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 Taft City Council Successor Agency Joint Regularly Scheduled Meeting for Tuesday, June 2, 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. 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 Councilman Chavera and an invocation by Sean Piper. If you will join us, please.

Right hand over heart. Pledge.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, even though I complain about it a lot, I am grateful that we live in a country, a state, and a town such as this where there is such a thing as an election. We pray, Lord, ahead of time for the results of the election. Help us to live with those results, even if we disagree with them. helps Florida live peaceably with each other in areas where we disagree. We also pray for our graduates, those entering the adult world, that the city council really wants them to be involved in the process of government. I pray that they would take that seriously and be involved. I also pray for these elected officials, that you would give them the wisdom to make good decisions, help them to do what they can do, but also, Lord, give them what they need to do the things that they can't do or are frustrated by. In all of these things, Lord, we look to you for your help, and we look forward to knowing how you will answer our prayers. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Sean.

Madam Clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Mayor North.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Bryant. Here. Council Member Cryer.

Here.

Council Member Waldrop.

Here.

Council Member Shavira.

Here. All right. Item number one, public hearing, updating and establishing user and regulatory fees. City Manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. The city completed a comprehensive study in December of 2022 to identify the cost of providing various user and regulatory fee-related services. As part of the study, a consolidated schedule of fees was prepared and adopted by the city council. The resolution adopting the fee schedule directed the fees be increased annually each July 1st based on the annual consumer price index of all urban consumers, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Anaheim, CPI. If the CPI does not change or goes down, no change shall be made to the fee schedule for that year unless an adjustment is made to the cost recovery levels of fee study findings indicate that the adjustment is appropriate. The fee schedule proposed for adoption for the period July 1, 2026 reflects the 3.16 annual CPI change. If adopted, the fee adjusted based on the annual percentage change in the CPI will be effective July 1, 2026. Fees that are new or have increased beyond the annual CPI that are development-related will be effective 60 days after adoption.

Thank you, City Manager Jones. The recommendation here is conduct a public hearing, so I'm going to do just that. I will open said public hearing. Anybody wishing to speak in support of or opposition to this matter, please step forward. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. Thank you. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft, California, adopting a schedule of user and regulatory fees for various city services. So moved.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Mayor Pro Tem, you made the motion. Sir, any discussion?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just one quick clarification. So, City Manager Jones, we did this study in late 2022. We adopted the schedule here sometime between then and now. This just reflects the CPI adjustment, or is this the actual implementation of that original fee study's... Okay. So every year coming back. Perfect.

Perfect.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. That's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Very good. Thank you. Councilman Cryer, you had a second on that.

Thank you, Mayor. How do you keep track of all the You know, reading this, there's probably, what, 500 or 400 feed changes in here. These don't get that much.

There are a lot of categories. That's a fact.

How do you know that, you know, sometimes I come all in the kitchen. Another question would be is you get a pool with a permit. You get a pool and a spa is another package deal. Now, is there one for a portable spa, too? Is there a fee for that? It depends on how it's. Plugged in or wired in?

I do believe there is. As a matter of fact, the considerations are a little bit different, and therefore plan check requirements and time involved are a little bit different, and that's part of the reason, like, if you're going to get plan check for a house, two bedrooms, three bedrooms, four bedrooms, five bedrooms, but you are right, Councilman, that, yes, there is a fee separate, specific for the staff time involved in that.

I can see it where it's built in the ground or something, a spa. But if, say, you order a spa from Costco and you bring it home and you plug it into a wall socket, is that a fee for that, too, a possibility? Or is that no fee for that? Yeah. There's so many things in here, it can be ambiguous.

Costco, if you come over and ask us, you're probably going to get a permit.

I'm sure. I would say how many of these will discourage people, but one thing about having the city give me a reason why the city get permits for it to make sure it's done right is to protect you and the city from liabilities or accidents or somebody getting hurt. There's a good reason why that there are so many permits and stuff to do, and it protects you as a homeowner and as a business, too. That's all I have, Mayor.

All right. Thank you very much. Councilor Chabert, any comments on this?

No, I just do appreciate their due diligence. It's important that people know where their money is going, so we appreciate the study.

All right. Thanks, sir. Councilman Waldrop?

No comment.

All right. I have a motion and a second. Any more discussion, gentlemen? No, sir. Madam Clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Council Member Cryer? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant? Yes. Council Member Waldrop? Yes. Council Member Shavira? Yes. Mayor Knorr?

Yes. And that passes on a 5-0 vote. Thank you. As a part of this item, The third portion of it is to direct staff to apply the regional cost inflation factor of 3.16% and proceed with the fiscal year 26-27 fee schedule as presented. Okay, next up, item number two. Citizens request public comments. Thank you very much. All right. Comments are to 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 matters, or I'm sorry, 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. First individual wanting to address the Council would be Ken Sugart. And the topic would be septic dump site companies to dump site. Ken Sugar.

