[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Music] the [Music] [Music] the [Music] n [Music] the [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [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 company's the county of kar 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 7:00 p.m. you can download the agenda for this meeting at www. Bakersfield city. us preci over this evening's meeting The Honorable mayor Karen K go good afternoon it's my pleasure to call to order the 550 15 regular city council meeting of September 11th 2024 Madame clerk please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez here council member Arius council member Weir council member Smith I'm here council member Freeman here council member gray here and council member core thank you and it is a pleasure to welcome all of you today it's good to see uh many people here engaging in the Civic process I know we have students from Bakersville College from Professor Holmes class welcome to all of you on September 11th courage sacrifice and selflessness triumphed over Terror today on the 23rd anniversary of 9/11 we remember the courage of the firefighters law enforcement officers and the countless civilians who gave their lives while saving others we remember the sacrifice of flight attendant Betty Anne on the first person to warn authorities that America was under attack our hearts go out to all who lost loved ones we remember the children whose parents didn't come home and it's with great gratitude that we remember the selfless men and women who put the well-being of others first they put the safety of others first may we grow in our support in our gratitude for all who continue to fight for freedom and uphold the foundational truths on which our great country was built would you all stand and join me in a moment of silence please which will be followed then by a prayer and flag salute heavenly father today we're grateful for sacrifice we're so grateful for those who sacrificed for others for the brave men and women who didn't think of themselves but they put others first we remember our firefighters the law enforcement all the civilians who who saved others not thinking of themselves and today we remember their fames their loved ones and we remember all of those who continue to fight for Freedom we're so grateful for all of our law enforcement all of our First Responders even today and it is in the name of the one who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the world that we pray amen please join us in saluting the flag Chief frando wus 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 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 chambers or in the lobby Applause is allowed during the presentations portion of the meeting but not during other portions of the meeting everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting prevents a 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 and or the chambers being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn outbursts from the audience and surpassing the two-minute time limit Madame clerk next item please next item is presentations at the request of Mayor go the order of presentations has changed our first presentation is 4B proclamation to Jeremy Tobias Community Action Partnership of kar chief executive officer Cali Lowry CK Food Bank program administrator Lewis Gil capk Chief program officer and Savannah oats advocacy and PR management manager declaring September 2024 as hunger action month in Bakersville well welcome Jeremy and Savannah thank you cap K for your collaborative efforts to create a future where no no one in Bakersville no one in Kern County must worry about where their next meal will come from access to healthy and sustainable Foods has become increasingly an urgent issue across our nation and now is the time to act we can volunteer we can promote social media campaigns participate in donations and attend events to ensure that our community has the food needed to thrive and it's my honor to issue this Proclamation whereas SE September has been designated as hunger action month to bring awareness to food insecurity in our communities enlisting the public support of the movement to take action to end Hunger whereas 44 million people including more than 13 million children face food insecurity in the United States and whereas more than 144,000 residents in Kern County with approximately 22% of them being children did not know where their next meal would come from and whereas organizations including the wonderful Community Food Center at the cap K Food Bank are committed to working alongside Partners to fight food insecurity in Kern County whereas with over 200,000 interactions with community members a month wonderful company Food Center at the cap Cade food bank was able to distribute over 20 million pounds of food in more than 200 pantry and commodity locations in Kern County now therefore I Karen Keo mayor of the city of Bakersville do hereby Proclaim September 2024 as hunger action month in our city and call upon all citizens to support food banks across the country including c k food bank by attending events raising awareness to help end Hunger in Bakersville and Kern County it's my honor to be able to present this to Jeremy Tobias thank you so much Jeremy for your wonderful support of our community thank you mayor go uh honorable mayor members of city council I'm pleased to be here to bring awareness of community uh hunger action month uh here in our community Bakerfield and Kern County have very high levels of food insecurity and the capk food bank is on the front line of that struggle since last year the capk food bank client engagements have more than doubled from about 100,000 monthly to close to 200,000 monthly interactions the food bank distributes 1.8 million pounds of food every month serving a community of our size only works with strong Partnerships the food bank utilizes 150 local partner organizations and over 200 Total distribution sites to serve our County with about 70% of those in Bakersfield we are proud of our important part part partnership with the city of Bakersfield on many Endeavors one thing that is important to point out and I think I think it's important for people to know this is what our typical client is like that we serve it's not so much the person on the street corner with a sign although we serve them and that's important it's really the Working Poor those with low wage jobs sometimes more more than one job doing the tough bluecolor labor intensive work that is vital for our society and our economy but unfortunately they see most of their paycheck go towards rent and utilities so I think it's important to note that the food bank plays a vital role with this community in helping them fill the gaps and keeping them in their homes and off the streets again I want to thank you for allowing me the time to speak tonight and thank you for this Pro Proclamation bringing awareness I'd like to turn it over to our cap K Outreach manager Savannah oats good evening everyone I'd like to come up and thank um some of you guys for attending our press conference and I think the biggest thing to put in conception here is it's hunger action month action is the key word here there's tons of activities that each of you and your constituents can get involved with one of the biggest ones that they'll kind of mention a little bit later with the fair is the feed the need food drive that we do annually this year it'll be September 24th from 4: to 11:00 p.m. um any individual that brings in six cans gets into the fair for free we encourage you to come out volunteer grab some cans from some of your individuals from your areas um have some fun meet some community members if you're interested in volunteering at our food bank on the third Saturday we do that every single month um we did present you guys with Hunger fighting shirts yard signs and pins to wear throughout the month it's in the back in the caucus room um but if you're interested in getting involved in any way you can go to capk foundation.org slam ironically 24 thank you I want one one other thing I want to give a shout out to the Kern County Fair and their board they give up their gate one night for us at our food bank they they offer free admittance with the donation of six cans of food so they give that up for us one night at the fair and that's a big deal thank you to the CERN County fairboard [Applause] while you're taking a photo I just want to commend cap K for all the wonderful work that they do for our community um I I actually as Casey the bull comes in and stills the show here um if I can uh just share I'm part I'm a part of a group that has a regular uh food distribution in East Bakers on Niles of montere and