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 cities 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, April the 21st, 2026. City of Taft Council meetings are being held in person with full capacity seating and are livereamed at www.youtube.comer

cityof. Public comments can be made in person and also can be received per the following. Written comments may be dropped off in the dropbox in front of city hall. Comments may be emailed to the city clerk at city clerk@c cityoftaft.org. They may also be made by phone to the city clerk's office at 6617631222. Public comments will be accepted up until 5:00 p.m. the day of the meeting and any comments received shall be read into the record. We're going to begin this evening's meeting with a pledge of allegiance led by Councilman Crier, followed by an invocation from Greg Mudge. If you would all stand and join us, please.

Salute. 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.

Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, we're so thankful that you trust us with the oversight of this city. We're so thankful that these servants here are willing to give of their time and energies to guide us and direct us and keep our city safe and pleasant and a wonderful place to live. Father, we pray that you'll work in their hearts and minds tonight. Guide them with your Holy Spirit. Help them that they can make decisions that will continue the wonderful life that we enjoy here in Taft. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you very much, Greg.

Madame Clerk, may we have a roll call, please? Mayor Nor here. Mayor Proen Bryant here. Council member Crier. Yes. Council member Waldrop here. And council member Shir is absent with notice. All right. Thank you very much. First item on this evening's agenda is a proclamation national child abuse prevention month. I have asked that mayor prom read this. So if you would be so kind, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's my honor and privilege to read this proclamation from the city's council of the city of Taft declaring April 2026 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Whereas according to the California Child Welfare Indicators Project and referencing the Kern County Network for Children 2425 annual report, 13,512 children in Kern County were suspected of being abused or neglected, an average of 37 children per day. And whereas 2570 children, an average of seven Kern County children every day were determined to be victims of abuse or neglect following investigations conducted by child protective services and law enforcement agencies. Whereas a child abuse and neglect as excuse me, child abuse and uh neglect remain persistent and widespread in Kern County, affecting dozens of children every day. While not all reports are substantiated, the high number of confirmed victims highlights the continued need for early intervention, prevention, and family support services. And whereas it is important to note that these numbers do not capture the full scope of children at risk, many v vulnerable children remain unidentified, uncounted, and uncounted, including those who may be hiding, couch surfing with friends, sleeping in cars, abandoned buildings, or other locations not easily identifiable by systems of care. And whereas collaboration among child protective services, law enforcement, healthc care providers, and community partners remains essential to protect children to support families. Ongoing public education, reporting of suspected abuse, and abuse, excuse me, and access to resources are critical to preventing future harm and strengthening child safety. And whereas an essential needs donation drive will be held in observance of child abuse prevention month from April 1st through April 30th, 2026 with donation drop offs accepted at the Kern County network for children's office. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Taft does hereby proclaim April 2026 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month and encourage efforts

to help reduce child abuse. Signed this 21st day of o of April 2026 by the mayor and the remaining four council members. Thank you very much, sir. We have somebody here prepared to receive this. Please follow me. All right, Steph. This is the uh the picture slot.

Congratulations. Thank you for presenting this. I just from the current county network of children ask me to fill in since we were in partnership with them through the recreation department and the west outreach and learning center. So thank you for allowing us to serve the community on behalf of myself less and directors. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I must say it is the most disturbing thing when you you hear those numbers. You think about your own children, you think about your grandchildren. Just that people would do that. That's just the unthinkable. It's civilized society doesn't do that. Just can't believe it. But keep your eyes open. Think about somebody who's at risk and deserves your help and your support. So, thank you very much for reading that. Thank you, Stephan. Thank you, madame clerk. All right. Item number two, citizens request public comments. Comments are be received as stated in the above policy. This is the time and place for the general public to address the city council on matters within its jurisdiction. State law prohibits the council from addressing any issue not previously included on the agenda. Council may receive comment and set the matter for a subsequent meeting. Please limit your comments to five minutes. Dr. Kathy Orin is going to address us on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Orin, always a pleasure.

Thank you. I I join you in your comments about those statistics. It's pretty hard to hear. um you think that that's something that's happening someplace else and to hear that it's Kern County is really difficult to hear.

