and I stand with the free Palestine and for the liberation of all those that are oppressed and I know that many of my constituents whether here or not agree with me thank you Miss Moreno Mr Moreno uh just a reminder to the audience that the snapping is disrupting our meeting and we're here to listen to you we we want to hear your comments but we need to be able to listen to them Madame clerk next speaker please Zachary Griffin followed by Mr Jones followed by Jose rangle welcome please good evening council members Community uh hat off to all the young people out here love to see them coming up and expressing their opinions uh I'm here today to follow up on some business I was before this Council a couple months ago uh discussing an issue in Mr we's uh community in regards to some of the streetscape uh we were not uh maybe thinking completely about our complete streets philosophy and we didn't sort of think about how we were going to get cyclists moved from one area to another on Manor uh with the help of Staff councilman Smith uh Mr Aras as well we were able to get this solved and it was uh I'm 54 years old I hate to say it I know I'm young for some and old to others um but I was very pleased and as we've heard here from some of our our constituents here sometimes when we're younger we don't see the change and I I Echo their frustrations however I want to give the uh City kudos for getting this done um I did have a sort of a supplemental question because I kind of stumbled in this as someone sent me an email this morning apparently there's an ad hoc committee for bicycle and pedestrian um multimodal transportation and looking at the committee as much as I appreciate the people who were on that committee I didn't see an educator or an individual who'd spent their life engaging in that um and so I wanted to encourage uh I myself have signed up to be a part of uh getting the emails and I saw that we had a meeting yesterday evening um and I didn't really I think the meeting agenda went out at 2:30 on Friday being that we most of us had Monday off it seemed to me really pushing the 72 hours probably within 2 and a half hours of letting us know so that we could be a voice um so we can sort of not continue that imagery of of uh maybe not listening to our constituencies and I also wanted to with my last 15 seconds uh what a great weekend for active Transportation had the corridor going on about 2,000 people I guess on the corridor and Mr Sam Ames a local promoter had the 11th annual that's the 11th straight year of what they call the Rock cobbler and I think there are 1,800 people out here using our uh Community uh services and wonderful opportunity thank you guys and appreciate your time thank you Mr Griffin and council member arus please yep thank you mayor Mr Griffin I just want to say you are more than welcome to come and join us at our meetings um I know that I don't think Gary's in the house but U from the city manager's office he helps run uh those meetings with us we make them available to the public after 5 because we know people work jobs um and we are happy to hear your comments awesome on the website it does have that they're on noon uh they're they're going to be at noon and they're going to be monthly uh and from what I understand they're going to be at 5: and so signed up to get those inform those updates so thank you appreciate it Mr absolutely thank you thank you uh Madam clerk next speaker please mayor go I just wanted to point out that we only have a minute remaining on the clock our next speaker is Mr Jones followed by Scott Michael follow followed by Jose Wrangle thank you and if you want to try to expedite your comments to allow more people we have a minute uh left on the clock so uh go ahead and introduce yourself and welcome hi there my name is Gabriel Jones I a resident of Bakersfield you seem to not believe that the genocide in Gaza affects people in Bakersfield for evidence of this that it actually does truly affect the citizens of Bakersfield I'll have you reference The Washington Post article from November 27th where they posted the fact that more than 10,000 people living in the United States recently left to join the IDF those people are coming back here they're going to be in our communities and I want you to push forward a resolution for ceasefire and Gaza now but on top of that too I need you to put forward a resolution to guarantee all of us that you will not hire any police officers that have had any association with the Israeli occupation forces I'll see my time there thank you Mr Jones uh next speaker please next speaker is Scott Michael Mr Michael you have nine seconds left so if you can just uh time wisely please welcome we are we were given supposed to be given 20 minutes we already you can see the clock up there we're already at4 since October 7th I'm going to keep it short just for my for the people behind me since October 7th for 131 continuous days the children of Gazza the fathers of Gazza and the mothers of Gazza continue proving to the world that Palestinians will never be defeated they continue proving to everyone in the world that Palestinians would rather die standing resolutely against the terrorist occupying diaper forces of Israel and its big the US and then to give up and lose our cause Palestinians will continue mobilizing around the world and we will never be defeated never and as Palestinians are remembered for their resistance courage and bravery you city council members who refuse to call for a ceas fire resolution will be remembered for cowards pass a fire resolution ande pal from The River To The Sea thank you and uh Madam city clerk with that the time of 20 minutes uh yes I have a request to speak it's to your left oh I'm sorry okay I just let me uh confirm with city clerk time is up correct I'd like to request that we extend time to allow for everyone who's here to make public comment be afforded the opportunity to speak it is their right this is a public space it is their right to have the freedom of speech and I would like to make a motion to extend the time Madam City attorney mayor no motion is needed this prerogative fall Falls completely within um your your your