Afternoon it's my pleasure to call to order the 12
o'clock Department head budget presentation meeting of May 4th 2026
Madam Clerk, please call the role Mayor Go here. Vice
mayor core. Council member adyas. Council member Gonzalez I'm here.
Councilmember Weir. Council member Smith I'm here. Councilmember Coleman here.
And Councilmember Boshir Tash. Thank you and keeping welcome to
all of you thank you for engaging with us today
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items listed on the agenda Thank you next item please.
Reports item 3A fiscal year 2026 27 Department budget presentation
Budget workshop number one. Budget workshop number one Mr. Clegg
Mayor Go Honorable Mayor and Council this is one of
two workshops that we will have the second one will
be held on May 18th and I would note before
we jump into our first department presentation that we will
have some wrap - up content at May 18th that
summarizes the budget in whole We're not starting off with
that summary of budget and hole We're going to jump
right into our Department presentations But at your May 18th
you'll see what our numbers are for the capital improvement
program the total general fund numbers at your last workshop
you saw Um, uh preliminary numbers for the general fund
Uh, and uh, and also in the memo for public
safety public safety vital services tax You saw some preliminary
numbers for that specific portion of the General Fund will
have a summary of all of that on May 18th
Um, prior to the more in - depth Uh... Considerations
and vote for June But for today's meeting we're going
to walk through first our General Government Um, then we're
going to have our City Attorneys Office Finance Um... Present
their budgets recreation and parks and then police and fire.
Before we even get all the way to those departments
Uh, each Department has been asked to follow a similar
template that we've used the last couple of years An
interesting Uh slight exception the police department recently presented a
very lengthy public safety update And so the Police Department
presentation is just a little bit shorter because we're not
going to repeat the same content That was presented at
your last city Council meeting So with that preface I'll
just jump into General Government as we term it There
are several portions of City managers office Um, and legislative
budgets that we cover collectively in what we call this
General Government portion And so This will be the first
Department that will go through And again you'll see how
that template plays out throughout Uh, the other Departments as
well Great And you're going to be setting the tone
and showing us that we don't have to have every
word read to us Absolutely Okay, that's great Absolutely Uh
And I was actually going to jump right to now
again These numbers do reflect the budget reductions that you
saw in your workshop in March. And so on the
personnel services line there Um, the slight increase We know
you were going to have some increases due to Uh
Different factors Uh... The cost of living adjustments, the increases
for health costs and for insurance costs Um... Those play
out into all the personnel line items, all the departments
Uh, but because we also saw the five percent reduction
that went into the budget And you'll see that in
the next slide Um... A very... Modest Overall increase in
those personal services Operations has a much larger increase And
that's because we took on the operating costs of the
economic development function And so the economic development function has
about 1. 5 million dollars of operating contract support dollars
And so that's why you see Um... That large increase
and operations there It's interesting to note actually And we'll
see it a little bit more on the next slide
as well Um... The City Manager's Office Uh, took on
one position that had previously been in RISC and the
three positions from an economic Um... And community development Department,
and still our personal line item I was only modestly
increased because we made Other reductions and personnel before Uh,
uh, taking on those additional positions Uh, and you'll just
note below Uh, in the funding sources That larger piece
Uh... The operating costs is reflected in the General Fund
Public Safety vital services Uh... economic development... Uh...
Operating dollars that we principally use for contracting for the
tools and resources and incentives to do economic development That's
those are the biggest changes for the City manager's office
budget. Just as a high - level reflection Again, I've
already talked about Um... Economic development moving We also had
some positions in community vitality That were associated in the
City Manager's Office, as that program has evolved organically It
makes the most sense For those individuals to be within
the purview of the Police Department for being able to
access confidential information That's in CAD and other... Reporting systems
And so we'd been moving in that direction But formalized
the shift Of those community vitality operations over to the
Police Department And then, just as a note We've been
preparing for... And we'll continue to move forward with some
notable changes to how we manage parking Um... And... We'll
be kicking off a pilot for that program in this
coming year Uh... We'll just note that in this last
year We've spent a lot of effort on the cohort
V Grant award for CALVIP That's good news That's gonna
help us continue to move forward with that program We've
been working very hard Uh... Out of our office on
a federal ADA requirement to update accessibility As well as...
