[Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [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 welcome you to the 3:30 regular city council meeting of July 23rd, 2023. Madam clerk, please call the role. >> Mayor Go >> here. >> Vice Mayor Core >> here. >> Council member Arias. >> Council member Gonzalez. >> Council member Weir >> here. >> Council member Smith, >> I'm here. >> Council member Coleman >> here. >> Council member Basher >> here. >> Thank you. In keeping with the council's resolution, public statements are received at different times. I'll call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time. If you wish to make a public statement, please fill out a public speaker card, place it on the tray next to the speaker's podium. We ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on today's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda. Speakers who do not identify specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-aggenda public statements. If you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda, you'll be called first to speak. statements are given a two-minute time limit, 20 minutes total for all non-aggenda item public statements. If you hear if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda, I'll call for you at the appropriate time. Everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council. Failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum, including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting, prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city. Consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts this meeting may result in expulsion and/or the chambers being cleared. Madam clerk, do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda? >> Margo, we have received one speaker card for non-aggenda items. The first speaker listed two individuals, Frank St. Clair and Tracy Spencer. >> Thank you. Welcome. Just step up to the microphone and introduce yourself. If you can just adjust the mic to your level, please. >> Mine first. >> Yeah. >> All right. Mr. Sinclair's going to go first. >> I'll go first. And then >> Is that how you've worked it out? >> Yep. That'll work. Uh, thank you, esteemed members of the city council. I am Frank St. Claire, the uh owner of the Parkwood Apartments, and we're across the street from uh 3501 Wyel Road, a uh social hall known as uh Moga Palace. Um and uh it's owned by Manique Beir. Um he's been renting it out to um groups for many years. However, over the last several years, it's become more of a nuisance in the area and it's become louder and more out of control with large crowds. Um, we have complained to Mr. Babir, my manager Tracy, she's going to testify this in a second on multiple occasions and his response was, "I'm going to get you fired and uh, you know what I'm doing is uh, perfectly okay." Uh Tracy has talked to Frank Torres uh with the uh law enforcement uh who has been uh in conversation with Mr. River also and uh he's also stated to us that they're um not in legal compliance with zoning codes for what they're doing. There's limits to what they can do on a social hall and they're out of compliance. Um the uh Tracy has also come to city council meeting uh three times in the past and um you know we haven't you have well you're going to testify to this. There's no there've been no real response at this point. Um we have now over 200 responses from tenants in our apartment complex. It's a large complex. You've probably seen it. It's across from the bowling alley. 300 units. and we've got um over 200 uh people signing the petition to do something about it. Now, on top of that, we've got local businesses adjacent to it, uh the Carnosia, uh the 76 convenience store, Howard's Mini Mart, and uh Bolera Bowling Alley. They've all signed a petition saying they've got a problem with it. In the in the case of the uh carnosia and the bowling alley, the problem is um the crowds are exceeding the capacity of the building. There's no parking in his lot that would satisfy having over 200 cars there. So, they use alternative parking anywhere they can find it, which includes our apartment complex. Um multiple incidents have been recorded by her on video of these incidents occurring. There've done some street takeovers over the years. There's been a couple shootings at the at the property and it's really gotten to the point where we have to do something about it. So, um I'm asking for u some help here to see if we can do something about it today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Sinclair. And Tracy, would you like to offer remarks and then I can follow up? I I've been involved in the situation. So, >> yeah. Thank you. >> Basically, um Frank has summed it up pretty much. Um I've been here a couple of times and have spoken to you guys about it. Um, and we have gotten a petition together with all of my tenants. We do have over 200 signatures. Um, my tenants do um have the right to have quiet time in their apartment. They do have children they need to get down. Uh, babies um that type of thing. Um, it's just not fair to the tenants either to not be able to have their quiet time and I have expressed that to you guys in the past. Um, and I just we just need to get to a solution on this. It's been going on for far too long. Um, and I'm just asking that we can finally come to some kind of an a solution at this point. Um, yeah, Miss Spencer, Mr. Sinclair, thank you for bringing that again before our council. In the past, I have notified the appropriate people about that and I'll make sure to follow up. If you'd like to leave the petition just in that tray, we'll get it to the right people. And again, just very sorry for the disruption that it's causing the neighborhood, but we'll make sure that we follow up with the appropriate. >> Could you have somebody um contact one of us? Absolutely. >> Because nobody at this time has contacted me or St. Clair offices. >> Okay. We'll make sure that happens. I I know that the police chief and his team have been engaged, but we'll make sure that somebody follows up. I'll get the information to Mr. uh Cle also. >> Okay. Um Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Frank and Tracy and and your family. Thank you for your outreach. Um as well, uh you you guys are at a at an interesting kind of boundary line uh within the city. So technically your property is in ward six with council member Bisher Tosh and your the hall across the street is actually in ward one with council member Aius. Um, so my district is just south of it and I I know you had reached down. Uh, I I did try to connect, but I want to make sure that you also understand the boundaries and how it kind of it's a little bit funky in that area, but we will make sure that you know staff continues to do outreach um and and we get uh some kind of resolution here whether uh staff if we could make sure that code enforcement also you know gets involved in this issue and um thank you mayor for being involved with uh helping out to come to a solution. Thank you for being here today. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Madame City Clerk. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? >> Margo, we have not received any more speaker cards for non-aggenda items, nor have we received speaker cards for agenda items. >> Thank you. Next item, please. New business. Item 3A, resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of not to exceed $65 million in aggregate principal amount of city of Bakersfield, California wastewater revenue refunding bonds series 2025A approving a six supplemental trust indenture, a preliminary official statement, a bond purchase contract, an escrow agreement, a continuing disclosure certificate, and authorizing and directing additional actions in connection with the issuing ments of the revenue refunding bonds. >> Thank you, Mr. Kle. >> Thank you, Mayor Go, Mayor and Council. I'll invite our finance director, Randy McKean, to introduce this topic. We've got a brief presentation for you. Uh what I would point to is that uh this is distinct from our other recent wastewater conversations, but still related in that it's uh all connected to that enterprise, but we're happy to bring some good news to you today that um overall is to the benefit of the enterprise. Thank you, city manager Kle, honorable mayor, council members, Randy McKean, finance director. The item that's before you for this meeting is a bond refunding opportunity that's made available to us really connected back to the bonds that were issued back in 2007 when we did the re expansion of plant 3. So those bonds in 2000 the 2007 bonds were refinanced in 2015. And as part of that refinancing, it was structured to allow us to have the opportunity to look in those out years for cost savings. We took advantage of one of those opportunities in 2020, issued about $10.5 million in refunding debt. And now we have in essence a final bite at the apple, so to speak. Um with eight years remaining on the 2020 uh 2015 debt, uh we are looking at this opportunity again to generate some savings. Uh before we move forward, excuse me. Uh I wanted to introduce the finance team that really put together this opportunity uh laying out the opportunity to save additional funds for the wastewater operations. First we have members from the city. We had members from the water department and the finance department. Our longtime B bond council of Qout Rock. They actually were the council in 2007 when we issued those bonds. Our longtime disclosure council Danny Kim our our uh municipal adviser QC I mean Fieldman rollup. They are actually here in attendance. And during uh about two months ago, as part of this refunding opportunity, we issued an RFP RFQ to select an underwriter. And that that selection process with the assistance of of our municipal advisor, we selected Bank of America Securities as the underwriter for this opportunity. And their bond council is also rounds out the finance team. So just as an overview of what we're doing here, again, this is a final opportunity to build some uh savings related to the debt issuances that go back to the 2000 plant 3 expansion. So the plan here based on the underwriters proposal is to issue five and a $55 million in uh refunding bonds against the remaining amounts of the 200 2015 bond which is amounts to $65 million. In addition to that um one of the things we really wanted to to highlight here is we don't move forward with a boundary funding unless there is certain measurement benchmarks. And in this case uh we we don't move forward with refinancing unless there's a net present value savings of at least 3%. We are well above that. But what that means is in essence the cost of debt uh service for the remaining debt must be at least 3% lower than what the current debt service is. So that's what that allows us to make that decision to move forward. So again related to this bond refinancing I think one of the the highlights here is that every bond refinancing we we go through a review or we should go through a review to update our bond rating. So couple weeks ago, staff met with Standard and Pors uh their analysis of our presentation, their analysis of the financial situation of the wastewater uh operation. Uh they reaffirmed the double A rating for S&P, which is the second highest rating, the highest rating is AAA. But in essence, the double A rating means that their view the the wastewater operations are have a very strong capacity to meet their financial commitments and the commitments initiated by this refunding. Um this refunding will be on a parody with the existing bonds meaning that there is no subordination of that debt that the new debt will have the same uh claim to wastewater operational revenues. In addition to that like all wastewater debt uh it is secured by the net revenue of the wastewater operations. is this debt does not commit the general fund or any other uh city revenues to be to be pay make payments against this debt service. Again, we only move forward with these debt refinancings, refundings um if the municipal market bond market allows that. in the and and in in the current state, you'll see in this graphic that our the the bond um rating for the remaining years of this bond shows that we will have a true interest cost of about 2 and a.5%. The bonds that we are refunding have a rate of 5%. So again, we're creating that savings because of that interest rate difference. This is all based on analysis by our underwriter through um the J July 9th market conditions. uh we don't expect significant swings in the municipal market you know when we eventually go to the pricing which is actually going to be in about a couple of weeks. So we anticipate a a certain level close enough to