City Council - Regular Meeting

Conduct in the city council chambers. Rules of decorum for the public. Members of the audience shall not engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including the utterance of loud, threatening, or abusive language, clapping, whistling, stamping of feet, or other acts which disturb, disrupt, impede, or otherwise render the orderly conduct of the city meeting infeasible. A member of the audience engaging in any such conduct shall, at the discretion of the presiding officer or a majority of the City Council, be subject to ejection from the meeting per Government Code Section 54954.3c. Removal from the Council Chambers. Any person who commits the following acts in respect to a meeting of the City shall be removed from the Council Chambers per Government Code Section 54954.3c. A disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent behavior towards the City Council or any member thereof, tending to interrupt the due and orderly course of said meeting. A breach of peace, boisterous conduct, or violent disturbance, tending to interrupt the due and orderly course of said meeting. disobedience of any lawful order from the mayor, which shall include an order to be seated or to refrain from addressing the City Council, and any other unlawful interference with the due and orderly course of said meeting. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the TAP City Council Successor Agency Joint Regularly Scheduled Meeting for Tuesday, May 19, 2026. City of Taft Council meetings are being held in person with full capacity seating and are live streamed at www.youtube.com forward slash user forward slash City of Taft. Public comment can be made in person and also can be received per the following. Written comments may be dropped off in the drop box in front of City Hall. Comments may be emailed to the City Clerk. at cityclerk at cityoftaft.org. They may also be made by phone to the city clerk's office at 661-763-1222. Public comments will be accepted up until 5 p.m. the day of the meeting, and all comments received shall be read into the record. We're going to begin this evening's meeting with a Pledge of Allegiance led by myself, followed by an invocation by Chief McMinn. If you will stand and join us, please. Salute and pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Please bow your heads. Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that you enter this hall tonight. We ask that you give the guidance and direction to our staff, to our mayor, to our city council, and doing the right things for the city of Taft. Lord, we ask that you put your arms around our city. You guide us through the tough times where we know we can see you at the end, Lord. We ask that you... Enter our city, protect our first responders, fire, police, and all our city workers and our staff. Lord, we ask that you covet our citizens and direct them into your light, Lord. We ask this all in your son's name, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you very much, Chief. Madam Clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Mayor North?

Here. Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Bryant. Here. Council Member Cryer.

Here.

Council Member Waldrop.

Here.

Council Member Shavira.

Here. All right. First item on this evening's agenda is some proclamations. And the first proclamation is the Public Works Week. And I believe Council Member Shavira has that. Is that correct, sir? Yes, sir.

Okay. Proclamation declaring May 17th through the 23rd. Public Works Week, whereas public work services provided in our community are a vital and integral part of our citizens' everyday lives, and whereas the support of the community is vital to the efficient operation of public work systems and programs such as building maintenance, streets, fleet maintenance, sewer line maintenance, and construction, as well as a wastewater treatment, and whereas the health, safety, and comfort of this community greatly depends on these facilities and services and whereas the quality and effectiveness of these facilities as well as other planning design and construction is vitally dependent upon the effort and skill of public works officials now therefore be it proclaimed by the city council of the city of Taft that we recognize and extend appreciation to our dedicated and skilled staff and hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as Public Works Week in the City of Taft. And it further proclaimed that the City Council of the City of Taft request that all citizens and civic organizations acquaint themselves with the issues involved in providing public work services to our community and to recognize the contributions which our Public Works employees make every day to health, safety, comfort, and quality of life that the citizens of Taft enjoy, dated this 19th day of May 26, signed by Dave Noir, Mayor, and the rest of the other city council members.

All right, I believe Chelsea Marlon is here. Is that correct, Chelsea? Would you like to come up and accept that proclamation? Speech. As a part of it, you have to make a 15-minute speech. Thank you, Chelsea and your team, a critical component of quality of life. You guys are everywhere, everywhere in the city, all day, every day, taking care of business. And I think, and we've talked about this up here, one of the most amazing things that we see, and we see it every single year, is how quickly you clean up after the Christmas parade. I mean, that is a wonder. But thank you all for what you do. We don't take it for granted, and everybody in the city appreciates how hard you all work. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have a building safety month proclamation. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's my honor and privilege to issue this proclamation on behalf of the city council, the city of Taft, declaring May 2026 as building safety month. Whereas the city of Taft is committed to recognizing our growth and strength depends on the safety and essential role our homes, buildings, and infrastructure play, both in everyday life and in times of natural disaster. And whereas our confidence in the structural integrity of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, tradespeople, design professionals, laborers, and others in the construction industry who work year-round to ensure the safe construction of buildings. And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the International Code Council, a United States-based organization that brings together local, state, and federal officials that are experts in the building environment to create and implement the highest quality codes to protect us in the buildings we live, work, worship, and play in. And whereas Building and Safety Month is sponsored by the International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role of our community's largely unknown guardians of public safety, our local code officials who assure us of safe, efficient, and livable buildings that are essential to America's prosperity. And whereas, Built to Last, the theme for Building Safety Month 2026, aims to raise awareness about building safety and the importance of modern building codes and resilient construction practices. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the City Council of the City of Taft does hereby declare the month of May 2026 as Building Safety Month to be celebrated by the City of Taft, its employees, residents of all ages, and businesses throughout the community. Signed and dated this 19th day of May by the Mayor and the four council members. It looks like we have Mr. Mark Golliher, our building inspector here, along with Nadine Story, our building department technician. You guys want to come on up?