Yes. Thank you. So what I've got here is unfair business practice with company businesses in Kern County. The type of business is septic and sewer business, septic pumping service. I, Kenneth Sugar, own... anti-septic tank and sewer. I brought this issue to the city of Taft and was told there was nothing they could do. The city issues cards for dumping the current county waste at the dump site in Taft. The cards are issued to companies that do not comply or hold the type of county permits. and to the operations of septic pumping businesses in Kern County. Nearly all septic systems being pumped out at this location are from in the county being brought to the city tax dumps disposal. The state of California and Kern County have health and safety standards for these companies along with Kern County environmental permits with standards that need to be met. This includes septic equipment, trucks, trailers, and et cetera, must be parked in approved location by Kern County Environmental. Kern County issues an environmental permit. I know there's companies that don't have them. We're at the dump sites. I see no permits on the vehicles. Proper insurance, vehicle licensing must be included and both pull trailers and trucks. So these guys are pulling trailers, they have no insurance on it, pulling these vehicles with hazard waste. And I see them at the dump sites, they don't have a county permit on them. This costs, I run my company as close to being as I can, perfect, and it costs me a lot of money. I mean, insurance alone is between almost four grand, and these guys don't have that insurance. These companies that do not have permits with Kern County Environmental are not adhering to the rules and regulations of the state and the county environmental waste. So when I see those people dumping, I see that they have cards to dump just like we do. And they're pricing me under, underpricing me. It's making us to the point where it's an unfair practice. They're $150, $200 cheaper than we are. And I'm obeying to the state county laws, but they're giving cards to dump. So the city of Bakersfield complies with this with the county. They require that they show the county permit. They don't get a card to dump. They must show their insurance on the vehicle. that it's sewer insurance and not general insurance, because there's hazard waste. Anyone that knows anything about a business, if you're traveling down the highways, you have the right to go dump it. They're going to do it. Then you have the permitting. They're not spending the money on permitting. They're $4,000 or $5,000 less a year than I am in cost. And they're running the same business. And all of the dumping that I know of, that I've been doing this for 17 years now, bought the company from Andy, Not one time have I pumped once in the city. Everything's in the county or in other counties and we're bringing it in. So it's, to me, that's an unfair business practice because the other companies aren't being made to comply to the laws of the county or the state. So that's pretty much what I've got to say. There are procurements just like Bakersfield does and other cities that do when they have dump sites and that's making them picture License prove that their license is current prove that they have the proper insurance in the city or the county permit It's that simple. So the vendors would have to bring that in. I've never brought it in I've never been asked but I've always checked with the county my company has been up to snuff since day one and So I'm just asking that other companies shouldn't be able to dump in the city dump unless they do exactly what they're supposed to do according to state and county, that's health and safety environmental laws. That's all I got to say.

All right, thank you very much.

I do have copies if you guys want them.

That's fine if you'd like to leave those.

Mr. Mayor, can I ask a question just to get clarification?

What are you saying there? Yeah, we can't address the issue. It's not on the agenda, but you may ask a question for clarification.

Mr. Sugar, I just want to make sure I understand correctly. Are you stating or asserting that folks are using commercial industrial waste at our residential dump site out near the dog pound?

Correct.

Okay. I just want to make sure I understood that correctly.

And they don't have a permit sticker on their vehicle from the county. I've taken names of the company, talked to the county, and they said absolutely not permitted.

Okay. I just want to make sure I understood what you're saying correctly.

I've issued license plates and names of the company.

Thank you. For the record, because we cannot discuss this, but what we're going to do is we're going to ask the city manager to talk to staff and bring a matter forward so we can discuss this at length. But I will let you know that that facility that you're talking about, the wastewater treatment facility, that is owned by both the city of Taft and Kern County.

I knew that.

Okay. All right, thank you very much.

And I do see in town quite often sewer trucks parked on the streets. So one of the streets I believe is, I can't think of it, second and, no it isn't second, maybe it's third and Kelvin. He's parked there, I've seen him 10 or 20 times in the last two years. And they're not allowed to park on the streets. I have to pay to park it in a facility which is at the storage bin or I'd have to pay someone like accelerated to park my equipment there. And I'm not sure they would qualify. It has to be a M two or M three, I believe to be able to park your vehicle. I can park it anywhere for repairs. Just can't constantly leave it outside of a designated area by and has to be approved by the county.

All right. Thank you very much for coming for the council. I would ask city manager Jones if, if we could place a matter on our future agenda discussing the criteria regarding the issuance of cards to use the facility.

Concurrence, sir.

Thank you very much. All right, next speaker would be Glenn Black with the Taft Chamber. Mr. Black.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Honorable council members, I come to you this evening to thank the council and the city of Taft for all of their support that they have given the Chamber of Commerce over the years. And I assure you we're on the correct track to make improvements in the Chamber of Commerce. And we'll be reporting monthly to the city council on progress and finances and most importantly this evening I wanted to introduce to you officially to our new director of the chamber, Executive Director Stephanie Layton. Anyway, Thanks for letting me address you folks this evening. And if you have any questions, if not.

Well, thank you very much, sir. I do believe that Ms. Stephanie Layton has signed up here to speak to us. So Glenn, thank you very much. Appreciate you introducing us to your new supervisor and executive director.

I think he's my supervisor. I have 25 new bosses.

Don't tell anybody. 25, gracious. Well, welcome and congratulations for your selection.

Thank you. I'm very excited. I'm looking forward to really helping the businesses downtown and helping our local economy as well. I want to talk a little bit tonight really quickly about our third and fourth festivities. We'll have a cruise night on the third. We're going to be located mostly, we're going to try to stay in the fifth and sixth blocks, right? Fifth and sixth blocks of Center Street and be in front of Pete's Factory, next to Pete's Factory, around there a lot. And we're going to have a band, a cruise night, some activities. It'll be really nice. The next morning, we will have a parade. And we've never done that. I don't believe in our fair city on 4th of July before. So hopefully it'll be something that we can continue for years from now.

All right. So that's it.

Sounds like fun. All right.