Um I want to start with saying uh we had a wonderful Taft Union High School Hall of Fame um couple weekends ago and uh I wanted to let you know that uh Carlos was of course the center of attention at our welcome barbecue. I it amazes me that he is in the parking lot. The all the the stuff is going on in the morning room of the Best Western where most of the folks who come to be honored are staying and yet the crowd is watching Carlos. That happens every year and the food is incredible. So I want to thank him publicly for that. It's always a a great thing that we experience. Um we inducted Jack Lynch who is a very famous golfer uh and started out in learning golf and as a kid out on a lease and he is in the Hall of Fame in Bakersfield the um which which person has a home Elias. Thank you. I'm I'm not an athlete. Um so he is honored there and now he will have his award placed there also. also uh John Means who was born and raised right down the street from me. That's what's so cool about this. You know these people and then you see them all grown up and responsible doing wonderful things. Um John Means was one of the first educators in our county to make sure that students with disabilities also had access to education and not just come and we'll watch your kid, real education. And he was a big proponent of that. He lives in Bakersfield now and he is retired. He's still working hard for for folks that are underprivileged. Uh Carl Twistleman II, we all know the

Twistlemans and how much they have given to us. Mary Shazer, Mary Schaer was in band with me a hundred years ago. And uh the interesting thing about Mary was when her name was brought forward the most of the people on our committee and there are the the board of the uh hall of fame is 13 members. We all vote and you have to have a a significant you have to be in the the majority to be entered into the hall of fame. When they heard that u Mary Schaer was an expert on textiles, they all went textiles. We're going to award somebody that's good at textiles. Well, as soon as we found out the worldrenown reputation of this woman, everything changed. She has written books. She is called upon to find out how old things are that have been found in deep recesses of places. She is the expert in the world for textiles and she was honored. And the last person honored was Edith Mthi who could not be with us last year because her house burned down. She lived in Pacific Palisades and was at the time watching everything she had go up in smoke. So we made sure that we could offer this experience to her this year. So we had five wonderful people inducted. It was a wonderful evening and um I want to thank um the people that helped out with that. We always get a lot of help from Taft uh high school because they have a great PA system and they're wonderful at setting it up. Um, that takes us to the state of the city which was last Thursday. And I have to tell you, I understand there was standing room only in this council chamber.

Dang. That's right. All the way around the outside.

That is that is pretty cool. That is pretty cool. Uh, so all you need to do is serve dinner afterwards apparently and to fill the seats. But um anyway, it was we had nearly 150 people there and um I want to say Mayor No, I don't know how you can recite statistics and money just standing there, but you do it every time and every I look around the room and everybody's like, "Thank you." Uh so once again you did a beautiful job and it was wonderful to have you kind of give us the parameters of what we were going to talk about. The next person was Supervisor David Couch which gave us a very different look at oil and the situation that we have with oil and what's going on with oil and oh my gosh what are we going to do? Uh that was wonderful. And then Chad Hathaway who I didn't know before. What a character. What what a great uh person to be talking to us. First of all, he's young and one of the things he talked about was not having a lot of folks his age to talk to about oil because he knows a lot and most people his age don't. He didn't say that. I'm speaking for him. Um but it was wonderful and we had a lot of people there. a lot. Everyone thought it was a success and we appreciate that and once again we appreciate the city. We appreciate Taft High for helping us be able to do that and um it was it was a great event. I'm glad that we did that. We're we're very honored to be able to work with the city on something like that. Other places can't do that and we recognize that we're very lucky in that. So we thank you for your support in that and I want to remind everybody that May

16th is our annual car show. It's a big deal. And we have uh vendor forms already uh at the um chamber. And of course, if you want to enter your car, you're welcome to do that. And if you're having trouble doing it online, you can come see us in our office. Thank you. Thank you very much, Kathy.

Okay. Next item on the agenda is council statements, non-action. Councilman Waldrop, I'm begin with you, sir. Uh okay. Yes. You ever think about your grandparents? Uh how good you know it was to visit them and be around them and well mine raised me. Beautiful, beautiful people. And uh I'm trying to think of another funny way. But anyway, they uh they taught me the right way as I went along. And believe it or not, they were Democrats, but a Democrat back then was completely different than it is now. So I was a Democrat and I was a Democrat right up to John F. Kennedy. And uh I tell everybody I'm a Kennedy Democrat. I'm not one of these later ones because I vote way I wanted to and I always voted I have voted Republican ever since. Well, anyway, uh them Democrats, they're getting worse and worse and worse and worse. So, I just wanted the city and everybody to know it's already in the works and by this time uh next meeting I'll be uh rich registered. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you.