this savings that we will continue to move forward. This next slide is the a full summary of what we're moving forward with. So on the right so you'll see the sources of this funding and we talked about issuing a 2025 debt of $55.8 8 million. In essence, we have to pay a premium to pay off the existing 2015 debt because it is higher rates. And then we have available funds. We already have available funds set aside in the wastewater operations for debt service. So, we're drawing on those portions of that, not all of it, portions of that to come up with the sources of $70.7 million. And that will be used to initial the the refunding uh process or the refunding of this debt. This debt will be taxexempt as most municipal debt is. It'll have it's non-callable meaning that there will not be an early redemption available for the remaining life of this debt. Uh because of the good one of the reasons for this no reserve fund. There's no reserve fund required because of the good financial situation. There's no significant risk of the the wastewater department not being able to make the debt service. So they don't it was built to not have a reserve fund. The debt is proportional debt service. So the annual payments are aligned proportionally with the regular the the the principal amortization that already existed and in this case there is the maturity is not extended out that that it will mature when that's the same time period as the date that it is replacing. So it is not extending a repayment of of debt. It is actually ending uh when the original debt is being uh that's being replaced. So I see here is the prel again this is based on the July 9th analysis of of the market the preliminary results of this I said we as I said we have a true interest cost of two 2.45% it estimates the savings uh from this is gross savings is close to $5 million $4.8 8 million net present value which is the based adjusted based on a time value of money is close to five $4.5 million and that results in a uh total savings of 6.5%. So again looking at that benchmark I talked about at 3% we are double that benchmark more than double that benchmark. So again it's it's the point when we see that we trig triggers us to continue to move forward with this free funding. Uh again based on the current market uh sit uh rates we anticipate that the annual savings uh to the wastewater water division on their debt service will be about $582,000 a year in the first seven years of this and that last year when it's eventually paid off that be a savings of 23 $61,000. So this next slide lays out the remaining debt on the wastewater bond. Uh so you see in the blue this proposed refunding of the 2025 is paid off by uh 2032 and that remaining 2020 bond is will be paid off in 2023 uh 2033. Uh so in essence by the end of 2033 the debt that was issued to expand plant 3 will be paid off and there will be no debt uh on uh related to facilities at the wastewater division through uh 2033. Uh final uh finally here are some the some major legal and aspects of the covenants related to the refunding kind of wanted to touch on. We already talked about the security. It is secured by the the net revenue of the wastewater operations not general fund dollars. There is no debt service requirement. And again I want to talk about the rates here. The rates are the rates that we charge our customers. And we are continuing on the requirement that the uh the rates are established. So we have at least 125% uh net revenue over the debt annual debt services requirements. So the net revenue is revenue above operating and maintenance cost of the op of the wastewater operation. So rates have to be established per this debt covenant that are going to and amount to this 125% net revenue uh over operating expenses. So that's one of the requirements of this debt. Um and it has been that requirement since 2007. Uh these legal requirements whether it be the parody whether it be the 125% of net revenue. Uh those are all uh connected to the master indenture that's been in place since 2007. So these are not new requirements and any new debt or this debt or any new debt will fall under the requirements of that master indenture document which basically t lays out the terms and conditions uh for entities that issue multiple debts issuances. So we are asking council to approve this resolution uh and and the related documents that were laid out by the the city clerk here. uh the sixth supplemental indenture which is the second the sixth uh indenture or agreement under the master indenture we just talked about. Bond purchase agreement lays out the pricing and closing requirements of a bond sale. Continuing disclosure certificate lays out the requirements to uh provide financial annual financial updates and and report any material condition changes to the SEC. uh the the the preliminary official statement really lays out is the document that investors look at to really determine whether they uh look to purchase this bond. And ultimately the escore agreement is the agreement with the third party to hold these bond uh proceeds to ultimately to be distributed for the defeasement of this uh 2015 debt. So, moving forward after today, if council approves these this resolution, tomorrow we anticipate a meeting with uh with uh the uh underwriter uh to to lay out and make sure we all understand the preliminary P official statement to to ultimately finalize it, issue it uh with ultimately being issued out and then the pricing in a couple weeks with the underwriter, the final rate that will be accomplished with this new debt and then closing a few weeks after that will uh with the final uh sale and and that will in essence be refunded uh close to or around August 21st. So with that we have representatives from our financial advisor and uh members from the water department as well if there are any questions. >> Thank you Mr. McKean. Mr. Kle, do you have any comments before we go to the public? >> I do not. Thank you mayor. >> Thank you madame city clerk. Do we have any request to speak from the public? Mayor Go, we have not received any requests from the public. >> Thank you. Uh, Council Member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor. A couple things I just want to make sure I understand. Saving money is always good. Uh, the the premium, the 4.6 million, that's the cost of the refinancing essentially. >> Yeah. It's part of the cost of refinance because we're defeasing debt that has a 5% rate. So, we have to pay a premium to to pay it down. So to refund it the the 4.8 gross savings is after that's paid. So really the the interest rate difference >> twice that. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood that. >> And um I I just think off of this subject but on the subject of sewer wastewater and bonding I had asked you to provide uh what our total interest that we've paid since 2007. And I think I'm reading $116 million. >> Yes. >> So that's and I added up the principal and it was 133 million or so. So almost 50% >> is goes to interest. >> Yes. >> Over the long term when you bond for something like this >> depending on the rate but good average. So, um, and I'm I know I understand, you know, it's a future discussion, but I think it's good to point out that, uh, you're spending twice as much because you didn't save because you didn't plan ahead. Um, and sometimes that's the position you're in, but hopefully we we can plan better in the future. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Any other requests to speak? Don't see any. Vice Mayor >> motion to adopt. >> Oh, do you have a >> I just have a quick question. >> Sure. Good. >> Um, so we've gone over this section of the wastewater, but we do have another one another section out there that we haven't really addressed at all. And um I think things will probably start building up because we're not we're not paying what we should be paying. So I would like to have a report not not in August but the first part of October a report on what we're going to do. >> Yeah. Thank you uh council member Weir. that is aligned with uh the plan that we put together uh after we suspended the 218 process that we were going to go and do additional analysis and we'll be in that similar time frame to be able to come back to the council this fall with some of that data analysis of what really is the plan moving forward. >> What what do you mean by this fall? We so uh I don't have the specific date of those council meetings, you know, in my head, but we can >> I just the the first re the first uh meeting in October, I think. >> No, I mean September. >> Well, uh I'm not sure about September. You had mentioned by October 1st, but we can do it in the September October timeline. I'll I'll double check with um Miss Budak to make sure that that timeline works, but we had targeted to be in September, October, bringing that analysis back to council uh so that then we can move forward with our outreach and education and and as well as direction from council. >> Okay. So, I can expect it in a couple months. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Weir. Anyone else? Vice Mayor >> motion to adopt staff's resolution. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. >> The item is approved with council member Arius absent. >> Thank you. And we have no further business and stand adjourn at 3:55. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Happy [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hello everyone. [Music] [Music] Hey, hey hey. I got you. adventure. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, [Music] Hey, [Music] Hey hey Hey hey hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, hey hey. [Music] Hey hey [Music] [Music] hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] by [Music] Hey, hey hey. Hey, hey hey. [Music] Hey everybody, baby. I'll be Hello. Hey every [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, hey hey. Come [Music] on. Come on. Hey hey hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, [Music] hey hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Happy [Music] honey. [Music] Do you? [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] How you doing? [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh, hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey hey. [Music] Hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I want to be. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] I feel like you do. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome to the Bakersfield City Council meeting. This television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies, the county of Kerna, and the city of Bakersfield. You can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 700 p.m., Sunday at 10:00 a.m., and the following Wednesday at 7 p.m. You can download the agenda for this meeting at www.bakersfieldcity. us. Preciding over this evening's meeting, the honorable Mayor Karen K. Go. Good evening. It's my pleasure to call to order the 5:15 regular city council meeting of July 23rd, 2025. Madame Cler, please call the role. >> Mayor Go, >> here. >> Vice Mayor Core >> here. >> Council member Arus. Council member Gonzalez >> here. >> Council member Weir >> here. >> Council member Smith, >> I'm here. >> Council member Coleman >> here. >> Council member Basher >> here. >> Thank you. Welcome to all of you. We're especially glad to have our Bakersfield Youth Jobs Program interns and fellows with us and we're going to have them engage in the civic process tonight and then ask a bunch of questions afterwards. But uh thank you all for being here and to the rest of you, welcome. We had the pleasure tonight of having pastor Saul Gonzalez, pastor of Life House Church to offer the invocation. Pastor, thank you so much for your church's engagement in our community. I know that you serve so many and have so many outreaches for the betterment of all of our residents. Following the invocation, Eric Ruva Cabba, who's a junior at uh Bakersville High School, will lead us in the pledge. He's a city hall intern for our economic and community development department, a member of the Ford dimension, which is a big deal, ASB class treasurer. He's a peer tutor with a 4.3 GPA tutoring Spanish-speaking students. And he's a member of the local control advisory council and the AVID student council. Seven years playing the violin, first generation college student. And Eric wants to be a surgeon. So look at all those aspirations and accomplishments. Would you all please stand? Thank you for the honor. Let us pray. Father, there's a name a man by the name of Jabus. The mom named him Jabus because the birthing was a difficult birthing and a lot of great things, valuable things happen through the birthing process and through sometimes