uh we serve well over 200 fames each and every month and we've been doing that consistently uh for the Last 5 Years and and that we would not be able to do it if it wasn't for uh cap K food bank and for the wonderful partnership that um the community has established and so I see it firsthand the need is only growing in our community in East Bakersfield and many of many of my constituents really benefit from the services that you provide so on behalf of all of them I just want to thank all of you for your your work yeah Madame clerk next item please presentation for a proclamation to Casey the bull and Kern County Fair Chief exe executive officer Mike Ott declaring September 18 2024 through September 29 2024 as current County Fair Days in Bakersville it's that time of the year again where families come together to enjoy all that the Kern County Fair has to offer thank you Mike Alcott thank you Casey for being here tonight and it's my honor to read this Proclamation the mayor of the city of Bakersville California has officially proclaimed September 18th through September 29th 2024 as Kern County Fair dayss in our city in honor of the Great annual Karent County Fair in recognition of the visitors who will pass through the gates of the fairgrounds to celebrate the wonderful Bounty of kar County in recognition of the visitors who will also enjoy the talents of our residents in this Autumn institution in recognition of the opportunity the event offers families to spend time together in recognition of the continued support and outstanding efforts of local businesses in our community and in honor of the great current County Fair where residents can treat themselves to a funfilled time and discover the magic it's my honor to be able to present this to you Casey thank you I'm going to give it to Mike though there we go thank you thank you mayor thank you city council and thank you city manager I also want to thank first uh for allowing the BPD to service at the fairgrounds they are incredible to work with officer dossy officer um erold and all the officers out there they've been incredible to work with and they keep us safe and we appreciate your efforts on that part um I do want to thank um Jeremy I don't know if he's still here but we do give about 50,000 pounds of food in one night for cap K which is incredible for their um food bank so that they can um help serve those that have food in Security in our community and the board of directors are very happy to be able to do that and uh continue to want to do that every year so thank you to cap K for their support and thank you for your support this year we have an incredible Fair um our numbers seem to be trending right on track so we should have close to 400,000 people here uh they'll be here for the 12 days of fair mostly on the weekends so you might want to sh shy away from the weekends but we do have almost every vendor is full people are coming from out of the County the food vendors wanting to be at our Fair uh we're packed uh we're packed with events like we have sea lions we have dinosaurs we have great entertainment this year some oldies my age and some that are younger um a lot of different entertainment especially on the stages we have um a lot of community acts on the stages which is from the local community here which is great to always see and I just want to thank you again I can't thank you enough for all the support you give us at the fairgrounds it is a lot that we have been trying to do the board and I um to modify the fairgrounds you have done a great job with the streets streets are incredible over there um we are just trying to beautify the fairgrounds which we've done on Union and parts of Ming we put up fencing we're going to do more asphalting man is asphalt expensive we might have to hit up the city and see if they can help us with that but uh Asphalt in the parking lots to try to mitigate the dust and on the roads and things like that but thank you again for all your support and I hope to see you all out at the fairgrounds thank [Applause] you can you see the council yeah there [Applause] next item please public statements thank you in keeping with the 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 specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a 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 for you at a later time so please listen carefully if public statements become disruptive and 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 Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda mayor go we have received 13 speaker cards for items not on tonight's agenda thank you and would you please call them the first speaker is Harry love followed by Marina Maria kones and Kev thank you and for the record council member arus has entered good evening um mayor go and members of the council uh my name is Harry love and I'm I'm here as a as a retired history teacher because history is important on the topic I'd like to bring up I came here 57 years ago for many of you that's a long time 1967 came here to teach at Foothill High School I'm from Los Angeles the other side down there those evil people people talk about and I came here to teach and I drove across the bridge on Chester and as I drove across the bridge in my Mustang by the way I noticed a sign sign said no diving sign is still there I looked over the edge and all I saw was sand and when I follow my first students I said is there something I don't know you need to be told not to die off this bridge and they said well we never see water in there I said really I didn't know it's called a river but I guess it's just a river bed so that was my first thing so when I was teaching history and those things all those years I also noticed that the river had other uses or abuses there used to be sand drag races on Saturday morning and I'd hear them I lived off Stockdale Highway and I hear about 6:00 in the morning saying in other words that riverbed became a motorized place and then not too so far afterwards I also heard other vehicles out there but they were large vehicles and they were taking sand out of the riverbed for construction so that river that riverbed became an economic or a toy thing but not a river so I'm very conc concern the fact that we've had water in there for the last two years and now we don't and I think it's very because as I look at history you have a role as a custodian for the people of Bakersfield on behalf of those people to keep that asset running as a river your time is up would you bring your comments to thank you much thank you Mr love next speaker please Maria kones welcome please introduce yourself good evening in the Indigenous Paradigm there's a direct correlation to how we treat the Earth to how we treat our waterways to how we treat the most vulnerable people in our society in bakersf today our rivers are drying up the fish are dying the wildlife that depends on the river is dying um the Earth is consistently pillaged for oil uses um we see our tax dollars continue to fund the genocide in Gaza I'm here to speak on behalf of the river of our Wildlife I'm here to speak on behalf of the children whose parents never come home I'm asking you to do your civic responsibility to care for our rivers and water ways because all life is sacred in every form I'm asking you to care about the ongoing genocide in Gaza even this week there was a massacre involving 100 people in the only designated safe go safe Zone um in masasi Gaza we come time and time again and we appeal to the heart we come with all of our hearts and all of our strength to ask you to care care for our environment to care for our Rivers our rivers are not for sale our Rivers should not be siphoned or sold to other counties this has been happening for the past 500 years I'm not sure if you know but the valley used to be a marsh land and we stand on yit's land and so even as an indigenous woman I want to honor the yit people the animals the waterways that that died because we would we did not protect this environment I ask you today to write the wrongs of History I ask you as people I know some of you de declare that you're people of faith I ask you to be decent human beings thank you Mr kones next speaker uh just a reminder just a reminder to the audience that Applause is not allowed during this part I know you're passionate and um just a reminder thank you next speaker please k welcome please introduce yourself yeah hey Council it's been a while since I've given a comment right not that long but I can still say that at its core the way you manage the city is inhumane and to say it flat out the drying of the kar River was a mass murder on the local Wildlife but what else can I expect from not even a council just individuals who wouldn't even condemn the massacres