Welcome to the struggle. Yeah, you got a convert. You know, Councilman Crier, you're up, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Uh I always try to, you know, promote Taff and most of my uh council statement stuff. And there's things happening this month is which is great for our city to participate. We have the car show coming up with the TAF Chamber of Commerce putting on. There's always been a good program. A lot of vendors out there selling food, cars to see, motorcycles, everything. Balance houses out there for the kids. There's so much out there going on the 16th. Is that correct? Yes.

And go out there, enjoy it. Take your families out there, your kids especially, to look at that and reminisce about all these different vehicles when you're growing up and wish you had now, not then, but now. But, uh, it's just a great deal to go out there and enjoy a good afternoon and a good day. And I encourage people to participate that. And and another thing I hit on is a Westside um recreation department. They do a lot in this community. A lot of people just don't see it what they do because it's like a lot of different things they do. you know, they have their football, their baseball, and different other soccer, and other things going on inside, outside and inside where there's kids that cannot afford to get their uniforms or pay for the uniforms or or pay for participating. And we have they they do a great job of inviting them in, get them off the streets and and and no don't charge them. So get the kids there to u grow up and uh be part of our society, not out there and running around on the streets, you know, getting together and doing the wrong things. So we're getting a great education. We're going to how do sports sportsmanship and do and doing things the right way, going our kids up because it's getting tougher out there in this world for the young folks. Most of them all they want to do is stay home, play with their little iPad and not do anything. Uh getting a wrong impression of life. But the recreation department is doing a real good job in working with our children to be uh good citizens. And and another thing too there it's good that we have different

organizations that come up and and go forward. I encourage all the churches, all the different um nonprofits, Rotary Club, what they do with the with the money they earn with that they raise the Quanas, what they do with the bicycles. 60 bicycles, 100 bicycles. Unbelievable. Get get uh donations, raise the money and distribute that. You have the Lion Club doing it doing it maybe in a smaller way but working mainly with dogs getting them shots free shots for the dogs and cats and uh other things to raise money but all these organizations including I'm I don't want to forget those optionists I don't get killed but they in turn do a lot of things that they don't see people don't hear about a whole lot is you know there's a lot of people that can't afford to go back and forth go for dialysis and whatnot and they and they help uh pay for that, work with people in that area. We have a great community with what with what we uh what we have here. You just got to look it up. We go through the Midway driller, see what's on on their paper or their website and see what's going on. Give the chamber. They put they put all those programs on their website to see what's going on as what's happening in our city. And it makes me real proud. I know um on the um May 3rd, you got another uh this will be a a religious deal or St. Mary's Church. They're putting on a festival open to the public to everybody here in town. And um that's that's starts from 10 to one. But that money is raised. They

raise that money for to improve the ground and to help folks that are in need. I know every month they give out uh food to about 200 people or more every month and food giveaways and stuff and uh but that money they raise is help the ones are less fortunate. And then and it goes to other parts of uh of our community. And there's other churches that do it. I just wish they' uh broadcast it so we can announce it here at council and let the people know out there and and like uh they our mayor say our TV land to know what's going on in our city because we do have so much going on here that makes uh you you you can't be bored. But to see the people there participating, especially the kids. I love the kids, you know, make them smile what they do and appreciation and giggle and you know all that it's just it's a great um feeling inside you. But um Taff is a is a nice little city with a lot of things going on. You can participate and uh enjoy. That's all I have to say. Mayor.

