Heat. Heat. Hey, hey hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey hey. Hey, hey hey. Come on. Come on. The 3:30 p.m. meeting of the Bakersfield City Council is now in session. Good afternoon. It's my pleasure to call to order the 3:30 regular city council meeting of April 22nd, 2026. Madam clerk, please call the role. >> Mayor Go, >> here. >> Vice Mayor Core. Council member Aas. Council member Gonzalez. >> Here. >> Council member Weir >> here. >> Council member Smith. >> I'm here. Council member Kleman >> here >> and council member Basher >> here. >> Thank you. In keeping with the council's resolution, the public statements portion is divided into two periods. There's a period for items listed on the meeting agenda and items not on the meeting agenda. Statements for items listed on this afternoon's agenda are given a two-minute time limit, 20 minutes total per agenda item. Statements regarding items not listed on the agenda are also given a two-minute time limit, 20 minutes total. If you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement, please give them to the clerk who will give copies to the council. If you're here to make a public statement, please fill out a public speaker card and give your completed card to the city clerk. We ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on this afternoon's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda. Speakers who do not identify a specific item will be presumed speakers for the non-aggenda portion. Those speakers will be called during the non-aggenda portion of the meeting. Everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council. Failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum, including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting, prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city. Consider this Consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts this meeting may result in expulsion and/or the chambers being cleared. Behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements, shouting, hate speech, interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting, speaking out of turn, outburst from the audience, and surpassing the two-minute time limit. Madam clerk, do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda? >> Mayor Go, we've received one speaker card regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda. That speaker is Michael Turnupse Seed. Mr. Turnips Seed. Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> I'll wait till everybody gets copies of my documents so I can go through them. Thank you very much. Since you can't get it all said, Madame Mayor, members of the council, since you can't get everything said in two minutes, sometimes you got to write it out. I put a d couple documents in front of you today that wanted to address your budget process coming forward. You basically have the next two months to make some very major decisions and this basically goes through our position and thoughts on what needs to happen and hope you make the right decisions for the long term. And the next one I I put a document is on the CCA window. It's basically you have missed the window of doing it. Most of all the successful CCAs were done before 2010. There have been no successful CAS since 2010. So, and there's been three bankruptcies. I think two or three. So, it might be worth your interest to have some independent counsel who's not just trying to sell you something and get some facts on what we have tried to list them here and hope you read them before you talk about it going forward anymore. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Turnup Seat. Madam Clerk, do we have any other speakers for this category? >> Mayor Go, we have not received any additional speaker cards for non-aggenda items. We and we also have not received any speaker cards regarding agenda items. >> Thank you. Next item, please. >> Appointments item 3A. three appointments to the uh planning commission due to the term expirations of Daniel Kedar, Ward 2, and Nicholas Strickland, Ward 4, and on 4:30 2026, and the resignation of Candace Neil, Ward 1, to a term that expires on 4:30, 2027. >> Right. Thank you. These appointments are by ward. Therefore, I'm going to call on the council members. Let's start on this end this time. Council member Smith, your appointee, your nomination. >> Thank you. I'd like to nominate Nicholas Strickland. Again, he's served well and I appreciate his work. Thank you. >> Thank you. And next, we'll have Council Member Gonzalez. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh I'd like to nominate tonight uh Mr. Daniel Kedar. Uh Dan has served W 2 well for the last 10 years as our planning commissioner. I'd like to nominate him. And then if I may, mayor, on behalf of W, Council Member Aas has asked me uh to make his nomination tonight to Mr. Navep Bra uh Mr. Bar please stand up is present with us this evening uh and he is an exceptional community leader uh a business leader uh and someone who will bring uh practical uh decisionmaking uh prowess uh to the planning commission and I know council member Aas is very excited to to nominate you tonight uh and is encouraged to see your leadership grow in the city of Bakersfield. Thank you, Council Member uh Gonzalez. And now, Vice Mayor, just the motion, please. >> A motion to recommend Nave Bard, Daniel Kedar, and Nicholas Strickland to the Bial City Planning Commission. >> Thank you. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. Motion is approved with council member AAS absent. >> Thank you Mr. Bor, Mr. Kedar, and Mr. Strickland. Thank you for your willingness to serve. Madam clerk, next item please. >> Reports item 4A, resolution to adopt council policy establishing procedures for addressing telephonic or internet service disruptions during council meetings. >> Thank you, uh, Madame City attorney. >> Good afternoon, Mayor. Thank you, council. Um, as you know, I've been before you a few times over the last couple of months to discuss Senate Bill 707. Um, and the city council at last month recently amended your council policy to incorporate remote public participation um into your future council meetings, which is a requirement of Senate Bill 707. Uh, one of the last remaining items for the council um to ensure compliance with SB77 is a requirement that on or before July 1 of 2026, you also adopt a policy addressing the procedures for recessing and reconvening your meetings in the event of telephonic or internet service disruptions. That is the item that is before you this afternoon. It was uh it is a resolution with a proposed policy attached. It was published with the agenda. Um, in short, the proposed policy satisfies the legal requirements of SB77. It allows the city council to recess the meeting in the event of a service disruption. It requires city staff to undertake good faith efforts to restore service and it sets forth options for reconvening, continuing, or adjourning a meeting in the event of service disruptions. I'm available for any questions. Otherwise, I'm looking for a motion to adopt the resolution. Um, and just as one last little note, uh, the city council may not adopt this policy on the consent calendar, which is why I'm before you today as part of the reports item. >> Thank you, Sono. Colleagues, do we have any requests to speak? I don't see any yet. >> None. Vice Mayor, >> motion to adopt the resolution. >> You have a motion. Please cast your votes. Motion is approved with council member Aas absent. Thank you, >> madam clerk. Madam clerk, next item, please. Reports item 4B, public safety update. The Bakersfield uh police department will provide an update on reported crime, traffic conditions, and response times for 2025. >> Mr. Kle, would you like to speak before Chief Terry? >> Just to introduce Chief Terry again, uh mayor and councel, this is a report that we've done every year for the last several years where >> uh let's just wait a minute. Hello. >> I think Oh, yeah. We just need to allow a little bit of time for some of our guests to clear. You're welcome to stay. Uh but if you'd like to leave, this would be a time that uh you can leave. cleared out the audience. Mr. Clay. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Each year for the last few years, we've provided an update that will look at statistics from the last uh years 2024 compared to 2025. In some instances, we have multiple years of data, but really just a look at where are we at by the numbers as it relates to public safety. Chief will also be able to speak to some of the other qualitative aspects, but happy to provide this report to council to see how we're doing and a variety of different um performance indicators related to public safety. Chief, >> welcome. >> All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the council. Chief Greg Terry here with Assistant Chief uh Jeff Berdick and uh we are pleased to present uh some crime data and public safety related data uh across our city. I say very often that public safety is a shared responsibility um and so much of what I'm going to be talking about today is reflective of that both the partnership that the police department has with the council and your support and providing resources but also with that of the community uh enabling some of the outcomes that I'm going to talk about tonight. We certainly recognize that our city still has a lot of public safety related challenges uh and there's still much work to do, but there is some good news uh to report tonight. I'll start with uh response times. That's one of the most common things that we talk about in terms of the effectiveness or uh efficiencies of an organization. Um tonight I'm going to talk about and point out specifically uh priorities 1, 2, and three. We have a total of nine priorities when someone calls the police department. But these are the highest. These are the emergency calls. These are um when you look at all three of those categories, you're talking about certainly um an emergency such as a shooting or a stabbing, uh a robbery that is in progress or just occurred, someone breaking into a car, some kind of peace disturbance that's ongoing, a loitering kind of a situation where there is a public safety related issue. uh in the midst of that. That is really what you're talking about when you're talking about priorities one, two, and three. Um it's been relative the priority one response time has been relatively stable over the last couple of years, hovering around 7 minutes, just under 7 minutes. Uh we did make some gains in priority 2 and three. Um nearly six or seven minutes for priority 2 and then almost uh 20 uh in priority three. some context there also and that's what's reflected on the on the right side of the slide that total 911 calls were down um that the police department received last year uh by about 16% so it was about just under 250,000 911 calls and dispatched incidents last year um and so u progress was made um you know it is still a challenge for us and really when you look at how large our city is about 160 square miles and and the diverse types of public safety challenges we have along with our staffing and available resources. All of that comes into uh uh into consideration of how we are able to improve our response times or hold steady. We're certainly going to be going into um some challenging budget years. uh and I would expect at this time that uh it would be very difficult to make meaningful progress um beyond these times here without some significant or additional certainly resources. Uh we are continuing to look for ways to make better use of our resources to make sure that we have police officers doing things that only police officers can do and the council has supported those things significantly and some of those alternatives and I'll talk about that uh here in just a few minutes and we're very appreciative of that because we are continuing to look for ways that we can be where our community needs us as fast as possible because that ultimately is what matters when somebody calls They expect us to come. They expect us to come as quickly as we can and handle the issue. Uh and we're certainly striving to do that. The last item there uh in the graph is uh how quickly we're answering the 911 calls. Um it is a it is a a sort of a national standard. Uh certainly has been a goal for many years that we would answer 95% of our 911 calls within 20 seconds. uh and we were able to achieve that over the last two years even with significant staffing uh challenges within the comm center and shortages in particular. Um the men and women there do a very very difficult job uh but we are continuing to uh to make progress. Certainly the reduction in calls obviously helps some of that uh and but again some of the differential response and I'll talk about some of that data here in just a minute that has also been helping us as well. citywide look at uh or a crime citywide. Um crime overall was uh a reduction or reported crime I should say reduced by 7 and a half%. Just about every category of crime there saw a reduction with the exception of homicide uh and theft and I'll talk a little bit about that in just a minute. Um with rape and sexual assault in particular um I mean that's a big number. Um, and this is a very challenging crime. We know it's historically under reportported. And so we looked very closely at what this was and why the reduction. Um, over the last 3 to four years, there's been several legislature um, changes in what gets reported as a sexual assault and the categories of sexual assault. Um, and so we've been we've been having some issues with officers going into the field doing appropriate investigations, good investigations, but not necessarily coding the crime exactly the right way. Um, victims are still receiving the appropriate service. Suspects are still being arrested on the right charges because that that works its way out through the investigation, through the prosecution with the district attorney's office. But we have found as we examined some of the data that some of the reporting was not accurate and how it had already been reported to the state ahead of the investigation, ahead of any charges that might come. And so that that number uh that reduction, that significant reduction, also involves some correction that we've discovered. Uh in 2026, there's going to be some additional changes uh in the reporting of this particular category. Um and so we are continuing to look at that with the autotheft in particular. Um we've talked a lot about autotheft over the years and I know many of you have have received calls over the years regarding autotheft. Uh and we saw some significant reduction. Um last year for the first time our detective division is a is a participant in a collaborative joint oper or joint team uh locally with the highway patrol uh and the sheriff's office. that team uh was fully staffed last year. Uh and much of their focus was longerterm investigations focusing on chronic offenders and so we were able to make some significant cases last year that we believe also attributed to the reduction in reports of autotheft. There was some changes made with manufacturers as well and that always occurs and they shifted to the types of cars or trucks that that are frequently stolen. So we're constantly trying to adapt to that. Uh but there was um some good news around that and those were the factors associated with that theft. Um I'll talk a little bit about that. It's um what drove that um is most of our work around organized retail theft and I'll talk about that uh in just a minute. But clearly things are the report of crime down across our city has good news. Um we always or at times very often take sort of a cynical look at why is it fallen the way it is? Is it because people have given up? People are frustrated by the process, a lack of or too long of a response time, and so they decide to to not participate or engage our services. But what we've looked at across the board when you look at all of the data, crime fell faster even though there was a reduction in dispatched calls, there was a a slight reduction uh in the number of 911 calls, but not as great as crime fell. So crime fell further than the re than the than the amount of activity of officers. And so I truly believe that there is being some changes uh in terms of crime in our city. It's not unique to us. I think many of the cities across the state and certainly across the country particularly related to violent crime are also seeing some of these trends, same kind of trends. Um but I tell you this that at the same time the officers and again as we look at this um officers are still very active over the last two to three years we're still having between 250 260,000 calls or dispatched incidents. Officers are still making between 11,000 and 12,000 arrest uh as well over the last 