of human beings in current time where death like that doesn't even phase you because for whatever reason why was drying the river Your solution why cut the trees in downtown at all why avoid talks on a tenant's right to counsel or not fund it well enough when you'll fund a rapid response team to remove encampments you'll spend a combined millions of dollars on police for Mass surveillance systems for Surplus not regular Supply but Surplus ammunition out of anything but the actual police budget then again any of your good actions are to show face or comply with law you should be mobilizing to systematically uplift communities in the city like why does the majority of our funds go to uh come from social programs why do they come from state or federal grants why do we have to wait for infrastructure to fail before it becomes fixed or even the thought of getting fixed why do we have to experience 115 degree Plus heat waves for you to see your environmental impacts see it could be so much easier for the people in this city to live easily but your priorities say otherwise and outside of saying free Palestine Sudan and Congo and those oppressed by imperialism I'll say free our ecosystems our Wildlife our Rivers our lakes and our land which is exploited and pillaged for profit and War thank you next speaker please Ray mcdes followed by Auntie low welcome please introduce yourself good afternoon I am Dr Ray mcnish freshwater ecologist and associate professor at California State University Bakersfield from the Department of biology 333 this is the number of dead fish which include the native Sacramento suckers that my students and I have documented in the Curr River over the past 7 Days specifically throughout the bisa the Bakersfield Environmental Studies area which is approximately 1.5 River mile long my research team at CB has been conducting weekly monitoring in the current river from the stockdell bridge up to Har park over the past two months we have documented multiple Mass fish death events since August 28th the rapid decline of fish populations in the river in conjunction with substantial reductions of water availability in the river Channel is exceptionally concerning especially from a scientific and personal point of view I implore the leaders of our community to seek and apply alternative methods in the future to balance societal needs and flood control with supporting the river ecosystem one potential alternative method uh that can be included is incorporating a river bypass uh to dry out a subsection of the river Channel where maintenance activities can be planned and conducted this would divert water and relevant equality Wildlife to a downstream location therefore minimally disrupting the biological Integrity of the river this strategy among other Strate strategies will help support the river ecosystem while still maintaining and meeting the safety and recreational needs of our community thank you for your time and consideration I have supplied a copy of what I've just said to you thank you Dr mcnish next speaker please welcome please introduce yourself so good afternoon mayor go and city council members and City staff so my name is anti La I'm also a professor at California State University Bakersfield and I was able to obtain a copy of the Kern River Canal backup wheel reconstruction project and the streamed alteration agreement between the city of Bakersfield represented by Daniel Maldonado and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife so in this agreement it says that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has determined that the project could substantially adversely affect existing fish or Wildlife Resources and was included and has included protective measures on page page 3 to 10 okay and further it says that the permittee which is the city of Bakersfield has reviewed this agreement and accepts its terms and conditions including the protective measures to protect Fish and Wildlife Resources the California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer who signed this document was was Julie vent but since September early September as my colleague Ray mcnish pointed out the flow of the K River was halted authorized by the city of Bakersfield to prepare for River Channel maintenance and re repair or reconstructions in this time thousands of fish have died within one week and are still dying some trapped in Shallow pools silently dying and I've witnessed this too among them native species at the Sacramento soccer and we saw them trying to actually get over the wear at Bridge were but they were trapped there because there was no fish L this is a native fish okay and this is also violating fish and game code 5937 and 5901 furthermore I want to point out that cello puddles of the Kern River water make a perfect breeding ground for the Aus egypti mosquitoes a carrier of the vest Nile Virus which we are all concerned about there are cases in California when all mosquito fish are dead in shello puddles mosquito L can still thrive in oxygen depleted water that is above 90° fah I your time is up can you bring your comments to a close please Conta I contacted Public Health but there was no response thank you thank you Miss L Madam clerk next speaker please Mary Helen borrow followed by Zita dto welcome please introduce yourself thank you good good evening mayor go members of the council and staff uh first I want to thank you mayor go and Andre Gonzalez for being at the 9911 Ceremony this morning it was beautiful and a lot of people here may not know but the sister of one of the stewardesses on that plane that hit one of the towers has lived all her life here in Bakersfield Miss on and her husband anded Herrera so they're local folks just because the plane hit New York but they were Bakersfield people that died on that plane thank you also uh I came here because the city recently did some work on Sacramento Street next to my property and the the plumbing is leaking I told them about it they still left it that way so anytime my neighbors myself and if our sprinklers run water runs down the street and sometimes water runs down the street even when we don't put our sprinklers on and it's the the pipes are are not sealed properly okay and uh also I'm going to request the city to evaluate whether we can have speed bumps on Sacramento Street I was I'm a retired teacher uh we have Longfellow School at the end of our block there and mothers uh walking the children to Longfellow School and sometimes they have strollers and there are seniors in wheelchairs one of the seniors in the wheelchair almost got run over because people speed Down Sacramento Street to get to Bernard and and uh so we need maybe some speed bumps a few low-level ones so that uh our um seniors and mothers and children will be safe going to school and uh walking in our neighborhood okay and then the other thing that um I wanted to support uh the Kern River effort because uh it is so important you know having a beautiful River run through your city raises property value folks and we really need to have the water stay here not sold for profit to Southern California buyers because that's what going your time is up thank you thank you for your comments thank you very much may uh thank you Miss Barrow for your comments today I'm sorry that I no longer represent you in on the city council you're now part of part of ward 3 um and but I will make a referral on your behalf to Mr Meyer if we can look at the drainage issues that she cited I'm hoping that we can address them and then uh to your second Point regarding neighborhood uh traffic uh I I couldn't agree with you more uh people drive too fast in our residential neighborhoods and in particular with no regard to schools and in school zones they drive far too recklessly and um we do have and we have adopted a traffic calming handbook neighborhood traffic calming handbook for residents to uh look at and to uh find uh treatments to reduce uh the traffic speed on residential streets and so I'd like to refer you to that document I'll I'll send it to you myself make sure that you have that and hopefully we can work together with the residents so we can find some ways in which we can calm the traffic uh on those streets and in your neighborhood it's a beautiful neighborhood historic part of our city we need to protect it thank you very you thank you to all of you madam cler next speaker please good evening my name is z Doro I'm a parent two students at Jefferson Elementary I'm here to address traffic control and our children's safety I volunteer each morning to cross um as a cross guard at our school at the corner of Lincoln and King Street in front of Jefferson Elementary here we only have one crosswalk that's going across King Street with one stop sign