Uh... We've been continuing to push forward with... Some specific
annexations as well as preparing for larger scale annexations We
actually are in the process... Of the legal descriptions of
several large... Um... SHATION requests... Early stages of... Setting... The...
Pieces in place that we can submit those applications through
LAFCO. Here, just again, the reflection of... The personnel changes
as noted Uh... Eliminated an assistant City manager... Uh... We
moved some of the community vitality staff And again took
on the economic development And that one position from RISC.
Where the City Clerk's Office You'll note that there's again
a slight increase there in personal services That doesn't mean
there were any increases in personnel But just... Those... Cost
line items are not in control for the clerk's Office
But Clerks did identify other... Um... Operating reductions That could
be handled... For... Overall reduction in those operating costs We
appreciate looking hard It's a very small budget and type
budget But... Julian, our team found some ways to achieve
some savings there for all of us. Um... We again
are treating the hiring freeze and eliminations for all of
General Government as a whole... And so with a very
small Department For example In Clerks and RISC Um... combination
with all of the different units of the City Manager's
Offices So their personnel count Um... Does not have any
changes Um... And again We saw... The personnel costs go
up Uh... Due to some of the other... Health cost
increases and the cost of living adjustment. Um... This past
year We've had a lot going on Um... We actually
had two different pieces for... Filing requirements... And you'll know
that in the second and the fourth bullet That we
had an enhancement TONET file as well as There's new
Expanded Ethics and fiscal financial training requirements That clerks has
helped to facilitate for us. Uh... We've also been able
to continue to expand the use of e - scribe
to more of our board's commissions Committees. And then we
had a great team government day This past year that
had a little bit of a reimagining and helped us
to keep that engagement strong. For our Risk Division Uh...
On the personnel side that top line reflects that one
shift of that one position over to the City Manager's
Office. Operating side You'll see a notable increase there And
we'll cover that on these upcoming slides But in the
risk space We just continue to see increases that our
hard for us to negotiate any better Um... And they're
not really, you know, within our control In fact I'll
just shift over to the next slide And apologize for
the size on that script Uh... But a lot to
cover there And that... We had some specific operational needs
in our fire department But then... And that's a small
impact But much bigger impact You see there is the
workers'compensation program So I have 15 percent increase A lot
of that is our insurance premiums Uh... Medical costs have
seen inflation We continue to see Um... Workplace injuries We've
implemented... Um... Tracking systems and early warning detection systems Uh...
But we're continuing to see heavy experience There. Um... And
then... Our third - party administration fees are up But
the bigger piece is really The insurance premiums and the
state fees for self - insurance On the next section
over for liability also And we're seeing that those insurance
premiums continue to go up Uh... Escalated rates... Um... That
haven't been seen in many years. It's probably been three
decades since we've seen Uh things go up at the
same level. And in large part That is the lack
of tort caps or tort And then the need for
tort reform at the state level Um... And it continues
to be a pressure on not just local government agencies
But many of our private entities as well And that's
why it's been reflected in our legislative platform as an
important priority. And then Fortunately our property insurance Uh... Slightly
down Those sometimes go up and down in market cycles
I wouldn't read too much into that Um... But we're,
you know, thankful that we've seen some favorable pricing there
in this last year. Our visit Bakersfield budget is fairly
steady Um... The personnel services changes are reflective Again, of
some of the same other increases The one other pieces
that we actually... And as a reminder The visit Baker's
field is funded out of our transient occupancy tax Um...
It's still part of the General Fund But it's... All
of the budgeted funds come from T. O. T. for
Visit Bakersfield There was one portion of one of our
staff members That could be charged to T. O. T.