3 years and that still stayed this way in 2025. So that's why I'm saying the level of activity reduced slightly, probably about 3% or so in terms of officer activity across the department, but crime fell much farther than that. And so we do believe that there really is some good news around that. Again, um we've seen some significant reductions in homicide and in violent crime in particular, gun and gang violence, uh particularly over the last several years. Um but these are members of our community that are no longer here. They're not just a number on a graph. Uh having 33 homicides in our city is significant. Um and it's even higher than what we probably going back 20 years. It's probably a little bit higher. Um I think traditionally we would have been somewhere in the 25 to 32 or so uh homicides a year across our city for a long period of time. So, this is still uh a pretty high number for our city, far far less than the historical um record that we saw in 2021, which was 60. And so, we've fallen significantly over the last couple of years. In particular, when you look at homicides, the nature of the homicides or the type of homicides modified a bit last year. You don't have to go back too many years where you saw kind of year after year and almost a generational. We talked about gun and gang violence in those kinds of terms in our city that it was generational violence. Um, and you didn't have to go back very far before where you would see homicides at 40 45% um of our homicides every year being gang or gun gang related. Last year we had three gang related homicides in our city. That is an amazing uh number even though it is certainly the loss of life but that is such a significant reduction and departure of what our historical norms have been. Clearly there has been a lot of work a lot of great work done around that the the modifications that of the police operations that have been done over the last couple of years. The tremendous partnerships that we have uh across the city with community- based organizations. certainly the the leadership uh of Mr. Kle and the uh office of violence prevention and the Calvip grant that's been funding a lot of this work but that collaboration that partnership is really been driving um a significant reduction and saving lives in our city. Um what what category increased last year was domestic violence. Um it it was about 20 to 25% of our homicides last year. Um, and that was you go back to 2023 and you're probably around 10 or 11%. So, a significant increase uh in the types of of homicides that we have last year. Firearms continues to be the most commonly used or or method uh and weapon used. Uh, our homicide division continues to make gains and and and uh clear a significant number of those cases. And so, we're very proud uh of the work that they're doing. here is shifting really from crime numbers or any kind of statistics to a crime rate. Um so that we can really take a a better look at trends in comparing ourselves to previous years but also enables us to be to make some comparisons to other cities as well. But again the trend is continuing where you're seeing reductions in the crime rate. How much crime how much crime is being reported uh each year uh in our community per thousand. And this is what this references both property crime separate from violent crime. Again, about a 30% reduction uh over the last 3 years uh in how much crime is occurring in our city. Here's a comparison using the violent crime rate to some of the other cities, some larger, some smaller than us. And you can see with regard to violent crime, um we're in good shape in comparison to to these other cities. There's a lot of factors clearly that go into uh why and what types of crimes are occurring across the city and I'm certainly not attempting to answer that. But you can see from this graph though how much crime per thousand is being reported in terms of violent crime. Uh we're in pretty good shape, pretty good shape compared to to many of these other cities. Here's the same cities with regard to property crime. And you can see we're not fairing quite as well. We're kind of middle of the road, but still significant reductions over the last three years um or the two years prior to uh 2025. Uh we're we're seeing some positive movement and trends uh in these crime rates. Traffic safety obviously we're still moving in the right direction. Um but this is still uh significant uh because these are loss of life uh and members of our community. Traffic fatalities dropped about 17% last year compared to uh the year before. Um probably no surprise to you or many is that 40% of the collisions occur in the nighttime hours between 9 900 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. Um the makeup of the of the fatal traffic collisions has remained pretty steady as well. um we still have too many individuals in and about our roadway as pedestrians and so it is continuing to be a challenge for us. We continue also to uh collaborate and partner when we can uh and certainly are engaging in a in a sort of a strategy of enforcement, education and engineering where it's appropriate, where it can help uh reduce and and improve uh the safety of roadways. That is our strategy and that's what we continue to do. I talked a little bit about this just a minute ago in terms of what we think was driving um the increase in reported theft. Uh we think it's in this organized retail theft area. Um again I do I do I believe that there's continuing to be an increase in the amount of theft? Very difficult to tell. But what I can tell you, last year in particular, the organized retail theft unit, which is a collaboration and very much a partnership with retailers across the city, um improved significantly that that collaborative work and partnership. Uh you go back two to three years, many of the retailers, big box retailers included, just stopped reporting at all. They were making policy decisions that they were no longer reporting theft to us at all. um or it was too difficult or the response time was not uh convenient for them. A variety of those kinds of issues. Um but what we saw last year is through intentional work and and strategies with the organized retail theft unit going out and engaging these retailers directly. The nature of the operations, they call them blitz operations. they're going out and and uh working with the retailer in particular and catching people uh in the act of of committing thefts. Um that helped significantly to encourage retailers to participate. And so the number of retailers and the number of big box retailers across the community uh almost doubled in number of who's showing up for the meetings every month, who's now reporting. We've made them um have an online reporting accessible to many of these retailers and more of them are using that again uh and using that now and so that is what we we think is really driving the increase in the number of reports is that intentional engagement the partnership where where retailers are now engaging in uh with us in a much greater way making the reports that they hadn't previously done. So continued good work. This is the strategy that we're continuing to do. We have dedicated detectives. Uh we have engaged retail partners. Uh and we're using every amount of technology that we have to be able to do that. Uh and so we are seeing uh I think if you speak to most retailers where there had been in the past 3 to four years very challenging and difficult environments uh I think you would you would hear directly from them that the environment and things have changed. Things have improved. still difficult, still is occurring way too often, but there has been some significant movement over the last couple of years. This is one of the um the differential response. This is referring to the mental health clinician in the communication center continues to be one of the greatest efficiencies that that we've discovered over the last couple of years and have been utilizing. The council um has approved a complement of three. So we have three retail uh three mental health clinicians working in the comm center. Now last year was the first year that we had that we were at full staffing and you can see from the percentage of the calls that's why there was such a significant increase in calls in 2025 because we had a full staffing of mental health clinicians. We're still not able to cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but significant portions of the day uh in the weekend we are able to provide coverage. And you can see consistently year-over-year uh year after year more than 80% of the time this mental health clinician is able to resolve the issue without a police response. That also means that that community member that family is getting the help that they need at that moment. And very very often it's not a police officer, it's some other type of service. And so this continues to be a very successful program and we're grateful uh for the council's support and the resources that that you have provided us. I want to take you through just a couple other kind of updates more of capital improvement projects that have taken place over the last couple of years. This uh the real-time information center uh is now up. It's been up and running for about a month. Um it's it is an 18-month project. The the council has uh uh approved significant resources toward it. the uh the operators in the in the center have access to about 400 cameras across the city, both public and private. Um and we have already um seen results of being able to uh identify hit-and- run uh vehicles, domestic violence suspects, shooting suspects, and able to locate them very quickly and apprehend them. And I very excited about um the asset that this is going to bring both from an efficiency and effectiveness perspective, but also from the community trust and and the community seeing the police department being responsive and being responsive in the right way that we're not out saturating a neighborhood looking for uh a white truck. We're able to in through this type of technology and these resources be directed to the exact white truck. And that makes a big difference in the amount of resources that we're having to devote. And also it makes a big difference in that we're not having to stop every white truck across the city and and the community has an impact of that when we're able to do that or when we have to do that. So these types of technology will enable us to be much more efficient uh and effective. With this though obviously there's concerns about privacy. it always comes up and so I wanted to share with the council some of the the overview of the steps that we are taking to ensure that we are um using this technology appropriately. Um this center um is in the police department. Uh you have key card access. Not everyone has access to it. Um the people that are in there um that staff it are all civilians. They're crime analyst. Uh they provide much of this data that I've talked about tonight as well. Um but we ensure that there are audit trails, there are policy, there are training, there are a lot of safeguards around uh the technology that's being used. Um we don't just continue to store it. Um most of the um video footage that we do have uh is purged every 30 days. Uh we are able to retrieve it and secure it if there was uh evidence in some some type of case. And in some cases, and particularly when it's public sharing that we're getting from another um a private entity, that they're not we're not actually capturing the data. We're just allowed to to view the stream uh into their into their u their camera system. And so there's going to be some efforts from the police department in the months to come to encourage uh other private entities to partner with us and allow us to have access to their their video systems so that if there were to be a call for service that we would be able to respond uh efficiently, but also when again I'm talking about this tonight too because I want the the public to have confidence uh in us and then the technology that we're using as well. The last couple slides are really some um capital improvement projects that have been funded in previous budgets that have been completed uh here this year. Um the flooding mitigation that was uh that we have spoken about year after year. Council approved a project in uh in the previous budget uh and it was completed this year. You can see the difference on the far left side the bottom you can see what it looks like now uh just outside the police department both on the east and the west end. Uh we talked several years ago about uh developing uh or having uh a facility, a classroom in particular out at our um driving course out there off of Wilson. Uh and that was completed uh this year as well, utilized by other departments as well. uh the the PAL update. Um earlier in last year, the the council approved a a grant that PAL was able to uh get to um u make a a number of improvements at the facility. PAL is about 30 years old, just over 30 years old. Uh and so PAL uh was the recipient of a $1 million grant. Over the last 12 months or so, there have been, I think, 128 different projects or improvements uh at the PAL Center, including air conditioning, the gym, floors in the classroom, pickle ball courts. You can see some pictures with awnings, and just improvements on the outside as well. We're very grateful um to the council for their support of this program in particular that is really becoming a community amenity. twice a week there are health care services that are available uh that people can come uh to the PAL center. It is not it is no longer I should say a place where there is just basketball or soccer being played. It is a full range of services and we're able to impact families uh that come here and certainly those in the immediate area far beyond just some sort of a sports program. There's tutoring. Um certainly there's boxing and a wide range of of physical activities that kids can engage in. But there is health care. There is tutoring. There is uh uh we have a screening um sort of a business now that that uh kids coming in there can learn about business, can learn about uh financial literacy. Um we're going to be partnering with current literacy to come in and assist in the in the tutoring program as well. And so it is again much more than just a sports and a sports program and we're very proud uh of the work that is going on there and so certainly appreciative of the council for the resources that they've provided to us. Here's our ice cream truck. Uh it's what we've been calling it. I don't know exactly how it will ultimately be used, but uh we were able to receive a grant for a community engagement vehicle. Um it is uh the truck in our uh community engagement division, but that's what it looks like and uh we're very excited about how we're going to be able to again take it out into the community, have opportunities for engagement. Uh certainly it's trust building and all of those very important relational things that the police department uh is certainly uh prioritizing, but in a real way it gives us opportunities to interact and build uh strong relationships with our community and strengthen them uh where there is where it is weak and where we still have work to do. And with that, that concludes my presentation and I'll be happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you, Chief. Mr. CL, would you like any closing comments? >> Uh, no. Thank you, Mayor. We'll wait for questions. >> All right. Let's see any yet. >> Here we go. Council member Coleman. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh thank you chief for a a good report. I I had a chance to see this report when you presented it to committee. So uh if I didn't compliment you then I wanted to compliment you now on the great work your department has done on uh reducing crime in our community. And I think that people are starting to feel that. Obviously with homicides up when you have that few in the city you just a few more just really changes your statistics. So u I'm sure we're going to make some progress in that too. Um, I kind of wanted to ask you about u budget and I don't know if we're going to be talking about that later as far going to be asking for in the upcoming year, but I wanted to focus on this area of uh the differential response group and you mentioned that you don't have 247 coverage now for that. Um, is there any intention to uh increase that staffing for that in your upcoming budget? >> There is not a request in the upcoming budget to increase staffing uh in this particular area. It is a partnership uh with current behavioral health. They are current behavioral health employees um that we fund um the salary for. But in this upcoming budget, there is uh there is no additional request. If I may, council member to for chief, could you speak a little bit as well to because there there was a a similar inquiry last year's budget cycle about what would the sort of return on value be if we expanded those hours and I think chief had done some analysis of other types of um supportive services to policing that may have a bigger return on investment than simply going to 24 hours with the behavioral health. Do you want to share that thought, Chief? >> If Yes. Yes, sir. I will. Um, if we were going to make some um additions to that program, we would probably expand outside the comm center um to make it a little bit more versatile in the in the response and accessible to the officers as well. So it would uh that's um what he's referring to from the analysis that we did that there would be other opportunities to find and and um experience other efficiencies outside of the comm center rather than continuing to increase this number when we are constantly looking at the number and this where the staffing is today is where the primary um call times where those calls are the greatest. we are able to have that coverage but we do feel with expanding any kind of partnership with kernel health would would probably be outside the comp center and some other ways to utilize that in the field. >> Well, thank you because that was my next question is about whether we gain any efficiency. So, thanks for jumping to that. Um the uh the other the other question was regarding recruiting and training dispatchers >> and u do we still have a problem in that area and if so what can the council do to help? we we continue to have shortages or not be at full staffing uh and run a large number of vacancies uh in the dis in the comp center. It is an incredibly difficult job as you know and we've had lots of conversations about that. Um certainly the the competitiveness and uh compensation is is is a real challenge in comparison to some of the local agencies and we're kind of middle of the road but it it's when you start getting into the numbers it's difficult because there are some there are some differences but um it's a very difficult job. The council supported us several years ago by creating an entry-level position into the dispatcher into the comm center and that has proved wild wildly successful. It's called a call taker. Um because previously if you were hired by as a police dispatcher within 12 months you had to be able to have your training and the competency to be able to dispatch over the radio and engage officers in the field. Um that was proved very difficult for us historically because there would be wonderful men and women who could do every element of the job by that 12-month mark, but they couldn't dispatch over the radios. Um um very very difficult and we were having to terminate them and let them go. So the the council supported the development of this call taker position which um gives you much more time. There's no defined timeline. This is your role. you do every every element of the job except actually dispatching of the radio and we're seeing much more much greater retention uh in the call taker positions and many of them are able to promote uh into the dispatcher but uh the dispatcher role itself continues to have some serious staffing and um like I said it's a very difficult job but um certainly competitiveness and compensation is is a significant challenge for If I may, council member, just to add a couple points on the compensation piece. Um, as we did our uh, evaluation of market competitiveness for all of our classifications, we noted that dispatchers were one of those classifications that was the farthest out of market. And so we did a market adjustment in addition to the 15% cost of living adjustments that that they're part of the the SEIU unit. In addition to the 15% cost of living adjustments that were, you know, enacted over, you know, two and a half, three year period um prior to to um you know, this current fiscal year, they we did a market adjustment to to um bring dispatch closer. Despite that additional market adjustment, we continued to see this challenge of um uh too many vacancies and not getting bringing enough candidates. Since we did a second market adjustment for dispatchers. So if you think about sort of internal equity across the organization, we have tried to address compensation by looking at who where are the classifications that are the furthest out of market and what are the classifications that are the hardest to hire and keep employees. And so some classifications have received larger market adjustments, but it's because it's based on those numbers and based on our reality of hiring. Despite having made two market adjustments for dispatchers, we're still struggling there. And so we have had some internal conversations about, you know, does it make sense to look still further um at market adjustments? uh we haven't brought forward a recommendation principally because we've already made two um and we haven't you know that that was one of the few classifications where you know we'd done such notable adjustments but we do still have the problem and so uh if there's you know council appetite to look a little bit closer at those numbers and have further discussion. It's a challenge that we see and haven't, you know, come up with um a better answer yet as staff, but we're aware of it and it is real. Um uh but but we just for your knowledge, we we have made, you know, notable adjustments there, but it's still a challenge. >> Okay. Have there been any uh AI tools uh developed yet to assist in the 911 arena or is that still in the future? >> Yeah, nothing significantly. >> Yeah, I would agree, council member, there there's if you've heard of 311 before, 311 is more of like anformational, you know, type of number. There's a lot of uh municipalities that are looking to chat bots and AI to answer 311 type questions as well as there's some uh technologies that are helping us with uh data collection report writing but that that interaction you know in that intense moment of the 911 we are not seeing the technology there yet. >> Okay. I have one last question then I'll seed the floor to the other council members to to inquire. But we talked when you presented this to the committee uh about response time comparisons to other communities and uh uh I know that was only like a week ago so I don't expect you to have any any answers but it would be nice to know how our response times compare uh to other communities uh you know with similar populations and area because that's also a big big issue is we have a lot of area to cover and so if there's those kind of information is available in the future we I think we I would like to see that person for some >> I actually do have some that I got late this afternoon I didn't have time to put it into the uh into the presentation um and and it's taken us several days uh to have conversations with some of these agency because they're also in the in the revising and reporting and uh very curious as to why we're calling and trying to figure out how do we do comparisons but so I I have a very quick snapshot of Fresno Modesto and Sacramento um talking about the highest emergency I don't know what do they call it sometimes some agencies call their highest level a zero some some agencies have the highest level being a two or the most critical emergency and so the numbers I'm going to give you that I we obtained today is for the highest level of emergency they have for 2025 five. Um, again, give me some discla I'll offer some disclaimer here that I can't say it's for the entire year, but this is what u the analysts were able to get. Fresno is about 8 and a half. Uh, Modesto 5 and a half and Sacramento just over 10. >> Priority one. >> Yes, the highest priority for 2025. Fresno 8 and a half, Modesto 5 and a half. and Sacramento just over 10. Just don't hold me to it. I mean, there's I I just give you that there's some disclaimer there. I don't want the Fresno chief and the Sacramento chief and everybody else calling going, "What am I doing talking about their numbers?" But but that is some of the information we've got today. >> Okay. Thank you very much. That helps me. I have no further questions. Mayor, >> thank you, Council Member Coleman. Chief, just following up on the differential response, the questions that the council member asked for the hours that aren't covered, how are the calls then handled for the critical mental health issues? >> If there's a MET team out in the field, that would be an alternative. And outside of that, officers go to the call. >> And then you had alluded to the potential for investment outside of the center. Can you just elaborate a bit? >> Yeah, there's there I think there's opportunities to have whether perhaps expanding some of the co-response teams that we have out in the field that impact works with directly. By expanding that, you can also reduce some of those calls for service and get um resources to the right place and the right people. having um outside of some of these hours having some of some of these mental health clinicians out in the field with patrol that are just coming upon a call or coming upon something they can immediately address it. I think there are several opportunities like that. Those are just some very quick examples of how we could expand that partnership outside of the comp center and still meet some of the goals that we're trying to get. >> Thank you, Council Member Basher. That was the best public safety update presentation I have ever seen in my entire life. I don't know what it is about tonight, but that just was special. Um, >> you're very kind. >> Thanks. Uh, I I really over the last I feel like over the last few months, maybe even the last year, I've really seen read an article. I'm like, man, that's a really hopeless situation about some type of crime that happened. And then the next day there, you know, the culprit accountability has been is has been and I'm like, how's that happened? And and I was just so happy. I know it could be frightening for some people at Realtime Information Center, but I was so happy uh seeing that and and knowing that that's the thing because I think about all the kids that we see go missing every week. all of the silver alert. I mean, it's just it's a it's a huge blessing being able to to have eyes and be able to to button things up a lot faster than having to go and knock doors and but being able to do that. And u you know, I know for for my ward and even for the area where I work, if there's something that we can do to lend uh some some assistance with what we have, uh we we would love to be able to partner and help in that area. And if I need to go, you know, into the community and I'm sure some of the other council to be able to get that. I mean, it just allows us to have a more accountable and safer community. Um, I mean, I grew up in a time where skateboarding and scootering and running down the street wasn't that big of a deal. And, uh, now I, you know, I've got three kids and it you you just kind of worry. But knowing that we've got more eyes on on what's going on. It just makes, as a parent, it makes me as a business owner, this makes me happy. It really does. Um, I've I've got great confidence and and how uh, you know, you you've led and and I don't think this will be an issue, but I'm really excited about it and I appreciate, you know, just bringing this information and what you've done and and uh, this meeting tonight. So, thank you. >> Thank you. There is going to be opportunities for the public to participate and partner with us. They're producing some materials now. You can put it up in the business. Um, you can use the QR codes. I mean, there's a variety of options that businesses and community members, HOAs, and all of those kinds of things are going to be able to partner with us, and we're going to be marketing this uh while at the same time it working to ensure the public's confidence and uh and trust in all of the system that's being used as well. But I yes, I share your optimism about what can be and what can come from this. It's very exciting >> because looking at footage stinks. I mean, I've sat there for business stuff and I'm like, "No, I don't know anyone that just sits there and looks at a screen." It is the most miserable thing having to rewind and watch like an eight hour. I'm like, you know how long it takes to watch eight hours of footage? Eight hours. And people don't really think about that until you've got to sit there and look for something that happened and it's just like goodness. So, I don't envy the civilians that are in there having to, you know, uh to to filter through and do that kind of stuff. But I I do appreciate it. >> Well, the exciting part is they're not really filtering through. They're watching things live. And so on one side of the screen is the calls that come up. Uh and they're able to see a call come up, see firsthand information as the dispatcher is entering it. They're seeing the screen populate because the dispatcher is talking to the victim, talking to whoever's reporting it, and they get the location. Then they begin trying to pull up the the screens or those cameras, traffic camera or any of those kinds of things and immediately feeding from the real-time information center out into the field. um they can they have the capability and certainly it'll be expanded to get on the radio and speak directly to the officers about turn right it's right there behind that tree. I mean those are the kinds of things that are coming from this uh and it is very exciting. >> Thank you council member Gonzalez. >> Thank you Mayor Chief. Thank you so much for the presentation. Um really encouraging news here. I I want to give you a few accolades and then I have a few questions. Number one is uh the differential response 81% uh of the calls have been deferred to a um a clinician is incredible. I you know just doing the math that's 10 calls a day that have been diverted um that would have required a police response had we not had >> uh this um program. That that's incredible. Uh that's that's and I think on on behalf of my constituents and the folks that that I I speak to in in W 2, um it really is appreciated because we know that some of the crises that some of our residents are facing or their families are facing uh don't often require a police response. That's not the the appropriate response to that to that particular situation. But at times that may be the only uh uh mechanism or tool that we have to respond to a crisis. So the fact that we have this um call center is just a good step in the right direction, I would love us to continue to pursue how we can expand it uh expand this resource um in in the future. Um and then the second thing is uh gun violence and the violence intervention work is incredible that and that I think we cannot continue to um you know have any conversation about safety and crime without recognizing that there's been a significant amount of work done um within the police department but before uh an incident of violence actually occurs with partners with community folks in order for us to prevent that crime. And I think that is um that's really important work. It's it's really encouraging as someone who's been on the council now for 10 years to see the city of Bakersville at this place where we're getting into the weeds of these uh issues and we're we're intervening at times uh where we have a robust network of relationships to prevent violent crime. Um I I don't think enough folks in the community know what what success we're we're gaining or we're seeing from from all of this work. So I just want to commend you. >> I appreciate that. And it and it is difficult work. it's worthy of speaking because uh talking about because it has a lot of different elements and we do have community partners that are going out um trying to prevent something from occurring and even more important at times because it one incident can can spark uh all kinds of retaliation and follow-up incidents. And the partners that we have are able to go out and disrupt even after an act of violence or a shooting has occurred. they're still going out and making uh contact with the parties and trying to prevent any kind of retaliation, which is incredibly uh important. And certainly the police department is being a little bit more strategic and we are uh going out and directly contacting those that we believe may be involved in an incident uh and having a very direct respectful conversation with them about what could happen if they engage in that type of activity. And so u it is great work by all to be sure. If I may, council member, um or on this topic, just, you know, three additional thoughts. One, um the state of California just released a report on progress towards gun violence reduction statewide and Bakersfield was one of three cities highlighted