the other street is a through street with no stop sign at all on the end of the street we have a freeway entrance we have cars speeding through here with no regards to our children and the cars are going way more over than 30 mph I've been almost take countless times trying to cross our children safely through these streets I have also personally had had to push children out of the way of cars not yielding to the small children Crossing I am out there with a stop sign and an orange vest um last week I personally witnessed one of our support staff helping crossing the children when I couldn't do it and it was about five elementary students with parents Crossing almost getting hit by a truck who's coming down with there's no stop sign to make a right-and turn on to King where the children are in the middle of the crosswalk already almost hitting the children and the staff member and then getting off the truck wanting to assault our staff member um we also have cars speeding down keing street and making u-turns almost hitting other cars and students we need a four-way stop right here on King and Lincoln we also need speed bumps or some extra resources on these two streets around our elementary to help control this and keep our students safe we have had multiple car accidents on this street corner in particular um just as a children getting ready to get out of school um we are asking for a a four-way stop to help us on making the street a little little bit more safe for our children this has been an ongoing problem for years now this this now finally needs to be addressed so please you know don't let something happen to our children don't let you know an accident happen whenever our kids get seriously injured or killed before you know city of Bakers show decides to do something and to help some to help control this Andre we met with you last year in the city of Bakersfield addressing the same issue M dto your time is up um I believe the vice mayor wants to make a comment thank you for sharing thank you really uh again another uh example of of of of folks who are driving too recklessly and far too fast particularly in um in school zones and so I want to thank you for coming and and raising this issue it is something that we've been working on I'm going to ask Mr Meyer can can you update uh the council and the public what has been done so far since our meeting uh with the residents and the parents at Jefferson School um last year honorable mayor uh vice mayor Gonzalez so last year after that meeting uh staff did go out make improvements to Ada ramps and some of the uh Street markings making it more visible the yellow ladder crosswalks um those types of um improvements um this issue did come up recently with school starting again so my staff has already been evaluating the area um the four-way stop at Lincoln and King has come up in discussion so and we're also looking at speed humps Lincoln King and Jefferson as well U because there is the park to the north of the school as well so we we're already in the progress or process of looking in that area um I will also add with the um on ramps to 178 off of believe it's Lincoln yes and deal being right there um if we try to make any improvements near those on ramps it will take more time having to work with calr but as far as the fourway Stop and the surrounding area we are looking to make improvements so what's stopping us or what are the considerations for this four-way stop uh I don't have that information at that time again this is something that was we were looking in this area based on recent requests and that's something that came up and we can we're we're looking into it I just don't have a hard date as to when we could get that installed if I may coun or vice mayor as well um as we discussed this and again just in the last couple of weeks because it's come up again we acknowledge to the community and to the council that um the timeline has been too long on this because we did have a community meeting a year ago we had some good follow-ups coming out of that there's a lot going on with Public Works around traffic safety and traffic calming we've done numerous projects throughout the city but um I think uh you know Mr Mayor even um had uh acknowledged to me that um you know we we we could have done more to address this sooner but it's a high priority for staff at this point under his direction now our interm director okay so I'm going I'm going to make a referral tonight that we work within the next 30 days to install speed humps uh within the neighborhood or some alternative to reduce traffic uh within that area and that we get a response to Jefferson parents and teachers and the school Community within the next 30 days of our traffic studies or whatever considerations we're making in order to meet warrants to get those four-way stops in thank you thank you m d Koo and to all of the parents who are here from Jefferson School next speaker please Cy Damen followed by Anna Rivera and Alex [Music] shahan welcome please introduce yourself my name is Kelly Daman I'm here on of the river and for anybody who's here tonight who's also here on behalf of the river will you please raise your hand so take a look guys we're here we're talking to you we have signed petitions we have recorded songs created art submitted photos shown up in court sent emails spoken to the state Water Resources control board come to city council we are talking to you and there me our message is very clear we want our River back it is not an easy task we are up against a lot we're up against climate change a vast network of canals we're up against a highly financed industry but really the most difficult thing that we are up against is an old way of thinking that is that a drop of water only has value if it can be converted into a dollar that we must sacrifice our well-being and our community in order to have jobs this is not true but many in our town have lived their whole lives under this misunderstanding they watched their River die and they thought it was for something but it was an empty sacrifice what we need from you our city leaders is wise persistent and Cooperative effort we need our city council members the city manager the city's attorneys the head of the parks department the head of the water department to work together to create a healthy flowing river we need our city leaders to reach out to another taxpayer funded body the Kern County Water Agency to get them to work for the river instead of against it we need our city leaders to Advocate on our behalf with the water agencies that hold rights to the river M Damien your time is up can you bring your comments to a close please okay um what I want you guys to do tonight is I want you to look at this group that is gathered here in front of you and what we represent here tonight is collaborative effort Stubborn Love and dogged persistence and we expect the same from you as our leaders thank you council member arus just a reminder again and I'm I'm not going to do this again please this portion of the meeting we don't have Applause thank you for being passionate but uh we just don't allow that council member Arius thank you mayor um I was going to say my comments towards the end because I'm sure there's additional speakers who are going to come up and potentially talk about this issue um but I think this last speaker uh hit the nail you know right on the head um the fact is we need greater communication on all fronts um and we have heard you loud and clear in in this chamber on social media in the paper and I just want to commend everyone um including a good friend of mine Mr Harry love thank you so much for all that you've done to educate our youth um and support our We the People programs throughout the county um but no thank you for your continued advocacy on this important effort I think we share a brain on many of these issues um and I think that we can be doing a significantly better job at communicating uh what it is that we are doing um and also talk about the ways that you all are helping inform our decision- making at the city of Bakersfield so um I I also think though this conversation uh must uh must also include some of the other challenges that we're facing throughout the city uh namely some of the homeless encampments um that we find along the river uh which not only cause issues for folks who are you know uh walking biking enjoying you know the river recreationally um but also the damage that it could potentially pose to some of the wildlife and the trees in the area the Shrubbery um because we do have to send in at at times equipment and trucks Etc into those encampments and those spaces to clean up uh some of the mess there and so I think that it would be great we've done this for other issues