pain. So we thank you that that as you lead this council to lead this the the people of this community which are your people and as they conduct your business for this uh for your people. We pray that this council will enjoy wisdom solommonic wisdom uh divine direction uh the right contextualization compartmentalization and the concentration to kind of know what to do next. And that comes from you. that kind of direction comes from you. And Jabus prayed this prayer. Oh God, bless us. Bless me. And then would you enlarge the territory, the influence of every member, council member, the honorable Karen G, our mayor, and everyone here? Would you enlarge our vision, our capacity for more? Uh would you enlarge our hunger for you and uh with your blessing? Blessing and enlargement is not enough. We would like for you to accompany us. He says, "Would you be with me? Would your hand would be with me?" That's a personal relationship with the God of Israel. And then lastly, would you protect me, bless me, enlarge me, be with me, protect me. And I pray that that would be the prayer of every person in this place and this city council that we would enjoy enjoy that kind of divine blessing. And then the word of God says, and God granted his request. In our Lord's name we pray. Amen. >> Eric. >> 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. And you may be seated. Thank you, Pastor Soul and Eric. And you're welcome to either stay or leave at this time. 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 in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council. Failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum, including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting, prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city. Consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts the meeting may result in expulsion and or the chambers being cleared. Behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements, shouting, hate speech, interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting, speaking out of turn, and outbursts from the audience. Madame clerk, next item, please. >> Presentations. Item 4. A, proclamation to Scott Thigerson, CEO of Kern Medical, declaring August 2025 as Valley Fever Awareness Month in Bakersfield. >> We also have All of you, whoever wants to call, >> with Valley Fever being unique to our area in Arizona, we are so blessed that we have the Valley Fever Center, the Valley Fever Center right here. And just so grateful for uh the late Dr. Dr. Hans Einstein's investment here, Dr. Royce Johnson and our whole Kern medical team that we have people who really are championing something that other voices in the United States really don't champion because of its uniqueness. Thank you so much for all the research and the efforts that you've put forward. So today, it's my honor to issue this proclamation. Whereas valley fever is a progressive multi symptomatic respiratory infection and debilitating disease caused by fungal spores that exists in the soil. And whereas valley fever attacks the respiratory system causing infections that lead to symptoms resembling many common infections including cough, fever or fatigue. And whereas the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical is committed to increasing education and awareness for the public, patients, and health care providers. And whereas it is vital that residents and visitors alike are aware of the existence and symptoms of Valley Fever so that if an infection is contracted, early treatment may be administered. And whereas the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical also remains dedicated to magnifying this growing epidemic, educating the public on the importance of early diagnosis and meeting the needs for clinical care and research by health care professionals. Now therefore, I Karen Go mayor of the city of Bakersville do hereby proclaim August 2025 as Valley Fever awareness month in our city and urge all residents to be educated and aware of the threat valley fever po poses and lend support to finding a cure for this potentially deadly disease. It's my honor to be able to present this to Scott Patterson. Thank you so much. And please introduce all of your colleagues and take as much time as you would like. >> Well, maybe not all the time I'd like. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council. It's an honor to hear to be before all of you. I think last year when we were here, the person that led the flag salute was also interested in a career of medicine. So, it's great that it's someone else. Uh, our general surgery residency has restarted and is alive and well. So, we'd be more than happy to be introduced to the young man at a point in time so that we can help him in his pathway and interest in in becoming a a physician. Um, I'm honored to stand here and represent Kern Medical and its efforts. Uh, but more importantly, I'd like to honor Dr. Johnson who has given his career to medicine, to care, to education. Most of the physicians who have come to this community likely have passed through the doors at Kern Medical and were introduced to this wonderful community because of the educational programs there and nearly all of those physicians have had um training and education from Dr. Johnson. In addition to that commitment, he has been leading a lifetime and while he will humbly say on standing on the shoulders of others, but in trying to solve this puzzle of this terrible disease that can have just immense awful impacts on individuals lives. With that, I'd like to ask Dr. Johnson to share a few words. >> Well, uh, madame mayor, members of the council, guests, uh, thank you very much for this. I think part of the goal of the Valley Fever Institute is public education as well as professional education, patient education, uh patient centered care, patient centered research. So trying to get the message out is uh to the public is extremely important and I appreciate you giving us uh the valley fever uh awareness month in August. So thank you so much Mayor >> please. That' be wonderful. And to everyone come and join the walk which we [Applause] In keeping with council's resolution, public statements are received at different times. Depending on the item, I will call on the city clerk to call for public statements. If you wish to make a public statement, please fill out a public speaker