Yeah, you got to do it.

Neither of you wants to get up in front of that microphone.

We're the speak softly and carry a big stick kind of group, right? That's it. You know what? Keep us safe, day in and day out, every single day. So thank you both for what you do and a critical component here again. Thanks for being a part of the team. All right, next up, we have one last proclamation declaring May 2026 Community Action Month in Kern County. Whereas Community Action Partnership of Kern, CAPCAE, was established in 1964 and was made essential contributions to individuals and families across Kern County by creating economic opportunities and strengthening communities. And whereas Community Action Partnership of Kern County, CAPCA, is Kern County's official anti-poverty agency. Their mission is to provide and advocate for resources that will empower members of the community we serve to be self-sufficient. and whereas CAPCA is a part of a nationwide network of more than 1,000 community action agencies across America, whereas they delivered over 20 million pounds of food across Kern County through the CAPCA Food Bank, and whereas in May 2026, they will be highlighting the impact that their 19 poverty-fighting programs and more than 1,100 employees make each day in the lives of those facing hunger, economic insecurity, and loss. Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Taft does hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Community Action Month in Kern County in recognition of the hard work and dedication throughout the community. Dated this 19th day of May, 2026, signed by myself and all four members of the city council. So I think we have a couple of ladies, Catherine and Denise. Is that correct?

Is this on? Yeah. Okay. Okay. We're going to do a picture first? Oh, okay. Will someone do it with my phone?

Absolutely.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor, members of the Taft City Council, and community partners. My name is Katherine Anspaugh, director of the Cap-K Foundation. And this is Denise Boshears, one of our CAP-K board members. Thank you for recognizing May as Community Action Month. As we mentioned, Community Action Partnership of Kern, or CAP-K, is Kern County's official anti-poverty nonprofit. And for over 60 years, we have remained committed to helping people and changing lives. Here in Taft, that commitment is reflected through programs that directly support local families. CAPK proudly operates the Taft Head Start Center, providing high quality early childhood education and comprehensive services that ensure children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

Thank you, Catherine. Thank you all. We also work to address food insecurity, as you spoke about earlier, through local food distributions, helping ensure that individuals and families in Taft have access to healthy, nutritious food when they need it the very most. Community Action Month is a time to recognize that this work is only possible through strong partnerships with cities like Taft, its taxpayers, local organizations, and community members. CAPCA's approach is centered on meeting people where they are, not having them come to us, but meeting them where they are, and providing the tools they need to move forward. We're proud to serve the Taft community. We look forward to continuing our partnership to ensure that every resident has access to the resources that they need to thrive And if you do know somebody who is in need of support, we encourage you to call 211. That's one of our programs as well, where they can reach out and get those services. Thank you both all so very much.

Thank you very much, ladies. All right, next up on the agenda, item number two, presentation by Kern Council of Government, City Manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to introduce Rob Ball with Current Council of Governance.

Thank you, Craig. Mayor, council members, it's always a great honor to get over here to TAF to check in with you guys, see how things are going out over here. Uh, uh, plus it's an extra honor because, uh, my grandmother and her parents were from, uh, fellows and Ford city until my grandfather snatched her away to Bakersfield. But, um, uh, so, uh, uh, you guys are close to us over there in Bakersfield and, and, uh, Craig. participates in our technical advisory committee. Dave, you're involved there as one of our board members. And as you guys know, Chris Parlier, county supervisor, is also giving you good representation on Kern Council, the government's board. Kern COG is, with the technical input from COG staff, decides how to spend gas tax and other revenues in our region for transportation projects. The first step in identifying transportation projects is that they be included in the 20-plus year long-term transportation plan. And that's what I'm here about today. In your packets, there is a list of projects. And those are the projects that are for West Kern that are in the long-term transportation plan. And so we're looking for input. Input is due by July 2nd. these projects are the first step for identifying a project so say for example the City Council or staff comes up with a new transportation project it needs to be in the long-range plan and then we're also going to be working on and adopting a short-term plan at the same time concurrently with this and that's project where there's actual funding over the next four years that's called the federal transportation improvement program And there are several other documents that we're also circulating at this time altogether. We want to hear from you. Kern COG is concluding the federally required four year public outreach process that has garnered input from over 10,500 residents in Kern on how we should expand the 14 billion in gas tax and other revenues for transportation over the 20 plus years that we're looking ahead. Half of the input has come from 50 public workshops and events, including Oil Dorado Days where I was out there about nine months ago. And all that input and input that we're getting comes back to very common sense. Let's maintain, fix, and finish what we already have. Get that pothole fixed. That's basically what we hear when we're out here in this extensive public outreach effort, which is required federally. In your packets, I mentioned, you have the transmittal memo. You have the list of public meetings, the draft executive summary from the long-range plan. And then at the back is the list of projects. And this is the most important part. If we are missing something, this is the list that needs to be updated. And we have an opportunity, particularly at the back with the next in line list, which are projects we haven't identified funding for. Those projects, we need to at least get it in there. And also, we have opportunities. to amend the plan and we'll be back here in four years to also update this plan again. Any forecast beyond five years is really, it's not worth going 20 years with a forecast. You need to update it every four or five years, that forecast. And the Astronauts, back when they sent the men to the moon back in the 70s, the ship had a course correction for three days every 10 minutes. And after that three-day journey, they had a 50-mile landing strip to land on. And when they came down, they hit just the very far edge of that landing area, that 50-mile-long landing area. but they hit it. And the reason they did that is because they updated what their status was regularly. And that's what we're doing here, and we will continue to do over the next four years. So this is just a four-year course correction. I'd be happy to answer any questions related to this. That completes my presentation.

