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, August the 4th, 2026. City of Taft Council meetings are being held in person with full capacity seating or may be joined remotely through Zoom using personal meeting ID 619-824-7558, passcode 613-564, or the link posted on the agenda. Meetings are also live streamed at www.youtube.com forward slash user forward slash city of Taft. Public comment can be made in person or remotely through Zoom and can be received for 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 records. We're going to begin this evening's meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by myself, followed by an invocation from Pastor Lloyd Francis. If you'll join us, please. And over your heart, 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,

Father, during this time of heat coming onto our community, I pray for safety for all the elderly and those who are vulnerable, Father. I pray God for our city workers, the ones who work on the streets and work outside, the officers in the heat that they have to be involved in. Lord, I pray for their safety and that there be no emergency issues with that, Lord. I just ask you tonight that you give wisdom and guidance to the council. I pray, God, that you would minister as you know how to, Lord, and as we hear your voice, we ask you for wisdom and guidance through all that we may do. Father, we know that you want the best for this city, and we ask you to put your spirit upon all that we do in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen. Thank you very much, sir.

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

Mayor North?

Here.

Council Member Cryer?

Here.

Council Member Waltrop? Here. Council Member Shavira?

Here.

And Mayor Pro Tem Brian is absent with notice.

All right, very good. The first item on the agenda this evening is Citizens Request Public Comments. Do we have anybody signed up? No? Do we have anybody calling in on Zoom? No. All right, then. Next item on the agenda, Council Statements, Non-Actions. Councilman Waldrop, begin with you this evening, sir.

All I can say is make arrangements to stay out of this heat, especially the elderly. Thank you.

That's good advice, sir. Councilman Shavara.

Yeah, that's interesting. I would also piggyback off him. It is ridiculously hot out there. I recently came back from the coast, super blessed to be over there and enjoying time with family, but it is ridiculously hot. Please be safe. Next week's school is starting. We're going to see a lot more activity around the community with our local youth, so we need to remain vigilant and watch out for our local youth. On that, that's all I got, sir.

All right. Thank you very much. Councilman Cryer, you're dressed for the warm weather, sir. That I am. Thank you.

You know, it is warm out there, but my ploffy always been, I tell people, is As long as the beer is cold and the AC works, don't give a darn how hot it is. And that's always worked real good for me. But anyway, we're still up off. Like Councilman Silvera said, you can see that school is getting ready to start by seeing the city crews out there doing the crosswalks. That's like the autumn, the leaves turn. You know fall's coming. Now you know a school's getting ready to start with the crosswalks. What's been good, and we discussed later here in the council, is a lot of good things happening in Taft. People are thinking outside the box, bringing in different events, coming into town. And I hope it all works out. A lot of it is... It would be great if it happens. And I want all the best success. But things are moving here in Taft. Words are getting out. And it's a location in a great city. And so I'm really enthused about what is happening. And we're back. Everybody's back from vacation. And I hope everybody had a great time. A lot of our meetings I've had, like one today, has been dark for the whole month.

it's getting back in the groove again that's all i have to say mayor all right thank you very much sir you guys write about a bunch of stuff it's warm it's hot but you know what if you look two weeks down the road the highs are going to be in the 90s and lows in the 60s that's not all bad but in the meantime don't wait until you're thirsty to drink if you're thirsty you have already gone downhill especially if you're younger folks or the elderly. If you know somebody who's going to be going to school, remind them before they cross the highway to push the button when they cross in crosswalks. Please remind them to cross in the crosswalks, and if there's a light, kindly push the button. All of those of you who drive, don't count on those kids to push that button. Just be careful and slow it down. Welcome back. Time for football. We're all going to be down there watching the football games real soon, so I think we're all looking forward to that. That's all I have this evening. Next up, department reports. Item number three. We have any department reports the chief of police is going to address? Come on up here, sir.

Good afternoon, everyone. I will be giving the statistics for the police department for the month of July. We had total incident cases of 889, calls for service 375, officer-initiated incidents, and that's also with our citizen patrol, and it's 514. So they're out doing their job. I appreciate that. Traffic stops of the month of July were 84. Total cases written were 104. Get down to misdemeanor and felony arrests, we had 59. We had a misdemeanor arrest of 51 and, of course, felony arrest of eight. And that is for the month of July. All right.

Get out there. Keep people straight. Get the bad ones off the street. I know that. We've been taking some drunk drivers off the street. That is one of those dangers. And, unfortunately, so many of those people that do that, they do it again and again and again simply because we just don't punish them enough. And that's coming from me.

That's not only you, Mayor. That's a fact. Well, good. It's unfortunate. And we do, in the city of Taft, we, in my opinion, we deal with drunk drivers a lot. It's unfortunate. It's unfortunate. But we're out there, and we're proactive, and the troops are looking for it. So we take up our fair share.

