[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the 3:30 p.m. meeting of the Bakersfield City Council is now in session good afternoon it's my pleasure to call to order the 3:30 regular city council meeting of July 10th 2024 it's good to see all of you here and now Madame clerk please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez council member Aras council member Weir here council member Smith I'm here council member Freeman council member gray here council member core here thank you in keeping with the council's new resolution public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I will call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and place it in the tray on the counter next to the speaker Podium we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on today's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be present Zoom speakers for the non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a two-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for all non-agenda item public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call on you at the appropriate time so please listen carefully if public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council failure to abide by the city's rules of deorum including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts this meeting May result in expulsion and or the chamber being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn Outburst from the audience and surpassing the two-minute time limit Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda Merica we've received seven speaker cards for items not listed on uh today's agenda the first public speaker is Michael Gridley followed by Walter Keenan followed by Ana low come on up here uh Mr gley and just a reminder to all of you raised and lower the mic just to make sure we can hear you welcome and please introduce yourself uh hello my name is Michael Gridley um really bad public speaking so uh I wrote out a little something um has to do with a code issue so let me begin my name is Michael Gridley and recently I had a neighbor attach a large shelving unit to a cinder block wall we share when I approached him the neighbor was less than cordal when I confronted him and it came down to an insurance issue he said he would lie to get out of paying the insurance after the confrontation I had pictures of him using the shelving units to store items related to his business including a box with the words live fish proudly above the fence top so that I'm able to see it which I feel like was a form of harassment this is in a residential area too um I called code enforcement who would not do anything stating that it was a civil matter but did take interest in the fact that the Neer did not have the proper permits to run his koi fishery um and asked for my help I was in contact with George norga and Savannah Alvarez who the latter asked me to peek over the fence and take a couple pictures of the fishery uh so that they can investigate him uh further I was never updated so in April 25th I I Reem emailed her pictures with the exposed open filter system and asked if that was good enough for a judge to sign off for an investigation I still was not happy with the response so I emailed the planning department stating that the neighbor is being a nuisance and after disappointing back and forth I ended up in emailing the city manager which got me a phone call from a manager Named Dave and a visit from George I again I'm sorry I'm a bad public speaker despite having several code violation he was eventually able to obtain the necessary permits to run his koi fish business so after gaining his permit the gentleman turned around and had my house violated for a retaining wall in my front yard uh uh which had never bothered him before this so in order to fix this minor issue it'll actually run me about several thousand dollars to remove uh to remove and replace the cinder blocks in my front yard which the code enforcement requires uh sorry also it' be against it would be against every fiber in my core not to remove the palm tree next to the wall because if I don't do that it would just crumble the wall again sir your time is up can you bring your comments to a close and then we can connect you with staff as name sorry thank you Mr CLE is there somebody who could just follow up with yes mayor we're familiar with this case all right very good thank you thank you for speaking next speaker please Walter Keenan followed by anre laow followed by Eddie Lane welcome please introduce yourself my name is Walter Keenan I'm addressing today an issue regarding a home in my neighborhood which is in Ward 4 that is being run as a full-time Airbnb this is not a part-time operation and it's only be that it's not a part-time operation only being rented out occasionally but rather a full-time Hotel type situation there's no one living at the residence but rather it's made available for short-term rental 7 days a week all year long this has been going on for n about 9 months in April I began querying City departments about whether or not there were any limitations on such use of a property in the residential area I contacted the planning division then the code enforcement office then the city attorney's office and finally spoke with my council member all the individuals I communicated with told me and confirmed that the operation of an Airbnb within the city limits is not allowed prior reaching out to my council member the City attorney with whom I had spoken recently um had sent a cease and desist letter and followed that up with a phone call to the owner of the property I was told that the owner indicated they were unaware that the that using the property as an Airbnb was not allowed and they would cease and you know immediately that property owner completely disregarded the City attorney and has continued and I would almost say aggressively actively um advertising and renting out this property for Airbnb it is a nice property and it's in a nice area so consequently is being rented out on a regular basis this is over the last three months it's probably been about 30 to 40% rented which is high for an arbnb I think I think hotels would like that in my last conversation with my council member he said that he talked to the City Attorney At Last meeting and that another more strongly worded letter would be sent but beyond that nothing further would be done that more strongly letter worded letter was in fact sent on Tuesday July 9th however given the utter disregard the property owner showed for the first letter I am not I am not optimistic that any different reaction will occur to the second letter that is without some action for backup why is this important such an operation is not conducive to an establishment of a neighborhood where individuals get to know each other raise families and look out for each other Mr Kenan your times up can you bring your comments to a close you can just finish a sentence or two well I'm it's it's wrong for a lot of reasons and primarily it's not allowed I was told by a City attorney and code enforcement that any further action is up to you the city council they need you to do something to enforce the rule council member Smith thank you mayor yeah we've looked at this different times I've spoke with Mr Keenan and um I guess you know a commit committee is looking at it and we could go back to committee and see what we can do on the Airbnb issue correct council member Smith mayor and councel uh this topic has been on a uh the pending cue for committee review um but also uh we have uh pursued the same type of action um that we do when we're made aware of these types of issues where we uh issue the ceas assist letters um and uh again this is not getting any less action than any other similar case thank you but thank you sir apparently thank you sir if you ignore the letters or ignore the rule you don't have to abide next speaker please an laow followed by Eddie Lane followed by Paul linfesty okay welcome yeah welcome good good afternoon my name is anawa I'm here representing the S Club I'm part of the concava chapter and I brought some material to be distributed that supports my statement today I put it here in the that would be fine so um I want to speak regarding item 7 E8 which is being discussed this afternoon at 5:30 about the agreement the city has with um General tree services tree trimming company so um the Sierra Club has written a letter couple weeks ago about certain aspects that are highlighted in that uh document that I put here for you to review it's about General tree but it's a lot of it's about habitat destruction and the responsibility that the city has and also General tree so let me read that to you so Urban trees have a value valuable role to play in increasing the sustainability of our built environment the great contributions of the ecosystem services that the trees provide sequestering carbon dioxide filtering water reducing Energies energy use and cleaning the air are often overlooked unfortunately there is no study available that investigates the ecosystem Services provided by the trees in Bakersfield however I did some research and I found a study that was conducted by UC San Diego about the trees that they have on campus and they actually estimated the ecosystem Services which are energy conservation carbon dioxide reduction storm water runoff reduction and air pollutant reduction and that areum culated per year in savings of $2.7 million only on their campus which had 200,000 trees so now I'm coming to what the Baker Sweet issue is and general trees so the value of trees in urban environment gains on importance in times of climate change as we experien this year in Bakersfield and elsewhere in the world the hottest year on record however over the years we have witnessed the mismanagement and unnecessary destruction of healthy mature trees and repairing forest and landscapes in the Bakersfield area tree management practices must change to counteract the effects of a warming climate we need more yeah we need your time is up we do have this if you'd like to wrap it up with a couple of sent yeah we need more trees and not less and I recommend and we recommend that General tree should be supervised a little more because they have like a card blanch nobody really checks on what they're doing okay thank you thank you Miss lar next speaker please Eddie Lane followed by Paul and festy followed by Sharon breel welcome please introduce yourself good afternoon I'm Eddie Lane with the Sarah Club please consider the recommendations there are nine that are passed out today uh as fully within the context of Bakersfield beautiful efforts underway now uh we're asking that they be formalized by this Council by direction to the staff to for a response these are wellth thought Common Sense constructive request that we have of of this Council we're we're what we we for we're for protecting the fagil hab habitat along the Kern River which is enjoyed and appreciated by thousands of Walkers and bikers every month we are for prot protecting trees which have been planted by the city in city parks along city streets and in the K River Parkway trees are critically important in in excessive heat periods such as we have right now absorbing the heat including heat generated by sidewalks and bike paths provide shade for picnicking for children to play Under and provide yearr round doses of nature which we all greatly need our recommendations are to protect our trees they're not just about one city department or one contractor but what we need is collaboration between the city departments to develop written procedures to protect trees that commitment was made two years ago a week ago there was a new commitment during the discussion about two trees in downtown Bakersfield a commitment that the two trees would be replaced well using that principle in the last three years we've had 2,385 trees which have been removed under City supervision costing the taxpayers $750,000 so we're asking the same principle that is being applied to downtown trees be applied for all of the trees which have been destroyed thank you trees are so important thank you thank you Mr L next speaker please Paul linfesty followed by Sharon breel followed by Michael turnup seed hi Paul and pesty award one um I've been up to the podium a number of times but I've never really brought an actual personal problem that I've had um uh so it's a little difficult for me to talk about that um I want to make it clear I'm not talking about any kind of lawsuit or anything I just said I just wanted to share that two years ago there was a sidewalk Improvement program in my neighborhood around kuster lame Avenue uh area off of South Ag and um they were I never got a notice that they're actually putting in sidewalks it's just that the equipment was there one day and they're tearing up uh right of way uh up on my actual property the uh the was a soul Tree on the front yard and it was slightly inside the um the area where they would T tear up for the sidewalk but they they actually didn't stop at the property line because of the tree they just kept digging up all the way to the tree trunk tearing up the uh a lot of the roots that were feeding the tree when I watered uh the tree never really regained uh God do I want to use the word conscious that's the only thing I can think of a Healthy Growth from that point on so wanted to say that um but then they just left it like that covered up what they had uh excavated no I don't have any pictures or any any real evidence but it has bothered me somewhat especially since the tree was never able to really recover from that um I don't know if there's anything the city can do about it as I said I'm not suing I'm not fing a a a complaint but it has been a problem and really been bugging me lately so I just had to get that off my chest as far as uh the trees downtown I will say two years in a row I did have car breakdowns in the summer so I was using lift to get downtown but then when I call to get a lift where are the benches where a person can sit I have medical problems uh sometimes I'm getting over some of them but being outside in the heat where I really needed to find a place to sit down it's very hard to find that in uh downtown Bakersville anymore thank you thank you for sharing next speaker please Sharon breel followed by Michael turnup seed welcome please introduce yourself hi I'm Sharon breel and I'm uh resident for 22 years in Ward 4 um the trees in bersi have many benefits uh they are a valuable asset that take 10 to 20 years to mature they cannot be easily replaced when they die they increase the value of our homes and they make this community livable I walked daily in my neighborhood in the Oaks in the southwest Scarlet Oak Boulevard South of Ming had liquid Amber trees that turned Reds and goals in the fall near Mountain Oak and Scarlet Oak there's a stand of 40-year-old oak trees providing shade and a lush appearance about 12 to 14 years ago the tree started to be trimmed yearly large limbs were removed the canopy was raised higher and higher each year the branches were trimmed so much that the trees looked like sticks the shade disappeared the trees started to die I stopped walking along Scarlet Oak Boulevard because it was so hard for me to see the trees die no joke when I see the contractor in my Park I want to chain myself to a tree to make them to stop I'm here today to plead with the council members do not renew the uh contract with General Tree Service amend the contract to include modification that they follow the as300 standard for trimming trees that makes the contractor liable if the tree dies and replace the trees that have died along uh replace the trees that have died with trees recommended by the Native Plant Society thank you for your consideration thank you Miss B welcome welcome Madam mayor members of the council I'm Michael turnip seed I represent the current County taxpayers Association amazing what pops up in news flashes uh yesterday morning I saw a flash about how cities around the country are dropping their shot spotters cities Nationwide have decided not to renew their contracts the technology set the technology we use to identify gunshots audits of spot fighter show that officers could not confirm shootings in 87% of the calls in some cities studies from Auditors and advocacy groups suggest the technology is expensive ineffective and an overreach of civil liberties many in law fors don't agree with that but ultimately in Fresno there were 1,800 alerts in 2023 169 criminal cases 9% in 22,9 alerts resulted in 204 cases 11% both years combined only 171 victims out of 3600 alerts were found that's pretty expensive and I am asking that the city council direct staff to conduct a full audit of the shot spotter program and do the financial benefit that it actually provides or doesn't thank you very much for your time thank you Mr turnup seed Madam clerk do we have any other speakers for this portion mayor mayor go we've uh that was our final speaker for non-agenda items we have received one speaker card for agenda items public statements thank you before we take that one council member gray thank you mayor um I appreciate you bringing that information to us but from what I understand the investment that we make here in the city of Bakersville for shot spotter it's very minimal isn't it $250,000 or