card and place it in the tray next to the speaker's podium. We ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on today's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda. Speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-aggenda public statements. If you hear to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda, you'll be called first to speak. Statements are given a two-minute time limit per speaker, 20 minutes total for all non-aggenda item public statements. If you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda, I will call for you at the appropriate time. If public statements become disruptive and I've declared the chambers to regain order the meeting, you'll be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called. Madame Clerk, do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda? Margo, we have received five speaker cards for items not on the agenda. This first speaker is Daryl Terrell. >> Thank you, Ker Medical Team. Welcome. Would you please adjust the microphone? There you go. Please introduce yourself. >> Um, good evening, honorable mayor. My name is Daryl Tero. Uh, and honorable members of Bakersville City Council. Um, I am a resident of the city of Reno Valley and Riverside County. Just last week down the street before the honorable county board of supervisors, I successfully advocated the first reading of a proposed catalytic converter unlawful possession ordinance. Back in 2022 in this in this chamber, this esteemed body considered a similar ordinance. Council Member Aies, Council Member Gonzalez, Council Member Smith, you were right in 2022 to move this that ordinance forward, and I'm asking you to move it forward today. For the past three years, I stood in city council chambers and county boardrooms across Southern and Central California, fighting to pro protect hardworking families from this crime that continues to hurt our working families every single day. I met a a single mom who walked outside um one morning ready to take her kids to school only to find her catalytic converter stolen. She missed work and she lost income. I spoke with a um a retired um veteran who couldn't make it to his VA appointment because Steve uh struck in the night. He told me, "I served my country, but I never thought I would feel unprotected." These are the faces of this issue. Now, here's the challenge. State law AB 641 creates a legal loophole that allows thieves to steal up to eight catalytic converters and no consequences. No kidding. I have spoken to deputies about this and they told me they have come across people that had the catalytic converters in the car with the tools in it and then nothing they could do about it because it didn't meet the threshold of the of AB641. So, what I'm here tonight is that we can close that by adopting that 2022 catalytic converter unlawful possession ordinance to give your officers the tools they need to to arrest a person to hold them accountable for stealing Cadillac from hardworking families. And that's what I'm here to ask you to do is to consider that ordinance and and please um go thoroughly because you got you already did it. It's time to go further so we all could be on the same page so we could be what Kern County is is has already done. We all in this county cuz even in my own city in my own county we have 28 cities in my county. We are all on the same page with the county of Riverside. I advocated that because it because I had a friend at my job who got his catalytic converter stolen and nothing they could do about it, but we can do something about it today. It's to hold people accountable. These thieves that's in our in our community and and let Sacramento know that we don't play. When you attack one of our people, you attack all of us. Thank you, Madam. >> Thank you, Mr. Tero. Thank you. >> Next speaker, please. The next speaker is Robert Hooks. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> Oh, hi. I'm Robert Hooks. Um, so I'm following up on the city budget meeting a couple meetings ago where the comment was made that um the budget wasn't cut enough and that we should rely on philanthropy and nonprofits to um cover more non-infrastructural types of services. So I was curious about it and did a little research and found out that it's that's just seriously a bad idea. And I was just going to read a few things. Um so essentially there's no real transparency or oversight over um services that come that way. Um it provides instable services because of short-term and volatile funding. Uh you weaken the ability to respond to crisis. Uh there's really these boards are accountable to their donors as opposed to the public. Uh donor-driven priorities. There's a very long list. I'm not going to read everything that I printed out for you guys. But then Kern County has additional challenges in that, you know, we're not exactly a wealthy county. Um, so we um actually traditionally compete poorly for grants. Um, and then basically run the risk of further entrenching inequality. And so in as much as I do believe that nonprofits in philanthropy, excuse me, has its place in the community, you know, gutting our public services is really uh dangerous and irresponsible. Thank you, Mr. Hooks. Next speaker, please. I sorry, Inzi and followed by Anthony Buman and Irene Seratoss. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. You can go ahead and just sit down and uh yeah, right there in the front. That's fine. Uh welcome. Please introduce yourself. Hello, my name is Inzari. Today we're going to speak to you and get your support and funding for an issue within our community. Together with Councilman Andre Gonzalez, we are a part of a group of summer interns that focuses on evident sorry on evident problems in our neighborhood. We made the decision to address the issue of stray animals and as a result, we have developed a system that rewards community members who continue to address the apparent problem. As shelters fill up daily, Bakersfield pet population continues to overrun the street. We have collaborated with nearby shelters that would help us from a publicity perspective. So, we do have organizations supporting our goal of reducing this problem. We view the issue of stray dogs as a cascading effect as fewer and fewer owners spay and neuter their pets for reasons like fees, the misconception of masculinity, or simply pure laziness. We have observed that when animals are not spayed, their health and various behavioral problems cause a number of other issues which ultimately cause them to run away and breathe at uncontrollably high rate. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> Good evening, city council. My name is Anthony Beckman. I hope all is well. The excessive dog numbers subsequently result in everyday euthanasia rates as the shelters are compelled to attempt to take in an excessive number of dogs and their institutions are continuously under a great deal of stress. As a result, at least 10 dogs are euthanized at nearby shelters every morning. We are aware about the municipal code which was first put into effect by the city of Bakersfield in December 2023 which requires all dogs older than 6 months to be spayed or neutered with the exception to those who have a breeders permission or certification for unaltered animals. In order to make locals feel less pressure to breach the law, we would like to see the act put into effect more often. As shel as shelter capacity continues to run out, the number of dogs being put down is increasing. In 2024 at the Kern County Animal Shelter, 6,133 dogs were brought in last year and 2,971 those dogs were put down. Also in 2024, the Bakersfield Animal Shelter was told that they would be given $100,000 a year for three consecutive years by the city of Bakersfield. Although the shelter received the funds for the first year, they have yet to receive the funding for years two and three due to budget cuts. As a result, the shelters have continued to struggle with the growing amount of daily operations and public services for animals. With rising costs of daily living, people find it difficult to pay an average of $250 to $1,000 to spay or neuter their pet. This proposal seeks funding from the Bersville City Council to support the establishment of an awareness campaign and operation of a lowcost or free spay and neuter mobile clinic aimed at addressing the growing issue of animal overpopul in our community. Thank you. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. Hello, my name is Enes Aratos. We hope that our suggestion will help you realize how urgent it is to address this problem in our community. Throughout this period, it will be essential to educate the residents of Bakersfield about the repercussions of failing to spay and neuter their dog, which will be made possible with your help. By putting in place a possible incentive system, we hope to gain your cooperation in engaging our community members to actively bring in their animals. We intend to use our incentive plan to offer a few weeks throughout the year where those who bring in their animals for spaying and neutering can be rewarded with a financial incentive that will be paid by our city. This will be this will make it possible to convince the members of our community to bring in their animals to further support their health. It is our belief that the city council is the first step in improving the welfare of animals in our neighborhood. As we work to improve the lives of animals in our neighborhood and the city of Bakersfield, we hope to have your support. Thank you. >> Thank you. And to all three of you, thank you for your remarks. Council member Gonzalez. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh colleagues, um these are three of 12 of my summer interns and uh throughout the summer, they've been engaging in a project-based internship. So rather than making copies, reading mail and answering phones, uh these high school and college students are actually uh assigned an issue and then they go off and they research it and they talk to community stakeholders and they uh find policy solutions uh that they then can recommend or uh take action on. And so this is just one of uh three different groups. Uh and I just could not be prouder of of the three of you. Um, thank you so much for your professionalism, for coming to the council. Um, I did not spoon feed them at all. Uh, they did all of their research. they came up with recommendations on their own and uh they wrote these remarks uh completely independent of me and I and again I'm just super proud of you and I will make a referral tonight based on your recommendations that we look at ways in which we can uh build upon those ordinances that the city council has established the breeder ordinances and also look at uh ways in which we might be able to program some some sort of incentive uh that that might work as a pilot pilot uh so that we can see if that actually encourages uh individuals who otherwise wouldn't uh spay and neuter their animals to actually take that action because we know that this issue of overpopulation is a a slow burning issue that has been endemic in this community for far too long for decades now. uh and uh quite honestly it's embarrassing uh it's embarrassing for our region and so uh I would like us to really get a handle on it and and that's that's sort of what we were trying to do when we passed these ordinances just just um a few years ago. Um but I think uh now is the time for us to build upon it and so I'm going to make that referral. Mr. Kle, I'm not sure exactly what committee you you would prefer it going to. I'm completely open. But uh I would like us to add this to our list of uh of issues. >> Yeah, I think council member noted I I think probably safe and healthy neighborhoods is would be my recommendation. We can clarify that with chair aras offline. Uh but we'll work on that referral. >> Fantastic. Thank you so much and uh thank you again. Thank you for your work. Great job. >> Thanks. Uh city clerk, next speaker, please. Margo, we have no more speaker cards regarding non-aggenda items and we have not received any speaker cards regarding agenda items. >> Thank you. Next item, consent calendar. Items 7 A through 7 I staff memorandums have been received for items 7E9 correcting the subject line and item 7E19 correcting the subject line. >> Thank you. And colleagues, I haven't received any requests for recusal or to have anything pulled. Vice Mayor, >> motion to adopt consent agenda. >> You have a motion. Please cast your votes. We have some of our new colleagues, staff members, uh, at the city clerk's council tonight and so we're certainly willing to give them the time they need to learn. We all have to learn at some point. You can go ahead. >> The motion is