All right. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate it, Rob. Everybody is aware of what Kern Cog does and how necessary it is, but thank you very much because people behind that camera there need to know, you know, because you're spending their money. And obviously infrastructure is a critical aspect of everyday life. Transportation efficiency is number one. One of the huge projects that's going to take place in Kern County is going to be the passing lanes going up to Tehachapi Grade. That is going to be quite some project. And, and do you know how long that's been talked about and, and this researching of funding for that? How long has that been going on?

That's been, uh, let's see the original, it was over 20 years ago was when they did the original PSR, the project study report Caltrans did on that. And finding funding is just, uh, uh, been an ongoing process. And we have several projects like that within Kern, including widening one 19. that have been in the process for a very long time. And finding the funding to get these major projects delivered is a major challenge for our region.

It's interesting because every time somebody talks about economic issues within the state of California with our governor, the governor is always quick to point out that we're the fourth largest economy in the world. If you tell them, yeah, you've had net immigration for the past three years in a row, we're the fourth largest economy in the world. If you tell them over the past three years you've dealt with $125 billion combined deficit, sir, yeah, but we're the fourth largest economy in the world. If you tell me that you identified a project that's necessary and it makes good sense and it was 20 years ago and you had a hard time finding it, but we're the fourth largest economy in the world. I'm just poking fun at you. I understand. All right. I think some of the guys up here are going to have questions for you. Oh, sure.

So, Councilman Cryer, you had a question? Thank you, Mayor. I do have a question that brought to my attention that might resonate more in TAF with the citizens here. It's about, you mentioned a possibility that there would be a grant or something about our alleyways possibility coming down to Kern Cogs.

Yeah, I was mentioning that to you just before the meeting. There was an innovative process that was developed by Jay Schlosser, our new executive director, when he was the public works director up in Tehachapi. And what he would do is he would take the grindings from street projects and then put in all new street grindings and store those away at the city yard and use those grindings then to go back in and do a dry pave on some alleyways. And so they took the waste from one project AND THEN REPURPOSED IT TO, BECAUSE ALLEYWAYS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND FUNDING FOR. SO IT WAS AN INNOVATIVE PROCESS. I'M SURE JAY WOULD LOVE TO GIVE YOU THE DETAILS OR GIVE YOUR STAFF DETAILS ON HOW THAT WORKED OUT.

IT'S LIKE POTHOLES. EVERYBODY COMPLAINS ABOUT AND THEIR SECOND DEAL IS THE ALLEYWAYS. I THINK IT WOULD BE GOOD IF WE have some type of a program that we can learn from other cities through Kern Cog, which is great to apply here in our city to solve some of the conditions that we have here in our alleys. Yeah, we'd be happy to work with you on it.

All right. Thank you very much. Mayor Koten, did you have something?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If you would, could you expand on that very last list one more time? The way I read it, it looks like these projects are somewhere down the pipeline 24, 25 years down the road. Am I reading that correctly?

So the very back page, beyond 2049, that means at the current funding levels that we see from gasoline tax, these are projects that have been mentioned in the West County area that we have not been able to find funding for. There is the potential for new funding sources and this plan actually includes of that 14 billion about over 2 billion from other sources. And we've done this in the last two plans for your updates and miraculously new funding sources have come about. You guys may remember the gas tax increase. from 2018. And there was a governor's, what they called a governor's transportation improvement program that came before that. And so we've been finding additional funding sources, but often those funding sources are earmarked for very specific types of projects. And so these projects we haven't been able to move up. However, if you guys see a project here that's on this list, that you want to be in the funded list. And a couple of pages ahead of this are the, quote, ready to go projects over the next 20 years. Ready to go projects. Those are the ones that at current funding streams plus that additional funding that we've identified that we think we can move forward.

So one more clarification question. You mentioned about a $14 billion investment in roads. Is that the amount of, of, um, you know, streets and roads funding that comes to current County solely, or is that statewide?

Uh, that's to current County, but that's all funding sources. If you remember when they did the gas tax increase, half of that is for state highways. Uh, the two thirds is for maintenance. Half was for state highways. Half was for local roads. So it's all these different, and this includes all local funding sources. as well as other funding sources that are transportation-related, rail and airports, those kinds of things.