All right. Thank you very much, sir. Mayor Pro Tim Bryan.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll be brief. Uh, you know, one thing we hear we say a lot to everyone in the community, especially to our youth. I know, Mr. Mayor, this is one of your favorite things to say is that question everything. Ask questions. It's not intended to be uh demeaning or accusatory or anything like that. It's meant to expand your knowledge. Period. Right? And one of the critical things that often gets lost in communications, whether it's on social media or in printed media, is not just the message, but what's the tone and the context of the message. What do you mean by it? How did you say it? A lot of times that gets overlooked and things start getting implied. So, at our last council meeting, I made a request just for some information about the chamber. And I want to be very, very, very clear, undeniably clear in what my request was. Literally, I was curious what the dollar figure is that the city by way of taxpayer funds has provided to the chamber. That's it. What was the number? So, I went back and did it myself just because I was curious. And we'll go through that the staff report at some point. It's not a big deal, but it's in Hey, that's great. Now, I know I questioned it, got the answer, and I'll get the answer again in front of everybody next time. Know the answer. My other question was, we're a steward of the taxpayers's money. It's not mine. It's not Dave. It's not anybody here. And it's not anybody out there. It's ours collectively. Thank you, Doug. I'm glad you're you're recording this. I want to be very, very clear again. What gives us the authority to take your money and provide it to the chamber? I I do have it now and we'll all have it again here very very soon. Now I know. Great question answered. It literally Why is the speed limit 55? Well, it's because it's in the law and it's written here. All right. Now, I know, right? Literally, that was the tone and intent.

I want to be very clear. There was nothing accusatory, implo implied, or direct. So, please, Kathy, or you or anyone else that's out there in TV land, you know, newspaper land, wherever, I'm not meaning that I expect or uh anticipate there's a misuse of funds or none of that cuz I've seen that crap on social media, too. That was not my intent, not what I'm saying. and not what I'm trying to prove did or didn't happen. That's it. That is the tone. That is the context. That is the direct uh meaning behind my request. And I hope that is very clear to everybody both now and then when it's conveyed later. That's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, sir. I wasn't here for that, but uh I appreciate that clarification. People know that I don't Facebook. I'm not a social media guy. Not my thing. But I have told everybody out there time and time again, I don't Facebook, but I face to face. So, if you want to talk to me, I'm not a hard guy to find. Uh, come talk to me. I'll talk to anybody. Let's talk about it. I want to talk about briefly something that's coming to the city, an opportunity, a movie, a movie called Kern Oil. a movie about Kern Oil, the city of Taft and the role that we play, the people of the city of Taft, the industry, how we've helped shape it over all the years. And uh yes, I was a part of it, but there were several people from our community that were a part of this effort. And it it's really quite comprehensive. I I didn't know when I was being interviewed how it was going to be laid out, you know. So, for those of you who have seen it, it's really quite interesting. It's it's a documentary. It's kind of the history of it. And uh I encourage you if if you're available, it is this Saturday 6 p.m.

starts at 6:30.

Starts at 6:30. So if you want to get there, by all means, you got to use your popcorn, your Sprite, and peanut M&M. These or raisinets, either way. But anyway, Kern Oil, it is a documentary. It's about our community, uh, Kern County, City of Taft, our legacy, and where we are, where we were. I I encourage you to take advantage of it, and I will tell you that I myself will be there because I want to see it again, but my wife didn't get to see it the first time, so she's going to see it. So, I hope to see a lot of you there. I had the pleasure of taking actually Kathy and Jan Ashley uh at the red carpet premiere in city of Bakersfield and it was very well attended. It was it was a lot of fun. So it's coming to Taft. I had asked Ricky about it the the producer the night of the premiere. You know we got to get that to Taft. There are people that couldn't get over here. So it's coming. It'll be here Saturday 6 pm starts at 6:30. I look forward to seeing a lot of people there. So, hope to see you there.

Mayor, that is it. Mayor, you gota let them know they got to go online. Yeah, you gota go online to get tickets. Current oil. So, uh current movie.com. Probably probably not going to be a lot of them available. I have a funny feeling it's going to fill up. But anyway, that's where you get them. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Very good. Okay. So, uh next item on the agenda is department reports. No department reports this evening. City manager statements. City manager Jones. Thank you, Mayor. All right. City attorney statements. Jason. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All right. Thank you, sir. Future agenda requests this evening, gentlemen? Uh, none here.

None. All right, then. Well, we'll move on with the consent calendar. Items 8 through 16. All items listed 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 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 wish to comment on? I don't see any hands going up. So those items are item number eight would be the minutes for the April 7th, 2026 regularly scheduled meeting. Item number nine is the payment of bills some 500,000 a little bit less. Item number 10 approval of special event permit application and fees to be waved for St. Mary's Catholic Church for a festival event held on the church property at 110 East Woodrow Street on Sunday, May 3rd, 2026. The recommendation is a motion to approve a resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of the city of Taft to wave the special event permit application fees for St. Mary's Catholic Church for a festival event to be held on church property at 110 East Woodrow Street on Sunday, May the 3rd, 2026, and find that the activity is not a project per the California Environmental Quality Act, SQUA, as set forth in section 15061B3 of the SQA guidelines. Item number 11 is Senate Bill number one, gas tax funding projects for fiscal 2026 2027. recommendation. There is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of the city of Taft