throughout the city I think it would be great if we set up some sort of standing meeting uh between our city departments um whe whether that be uh water division our code enforcement officer leads um our Parks and Recreation Department um and work with you know this is not an exhaustive list but uh many of the folks who are in the room including some of the professors at CC Bakersfield from current Community College District uh some of the Advocates who have been coming every single meeting it seems like talking about this very issue and let's talk to them on the front end in many cases they are the experts on these issues and they should at least be informed of how we're thinking through some of these challenges um three 3,000 fish dead in the river is a failure on our part and I think we could do better and and when we have to do better so um that's going to be my referral um I'll ask that we have make this a standing meeting and uh loop in our community um on this issue thank you next speaker please oh uh council member Smith sorry thank you mayor I doo want to commend the community for for all the work for trying to get water in the river and for two years we've had a beautiful river through Bearfield and it has been a different city because of that I just and I know The Advocates understand that the reason there's no water in the River today is because the courts had an injunction that water would continue to flow in the river and that injunction was appealed by the a districts and was successful in the appeal so that the courts have determined that the city of Bakersfield and correct me if I'm wrong staff that uh we are to operate the river per the agreements the contract with the a districts we ran what water we had what water we have rights to as long as we could we save some water in Lake Isabella in case it's a dry year for domestic use we want water in the river and I agree if we can work with a districts work with the Water Agency and somehow make it happen and I love the community involvement but the city of Bakersfield didn't just randomly shut the water off we as much as you and the council has for years since I've been on and before voted to try and use various means State waterboard uh lawsuits to get more water in the river and uh have not been successful yet but we will continue with you to work in that direction Mr Nero Mr click would you like to add anything to that thank you yeah thank you mayor and Council just a few additional thoughts I would confirm um you know uh publicly what council member Smith has shared is that it is true that we U are obligated uh by Court direction to continue to operate the river as outlined in the historical agreements I would also reiterate that um the city from May through August we chose to run on what rights we had to water uh through the river uh through all of those months at this point the reality is is if I could just put it very bluntly is the city really has no water to run through the river that is ours there's very limited surface water that still goes to the treatment plants um for domestic use but it is it is a trickle by comparison and so again um I I would acknowledge that we could have communicated better about this issue that we could work with our partners about this issue but the reality is we don't have water as a city to run through the river um it is a bit of a challenge with um an aluvial uh River area um to uh maintain some of those flows you know year over-ear but we do believe that through coordination and cooperation of the many individuals that have rights to that water that it can be done that has been the council direction that has been staff's action um and we we also want to see water in the river um regardless of the maintenance that's going to be done that has been um referenced in even some of our own materials there wouldn't be water in the river because again we don't have water to put in the river uh and so we're taking advantage of the opportunity to do the maintenance but if we had partners that were willing to put water through the river that would be the priority first um also I would just State a couple of points of clarity that U even with our management of the river under the agreements that there's essentially no water that leaves Kar other than in very extreme water years like 2023 there were very small amounts that went into the state water project but by and large uh you know 98% of the time uh water does not not leave Kar we do not sell our water to Southern California sometimes the city sells our water to um water agencies here within Kern for water Banking and and groundwater recharge but water does not leave Kar um I think I would just reflect as well that you know the city um actions that Council M Smith had pointed out in Prior years of legal actions as well as legal actions in recent years I think it's pretty evident where the city's position uh on this topic is and we we look forward to working with Partners again to continue to see uh water in the river and while we do have the opportunity to Advocate as a city agency uh there there is also the possibility and I think it would be helpful for our partners to Advocate directly to those agencies U they have public meetings with public comment at which they can be advocated as well while we continue to give our full weight um to that advocacy as well thank you Mr nard do you wish to add anything thank you mayor uh Council again as the City attorney I would like to underscore exactly what council member Smith has indicated to you as well as the city manager and I'll be a little bit more blunt than the city manager but um I would encourage you to go to Kern Delta they have public meetings and talk to them about why you want water in the river I would encourage you to go to North Kern and go to their public meetings and and be as um uh be as direct with them as you have been with us and I'm sure that you will continue to be uh direct with us but the city attorney's office and the council is doing everything that it can do to C keep water in the river and at the same time make sure we don't get sued for violating our contracts thank you thank you anything further finish mayor thank you mayor uh let me just reiterate what council member Smith said we want water in the river we want water in the river we understand uh the the uh environmental ecological benefits we understand the quality of life benefits um we have uh ourselves from this di articulated many of the arguments as to why we need water down the river um and so there's many of us on this dice who share your same vision and hope and um but what I like to do is kind of turn the table say what what is it that we can do as a city to join in on the fight and as we continue to engage um and pursue more water down the river um what way in what ways can we continue to uh continue to join uh Our Community in Sharing with Kern Delta and with North Kar the city of Bakersfield's priority to run river water down the river mayor uh vice mayor I think we're doing exactly that and specifically uh this Council has taken a very active stance in going to the state Water Resources control board we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to go to the state Water Resources control board and Advocate um for 50 to 990,000 acre feet of additional water to go down uh the Kern River that decision I thought was going to be uh coming out from the state Water Resources control board I believe in December of last last year we are still awaiting that decision so I would indicate to the public that um your staff as well as the city attorney's office we are doing whatever we can do to meet that goal that mission of the council and members of the public but at the same time realize that we have historical contracts that we must honor until and unless the court um excuses those contracts and we are not there yet so it is a delicate um Balancing Act and again I think as both you and council member Smith indicated we are dealing with an aluvial River and we have enjoyed the the beauty of that River from bank to bank for the last three or four years and we are now seeing what happens when it dries back um and that that is simply the nature that is the nature of our River I would just add a couple of points to the City attorney agree with everything that she shared uh we also recognize there's opportunities with some of our long longrange planning efforts we've got our current river element that's being developed as part of our general Plan update and um the information that goes into that Current River element will reflect um the feedback that we've been receiving from the community as well as the case that we'd like to make or water in the river um and there may be you know other opportunities as legislation