call so right now we have uh three more speakers left we'll give you two minutes each and just appreciate your staying within your two minutes thank you this is not typical and we just ask the audience to observe the rules of day quum uh would you please call the first public speaker the next one please Jose Wrangle followed by ban followed by Samir Abu Daga followed by R Patel welcome please introduce yourself on time no see um Jose rangu Jose Rangel um just just reiterate just uh refresh I Envision what uh Colonel Thomas Baker did when he came here with Elisha Stevens down the current I envisioned the Metropolis he envisioned he died before the railroads even came but he was about couple years few more than a couple years ahead of his time Tai for got him rest in peace but I'm a man of reason and uh reason compels me to believe that uh none of what I Envision is possible unless a consensus is reached and certain attitudes no longer remain unchecked remember whose town this is and remember who we do it for God Bless America and God bless this city thank you thank you Mr Ral next speaker please mam CL can you announce next ban followed by Samir Abu Daga followed by Ry Patel welcome please introduce yourself my name is bisan AA and I hope to speak to your conscious today if you have one I'm standing in front of all of you as a war Survivor I cannot stay silent as the Palestinians go through an even more agonizing and aggressive experience a literal genocide and you shouldn't stay silent either you have seen on your screens and heard from the previous speakers before me the awful atrocities Israel is committing against the Palestinians and the horrifying and unlivable situation they're in early on Israel forced 1.9 million Palestinians in Gazza to evacuate from the north to the South where there for their so-called safety where 1.5 million ended up in the small city of rafah yet Israel is indiscriminately carpet bombing and killing hundreds of men women and children as we speak to put things in perspective to put things in perspective perspective raah is 25 square miles and that is about the size of w 6 and 7 combined W 6 and 7 has only about 118,000 people Raa has over 1.5 million displaced Palestinians that is about 13 times the amount of people living in WS 6 and seven on top of that no medical care no food no water no electricity no shelter experiencing War myself I know to an extent what it's like to have to not have those resources it's heart-wrenching and dehumanizing you might think you don't have any power to change going on but but your position as leaders in our community and our representatives does have an impact you have the power to change and influence people's Mind by publicly denouncing the killing of innocent Palestinian kids and calling for an immediate ceasefire it's enough to reassure me as a Muslim an Arab and a war Survivor born in Bakersfield not only am I being heard but supported by my Representatives also take it from someone who lived through War hearing support from around the world holds a huge significance more than you think it does did did you rise in power so you could sit in a comfy chair and have a monthly stien to decorate your office and take Instagram worthy photos don't you claim to be by the people for the people if so I urge you to call for for and pass an immediate ceasefire thank you Miss SAA next speaker please Sam Abu Daga followed by Ry Patel welcome please introduce yourself can you just raise the mic a little please thank you my name is Samar aboda War I here to demand that the city Council pass a ceasefire resolution to stop the genocide happening in Gaza against Palestinians by the Zionist Colonial project that calls itself Israel I'm going to be very quick with my statement because the genocide against Palestinians is happening as we speak has been happening for the past 131 days and we have no longer have time to waste in my hand is a draft resolution written by concerned Bakersfield citizens that call for a ceasefire and stands with Bakersfield Palestinian Community councilwoman car you gave us your thoughts about this genocide at the last meeting and although the sentiments are there it does absolutely nothing to address the concerns that we have on paper it's time for you to stand by your word and introduce this resolution because you will look back on this day years from now and regret it should you choose to not take concrete action we as constituents demand that every single person on this Council has their vote taken so that history is able to judge every single one of you for what you did and did not do during this Holocaust your kids will learn about this and it is your decision as to whether they look at you favorably or choose to disown you from their memories and before I end my statement I have one simple request for everyone in this room raise your hand if you condemn the murder of Palestinian men women and children raise your hand for those who did not raise your hand shame on you for those that did it's time for you to introduce a ceasefire resolutions because we are done with platitudes and empty talk thank you next speaker please R Patel welcome please introduce yourself hi I'm Ry Patel um I like many of the people behind me agree that you should introduce a ceasefire resolution monre your thoughts and platitudes while we appreciate you letting us leave public comment you literally came into the seat so you could do something it we are asking you to introduce the ceasefire resolution all these people are going to hell Jenny Christian Eric Ken Bob Karen Andre Bruce Patty they're all going to hell they're the pope has called for a ceasefire and they aren't able to they're burning in hell and we know that but you have the ability to introduce a ceasefire resolution and and and stand with us and we are waiting for you to do that and we are giving you the ability to salvage some of the character that you might have left even though you sold your soul and left your car movement to go work for corporate social responsibility for wonderful meanwhile I asked just like the person behind me can the community members who support city council specifically month breath