go ahead council member gray May and Council it is a it is a larger investment uh we we made an expansion of shots spotter which was around that price tag but okay the total price is probably over a million dollars a year that we do spend on shot spotter okay and what are our statistics for this city so I don't have some of that at top of mine but a couple things that I can tell you about shotspotter uh we we also targeted our shot spotter to not cover all of the city it was limited to the areas where uh we had noted higher rates of you know gun incident use so we're trying to be targeted and strategic and where we felt like it would provide us a return on investment we do use that data in our gun violence reduction strategy um where we are pulling that information to help um collect the overall data of where we're seeing that type of activity uh also we uh it's been interesting because the shot spotter data um a couple years ago wasn't lining up with reported crime but that was important to us because we felt like it was telling a story that there was um unreported shots going on because of you know Community apathy but it was demonstrating to us that those shots were happening because the shot spotter you know it it activates and and uh we get that information and not just dependent on community to respond with that information and we feel like that's going to be a more accurate and at least in the areas where shot spotter covers that's going to be a more accurate uh reflection of any reductions in gunshots than just reported because we weren't seeing that the reported was really reflecting the full number of of um gunshots that were happening and so as we implemented our gun violence reduction strategy we've seen not only a reduction in homicides a reduction in non-injury fatal nonfatal injury shootings we've also seen a reduction in our shot spotter activations which we believe is also indicative of the fact that we are seeing less and less gun violence so um I I couldn't uh answer all the questions about you know the number of activations and how many um uh either victims have been found and and often there aren't victims of gunshots just when there's gunshots that's just another reflection often there are gunshots that don't hit an individual or potentially even a structure um but so so we don't have that data and there there could be value in doing a deeper analysis of you know um um what uh shot spotter data we do have and what it is telling us but I can tell you and chief could and we're having a public safety update in just a few minutes and chief has a one slide that does look at shot Spotter and may be able to just provide some um uh anecdotal uh references that we have had several crimes that have been solved because we were had officers close by a shot spotter activation and they were able to respond really quickly and find the individual who had uh fired the weapon because it went so quickly from that activation to um um our Communications and then directly to the officers so um o overall we have found it to be a useful tool but again we're trying to use it in a very focused way for a very focused purpose uh but it's always good to take a hard look at what we're using and making sure that it's being used in a in a worthwhile way well I appreciate that I think we we continually have to monitor any new systems that we put into place and make sure the data approves but that million dollars is that is that annual that we're spending annually I think again I think that's a minimal um investment to make in our community if we're having some positive uh return on that investment so I'm I'm would still be in favor of that thank you thank you council member GRE council member Freeman thank you mayor I'd like to follow up on the comments of the lady about tree trimming um she's not the first person who's called me about aggressive tree trimming that looks and I looked at it myself a lot of times it looks super aggressive and it has resulted in some trees dying um could we at least I guess parks and recs must supervise and let those contracts I think they need some feedback and if they don't get any feed it's it isn't the tree chim's fault it's the supervisor's fault it's it's us if we don't oversee and take the feedback we get from people on what we ought to do and they're right A lot of times it looks overaggressive so um I think there needs to just be a discussion with the tree trimming company that you know we've had a lot of complaints about overaggressive and maybe um a on the side of under aggressive you know everything's kind of policy and direction from above so if we could just have a discussion with them that um you know we live in a desert and shade we need shade just to survive here a lot of times even our architecture doesn't doesn't recognize that I'm always amazed even when we build shopping centers The Architects would as though they came from Milwaukee or something and didn't put enough shade in so nobody can even walk around you can't walk into a tar without getting burnt all the way in or all the new stores so it's a it's amazing that we live in you know we live in a really hot area and we don't pay more attention to the value of shade in so I but I'm digressing I would just appreciate if we could have a real serious discussion about um avoiding the overt trimming of trees I know that means you probably have to trim them more often and that's probably expense but we still the a personal experience is that I have a treat my Courtyard and a month ago or two months ago the needed trim the guys came and trimmed it well a month later the whole tree is a big one dead had to bring the cranes and replace the whole thing because they weren't being supervised closely it wasn't their fault it's you have to supervise work to be sure it's done well you know the Army don't expect inspect do a little more inspecting so if we could if we could look into that and communicate how important shade is and to be careful to protect these trees I appreciate it thank you thank you council member Freeman council member core thank you mayor I just wanted to Echo council member Freeman's comments and I want to thank our friends at the sier club for bringing this to our attention um I completely agree and I think on days when it's 115 degrees consecutively I think we're all thinking pretty uh we're reflecting pretty deeply on how to keep our climates cooler especially here in Bakers and of course we're not the only ones around the world or even in this country who are kind of thinking about how we reduce our heat island effect um I Echo the sentiments shared by council member Freeman if there is there a feedback process that exists currently um can we look at some of the case studies that exist um within other cities where they've been able to lower their uh the temperature within even just certain neighborhoods I know there's a couple in DC I know Phoenix has tried some different methods where even within certain neighborhoods they've reduced uh the temperatures just with trees alone and infrastructure even the type of asphalt that we use the color of asphalt that's utilized um all of those kind of different techniques that have gone as far as reducing the temperature by 15° um in some communities and I think we can absolutely adopt some of those elements if that's something we can put some concentrated effort towards um I I Echo the sentiment it is very warm and shade goes very far for everyone thank you H member core Madam clerk I believe we have one speaker would you please call him for the agenda items Michael turnup seed regarding the Workforce Development initiative welcome yes again Mad mayor and Council thank you for having today the opportunity Ive got a couple articles here about the UC medical school and the expansion in county and a year and a half ago I shared with you an article that was in the LA Times where the chairman of the bard of region said UC needs to expand and specifically called out Bakersfield and San Bernardino by name and at the time I said San Bernardino is only 14 miles from Riverside we should be the leading candidate to get a full campus and I think that's in the support of the chairman of the board of regions uh and maybe you don't start out with a full campus but a satellite campus and it it mentioned in the article basically that uh UCLA health network is buying up closed hospitals and expanding their network uh maybe we can get that kind of arrangement obvious with them because they are a ex exceptionally good health care system UC Davis has a Health Care system with multiple Hospitals and Clinics uh we don't need to invent this alone and besides bringing the other academic needs that the community has we should be looking seriously at pushing for an entire UC campus whether it starts as a satellite and grows but we need to bring that the academics that the UC system brings and the research that they bring to help us to address our problem problems thank you very much for your time thank you Mr turnup SE Madam clerk do we have any other public speakers mayor go that was our final public speaker thank you next item please reports item 3A Workforce Development initiative medical education assembly member Dr jasm Baines will provide a brief report on a regional Workforce Development initiative city manager Cay yeah thank you mayor and Council we're very pleased to have our assembly member here with us uh and St present to talk about a Workforce Development initiative uh this is consistent with uh many needs that have been identified um in our community as well as in our Economic Development Workforce Development studies and uh a unique opportunity and we'll turn time over to our sen member Dr desm Baines to fill counsel in on this topic welcome Dr Baines thank you so much mayor go um it is an honor to represent Ern County in the assembly um and it is an honor to be a native of deleno and I am very honored to present forward my bill which is AB 2357 which is i dub the grow our own bill I announced this at the State of the State or the state of the County uh earlier this year um and I will be honest I did not expect the outpouring of support um for this bill right away after I announced it there's been numerous uh organizations that have jumped on in support of this bill I am very happy to announce that it has passed the assembly floor it has passed the assembly Appropriations as well it passed recently out of Senate higher ed it is going to be hitting Senate Appropriations then a senate floor then straight to the governor's desk um AB 2357 creates an endowment fund within the state treasury as a found first step towards establishing a University of California medical school in Kern County Medical School will will provide the Catalyst we need to improve Healthcare access for one of California's most medically underserved areas by training the next generation of medical professionals rooted in the sanen valley in its research the University of California identified the valley as the state's fastest growing most impoverished and least healthy region of the state the valley has the lowest ratio of licensed MD do's and PS RN's marriage and family therapist counselors and social workers and actually as the past chair of the California Healthcare Workforce policy commission I was appointed by Governor Brown I spent four years on that commission we work to identify underserved areas of healthcare and current counties ratios were staggeringly low 1 to 33 was the ratio of primary care providers per patient and literally in other parts of the State it's one to 100 Kern County has some of the worst states in the country when it comes to the worst stats in the country when it comes to access to health care the situation on the ground is expected to get even worse as we're hearing about Physicians retiring early um from burnout um I myself a physician um am now in the legislature but I still continue to practice because it is a big need to the community and I can't do it alone I need more and more help to make sure that people get the continuity of care that they deserve the association of American medical colleges has highlighted that many rural Physicians are nearing retirement age with nearly 25% expected to retire by 20130 at the same time the number of medical schools medical school students from rural backgrounds who are the most likely to practice medicine in rural areas like myself declined 28% over the last 15 years currently the number of medical students from rural backgrounds is just 4.3% the number of medical students hailing from a rural area who are also part of an underrepresented racial or ethnic group is a staggering .5% of all medical students I'll say that again black and brown kids from rural areas account for less than one half of 1% of all medical students by recruiting educating and training the next generation of physics locally the Southern sanwen Valley can begin to erode the inequity of a decades long doctor shortage that has contributed to the poor health outcomes of our residents this bill is an essential step in expanding Healthcare a access enhancing our local economy and improving career Pathways in the valley um really honored to see it go through support is joining as we speak um and I'm really also really proud to announce that the newest appointment by the governor to the UC Regents was a local person from deleno by the name of Brian kodo just stopped by my office earlier today um and this is the first step forward to getting representation from the valley on the UC regions board which has not been there um so this is a big step forward for our community it's a big step forward um to lay the foundation for this medical school um like I said I did not when I first announced this medical school I did not expect the alarming outpouring of support that it has gotten I've had numerous colleagues also Jump On In support and it is gaining much much momentum at a faster pace and it's a long time coming for current County so here to answer any questions um that you guys might have I'm literally just hitting every Council in the district to make sure that we prepare and we know that this is going to be a future coming for Kern County thank you Dr vains thank you for being a champion for the Central Valley and for Kern County it's very obvious in all of your actions that you're really looking out for us so thank you for uh trying to fill this uh very important need council member we thank you mayor um this is a great thing if you can if you can bring that here that that is awesome not if when okay I'll be there but one of the things I want to I want to bring up is when we have um a when we go in and pick what it is that we want to have happen over the next few years every time we go in and and think about what we're going to do over the next 5 10 years it always includes a UC campus so we've talked about that I don't know I've been near 18 years um that's a long time um I think we need to take that serious it's a big wish but is the wish that we need and I would uh ask staff to maybe present the initial thoughts and dreams that we may have and incorporate that incorporate that with what our sing person is already doing so we don't want it to separate we want it we want it to be all together and so we're reacting and interacting off of every edge of it and so if we could do that and and make that a priority maybe over the next month or two I would really appreciate that thank you thank you council member we council member Smith thank you mayor thank you Dr Baines I really appreciate the work that you're doing here and and what it can do for the community as a whole uh you said not if but when so what's what's our best case scenario when when we might see something you know um when I had first announced it um you know keeping history into consideration mered took 20 years I was expecting maybe 10 years with the momentum and the amount of support that's come out um time will tell um um but if everything goes through and it gets signed the endowment fund opens January 1st and it will literally at that time determine as much contributions that come in on when this medical school will come my guesstimate would be with the outpouring of support maybe even in five or six years awesome thank you if if obviously there's anything we can do just let us know thank you so much appreciate it call any others council member gray well thank you Dr Baines for coming because we need doctors we need um I can't even find a doctor in the city it's a good thing I'm a healthy person or I'd be in big trouble so uh I have a doctor over in Santa Maria just because I couldn't find a doctor here so we definitely need this um I think it's going to be enrich our community in ways that you know it's just going to be amazing so I'm just kind of curious if you have a if you have um a site um that you have your eyes on for this you know that is the most popular question actually um every Council has asked that of me and it's just too early to really set your eyes my I I work as a doctor so I triage and right now I'm totally focused on getting this bill through the assembly through the Senate which has already been through the assembly but through and then once this endowment fund opens up January 1st then we can definitely get down and roll our sleeves up and figure out where it needs to be um but right now it's you know all I all