Sure. I really appreciate this, because one of the things, we talk about economic development, figuring out a way to help either diversify our economy or add depth to what we already have. I think one of our biggest bottlenecks here on the west side, when we start thinking about industries outside of necessarily oil and gas, we do have a significant amount of transient traffic every day, which is wonderful. I hope it comes back even more so than it was this last year, especially as the industry starts to see an uptick. Do we have the roads currently to maintain that type of traffic or to facilitate that flow well as we know it today? Probably not as good as we'd like. But even beyond just that industry, when we start thinking about warehousing or other types of industries, industrial types that could get in and out of this area, without a four-lane highway, or at least access to mostly four-lane highways, folks won't even give us a shake, right? And so I look at the widening of 119, whether that's in one large project or if it's done in chunks, I would love to figure out ways to kind of explore that further. Again, that's a personal preference. I think that's a giant... BE A GIANT MOVE IN A POSITIVE DIRECTION FOR EXPANDING AND DEEPENING THE ECONOMIC VITALITY OF THE WEST SIDE AS WE LOOK AT CALIFORNIA OVER THE NEXT 20, 25 YEARS. BUT ONE OF THE THINGS YOU MENTIONED IS THE SB 58 OR STATE ROUTE 58, THEY PLANTED THAT TREE 20 YEARS AGO AND IT'S FINALLY STARTING TO BLOOM. IF WE DON'T PLANT THESE TREES TODAY, IT WILL NEVER BLOOM IN MY CHILD'S LIFETIME, RIGHT? AND I DON'T HAVE NECESSARILY OLDER KIDS. WE HAVE TO DO THAT FOR THE FUTURE OF THE WEST SIDE. SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

THANKS. COUNCILMAN WALDROP, DID YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, SIR?

I got some kudos. I like how good the current council is doing such good work. And before we got these papers, I was noticing, my goodness, down in Fort City, all the scraping and cutting. Herbs and gutters and sidewalks. It's a big mess, but we're getting some gutters down there. And that can't do nothing but make our connection to the city look that much better. So kudos to. getting that done. I hope we see more.

Thank you. And that Ford City, that should go to county, to your supervisor that's really prioritizing.

I was going to brag on him, but I was wanting to make sure he had something to do with it. Supervisor Parlier, yeah. I give him a bad time.

He's really keeping the staff there. I will. And he's on our board, too, so he's representing you guys. I've been picking on him, so.

Councilman Chabert, did you have any comments, sir?

Yes, it'll be brief. So I was looking at page, I'm assuming this is number four. Public participation and listening to citizens to stakeholders now. It's wonderful that you that that that you come and visit us, but I just want to Just are you guys actually going into the community and? Talking with with community members about their input is that my understanding correct?

And so on page for that beautiful picture there in the middle yeah, that was Taft oil Dorado days right there on the bike path and

And is that the only time that you guys come in to speak with the community members?

We actually get out here quite often, but, um, uh, only about half of our outreach is in the communities. The other half is online surveys. And, um, uh, we do a statistically valid 1200 person phone survey. And in that survey, we get a really good picture of what the entire west side, what are their priorities on the west side? Not just the people that might show up to an event or a workshop or something like that. And so when the board members review the long-range plan in the back there's an appendix and in that appendix has a summary of the information that we're getting and they're able to then look at you know the type of information they get say from the Kern County Fair and the responses there versus the more knee-jerk responses that you might get in a phone text survey and they can compare those and compare that with their experience and say, yeah, that makes sense. Fix the roads already. And that's really what we're hearing.

Now, out of those text messages, calls, are you guys actually getting a decent response from the community?

Correct. We do it every year. Matter of fact, At our board meeting on Thursday night, Mayor Noir will be there. There's a presentation by the consulting service that does that survey, Godby Research, and they'll be talking about the responses that we got last spring from the survey. They're more high-level, general kind of quality of life questions for the most part, but there's some very transportation-specific to telework and

interest in warehousing and extra trucks on the road that time that type of thing now as you know we have viewers watching so i there's a reason why i ask certain questions um do you guys have any future agendas outreaches so the community can partake in um your thoughts on that absolutely we don't have

Uh, anything is scheduled right now, but the, uh, about 14, uh, special presentations that were, uh, going to the communities, all the communities in, including tonight, uh, uh, to tell them about this opportunity to provide public comment on the long range plan, uh, through July 2nd. So they need to get their comments and then go out to kern cog.org and, uh, on the main page. is the Long Range Transportation Plan. And they can click on that plan and download it, look at it, and provide comments up through July 2. And right now, we're scheduled for Mayor Noir to be voting on that in the August, I believe it's 18th, meeting. And so we'll be summarizing all the comments that we get through this process and providing that to Mayor Noir when he takes action on the Long Range Plan.

One final question. Let's say that there's folks out there that are just not savvy electronically. Is there another means of them reaching out to you guys for questions or comments or concerns?