introducing a ceasefire resolution the ones that we have drafted to stand I see the youth commission is also standing Andre your little your little laes aren't standing with you anymore so I'm just saying that years after years like this is a culmination point after you establish the rules of decorum because C the community members thousands of community members wanted a participatory budgeting process and asking you to divest funds from the pigs at the Bakersville Police Department to community members so we could have sidewalks so we could have public transit so we could have housing so people aren't left on the streets to starve you guys don't care about Palestine because you don't care about the people here and so now we're asking MB the newest the most Progressive the one who wants to say the most to introduce a resolution and everyone here also wants it your time is up you bring your comments we know see that is not appropriate ask you to stop office ERS go ahead and clear we're going to take a timeout and recess you are disrupting the meeting I'm asking the officers to please clear the chambers [Music] [Music] officers if you could just close the door please Madam clerk next item please appointments item 6A one appointment to the keep Bakersfield Beautiful Committee this appointment is by Ward therefore no ballots are required I'm going to call on vice mayor Gonzalez for the award 2 nomination of the alternate Kei Bakersfield Beautiful Committee Member thank you mayor I'd like to nominate uh recommend or move uh the nomination of Sarah Houston to the uh alternate position representing W 2 on the keep bigal Beautiful Committee you have a motion please cast your votes motion is unanimously approved thank you next item please appointments Item B one appointment at large to the fire department Civil Service Board applications for appointment were received from Kevin Lee Burton and Lewis David thank you I'd like to clarify the voting process for you the council will vote electronically and the city clerk will display and announce the results based on these results the council will then make the appropriate motion regarding each appointment and Madam clerk since this is our first time using this system would you just explain it please mayor go when I open the vote the council will have an option of two selections uh one for each candidate uh once they make their selection I will close the vote and display an announce to the public thank you mayor it appears um candidate Burton has received a majority of the votes with council member gray abstaining motion to appoint Mr Burton to the fire department Civil Service Board you have a motion please cat your votes motion is approved with council member gray voting no thank you and uh thank you Mr Burton for your willingness to serve and also miss Hudson for the KBB board next item please one appointment to miscellaneous Civil Service Board One application has been received from Ronald wolf thank you V mayor motion to appoint Mr Ronald wolf to the miscellaneous Civil Service Board you have a motion please cat your votes motion is unanimously approved thank you and next item please consent calendar items a 7 a through s i for approval thank you vce mayor does any member of the council wish to accuse themselves from any item seeing none does any member wish to pull an item for separate consideration other than seven c one from council member Freeman and council member Weir any other items to pull I'll make a motion uh to approve the consent calendar uh for every item except for uh 7 C1 thank you for motion please cat your votes motion is unanimously approved thank you and now 7 C1 council member we followed by council member Freeman uh thank you mayor I think uh we discussed this item at the last meeting I was uh adamantly against this and I remain that way and I will vote that way thank you thank you council member we council member Freeman can you pull your mic down too please I had a question um it's also the only thing I've really had constituents call me on and I was hoping Mr Burns would be here so Mr CLE you're gonna have to pinch it for Mr Burns in the backup for this program and I'm in favor of the program um it said we're going to hire new two new staff me uh to do to monitor the registry or manage the registry and first I'm kind of a stickler for overhead we we keep approving permanent expenditures uh adding to our overhead we and I'd like I I see two new people with payroll burden that's 150 200,000 a year you know my question was is this just managing the paperwork because that seems like too many people if it said one person for all the paperwork and one to be in the field helping fix up these houses or these buildings that I could see because we're going to have more of that but two people for managing the paperwork um I have a problem with that and I was was wondering do is this maybe not stated properly or is that really the intention could you help me out here yeah I think you answer very good question and a couple answers and a point of clarification is this was these are actually two positions that were included in last year's budget we added several uh different code employees just to increase our code efforts but it was in reflection of our overall uh vacant building toolkit that we've built we have a few employees that are working specifically on the list of blighted properties on a special projects team but we also have two additional employees that are going to be assigned to uh the implementation of this vacant property ordinance and if I could I'll I'll try not to belabor it too long but we actually went up and took a tour of Fresno they they've had an or similar ordinance in place and they communicated to us on that tour that the most success they've had is actually having code officers sit down and work with Property Owners to find solutions to get things into a better situation compliance is usually the last step so these two will actually help fix buildings work with business owners to find Solutions it's not just the paperwork can ask question are are these two people already here were they part of a budget we've hired yes they we were calling these