hands on deck to get this through because this like you know council member Smith and where had said this is a long time coming it's a wish come true and what one of the things that I did experience um which was sad it was the first time I've experienced this is Sacramento has this idea that kids in karna are not the smartest and one of the comments that was made um in a meeting was you guys have the highest illiteracy rates and the highest in education in the country your kids can't make that leap from this to medical school and I said and you should probably invest more in stem and research and I said well uh we will definitely invest in stem and research but that doesn't hold us back from this and let me tell you is what you just said is what someone said to me and I am now a doctor and an assembly member so don't ever say that about my kids yes good for you I appreciate you being an advocate for us because disguise the limit with anybody that wants to put in the hard work and see themselves crossing over that bridge they can do it so that's great you're you're a good cheerleader for us we appreciate it thank you so much appreciate it Dr Baines thank you again Dr Banes spends her week in Sacramento then she comes and spends all weekend working with her patients that's how much she cares about her patients and our communities thank you so much for your boldness also we know that when push back is there you are very bold in making sure that you deliver for our community so we just thank you for that I was pleased to sign a letter of support on behalf of the city of Bakersville for this bill so thank you and we wish you all the best and stand with you no I appreciate the support I'm a doctor first politician second thank you thank you madam clerk next item please mayor go um do we need a motion to receive the report uh yes we do council member where motion to receive and file you have a motion please test your votes oh his is not working can you uh council member Freeman press your red button for help or the help button the help button is there anything that you need to do to activate it or should we just take a Voice vote I'll go ahead and do can you do a Voice vote ccil aras's uh technology Services can you please attend to this we'll take a Voice vote please all right uh council member arus no okay go ahead and do a Voice vote please council member Adias here or excuse me I council member we I council member Smith yes council member Freeman hi council member gray I and council member core I motion is approved with council member or vice mayor Gonzalez absent oh actually we need to have public speakers on this item so is there anyone who wishes to speak on this item seeing none we will just move on now to the next item Madam clerk reports item 3B a public safety update and presentation will be provided by Bakersfield Police Department chief Greg Terry mayor and Council we have Chief Greg Terry here to provide a public safety update this was a referral request from the safe neighborhoods committee to share similar content this includes data from 2023 but also some early looks at data from 2024 and some also look ahads uh at things we're going to be working on this coming here Chief Terry all right good afternoon mayor members of the council um police chief Greg Terry I'm going to provide you quite a bit of information here over the next few minutes um and so uh just kind of hold on and we'll move through it um obviously our community has significant Public Safety challenges in a variety of different ways and uh we could spend a lot of time probably walk walking through each one of these slides and really getting in to the into the details of it and and it's worthy of it at times as well but what I'm going to attempt to do here this afternoon is really like like uh Mr Cay said kind of give you an overview of some of the outcomes last year 2023 compared to the year before and talk a little bit about what we're seeing so far uh in this year talking about some of the priorities that we have as well so um you've seen some of this probably uh at safe neighborhoods and also through the budget process this is just uh reported crime Citywide and what that looks like break broken down by both property and violent crime overall there was a 12% um reduction in reports crime reports uh in 2023 versus 2022 um there was an increase in violent crime reported violent crime um the most significant increases were in sexual assault rape uh at 1% and 8% in aggravated assaults significant decline uh again for the second year in a row in homicide we also saw decreases in robbery uh and auto theft as well and I say reported crime because it's the subject of a lot of our conversations about how much is being reported to us does this this data reflect the experience of community members across our city uh and in some respects I would say it probably doesn't uh we know that it doesn't in some of the community uh in some of our businesses and things because we know that there are that are that there are crimes that are not being reported to us and it certainly isn't reflected here and there's a lot of different reasons about that and so I I report this to you uh because this is what the data has but also acknowledge that there is perhaps more to the story uh and we need to continue to work together a quick overview of violent crime um so the the table there on the left is really gun violence specific um Noni non-fatal shootings Citywide in 2022 there were 86 uh reduced by 13% in 2023 um specifically within those G those gun violence numbers gang violence in particular uh and we saw a 59% reduction in the number of Gang Related shootings um across the city uh shot spotter activations we just talking about that uh again saw another 8% reduction in the number of activations uh I do think it is worthy um and it would be worthy for us to report out and to talk about what that experience shot spotter has been um we have six miles six square miles of shot spotter coverage in our city uh it was uh expanded from 3 miles to 6 miles I think in 2020 or 2021 if you go back to uh 2021 you probably saw 15,600 uh activations but that was the year that we added of the six square miles and so you've seen some significant reduction even with those six square miles doubl the coverage in 2021 we've continued to see reductions in the number of activations that does not account for the number of shots fired uh we do have that data we certainly do have the data also of what arrest have been made what Firearms have been and what cases have been cleared and we can certainly report out some of that uh part of shot spotters um the value of it is shotspotter activations in our city are where our city has experienced historically the most gun violence the community members living in there uh in some respects over these years have given up we know from experience and we know from a fact and talking out with them is they don't report a large number of gun of gunshots because it was an everyday occurrence it was not an unusual event to have shots fired through your window or shots being fired outside your home it just wasn't reported uh and we continue to see some of that that we have many more activations shot spotter than we do actual reports from the community uh and that should concern us because that that does reflect some apathy some some feeling that perhaps they don't matter that the police don't care and those kinds of things are very important to us and so as we talk about shot spotter I do absolutely agree that we should get into the details and talk about what are some of the outcomes from it so that we know uh what that data shows but there's also things that are difficult to quantify uh and that's the quality of life and the fear and all of those things that go into people who are have where these things are occurring primarily in our community uh the bottom there is just kind of give you again a year to date uh total homicides we are in the same time period so the first six months of of 2023 we had 14 homicides during the first six months of this year uh we've also had 14 homicides so no change uh again that's if you remember the last two years we've had consecutive declines in total homicides across the city so uh we are keeping Pace with where we were last year and you can see a 27% reduction in the total of non-fatal shootings that have occurred in the first 6 months of this year violent crime certainly need domestic violence is a violent crime uh and over the last several years we've continued to see uh an increase in the number of calls and the number of reports and domestic violence and so this is very concerning to us and uh we have numerous detectives that are assigned to this division to follow up uh on these kinds of calls but there's much more the work to be done we work very closely with some Community providers uh to try to educate uh as well as to do enforcement around uh domestic violence but is continuing to be uh an escalating uh type of call that we're seeing in our community and so uh we are certainly making those a priority and there's more to work to be done there again a little bit of of flashback of some of the budget conversations and uh again some of the outcomes with regard to the number of 911 calls and the number of calls dispatched last year versus the year before as you can see almost 3,911 calls an increase of about 7% uh dispatch calls so we had about nearly 750,000 phone calls come into the police department last year out of those nearly 3/4 of a million calls 261,000 calls were actually entered and dispatched uh and so that was uh about a 5% increase over the year before one of the goals has been in terms of Staffing AC across the police department was uh and one of the things we've been measuring is how quickly are we answering those 911 calls and our goal is to answer 95% of all of our 911 calls within 20 seconds and so you can see last year we made some additional improvement over the year before uh at uh 93% or just over Patrol response times what matters most when people call us is that we get there as soon as we can uh and be ready to handle and deliver the service that they expect from us and so this this is a very quick look at our top three priority calls one two and three and what our response times were in 2023 compared to the two previous years traffic fatalities uh over a two-year period 2023 and 2022 significant reduction in the number of pedestrian fatalities uh over the last uh over the year before uh what you're reflecting there in terms of the primary collision factors has kind of been a pretty steady category of factors that we are seeing uh in most of our traffic collisions bring it a little bit more current and uh more focused on this year what this represents is the number of traffic collisions that have occurred January to June 2023 versus January to June 2024 so as you can see the the number of injury traffic collisions over the last uh over the first six months of this year were really on Pace with where we were uh in 2023 and it's broken down by the different categories there and those numbers reflect the number of collisions same look uh with fatal traffic collisions uh for the same time period January to June 2023 versus January to June 2024 broken down by uh type you know we had a significant reduction in pedestrian fatalities in 2023 and we're continuing to see that that Trend go down so those are very positive things uh much work to be done uh around that in particular and I do think we can continue to make an impact uh and it's certainly worthy of our effort to do that I wanted this map in here it's it's difficult to see uh to for you to understand and really get a lot of detail out it but I want you to see this is um the first quarter of 2024 it's a heat map of where our collisions have occurred or where collisions are occurring uh in our city during the first quarter of this year uh the little dots on the map represent where the Traffic Unit is issuing citations uh and so you can see we're we're trying to use data to inform where we're working uh and concentrate to the extent that enforcement uh is the appropriate intervention for some of what we are seeing and some of the collision factors um that's where we're focusing our work and so I I give you this so that you have an understanding and have a visual picture of some of the Technologies and some of the data and and our approach to where we're um working on these different issues organized retail theft uh continuing to be an issue across our community uh this data also represents the first quarter of 2024 uh compared to the last quarter of 2023 so over the last six months is the time period the overall number of reports declined uh but you saw an increase in the number of felony uh thefts uh misdemeanor thefts um declined our organized retail theft unit it's a special unit that was um organized uh and put into um work in October of last year and since then uh that's a reflection of some of the numbers in the terms of the number of the value of the assets they recovered the number of arrests that have been made and the cases cleared um but we are still continuing to see um that some businesses uh are not reporting all of these kinds of offenses to us and so again as we talked about some of the overall crime report numbers we know uh that uh there's more to the story there and we need to continue to work with that we have an organized retail crime um collaborative collaborative uh within the police department run by our community relations unit uh and they've been fantastic and really developed some great Partnerships with some of our commercial big box retailers as well as some of the smaller Mom and Pop type stores uh and they sit down every month and work together and share information about what they're experiencing across the businesses sharing um intelligence sharing photographs sh sharing vehicle descriptions and a variety of those kinds of things our detectives are also there working with them so that we can see Trends and we can see uh where different things are occurring and and opportunities to intervene and work with our businesses uh we need more businesses to continue to partner with us in this way and we're certainly encouraging them to do that you might remember a couple of years ago we talked about spidertech and that was a sort of a community engagement tool where when you have a call for service into the police department you get some push notifications back to you uh how was our service what was your how was your interaction with the dispatcher did you feel like the officer that you spoke to was empathetic and understanding of your issue and giving the community members a an opportunity to give us feedback um on our on our services and I threw this in here as one of the questions that is asked in that feed feedback and it really is um there to measure the community sentiment how safe do you feel living uh in being in the city of Bakersfield and so you can see that there's certainly room for improvement uh about how our community's perspective is one of the things about um this particular tool that we're uh we really like is that we have six police zones across the city and we're able to get this kind of data uh across all of those six zones um and specific spefic to those six zones so that we can again another mechanism of feedback and know where we need to do some more work and and engage with the community uh and then there's some more uh a couple of upcoming Park events that we have for the remainder of the summer Staffing uh we shared a little bit of this during the budget uh presentations as well um We are continuing to to go full speed at Staffing uh we just had an academy graduate um last week or two weeks ago now uh we have another Academy that's underway now um but we are seem to have been now for more than a year struggling around this 30 to 40 vacancy and can't seem to to get over the hump uh but we're continuing to to work at it our recruitment this is the number of people that have been hired uh since we engaged uh in Earnest in this effort uh in July of 2020 2019 the number ofies completed U the gradu ation rate and what the average class size I would tell you our um and we've made a lot of gains in how we get people into the academy and how we keep them uh and so one example of this is so when somebody's going through the police officer process uh we engage with them directly help work them work with them through the application process a member of the police department recruitment train team and training staff begin engaging with him directly and we host volunteer work out sessions so that they can physically prepare for the for the police department or for the police academy but it also gets them acclimated and in starts to build some relationships in the months leading up to the academy uh and what we have found is that um the success rate for those recruits that attend these pre-academy sessions makes a significant difference in the outcome so if the over the last several acms those that don't attend any of these volunteer uh pre-academy sessions uh the graduation rate is just 53% but those that engage with us and those that come to about 10 at least 10 of these pre-academy sessions you can see the graduation rate is significant significantly higher this is just one of the examples of the different things that we've tried