adopting a list of projects for fiscal year 2026 27 funded by SP1 the road repair and accountability act of 2017 and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act SQUA as set forth in section 15061B3. Item number 12 would be the award for safe and sane fireworks stands for the 4th of July 2026. Recommendation there is a motion to award four safe and sane fireworks stands for July 4th 2026 to the Taft Sportsman's Club, the Diamond in the Rough, Taft High Baseball, and Westside Outreach and Rescue. and find that the activity is not a project per the California Environmental Quality Act SQA as set forth in section 15060C3 and section 15378 of the SQA guidelines. Item 13, street closures and special event permit for the 2026 Westside Recreation and Parks District Community Spring Garden Festival. Recommendation. There's a motion to adopt a resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of the city of Taft authorizing the special event permit and street closures for the 2026 Westside Recreation Park District Community Spring Garden Festival and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act SQA as set forth in section 150603 and section 15378 of the SQA guidelines. Item 14, state sewer system management plan audit and update revision number four. Recommendation is a motion to adopt and file revision number four to the city of Taft sewer system management plan. Item 15, the lowcarbon transit operation

program, LCTOP, fiscal year 202526, certifications and assurances and authorized agent forms for zer mission transit buses. Recommendation is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of the city of Taft authorizing the execution of the certifications and asurances and authorized agent forms for the lowcarbon transit operations program LCTOP fiscal year 202526 for the following project purchase of zero emission transit bus using $16,128 in LCT funds and find that the activity is not a project per California environmental quality act SQA as set forth in section 150603 and section 15378 of SQA guidelines. Lastly, item 16 is professional services agreement with Moore and Associates. Motion to authorize the mayor to execute the professional services agreement with Moore and Associates. find that the activity is not a project per the California Environmental Quality Act, SQA, as set forth in section 150603 and section 15378 of the SEA guidelines. Does any member of the council wish to remove any of these items from the consent calendar?

Number nine. Hearing none at this time, I would nine. Number nine. Number nine. I beg pardon, sir. I didn't hear. I'm sorry. That being the case, at this time I would entertain a motion to approve consent counter items 8 and 10 through 16. So moved or second, whichever you prefer. Okay, Madame Clerk, we have a motion and second. May we have a roll call, please? Council member Crier, yes. Mayor Proen Bryant, yes. Council member Waldrop, yes. Mayor No,

yes. That's approved on a foral vote. Thank you all very much. Next up, item number nine, which is the payment of bills. See, Manager Jones, payment of bills. Payment of bills. All right, Councilman. Uh, well, I've got one deal in there for less than five bucks, but I have to abstain from voting. So, I will get up and walk out of the room while you guys vote. Okay. Thank you for your transparency, sir. We'll give you a moment to walk out there. Okay.

I was afraid I was going to be in the exact same boat, but I looked again and I didn't see anything that might be uh conflicting for me, so I'm going to stay. Okay. All right. As they say, Elvis has left the building. All right. At this time,

item number nine of recommendation is approval of payment of bills. Those bills are three separate warrants for the sum total of about $490,000. So moved. Second. Have a motion and a second. Madame clerk, may we have a roll call, please? Council member Crier. Yes. May prom Bryant. Yes. Council member Walrop. Oh, Mayor North. Yes. That's approved on 30 vote. Thank you very much. Somebody please let Ronnie know he can rejoin us. Oh, this is back. All righty. I'll start the process and that way we can get it going. That's right.

All right. That actually concludes the open session of this evening's meeting. This council will be going into close session for the following items. Item A, conference with labor negotiator Craig Jones, city manager, government code section 54957.6, all units. Item B, conference with real property negotiator Craig Jones, city manager. Government code section 54956.81, undisclosed parcel. And lastly, item C, conference with legal council, existing litigation, Government Code section 54956.9A, Taft Union High School versus the city of Taft. Kern County Superior Court case number S--1500-CV-2838404, I'm sorry. So, to be clear, 283804. I want to thank you all for being a part of this evening's meeting. It is your government, so be sure and come and join us. We are going into close session.