That was not And so we added that in As
well as the other You know regular Increases are causing
that slight increase there And the personal services line Uh...
But then we were able to also identify some offsets
and some shifts that helped us Uh... To get some
operating savings without major changes in the programs that we
provide Uh... For the benefit of the community and for
the benefit of tourism. Um... And so I would just
want to know Some of those different pieces Uh... Many
of the events that we've been successful on in the
past We've continued to be able to have those Similar
events take place here Multiple, successful sporting events Uh... We
also... We're able to get a couple of new events
And so we're excited about those Uh... And want to
continue to see that moving forward Um... And then In
addition to the event specifically The combination of our communications
and marketing with... Is it Baker's field We feel as
providing good dividends That we've added some new... Tools We
have a new Uh... Community Events calendar We've had the
new Baker's Field Historic Trail And we had a lot
of success with some of our other trails or walks
And so we added the historic trail Um... We've got
Improved Um... Noticing and sign Engine Our local airport Um...
As well as a driving tour that folks can also
take of Bakersfield Um... In this coming year We expect
to continue to increase the social media presence We've got
a new app that's gonna help us get a lot
more exposure there And then we're gonna continue again Many
of these same events and we're Thinking through ways that
we can... Um... Expand out and get even some more
of those larger events Um... And we're looking forward to
the expansion of Mason Morin That's gonna put us on
the map for much larger tournaments Um... In the next
couple of years. With that I'll be happy to answer
any questions on General Government. Thank you Mr. Clark. Colleagues
Did you have any questions. Council
Member Gonzalez Thank you Mayor Uh... Thank you Mr. Clegg
for your presentation today Um I wanted to jump right
into the topic of... RISC Management... So we have workers'compensation
increase. Increased by 1. 4 million dollars That's a 4.
6 million dollar increase year over year So the same
delivery of services as this current year for next year
And yet all of our expenses have grown just by
the insurance costs by 4. 6 million dollars That is
correct A couple questions there Um... One is we've talked
about cost - based accounting... Uh... For a while And
I know the City Manager's Office is moving in that
direction As it stands today. Do we And I know
sounds odd to members of the public But does the
City charge the Department. For these insurance - related costs
based on employee counts or type of work? Or however
you may do that But does our department's charge. Yeah
Good question Council Me right I'll ask Ms. Unit Covey
to come up and help add in detail where I'm
lacking in that detail But it's interesting you point out
the cost allocation plan is an area that we do
need to move towards Fortunately in the area of Risk
and insurance We are charging out to the departments And
so when we do a cost allocation plan That won't
I guess sort of solve that challenge because we are
making allocations to the Department's But GNA Do you want
to go a little more in detail about how we
do that? Ms. Covey. Um That's correct Uh Gina Covey
RISP Manager Uh Council Member Gonzalez Yes we do Allocation
Method for all of our programs The RIST Department acts
almost like an insurance Uh provider So we allocate costs
out a little bit differently Um, payroll for workers comp
and severity of claims Uh status And then for liability
We do it by severity of claims and lawsuits. Okay
great Um also want to mention that the You know
This is not unique from my understanding Not unique to
Bakersfield Right the increases in workers'compensation or liability increases. Correct
That's correct We're seeing it across all public entities Um,
that's why it's important Especially on the liability side to
really be pushing for those TORT caps to try and
control some of those costs for some of that litigation
We're seeing across the state. And what are those... Actions
Uh... We might be able to take as a council
or City management Department heads might be able to take
To help reduce those costs over time Reduce exposure Um...