to employ over the last several years to uh make sure that we're hiring the enough people but make making sure that we hiring the right people putting them in the academy and then retaining them and keeping them through the academy because it's it's a very difficult and stressful uh experience priority projects I have three uh things that I'll talk about here but really uh again a reminder of our approach to this is we are a community policing agency and we are uh that is our philosophy and our approach to solving the public safety issues uh in our community and that really involves these three things problem solving really identifying what are those chronic issues that seem to persist in our urrent across our city that the police department is primarily responsible for and no matter how many times we respond to it and no matter what the intervention is it just doesn't go away so we it's not every call for service is a problem because it doesn't have those characteristics uh so we Define problem solving as those chronic issues that continue to persist that the police department is responsible for and we need to find a way uh to resolve it that's a that's a key part of our philosophy and then trying not to do it alone public safety is a shared responsibility and so we've worked very hard over the last several years uh to increase the number of Partnerships to focus on these long-term chronic issues because very often the root cause is not anything the police department can solve and yet we're the ones are responsible for it because there's no one else to call and so Partnerships are a very important part of that and then terms of the organizational structure is really about do we have the right people in the right places doing those kinds of things do we have the capacity to identify do we have the capacity to get data that can inform some of our work uh who do we have doing that are there officers are they civilians so we've done a lot and with your support we've civilianized a lot of positions over the last couple of years uh and that's important so that we do have police officers doing things and going to places uh that only police officers can can handle one of the projects that'll be coming to you uh well it was you approved it in the budget was the real-time information center and this really is going to be something that's never existed in the police department but it is u a room as you would imagine it with a wall full of monitors and it really is an integration of both public and private camera feeds uh emergency calls social media a variety of things that uh somebody will be sitting there monitoring when there's a call for service coming in about a particular address that we can leverage whatever resources we have and look at that particular call that particular location and see what's going on uh very quickly what is the best resource that goes do we actually need to go there somebody's com reporting something but is it an actual event if we can get guys get eyes on it right away we might determine that in fact that's not what's occurring and we can adjust the priority of the call just a variety of things uh that I think will bring a value to our community um and so again it it will be something that we will need to study and measure and be able to report out on but I truly believe that it's going to affect our response times it's going to affect uh our ability to hold people accountable for the crimes that they're committing because it's going to enable us to respond more specifically to a specific location to a particular individual uh and this kind of activ or this kind of footage uh and Technology can help guide our responses to that our impact team you might remember that that is the team that's focused on homelessness uh and and the criminal uh conduct that comes out of that uh the team has been expanded um over the last couple of years with your support and again uh this team is primarily our the police department's response to and developing the Partnerships to address uh the the criminal impact of those that are are homeless this team is uh integrated a lot uh more than it has been in previous years working with other City departments and um other um law enforcement agencies outside of the police department to try to be much more data informed about how we're working uh where our approach really is is mirroring some of our work with gun violence we know that the vast majority of our people or of our issues and The Chronic issues are really limited to a small number of people so how can we leverage the resources and and precious as they are to focus on those that are most that are most impacting uh our community in these ways and so this team is really um focused on doing that one of the more recent outcomes of as we dive into the data is we've recognized that many of the people that the impact team arrest every month are also on probation or under some sort of supervision and many of the people that we repeatedly arrest during the course of a month are on probation and so we've recently had a meeting with the probation department to again try to bring more of their resources so that they're more aware uh of what's going on with some of the people that they're supervising and try to share some of that responsibility and leverage whatever controls that they have to focus on those kinds of uh those kinds of issues so it g he begins to reduce the demand on the police department and again we're not sharing or we're not bearing the full weight of the of the responsibility last thing I have uh for you is the stipulated judgment uh and the progress uh that we've been making we're in year three uh just a very quick overview of the stipulated judgment it has 221 paragraphs we've broken it up into 12 different project teams that are all working uh simultaneously across the agreement uh there's about 800 compliance measures made up out of those 21 paragraphs and you can see about 75% of that number uh we are in progress and and working towards uh and just about 3% of of those compliance measures have been now uh we are now in full and effective compliance with that so again just an overview of of where we are with that uh and with that I'll open it up to any questions thank you Chief we'll go to the public first for comments and then come back to the council Madam clerk do we have any public requests mayor go have not received any speaker cards thank you council member Smith thank you mayor thank you Chief really appreciate your work your attitude and and your progress so things are moving in the right direction although it's it's very difficult I'll first comment on the shot spotter I more data is always better but I don't think just measuring the amount of people that you find dead is is the only measurement the uh you know fewer activations maybe the shot spotter is a deterrent like you said in the neighborhoods people realize you know things are going on people will be more concerned um the domestic violence and and like you said a lot of problems that get to the police our community problems that you know can and should be worked on elsewhere and domestic violence I think is you know relationship counseling and churches Community places uh can do a lot in that direction by the time it gets to you it's going down the wrong path right um on the traffic collisions good to see all of them going down even just you know vehicle vehicle we had uh 18 deaths you know last year January June and down to 11 so you know we talk a lot about The Pedestrian bicycle but there's way too many F fatalities and way too many collisions with just cars in general so I think you know and again that's something by the time you get involved it's you know what we talk about is changing the environment changing the way we build roads so that they're safer for everybody um the the public input are are you seeing a transition are you getting more public input I know we've been working on community involvement for some time is that a shift or not really uh council member Smith mayor it's where there's no shortage of public input uh Community Trust maybe is well there you go um but no we we have an inedible community that we hear from every day that is very supportive uh and those that are critical of us are still supportive because this is their community and and we welcome all of that and so I would say overall yes we have we have a lot of uh of work being done and and as you come out to the community events just a few weeks ago we were up at Jefferson Park at 30 or 40 different Community organizations that were there we're going to have two more events this summer um we're seeing more people engaged engaged um in in giving us information in a variety of different ways and so no I I definitely uh I want to believe and I and I think anecdotally we feel uh that um we are seeing more engagement um the level of trust you know that comes from building those kinds of relationships uh that's why I put that sentiment up there about how do people generally feel and we're trying to meet people where they are we can go into these different um zones within the city uh because we have the measurement now of of that Community sentiment and know what the issues are for them and I think that's the key part of not only eliciting their cooperation and participation but also the trust to know that we care and that we're working with them uh to solve the issues and so no uh I do believe that we are seeing progress thank you appreciate that and I'll just finish up with something I've talked about a lot of times I know we're working on is you talked about repeat offenders and you know a small percentage and we really we need accountability and we need some time out some jail time for these uh repeat offenders and and I know staff's working on it and hopefully we can make some real progress in that area thank you thank you council member Smith Chief thank you so much for your efforts and the efforts of your team just following up on what council member Smith said could you just talk about some of the stats related to Quality of Life crimes repeated offenders who go in for a very short period of time and share that with the public yeah can and what's what comes to my mind most is the impact team and the work that they're that they're doing across the city um the impact team arrest about 200 people a month for quality of life low-level very much chronic issues um and 80 to 90% consistently 80 to 90% of those individuals are released within 3 to 12 hours so they are right back in the same spot the business off the businesses are calling us what why why is this happening again you didn't do anything no we did they were only gone a few hours because that's the process and so um yeah they rest about 200 a month just that team 80 to 90% of them are out within 3 to 12 hours what we're also finding and I talked a little bit about why we've gone and reached out to probation is um we're we're also continuing to see a large number of those people be rest be arrested multiple times during the course of a month uh and the same same issues going on gone in the same locations the same criminal behavior um and so we and we looked at as we looked at that what that number is we're seeing that 20 25% of them are on probation so we're bringing probation uh to the table to try to um help us resolve that issue certainly we have Partnerships with current Behavioral Health uh we have co-response teams not only the Met team but we also have additional co-response teams of police officer and a mental health clinician in the field trying to identify who those uh um those those the the individuals that we contact most often and really try to work with them and understand why is this Behavior continuing to occur over and over again but the bottom line is um there are there is very little that we can do on the accountability we can go there we can arrest them for the underlying crime that was just committed we we'll book them into the jail we're having ongoing conversations uh with the sheriff the sheriff has been supported he understands that we do have significant challenges related to that um but there are limitations there as well but uh we're continuing to push uh because the this the impact to our community is so great uh so we are trying to pull every lever we can with the sheriff and working out and looking at what other options might lie for us to be able to book people in different places and we're exploring uh a lot of different things to be able to solve this issue thank you Chief council member fan oh thank you Chief good presentation um two questions one was the increase in domestic violence over the last three years and I guess my question was do you think we've really had that significant of an increase or more reporting I just wondered because I or if we have you know you have any opinion as to the cause Council M Freeman mayor it's it's a good question um I I also suspect and I was thinking about it as I sit here and I wish I'd have included this is um you know the the first year on this graph is 2020 and we know that that's a year that's unlike any other and so is it a return to what we've seen traditionally I don't know the answer to that that's potentially that's one of the things we going to go look I wish I had had the answer as I was sitting here preparing for this but is this this increase that we're seeing act actually a return to what we saw prior to co um we know that people people being in uh in their homes not working not going to school we know that there were a lot of issues that were created from that or developed from that um and so is this what we are seeing some of that is it a return is it actual um are we doing a better job of people feeling like they can report where they feel like there's through the open door Network and other partners where they feel safe reporting it so we're seeing more um I don't have enough evidence to tell you that uh my fear is that it is not my fear my I I think there's a lot of data to support it is severely underreported uh and so there is more occurring in our community because of the Dynamics that are occurring in people's homes than than we know and so uh again are is this is this uh an increase um is it increase in reporting is it a return to what we've kind of normally seen across our city in terms of numbers uh I wish I had the the direct answer for you tonight but I don't okay guess we're all disappointed that you didn't say it just us that it's going down yeah it definitely isn't getting better my other question was um when related to the Our Gang problem when I came on the council seven and a half years ago one of the first things I did was met with um I don't know if you were among the people but like the gang squad there were about six guys and it was a big slide presentation at the time we had 33 identified gangs and went kind who they are and I was wondering what's our you know is our gang problem significantly reduced is it worse are we getting new gangs in from out of town kind of what's the gang situation now well we we most often talk about um gang violence in terms of violent crime and so and that's reflected in our homicide numbers and our number of of Gang Related shootings and we've seen significant reductions in that level of violence uh we know that within within gang crime in particular and particularly violent crime the reality is there are not a large number of people across the city that are willing to go and walk up to somebody and shoot them thankfully the data shows that there's a small number of people that are willing to commit that level of violence and so our calvit program uh and our strategy over the last several years are to focus on those individuals that are most prone to commit an act of violence and also focus our resources and our efforts on those that have been the victim of violence because they're very act they're very likely to retaliate and it creates this this this cycle and so we're we're working very closely to interrupt that and so uh certainly gangs are involved in financial crime and narcotic trafficking and a lot of those kinds of things uh and I I would tell you I even though I don't have some of the data to support it directly that I do not think that that is decreasing but the violent crime we are seeing changes and we are seeing sustained and consistent changes year-over-year with Gang Related uh shootings and Gang Related homicides okay thank you thank you council member Freeman council member Arias thank you Chief um and thank you for taking on our referral and coming to make the presentation I think uh council member gray and I felt that uh all this information was too good and of great quality uh for us to bury it in committee and we just had to share the great work of PD and um the great work of your leadership team uh so thank you for for bringing this forward um I also share my colleagues concerns um and your concerns about the domestic violence uh increase I I too wonder whether or not this is a you know a function of population growth um you know are these part of national Trends um and and really at the end of the day what what can we do and what's already being done I'm sure your team is taking a look at that um because frankly it's um uh making our violent crime look as though it's getting worse when in actuality the rest of violent crime is actually going down um and so I