Thank you very much. Thanks for coming before the council. Okay. That is all of the people wishing to address the council. So we'll move on to item number three, council statements, non-action. Councilman Waldrop begin with you, sir.

I have none, thank you.

All right, Councilman Shavira.

Yeah, super quick. Don't forget to vote tonight. I think at the rec, they close at 8 o'clock, I believe. But again, it's your right, and so I would take advantage of it. Now is the time. Tomorrow's graduation. I think it's important to state the importance of hydrating. This heat's coming pretty quickly, so we're going to be out there for a few hours. Make sure that you folks are hydrating before graduation. um i sure do like when our pastor local pastors come here and pray over us because the reality is this is that we try to do our best but we always don't have the answer so it's nice to have some prayer over us to to help guide us and then um Congratulations to the boys' soccer team. They had quite an achievement. But yesterday they had CRC come down and award them some tickets to go to the World Cup. So how exciting for them. And again, congratulations to the soccer team. That's all I got.

All right. Thank you very much, sir.

Councilman Cryer. Thank you, Mayor. It's a pleasure to see the chamber here. a little bit in a way, but it's going to happen on the 3rd and 4th of July, because we're here to celebrate our 250-year anniversary of our great country. It's important, especially for our young folks and stuff, to address it where we can all participate in celebration in our great country. But school's getting out. Graduation's coming up, school's getting out, gonna watch out for them stop signs. Got a lot of new drivers coming out. That can be kind of scary, but I remember when I first learned how to drive, I was very fortunate. I lived on a farm, so I learned how to drive when I was pretty young, especially harvesting equipment. But there's a lot of people out there learning, and just look out for them, and give them a little leeway, because they're just learning. They're gonna make mistakes. But just keep on guard. And thank God that we still have the right to vote, not just running one candidate out there. We have many selections of candidates. Sheesh, there's 62 people running for governor of this state. So we've got choices. For other countries, you only have one. And if you don't vote, you get shot. Here, we don't. So we're very fortunate. And if you vote, you have the right to complain. If you don't vote, don't come complain about any problems. That's all I have to say, Mayor.

All right, thank you very much. Mayor Pro Tem, Brian.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Both of, or at least a couple of the folks before me mentioned graduations. We've got graduation here Wednesday and Thursday. Obviously, Wednesday comes the folks who are kind of moving on into adulthood. They may be going to college. They may be going to work. But to each and every one of those, on behalf of everybody here in the city of Taft, congratulations to you young folks. The folks right behind them, four years down the road, will be graduating into high school, but they're graduating at Lincoln Junior High School. Congratulations to those folks, but regardless of what you're doing Wednesday or Thursday, if you're attending the graduation or if you're just driving around town, please be careful. There will be people parked each and every way, whether they should be parked there or shouldn't. I'm sure we'll have plenty of police presence around to make sure folks know when they should not be parked in a certain direction or location. But please just be careful to the chamber. Whether it's under Stephanie's direction, I look forward to what the future holds or what's happened to this point. Thank you. The Chamber has always been somebody who's been at the forefront of trying to help the city advertise itself, advertise our businesses, and celebrate who we are, what we've done, and what we've done for a century plus. So thank you for what's been done. I'm looking forward to what's going to happen in the future. And I really appreciate it. We're not having fireworks. That doesn't make everybody super happy. But you guys looked and said, how can we pivot? How can we celebrate? At the end of the day, whether we're having fireworks or we're having a cruise night and or a picnic or whatever you call it, the really thing that matters is us. celebration and fellowship of being together, finding ways to celebrate who we are, what we've been, and where we're going. So thank you guys for figuring out a way to be unique and to pivot and to continue to celebrate. I look forward to being a part of that in a number of different ways. I think it's really important that we talk tonight about both the city bringing in funds or facilitating something through the the public comment here, or even funds going out to support the chamber. But I want folks to realize that the city isn't a for-profit entity. It's not some entity that's just there taking in money and making a profit, because we sure in the hell are not doing that. We are each and every one of us. It just so happens that we're represented by the five of us who currently sit on this dais today and the folks who run City Hall and the various departments. The city is an entity meant to facilitate things for each and every one of us to have better lives. I look forward to continue to be a part of that. I think later on in the agenda we're talking about establishing or at least calling for an election that happens in the fall. I look forward to that happening. I look forward to continuing to be a part of this council as long as we can. But just remember, the city is not a for-profit entity. We're here to provide services to the best of our ability within our means, what we can afford today and in the foreseeable future. And that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. Well, there's a lot of wisdom just got poured forth up here and a lot of things covered. Welcome, Stephanie. Congratulations. And, yes, the Chamber has always been a critical component of quality of life in the city of Taft, and you know that. That's why you tried and successfully got that job. I know your heart's in it and you're sincere about it, and I know your board is behind it as well. And you see, you go out in this community and you see the same group of people. And that's the beauty of it. I talk to people who live in big cities and I tell them I can't on any weekend or every weekday go to a restaurant or the hardware store or any place without getting a handshake or a hug. So it's a wonderful place to live and you all are a big part of it. So thanks for your efforts. Appreciate that. It is summertime. It is summertime. The kids are going to be out. They're probably going to be out here later than I think they ought to be out, but they're going to be out. I hope they remember to use those push buttons when they cross the street. That drives me nuts. But I wish they would all be reminded. Mary, you could slip something in their diplomas. Push the button. Push the button. I've reminded a few of them when I had to roll the window down, but that would be a wonderful thing. It's going to be hot, and we have to be pre-hydrated. If you have... Older folks living in your neighborhood, think about them. The triple digits are coming, man. Do they need a hand moving their trash cans in and out or mowing their lawn or doing whatever the case may be? It was funny. I was just out at Mike. my son's house before I came to city council meeting. And there were two young guys out there and they had a gas powered pressure washer and they were for 10 bucks going around Valley acres and pressure washing and cleaning the trash cans because the trash had been picked up. So they knew the day after or the day of, if you're going to go out there and wash them and clean them up. Cause after all it's July and, I'm sorry, it's coming up on July, and it gets hot, and trash cans get stinky. So, I mean, these kids are out there earning a buck and working and doing a job, so it was nice to see. But I love summer, and I love the city of Taft. Let's everybody look out for one another. Thank you all very much. Item number four, department reports. Do we have any department reports this evening? Chief.