comes forward or as grants come forward that you know we we work together on those topics but some of the the planning and collaboration um can be beneficial in addition to the legal fights that have been ongoing okay thank you I appreciate that um you know I I believe that in order for us to be good partners with the community we all need good information and share some baseline of um real uh facts and so I just want to kind of go through very quickly um some a series of questions to help all of us in the community and on the DI understand the issue a little bit more clearly uh from March to August there's a there's a season we call the Miller haen season correct can you describe that just briefly what the Miller haen season I'll do my best but I can invite other staff to to help uh the Miller Haagen season is when the largest portion of runoff water that's coming you know into our overall water basin Isabella is filling up that means it's a time of the year in which more water um rights and and access to water is available and uh we have the ability to to um use that water we could send it to treatment plants and uh other um retention areas like truck and lakes but also we can choose to run it down the river this year we ran it down the river and again we're fortunate with um so much of that water again in in a a wet year this last um you know water year that we were able to see 880,000 acre feet recharged into groundwater by running it through the River but that's essentially what the the Miller hegen season is and we measure River flow uh by CFS or cubic feet per second correct what was the CFS uh during the Miller hien season again March through August I'm not 100% clear but you like sta miss Mr C would you like her to come forward yes please thank you Miss buck welcome good evening mayor going Council um I don't have the exact numbers but on average uh during Miller Haagen season our approximate average daily CFS was just over 300 CFS a day during those six months um it's higher in the months of April through July and then August and September it does uh significantly reduce it's based on inflow so as the winter storms come in um they uh go up into the Kern Basin and then during the summer the heat comes in it starts um um melting and the runoff comes in and the greatest amount of runoff is between March and the end of August so then on September 1st what was the CFS so for the for the city of Bakersfield specifically is what I was referring to for the um March through August the 300 CFS for the city um September 1 um our uh CFS drops to between 20 and 30 CFS and the 20 and 30 CFS we used for our treatment plants which is about 25 CFS a day as it stays warm and then uh 10 CFS we've been delivering to truckton lakes and Is That Flow because of our maintenance operations as was stated in the press release or is that other considerations so um we utilize the time when we do have the reduced flow to take the opportunity to do maintenance projects um the press release that was um presented uh emphasized the maintenance projects to inform the city um in may we did advise that we would operate the river with Kern River flows through Labor Day so we did advise um through the first press release that we were going to reduce flows after Labor Day which we did on September 3rd um the flows were reduced because of our abil um availability of water but with the opportunities with the reduced flows and the dryback we were able to then discuss the importance of Maintenance and also the Reconstruction of our Kern River Canal backup we and and just for reference what is the flow the inflow into the Lake Isabella Dam um yesterday uh yesterday's inflow was um I believe I looked at it it was 294 into Isabella so again the um as everything's melting the amount of snow up there is reducing and so we are getting uh reduced inflows into Isabella um towards the earlier part of the month it was around range between 300 350 and then as low as 298 yesterday okay thank you okay if I could I would just like of the 300 that comes in how much are we the city entitled to yes so if the first 300 CFS every day goes to um Kar Delta and then after that it's distributed to the um the right holders and so if it's above 300 um say 350 we may get to 28 29 if it's less than 300 um typically we don't get anything of course there's other obligations um that make it more a little bit more complicated but pretty much we get anything more than 300 uh less than 300 CFS we don't we don't get water and that 300 is diverted North up high in the river at what point so typically Uh current Delta um will take their water um Upstream of um it's off of the Rocky Point we um into the carrier Canal uh which is um up near heart park or I'm sorry just Downstream of heart Park uh miss janera anything else no mayor I think uh you've painted the picture that I want the public to see that that water the bulk of that water is going to the a districts and does not make it down does not make it all the way down to where we have been lucky enough to see it um in the last 3 years and particularly this time of year yes correct correct yeah thank you Miss budak thank you go ahead and sit down next speaker please Anna Rivera welcome please introduce yourself yes good evening my name is Anna Rivera and I'm the principal at Jefferson Elementary I'm here today with several staff parents and community members of Jefferson we are here to voice our concerns regarding this traffic safety within our community let me Begin by giving you a brief history of Jefferson the school was built in 1917 over a 100 years ago during that time there were no freeways traffic was non-existent area was mostly houses and Fields let's fast forward till today expansion has occurred the area has evolved yet Traffic Safety around the area has not car cars drive over the speed limit with without any concerns of P pedestrian safety on Bill Avenue our cross guard and pedestrians are playing Frogger each morning and afternoon just to get to and from school on King Street there's the only the only safe route to drop off students however with that being said in the entrance of the freeway speeding continues on the corner of Lincoln and King there are only a two-way stop allowing cars going east to west the belief that they do not have to be cautious while driving on Jefferson King there is no cross crossing guard yet over a 100 families cross there every day it is my staff and the parent volunteers that risk their lives daily to ensure students make it safe to and from school I have pleaded with the city for their support and that has fallen on death ears in 20121 I wrote to the public works manager to conduct a survey around be Street to for a light they their response that we met two out of three criterias the one not enough pedestrians crossing the during the busy time it just boggles me that more fluent areas around Bakersville get more needs met for instance Northwest where I live Mohawk Northbound of olive by the church there are several spreding bumps yet the area around there does not experience what we experience every day Opera by veteran school there is a four-way stop again the traffic is nowhere near the amount that we have hopefully sorry I'm trying to finish um go ahead and bring your comments to a close Mr thank you hopefully you change the way we feel about what the city feels about us as a small District sorry a small school we are asking for you to reeval our reevaluate our safety concern and needs Bill Street we needs a traffic light by Jefferson and 178 exit ramp a four-way stop on Lincoln and King and painted crosswalk around all four walking directions speed bumps on King Street from Lincoln to Bernard please do not wait until someone is hurt or Life Is Lost due to the negligence of responding to the concerns of your community thank you thank you thank you Mr Rivera next speaker please so we finished uh this segment uh all 20 minutes of it uh do we have any Madam clerk moving on now to the next section consent calendar items 7 a through 7 I for approval thank you colleagues uh do any of you wish to Mayor I'm sorry I'm sorry to interrupt we did non-agenda items do we have any public speaking for agenda items we do not have any cards got it thank you thank you uh let's just wait until the chamber is cleared thank you all for your participation today and we uh value your input okay while they're doing that does anybody wish to recuse himself or move anything for separate consideration no vice mayor move to approve the consent calendar you have a motion please cat your votes item was approved with council member Weir and council member Cor or absent thank you next item please hearings item 9A public hearing to consider resolution adopting sewer connection fees for