Good. And they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Tell your troops I said thank you, too. Absolutely. I fully agree. Absolutely.

One question. Sure. Chief, do you find that we have crime increasing related to the heat? Do you feel that we see some of the vagrants coming into town? Should we be a lot more aware?

I would say usually when the weather gets warmer, crime kind of decreases when it gets to this extent, when it gets this hot. But we do have individuals, you're going to see them more because they're looking for the shady spots, the areas on rails to trails, and that keeps us busy. You know, just the hot spots behind Jug and Rose and the Fifth Street Plaza, they look for the shade. And when they're respectful and doing the right thing and they pick up their trash and they don't have their dogs off a leash, it's not an issue. But I can't say that that always happens that way.

Good. Hey, we appreciate all your help, too. Absolutely. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you very much, sir. Anything else?

Thank you. Any other department reports this evening? None. All right. Next up, item number four, city manager's statements. City manager Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. No statements.

All right. Item number five, city attorney's statements. Jason.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No statements.

Okay. Item number six, future agenda requests this evening. Gentlemen. Seeing none. Well, then let's move on to consent calendar items 7 through 12. 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 shall 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. So those items are item number seven, the minutes from the July 21st regular meeting. Item number eight, the payment of bills, some $326,000 worth. Item number nine, street closure and special event permit for the sunset night market special events. Recommendation is 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 sunset night market special events on Saturday, October the 24th, November the 21st and December the 12th, 2026. 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 number 10, Transportation Development Act Funds Annual Audit, Fiscal Year 2022-2023. Recommendation is a motion to receive and file the City of Taft Transportation Development Act Funds Annual Audit for the Fiscal Year 2022-2023. Item number 11, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft authorizing additional cards for the American Express account. Recommendation is motion to authorize, adopt a resolution entitled Resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft authorizing additional cards for the American Express account. And then lastly, item number 12, Professional Service Agreement, HF and H on Call, Senate Bill 1383, Technical Assistance. Recommendation here is a motion to approve a professional services agreement with HF&H Consultants LLC for on-call solid waste and recycling consulting services for the period of July the 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029 in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per year and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement. Does any council member wish to remove any of these items from the consent calendar? Hearing none, I do. I wish to remove item number 12. So at this time, I would entertain a motion to approve consent calendar items 7 through 11. Motion. Second. I have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Council Member Cryer?

Yes.

Council Member Waldrop?

Yes.

Council Member Shavira?

Yes.

Mayor Knorr?

Yes. And that's approved on a 4-0 vote. Next up item number 12 professional service agreement, H F and H on call Senate bill 1383 technical assistance. See manager Jones.

Thank you. Mayor HF and H has provided the city attack with specialized consulting services related to the franchise hauler oversight and SP 1383 compliance through its recent work with the city and West sideways. If F H and H has developed familiarity with the city's franchise operations and reporting requirements. The consultant will provide on-call consulting services, including administration of the city's franchise hauler agreement, including review of monthly and quarterly reports and coordination with Westside Waste, assistance with SB 1383 implementation, record-keeping, annual reporting, and Cal Recycle Grant Administration, general solid waste and recycling consulting services, including preparation of staff reports, presentations, other related support as requested. The agreement will BE PERFORMED ON A TIME AND MATERIAL BASIS FOR A TERM NOT TO EXCEED THREE YEARS. THE TOTAL COMPENSATION IS NOT TO EXCEED 25,000 PER FISCAL YEAR. ANY ADDITIONAL WORK BEYOND THE APPROVED SCOPE OR BUDGET WILL REQUIRE CITY MANAGER AUTHORIZATION. I DO WANT TO POINT OUT THAT WE HAVE UTILIZED GRANT FUNDS AND WE EXPECT TO CONTINUE TO USE GRANT FUNDS TO PAY FOR THIS AS LONG AS THEY'RE THERE. AND WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 1383, WE FACED EITHER CREATING full-time equivalent positions here at the city to deal with all this nonsense or reach out to a consultant group utilizing grant funds to pay for it. So that's what we chose to do.