code enforcement Personnel correct so this is part of the code enforcement Personnel pool correct which we we don't have enough of I and we don't as a result well lots of codes on the appearance of things are you know go un fulfilled so I'm in agreement with that but so the is it a pool where everybody's working on Code Enforcement this is just another layer of Code Enforcement but it isn't like two people exclusively devoted to the paperwork for this new correct I would clarify there will be two people who are assigned to work um specifically on this project project so that they you know learn how to work with the businesses but it is part of the code enforcement that's not their exclusive area responsibility they'll also be doing other code enforcement I'll defer to Mr Bole to give a little more details thank you city man manager Cay uh council member Freeman the the special projects team is assemble assembly of six individuals who work um work specifically right now on the vacant bill buing ordinance implementation and uh I was at a meeting today where that team um is currently managing over 200 200 properties within that is our current ordinance that to fix I'm talk I understand that uh they're working that ordinance requires we go out working they're not just sitting in the office doing paperwork they're working on helping with all the vacant buildings that we've already been working on those we have a committee we go through them and I agree with that my just want wanted to be sure that number one we didn't hire to new people sounds like we don't we've already had them in a budget as code enforcers and the two of those people will be specialist in the registry but all also doing code enforcement General code enforcement or they simply going to work on the paperwork for this registry to keep you know Chase down people or they signed up and stuff in addition to working on the registry itself and and having that as a focal point within their job responsibility they'll also be working with special projects as relates to the I just really want to hear the special projects part that they are really going out and helping fix up these DL buildings as well as keeping the rry up to date and doing it you know where do you spend their time chasing down more people to register or fixing a building and I know that I I'm glad to hear we're not hiring more than we already have and I just I just couldn't see I'd take two people fulltime just to do the paperwor work to chase down people registering or not registering I I know there's a a calling of the list and everything but um especially since we started with a restricted Zone which will probably keep us busy for a number of years um okay well with that explanation uh uh I'm satisfied thank you thank you anyone else yes council member gray um mine as well okay I just see council member Gray's now okay go Ahad and try yours thank you may go um I'm going to have to stand with uh council member Weir on this I've talked about it before the last time it was brought up I don't think that this is going to help the Bad actors um they're already a bad actor a lot of them why are they going to take time to register when they're they're not even following code as it is and now we're hiring two more people which is fine it's in the budget but we hir ired those we put those people in the budget originally because there's other code issues that we're trying to catch up on that we needed help with and now we're diverting that Manpower again to another regulation that just adds layers and layers so for that reason I cannot see where this is going to do the city any good that's going to we're going to progress I think um we just need to hire those two code officers and start taking care of those Bad actors so with that I'm going to have to vote against this thank you council member gray vice mayor thank you mayor colleagues I represented downtown now for nearly eight years and we've systematically gone through a series of different projects and programs and Outreach events and policy change in order to continuously support the revitalization of the core including supporting um business owners and Property Owners through Grant programs like our Economic Opportunity area program I want to note that we have granted out almost close to a million dollars this year uh for business owners and property owners in order to help Revitalize the downtown so there are a lot of folks out there who are in fact good actors um but there are some bad actors out there and there's some actors who are just sort of benign who aren't necessarily paying attention to their properties they're out of town uh property owners who have seen their property as a sort of an investment to just sit on and really have not done the proper maintenance and repair and taken care of their property and haven't been very good neighbors and this is a way for us this is just one more tool for us to continuously improve the condition of our downtown it's absolutely important that we take this step um speaking with dozens and dozens of business owners and Property Owners uh there there's a lot of support in the downtown area for this particular policy and people are eager to see it implemented uh if for nothing else but for a simple posting on each building that identifies who is responsible 24 hours a day seven days a week for the proper maintenance and care for that building and I think that's important for for all of these good actors and these folks who are really investing in our Urban core in our downtown uh to be able to know who they can call on when there's an issue so with that I'm going to move adoption ordinance mayor go I just is it okay Gray um I I totally agree with you Andre that we need to get the downtown cleaned up I went down there last week for dinner Mama Mia had a wonderful time and we we need to get it cleaned up and it's and definitely working towards that so I don't disagree with with what you're saying in that regard at all but I don't understand why you're going You're talking about these buildings are going to be posted why do we have to create another two jobs or maybe one at least when we already know how to find the