think I would like to make a referral tonight that um you know the team take a a good look at that um over the past couple of years and U really start to understand what the data is telling us and really understand what kind of options we have both as a city but also from you know a Collective impact standpoint what is it that's already being done in the community and uh where can we help support and and make better um turning turning to Staffing um it's very clear that your team is working incredibly hard alongside um our human resources department to try and recruit and retain post the great retirement you know at that time it seemed like we were losing a lot of folks with a lot of institutional knowledge um who maybe were with the department for many many years you know are we still seeing the same sort of fall out you know where's the attrition taking place is it the new recruits what what does that look like today Council M Aras through the mayor it's um yes we are still seeing that and I would tell you and again I wish I'd have brought those numbers um we've seen a significant an increase certainly this year of separations um uh retirements um people leaving the state people leaving the profession people leaving the state to go be a police officer in some other state um kind of all of those kinds of things but um some of the gains that we've made over the last couple of years we've lost because of an increase in those retirements and separations and so um I I can tell you the first six months of this year we saw uh an increase in the in the number of separations versus uh last year and so it's not a positive trend uh for us at all but it's it's a challenge for us absolutely is so so is the department as a whole just getting increased increasingly younger and younger yes is that what you're saying yeah about 75% uh of our patrolmen who are out there working and responding to calls for service have less than five years and in fact Five Years on the job in in their and if you look at the entirety of the department that's pretty consistent all the way up including myself that a large percentage of the police department uh both in tenure and in rank and in place uh have less than five years and so we are very young that brings a lot of great energy and a lot of a lot of really positive things but yes experience walking out the door um that's not easily uh gained back okay um I I know a couple years ago this Council invested um at your uh recommendation that we create a longevity pay structure can you help remind me what those years are where and maybe feel free to send me an email I know is a little complex um it would be good to just take a look at that I know it was super helpful yeah there were like benchmarks of five or seven years 9 or 12 15 20 25 and 30 I think off the top of my head and so and we did when that came out we retained several of the people that had been here in excess of 20 to 25 years we held on to probably seven or eight that I can think of uh that were ready to retire in management command level positions we held on to them for a couple of years so it was it was it was a great great effect and impact on us great um we'll keep up the good work on on that front and um I want to turn to the active Transportation piece um really also uh happy to hear that those Collision numbers are going down particularly the fatalities um but have we really started to hone in in on a couple of those key corridors I know you showed a heat map of where those collisions are taking place but have we started to list out what are those you know top one through five six or seven key corridors where we're seeing the most number of collisions yeah yeah the traffic the Traffic Division within the police department uses that kind of data to uh inform where they go for enforcement obviously there are a lot of other elements related to Traffic Safety other than enforcement but from the police department perspective we're using data like this to inform on a daily basis where the officers are going to work I don't know if that answer your question directly that absolutely answers part of it um but from a planning standpoint are we all also taking a look at that that data as well thank council member May and Council uh I would say we have taken some Case by case looks but there's actually been recent conversation about um taking a more comprehensive approach to look at um more of the injury or fatal collisions and really do a diagnosis of um the specific instances that led to you know that Collision occurring but then also looking at the built environment around there and um we actually have U received some interest from Community stakeholders that have been participating in the city in these efforts around um you know greater traffic safety and um kudos to our Public Works director for recognizing that we have a bicycle safety Coalition that exists today but it we probably could look at using that group maybe a little more um intensely and intentionally to start taking hard looks at specific instances that we can start to just better diagnose what really is happening in key areas and locations as well as key instances so it's actually something that we've just been talking about you know um um sort reinvigorating that group with with um a newer you know intent and purpose I think consistent with your line of questioning is really look hard at um both specific again instances as well as patterns and Trends in in where we're seeing these issues occur absolutely no I I appreciate that and I think um you know was just having this conversation earlier with a colleague about you know all of the capital Improvement projects that we invest in every single year uh through budget through m year and otherwise um and it would you know if if the real goal of this council is to you know reduce the number of folks that are you know dying on our streets because of traffic collisions then it really makes sense to me that we should be targeting those very corridors that have the highest rality rates so um no I appre I appreciate the the work there um and I'll finish my comments off by saying incredible job with Cal viip and calet program um you know it it almost brought me to tears when you shared the data um in committee uh I know that it's been you know in it's it's required increasing amounts of work and Collective effort um and collaboration so that we can continue to bring down the number of homicides the number of uh gun violence incidents and so I just wanted to my cap off uh to you Chief um for your leadership and your work there um and also uh Chief Straton I know that he has been deeply involved in that work um to all of our Community Partners but also want to say thank you to Christian CLE uh I know Christian you don't like to take a lot of um credit um but I think this has a lot to do with your vision and Leadership um and your ability to bring together all of our Community Partners and um I really appreciate I think on slide three uh one of the quotes is uh from Helen Keller alone we can do so little together we can do so much so with that just want to say thank you I appreciate that we are certainly not doing it alone and that's a reflection of who our partners are in this work thank you council member Arius council member core thank you mayor thank you chief for the presentation I think it illuminates a lot of just um Community questions around that that we are usually always Fielding as well so this is really uh just good for the cause to know um I too and this follows conversations you and I have had about domestic violence and calls I too receive uh from community members and um just to kind of build on some of the points made from my colleagues uh but also want to Echo the sentiment that when you receive the call it's usually when you know things are at their worst or at their Peak but it's also uh just to give it a maybe another point of view it's when someone has the most courage to call and and that's when you receive that call so um too often it feels as though domestic violence issues become like a household issue or a communal issue or a cultural issue when in fact you are clearly Fielding close to 2500 calls that you are actually receiving and I can't imagine actually I can because I'm receiving the calls when someone is not able to call the police department but they are in some very violent situations um so clearly this is a social issue that we need to think through um um but also be creative because it is a more sensitive crime that's occurring um and and I do think you know maybe the same philosophy can be applied for other crimes is is this truly something for our department to address or is this for an organization or a church but I think that can go to any crime if it's coming to us you know we're we're doing our our due diligence and addressing it but um in being creative kind of I think the incredible work done with Cal VIP is such a model of how Community collaboration with um our Police Department with those kind of with that kind of innovation of idea how we're able to address something that is um is is having a social impact on all of us uh perhaps we can use a similar model for domestic violence and I know there's um there are ton of tons of precedents uh precedent studies as well as examples in other communities as to what really works um are there different Partnerships we currently have that would just be good to hear out loud um or what are some things that you're kind of thinking through that would be good for the council to hear and kind of think through as well and be a be a thought partner with you um I myself would love to join that conversation just because of the volume of calls I get around this issue and a lot of the times I'll just be frank I feel helpful helpless as well as to how can I truly help because that person might have the courage today to give the police department a call but what does tomorrow look like for them what does support mean what does support look like when they don't feel as courageous on day three or day 13 um so I wanted to share those initial thoughts and how we can add elements of cultural competency as we have with the kind of the calet model um to Something That We're clearly seeing increasing um just calls with and uh one a second council member Audi's referral as well I'm had a similar uh referral but I'm glad he he made it tonight to just kind of just have a better understanding of the calls and what comes next really thank you thank you council member core council member gray thank you so much chief for coming when um council member arus and I heard this report first in committee um I was extremely impressed um assistant chief Stratton was there to answer some of our questions and the thing that came came out of it to me more than anything was the the presentation was how well you as a department are thinking outside the box you're not just applying traditional policing efforts but you're you're there's such a care um coming from the hearts of our police officers all the way up to your position that you all really care about our community you're not just policing but you're caring about us and I saw that in a few ways when um we put together you all put together the 911 clinicians so that we can talk some of those people that are just having a really difficult time they have a number they can call and somebody that can say hey I understand what you're going through let's talk about this and which helped the whole city because now you're not sending your officers out as often um I was really impressed with Cal VIP and all the partners that are coming in and helping with when there is uh gun violence you've got you've got people boots on the ground that are going to those families so that they don't retaliate and I think that's huge and um that Community uh collaboration of putting that all together it was just I was really amazed I was like like council member Aras uh at times my eyes did tear up because I'm thinking this is just awesome and from what I understand in that meeting there's other cities that are looking at some of the things that you all are proposing and doing now is that correct council member gray uh the um the model that we've employed over the last couple of years is one that is shared by different cities and um and it is a proven strategy to try to reduce uh gain gun and gang violence in particular but yes we we we model some of what after other cities are doing and and we do have frequent conversations with uh I was just in Madison was wiconsin a couple of weeks ago meeting with their Police Department talking about some of these things uh and they're likely to travel out here to hear about Cal viip and what we are doing as well and so it is definitely something that we're sharing uh in the profession across the country well that can make us very proud um the other thing on domestic violence you know I think about that this a lot we live in a very ter ter terminous world today you know inflation's gone through the roof gas prices uh food people are having a difficult time just trying to feed their families and I think that adds to a lot of this um pressure it's like a pressure tank that our citizenry is under and today I was um talking with our city manager and he was sharing some ideas that you all are talking about putting into place is it okay to share that um I think that would be great information I was really impressed with that uh thank you council member gray mayor and Council and chief can help Shore me up if I'm off base on any of this but um we have noted uh that both for domestic violence and even for those that are experiencing chronic homelessness that some of the same key principles uh that we've applied to gun violence intervention can be applied to very high-risk individual uals very much so in that we find that there's a very small number of individuals that are responsible for a very high percentage of the types of um arrests or offenses again related to both um domestic violence and those that are again chronically um uh making you know quality of life um nuisance crimes and so that will focus on data uh of understanding really who is at highest risk so that you can have a good return on your um investment and staff resources for those individuals but also intervening and having a direct intervention with those individuals to express concern and care but then also reflecting that if they don't try to change course that they are on our radar they have our attention we know they're at high risk but then also offering services and opportunities for them to step away from that scenario and so as I I shared with council member gray we're exploring possibilities um of Partnerships with community-based organizations just like we did on the calip side that we needed Community Partners as trusted Messengers to go and offer those services and engage and mediate with individuals that there are institutions and organizations that do that related to domestic violence as well there are groups here in karna that do that work but if we we find that not only if that work is occurring but if it's coordinated and again focused on the right individuals you can have B better outcomes so we want want to reach out to those groups and coalitions working on domestic violence in our community and uh coordinate the information that we have about those that are at highest risk and that would best benefit from those interventions so we're we're looking to um you know shift some some of our resources um to follow some of these same patterns we we do want to be careful to not take our eye off the biggest priority issues of um you know shootings homicides and dilute our work too much but we feel we can learn from these these good practices and dedicate the resources that that we do have towards those areas in just again a more focused way would you add anything to that Chief Terry said it very well well I've got one other question th this year um the um Sacramento um passed the care Court um I don't know how how else to say that but can you bring us up to date on this care Court situation either you or the city manager sure I'll take that one Chief thank you um so so care Court as legislatively um um enabled uh can go into effect um in Kern County at the beginnings of next year there were some pilot counties that have been working on it this year um care Court uh I I think it's you know good to just um share the candid feedback with Council that it's not necessarily within the city's purview it's more so in the purview of um the the County criminal justice and Behavioral Health Systems uh we have reached out to those Partners to inquire and ask about their preparations um and from uh the information that we have is that um there is still a fair amount of planning that's being done and observing these other pilot counties for how they have used care court but the systems here in Kern have yet to be fully developed of what care Court's going to look like who's going to make those referrals who's going to uh process um um those requests for folks to go through care court and I think also um you didn't necessarily ask this question council member I think it's relevant to the line of questioning is there's another um bill that was passed sp4 3 which um allows um uh um local governments to um address uh substance use with treatment different treatment options we're actually