Absolutely. Anyone can contact our office. The phone number is actually in the survey here. They can contact Ben Raymond at 635-2911. or email him at braymond at kerncog.org. He's the lead on the regional transportation plan. There's some other contacts for other parts, you know, the short-range plan and some of the other aspects that are also out for public review. And also, remember I mentioned we're going to be back here in four years. Our outreach process is required to be continuous. So we are out in the communities, not just the last year before the plan. We're out every year. We're at the Kern County Fair every year. If you guys stop by the cinnamon bun booth, we're right next door to the cinnamon bun booth, and you can have a good interaction with Kern-Cogg staff at that booth. So hope to see you there as well.

Hey, I appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions. I appreciate all this detailed work. This is for the community, and we appreciate what you guys are doing.

Rob, I have one question for you. Kind of a quick question. that he'd been trying to ask him about input and stuff. Now, all the meetings are all recorded, and people can have access to that. They hear the hearings at the meetings they have at Kern Cog.

Yeah, the Kern Cog board meetings are available online and recorded through YouTube. There's the website, kgov.org. It's kgov.org, I believe, is the website. Just Google KGOV, Kern Government Television. And it's also on cable, on the cable channels. And they rebroadcast it, I believe, every Monday. And so you can check out the rebroadcast. So it's available through that process. And also... Just contact Kern Cog's staff if you have some questions. If you can't meet, meet the third Thursday meeting at Kern Cog's board.

It's the same as we do here. We have ours. It's validized on our channel. And you can go on the website and you can go ahead and see throughout the whole year what we had our meetings on. So it's pretty much like Kern Cog there. But it's interesting people look to do it. But to answer his question and stuff and add to it, I thought I'd bring that up.

Yeah, good idea.

Rob, I do have a question, too, because you talked about the fact that the funding, finding funding, the funding comes from the increase in gasoline tax. That's one of your funding sources. Well, I'm sure everybody knows that when that was passed, there's an automatic increase built into that tax every single year. July the 1st, no matter what else is going on in this world, we in California... can look forward to enjoying an increase in the gas taxes attached to the CPI. So my question is, is the funding to Kern Cog for the roads and everything, is it also tied to that? Does it automatically go up every single year?

The transportation funding rate goes up. However, We have a situation in California where more people are driving more fuel efficient and zero emission electric vehicles that don't pay into the gas tax fund. So even though we're seeing CPI increases, We're seeing a degradation in the amount of funding. It's not really going down as pretty level to me. But over the long term, as we see more electric vehicles, we're likely to see a decrease in that. Plus, about a third of the gas tax is federal. And that federal gas tax is not tied to inflation. It's 18.4 cents a gallon, and it's been 18.4 cents a gallon since 1995. And so you now have basically a third of the gas tax that is only able to fill less than half the number of potholes it did back in 1995. So the federal side needs to fix their funding. It's no longer a pay as you go system as it was originally set up. It's pay and then hopefully somebody else will come up with the funding to fix fixture roads. And when the state increased its gas tax, it was really just enough to make up for the loss in federal gas tax buying power. And so we're able to kind of keep our roads at roughly 63, 64 out of 100 in the payment condition index. You know, it's a D and everybody notices that, but we're, we're not losing our roads. And if we get down below into the fifties, you start having to rebuild your entire road system. And it's 10 times the cost of keeping it maintained and just keeping the potholes filled. And so, so we're at the edge there. We need to figure out a way to fund our transportation system and keep our roads maintained.

I've seen several studies that have been done, and I've been talking about this for a very long time, and that is the more and more zero EVs, battery-powered cars, that drive up and down our roads and they impart damage and wear and tear on the roads just as surely as any other vehicle does. But like you say, they don't pay their way towards maintaining or building those roads because they don't purchase fuel. So when you've got an administration saying they want everybody in the world to drive a battery-powered car and if that happened tomorrow, There would be no funding coming in there. Is that why currently if you go on Caltrans website, there are a couple of different funding mechanisms to start charging everybody by the mile. Is that right?

That is an effort to try and fix this situation where there's a large segment of the population now that is not paying into the road maintenance funds.

Right. Okay. All right, well, an ongoing battle, like you say, finding the money. I mean, the need is not that difficult to find. The funds are far more difficult to find. So thank you very much. I had one last thing I wanted to bring up, and at the Senior Manager Jones, we spoke about a concept that you talked to Jay Schlosser about regarding... you know, getting additional infrastructure to move vehicles in and out of the west side. Would you like to enlighten the people about that concept?

Are we talking about 119?

Yes, sir, we are.

Yeah, I emailed Rob, and this is something that we've had on the radar for a while, and that's the old cherry lane bypass. I think us and TAP would say scrap that and put some passing lanes in where it makes sense. Do you remember your email that I sent you? So... Basically, the concept is that project will probably never be funded in our lifetime or, as Josh said, his children's lifetime. So we would rather see some effort being put into passing lanes in the Valley Acres area than on the other side of the Coles Levee area.

So eliminating smaller bottlenecks, which would actually have a great impact on the safety and the efficiency of that transportation. Whereas, like you said, the concept of a huge one-time bypass going all the way around Valley acres and Derby acres, and you run into other oil fields and just a litany of issues. So hopefully breaking it up is something that we're going to talk about, uh, with current cog and see if we would have a better chance of chipping away at it.