for doing very good work in that space. Um and and I think deserved but appreciated that that shout out uh from the attorney general's office and the state for the good work that's being done in this space. Uh to to the comment uh from council member Coleman, you're absolutely right about when we've reduced our homicides to a level that was so low that a small change in those homicides does reflect a large seeming percentage in um homicides. Um and so you know we had so much progress in uh 22 23 24 that a slight increase in 2025 while you know concerning uh we're still at a a level that is remarkably lower than uh it was you know prior to these efforts and and digging in just a little bit deeper. What's was really interesting about that data is we continued to look at how many of those uh incidents were gun violence related. We only had three incidents related to gun violence in 2025 for a homicides. We had other shootings, you know, that we're tracking and they're troubling and we continue to pursue non-fatal injury shootings as well as just shootings into vehicles or or homes, but all of those are down significantly. And even though we had this small bump in in homicides, it was not related actually to gun violence. But that led us to also say what what was that? What's causing some of that? Uh unfortunately, as chief pointed out, we saw an increase in domestic violence in general, but some of that reflected in homicides as well. And robberies was another area where we saw a bump up that looked more than just, you know, um maybe a statistical anomaly. And so we're looking closely at both of those to dig into the data. We've had great technical assistance providers in this effort to really understand violence dynamics and and where we can interrupt and where it's less likely to interrupt like a crime of passion for or a crime of opportunity for example. But we do believe in domestic violence that is an area that can be predictive and preventative. And so they're digging into that data for us right now, just like we did at the start of our gun violence program to really help us understand what's driving uh more of the patterns and behaviors around domestic violence. And our intent is to develop a a a set of community partners who can also help us along with our more focused enforcement efforts. Um and then the last piece on that that data side is that um we also focused on um whether or not individuals again had uh had had used uh a firearm and firearms continue to be the the predominant um weapon. But actually shootings and firearm homicides were reduced in 25 still further just along with group. But then again that pushed us to say what what is going on. We had we had blunt force trauma and and use of blades which again not to be indelicate but just getting into that level of detail showed us that there are other ways that we need to continue to work in prevention and and um and and enforcement and accountability. Uh but our efforts around reducing gun violence even in 25 continue to produce results and and you know through um close to four months now of 2026 we we believe we're going to make you know still further progress again. >> Great. I want to take us back and provide some historical context for the city of Bakersfield. From from 2003 to 2017, autothefts had risen by 62%. Burglaries were up by 31%. Homicides were up by 75%, robberies were up by 66%. Sexual assaults were up by 42%. This really all necessitated us to uh present to the people of Bakersfield um the public safety and vital services initiative uh which which passed in 2018. Out of that, we've been able to uh fund uh new uh positions. We expanded the police compliment. Uh I believe at this point we have a net gain of 100 officers at in 2018 we had 385 uh officers uh and today we have around 485 officers. Um that net gain of 100 officers I I think has contributed to some of our success. But I wanted to hear from you chief. Um is our investment working? uh I are the investments that our taxpayers are making uh taxpayers making is it is it actually helping and producing the results? >> Yes. And I think there is strong evidence by many different measures, some of what we've talked about tonight, investment in personnel, staffing, um other types of resources, technology, tools, training, a variety of things that have come um that the B that the police department has gained from um the public safety and vital services measure is working. uh we've put that to use um trying to be as respectful and responsible um to the resources that have been given to us. And that's why you're looking at the differential response. You're looking at the the work we're doing around Calvip uh really bringing the motors back and the and the way that we're trying to be strategic about traffic, being able to restore um the impact team, being able to restore in-person responses to commercial and residential burglaries that had been suspended. uh and we didn't have the staffing for that. Uh and and it's not a little thing when your business or particularly your home is broken into and your response from the police department is we'll be there some time or you can file a report online. Um having an officer come to your home to to dust for fingerprints and and and process the scene is significant. Uh and that impacts all of those families who are victims of that. And so through the resources of PSVs, we were able to restore in-person response u to those types of crimes. And so u there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the police department has put to use uh in an effective way the resources that uh that have come from PSVS. Uh and we're grateful for it. >> Well, thank you, Chief. And I just want to close by thanking you for your distinguished care career of 30 years uh serving the city of Bakersfield and all of us throughout the community. Uh I want to thank you for your leadership that you've provided. I've gotten to uh have a first uh hand look at your leadership uh in many difficult situations from uh during difficult protests uh to u co 19. Um I can go on and on. uh you have provided uh stability uh strength um and have uh led the department into a positive direction for the betterment of all of our citizens. And so on behalf of my constituents in W 2, I just want to thank you for your service. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh Chief, thank you again for the presentation. It's illuminating and also provides us very meaningful context um as we are able to share it out with the community. Um I also want to commend the work uh in our gun violence reduction and prevention programs. almost half reduction, 45% nearly 50% is just so meaningful to our community and it shows what's possible when the city partners with community that city and community partnership being something that is a community forward policy that we're already practicing at the city of Bakersfield and I know so many communities and cities across the nation really yearn for those types of partnerships where community is saying look we know what the solutions are please somebody listen to us and here at the city of Bakersfield and at the Police Department, we meet community first and ask for those solutions firsthand. Um, and that's extremely uh commendable and I I mean the data speaks for itself. The results speak for itself that we if we can accomplish then this in uh gun violence then we can accomplish this in so many other areas where where we're looking to see improvements. Um, so having that community care and connection model is something that I commend and I wanted to appreciate out loud as well. Um, that we can be pro community and pro public safety at the same time and this program exemplifies exactly that. Um, so congratulations to the whole department, to the city and everyone that's been involved and especially the community partners who are usually uh not in the room and we commend them and get to give them our round of applause as a city council, but please convey our thanks to them as well. Um, city manager Kle, you mentioned uh a rise in domestic violence. I just want to hear a little bit more about that, how that is documented. I mean, just anecdotally, um, being a community advocate before this role, but then still kind of wearing that hat within this role, I have over the past four years received the highest volume of calls personally in the realm of domestic violence and chief and uh, Assistant Chief Stratton have been so helpful in guiding me as to where I direct folks who reach out to me. So, one thing to really note is that if there's an increase that we're seeing, that means that we're actually having folks report domestic violence and that's a start. Um, because a lot of times we don't have the data. Is that correct? And then once we have data, we can kind of work towards solutions. I I wish I could say universally yes, but I think the I think it's also a reality that it's not being reported and it's resulting in a homicide >> that there aren't the opportunities to intervene and prevent and disrupt and provide a victim with services or allow them to to get out of a situation into safety. And for many far too many, it results in a homicide. And sometimes the reality is it's the first that that we know. And certainly that has occurred. sometimes it's it's not a surprise in in the in in the context of we're repeatedly going somewhere and so there's a lot of opportunities there's a lot of resources available um it is still very much under reportported u and very difficult and challenging for us to meaningfully intervene or prevent because it's behind doors or it's in a moving car or it's completely out of the sight of the public. And so that's why partnerships again is so important because there are source resources available to victims and we certainly encourage them to report it so that it doesn't uh result in serious injury or a homicide because the reality is that that's too often where they end up. >> Yeah. In terms of kind of early ideas as to how we have kind of this community and city partnership model approach in tackling domestic violence, are there early ideas as to partnerships or how we will approach that? Um, I can tell you who I lean on in the community and and I do want to just add that having a language uh sensitivity and having a language um accommodation approach, Spanish Punjabi Tagalague whatever our main languages that are spoken when the region being very important too >> and we have all those resources available to be able to do that. But yeah, um um I think one of the priorities for um new Chief Stratton uh certainly will be um around intimate partner violence and we've talked about that that uh and we're even having conversations with some of the academics and really trying to develop or at least go in the direction of an evidence-based program uh that can help us study and identify where the opportunities for us lie and then find effective meaningful partners to come to the table to help us execute that. And so we're very much um looking at those kinds of that's sort of the pathway that we're headed down to to better study and better identify where the opportunities for us lie. We're certainly doing that. >> But just just add a little bit to that, Vice Mayor. I agree with everything the chief has shared. We haven't, you know, named any partners, you know, by by institution or agency at this point. Uh but we know you know there there have has been a you know um a bit of a coalition of partners that have been you know trying to work increasingly in that space and so we've been you know reaching out and uh picking you know some of their brains about um high level uh u information and also you know openness to sharing some data of course you know um in a way that uh maintains confidentiality and privacy but that can help us, you know, uh, better understand the scenario because the overall mentality that we're going to bring to this is that we we feel like many of the lessons learned on gun violence are very transferable to this same uh area where um, you know, often and this speaks to the reporting challenge. often our community partners are aware of some of these street level dynamics the same time that the crime data is coming in. But it's actually the combination of both of those sets of information that give us the the full picture. And it's important to state publicly that we don't share any of this community-based information in an intelligence gathering way with law enforcement because they have to maintain their integrity and confidentiality with, you know, some of their uh connections and and clients. But we are able to share the public information related to crime data out to our community partners so that they can round out their understanding of what's going on in community because some individuals may not want to call law enforcement but they're willing to come in and ask for a restraining order at one of our community- based organizations as an example. And so uh being able to use both of those pieces of information to best inform this individualized approach to reaching out to individuals. And unfortunately there are some incidents that that are become very violent early on. But a lot of the data that has been seen in in other places is that typically you know the first domestic violence offense uh is less egregious. The second offense escalates and it's really that by that third offense often it's very violent. And so um there there are ways to get in front of this. Um and we would uh really take an individualized approach where we would have indiv you know people reaching out to like in a case management client type of aspect to individuals to offer services you know offer uh paths out of that um um status of vulnerability. Um and uh at the same time uh try and offer even supports and helps for individuals who you you know may have a potential history of being even a perpetrator but paths out of that lifestyle as well. But with that respectful direct message if you don't change path there will be accountability. Uh and so we would we would approach it from that very very similar perspective as we have with our our um gun violence. And we do this we don't just you don't gather that data and take a look back at it the last year. It's way too late. We look at this every week. So each new incident that happens the last week. We look at it this the next week and say who needs to go and talk to this person in the next 48 to 72 hours. So it's very responsive. It's labor intensive, but for that small percentage of the community that's experiencing the big a huge percentage of the actual violence, you can see a big return on investment for limited resources because we're not deploying them to thousands of people where we're deploying them to dozens or maybe a hundred people in a year. You can have big outcomes with your limited resources. >> Yeah. And I understand that there's no um one catch-all solution. I mean, people are calling on the hardest days of their lives and um and I strongly support, you know, having that community care based spot or organization where they're still able to engage with law enforcement where it's not out of fear and essentially it, you know, it takes a lot of courage to build up to even be able to pick up the phone to call 911 or that organization. So, um, yeah, I I look forward to helping, uh, lend a hand, uh, to the next person who's taken the baton, and I'll be bothering soon. So, yes, Chief, thank you so much for all you've done, and and, um, and your service to our community, and I know we get to celebrate you in a little bit. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. You mentioned evidence-based and Christian, you talked about the data-driven approach. I really attribute those strategies to the success that we've had with the Cal VIP program, the Calvette program. >> Often times there are assumptions that we made make that aren't that accurate, but when you're really looking at the data and when you're relying on evidencebased approaches that can really make a difference and so I can see that just as you've said, Mr. Kle, transferring to other areas beyond just the uh violence strategies with Calbip. Thank you so much, Chief, and to all of our police department. Thank you so much for your investment in making our community safer and better. >> Thank you. >> And now, motion to receive. >> Motion to adjourn to close session. >> Receive and file. >> My apologies. Motion to receive and file. >> You have a motion. Please cast your votes. >> Now close session. Everyone >> motion is approved with council member Arias absent. >> Thank you. And that's our last matter of business. So we stand a journ at 4:44. Heat. Heat. down. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. all. Get up. All right. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey hey hey. Heat. Hey Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Ooh. Hey. Hey. I'd rather try and accomplish something great and fail than try to accomplish nothing and fully succeed. I'll stand here all night. I'd rather try and accomplish something than try to accomplish nothing succeed. I'll attract you all night. The final complicated which you will have Please succeed. 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 April 22nd, 2026. Madame clerk, please call the role. >> Mayor Go, >> here. >> Vice Mayor Core >> here. >> Council member Arias. >> Council member Gonzalez >> here. >> Council member Weir >> here. >> Council member Smith, >> I am here. >> Council member Coinman >> here. >> And council member Basher >> here. Thank you and welcome to all of you. Thank you for engaging in the civic process. We have the pleasure tonight of having Pastor Mercedes Tudy Hamilton who's the pastor of Kain Memorial AM church to offer the invocation. Pastor, thank you so much for your service to our community. I know that your church is very involved with the Gleaners Senior Sack program, Waste Hunger Not Food program, the CSUB annual Gospel Fest. Your group did a fantastic job during that. and then also mental health counseling. We're very appreciative beyond your spiritual pouring into your congregants just what you do for our community. And then following the invocation, Brent Stratton, the assistant chief of the Bakersville Police Department, will lead us in the pledge soon to be chief. So now, would you all please stand? Pastor, >> may we bow our heads? Dear God, we thank you for the opportunity to come into your presence this evening and we thank you for forgiving us of our sins and allowing us to bask in your presence. As we proceed in this meeting, we ask you to bless all the city officials, those who have come to partake in this meeting. Will you bless all of the business that is done in your honor and to your glory? Please be over all of the decision making. Let heads be calm. Let heads be cool. That decisions be made that are judicious and that are honoring to you and to all of humanity. We thank you for those who are attend who are here in attendance and those who are yet on their way. And when the meeting is over, that all hearts be clear and minds be clear and on one accord. We thank you for this opportunity to serve humanity and to serve you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> Salute pledge. I pledge algiance 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. >> Pastor, if you just meet Danielle out there. Thanks. 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 courtesy to others, no signs are allowed in the council chamber or in the lobby. Applause is allowed during the presentations portion of the meeting, but not during other portions of the meeting. Everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution city council. Failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum, including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting, prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city. Consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts this meeting may result in expulsion and or the chambers being cleared. Behavior that disrupts a meeting includes repetitive statements, shouting, hate speech, interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting, speaking out of turn, outbursts from the audience. Madame clerk, next item, please. Presentations item 4A, retirement presentation to Greg Terry, Chief of Police for 30 years of service to the city of Bakersfield. >> And right over here, unless we're messing the cameras up. Chief, the year was 1997. The English Patient won best picture at the Academy Awards. Titanic: The Lost World, Jurassic Park, and Men in Black ruled the box office. Microsoft became the world's most valuable company and invested 150 million in rival Apple. The Spice Girls, Leanne Rimes, and Aqua's Barbie Girls topped the charts, while XFiles and ER were the most popular shows on television. and Chief Greg Terry was officially hired by the city of Bakersville as a police officer. Since then, he has gone on to hold numerous other titles with the most recent being police chief. Now, here we are 30 years later and Chief Terry has become an integral, wonderful outstanding superb extraordinary leader in our city's agency. Chief, you really have represented the city with integrity, with professionalism. We are just so, so thankful for your commitment to the city. The one thing I notice about you is humility. And I know in the scriptures it says, "What does God require of us? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly." And that I have seen and with all those other wonderful qualities, just your humility in serving, your genuine caring for our community. And so I am so grateful. So in honor of your 30 years, we present this certificate. 30 years of dedicated service to the city of Bakersville in recognition of your exceptional leadership and dynamic community engagement as the 21st appointed chief of police for the Bakersville Police Department. And in recognition of your resolute commitment to strengthening community partnerships, enhancing public safety, and fostering organizational excellence in law enforcement. Congratulations, and we just applaud you and wish you the very best. It's my honor to be able to present the mayor's medal and the certificate. And it's not over yet. We're going to have uh city manager Kle come up and then I know we're going to continue to celebrate you next week. So, more to come. Thank you so much, Chief. We're just so blessed to have you, >> city manager. Thank you, Mayor Go, and just wanted to extend additional um gratitude and appreciation for you, chief. On behalf of your colleagues in the senior management team and myself and the city manager's office, we also have presented to you this plaque of recognition for your 30 years of service chief. And while plaques are a little bit dusty, we also are presenting to you these recognitions as our street signs. This one is Greg Terry, 30 years of service for our viewing public. I guess we should also a street sign, the Greg Terry way, and in honor of your roots, Greg Terry LSU Tigers. Go Tigers. And >> if I just may, Chief Terry, as the Greg Terry way, um I don't know anyone in my professional experience who has demonstrated a higher level of integrity and character in how they carry out their work. Uh, Chief Terry has been incredibly dedicated to this community, incredibly dedicated to his team as the police department, but in particular, what stands out is leading from heart and leading in a way that Chief Terry, I've never doubted that he would make the right decision for the right reasons and serving this community. Thank you, Chief, for your dedication. And now you get to talk. No, I'm going to invite you. Well, come on up here. You know, what more could we ask for than integrity, character, and humility? Really, and then all the professionalism. Chief, it's yours. >> Um, I'm incredibly humbled, um, and been so privileged to serve this community. Um 1997 doesn't seem that far away. It doesn't at all. Somebody handed me a coin earlier and it's like celebrating 40 years and I like 40 years that's a long time. And I looked at the date and it was like 1986. I go that is not a long time ago. But uh no, it is I I've been incredibly blessed um to serve this community. Um, and it has been a distinct honor and a privilege to serve the last years as chief of police. Um, it's not something I ever found I ever thought I would find myself doing quite frankly. Um, but it has been an absolute honor. We have a wonderful community and um I am so grateful and my message to the community is that of thank you. uh and I am grateful for their support for um everything that they have enabled us to do and partnering with us and believing in what we are trying to do and working closely with us. Um it has been an absolute honor to serve this community and so I'm humbled and grateful um to you the council. Thank you. Thank you for believing in what we are trying to do. Thank you for your support in terms of resources and personally. Thank you for sometimes the debates about what we are doing and the priorities of what we are doing and helping us make sure that we're staying on the right track. Um to the city manager, Mr. Kle, thank you for your uh partnership, your friendship. Um and we've had tough conversations uh and and we've made it through at least I have this far. So I'm appreciative of that. Uh but no, grateful for your leadership and and your your counsel and um to Jenny to to everyone uh all the other department heads. Thank you again for your collaboration, your support of me and the police department and to our wonderful mayor. Thank you. Thank you for your kind words certainly and it's been an absolute honor and a privilege to work with you all. Um, I would not be here today and you would not be saying very likely some of the things you have said about me without the incredible men and women of the police department. And so I'm so proud of them and what they do every single day um to serve this community. And that's the one thing that I walk away from is I wish people knew the heart of the men and women of the Bakersville Police Department because you would you too would be so proud and have tremendous confidence in what we are trying to do. the future is bright. Chief Stratton coming on has the right heart. He loves this community. He loves his people. Uh and he certainly will do right by all of them. And then lastly, again, I would not be here without my family. Um and I cannot say enough about how much my wife and kids have allowed me to do over these 30 years. And there have been difficult times to walk away from very important things at home, just like all public servants do. Um, but it is a little bit different uh for a police officer and their family. And so uh I'm incredibly grateful to my wife and my children to have supported and allowed me to serve um where my heart lies uh in this community and doing it um in the way that I believe it needed to be done. And so with all of that, I'm grateful. I'm thankful u and I wish you all well. Thank you. >> Thank you. In keeping with council's resolution, the public statements portion is divided into two periods. There's a period for items listed on the meeting agenda and items not on the meeting agenda. Statements for items listed on tonight's agenda are given a two-minute time limit, 20 minutes total per agenda item. The consent calendar as a whole constitutes one agenda item. Statements regarding items not listed on the agenda are given a two-minute time limit, 20 minutes total. If you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement, give them to the clerk. She'll give copies to the council. If you're here to make a public statement, please fill out a public speaker card and give your comp put your completed card in that tray. We ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on tonight's agenda or a matter not on the agenda. Speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-aggenda portion and will be called to speak during the non-aggenda portion of the meeting. Madam clerk, do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda? >> America, we've received three public speaker cards regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda. The first public speaker is Adam Cohen. Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> Good evening, Adam Cohen. Tonight, the clerk is served with notice of intent to repeal Measure N. Measure N. The city promised a 35 million cap on ongoing expenditures. Today, it exceeds 80 million and is in climbing. Since its passage, this council has spent upwards of 700 million. Where are the results? Measure N has become a blank check for recurring costs, increasing pension obligations and ongoing expenditures while basic services continue to fall behind. Public works spending roughly 4.5 million per mile on downtown streetscapes while core infrastructure needs remain unmet and accountability is missing. Financial reports which are required annually as well as audits are years behind. Independent audits are not current. Performance metrics do not exist and are insufficient. You cannot measure success without reporting results. Oversight exists in name only and the intended watchdog has now become a lap dog. More funding does not guarantee better outcomes. And if measure N is not working, the voters deserve the opportunity to fix it. So let the voters decide. Is measure N delivering value or is it time or a change? Um, we have filed this with the clerk. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Cohen. Council member Wear. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I am the only council member that voted against Major N. I thought it would be um I thought it would be used for purposes other than for which it was uh brought forward. Today I look to see what um revenues of measure in are at um at the year end the measure the revenues are $108 million. Out of that out of that public service, police and fire was 46 million of that. There's there's a big gap between what was promised and what what we're receiving at this point. And I'm sure that um we could use much more police, fire, and other items like that. And so, um, I think it's I think it's a time for us to take a look at it again. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Weir. Madam Clerk, next speaker, please. >> Gwendelle Wesley. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> My name is Wendell Wesley Jr. Thank you, council management team. Um, based on that first comment, um, we need a lot more revenue. Obviously, I don't know if you guys have considered actually ways that we can create more revenue, like maybe building more affordable homes to add to the tax base because that would definitely help because right now we got a lot of homes sitting empty. Um, also I like billboards. Everybody looks at them. You guys can maybe add your own billboards to create some revenue, okay? And I can be very helpful to you and other creative ideas. So, I'm going to move on to what I came here for originally was to talk about a safety issue in my neighborhood right there on N Street just south of California in as a Nancy. There's a special needs school called Ray for Johnson. State requires a four-way stop there. There's no four-way stop at that location. Also on that street, cars tend to go a bit too fast. They slow down just before that where the forward stop should be. But we have a lot of senior citizens, people with disabilities crossing that street and also crossing the street from the driveway. It's very unsafe. We did get some wheelchair ramps there eventually, but now there's no sidewalks. So, we really need sidewalks to go with the real chestable ramps. We also would like a crosswalk to go straight across so people in chairs, scooters, and walkers aren't leaving from the driveway, which is very unsafe, and going diagonally all the way across. We also are requesting speed bumps north and southbound in both directions so that cars are forced to slow down before the stopwalk in both directions. It's way overdue and it's long time we do this. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Whistley. City Manager Kle is Steph. We'll follow up with him. Thank you, Council Member Basher Tash. >> My request is that we would follow up that maybe get a traffic study going around the school and just see if we need to what what adjustments we need to make. We need to do a better job protecting our kids. >> Thank you. And then Council Member Gonzalez. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh Mr. Mr. Wesley, thank you so much for coming tonight and for inviting me out uh a few weeks ago to visit the um intersection and and the neighborhood that you're talking about. I agree. I mean, I I think part of it is a design issue. The the street is just far too wide and we we do need to do whatever we can to uh help calm traffic on that uh on that particular section of N. Um, I know that there was a traffic study done uh in the past, but I wonder if we can update that and look for alternatives given the fact that we now have a traffic calming handbook uh that we can employ in this location. But given the number of children in the neighborhood and also given the number of seniors who are crossing back and forth on a regular basis, it it sure warrants uh some attention. So, uh thank you again for coming today. >> Next speaker, please. Johnny Alleg. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> My name is Johnny Olz, Olgas, actually in Spanish. Um, I'm here to ask Andre Gonzalez and Bob Smith to resign as well as we need to eliminate the city charter because having a city manager is not conducive to the budget as we have seen. U what the city charter does is it provides a essentially a CEO that runs the entire city as opposed to what is in the interest of the people which we don't have that right now. And I know a lot of people in the public don't understand the value of paying our city council members. I believe that we should pay our city council members a salary as well as a mayor. And I'm saying that because when you have people like Bob Smith and Andre Gonzalez benefiting off the taxpayers's dollar off the I mean go down 18th Street as always and you will see all Bob Smith properties. So, I'm here to ask you, please reconsider this city charter that we have been running with for the longest time. And please resign, Andre and Smith. And next time that somebody tries to buy you out, people, if anybody's listening here, they invite you to lunch, don't take the money. I will be sharing a message in the next coming weeks on social media and it will also go viral as all my other stuff has because I have nothing to lose. When I get sued for $200,000 as a result of yours, all all of you guys, I'm coming after him and I'm going to make sure that everything goes public. So, please resign, Andre and Mr. Smith. Thank you. >> Next speaker, please. Justin, >> welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> Hi. Uh, my name is Justin. Um, I uh took this video on H Street, uh, which has just been restriped, and I wanted Mr. Arius to see this, but he's not here. Um, I wanted you to see that the the new brand brand new bike lanes are not wide enough for my handlebars. They are not wide enough for me to travel safely. They are not wide enough for traffic to pass me safely. Five out of five cars made an illegal pass in this situation. The law says that a bike lane that is not wide enough to use alongside cars in another lane should not be used, but there's no way to take the lane when traffic is going at this pace. Um, this is just an example of the horrible infrastructure decisions that are being made and implemented. As you can see here, every one of these cars is within reach of me, which means zero feet of space. Um, it's great. >> Yeah, I I usually don't even take this road. I I literally took it just just to see what would happen. Yeah. Um, >> I guess that's all I have for now. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor. >> Thank you for bringing this to our attention and for having a video to for us to see as well. Um, travel down the street. What happened here? Is this in we we re paved or we restriped and what are aren't we using new kind of like guidelines in order to stripe our bike lanes and that clearly isn't wide enough >> Mr. No, it's uh honorable mayor of ice mayor. Um we recently did this inhouse uh restripe the road. Um that portion of a street is very narrow. Um so there's limitations to what we can do. Um to make that safer and have a bike lane with the buffer, but that's why along H Street, we are still trying to explore other options and multi-use path options in that corridor. So in this example, we've reriped. Would it benefit us to reduce the lanes in the cars in order for the bike lane to be the right width in order for a bicyclist to feel safe in that bike lane? >> Yes, we can take a look at that again and see what the widths are. Um, but again, I know it is very narrow there because of it's an older part of town. So, we can take a look at that and see if there's any improvements we can make. >> How far out should it be from the gutter? >> Uh, bike lane up against the gutter like that should be uh with the 5T. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Council Member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Justin, for coming today. I just happened to have rode that section the other day and thought, "Man, this feels narrow." Uh, we have in the past talked about 10ft lanes and I think we've got a resolution coming forward. Are those 10 foot lanes when you restriped it? Do you know? >> I do not know what the lane width was when we put it back. >> Yeah, it it feels very narrow the bike lane. And again, thank you for coming. Thank you. >> Thank you. And now, Madame Clerk, do we have any other speakers? Mayor Go, that was the final speaker for non-aggenda items. >> Thank you. >> There seems to be another card. Mayor, one moment. >> Okay, Mayor, that was our final speaker for non-aggenda items and we have not received any speaker cards for agenda items. Thank you. Next item, please. >> Consent calendar items 6A through 6J for approval. Uh please note that item 6E1 contains a staff recommendation to adopt resolutions approving salaries and benefits for specified units. >> Thank you. Council member Smith has requested that we pull 6F8. Colleagues, is there anyone else who wishes to pull? If not, Vice Mayor, >> motion to approve consent calendar with the exception of item 6F8. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. Motion is approved with council member AAS absent. >> Thank you. And now council member Smith 6F8 please. >> Thank you mayor. The administrative report on this um states that this Ripple Fiverr company uh instead of paying the existing deposits and degradation payment fees, we're going to enter into a guarantee agreement with the city that ensures they will repair and replace any substandard work done to the city streets. as a result of installing new facilities. And I guess my position is anytime you cut a street, you've degraded the street and there should be a degradation fee. And so I I just would like to continue this item and send it back to staff and and really get more of what the thought process is. So my motion is to continue this item. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Smith. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. motion is approved with council member AAS absent. >> Thank you. Madam clerk, next item, please. Consent calendar public hearings items 7A and 7B for approval. >> Thank you. It's now time for the consent calendar hearings. The purpose of this section is to move to vote on all the items listed under consent calendar hearing in one motion without further comment. If anyone would like to speak on any of the hearing items listed, the item must be removed from this portion of the agenda. If an item is removed, it will be placed at the end of the regular public hearings portion of the meeting. Uh at this time, I'll open consent calendar public hearings items 7A through B. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to request that an iting hearing item be removed from the consent calendar? If so, please step forward. This isn't the time to take testimony, only to remove the matter from the consent calendar hearing. Seeing none, does any council member wish to remove an item? Seeing none, at this time, consent calendar public hearings items 7 A through B is closed. Ma, Vice Mayor, please. >> Motion to approve consent calendar public hearing items 7 A and 7B for approval. >> Thank you. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. Motion is approved with council member AAS absent. >> Thank you. Next item, please. Hearings. Our next item is public hearings. Each side will be allowed 15 minutes. It's 15 minutes for all speakers per side. So, it's important that you identify yourself, make your statement succinctly so others may speak. We'll hear statements from those opposed to the staff's recommendation first. Then we'll hear from those who would like to speak in favor of the staff recommendation. If there's testimony on both sides, each side will be allowed a fiveminute rebuttal. There's a clock on the TV screens 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 end your statement. You may ask questions during your statement, but they won't be addressed until the public hearing is closed. If you have written comments that are longer than your verbal statement, give them to the clerk. She'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 item 8A, public hearing to consider adoption of sewer user rates for fiscal years 2026 27 through 203031. >> Thank you, Mr. Kle. >> Mayor, >> and then um Madam City attorney, >> if I may, before we really begin with the conversation, I would like the record to reflect that we have a court reporter here. The court reporter is taking down everything that we say this evening and so I would ask that everyone speak slowly uh so that the court reporter may prepare an accurate record. Thank you. >> Thank you. And court reporter if you need anyone to slow down just give us that signal please. Mr. Kle. >> Thank you mayor and councel. Uh before we begin the public uh hearing comment section, uh staff has a presentation to uh provide a summary review on this topic. It is worth noting that uh we presented on this topic uh more than a year ago um with council direction. We took a step back. We paused the process. We spent notable additional time uh researching uh this topic. uh we uh sought out um second opinions and third opinions on our data analysis. Uh we reached out to the community and we we ultimately were able to make some adjustments. Uh but the data proved out to to be consistent and accurate data from a year ago. But we've uh found uh some ways to uh um approach the timeline for um incurring some of the the rate increases. Uh and we've conducted extensive public outreach. We've had town hall meetings throughout the community uh virtual town hall meetings. We've posted that information on the city's website. We've done a thorough notice uh related to this topic. And so we're back here today uh representing uh what we believe is again a it had already been thorough extremely thorough analysis at this point and a balancing uh in our approach to best address the needs of the community as well as what's fiscally uh responsible. And so I'll turn it over to our water department director Chris Budak to provide a summary of where we're at today. >> Thank you Mr. Kle. Miss Budak. Thank you. Um, good evening, Mayor Goen Council. Um, I'm Chris Budak, director. >> Pull the mic closer, please. There we go. >> I'm Chris Budak, the director of the water department, and I'd like to provide an overview of the sewer rate Proposition 218 process leading up to tonight's hearing. Prior to council authorization on February 11th, 2026 to begin the Prop 218 process, staff performed a significant outreach effort beginning October 2025 through January 2026. In October, the first round of presentations to the community professional affiliations as well as key stakeholders began with a focus on educating the public on understanding the city's sewer system and deficiencies. It is important to explain to it was important to explain the to the community that the city is responsible for managing waste water and storm water within the city limits. To do this, the city must collect and convey these waters utilizing pipes and lift stations. Yeah. To reduce the capacity of the wastewater treatment plants, storm water is diverted from the conveyance system into storm water basins or sumps. Here, the water is able to recharge into the subbasin. Waste water will flow to the treatment plant where it will be treated and the effluent can be sent to recharge basins where again it can per percolate into the subbasin and or it can be used for agricultural purposes. All structures and facilities associated with managing wastewater and storm water must be operated, maintained, and improved to ensure combined systems provide health and safety services to the city residents. In December, the second round of community community meetings began with the intent to explain rate development and obtain community feedback to various proposed rate scenarios. At the February 11th council meeting, staff was directed to begin the Proposition 218 process, identifying a recommended rate increasing to $475 effective July 1, 2026, followed by annual increases of $100 for the next four years. Based on the rate recommended by the council, HFNH had to update the 2026 cost of service analysis. In addition, water staff had to update the 2026 through 2030 sewer rate and fe fees report. The final report, which includes the 2026 cost of service analysis as an attachment, was finalized March 4th and was posted on the wastewater website March 5th. Proposition 218 pamphlets were mailed to residents on March 5th and March 19th by a third party vendor. I would like to now turn it over to the city clerk, Julie Dermachus, to discuss the city's protest process. The following is a summary of the city's Prop 218 noticing and protest procedures concerning the proposed sewer rate increase. The city mailed notice to all parcel owners affected by the proposed rate increase. Additionally, the city clerk's office published notice in the Bakersfield, Californian on April 4th and April 11th, and additional notice will be published on April 25th and May 2nd. Notice is also posted on the city clerk's digital display board at city hall north, which will remain posted until the conclusion of the public hearing on May 13th. The notice states that affected property owners or tenants who oppose the proposed rate increase may submit a written protest to the city clerk's office. Protests must be delivered to the city clerk's office and be received before the conclusion of the public hearing on May 13th. The city's process for counting protests is as follows. At the end of each workday, the city clerk's office transmits copies of all protests uh correspondence received to staff at the wastewater division for review and verification. Original protest letters are retained by the city clerk. Staff records every piece of correspondence into a log to track total protests received. Staff reviews all protests to verify whether they are valid. Protests submitted in correct form should include a statement of the person's opposition, the property address, the assessor's parcel number, and an original signature. Electronic signatures are not accepted, and only one protest per parcel will be counted. If a protest is received, which includes only an address or only a parcel number, but all other information can be identified and verified as valid, the protest will still be counted. Staff additionally verifies property locations and checks for duplicate protests which will not be counted. The city clerk provides an independent review of protests counted and audits those deemed invalid. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the city clerk will provide a summary of all protests received in response to the proposed rate increase. Thank you. As far as next steps, this evening we will have a public hearing to collect public comments. It's anticipated that the hearing will be continued to May 13th. On May 13th, we will again have a public hearing and collect public comments. As the clerk stated, protest letters will continue to be received until the end of the until the closing of the May 13th hearing. It is anticipated that upon closure of the hearing, the council will vote to either approve or deny the recommended rate. If the rate increase is approved, staff will prepare a resolution before the bring a resolution before the council on May 27th so that the Kern County assessor can update the tax role with the approved rate. The rate would take effect July 1st, 2026. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Mr. Kle. Would you like to add comments? >> Thank you, Mayor. No. >> Thank you. So, at this time, public hearing item 8A is open. We'll receive comment now from people who would like to speak in opposition to staff's recommendation. The city clerk has handed me 13 requests to speak. Uh we have 15 minutes for the opposition portion. So we would ask that you be very efficient in your speaking to allow as many speakers as possible to speak. Madame clerk Wendell Wesley Jr. followed by Dr. Natalie Escobida Garcia followed by Eric Orurayana. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Okay. U most people really are going to have a really hard time affording this. So some not so hard a time. It's something that we need. So we need to figure out a way to make it more affordable. And for those who really can afford it, we don't want to start losing residents. We already have a taxbased problem. So we need to find a way to keep our good citizens here and come up with a program that's going to help assist those that are going to have challenges with affording this. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker, Madam Clerk, >> Dr. Natalie Escobido Garcia. Good evening, council members. My name is Dr. Escoedo Garcia here on behalf of Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability. Um, as currently proposed, we are concerned about the increase in rates associated particularly with the expansion of wastewater treatment plant number three. While we understand the need to maintain and improve wastewater infrastructure, we are concerned that a portion of the proposed rate increase will shift financial burden from future customers to existing rate payers. Uh as the 218 analysis is currently written, it appears that the expansion of wastewater treatment plant number three is intended to accommodate for future growth. Um the analysis does not clearly state or outline if future customers will pay for that the expansion of the waste of wastewater treatment plant number three via connection fees or other mechanisms. Uh as per California's Proposition 218, fees imposed on property related services such as sewer must be proportional to the cost of service attri attributable to each uh property or parcel. Uh and revenues driven uh from these fees cannot exceed the funds required to provide the service. Uh to ensure co current customers are not covering the cost of future customers that um and that the city is increasing rates in a way that upholds 218 requirements, the city must revise the analysis to include a breakdown of costs attributed to existing versus future customers and clearly outline how growth related capacity will be funded. Uh ensuring transparency and adherence to Prop 18 is essential to maintaining public trust and fairness in the sewer rate setting process. Um, we oppose the city's moving forward with the rate analysis as currently written. Thank you for your consideration. >> Thank you. Next speaker, please. >> Eric Oriana, followed by Claire Collins, followed by Tiffany Ayala. >> And just as a reminder, we have a court reporter. So, if you can just speak at a rate where he can take that, but be very efficient because we have many people who want to speak. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you, uh, mayor, honorable council members. Eric Oriana here on behalf of Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability. I'm here to speak about uh, this proposed rate increase. Uh, met with staff, so appreciate, uh, they them making the time to connect. Um, but, uh, we wanted to recognize the need to invest in wastewater treatment plant number two. A significant investment, but uh, one that we see as needed nonetheless. Um, but we wanted to communicate one thing which is very clear that Bakersfield residents are under immense pressure uh on economic and financial fronts. They're making difficult decisions when going to the grocery store, when paying for medical prescriptions uh and when taking care of their families. A recent unemployment report uh identified a nearly 10% unemployment rate uh here in Kern County. Uh the average price of gas today is about $5.70. And um a University of California uh natural agricultural natural resource resources report found that this rate increase would be unaffordable for nearly one in four residents in Bakersfield. Um so uh one thing is clear that uh residents need support if this rate goes forward. Uh and so that's why we're asking that you establish a low-inccome rate assistance program. Uh which would be critical to ensuring that residents here in California and Bakersfield are supported. Uh there are people in this community that are on fixed incomes that we've spoken to and have communicated how much of an impact this would have. Uh and so we respectfully urge you to implement a low-inccome rate assistance program with general fund dollars. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker, please. Claire Collins, followed by Tiffany Ayella, followed by Genevieve Eum. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Uh my name is Claire Collins. Uh and I'm an attorney uh specializing in sewer rates setting. I do this all over the state and the county of Kern has asked me to come today to express some of its concerns. Uh I've brought with me today the county's protest against the proposed sewer rate increases. as it is an original in its sign and I'll leave it here. Maintaining and improving aging sewer in sewer infrastructure is critical. However, so is affordability as was mentioned by the previous speakers. The proposed rate will increase sewer charges by nearly 400%. Over five years. Uh so imagine if you will that you have a $200 a month electricity bill right now. Imagine it going to four or going to $800 a month. a 400% increase. That's really large. Now, it's not that big because it's spread out over the year, but it's a 400% increase we're talking about over a 5-year period, but the facilities won't all be built within the next 5 years. They will benefit county residents for decades to come. The county respectfully requests that the city consider spreading these costs over a longer period. It's something we call generational equity. The county appreciates all the work that's gone into the study. We understand how uh thorough the city has tried to be and in working with consultants over the prior year. However, the county would like to be at the table. Um I do help entities across the state find affordable ways to finance these systems in order to spread these costs. The county is also concerned about the errors and how the public public was noticed. uh the fact that the notices are not available online and that there are two separate mailing dates and hearing dates that may be confusing to the public and there has not been a sufficient uh clarification of those issues. In addition, it's concerned about the $30 million in storm water fees that appear to violate the Selenus case. Um and it's concerned about the proportionality of the charges. And I'm happy to speak with any member of the staff or city attorney about this. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker, please. Tiffany Ayala followed by Genevieve Eum followed by Mark Adams. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> Can you lower the mic, please? >> Thank you. Hi, my name is Tiffany Ayala. I'm a solid waste equipment operator. >> Sorry, can you hear me now? Okay, thank you. I said my name is Tiffany Ayala and I'm a solid waste equipment operator for the city of Bakersfield and also a member of SEIU 521. Um I'm struggling to understand why this council has waited until the last possible moment to invest in our infrastructure. Um as of now th um thousands of us are facing sewer rate increases five hikes over the next 5 years. Uh, this is a heavy burden, especially for working families already stretched thin. Um, have all of our options truly been exhausted before asking residents to carry the cost? Uh, is this fair to expect people to take on more than many of us are struggling to make ends meet? Also, I just want to ask u why are some parts of our city uh newer developed areas seem to receive more investment while other neighborhoods are left behind? uh local corporations should be paying their fair share of these increased costs. I just want to urge this council to explore mother other um equitable solutions that don't place the burden um on working families. Um we've had years to plan for this. Please don't ask us to bail it out right now. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker, please. Genevie Eum followed by Mark Adams followed by John Murphy. Hi, just want to correct my name is Genevie Eigana. I'm actually a senior librarian. I work at Beal just a couple blocks down. I'm a fixed current leader and I am a proud member of SEIU Local 521. I'm here tonight to urge you to vote no on the proposed sewer rate increase. Um I live on the east side of Bakersfield. Many families are already struggling, including my own. Um parts of it feel like a food desert. There's higher poverty rates. aging infrastructure and we can't afford these increases. I understand that this council has an obligation to invest in our sewer system, but why did it take decades to act? And now that we're playing catch-up, will these investments finally bring the east side up to the level of the west side? Or will we continue to be left behind? Is balancing overdue investments on the backs of working families like mine and my neighbors really the only option? You've heard it in this chamber before. Assembly bill 1827 authorizes the city to charge those responsible like corporations and big a for increased system requirements to cover the true cost of expanding infrastructure. So why aren't we pursuing that more aggressively? We all agree infrastructure matters, but fairness matters too. And right now it feels like some parts of the city receive more attention, more investment, and more priority than others. Working families like mine and like my neighbors deserve relief, not higher bills. Please vote no on this proposal as it stands and bring back a plan that makes corporations finally pay their fair share. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next speaker, please. >> Mark Adams, followed by >> just a reminder that we don't allow applause during this portion of the meeting. I know that you're passionate. Next speaker, please. >> Mark Adams, followed by John Murphy. My name is Mark Adams, 27year resident of Bakersfield. Uh, I live in the county, but I own a rental property in Ward 3. Um, better put these on. Um I'm going to abbreviate my remarks by a lot but uh basically um our sewer system did not suddenly reach the dilapidated condition u that it's described to be in. Um it happened over many years and under an apparently inadequate inspection protocol. Um, were the inspectors incompetent or did they actually report problems that were ignored? Was there preventative maintenance that could have been done that wasn't done? Um, you know, we've talked about the huge cost here, and I'm just going to jump to uh, you know, the the people who will be most affected by this are older, longtime homeowners, many on fixed income, who will see a disproportionate increase in their property tax bills if this proposal proposal is adopted as presented. uh so much for the protections of Prop 13. Um this flat fee is a workaround that has no connection to the assessed value of our homes. Um has any effort been made to offset the cost for the reconstruction of these facilities by reducing spending in the public's work public works department or any other city departments or is it just the taxpayers who have to suck it up and tighten their belts? Um, we see in the news example after example of obscene levels of fraud and waste in the state and federal levels of government. Are we to believe that none of that exists at the city level? I have many friends and family who have fled this state due primarily to the high cost of living and many more who would go but stay only because of family ties here. And I could go on and on. Um but uh I would just pose this question to the council members and to uh my councilman Weir. Uh this sewer issue came out of left field about a year ago. Yes. But uh then it was a it was completely new to the public. Uh and so my concern is uh what else, you know, what other cans have been kicked down the road? what else is coming um that we're going to be blindsided with. That's all. >> Thank you. Next speaker, please. And just uh a reminder that we have many who want to speak, so we'd ask that you keep your comments succinct, please. >> John Murphy, followed by Catalina Maldonado. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. >> Nice to see you all. First time I've ever been here. Um, let's talk about the rate increase for the sewage. First of all, I guess I'd say I vote no on it. I moved here 12 years ago with my wife. We're both retired. Things are tight. We own our home. I'm not paying for it. Well, taxes, but we own it. We worked hard for that. And all of a sudden, I get this little pamphlet that says there's a sewage rate increase. And it's that's extreme amount over the past over the next 5 years. That'll make it hard. Now, I've only been here for 12 years, but in that time, I've been in the community everywhere. There are a lot of people here that are already struggling. A lot of people in Bakersfield, a lot of older people, and I understand there are some old areas in Bakersfield because it's an old oil town. Some of those are really old systems underground. I I understand those need to be fixed up, but all I can say is I hope that you would find another way than to just tax the people. Just put it on the people again because everything's on us. We notice it. We feel it in our pockets. We see it around. You know, it's it's tight. Everything's tight right now. And we moved here to Bakersfield because we figured, hey, we can afford it. It looked great. Since we've been here 12 years, our house has doubled in price, which is good for us. But the fact that more young people who are hoping to come here and buy homes, they're all of a sudden out there, they can't afford them. And then the ones that are just squeaking by. Here it is again, another tax. So hopefully you can say no to this and find another way in which to pay for this. maybe all the hundreds of thousands of homes that are going to be built here and the casinos and all the other things. Maybe they can pitch in a little bit and take care of it another way, but not to hit the rest of us. It It's hard enough as it is. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Next speaker, please. Catalina Maldonado. >> Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members. My name is Catalina Maldonado and I'm a homeowner here in Bakersfield. I am here to respectfully oppose the proposed sewer rate increase. I am concerned that the Spanish speaking community is not being represented. So I'm here to read it in Spanish. personas mayor. I respectfully ask for a no vote to this rate increase. Thank you. >> Thank you, madam city attorney. Do we Okay. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Isaiah's Pledo. >> Welcome. We're down to 31 seconds. So, >> thank you, Mayor. Uh thank you, city council. Uh Isa Pledo, uh here in Bakersfield. Um as a resident and more so, uh as a community advocate, I wanted to reach out and um share. I respectfully oppose uh for this um you know, incentive to happen, especially for the community. I believe that, you know, uh um I'm representing here, you know, um several business owners, um 80, excuse me, 8 8,000 uh or so business owners along with half a million residents who all want to oppose this. No more taxes and, you know, stop taxing our seniors and our residents. It's uh it's an issue and uh financial burden for us, more so our Hispanic and Latino community who can barely make ends meet. So, please uh vote no on this. Don't continue this. Just vote no tonight. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Pledo. Madam clerk, we have three additional speaker cards requested for the record. I'm assuming they're in opposition. If they're not, uh, please let us know. Would you just for the record read their names? >> Debbie Busby, Odell Contras, Olivia Nazerson. >> Thank you. And now that is the conclusion of the opposition part. Uh, is there anyone who would like to speak in support of staff's recommendation? This would be the time to speak. Seeing none, >> go ahead. >> I'm sorry. Since um there's no one here uh in favor of it, can we continue the >> No, no, it doesn't work that way. Thank you sir. >> Way to be fair. So, at this point, I'll close the public hearing and return it to council for comment and action. Vice Mayor, please. >> Thank you, mayor, and thank you to everyone who came to share with us tonight. Um, I have a question, a few questions for Chris >> Budak. Um, so I was just jotting down the questions that our residents had and since they've traveled all this way to share um, uh, their opinions as well as their feelings and have questions of us. Um, I wanted to ask you directly. >> Okay. Um, we're just going to wait one minute. We need just a little bit of a break. So, we need everybody here to hear that. So, we're just going to pause for a minute. >> Okay. >> Stay right there. >> All council members just have to be present uh to hear this part of the discussion. So, I think they're asking for a fivem minute uh recess. So, we'll just take a five minute recess and we'll be back in five. Hello everybody. You >> should have asked. >> I'm so sorry. >> It's almost intention. >> Reconvening at 6:24. Vice Mayor, please. You might want to start again. >> Thank you. Well, my first question is uh to address some of the >> Let's just make sure everybody Yeah. >> Go ahead. When we last had this item before us, um, one of my asks was to explore a program for those who are on fixed incomes, like our seniors, veterans, and and families who are on fixed incomes. How far are we now in developing a program to support those individuals on fixed incomes so that this does not impact them? >> Vice Mayor, I'll take that question. We've done that research out of the city manager's office. We have had staff um look at other areas that may have those programs. We've only found one benchmark comparable city that has a comparable program, which is the city of Sacramento. They spend $5.5 million a year out of their general fund to create a program like this. Uh so we we do have some analysis and examples of how it could work. Uh but we have not prepared a recommendation uh of what uh our um funding tiers or eligibility tiers would look like uh pending you know further council direction on the topic. >> What would we need next in order for us to make sure there is a program in place? >> I think it would take a budget appropriation by council in the upcoming budget process. >> Okay. And we are in the budget process now. So that is a recommendation that we can make. Correct. >> That is correct. >> Okay. Uh so my recommendation tonight is that we prioritize that within this budget cycle if we are making the ask of the public to increase the rate that we do provide a a system of support for those who are on fixed incomes in our community. Um we received um quite a few questions around engagement within the community and notifying our residents. Uh so to uh our water department director Chris Budak um when were residents first contacted? Was that before or after this came to the council and then we decided to do community meetings which came first? >> So initially in uh March April time of 2025 we took the uh one-time rate forward to the council the $950 rate um which was originally recommended to move forward with Prop 218 and then later rescended. So the discussions as far as the need for a rate increase began um I would say spring of 2025 um with the recision uh by the council there was request to ensure that we have um outreach with the community and so we worked on a number of things um having our report reviewed by a third party consultant uh which we did as well as uh put together a outreach program and though the The outreach program started in October with the community meetings uh for the council wards as well as a number of professional affiliations including uh greater Bakersfield uh chamber of commerce uh current tax um different um society of American civil engineers various affiliations like that. We had tours at the wastewater plant um for uh water association Kern County. Uh so we began that outreach in October. Um, we also came back to the council, I believe it was October 22nd, and we presented a updated one CASA rate, which was again a one-time fee without considering bonding or uh putting that rate over 5 years, and we presented it again to the council, and we were given direction to continue to evaluate rates. So, um, I believe that we've had this conversation in front of council. This is the fifth or sixth time. Uh we came back on February 11th and uh at that time the recommended rate was put forward which was the $475 was $100 a year increase for the remaining four years and uh we were directed to um move forward with the Prop 218 process. >> Okay. And there was a question about the notices being available online. Is the notice available online? I would defer to our city clerk. >> Has it been provided for them to put it online? >> Notices typically are not posted online uh per um our uh procedures. They are posted for uh public review on the city clerk's digital display board that is available 24 hours a day. In addition, notices are mailed to affected property owners. >> Okay. >> If I if I may, Vice Mayor, also just to to round out the the conversation, we created a separate web page dedicated specifically to this topic. That web page has the the cost of service analysis report, the engineering reports. It has um links to uh this notice information. We've also sent out, you know, multiple social media notices. And so um you know the the web page uh that's dedicated to this topic you know has um extensive content on this um as including um connections to our notice. Yes, >> there was a question about the notices being available in >> there's a question about the notices being available in languages other than English. Were the l were the notices mailed to Spanish-sp speakaking households in Spanish, Punjabi speaking households in Punjabi, the gaglug speaking households in Is that something we did? >> It is not. >> Okay. Um, there was a question about preventative precautions that have been taken before the decision to increase the rates. under your leadership, were there preventative precautions that were taken? And could you share some of those things that we've done that were shared within the community meetings as things progress that's been made or at least attempts in trying to repair that then resulted in us being here and needing to do a more overhaul of um our sewer systems. >> So I would like to um invite Iet Raldon to assist with that question. Um I will advise that we have um operators and maintainers uh that operate and maintain the system. Uh the challenge with a wastewater facility is you can it you don't really know that there is a underground problem or a problem within concrete or with a within a structure until potentially it fails. Um because they are always under a um a wastewater load. And so the staff is uh always maintaining operating reviewing um preventing whatever maintenance they can do. Whenever they can see that something's not working right, they um they have a uh work order system that they log all of their uh imp uh modifications uh into a report so they can keep track of all the um changes and improvements that they're making. Um uh Evette, would you like to share? Um uh the only thing I would add good uh good evening uh mayor and council is um we do have a preventative uh maintenance program within the treatment plants, the sewer system and the storm sewer system. Um I would say that historically the rate has been low. So we have been limited meaning we do as much as we can with the funding that we do have available at the time. Um, and so we do have preventative, we do have um, also emergency uh, repairs that we do when they come up, but we do what we can with the funding available. >> Thank you. Um, I think in closing, just taking stock of what our residents have shared today, what I've heard in community meetings, two things being true at the same time. There is an urgency to make sure that we build infrastructure and catch up while also the responsibility of us as public servants, as a city to make sure we're notifiing notifying our residents in a way that is diligent and transparent and um you know it is also taking accountability and I'll be the first to say that when initially this went out um we did resend this because we recognized that more community outreach was necessary. And uh that was my comments in the water committee when we first saw these rates increased is how our residents would feel the impact of these in a year of economic hardship for every single family in the city of Bakersfield as has been documented today as well. Um so it is our responsibility to make sure we are communicating this rate increase in a way that one makes sense. um we can break it down so that we are communicating and meeting our residents where they are in the language in the community that they live in, in the language that they speak and read in and write in. Um and that is our responsibility as well. And when we had community meetings in Ward 7, my residents uh and my constituents were sharing that it is not that they do not understand that we need a rate increase. It is that how this rate increase was brought on and communicated is what is really hard to uh kind of digest really while also understanding that we cannot let infrastructure uh decay and also be delayed and what the longer term impacts of that could be. So I feel that the decision to do community meetings was a good one in order to let our residents know um and the more information we can provide the better. uh and that responsibility is on us. And um so I wanted to ask those clarifying questions as well as make sure that we continue to provide more information and we send out notices responsibly and um that we create this open space and dialogue for our residents to be able to share what uh be able to share what they're feeling and and we hear them. Um um okay. I think I'll conclude my comments there. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Basher. >> Miss City attorney. Can can you speak to the county uh comments from the county and the attorney that came for the county? >> Thank you, mayor. Council member Vashier. Um for legal issues concerning Prop 218, the city attorney's office has um on retainer uh the law firm of Colonano Highmith and Watley. And tonight uh we have with us a partner of that firm uh John D. Christina and I'd ask him to come up to the microphone and and address those concerns if it's okay with the mayor. >> Yes, please. Mr. D Christina. >> Good evening. Thank you for having me again. My name is John D. Christina. I'm with the law firm Colintino Highmith and Watley. We specialize in municipal finance issues uh including Proposition 218 and therefore the wastewater uh sewer rates before you this evening. Um right. So I I did notice uh in addition to the the legal issues that uh Miss Collins raised, there was one other legal issue that I thought I'd address while I'm up here. Um, and that was a gentleman uh mentioned that uh placing these on the property tax role might um frustrate Prop 13 from 1978. And so in in this moment, I'm afraid I'm going to do some very esoteric lawyering. And I I want to first of all acknowledge from the perspective of somebody paying their property tax bill, it doesn't really make a difference. But uh from a legal perspective, I just want to make sure you understand that you're not breaking the law. You're not violating Prop 13. Prop 13. Uh sorry, the property tax role uh as you may know includes many things in addition to the advalorum property tax that is affected by Prop 13. Uh but we use it to do all kinds of other things. If you have a special uh initiative that funds public safety, public schools that often goes on the property tax role even though it is nothing to do with the value of the home. It is not the advalorum property tax. Um that's basically it's very similar to what you're doing here. There's provisions under the health and safety code that permit you to collect your sewer rates on the property tax role. That's what you're doing tonight. It's separate from the Prop 13 issue. Um the other issues that the that Miss Collins raised um first of all taking capital costs and spreading them out over time. Uh the concept of generational equity that is a policy issue that is not a legal issue. Um if we were to another uh lady I believe from the leadership council uh characterized it as a Prop 218 issue, it is not. Um because if you think about the way that you fund capital um for utilities, there are two kind of ways to do it. One would be with non- rate revenue, one with rate revenue, right? At that basic level and nothing in the law requires you to use only non- rate revenue to fund capital costs. So here we are over in how do you fund it with C with rate revenue? Two basic ways to do that. Pay as you go financing or bonding, right? Taking on debt, paying it out over time. Nothing in the law requires you to choose between those two or to choose a particular mix of the two. That is a policy choice of how much you're going to ask um current rate payers to invest, how much you are going to spread out over time. Um, I can bore you with some of the case law on it, but basically what it boils down to is this is a business judgment. It is your uh role as the policy makers to decide how to spread that out over time. It's all the same system. It's all um the thing that you're giving people is is not um you know, in the case of a water utility, it's not you're g not giving them a glass of water. You're giving them the system that provides the water. Uh second, the public notice issue. Um, if you had not sent out the second notice and allowed people to uh provide not uh their protests until May 13th, then I would be worried about it. But as it stands, what you have done does um comply with the law. Um, of course, people might want additional notice. I'm I'm not here to say what would be good or bad. I'm just here to tell you what the law requires. And you have met that requirement certainly. uh substantial um compliance with basically giving people notice, giving them 45 days after they get that notice to submit a protest. You've done that. The final thing um spreading paying for uh storm water fees uh basically combining storm water and wastewater into one utility and having one rate to cover both of them. Um, as Miss Collins noted, there's a case on this um involving the city of Selenus. I might have the exact date wrong, but I believe it's from 2002. Uh, but it basically what it says is that there is a difference, a meaningful legal difference between what a utility does for wastewater, right? when you flush a toilet, where that goes to how you handle storm water, what happens when it rains and the water goes into your gutters and you make sure that it doesn't flood. Um, I have spoken with your city attorney about your uh structure and my firm has concluded that you're fine. I can again go into details. I have not read the uh particular uh the letter that Miss Collins submitted tonight, so I don't know specifically which issues she's raising, but I can tell you that I've had general discussions with your city attorney about how to do this right, and I believe you have done it right. I'm happy to field questions if you have specific issues on that topic that you'd like me to address tonight. Otherwise, I will review that letter and see what specifically has been raised so that um I can again work with your city attorney, your city manager to have a a more um complete response on on the issues that have been raised on that. I think I've covered everything the legal issues. I mean, there are plenty of I I don't want to undermine the the weighty business and political issues that are before you tonight about this, but legally speak excuse me, legally speaking, that is all I heard. But please let me know if you think I've overlooked something that you would like addressed tonight. >> Thank you. Would you like to add anything, Mr. Jiro? >> No. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you, Mr. At this point, I don't see any other requests from council for comment. Vice Mayor >> motion to continue the item. >> I need this uh motion, please, Vice Mayor, to continue the item specifically to the next city council meeting, which is May 13th of 2026. Motion to continue the item 8A to the next city council meeting on May 13 2026. >> Thank you. Thank you. You have a motion. Please cast your votes. Motion is approved with council member Aryas absent. >> Thank you, madam clerk. Next item, please. Council and Mayor statements. >> Council member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to change the subject to the uh ongoing discussion on jail beds. I I went earlier. >> Council member Smith. I see um we need maybe to wait one minute as people leave just so you can be heard. So anybody who wishes to leave at this point before we do the next part, you're welcome to leave right now if that's helpful for you. >> You're welcome to stay also. That's your audience. Council member Smith. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Mayor. So, I wanted to, as I stated, change the subject and talk about the ongoing discussion on jailbs. I went to the board of supervisors earlier this week and asked them to include some monies for the jailbed solution uh in many discussions with the sheriff's department. He is not able at this time to to solve that community problem because of various reasons. And we believe we have found a solution, but uh historically it is the county's place to provide jailbeds. And so we are asking them for financial help as they prepare their budget. And so I would ask my colleagues if they know any supervisors, they would be great to speak with them during this process. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Smith. Anyone else? I don't see any other requests. This today is Earth Day, and Saturday we had more than 2,000 people, volunteers, come out to help clean up our city. Thank you to all of them. Thank you to staff for participating in that process. Also, and kudos to the mayor's high school challenge winner, Bakersville Christian High School, that brought 171 individuals to participate in the cleanup. This is all part of a nationwide effort on that day, and we just urge all of you to continue to keep our community beautiful. Thank you to Bakersville Mazda Council Member Basher for providing $1,500 for the first prize winner and second prize went to Miramonte High School and then third to Independence High School. But we had young people and adults. So to everyone who participated, thank you very much. And with that, we stand adjourned at 6:46. That was that was good. Heat. Heat.