Good evening, everyone. I'm going to give you the statistics for the month of May in the police department. So for the month of May, total incidents through the police department are 1,014 calls for service, which are calls that are, uh, dispatch center takes at 386 officer initiated incidents were 628. And that's also counting our citizen patrol, which has been outstanding. Love to have them out there. Love to have them in the city areas, also in the business areas. Total officer cases written were 170 in the month of May. Total misdemeanor and felony arrests were a total of 73. Of course, that would be misdemeanor 60 and 13 for felony arrests.

All right. Get the bad guys off the street, Chief. Tell your truth. Thank you very much. You're welcome. By the way, everybody, if you heard rumor about a bear, In the city of Taft. We're going there. It's true. It's really a bear. It was a bear. Absolutely. And our officers responded to see to the public safety and the safety of the bear. I think the bear began his adventure around here by taking a dip in Buena Vista Lake during the lightning in the bottle. That's correct. Celebration. That's correct. And then he had had enough of that and he exited stage right because he came westbound and ended up in the city of Taft. Got a little weird out at the lake, so he left.

So is the bear a euphemism, or do we legitimately have a bear? No, this is a black bear.

It was a black bear. I can show you the tracks, but it is genuinely a black bear. Now, where he is right now, we're all not sure, but yes, it wasn't a dog. It was a bear, and Boo-Boo is somewhere else, but he's not here anymore.

He's as frightened of us as we are of him. He was heading last towards... Down at the bottom towards the base of the hills, Maricopa Flats area, heading that way the last time we saw him. Dang.

There's not a bear rug nowhere.

Wasco had a clown for a while. We just got a random bear. We got a bear.

We got a bear. It's Taft. All right. We got a bear. You never know. And your troops responded diligently. So thank you very much, Chief. I appreciate it. You talked about working outside the box. That's a little bit different. Thanks, sir. Thank you, guys. They don't teach that one when you go to post. All right. Next up, item number five, city manager statement. City manager Jones. All right. Item number six, city attorney statements. All right. Thanks, sir. Item number seven, future agenda requests this evening. Gentlemen.

None here.

Hearing none. All right, then. Oh, I'm sorry.

So we need to do that here. I'll concur with the mayor's request.

Thank you very much for that reminder, sir. All right. At this time, we'll talk about consent calendar items 8 through 14. 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 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? Seeing none, those items are item number eight, the minutes for the 2019-2026 regularly scheduled meeting. Item number nine, the payment of bills, some $900,000. 10. Resolutions calling for a general municipal election and request the Kern County Board of Supervisors to approve consolidation with the statewide general election. The recommendation is 1. A motion to adopt a resolution entitled A resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft, California, calling and giving notice of the holding of a general municipal election to be held on Tuesday, November the 3rd, 2026, for the election of certain officers as required by the provisions of the laws of the State of California relating to general law cities, and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, has set forth in section 15060C3 and section 15378 of the CEQA guidelines. Item number two is the motion or Section 2 is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft, California, requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County of Kern to consolidate a general municipal election to be held on November 3, 2026, with a statewide general election to be held on the date pursuant to Section 10403 of the Election Code, 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 11, Street Closures and Special Event Permit for the 2026 Self-Brewed Coffeehouse Rebranding Event. Recommendation is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled, Resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft Authorizing the Special Event Permit and Street Closures for the 2026 Self-Brewed Coffeehouse rebranding event on Saturday, June 13, 2026, 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. Item number 12. is the approval of Special Event Permit 202606 for the Taft Chamber of Commerce to host a 4th of July celebration on and around Center Street from Friday, July 3, 2026 to Saturday, July 4, 2026. Recommendation there is a motion to approve a resolution entitled a resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft approving a special event permit for the Taft Chamber of Commerce to host a celebration for the 250th anniversary of America along Center Street on July 3rd and July the 4th, 2026, and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, as set forth in section 15061B3 of the CEQA guidelines. Item 13, adoption of the City of Taft State Required Zero Emissions Bus Rollout Plan. Recommendation here is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft adopting the City of Taft's 2026 Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan and direct the City's Assistant Finance Director to file the attached plan and resolution with the California Air Resources Board no later than June the 12th 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 14, farming contract extension to municipal wastewater treatment facility. Recommendation here is a motion to approve the five-year contract extension option with Westside Hay LLC and authorize the mayor to execute the agreement extension and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA. It's set forth in section 15060C3 and section 15378 of the CEQA guidelines. Does any member of the council wish to remove any of these items from the consent calendar? I'm here. none well I tell you what I am going to remove item number 13 so at this time I would entertain a motion to approve items 8 9 10 11 12 and 14 and a second motion is second madam clerk may we have a roll call please yes that's correct yes

Mayor Pro Tem Bryant. Yes. Council Member Waldrop. Yes. Council Member Shavira. Yes. Mayor Knorr.