And, uh, Thanks to your staff. Craig, that was a great comment that came as a part of our cargo study, the goods movement study that we just are in the process of wrapping up. So we're incorporating those comments into that study. And in this RTP, there are projects at the two locations, but they're in that next in line unfunded list. I see. But being able to move a smaller project such as a passing lane project That we might be able to move up into the funded portion. And Caltrans does have money. So we just got to get it on their radar. And so let's see what we can do to maybe move that one, if not both of those passing lanes you were talking about forward.

All right. Very good. Well, that's thinking outside the box.

All the funding is geared towards air quality mitigation. And I do believe that passing lanes does have a major air quality mitigation measure.

Less idling.

Yes. Well, congestion. There was a theory there for a while that oil fields were going to go away, and I think everyone realizes that's not going to happen, and we need our oil fields. So as more traffic clogs up 119, if you look at the headlights in the morning, there's a lot of traffic on 119. The heavy truck traffic blended with commuter traffic, those passing lanes are a safety factor and an air quality factor. So they should prioritize funding.

All right. Rob, thank you very much for taking the time to come over and visit. You're always welcome here in the city of Taft, no matter what the event, whether it's El Dorado or it's just a regular scheduled meeting. By all means, thanks again.

Thank you. And I'll be taking these comments back with me to our executive director, and we'll see what we can do to move 119 forward. All right. We'll see you soon then. Thanks, Bob.

Thank you.

All right, next item on the agenda, citizen requests, public comments. Madam Clerk, do we have any citizen requests? None this evening? All right, then we'll move forward with item number four, council statements, non-action. Councilman Chavarro, I'll begin with you, sir. Yes, sir.

Don't forget about elections that are coming up. But more importantly, make sure that you're informed. Don't rely on social media. Again, with Kern Cog, there's a spill here. Don't forget, this is your money being spent. So if you've got concerns or comments, please reach out to Kern Cog and let them know what your concerns are. That's all I've got, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. Councilman Waldrop.

I have no comment this meeting.

All right. Thank you. Councilman Cryer. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to give a shout-out to the Fort. And the people who are volunteering their time. We've had the college baseball team out there volunteering cleaning up the fort. We've had the high school kids out there volunteering cleaning the fort and getting the fort fixed up for different activities. We had former Mayor Randy Miller out there on the board doing a lot of work out there, and he and his wife, and a lot of other people. including Paul Leonard donating a powered blower out there to help keep the fort cleaned up. It's great to have a community out there to help make our town better and helping out the nonprofits out there. Because the fort's been a good gym, too. It's like our museum. It's like our college. It's like our schools. It's there for the people. And if we don't keep it up to date keep it going, we're going to lose it. Because it takes a lot of upkeep. That building's old. And being an adobe, there's a lot more work involved in the plumbing issue, the electrical issue. There's a lot of things that's involved in keeping the fort running and presentable to the public and for everybody for having their marriages there and different activities. The fort is going to have a membership dinner on May 21 at 5 PM to 7 PM. So if you're interested about going there and become a member or just go there and have a good time. They're having spaghetti and they're having chances of winning a dessert. And you get to meet all the board members who are on the board. And the dinners are $20 for adults and $10 for kids. And it includes the salad and bread. But it'd be another activity there. And look at the fort, how neat it is. Look at the pruning they've done to the trees, getting everything all spruced up. They put a lot of effort and time into it. It's almost as if you don't recognize it if you haven't been there in a while. It looks like a wholly different than it used to be on there. Last weekend we had a car show on the Railroad Trails. It was very well attended. I was there and watched it. They had a lot more cars this year than they did last year. A lot more people. Weather was perfect. Couldn't ask for any better weather. There were foods and different booths there to show off and showcase our city. It was a nice little... TIME TO GET OUT THERE AND SEE WHAT'S GOING ON AND MEET WITH PEOPLE AND TALK WITH PEOPLE. THAT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL I HAVE TO SAY OTHER THAN IT'S TIME TO VOTE. GET OUT THERE AND VOTE LIKE OUR COUNCILMAN SAID. IF YOU VOTE, YOU CAN COMPLAIN ALL YOU WANT. IF YOU DON'T VOTE, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO VOTE OR COMPLAIN. VOTING IS A CHANGE. IF YOU LIKE WHAT'S GOING ON, For the last 22 years, vote the same way. But if you want to change, make things better, get the oil fields going, and get where we come a more common sense back to government, again, you know which way we're talking about. Go that direction and vote and get a change. Because if we have a super majority, you have no control. And we're going to go into a lot of issues that we're having now today. What's up? Anyway, it's all I have to say, mayor.