All right. Thank you very much. See manager Jones. At this time, I would entertain a motion to approve professional services agreement with HF and H consultants, LLC for on-call solid waste and recycling consulting services for the period of July the 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029 in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per year and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement motion. I have a motion in a second. I pulled this item from the consent agenda. because I wanted to discuss it. People out there to understand what this is. 1383, the gift that keeps on giving. Remember when we split our waste into three separate trash cans and we multiplied the number of trips necessary to pick up our trash by three? I met with the people at the waste hauler. They're burning approximately 325% as much diesel fuel as they used to traveling, about 325% as many miles wear and tear on our streets because of it. On top of that, at City Council meeting. I don't know perhaps a month and a half ago We talked about this and that was the seven years prior to implementation at 1383 the cost to the consumer rose about four and a half percent since the implementation of Senate bill 1383 the cost of the consumer in five years has gone up over 63% this is another piece of the puzzle. State government says you got to do this, you got to do that, we want to see this report, you got to keep track of this. That means state government had to expand because state government now has a big group of people accepting all those reports. And if those reports aren't timely and they are incorrect, then the state only has one way to force their will upon the people in the community, and that is to fine you. So we are doing everything we can, thank you very much for that explanation, City Manager Jones, to use grant funds to submit all this to a bloated, expanded state government in order to keep out of trouble, and we continue to try to use grant funds. So if you're wondering the next time you go out to throw the trash in the trash what this 1383 is doing for you, it's not doing squat other than saving you a great deal of money. Any additional comments, gentlemen?

Well said. I have one little comment. We've got an election coming up in November. I think we hopefully can change some of this crap. Hopefully.

All right. Madam Clerk, we have a motion and a second and no more discussion. May we have a roll call, please?

Council Member Cryer?

Yes.

Council Member Waldrop?

Yes.

Council Member Shabira?

Yes.

Mayor Knorr?

Yes. And that passes on a 4-0 vote. Thank you all very much. Thank you, City Manager Jones. Item number 13, preliminary approval for special event permit for a proposed downtown street circuit supermoto racing event.

City staff has received a proposal from BP Promotions to host a supermoto race utilizing temporary closed street course within the downtown district. The proposed event would be an internationally recognized motorsports competition expected to attract a significant regional and international visitors while showcasing the city's downtown businesses and attractions. The purpose of this agenda item is to obtain City Council's preliminary approval to continue negotiations and detailed planning. The preliminary approval does not authorize the event itself. Final approval will return to city council after completion of operational planning, public safety review, street closure, business owner acknowledgements, and all insurance and indemnification agreements have been agreed to. The preliminary schedule is Friday, October 17th, 2026, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. practice, Saturday, October 18th, 2026, 9 a.m. to, and I believe those dates are wrong, right? It's the 16th and 17th.

16th and 17th, right. Yeah. Okay. Recommended action here is a motion to adopt a resolution entitled Resolution of the City Council of the City of Taft granting preliminary approval of a special event permit for a proposed downtown street circuit supermoto racing event and authorizing continued planning, negotiation, preparation of a final special event agreement and find that the activity is not a project for the California environmental quality act sequence set forth in section 15. Oh six. Oh, C three in section 15, three 78 of sequel guidelines. Motion.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Councilman Cryer.

You made the motion on this, sir. Thank you, mayor. Like I was mentioning earlier, these are some of the things that are happening in Taft that's outside the box. People are thinking. They're bringing things into town. A lot of dollars coming in in our TOT tax. Also for the vendors and the motels, the restaurants. There's a lot of things that showcase our great city here. And I think it's a great event, and I hope it works out. I think it's a great start for things happening here in our city. And hopefully more things like this or similar to it will come along more in the future. That's all I have to say, Mayor.

All right. Thank you very much. Councilman Chavarria, any comments, sir?

Yeah, just a great opportunity for our community and to capitalize on events like this. Anything that we can do for our community that would benefit us all, I'm all for it.

All right, very good. Councilman Waldrop. I agree with everything they said. It's what's happening.

All right. Well, you know what? Taft loves racing. We love to race, and we love also to race on dirt. So it's interesting that proposed racing would be super motard racing, which is asphalt and dirt. as well as flat track racing, which is all banked oval dirt, wheel-to-wheel, a lot of fun. And then the following weekend, if I'm not mistaken, Sea Manager Jones, you said that's when the big race is coming to Honolulu Hills as well. Is that correct, sir? How about that? We took something from Nevada. Next thing you know, we'll take gambling and Harris Casino. Okay, so this is, to be clear, this is ongoing negotiations and information and planning, gathering, because this is downtown racing. It will take the cooperation of the business owners downtown, and it's exciting. My son was involved in Super Motard racing for many years, and I will tell you it's fast and furious and very exciting. So we look forward to seeing if this can happen. So if there's no further discussion, gentlemen... Madam Clerk, I have a motion and a second. May I have a roll call, please?

Council Member Cryer?

Yes.

Council Member Waldrop? Yes. Council Member Shavira?

Yes.

Mayor Nort?

Yes. And that passes on a 4-0 vote. More information to come on that. That brings the open portion of this meeting to a close. This council will be going into closed session regarding two items. That is, item A, conference with labor negotiator Craig Jones, city manager, government code section 54957.6, all units. 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. Thank you everybody for being a part of this evening's meeting. Love to see you here in person. It's your government. This meeting is adjourned.