Yes. And that's approved on a 5-0 vote. Thank you very much. Item number 13, adoption of the City of Taft State Required Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan. City Manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. On December 17, 2018, the California Air Resources Board adopted the Initiative Clean Transit Fleet Regulations. This regulation requires all public transit operators within California to convert to a 100% zero emission fleet by 2040. The cornerstone purposes of this regulation is to address impacts on air quality associated with greenhouse gas emissions. The City of Tass proposed compliance with CARB's ICT regulation is presented in the City's 2026 Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan. This plan was prepared by city staff in collaboration with the city's public transit consultant, Morton Associates. The city selected battery electric vehicles as a zero-emission technology required by state law. Later this year, the city will take delivery of five battery-powered electric medium-duty transit vehicles. The city also has received grant funds for the construction of a solar-ray charging infrastructure to support the operation of Taftery Transit's battery electric fleet. This investment and clear air technology will bring the city into full compliance with CARB's initiative clean transit regulations.

Thank you very much, Team Manager Jones. I asked that we remove this because I wanted to talk about this a little bit, people. Just so everybody out there in the city of Taft knows, this is a mandate. This is a requirement of the state of California. And what the state of California does is, when they want you to do something that does not make sense or you cannot afford, is they tell you to either do it or you will be fined and punished. And the schedule actually says for small transit agencies, by 2026, 25% of any of the vehicles you purchase for transit has to be zero emission vehicles. By 2027, 25%, 2028, 25%, and by 2029, 100%. City staff has done a yeoman's job of finding grant funds and special programs out there to help us finance this endeavor. I myself, and this is me, I'm not a big fan of unproven technology. And I looked into this a great deal. And it's not just what has happened before in the city of Taft. We had one battery-powered vehicle from a green company, as I recall, speaking with city manager. And our experience with that particular vehicle was less than positive. It was prone to breakdowns, and it wasn't dependable and very unfortunate issue. The ones that we are going to get are actually Fords. And so we have a big automaker behind them. They're not going to disappear anytime soon. And we sincerely hope that we get a great deal of good service out of the vehicles. I dug in a little deeper because I actually called Rocky O'Neill. who worked on the buses and worked in the bus department at Taft High School because I wanted his input. I knew that this had been addressed at some point in time. And he told me, yes, they looked at it. They looked at the economics. They looked at the critical infrastructure that had to be upgraded in order to be able to charge these vehicles and the cost thereof. And it was exorbitant. On top of that, They looked into the vehicles themselves that were available, and they would not be able to, with a full charge, run the route, and then at the end of the day, run the route again. They would have to be charged in between and hope that they would make the route. Some routes they just simply could not complete. So they waved it off. They looked at it, they evaluated it, gave it every opportunity, and they walked away from it. I looked into large buses for transit for cities, and this is the experience of Miami Dade and Broward County in Florida. However, they dealt with a bus company who in 2023 was cutting edge. They were the foremost, the very best in the game. And they sold some 1300 buses to different, uh, cities, including Austin, Texas, Philadelphia, and Louisville. along with Miami-Dade and Broward County. And that was in 2023. And as a matter of fact, when they dedicated that, they said this is the future of mass transit. And they were very, very proud of it. They spent $1.1 million a bus, which was approximately two and a half times the cost of the same kind of bus with proven diesel technology. That was in 2023. Right now, all of those buses are parked. Not working. Money just sitting there. For Miami-Dade and Broward County, almost $100 million. And they made that investment in 2023. They are worthless. Broward County got federal monies to purchase those vehicles, but now they cannot even legally dispose of them. Because you remember, a bus like that is a massive battery, which is hazardous waste. They can't figure out how to dispose of the things. So I just wanted to relate that information. And one more thing that's really concerning and I would ask city manager to correct me if I'm wrong, is that as a part of the legislation that forced us into the three different trash can scenario nightmare that has raised our costs 63.5% in five years to pick up trash, we as a city will be required to be the battery-powered trash truck police. And if by the year 2032, they don't have a whole fleet of extremely expensive battery-powered trash trucks, then the state of California will come find the city of Taft. Because here again, that's how the state works. So I am going to vote in favor of the city of Taft's mass transit policy and program and let it be forwarded. However, I just wanted to bring those issues up. so that you, the people of the city of Taft, knew that we were aware of these issues. We have considered the issue. We haven't buried our head in the sand. And lastly, I almost, because I was hoping the fire department would be here to give a report because one has got to worry what would happen if they're all parked in close proximity and one of those things burst into flames and burns to the ground. Kind of the same thing that happened with the hydrogen-powered buses over in Bakersfield, if I'm not mistaken. Nine of those buses, one of them burst into flames, burned another one down, and also destroyed their fueling. So anyway, I just wanted to discuss this a little bit further, and that's why I asked that it be removed from the consent calendar. So any additional comments regarding this issue? Gentleman?

Definitely here. Go ahead. You sure? Okay, so two points of clarification. I definitely want to ask the city manager to answer. So right now I think we have either two or we have four gas or diesel powered trains. Okay, perfect. Does this grant require that we decommission those to put in a certain amount of time, or does it just require that we do add new electric power or alternative fuel powered fleet?