owners of those buildings and then start enforcing the code that we have rather than create another layer on top of this thing when Common Sense tells me if they haven't called in to let you know hey I got an abandoned building you say a lot of them are out of town that type of thing they're not even going to know about this registry um situation and so I'm I'm just bringing this up to sometimes I think go government we just need to apply some common sense to government and not always apply regulation and I think in this case this is a really good case for that that we can get a hold of these these property owners that have lost interest and be able to post who's responsible and start holding their feet to the fire using the code officers that we're going to be hiring and the ones that we have so with that I appreciate respectfully I submit my opinion thank you council member gray you have a motion please catch your votes motion is approved with council members Weir and gray voting no thank you and next item please Madam clerk Council and mayor statements council member GRE thank you um I was um we have been um supporters of tunnel to towers for years now my husband and I and I'd like to bring forth a referral tonight I was watching um their commercial and they have and then I did my research on it they have um now be a program called Veterans Villages and they have National um case management Network that um they are going all over the United States and putting in villages for homeless vets with private money to be able to not only um house them but also give them all those Services they need uh to help them you know get back into our society because they have given so much to this country and I was just so impressed with it um it says that um through the veterans Villages and case management Network the tunnel to Towers Foundation is responsible for for providing housing assistance and ex and access to Supportive Services to over 3,300 veterans in 2023 with nearly 4,000 veterans assisted since the program's Inception tunnel Towers ensures that our veterans have a place to live with Comfort dignity and hope as they work towards Financial stability and Independence their commitment is to ensure that no veteran is Left Behind and they actually have a village in uh West LA um that uh on a 388 acre property and they have worked it's a campus for over 3,000 veterans in La well I got to thinking I mean I don't think there's any City in the entire State of California that's more patriotic than the city of Bakersfield we treat our vets here with such dignity and are continually lifting them up we have all these memorials all over our city I mean it's a very very important part of of our um makeup here our character as a city so I would like to um to refer to staff if you would provide an analysis for us of how we can partner with tunnel to Towers uh to bring affordable housing to our veterans in Bakersfield I I think it's another great way for us to be able to engage the community and I think our community would get behind this with you know 100% so I can make that referral tonight and happy Valentine's Day to everyone thank you thank you council member gray vice mayor thank you mayor uh now that we adopted the vacant property property registry I'd like us to continue our quest to really build up our conic nuisance property toolkit and uh develop our lean forgiveness program for uh Property Owners new property owners who acquire properties that once have had a number of leans um and I'd like to refer that over to our Planning and Development Committee um and then number two is I received um word and I'm not quite sure what the um validity is to this but I would like to ask staff to to research this and to work with the county of kar um but I received word that um people who are released from our County Jail are actually released in Bakersfield um when they're not necessarily from uh Bakersfield U they may be from outlying areas throughout the county I'd like us to research that and see if there's any Merit to that and and with work with the county to establish a better program so that we ensure that all those folks who are released from the county Jael are returned uh to their uh home Community thank you thank you council members Smith thank you mayor I had a couple items um number one we had a planning and development committee this week and uh we had a consultant uh look at our downtown housing capacity and our goal of 10,000 residents and and one of the main recommendations was that we allow the CB Zone uh to be more transparent was the term they used but it seems to me that if we just would allow residential on that by right instead of with the conditional use permit then that would move towards our goal and since we're looking at our zoning ordinance now I'd like to look at putting that in the zoning ordinance uh number two is the bonding numbers when we record subdivisions map council member Freeman called me last week and and I also received a call from constituents we we have historically and I you know longer than I've been here so 60 70 years probably used County bonding numbers uh for our recording of subdivision maps and maybe that made sense when we were a town of 10,000 or 20,000 but it seems to me we could come up with our own bonding numbers now the the county you know they're doing Paving work out in the desert and Rural places you know Trucking costs are a lot higher and we bid stuff out all the time we build stuff all the time I think we could get much more reasonable numbers if we came up with our own bonding numbers the the the example that he gave was the and there's various problems with with it but number one is we we charge plan check and inspection fees based on the bonding numbers and when the bonding numbers changed the plan check and inspection for a 40 acre subdivision went up $60,000 no more work for the plan Checkers or inspectors but we're charging considerably more money and I would like for us to look at that thank you thank you council member Smith I don't see any other requests to speak so with that we are adjourned at 6:43 Happy Valentine's Day Happy [Music] Valentine's [Music] oh [Music] oh