able to um essentially uh you know require individuals to um go through substance use treatment programs that also doesn't take effect until um next year um and then interestingly the the ballot measure that's on the ballot currently from the district attorneys that looks at some of our um um law enforcement laws is that there are clauses there as well that can compel individuals into treatment while those policy pieces are being put into place which are good new developments we have to have the operational pieces also set up um in our community and um each one of those tools probably won't address you know the 100 or 200 chronic individuals that we're having challenges with but we do believe that if you have four or five different options at least it gives you the ability to to select the option that's best suited to that individual so care Court's not going to address every individual that is you know having chronic issues but it may address a certain percentage maybe 10% and same for S sp43 and so we're we're anxiously awaiting for those tools but we're also a little bit nervous that we haven't seen the full buildout of those tools created in these other um uh agencies that you know have the responsibility and ability to manage those programs we know it's a big lift um and and we're here to help our partners but we haven't received those details yet well it's good news that um the state of California is looking at this a little bit different and then I've got one other uh big uh question just very quickly cuz I know we're running out of time here is a Supreme Court decision that just overturned the 9th uh District Circuit Court how is that going to improve our lifestyle here in Bakersfield yeah I think a council member gray that may and Council that is a question on I think everyone's mind and so I'll I'll do my best to address it uh first I would reflect that the city of Bakersfield already has ordinances on the books that do not allow for you know overnight public camping and we've been enforcing those um you know within the the resources that we have uh we respond to encampment you know notifications either from the community or that we notice on our own within 48 to 72 hours uh but unfortunately often the cases that that encampment is noticed it moves but they move to somewhere else and they just set up you know an encampment in another location so unfortunately the the grants P pass opinion by the Supreme Court it's not going to have a dramatic impact in the in the you know coming weeks and months because we're already enforcing the laws on the books uh for individuals who are um not um following our ordinances in addition to public camping there are other arrestable offenses that are vagrancy or quality of life issues if someone breaks a window if someone vandalizes property if someone you know forgive me for the graphic but if someone is you know defecating in public um or you know sleeping in a business's door those are already things that are not allowed and we do take action on all of those topics and so there's a a a small percentage of individuals that may be not breaking any law or breaking any ordinance but are you know publicly camping that that very small percentage this this new ruling does give us the ability to communicate to them you you can't Camp you know uh in in those ways but for you know 95% of instances we already have the the laws on the books and we're we're pursuing those laws the challenge is as has been stated by Chief but maybe I'll state it slightly more pointedly is we do not have an enforcement challenge we have been enforcing our laws but we have an accountability challenge where if individuals don't have some place where they can wait until they receive sentencing or wait until they can be diverted into the treatment that they do need because we're we're very interested in helping care for individuals who need care it's a service first mentality but some individuals are not making good decisions on their own behalf and if we can help them um have some consequences that divert them into that treatment that's an accountability issue it's not an Enforcement issue and and uh it is a it is a big challenge for our community we know because I think many individuals feel like you know it's a city issue and so it's a city responsibility but the city of Bakersville is not in the business of the accountability side that's our criminal justice systems or Behavioral Health mental health treatment systems and so we are enforcing significantly we we've increased the number of you know police officers on the streets through measure n over the last four years and we've increased our capacity to offer services we we're offering you know um many shelter beds and and um and affordable housing we're offering more services we're offering and and we're able to do more enforcement but there is a lack of accountability in other systems that really that's the answer to the Grants Pass is the accountability portion right yes I know we're hog tied in a lot of a lot of ways but I just want to close um Chief Terry by telling you and your your uh Department that you all are doing a wonderful job for us I appreciate it I feel like um our our Police Department is um very solid and on the right track and that we're very fortunate as Citizens in Bakersfield so thank you for the work you're doing thank you for your support thank you council member gray council member gray you asked about others coming to see the work that's being done here we had visitors from Guatemala and thank you chief for having your team host that along with the calv group and then city manager cleg did an outstanding job in moderating a calvet panel for our regional Southern sanen Valley League of California cities meeting that we hosted in Bakersville we had Mayors City Council Members all the way from Fresno down to here uh about 60 people all together learning and you did an outstanding job Chief and along with your team and our Community Partners council member we motion to receive and file motion you have a motion please cat your votes thank you Chief motion is unanimously approved thank you and now close session close session motion for close session motion for close for close may go if I may read the close session uh close session item 4 a conference with legal council initiation of litigation on two matters thank you we'll be adjourning to close session public I we are going in for at least 30 minutes so I am going to guest will be out here closer to 6 o'clock so sorry we have matters that we really have to consider and so um if you would just be patient with us we will consider those and then we'll be back out but it our attorney said it's going to be at least a half hour thank you we're adjourned to close session [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] sh [Music] [Music] sh [Music] [Music] she [Music] sh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] reconvening the 3:30 city council meeting Madame City attorney thank you mayor there were two items on tonight's uh close session agenda both having to do with an initiation of litigation and by unanimous Direction 60 with vice mayor gonz absent the city council authorized the City attorney to initiate litigation in both matters thank you thank you and with that we send a journ at 554 and we'll start the next meeting in just a few minutes technology Services can change out now [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] welcome to the Bakersfield City council meeting this television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies the county of Kern and the City of Bakersfield you can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 700 p.m. Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and the following wednes 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 515 regular city council meeting of July 10th 2024 Madam clerk please call the role mayor go here uh vice mayor G council member Aras council member we council member Smith I am here council member Freeman here council member gray here council member core here thank you if you're here to speak on item 8A the sewer connection fees item we're not considering that this evening and we'll be rescheduling that and it will will be noticed for a future meeting we will not be voting on sewer fees tonight so if anybody's still here for that uh you're welcome to stay or leave we have the uh pleasure tonight of having Pastor Bart height who is the pastor of New Life Church in the Northwest to offer the invitation we're just so thankful Pastor for the partnership of your church with cap K to provide a food pantry for our most vulnerable every couple of weeks and really appreciate that following the invocation Braden Muro who's the city's High School intern and a senior at Liberty High School he'll lead us in the pledge brayen is a high school intern with the city's development services department he also has dual enrollment at Bakersville College he's currently a for Dimension dreambuilder that's a big deal and National Hispanic recognition from the College Board Braden previously served as as ASB president at Liberty hi social media manager for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and he's an appointee to our youth commission thank you so much for your service and at this point uh if you all would rise and Pastor Bart come forward thank you can we bow our heads please Heavenly Father we come before you with gratitude we thank you for being a god of love who loves us and loves every one of us In This Very Room you never leave us you never forsake us we thank you for making each of us in this room every person we meet every C citizen in this city and every city in your image we thank you for the calling you have given every one of us to be good stewards of your creation and to love our neighbors as ourselves in the scriptures you have said that citizens ought to obey the governing Authority since you have established those very authorities to promote peace order and Justice and I thank you tonight God for these your service vants our mayor our city staff and our city council members I give thanks for the way for the way of service they have chosen to take up on behalf of all of us here and I'm asking that you graciously grant them wisdom to government govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times a sense of of the welfare and true needs of our people a keen thirst for justice and righteousness confidence in what is good and fitting and pleasing to you according to your scriptures the ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement and God I pray for personal peace in each of their lives and joy in their task I pray for the agenda set before them today I pray that you would be glorified tonight through the decisions of this city council I pray that that the peace that that your scripture says passes all understanding will be in this room tonight and will guard our hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus and we pray that your kingdom would come in Bakersfield as it is in heaven through your power working in each of these Ser each of the them your servants may your truth be revealed and may your shine brighter we love you Jesus we appreciate you in your name we pray tonight amen and amen thank you Pastor BR salute pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated thank you Pastor thank you Braden and you are free to leave now or join us here are a few guidelines to help our meeting run smoothly we request that you turn off your phones please be courteous in the use of cameras and videos for safety reasons and as a courtesy to others no signs are allowed in the council chamber or in the lobby Applause is allowed during the presentations portion of the meeting but not during other portions of the meeting everyone in attendance is expected adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council failures to abide by the city's rules of decorum including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts the meeting May result in your removal from the meeting Andor the council chambers being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn outbursts from the audience and surpassing the two-minute time limit Madam clerk next item please presentations item 4A proclamation to Keith F Powell Recreation supervisor 2 of Recreation and Parks Department declaring July 2024 as Recreation and Parks month in [Music] Bakersfield no matter where we live no matter what part of the city everyone wants positive recreational amenities for their families and we're so privileged to have our Recreation and Parks Department responsible for 63 public parks four public pools and 10 spray parks two sports complexes and two skate parks several pickle ball court locations including our newest location at jastro Park and one very large Amphitheater I am so glad to have Keith Powell here and thank you recreation parks department for your continued commitment to our community it's my honor to proclaim the following whereas Recreation programs and parks are essential to communities across America including the city of Bakersville and whereas Parks and Recreation are fundamental in establishing and maintaining our community's quality of life while contributing to the economic and environmental well-being of the community and whereas Recreation is invaluable to Residents in providing positive alternatives for Children and Youth especially during non-school hours and whereas parks and green spaces remove pollution from the air lower City temperatures and Aid in capturing and storing storing water now therefore I Karen go mayor of the city of Bakersville do hereby Proclaim July 20124 as Recreation and Parks month in our city and urge all residents to enjoy the social physical mental and environmental benefits derived from the city's Parks our street streetscapes and our programs it's my honor to be to present this to Keith pal Keith thank you so much and you're you're welcome to introduce your team and offer remarks um having just closed one of the busiest days of our recreation and parks department at Riverwalk Park it is my pleasure to bring up some of our staff today and with me today I have our Park uh manager uh Ranger manager uh Mr Billy Owens and I'll have introduced the two Rangers that are with him and I also have ER asava who's one of our Recreation coordinators then Bill if you like to introduce the Rangers we have uh officer Ranger Gonzalez andoro and and Gonzalez is one of our newest Rangers to the city program and we did steal him from the county so and Eric is one of our uh coordinators who's come up in the program she started out as a program leader moved up to become a coordinator for us and now she's a full-time coordinator and hopefully moving up real soon into another position um beersville is stronger and more vibrant and more resilient because of our recreation parks and departments and progr programs we'd like to thank the city staff and council members for believing in Recreation and Parks and providing us the necessary tools to carry out our duties the Fourth of July event demonstrated our ability to network and support our Community Partners to benefit our residents a big thank you to the bville the police department Bakersville fire department and the associated staff that made this event a success for the city the national model this year for 20124 is where you belong that was demonstrated on July 4th 2024 at Riverwalk Park Park we appreciate all the assistance and all the things that you guys do for us and we're very proud to be part of the city of Bakersville [Applause] we're all friends [Applause] right mam clerk next item please presentations item 4B proclamation to Andy Sullivan director of the Kern County Library celebrating the anniversary of the Kern County library system and highlighting the rich past of community service and commitment to libraries well welcome welcome Andy Sullivan Linda Fiddler far de deria and the kar County Library staff and anyone else that came with them we are so blessed to have our libraries I know many of you council members you've spoken about the wonderful times that you've enjoyed in the librar so today it's my honor to read this Proclamation the mayor of the city of Bakersville California has officially proclaimed July 11th 2024 as Kar County Library System day in our city in celebration of the more than 100 Years of dedicated service to Bakersville and Kern County in recognition of the Kern County library system established in 1911 to provide community members with access to books servic resources and other educational materials in recognition of the collaborative efforts of Kern County Library to enhance the quality of life for residents demonstrate a model of excellence and Foster a culture of innovation in recognition of Kern County Library's continued commitment to building our community by cultivating opportunities to enrich the lives of residents and connect them with new ideas and information in recognition of the partnership with the city of Bakersfield and in recognition of the many persons and organizations throughout the decades who have supported the Kern library system and aided in the advancement of our community it's my honor to be able to present this to you M congratulations thank you and why don't you all come further back hearing you're welcome to aler com good evening I'm Andy