The current plan is to, we have two high mileage gas vehicles. We're going to take one of those out, or two of those out of commission. We're going to save two. For some redundancy in case something happens to the electric. And we used a miscellaneous grant to purchase a new gas bus.

Perfect. So we do have redundancy systems.

So we have some redundancies, some backup plans in case.

When the inevitable happens, that it fails or is unable to complete the task, we have something.

Similar to the school, we have to have more buses charging than we use daily because they won't most likely last a whole eight hour. Definitely. So four hours we'll be parking them. grab another one, throw them on the chargers.

Do we have the charging system yet?

It's currently in design. We've been dealing with PG&E for a while on our interconnection.

So interestingly enough, it wasn't that long ago, less than 20 years ago, the state pushed this clean energy by way of CNG, compressed natural gas, right? And if folks remember, the city had procured a couple CNG-driven chargers Transit vehicles that just so happen to not be in service anymore. Is that correct?

Even better So again to the mayor's point just unproven in terms of longevity Yes, it might work in the short term. It might work in terms of short routes But at the end of the day to the mayor's point

It doesn't work in everyday ongoing activities. So I think it's good that we're at least keeping something intact that's redundant to help.

I guess the best way to explain it, we're being forced into it. And there was one-time money available at the time, so we applied for it. We did a good job of getting that money because there was no guarantee that the state budget was going to allow those kind of grants in the future. So we figured if we're going to get forced into it, we might as well get it paid for. Our transit facility will be a microgrid project, so it will be a standalone microgrid facility, including the air conditioning, the building, and everything else. So I'll kind of reiterate. As long as it's working, we should see relatively no PG&E bill.

And that's assuming that it works positively all the time.

Of course. You still have to have connected to PG&E in case something happens. So you switch back over. You still got to pay PG&E your standby charges.

So I'll reiterate to what the mayor said about talking to the high school. So I was pretty intimately involved in when we were kind of exploring that because the state was dangling all kinds of free stuff in front of you. When you think about a general 80-passenger yellow school bus, at that time and even today, it's going to cost you between $200,000 and $225,000 to buy a diesel-driven bus. If you were to get one from the state for free, great, I saved $220,000 or whatever the cost of it is. It's approximately the same. Each one of those has between six and eight lithium ion batteries on that. The lifespan on those are somewhere between eight to 15 years. If you're lucky, the lifespan on a normal diesel engine bus is about 25, if not 30 years. So over the 30 year period of one bus, I might spend $230,000. Let's say, let's make it even 250,000, including maintenance and maybe repairs. Every 15 years, I'm going to have to replace every one of the six to eight batteries on that bus at about $20,000 to $25,000 a piece, if not slightly higher. So when you do the math, it just doesn't work. You're paying for that bus three times versus what I would pay for a diesel-driven bus that's reliable, doesn't have to come in and be recharged. You don't have to spend $50,000 or more paying for... I totally lost the word, but... Public works. What's the word I'm looking for? Prevailing wage. To have somebody come in and retrofit your existing infrastructure to do it. And you're not paying additionally. Instead of paying for fuel, yes, you may be paying for electricity. How often has your fuel bill gone up as much as PG&E has in the last five years? It hasn't. Even though it's more, it hasn't gone up that much, folks. So at the end of the day, yes, it seems good in a vacuum. It doesn't work over the long term, at least as we know technology today. So again, just like the mayor, I support what we're doing because we're doing it with the available funds. We're doing it to make sure we don't get cut off in other places by way of the state, but we're also not completely cutting ourselves off from what we know actually works and will work into the future in the event that this doesn't work in perpetuity. So thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilman Waldock.

I don't think these battery-operated vehicles are perfected yet, and they can be very dangerous, especially... If you've ever seen one on fire, they're very dangerous, and you better get away from them and just leave them alone. Let them burn. I don't think we're jumping in too soon, I think. But we've got to do something. One of us has got to vote no. That's me.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Councilman Waldrop. I'm sorry. Councilman Cryer, sir.

Yes, sir.

Two questions. One, how come these cities that have all these buses are not working right? How come they don't repurpose them as homeless shelters?

Perhaps some of them are. They don't meet ADA compliance. In Miami-Dade.

And the second question I had on there, what's the cost of a fine if we don't follow through with the state? What's the penalty on that?

If you think about the fare box ratio currently, sir, has got to be 10% in order to comply. Well, that leaves 90%.

I knew the answer before I asked it. I think the public should know that we're up against a you-know-what if we don't do something.

That's what we're up against.

That's what I want to stress on now. That is correct. Thank you.

Councilman Shavara.

This is a great dialogue that that we're aware of, but that our viewers can hear and listen to. This is the situation, right? It's very unfortunate that we, the people have to deal with, but the reality is this is we got to play the game and the game is so we can benefit because we are not being funded. So great conversation, but here are the results.

Thank you very much. All right. At this time, I would entertain a motion to adopt a resolution entitled Resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft Adopting the City of Taft's 2026 Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan and direct the City's Assistant Finance Director to file the attached plan and resolution with the California Air Resources Board no later than June the 12th, 2026 and find that the activity is not a project for the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, It's set forth in section 15060C3 and section 15378 of the CEQA guidelines.

Motion. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, may we have a roll call?

Council Member Cryer?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Bryant? Yes. Council Member Waldrop?

No.

Council Member Shavira?

Yes.

Mayor Norris?

