[26:21] The 330 p. m. meeting of the Bakersfield City Council
[26:24] is now in session. Good afternoon. It's my pleasure to
[26:32] call to order the 330 Regular City Council meeting of
[26:35] July 15th, 2026. Madam Clerk, please call the Raw. Mayor
[26:40] Go Here. Vice Mayor Core. Here. Council Member Aryas. Here.
[26:46] Council Member Gonzalez. Council Member Weir. Here. Council Member Smith.
[26:52] I am here. Council Member Coman. Here. And Council Member
[26:55] Bashar Tash. Here. Thank you. In keeping with Council's Resolution,
[27:00] the Public Statements portion is divided into two periods. There's
[27:04] a period for items listed on the meeting agenda and
[27:07] items not on the meeting agenda. Additionally, pursuant to changes
[27:12] in state law, the City Council will now accept public
[27:15] statements via phone access and in person. And to all
[27:19] of you who are here today, thank you so much
[27:21] for your willingness to be flexible. We know anytime there's
[27:25] a new system, but we will all agree, I hope,
[27:30] to give each other grace as we work through this
[27:33] system that ultimately we hope will be better for all
[27:37] involved. So thank you all for navigating whatever you had
[27:40] to do out there. Unexpectedly, and we'll just move forward
[27:43] together. Does that sound good? Nod your head. Hopefully, yes.
[27:48] Statements for items listed on this afternoon's agenda are given
[27:51] a two - minute time limit, 10 minutes for participants
[27:54] by phone in 10 minutes for persons in - person
[27:57] participants. 20 minutes total. Statements regarding.
[28:10] Items not listed on the agenda are also given a
[28:13] two - minute time lap, 10 minutes for participants by
[28:15] phone, and 10 minutes for in - person participants. If
[28:18] you have written comments that are longer than your verbal
[28:20] statement, give them to the clerk who will give copies
[28:22] to the council. If you're here to make a public
[28:25] statement, please register using the kiosk at the back of
[28:29] the chambers where you entered staff will be there to
[28:32] help if you're needing that. And yes, that you select
[28:36] whether you're here to speak on an item listed on
[28:39] this afternoon's agenda or in a matter not on the
[28:42] agenda. Speakers who do not identify specific agenda item will
[28:47] be presumed speakers for the non - agenda portion. Those
[28:51] speakers will be called during their non - agenda portion
[28:53] of the meeting. Everyone in attendance is in person or
[28:56] by phone is expected to adhere to the rules of
[28:59] decorum established by Resolution of the City Council. They'll uto
[29:03] to abide by the city's Robicorum, including any disruptive behavior
[29:07] that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and
[29:11] efficient meeting prevents the City Council from conducting the business
[29:14] of the city. Consider this a first warning to everyone
[29:17] participating that conduct that Disrupts the meeting may result in
[29:21] expulsion and or the Chambers being cleared. Behavioral Disrupts a
[29:25] meeting includes repetitive statements shouting, hate speech, interrupting staff or
[29:30] presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn outbursts from
[29:33] the audience. In telephonic participants are expected to adhere to
[29:37] the same rules of decorum as those attending here in
[29:40] person. Madam Clerk, do we have any public speakers regarding
[29:43] items not listed on the agenda? We'll start with the
[29:47] phone comments if you, any of those. We have. Not
[29:51] ready to see any. Requests to speak by phone. We
[29:54] do have two speakers in person. The first speaker is
[29:58] Eddie Lane. Thank you. Good
[30:08] afternoon. I'm Eddie Lane with the CR Club. Thank you
[30:11] for committing 500, 000 dollars. To purchase and plant trees.
[30:16] You listened to the voices of the community. This was
[30:20] not a staff recommendation. Unlike the over 1 million dollars
[30:24] is in current contracts for tree trimming and removal. Up
[30:27] to 725 trees removed. Our July 6th recommendations endorsed by
[30:33] Belting Healthy Communities and Leadership Council for Accountability and Justice
[30:38] and their emails attached. Um, are one. For accountability and
[30:43] public confidence. That the dollars are well spent that this
[30:46] 500, 000 dollars be designated in a separate account, an
[30:50] urban greening capital expenditure account with monthly reporting of funds
[30:55] spent. Two, a community - based plan be developed through
[30:58] special meetings of the city safe and healthy neighborhoods committee,
[31:02] preferably in community settings such as friendship house. Uh, we
[31:06] need you, sorry to say this, please understand. We need
[31:10] you horses. This is an analogy to listen directly to
[31:14] the public regarding the use of these funds. The initial
[31:17] staff idea presented last week was to purchase in Plant
[31:21] 900 Trees using this 500, 000 dollars That's over 500
[31:25] dollars per tree. Bakersfield can do better. That's putting the
[31:30] cart before the horse. The public needs to be offering
[31:33] suggestions directly to you. Then you can provide the size
[31:37] and color and structure of the cart for city -
[31:40] staff to best use this 500, 000 dollars. We have
[31:43] a model. The model is the current River Parkway. Decades
[31:47] ago, volunteers planted hundreds of trees along the parkway, which
[31:51] are being enjoyed today. We have time. Today's July 15th.