Sullivan thank you for this Proclamation I'm very thrilled to be sharing with you this whole crew behind me that makes it happen and Linda Fiddler who is a Community member and an advocate for libraries and set this whole Proclamation up so I really appreciate it I did want to I did want to highlight a few statistics from the four libraries that you guys are supporting so I grabbed some statistics today let me get my glasses I'm over 50 just so you know all 22 of our library branches not the just the four but all two 2 two of our library branches across the county in the month of June we had 81,000 people walk through our doors amazing right and in Bakersfield alone we had about 43,000 so it's about half of course that makes sense the other half are in the county areas so there's a lot of need and there's a lot of use at our libraries so the four libraries that you guys are helping to support and contribute to are the hallay Gonzalez Branch the baker Branch the Northeast branch and I am forgetting Wilson thank you I worked at Wilson I loved Wilson and the Wilson branch so during the uh the month the last six months when this project started and partnership started we had over 1100 new library cards uh just in those four branches we had 350 literacy focused events we had over 4,000 people attend those literacy focused events we had about 11,500 Wi-Fi sessions those are unique Wi-Fi sessions that is that is amazing that means people are plugging in every day and so it's different every single day we had over 4,000 computer users and 37 I 37,000 items check out um physical items digital items we had about 6,000 so about 41,000 items checked out from those four branches that you supported so I appreciate that thank you so much I'm going to introduce far behind me far is our marketing Guru and she's going to share some items that we'll give to Mar go to hand you for those four branches go ahead far hi my name is far I do marketing promot for Kern County Library um I wanted to present these calendars that I brought of items of events that are happening at these four locations and with your support and contribution how it's created such a positive impact for the community so I did bring those and um I hope to see you guys at some of these events that we're having there're so much fun it's so exciting to see these libraries fill up with fresh faces with old faces returning faces it's so nice to see oh and please come guest read at our libraries because we have such a great program um where leader we call leaders are readers where they come in and they read to the kids and it creates such a positive impact them oh and then um I'd like to introduce shelin she's the assistant director of libraries thank you my name is shelin Panetta I'm assistant director of the Kern County Library I guess I'm a little taller um and uh so since February since this agreement with our uh Kern County library and Bakersfield City went into effect uh we jumped to it and did lots of interviewing and hiring and we managed to get the Holloway Gonzalez branch open in May and all the all the other three Northeast Baker and Wilson um opened expanded to 5 days a week in June so we're just getting started it took me a while to get everybody hired but we're we're ready to roll We Made It by summer and uh this is going to be the best year ever for our Bakersfield branches thank you thank you all let Give It Up do a couple of them again very squeeze together perfect perfect all right and we'll do a couple of them three two one two one three two perfect [Applause] Madam clerk next item please public statements thank you in keeping with council's resolution public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I will call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and place it in the tray on the counter next to the speaker Podium we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on tonight's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda portion of the meeting if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a two-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for all non-agenda item public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call on you at a later time so please listen carefully for public statements if public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when you're item is called Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda Maro we've received five speaker cards regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda the first three public speakers are Johnny alz Cecilia Kev Johnny welcome please introduce yourself my name is johnz uh I am the existing CEO of a few companies in town as an entrepreneur and proud resident for 25 years I have recently been told that I am no longer allowed to reach out to agents of the city of bakesfield without appointment due to pending litigation this has been a across several departments I'm currently saving the solid waste division over $116,000 per month in hauling some of material out of their site and I do not charge a city anything I don't charge them a dollar I take it however you guys are paying another contractor money to do that so I'm here to request I need an email or a letter acknowledging that I am no longer allowed into city property so that I can forward that to my clients and customers I'm here and and I and I quote and and just so you guys know I also provide services for the State of California and other governmental agencies that work with Bakersfield and Kern County so communication is key between myself and my team which has become a problem and I'm going to quote Mr Bob Smith I'm here to serve the community the best I can and if they perceive that and interpret that as a conflict then I'll just do business different so I'm here to say I need an email acknowledging that I'm no longer allowed into city property due to pending litigation which you were aware of and that's my statement thank you next speaker please Cecilia followed by Kev followed by Valeria welcome please introduce yourself hello again my name is Cecilia marcial and I a perinatal nurse in the city of Bakersfield representing only myself last night I participated in a medical emergency with luck a working hospital supplies and living healthcare workers everyone is still alive I have been watching Healthcare infrastructure in Gaza be destroyed by a us funded genocide during the height of the covid-19 pandemic you called us Heroes well now my colleagues those same heroes are being system atically targeted with us weapons in the last 8 months the settler colonial state of Israel has killed over 500 healthcare workers including six doctors from Doctors Without Borders this is more healthcare workers than all reported conflicts globally in 2021 and 2022 combined 10 children are amputated every day in Gaza one child is murdered by quote unquote the most um ethical army in the world every 10 minutes 15,000 children more than all Global conflicts in the last 4 years have been killed by the apite state how many Palestinians Palestinians have to die to break your moral apathy in closing I'd like to remind remind us all that our county has been nicknamed The Killing County because the police here have notorious rates of police brutality from the karna river to the Mediterranean Sea we will be free next speaker please uh just a reminder that that isn't appropriate behavior for the chambers thank you next speaker please Kev followed by Valeria followed by Carmen am I able to this is just supplementary information please introduce yourself okay well you know me um again Karen hello how was the sushi was it good I don't care I'm here to speak on how the removal of the olive trees in downtown was an inhumane act by the city and I see that Andre isn't here but this is a Citywide issue or at least it goes into it because if we look at tree Equity score.org Bakersfield has hardly any areas with more than 20% tree coverage and looking in deeper the areas with that level of canopy coverage are predominantly white and Wealthy whereas the areas with the least are black and brown working class or poverty and considering that tree coverage can reduce heat in an area by up to 10° F we can see that this is environmental discrimination in which the city doesn't do much to make up for it there's no extra water and electrolyte distribution programs no extra cooling stations no shelter beds proposed before the start of summer and that doesn't even address the refusal to take action of the root causes of the connected environmental and Community issues like having a better Environmental stance to mitigate our climate instability or working harder to ensure that everybody in this community can even be housed that in the end these actions say that you don't care about the community members who have to exist in this heat and I know the conditions for us here are nowhere near as bad as that for the Palestinians but these are the reasons why I say that the city's failure to condemn the genocide reflects the way that they are willing to comply with the system that enables it because Israel also kills olive trees they kill them by the thousands that have lived for centuries and have been a part of families for their generations and then they displaced the Palestinians making them unhoused and forced them to endure the summer heat with little water free Palestine free oppressed people thank you next speaker please Valeria followed by Carmen welcome please introduce yourself afternoon I here today to talk about three reports that have released in the past few months regarding the inhumane treatment brought down on Palestinians by their oppressors first I want to talk about the new death tool estimate by the lanet one of the oldest and most reputable peer-reviewed medical journals to exist the numbers I have been bringing to you regarding the death tool for the past several months have been provided by gaza's Health Ministry with highly limited capabilities of counting the dead given that Israeli occupation forces are constantly bombing the hospitals they use for research the lanet reports that their conservative estimate results in a count of up to 186,000 or even more deaths secondly I want to talk about a report from heritz revealing that documents obtained as well as testimonies from soldiers mid-level and Senior IDF officers state that they deployed a procedure known as the Hannibal directive a procedure where they the IDF are allowed to kill their own civilian the final report I'm going to talk about was the CNN report on San brought forth by Israeli soldier whistleblowers about their concentration camps for Palestinians these are photos leaked by Israeli Soldiers the soldiers describe a setting where Palestinians limbs sometimes had to be amputated due to injuries from constant handcuffing often performed by underqualified Medics earning it a reputation for being a paradise for interns these prisoners are put under extreme physical restraint they are strapped to their beds and wear diapers and are fed through straws Israeli soldiers describe beating them not for information but for what they see as Revenge people can argue that our goal of getting you to call for ceasefire is pointless but I refuse to forget that mayor Karen go announced her support for Israel and her gratefulness for America's bond with Israel back in October and she has yet to walk back on it after all the evidence we have brought forth of abuse of ethnic cleansing of war crimes after the Palestinians here in Bakersfield have come and given their personal testimonies for that she deserves to be shamed for the rest of her life and so does the rest of this counil that refuses to take action free Palestine next speaker please Carmen followed by Brian welcome please introduce yourself hello hi Patty gray this is your son he was assaulting people out in front of City Hall and uh smacking cell phones out of people's hands and I love that you're praising the police for doing nothing about it um let's see let's hear something horri horrific shall we Israeli forces fatally shot 14-year-old gasan garib Hussein zadan in the back while he played with friends yesterday in the central occupied West Bank Israeli settlers and soldiers attacked Palestinian residents who tried to reach gasan while he bled out Gan garib Hussein zaran 14 years old was shot and killed around 2 p.m. on July 9th in the Palestinian Village of dear Abu mashal west of rala in the central occupied West Bank according to documents collected by defense for children International Palestine Gan accompanied by two other children was playing at the entrance of the Village near the Israeli only Road Route 465 three Israeli soldiers traveling in a civilian vehicle on Route 465 fired four fired live am ammunition at the children from a distance of 200 to 300 ft away Gan was struck with a bullet in the back which exited through his abnom a Palestinian vehicle transported him to a medical clinic then an ambulance brought him to the Palestinian medical complex your time is up can you bring your comments to a close please um yes I will I'm would like to leave you with the sound of a baby crying she has one lib no mother 14 dead family members and a dad left and we're paying for this Sease Fire free Palestine next speaker please Brian hello welcome please introduce yourself hello uh my name is Brian Kens I'm a visitor from St Louis I just wanted to give this counil a couple of notes just as a visitor a fresh pair of eyes that you guys have never seen before and you've never and I've never seen you so uh number one that intro that you guys do is really weird you guys should reconsider it it's giving Starship Troopers I don't know if this council is familiar with that but it's very authoritarian number two the Christian prayer I'd like to know when Muslim prayer night is where do I sign up for that number three this first warning that you get about uh disruptive uh actions and behaviors sets a tone this first warning we all come in with a first warning that's that's aone it's not very good uh next I would like to know how much of the budg budget the city budget is spent on police I hope it's not more than 50% let's keep that down to 10% if you guys would like it uh has the counil form to ceasefire resolution it sounds like you have not that would be very helpful it would probably sit better with all of your consciences we wouldn't be up here giving you guys crap I don't know if that word is allowed uh next I would like to say is this Council aware that is complicit uh through its inaction I'm guessing that you all know that you are uh every day that you all sit here and look at me and the rest of these fine people who warn you about the events that you're complicit in uh another family in Gaza dies another child is killed another family is taken away from their relatives some of these people are losing 10 20 30 members of their entire fam so just keep that in mind as you all sit here and look at me crazy um somebody talked earlier about a thirst for justice I don't see any of that Kaza is drowning drowning in your inaction keep that in mind and the last thing I'll leave you with pretend it's your children pretend these are not white uh I'm sorry pretend these are not Middle Eastern children that you're seeing Pretend This Isn't So Far Away pretend these are your children uh I know you all probably consider your children safe if you have them from bombs being dropped on them or maybe running out of water and not having a safe place to sleep tonight but think about it maybe it could be you one day Madam clerk do we have any other speakers may go that was our final speaker thank you next item please consent calendar items 7A through 7i for approval a staff memorandum was provided regarding item 7 E3 transmitting the signed agreement I think we do we have any public statements for agenda items there are no public statements for agenda items well we'll actually just wait for a minute and uh let our guests leave okay Madam clerk next item now consent calendar items 7A through 7i for approval thank you and council member we does any does any council member wish to recuse themsel from an item does any council member wish to uh pull an item for specific reasons no seeing none seeing no other items pulled for separate consideration Council council member we will make a motion to approve the agenda through item 7 through a through 7 I you have a motion please cat your votes motion is approved with vice mayor Gonzalez absent thank you next item please I hadn't done that for a long consent calendar public hearings items 8 a and 8 B for approval a staff memorandum was provided regarding item 8A requesting the change to the staff recommendation to open and close public hearing as the item will be Ren noticed for a future meeting an additional staff memorandum was received regarding item 8B transmitting correspondence thank you again to clarify we're not considering the sewer fee connection the sewer connection fees this evening it will be Ren noticed for a future meeting and if for some reason you really need to speak on the sewer Fe item tonight we'll move it to the public hearing agenda item it's now time for consent calendar hearings the purpose of the section is to V Mo sorry is to vote on all of the items listed under consent calendar hearings in one motion without further comment if anyone would like to speak on any of