approved with council member Arias absent. >> Thank you. Next item, please. Hearings. Item 9A, mitigated negative declaration pertaining to the consolidation of South Kern and Old River Mutual Water Companies into the city of Bakersfield water system. >> Thank you, Mr. Cleger. >> Thank you, Mayor and Council. Just uh would note that this is an item that your council has been briefed on during the budget workshops as uh other briefings as well. uh staff is available to answer questions and provide additional information if necessary. But I'll I'll ask our water resources director, Chris Bud, to just provide a brief summary of this item. But as you've seen a presentation a few times, we didn't plan to do that presentation again unless um there's additional questions by council. Miss Budak, welcome. >> Good evening, Mayor Go and council. Um this hearing is scheduled to discuss the mitigating negative deck uh M andd much easier to say uh for the South Korean Old River Mutual Water District Consolidation Project. Uh the purpose of the project is to provide water service to the two mutuals by extending our existing water service line approximately one mile and then provide the distribution lines to the the homes. And so we have uh prepared the environmental document as part of the project um or I'm sorry the MMD as part of the project. And this evening we have uh Leslie Owens with us from Helix if there's any specific questions about the envir uh the document itself. And we'd be more than happy to answer any questions about the project if we um if you have any. >> Thank you Miss Budc. At this open up the public hearing this Yeah. and then we'll take uh public comment too. At this time, public hearings item 9A is open. Is there anyone who'd like to speak in opposition to staff's recommendation? Please come to the microphone, identify yourself, and proceed. This would be the time. I know that we've received a request from Mr. Benduchi. Uh we're going to have in opposition and then I'll invite for those in support. Is there anyone in opposition? Seeing none, is there anyone who wishes to speak in support of staff's recommendation? Please step to the microphone and proceed. Mr. Banduchi, are you in support or would you like to offer comments? I see that you've submitted a speaker card. Welcome. Please adjust the microphone to your level. And go ahead. >> Good evening. My name is Gavin Banduchi and I own a property. Well, actually the LLC that I manage owns a property in that the uh in in that affect affected area and I am looking forward to the city coming in and bringing fresh drinking water into that area. I just want to let you know that because it is important to me. My daughter actually lives in the house that is affected. So, it's kind of double, you know, as a homeowner and as a father. So, if you guys can get to it, the sooner the better. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Banduchi. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak in support of staff's recommendation? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing and return it to council for comment and action. Colleagues, I don't see any requests to speak. So, vice mayor, >> motion to approve uh the mitigated negative declaration. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. The motion is approved with council member Arias absson. Thank you, madam clerk. Next item, please. Council and mayor statements. >> Council member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor. I had a one referral and some comments. Uh first the referral uh for many years I worked in development and worked with the city's ordinance regarding mineral rights and and mineral setbacks to wells and and oil well sites and it seems like we can improve on that. Uh, so I would like to make a referral to the housing and community development committee for the city manager and city attorney's office to review. The city of Ventura and the city of Huntington Beach have codes that relate to the development of parcels with exploratory o oil wells which I don't think uh we address. and following committee review, bring back recommendations to the city council for options on updating our code regarding oil wells. And I just wanted to make a couple comments on the state of the city uh that we went to last week. Uh great job by Mr. Kle and the mayor. Really appreciate uh the work both of them did. the mayor's uh presentation uh really showed that you know the the moment momentum that we have downtown and you know great things that are going on there. U Mr. Clay mentioned the I like the presentation in that you know we we've always talked about a hundred police from measure in and he pointed out that we have actually 120 more police out on the streets because of the way we've moved things around and we've had great success in fighting crime. Homicides are down and and violent crime is is way down. We still have the problem with the sheriff's office and we're a catch and release with 80% of our quality of crime people back out on the streets in 24 hours. So that is our number one issue and I know staff's working on that and really would like to see some progress. Um, also he pointed out that traffic deaths over the last three years are twice what our homicides are. And so obviously we need to continue the work in that area, but uh, a lot of success and and still a lot of work to do. So really appreciate the state of the city. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Smith. I don't see any other requests. You know, the number 30 is a big number, and there's somebody who has been with us for 30 years. 30 years keeping the city out of trouble. And tonight, I just like to celebrate uh our city attorney, Jenny Jiro. Jenny, stand up. I want to embarrass you. Would you give her a round of applause? It's her 30th anniversary. We really appreciate you, Jenny. That's a long service. That just doesn't happen these days. and we really appreciate you. And so with uh no other uh request to speak, we stand adjourn at 5:49. And fellows and interns, just so you know, this is not normal. We normally have much longer meetings. So if you're writing a report or just taking notes, this doesn't happen. Is that true, Peach? From the California sort of. Last week was an exception, but uh thank you. I'll meet with you in just a second. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]