All right. Thanks for mayor pro temp, Brian. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I'll start with a reminder. So this coming Monday is going to be Memorial day. We're going to spend some time, hopefully with friends, family, loved ones, remembering the sacrifices that those made in service to us all past present. And, uh, I believe the cemetery, if I'm not mistaken, is still hosting Memorial day service on the 10th. I'm sorry, on the 25th at 10 AM. So keep your eyes out for officials, but I hadn't seen that anywhere else. And I figured I'd remind folks. Always a lovely service. You get to hear some very nice words from some wonderful people who have served. Cemetery does a wonderful job in sprucing themselves up and even get some really nice entertainment from a group of band kids from Taft City Schools and Taft High. So please come out to that and thank you in advance to the cemetery district staff and their board for helping bring that to life and keep that tradition going. I was not able to be at the meeting prior, and so I wanted to spend some time to say thank you as we recognize our police department. Those folks in law enforcement as we recognize National Police Week. It's one of my favorite times of the year to be able to look those folks in the eye and say, thank you for what you do. Hopefully nights, most nights are calm and quiet, but when stuff hits the fan, those folks are the first to get there, and they're doing it to keep us all safe, to keep the peace, protect and serve. And I'm thankful beyond words for everybody that puts on a uniform, straps on a badge, and goes to work for us every day. So thank you, Chief. If you would please relay that to the troops, especially those here, because I'm a homer. But if anybody wears a badge anywhere else across the United States, thank you, thank you, thank you. We were able to honor the Public Works Department and the Buildings Department earlier. And I don't know if folks realize this, but we've said it enough times that hopefully they will, but I'll say it again. We have a pretty small staff in Public Works. We have a pretty small staff when it comes to code compliance in buildings. But those folks get out there and get things done. I know every single one of us would love to have more done. Welcome to life. You can't do everything every time. But those folks get out there, and they are hopping it day in and day out to keep things working order, keep them as nice as they can. So I am thankful beyond words for those folks and what they do every day. Over the last couple of years, as we've kind of really focused on code compliance and building things, building compliance, you've got folks like Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Smith, those guys are out there working hard. It's not always seen, but you do notice it real quick when something that wasn't eyesore is starting to get noticed. Those folks do a great job, and again, I am thankful for their efforts because, again, if you don't address it now, it'll never get addressed. Or the time it takes from noticing those folks to getting a solution in place, that clock never starts. And so those folks are out there doing their best within the confines of the law, and I'm thankful for that because we're seeing results. We're controlling what we can control here, and it's because of those folks' efforts and the direction they're giving here at City Hall. So from everybody top to bottom, even including our attorney who does give advice and consent there, we are thankful for that keen eye, those fine details, and finding the gray. When there's some wiggle room, what does the law say? Well, what doesn't it say? Well, it doesn't necessarily say that. There's no case law that says we can do that. So let's try this. Great. Because at the end of the day, it serves the interest beyond It serves a greater interest for the entire public, and I am thankful for those folks. Mr. Cryer talked about it, and we recognize some folks here with CAP-K, but to that end, me personally, the last month, I've woken up, probably the last two months, I guess, but who cares? I've woken up and gone to bed with an overwhelming sense of thankfulness. I've been busier than, a euphemism I won't use on this dais, but I've been busy, and I go to bed and I wake up every day thankful for the opportunity. to get out and do something, not just in my own service, but in service of others. And I would encourage you, you're blessed with one or more of the things, the time to do things, the treasure, the ability to fund those things to happen, or the talents to help bring them to life. You may be blessed with more than one of those things. Get out and put it to use. If it's sitting on the fort board, if it's going to the fort and helping them do maintenance, God bless you. Do it. If you've got an opportunity to serve with a service club and do some work, because we have some damn good ones here in town that do great work, do it. Orchel mentioned the chamber and the work that they do. The car show this last weekend was a fantastic hit. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, by the way, for ordering the great weather. We know that that's a mayoral privilege.

It was great.

Absolutely. Beautiful. And those are just some of the ways that folks are able to give of themselves, of their time, treasures, talents, or all three. And I'm thankful for those folks. Thankful to be one who can. I mean, I understand folks can't always do everything, especially after you've given yourself for 20, 30, 40 years. But I would encourage you, if you have any opportunity to get out and serve others, do it. There's no greater gift in this world than the impact you can make to others. And it may just be one time. It may be ongoing. I don't care if it's one time or ongoing. Do it. And God bless you. So that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. Memorial Day. Coming up on us. The last time that I was absolutely overwhelmed with this country, the way they flew the American flag, unfortunately, was post-9-11. Since then, I don't know, we've kind of fallen off, taken it for granted. Would it not be wonderful if people... had that same sense of purpose, and they appreciated that freedom and who we are. I would love to see people flying that American flag. Go down the street and see every house flying the American flag. Would that not be something? Well, guess what? Memorial Day is coming, and this is our 250th birthday as a nation. I cannot think of a better reason to not go out there, buy an American-made flag, and fly your flag proudly. So that's the one request I would have. I mean, if you don't have a place to put a flag on your house, you can get them a true value. It's not difficult. But that would really be something. Maybe that's a challenge. I challenge every single household and business in the city of Taft to fly the American flag. I look forward to everybody stepping up to that challenge. That's all I have, thank you very much. All right, next up, item number five, department reports. We have any department reports this evening, Chief?

Yes, sir, we do have them. We were a little busy last council meeting, so I hope that, I believe it's the April stats over, and of course, I intermingled those with our finance committee report, so they got taken away, but I just happen to have a screenshot

Of those statistics.