No. That passes on a 3-2 vote. Thank you very much, gentlemen, and thank you for the discussion. All right, next up, item number 15, adoption of Senate Bill 707, teleconferencing and description policies and resolutions. City Manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. Senate Bill 707 requires eligible legislative bodies to implement hybrid in-person remote public meeting access and to adopt a policy addressing disruptions to remote services by July 1, 2026. teleconferencing policy establishes procedures for providing two-way audio visual access for public participation including the city's use of zoom remote public comment options and instructions that must be included on each agenda the disruption policy outline steps to follow when telephonic or internet services fail during a regular meeting including announcing the disruption placing the meeting in recess for at least one hour, attempting restoration and documenting all efforts. The policy also establishes procedures for reconvening once service is restored and when the council adopts the required finding to continue. Adoption of these two policies ensures the city meets the SB 707 requirements and provides consistent public transparency and access.

Thank you very much. City manager Jones. At this time, I would entertain a motion to adopt a resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of city of tapped adopting a council policy to establish procedures for required hybrid city council meetings. There are two resolutions. May I do them concurrently?

Yes, that'd be fine.

All right, thank you very much. And secondly, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft adopting council policy for disruption of remote participation during a council meeting.

So moved.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Mayor Pro Tem, you... You made the motion on this. Any discussion, sir?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll just apply a little bit here. I think in the wake of the pandemic, we realized how much technology could still facilitate interaction and communication, even with distance or, you know, folks not being able to be in the room together. I will always prefer face-to-face in place, you know, folks having discussions as they have for hundreds of years. But I do see some value in allowing folks to interact from afar. Circumstances change. You may not be able to be in person at something where I may have a valid opinion or a legitimate input. But I think it's also important to mitigate what could happen because we've all seen the crazy that can happen when folks are able to just log in willy-nilly. Regardless, they don't really care. They just want to cause a fuss or get some attention, right? So I'm fully in support of having some sort of rules for decorum, whether you're here or not, and I look forward to this passing. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much. Councilman Cryer.

I have a couple of questions. Is this a new law or regulation or something we have to abide by it?

Yeah, Senate bill. Senate bill.

What's the reason why they want to do it? Because I remember in the long-distance past that when one of us was in the hospital or got hurt real bad or something, broke a few bones, I can't make it, we couldn't participate. Yeah, adequate notice. You know, I have a, you know, in a way I'm for it, But yet, I feel like some of us got penalized because of this same thing that is being changed right now. Because I think it's important for, as a council member, being elected to it, that we take our job seriously. Because it opens up to me where, well, my work takes me away this week. I'm going to be out of the country. I'm going to be this and that. And so it makes it more easier to say, you know what, I'm going to do it remote. What's the safeguards? Are there any safeguards in this thing that is going to do that, prevent abuse in the future or something? Are you talking about abuse by a council member? A council member or whatever. I remember a time not too long ago, a former council member was working offshore, you know what I'm talking about, and was wanting to have meetings from over there. What keeps it where, what's the safeguards?

Well, what you're talking about, if I may, if I may answer that, the issue you're talking about in the past where the council member was offshore, the laws and the requirements for municipal governance back in those days required that that actually be agendized. and that his location be a part of that. So that was the law at that point in time. This is Senate Bill 707. This is a new law based on something that was proposed, adopted, and signed into law by the Senate. So for lack of a better term, that was then and this is now. So we can go ahead and get...

I'm trying to find the right word without... So... Basically, if we don't feel like coming to council, maybe we just go ahead and call it in and not have to show up and just make a phone call. We're on Zoom.

I think this is slightly different. This is participation by non-elected folks. They're public participation, whereas ours are still required to abide by certain agendas.

I just want to make sure that we all take our job seriously and stuff. because we, as council members, you know, we're put here by the people, by the voters and our stakeholders, and they count on us to be here in place to pass laws and stuff and be here in front of the cameras and stuff and do our civic duty. That was my commitment.

Oh, okay. All right. Councilman Chabert, do you have any comments, sir?

Just to piggyback off what Horshal Cry was saying, it shouldn't be a problem. Those of us that are voted in, we have an interest to be in here. We want to be here. So I don't think it's going to be a councilman issue. The idea of hybrid, you know, it's a Senate bill, so... In my opinion, I think it's a good idea that we have a form of hybrid in certain events, so I'm in favor of it.

Councilman Waldrop? No comment. I do have a comment because I have been a part of a council meeting in the past where they actually did it by Zoom, and it was a different city, and there was a very famous, I'd say notorious young lady who called into that meeting and her language was repulsive and they actually muted her and then she demonstrated her disdain for that action using hand signals and finally they had to shut down the entire meeting and restarted and call people back. It was a disaster. Uh, there are always going to be those types out there. So if you look at this, the second resolution being, you know, adopting council policy for disruption of remote participation, that's what they're trying to deal with that inevitability. Uh, not to think that somebody would ignore the rules of decorum and would call in via zoom to address the council. and get abusive and get stupid and ridiculous, and then we would have to actually shut down the meeting, wait an hour, and start all over again. That is a ridiculous concept. However, it is a very real concern. And that is the reason for the second part of this. I understand the good side of it. Things will always be abused. But let's say you're somebody who is challenged and you cannot leave the house. And you want to be more of a part of it instead of just writing something or sending it in. You actually want to be able to do that. I understand it. So I understand the benefit of it. But there will be times, I can see it coming, When we are going to have to deal with this and we're going to have to shut down a meeting and then we'll sit idly by for either an hour or if the council finds for the benefit of the community to not have to wait an hour, then the council has to actually vote and the vote has to be recorded saying that, no, we want to move forward with the meeting. or it could be a technological problem. If somebody's on Zoom and it gets dropped, whether it's their part or our part, then we are to do our due diligence and see if we can fix the technological issue. And that's got to be recorded and made a part of the public record as well. And if we can't, then we can vote as a council to move forward with the meeting without that individual. So they're trying to look into the eventualities. It could be...