fiscal year 20 2425 thank you our next item is public hearings each side will be allowed 15 minutes if 15 minutes for all speakers per side so it's important that you identify yourself make your statement succinctly So Others May speak we'll hear statements from those opposed to staff's recommendation first and we'll hear from those who'd like to speak in favor of staff's recommendation if there's testimony from both sides each side will be allowed a 5 minute rebuttal there's a clock on the TV screen behind me which indicates 15 minutes please step to the microphone identify yourself after 14 minutes a yellow light will come on at the end of 15 minutes a red light will flash indicating your time is up quickly and your statement you may ask questions during your statement but they won't be addressed until public hearing is is closed if you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement give them to the clerk and she'll 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 resolution adopting sewer connection fees for fiscal year 20242 thank you Mr cler thank you mayor and councel just to provide a little bit of context uh to this item this was on a prior Council agenda we um continued the public hearing to ensure that we did Outreach with our um Community stakeholders we've had several meetings with Community stakeholders and particular our development Community to understand the rationale I think by the uh size of individuals in Chambers tonight at this point it's uh um reflective of the fact that we went and did that additional stolder Outreach and we're thankful that we we did to make sure our partners uh understood the approach that we were taking to some you know fairly overdue and and deferred adjustments with that context I'll invite our water department director Chris budak to provide an overview of what this um action item represents welcome Miss buek good evening mayor going Council um the water department is requesting an increase to the Sewer connection fee uh we have a short presentation uh that will provide additional information about the fee and the need for the increase um I would like to invite uhet R Ron to uh the assistant uh director of water department to provide that presentation today and then we'd be happy to answer any questions Evette hi good evening honorable mayor and council members um hoping to provide some context for the resolution um regarding the sewer connection fees so a quick overview do I need a clicker um SE connection fees there are type of impact fee um they are a one-time charge me to reimburse City for costs associated with providing capacity for growth um so it is a true reimbursement cost for the city the city has already um incurred and paid these costs typical um things that are get considered into this is SE lines that have already been put into place for future connections expansion of treatment plans things like that they are paid when a building permit is issued um again just one time first uh when the uh building permit is issued they are calculated using um utility valuation of City facilities so essentially we take we calculate the value of the total infrastructure required to take waste water from a resident a commercial um business through the collection system to the treatment plant all the way to the final disposal point at our our um plan two and Plan Three treatment facilities once the value is calculated we divide it up by the number of users um and basically calculate a unit cost um here we have a table showing uh connection fees going back to 2009 so as you see the last time we increased the unit cost flow VOD TSS was back in July 1st of 2010 so it has been a while we did adjust um the cost for commercial and residential uh starting July 1st of 2017 the last uh increase was July 1st of 2021 so it it has been um a while since these have been touched um let's see that last column there is to show a comparison so a typical approach that cities will take is they um do a thorough assessment calculate the connection fees and then they just increase it by a construction index between you know thorough evaluations had the city done that had we taken that approach starting in 2009 using that uh construction cost index increase we would be we would have a connection fee upwards of 7,000 opposed to our current 5,000 this is a approach that um as um the city manager mentioned we did Outreach um one of that outreaches with was um home Home Builders Association and they were actually you know when we kind of presented this there like they they stated that they would have uh appreciated something like this opposed to um you know a big increase uh every once in a while a gradual increase was their preferred method um so we would like to take them up on that methodology uh suggestion um lastly connection fees the ones we were being proposed these are the unit cost that we calculated using that valuation approach that we described so proposed unit cost for flow would go up to 27 um doll gallon per day uh BD 1,438 TSS 737 so these are the unit cost components that we then use to calculate uh we basically multiply it out using standard um industry practices uh to come up with the residential fee and then a commercial uh connection fee so the connection fee being proposed is 6,947 for residents uh residentials and again these are for new new connections um so uh commercial uh 278 per fixture and Industrial users a note about industrial users this is as we Define them in the Wastewater industry which is as EPA defines them so um these we only have about 20 in the city jurisdiction boundary um and they are existing we don't have any new commercial uh new industrial users on the horizon um they get charged based on their Wastewater characteristics so they provide us their flope their bod and their TSS we use the unit cost to multiply out and develop a connection fee for them lastly just a comparison using the residential fee um our current is 5,000 uh we are proposing 6,947 which still puts us um pretty low if we compare to our surrounding areas and comparable um entities around us so with that questions or comments thank you Mr CLE anything further before we go to the public no mayor thank you thank you at this time hearing 9A is open is there anyone who would like to speak in opposition to staffs recommendation you can go ahead and sit down please come forward at this time seeing none is there anyone who wishes to speak in support of staff's recommendation please step to the microphone seeing none I'll close the public hearing and return it to council for comment and action does anybody wish to comment um council member Smith oh no mayor move to adopt a resolution you have a motion please cat your votes motion was approved with council member Weir and core absent thank you next item please Council and mayor statements council member gray well good evening everyone staff city manager mayor thank you um today I had the the also the blessing of being at the 911 ceremony and and again I was so extremely proud of our city I'm a proud of our patriotism I had the opportunity to talk to some school children from Reagan school elementary school and that just lit me up those children were so engaged so glad that they were there so willing to participate and talk to me and and how much they really appreciated it and these are little children that didn't know anything about 911 so I left there with hope again for the future of this country that we can continue to teach our children how great our country is teach them the what this country the founding principles of our country of our Founders our constitution um we will have a strong country so anyway I just want to give a shout out to the Bakersville Police Department to Bakersville fire department what excellent um they proved that our city operates under I was just amazed at how well the whole thing went so anyway thank you for Bakersville to Bakersville PD and the fire department and to Reagan school the principal that allowed those kids to get on a bus and come um the other shout out I want to give to is our new retail theft Department I actually um witnessed a theft in one of our um local businesses just 2 days ago in fact I was so nice to the guy when he came in the door I thanked him for stopping in the parking lot for me cuz I thought he was just a regular Patron that was going in to to um you know do business and uh as I turned around he's stealing off the shelves I'm like oh my gosh I told city manager this yesterday I said this was unbelievable but so I took the time to talk to the general manager the store and said are you are you all having this problem on a you know a regular basis and she said oh yeah she said um we've had three different hits and I said well did you realize that