the hearing items listed the item must be removed from this portion of the agenda If an item is removed it will be placed at the end of the regular public hearing portions of the meeting and at this time I'll open consent calendar public hearing items 8 a through b is there anyone in the audience who would like to request that the hearing item be removed from the consent calendar if so please come forward this isn't the time to take testimony only to remove the matter from the consent calendar hearings good evening um I would like to request to remove eight B for separate consideration please thank you B thank you does any council member is there anybody else who wishes to have an item removed for separate consideration does any council member wish to remove an item from the consent calendar so at this time consent calendar public hearing item 8A is now closed and I will be moving 8B to the end of item nine which will be the hearings our next item is public hearings all each side will be allowed 15 minutes it's 15 minutes for all speakers per side so it's important that you identify yourself and make your statements succinctly So Others May speak well here's statements from those opposed to the staff's recommendation first and we'll hear from those who'd like to speak in favor of the staff's recommendation if there's testimony on both sides each side will be allowed a five minute rebuttal there's a clock on the TV screens behind me which indicates 15 minutes please step to the microphone identify yourself and after 14 minutes a yellow light will come on at the end of 15 minutes a red light will flash indicating that your time is up please end your statements quickly you may ask questions during your statement but they won't be addressed until the public hearing is closed if you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement give them to the clerk she provide copies to the council please be courteous to others who wish to speak Madame clerk please read the public hearing item public hearing to consider a resolution for vesting tentative track map 7356 phased a staff memorandum was provided regarding this item transmitting correspondence thank you city manager c yeah thank you mayor and councel our planning director Paul Johnson will provide some brief context for this item thank you honorable mayor council members uh if I could get the clerk to bring up the slideshow I'd appreciate it I just have a few slides to show um and clerk can advance those those may be just as easy it's it's up to you so this is uh vesting tentative track map 7356 it's located in Southwest Bakersfield thank you uh the request is to subdivide 63 and a half acres into single family homes and what you are considering tonight is an appeal to the planning commission's approval of this project more specifically excuse me it's located in the west Ming specific plan Village a often referred to as high gate at 7 Oaks the map itself uh is to subdivide into 218 single family lots four public park lots which will be maintained by the HOA one drill site and one drainage basin the Planning Commission did consider this on May 2nd of this year um just prior to their consideration we did receive a letter from Friends of the Bakersville Kit Fox an environment that a m memorandum was prepared transmitting that letter to the Planning Commission uh there being no one at the public hearing to speak in support or in favor the Planning Commission considered this project on the consent agenda uh within the timely manner as Allowed by the appeal process um the friends of the Bakersville kidf Fox and environment who I'll just refer to as friends did submit an appeal to the planning commission's approval on May 10th 2024 their appeal referenced the letter that was submitted to the Planning Commission in the memorandum uh in response to that appeal the property owner did prepare um a response and that dated June 18th and all three of these documents are included in the admin report as noted by the city clerk um this earlier today we did receive additional comments from Friends uh basically they just supplemented minorly uh information from their uh staff has reviewed that and um believes that the response that was provided by the property owner is sufficient Therefore your Council has two options with the appeal the first is to deny the appeal and approve besting tentative track map 7356 this decision would uphold the planning commission's decision to approve the map or your council could approve the appeal which in that case would deny the track map in other words you would overturn the planning commission's decision to approve uh staff is recommending option one to deny the appeal and approve the map this is the end of my presentation I'm available if there's any questions thank you and before we open the hearing I will ask the city clerk to uh read council member Freeman's uh reason for recusal please may go Council member Freeman is uh abstaining from this item due to uh personal financial effect the appearance of a conflict of interest thank you and council member Smith did you have public no I think you were accusing yourself no oh oh okay sorry uh and now uh we're open for comments from the public at this time hearing item 9A is open is there anyone who'd like to speak in opposition to staff's recommendation if so please come to the microphone identify yourself and proceed um hi oh hi sorry I'm Dante my name is Dante aler uh I just came here to uh just to see how this works because I've never been to a council meeting before but I just wanted to say uh the last thing I think we need is more single family homes in a rich neighborhood uh I think I I think personally they're ugly I I don't know I feel like more Apartments would be nice cuz I feel like single family homes just take up a lot of space a lot of water and you're ruining beautiful Greenery cuz look how nasty and brown it is I think single family homes have their place uh in every city for sure but I just feel like more single family homes with more pools with more I don't know I just feel like it's it's a waste of resources a waste of water I just think uh I feel like it'd be I understand there is a lot of red tape to building uh Apartments because there's a lot of red tape there's more payments I know you have to pay more for uh parking space and I know that I think in some states in the US a lot of that's why a lot of people don't build apartment complexes is because they have to pay so much for parking space uh I understand that but I just feel like maybe it'd be more beneficial if we either renovate it into a nice park or maybe Apartments but I understand if that's out of you know there's limits to that anyway yeah that's it thank you is there anyone else who'd like to speak in opposition seeing none is there anyone who'd like to speak in support of staff's recommendation okay welcome Mr theer good evening mayor members of the council my name is Scott the uh senior vice president of castl and cook um tonight we have our attorney that has uh um responded to the Friends of the Kit Fox uh she's here tonight to address any concerns you may have uh Miss teller from the law firm of uh Remy moose and and Manley um we also uh reviewed a late copy of the friends of Kit Fox friends uh this afternoon and in that response theyve referenced that the uh surveys that our bi biologists had done um should have been taken or done it in the evening and uh our biologist provided a response to that then he provided the survey in accordance with the protocols uh that are in place with the resource agency I would like to drop that off I I know it was sent to the city earlier but don't know if it it was set very late uh so if I can drop that off and also if you have any questions uh with the response from our attorney or the response from uh the friends of Kit Fox Miss teller is here to uh help answer any questions you may have thank you thank you Mr the you can just place that in the tray and our city clerk will get it is there anybody else who would like to speak in support seeing none is there anyone who' like to provide rebuttal statement in opposition to staff's recommendation seeing none is there anyone who would like to provide rebuttal statements in support of staff's recommendation seeing none I'll close the public hearing item 9A and return it to council for comment and action council member Smith thank you mayor I just want to ask staff one more time staff feels responses uh from the applicant to the appeal have been adequately made that is correct council member Smith yes thank you uh with that I will make the motion to deny the appeal and approve vesting intend of track map number 7356 uphold the planning commission's decision to approve best intend of track map 7356 thank you council member Smith I don't see any other requests to speak you have a motion please cast your votes motion is approved with vice mayor Gonzalez absent and council member Freeman abstaining thank you and now next item will be 8B Madam clerk would you read that item please public hearing to consider first reading of an ordinance for zone change number 24- 0339 housing element rezones thank you and we like to council member Freeman the door might be locked a city manager CLE thank you mayor and Council again our planning director Paul Johnson will offer some introductory comments to this item yes thank you and again I as the city clerk pulls up the slides I'd like to recognize Jose Fernandez and the audience he's worked hard on these rezoning efforts trying to get our housing element approved so this is a zone change on approximately 420 Acres throughout various sites in the city and it's to facilitate compliance with the California Housing element law this is necessary to provide the required inventory of housing sites that are appropriately zoned to comply with the regional housing needs assessment or Reena and you've heard that term several times for the sixth cycle housing element housing elements go in 8year Cycles so the sixth cycle is 2023 to 2031 in which case the city of Bakersville was tasked with constructing 37,461 Homes at various income levels during this time uh so the purpose of this is to provide sufficient opportunities or a site inventory where these homes could be built it's a relevant to note that out of that 37,000 plus that's 65% of the County's overall 57,000 650 housing units that must be built as noted various locations all our correspondents with this included a link uh and that was a link where you could access a website and it was interactive where you could zoom in and and actually pull up the APNs pull up the addresses and pull up all the information of what the previous zoning was and what it was going to a lot of these sites that were identified were Outreach from Property Owners to City staff requesting that um their sites being included uh so that was accommodated again also it included some of Staff identifying appropriate sites that could be rezoned we did establish a list that was um it was sent through Planning Commission as I'll note in a moment uh we did have one property owner had about 12 acres that did it was going from commercial to a mixed use and that would allow commercial or residential in which case that individual or property owner came back and said I'd like to be removed from the list uh therefore you'll see a discrepancy in in the acreage but we do have 63 Parcels that are being rezoned right now which is actually 42109 Acres which will provide an additional 6,638 units or opportunities for residential units with this zone change there is no physical development that is contemplated all de vment will be contemplated at the time of submitt in which case then squa or the California Environmental Quality act will be reviewed for that project and also will any compliance with Endangered Species Act or the California Endangered Species Act will be evaluated at um when development is proposed and the reason I say that is because we did receive a late comment letter on this one also from Friends of the Bakers field Kit Fox and the environment and that was transmitted in a memorandum the Planning Commission did approve this zone change or recommend approval of this zone change on June 20th 2024 similar to the previous project I discussed there was no one in support or opposition to this project we had no correspondence so the Planning Commission unan unanimously approve that on consent uh City coun or Planning Commission and City staff recommend that the zone changes are appropriate and necessary to adopt for adoption of the sixth cycle housing element therefore we recommend approval of zone change number 24- 0339 st's available if there's any questions thank you Mr Johnson at this time hearing item 8B is open is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition to staff's recommendation please come to the microphone identify yourself and proceed welcome hello good evening my name is Emma dear R Roa and I'm the regional policy manager with Leadership Council for justice and accountability um first of all I want to acknowledge uh the work that the city is is continuing to do to ensure that it is in compliance with the housing element I understand it's a huge undertaking that we desperately need to complete um so thank you for all of your work um however we do have some concerns related to um affirmatively furthering for housing and the uh compliance of government code section 6558 3.2 uh we did include some comments in our comment letter related to the discrepancies from the Planning Commission staff report to today's staff report but staff um was able to uh address those concerns so thank you so much we understand why the there was a decrease um however um the amendments to government I'm sorry the one second the proposed ordinance um is inadequate uh because it must demonstrate that the proposed resoning uh resoning meet all requirements in government code section 6558 3.2 subdivision H and I specifically the proposed ordinance does not indicate if the city now permits owner occupied and Rental multif family uses by right for development in which 20% or more of the units are affordable to lower income house households so that um is not addressed in the ordinance so that should be addressed before approving the rezone lastly as I mentioned we are concerned about affirmatively furthering for housing uh the city is does have a duty to affh and we are concerned about the overc concentration of low-income housing not only is the city overc concentrating low-income housing on the east side of Bakersfield East of the 99 but it is also overc concentrating it in the city's most environmentally burdened areas as HC included in their comments the city must Foster inclusive communities however at this time the city's inventory appears to concentrated a large share of units available to lower income households in the Southeast and Central portions of the city um I know you can't really tell by uh the map because the um on the east side the uh the the little dots are much smaller so you can only really see the larger sites in the map and you do see that they are spread out throughout Bakersfield however when you look at the Central and Southeast bakersfi there are much smaller um Parcels or acreage that are um going to that are going to be zoned for for multif family housing specifically R4 and mx1 and MX2 which uh would lead up to uh 30 to 100 uh units per acre if I'm not mistaken please correct me if I'm wrong uh but that is a concern we ask that you um incorporate uh Mobility strategies as identified in the H city um guidance memo to ensure that the city is affirmatively furthering fa housing and not perpetuating U patterns of segregation thank you thank you Miss delosa is there anyone else who would like to speak in opposition seeing none is there anyone who wishes to speak in support of staff's recommendation seeing none I'll close the public hearing item 8B and return it to council for comment and action council member Smith thank you mayor in response again to the Friends of the Kit Fox there's is no physical development so there is no problem as far as the kit box are concerned isn't that the Nexus with with these zone changes there is no development proposed when development is proposed The Endangered Species Act or California Endangered Species Act will both be considered at that time yes yes thank you uh with that I will make the motion to approve item 8 B thank you I don't see any other requests to speak so you have a motion please cast your votes motion is approved with vice mayor Gonzalez absent thank you next item please Council and mayor statements council member Smith thank you mayor just a couple things I will not be here at the next meeting so thank you Mr strago for your service and you moved the department in a good direction and one little Heatwave you moov to the coast I don't know do appreciate it and congratulations I wish you the best and I just wanted to reinforce uh Park staff had mentioned the the 4th of July event at Riverwalk and once again a great Community event and um just a great opportunity for everybody to come together and and for the city to put on the fireworks show is is a good thing so appreciate that thank you thank you council member Smith I don't see any other request to speak so with that we stand a journ at 6:55 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]