So today I'm going to be providing you with the statistics for April. And our total, and this is from the Taft Police Department, our total incidents are 1,073. Our calls for service are 398. Officer initiated are 675. And with that number, I want to thank our citizen patrol just out there doing a wonderful job. That was like a brainchild from our city council and our mayor and most of all, uh, Craig Jones, our city manager. And it's been working wonders for us to have them out in, uh, out in the business district, lighten up the businesses going up and down the alleys. And it's really paid dividends. So we really appreciate it. Also, um, traffic stops at 105 and we went down to total cases written 120 total misdemeanors and felonies for the month be 46. 31 misdemeanor arrests, and, of course, 15 felony arrests.

All right. Go get the bad guys, Chief. Thanks for public safety.

And I fly my flag 24-7, seven days a week. Appreciate that, sir. That's just the way I do it. Any questions?

No, sir. Thank you very much. Thanks to the troops. Any other department reports this evening? No. Next up, item number six, city manager statement. City Manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to echo the thanks to the folks in the building department and code enforcement and public works. I will make a note that we are running with about half our folks at public works, so they are really stepping up right now during the busiest time of year taking care of things. So it's to be noted they're working extra hard right now, and things are out of our control. Hopefully it will get corrected soon, but they are working extra hard right now.

All right. Thank you, and thank them. Appreciate that. Item number seven, city attorney statements. Jason?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No statement.

All right. Item number eight, future agenda requests this evening. Gentlemen? Hearing none, we'll move forward then to the consent calendar, items nine through 17. All items on the consent calendar shall be considered routine and will be enacted by one roll call vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the City Council requests specific items to be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. Any item removed from the consent calendar will be considered after the regular business items. Are there any items on the consent calendar that any member of the public would like to comment on? I don't see any hands going up there. Those items are item number nine, the minutes for the May 5th, 2026 regular scheduled meeting item number 10 payment of bills, some $570,000 worth item number 11, the treasurer's report recommendation is a motion to receive and file the treasurer's report for the month ending March 31st, 2026 item number 12, the adoption of the city of Taft title six program update for Taft area transit. Recommendation is a motion to adopt resolution entitled Resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft of Kern County authorizing the Title VI program update of the Taft Area Transit System and find that the activity is not a project per the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, as set forth in Section 15060C3 and Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines. Item 13 is Professional Services Agreement with NBS to conduct a Cost Allocation Plan, CAP. Recommendation here is a motion to authorize the Mayor to execute the Professional Services Agreement with NBS and find that the activity is not a project per the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, as set forth in Section 15060C3 and Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines. Item 14 professional service agreement with hinder, hinder lighter, the llamas and associates to conduct a transient occupancy tax audit authorization, or I'm sorry, the recommendation is a motion to authorize the mayor to execute the professional services agreement with hinder lighter, the llamas and associates item 15. is an amendment to the agreement with HDL Corn and Cone for property tax consulting auditing services. Recommendation is the motion to authorize the mayor to execute the HDL Corn and Cone amendment to the agreement for property tax consulting and audit services. Item 16, authorization of sale of vacant lot APN number 013-160-03-00-2 to Ernesto Hernandez. Recommendation is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled a resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft authorizing the sale of real property identified as APN number 013-160-03-00-2 and authorizing the mayor, city manager, and or assistant city manager to execute all escrow and other documents necessary to complete the sale of real property and making certain findings in connection therewith and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, as set forth in Section 15060C3 and Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines. Lastly, item number 17, adopting a resolution to establish the 2026-2027 appropriations limit. Recommendation here is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled Resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft, establishing appropriations limit for 2026-2027. Does any member of the council wish to remove any of these items from the consent calendar?

Number 10.

Number 10. All right. Number 10. In that case at this time, I'd entertain a motion to approve consent calendar items nine and 11 through 17. So moved. Okay. I have a motion and a second. Madam clerk, may we have a roll call please?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That passes on a four Oh vote.

Did you vote on that, sir? He did not. I pulled number two. Okay. All right. Roger that. All right. Item number 10, payment of bills. City Manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. This is item number 10 for payment of bills. I'm assuming Mr. Waldrop has a conflict.

All right. Therefore, we will wait for Councilman.

One small one.

One small one. All right. Well, it depends which side of the receiving and you're on there. Councilman. All right. It's official. The councilman has left the room. Therefore, item number 10 is the payment of bills. Some $570,000 worth. So moved. Second. I have a motion and second. Any additional discussion, gentlemen? None here. Hearing none. Madam clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Council member Cryer.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Bryant. Yes. Council member Shavira. Yes. Mayor Knorr.

Yes. Now pass on a 4-0 vote. Thank you very much. Would somebody please tell the councilman he's welcome to join us? Although as soon as you sit down again, I'm going to release you to the back room. However, while you're walking this way, this concludes the open session of this evening's meeting. This council will be going into closed session for two items. Item A, conference with legal negotiators, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation. Government code section 54956.9B, one undisclosed case. And item B. Conference with legal counsel existing litigation, government code section 54956.9A, Taft Union High School versus the City of Taft, Kern County Superior Court case number S-1500-CB-283804. We are now going to close session. Thank you all for being a part of this evening's meeting.