bakersfi uh police department now has a retail theft department and she said yes I know all of them by name and uh the good news is that uh one organized theft ring that came came through um they were able to arrest they're in jail for quite some time and in a second one they were able to arrest and they're in jail so two out of three our retail theft department is doing an excellent job I just want to give a shout out to Bakersville Police Department again we have a lot to be proud of in this city um and a lot to be proud of so thank you thank you council member gr Council AR with a little technical glitch so I wasn't sure whether that was an old one thank you mayor I I'll I'll be short and sweet um oh no and I think he already exited um the room I just wanted to give a quick shout out and congratulations to Two Fine gentlemen Mr Anthony Valdez um and Rick Anthony who have recently been promoted um to assistant city manager positions um these two gentlemen are emblematic of what we should be looking for um as workers of the city but also at the highest of levels um you know just no challenge too big um nor too small and uh Anthony in particular is probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the entire County on anything related to homelessness and affordable housing uh Rick uh on the other hand is incredible leader um who has really changed the culture within the parks department um and in talking to many of his staff um I I have some concerns about whether or not they're going to stay without him there at the at the helm but uh Rick has been incredible spearheading the master plan um and has um led the charge on the revitalization effort of ml Park so I just want to say congratulations to those two fine gentlemen and I'm excited about the future with the two of them supporting Christian and also uh Gary Helen for his amazing work so thank you thank you council member Freeman thank you mayor um my comments are about the schools and the safety around the schools because we talk about this a lot we've had a lot of public speakers over the last couple of years um tell us about problems around specific schools and I hope the lady tonight who spoke that staff will we follow up with her because you know she had specific needs and I love it when they tell us something specific specific school because we really won't know if the public won't tell us there are eyes and e ears so it's important they know when they come take the time to come down point out you know a serious problem that will follow up and maybe maybe sometimes the information's wrong we correct it but maybe a lot of times they have good idea you know we can put some stop sign but we can address the problem um but since we talk about this so often I wanted to ask um staff and I I'm maybe this is a Planning Development Committee thing maybe maybe it isn't city manager can decide but I think we should study the the traffic calming that we need to do for safety around all future schools when we they come to veliz and B and the school district demands I wanted there they're very rigid the demands however I think we can have some say in the street designs around schools which I think we need to modify from our normal street design what I'm getting at and I don't know if that's within a half a mile of school both directions that's stuff that staff can can figure out but speed limits we we need a a menu of things but I I'd like us to look at changing the street design itself most of them of the high schools and middle schools and most of them are on arterial roadways okay really bad really dangerous the only way we will make them safer is my opinion beside speed limits which I don't even think we have on these don't have on arterials I mean you go you got bu the big arterials I I don't remember seeing slow to 25 miles an hour like an elementary those are good but I'm not sure that first if we do future projects if it's an arterial then I think we need to modify it down to a collector within certain distance of a school and all the other traffic toing so you take a lane out you know when they do that in freeway everybody really has to slow down but you take a lane out they're going to go slower along with other landscape features and things that we can do to slow the traffic down speed limits sometimes speed bumps but when they're going to be in arterials New Designs I think we should look at within a certain distance we're going to go to a collector around those schools in all directions if think of the high schools well you need to slow it down I don't know what you do with the extra Lane that's been dedicated maybe you can make angular parking I mean the FR I'm sure you'll find great uses for it but when you go from 3 to two plus severe speed limits and hopefully there's a stop sign or a light um you're going to slow the traffic down and you can you can widen it back up once you get a quarter mile from the school whatever it is but you will have to slow down if we're going to continue to have a arterial it won't be an arterial anymore for that thing same with them with a middle school um in elementary schools it's probably they shouldn't be allowed ever to be an un arterial but even The Collector you can narrow that down to one lane within a quarter mile but I think the design of the street is where we have to go to and you know you could retrofit we could do this with existing schools I know it's a big study it cost a lot of money but that's why I'd like you to study it but we could take existing schools that are on arterials and we could go back and we could take that lane out I mean sort of like the striping we did with bicycles but we could take that lane out and you also sudden have two lanes setad of three and post these people and all the time it's like this because you look at I mean these things are in front of our materials was traffic lights and it is a freeway with and these people aren't just going 55 it's it's you know you're talking about just something's really horrifying that's what we have around a lot of our high schools so we could if we had the money or the will we could modify streets right now around middle schools and around uh uh high schools to go to one lane I mean to two lanes instead of one and other Street caling things from the kit you have which this isn't the only thing but I think in the end as long as you have three lanes going down that in front of the high schools and which means it's arterial very fast traffic you're going to have a problem so I kind of wonder if we could look at for the future when we design a street and approve it with the school and if we ever had the money um to look at maybe it's the most dangerous situation we have high schools where we could take a lane out just at this point if it's already there you stripe it you know that's about all you'd have to do if it's not built Jed you can have Landscaping but just the street design around schools needs to be examined for safety um to lower the speeds and best way lower speed you start taking length out so anyway that's my comment for tonight thank thank you council member Freeman council member Smith yeah I would just agree with what council member Freeman was talking about and last couple days I've been bicycling up and down buav Vista and we have stockdell high school right there on B and White Lane and and that is the exact situation you're talking about so we we've done it and it's working so good idea give it to you that it kind of works in front of the high school there apply it to all these high schools we have in town the intersection ouri situ thank you yeah I I want to Echo this point that council member f is making I think it's really really critical that we address the issue I I know there's you know know hundreds of schools uh in Metro bakersfi but I think if we prioritize first what I like to see us prioritizing the those elementary schools particularly in the urban Corps where they've had chronic issues and we've heard from already Jefferson Williams William Penn Roosevelt um Fremont I mean the list goes on and on those are just in in my ward and I know other Wards also have schools that have these problems um so we need to prioritize what we're going to do overall um and I'd like to send this to the multimodal and Traffic Safety Committee and ask that committee really take this on as a high priority if not the highest priority uh for the remainder of the year and going into 2025 um because they are right we we can't wait for a tragedy to happen with a child um and these families are getting frustrated and they're scared um so anything we can do um as much as we can do as quickly as possible would be appreciated thank you thank you and with that we stand a journ at 6:43 [Music] he [Music] [Music] oh e