Unfortunate or problematic, but I understand the direction that it's going the gatekeeper Well, we've got the lawyer who's always going to be here and the clerk so they're the two because I

The city clerk would have to actually record the vote as well as record what actions were taken to try to remediate the technological issue. So it becomes a part of the record. And it could be part of a public records request. Hey, prove to me that you tried to get this thing back up and running before you just took off and ran off with the meeting. So that's how it works.

And the beauty of the First Amendment is you have the opportunity and the right to stand up in front of folks in public forum and be heard. The downside of this is double-edged sword. People have the beauty and the right to stand up and show us exactly how intelligent they are, regardless of how intelligent they actually are. Without rules, without regulations, we have no basis to then impede their First Amendment rights on any type of basis. With this, it facilitates our ability to say, hey, you have the right to say what you want, but this is an impediment or not productive in terms of meeting the needs of the public. So this is definitely necessary, although what we're trying to prevent is the idiocy of somebody who is likely to come at some point in the future.

It could very well be. And that is why we will still roll the tape regarding rules of decorum in the city council chambers and whether somebody is here in person or somebody is here via zoom they are to adhere to that rule of decorum and also when they watch that video that is the warning there is no warning that is the warning once you step over that line you're out you're gone and so that the mute button would be the way to eliminate an individual who would abuse that privilege don't we also have the brown act that we have to Oh, absolutely.

All right.

Any additional discussion on this, gentlemen? Okay. Did I get a motion and a second on this? Okay. We've had plenty of discussion. So Madam Clerk, may I have a roll call, please?

Council Member Cryer.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Bryant. Yes. Council Member Waldrop.

Yes.

Council Member Shavira. Yes. Mayor North.

Yes. And that passes on a 5-0 vote. Coming soon to a city council meeting near you. All right. All right. Lastly, item number 16, Economic Development Services HDL Econ Solutions Deliverables Task 1. City Manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. In February 2026, the Taft City Council approved a task order with HDL Econ Solutions to prepare an up-to-date market leakage study, void analysis, and retail performance report for the City of Taft Economic Development Area. The HDL project team led by Barry Foster recently met with city staff to review preliminary findings and share updated retail and market performance information related to the Taft economic development area. In addition to preparing the market analysis documents, representatives from HDL have represented the city of Taft at two International Council of Shopping Center events. provide opportunities for cities and economic development organizations to meet directly with commercial developers, retailers, and franchise representatives interested in expansion opportunities. City of Taft is currently preparing for its annual ICSE event scheduled for September 2026. Information gathered through the market leakage study, void analysis, and retail performance report will be utilized to support discussions with perspective commercial developers and franchise representatives. The data will also assist staff in identifying target retail categories and strengthening the city's economic development marketing materials. Staff anticipates the completed analysis and outreach efforts will support ongoing business attraction initiatives and help position the city for future commercial opportunities. And again, this is just for receive and file, but this is the deliverable of task one for your review.

All right. Thank you very much, sir. Like City Manager says, recommended action is discussion, receive and file for the reports, basically letting us know what we discussed in the past and we knew that this was going on. ICSC is that opportunity where we as a city go and we have consultants that go and in the past members of the chamber have gone, if I'm not mistaken, and helped represent the City of Taft to peddle us, for lack of a better term, and help people understand the beauty of our community and the opportunities that lie within our city limits. So hopefully it's successful. It has been in the past and we look forward to further successes. Any additional discussion, gentlemen?

I just got one comment. So I know a lot of folks think that it's us five or city staff that say, Hey, Walmart, we want you and you're going to build here and you're going to provide this service. Unfortunately, that's not the truth because we would have done that a long time ago. Those folks have to have a desire to come here, and that desire has to be supported by data that says, hey, you've got some place to make a buck. Nobody who has a business is going to go to a place that is saturated with certain types of businesses. Lord knows I wouldn't want to open a Mexican food restaurant in Taft. We've got some damn good ones here already, and there's no reason I'm going to try to split a dollar instead of taking it from here to here. I'm going to go find a way where I can add value. I can be a construction company. I can be a waste services. I can be a newspaper. Because maybe those things don't exist or they don't exist in terms of volume, right? I think I was really, really happy to see a lot of places where it says, hey, you don't have a whole lot of leakage in a certain activity, but these are the areas that are probably lacking. So I would encourage folks to read that. If you're an investor, look at that and say, what service can I bring that fills in that gap and that void that's going to take dollars and keep them here in town versus going to anywhere else outside the 93268? That's the purpose. When we go to ICSC or a staff does along with a chamber, they use that to say, hey, we need you and this is how you fit in here and we obviously have a need as evidenced by a professional third-party study. So I really appreciate the data and I'm thankful to receive this from HDL.

Thank you very much, sir. Any additional comments? Gentlemen?

On this item?

Yes. None? All right. Well, thank you very much. See you, Manager Jones. That concludes the open session portion of this evening's meeting. This council will be going into closed 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 54956.8, one undisclosed parcel. And lastly, item C, 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-CV-283804. I want to thank you all for being a part of this evening's meeting. This is your city and it's your government. Enjoy yourselves. The open session is closed.