[31:55] We can develop a time, a plan by October 15th,
[31:59] one additional request today. I would request a report from
[32:03] 2025 - 26 of funds used for tree planting. Thank
[32:08] you for this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lane.
[32:12] Madam Clerk, next speaker please. The next speaker is
[32:23] Raw Contrarius.
[32:37] Welcome. Please introduce yourself a moment. Oh sure. I'm having
[32:40] a hard time hearing, but I have two minutes to
[32:42] say something. That's okay. We're just, uh, we just need
[32:45] one minute. If you just want to sit down right
[32:47] there, we need our City Clerk to come back. Just
[32:49] sit right in the front seat. Oh. You can just
[32:54] sit there just one minute. Please, thank you. That's not
[33:00] a problem. We understand.
[33:32] The next Speaker is Ral Contreras. Mr. Contreras. You may
[33:36] speak now. Go ahead. Yes, welcome. Yeah, I'm calling
[33:46] about, I'm here for. What the police call classify as
[33:51] a two day stage live band event. It happens every
[33:55] Friday and Saturday night starting at 2. 30 in the
[33:59] morning and going till 6 a. m. for the past
[34:03] year. I have. My complaints. They have fireworks. There's no
[34:10] license for the bar. There's no, I really basically just
[34:14] coming in front of you trying to bring it to
[34:16] your attention. I don't know how to stop it other
[34:18] than I know they're applying for a conditional use from
[34:21] it. Possibly a zone variance to do this legal party
[34:25] that starts. Every Friday and Saturday for the past year.
[34:29] I've lived there for eight months. Every time I called,
[34:32] they show up. And they, uh, do nothing. They just
[34:38] say, take it up with the City Council. And like
[34:40] I said, here's my list of all the days for
[34:43] years where they will not do nothing to fire department.
[34:46] Won't respond. They have no business permit. They have no
[34:49] ABC license. It's got a bar with bar stools right
[34:53] in the front window. And it starts every Friday and
[34:57] Saturday night. Thank you, Mr. Contreras. Uh, Mr. Clegg, is
[35:00] there someone who can assist him and just getting the
[35:02] information and then we'll follow up with you. So if
[35:06] you, where would you like him to go to get
[35:08] connected with somebody? Oh, it's pretty good. Please take his
[35:11] gentleman. Mr. Contreras, that young man right there will help
[35:14] you and will take your information. Thank you. Madam Senator
[35:20] Clerk, do we have any other speakers.
[35:39] Welcome. Please introduce yourself. Thank you so much. Um, good
[35:42] afternoon, Council and Mayor. My name is Abby Power. I'm
[35:45] a policy advocate with leadership council for Justice and Accountability.
[35:48] Um, we're in support of the request in the Sierra
[35:50] Club to conduct community listening sessions and include community input
[35:54] in the creation of a plan to allocate the 500,
[35:56] 000 dollars, which is available for tree planting. Members should
[36:00] be involved as a tree canopy is something that impacts
[36:02] the everyday life and wellbeing of maker sale residence. We
[36:05] suggest that multiple meetings be held to gather community input
[36:08] during times which are accessible for many residents. For example,
[36:11] a 12 p. m. meeting in a 6 p. m.
[36:13] meeting and that the location of these meetings, um, be
[36:15] held in community centers or schools near the communities that
[36:18] are lacking tree canopy. And the options to participate virtually
[36:21] should also be available. Um, secondly, I would like to
[36:24] comment on the, um, availability of the general plan. And
[36:27] we would like to request that the city extend the
[36:29] comment deadline for the general plan, the general plan was
[36:32] released on, um, July 7th without notification until this past
[36:37] Monday, July 13th. So we would like to ask that
[36:40] the city extend the common deadline so that residents are
[36:42] able to participate in commenting on the general plan and
[36:46] also release translations of the general plan in both Spanish
[36:49] and Punjabi to ensure that all Baker said residents have
[36:51] the opportunity to comment on and rebuilt the plan. And
[36:54] thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Thank you,
[36:57] Ms. Power. And. Do we have any other speakers. Marigo,
[37:05] that was the final speaker for non - agenda items.
[37:07] Thank you. Next item, please. Agenda item public statements. Do
[37:16] we have any agenda item public statements? Madam Clerk. Margot,
[37:22] we have not received any requests to speak by phone
[37:24] or in person for agenda items. Thank you. Next item,
[37:27] please. Closed session item 5A public employee performance evaluation, City
[37:37] Manager. Motion closer close motion to adjourn to close session.
[37:44] We're juntoclistician. And for the record Council Member Gonzalez is
[37:49] here, he arrived at 337.
[2:09:25] Reconvening the 330 City Council meeting, Vice Mayor, Action on
[2:09:29] closed session item, City Managers evaluation is not concluded and
[2:09:35] will be continued to the August 5th meeting. Thank you.
[2:09:37] Thank you. And with that, we stand a journ at
[2:09:39] 513. Thank you all for being here. We have a
[2:09:43] five o'clock meeting that's gonna take just a few minutes,
[2:09:46] but we're gonna do a technology switch out. We'll do
[2:09:49] the five o'clock meeting, we'll do the 515 meeting. But
[2:09:52] five is very fast.