Perhaps in turn reducing the premiums. Great question So we
are trying to work at thinking outside the box So
just for litigation We have... And I know our City
Attorney will talk about some of the lawsuits we have
But motor vehicle accents is something we've really seen That
we can work on So we're working on bringing in
driving simulators to really further push our employees into more
remediation training and training on the onset of coming into
the organization On the workers comp side We're doing audits
We're meeting with our largest departments all the time Once
a month for our bakerSHOL Police Department to make sure
they understand and stay on top of what those work
- related injuries look like and how we can impact
them in real time Great Thank you so much Thank
you. Council Member You mentioned that other cities are experiencing
the same issues And indeed they are The Exity Mayors
is very concerned about the tort issues And so we
have taken that on as a cause Thank you Miss
Covey Ms. General for providing information that's needed for that
I know Cal City's also Uh experience taking on that
challenge Council Member Smith, please And just for the record
City Clerk Council Member Beshrite at 12. 08. Thank you
Mayor Just a couple questions Uh First the economic development
operations were really kind of getting rid of a department
But not getting rid of it and moving it If
you could kind of explain that. In more detail And
then also the parking you use the term Enterprise City
Parking Enterprise What's really happening in the future with parking?
Great questions Council Member So first on economic and community
development Again as a combined Department Um... That was created
Um... Uh... Four years ago Uh... As we move forward
We're gonna continue to do the work of economic development
And in fact I would suggest that that's one of
the most important things that we can do to grow
our revenue base and grow our tax base You know
for the community is to continue to help create more
quality jobs in this community And so rather than Um...
Having those two functions combined You know community development is
now gonna be part of development services We have a
small team Three member team for economic development They'll be
reporting to Gary Helen Assistant City Manager and the City
Manager's Office. And the... That's actually the unit that was
working specifically in economic development in the community economic development
Department is about that same size Uh... But also we're
taking the dollars that were available for our economic development
strategic plan on our small business assistance Um... And also
keeping those dollars intact. And we've already been in the
process of creating several other Relationships with regional entities Uh...
In Bakersfield and Kern like Chamber KDC B3K As well
as also having some standalone contracts of the City Y'll
remember For example we did When we did them mega
- site contracts Some of the work was specific to
that megacyte location uniquely But then some of the work
that they did was to help us identify What are
some of the things we just need to do to
market better as a City and other locations that might
also be for industrial or logistics And so you'll be
seeing in coming months Contracts that we've actually been working
on for You know Several months now Um... That would
help give us more tools to continue to market the
Baker Shield as a whole But then also specifically target
Um... Site readiness of sites for some of our industry
clusters And so The work of economic development absolutely is
going to continue Um... But we're creating this ecosystem that
is a mix of some Contracts Uh... Regional partners -
specific contracts with private entities that are in support and
giving us the tools that we need rather than Let's
say necessarily build a bigger team of city employees But
have folks deliver those services to us on contract But
also still have that small core team That's really hyper
- focused on job generation So that's the economic development
portion Um. I forgot your segment Parking Yes, thank you
So parking enterprise And I'm glad you used the word
enterprise because Um... I was maybe getting a little ahead
of myself That we haven't formalized. The parking Uh... Revenues
and expenses as a separate enterprise yet But that is
our intent in this coming year Right now It's actually
Um... We do collect revenues into the General Fund But
we actually pay more in operating costs out of the
General Fund than revenues that we bring in Not a
huge amount But we are subsidizing the parking Functions in
downtown Um... Each year. And the intent is to separate
those out To take another look at what do we
charge But also make it easier to park and then
also easier to charge by the use of technology And
then we're gonna start at the 18th in I garage
And then some street - level parking in the adjacent
areas Um... We don't want anybody to get ahead of
us on what that might look like Because we still
need to go out to the businesses in the downtown
area and have some of those conversations about what that
could and should look like And so we're anticipating doing
that community outreach Uh... Actually just in coming months We're
having some meetings with downtown Business Association and other businesses
in the downtown area But the plan is to then
start Uh... Using our surface lots more... Intentionally that the
City does own some service lots downtown We own the
garage Um... If we move forward with acquisition of... The
Truxton Towers That would give us more inventory to then
also manage in this parking enterprise But it's been demonstrated
in many communities that parking can pay for itself and
even be a revenue generator And we're not doing it
to try and make a lot of money But we
think if it generates enough revenue that it can allow
us The ability to build more parking to meet the
demands where our demands and some places They're are more...
And some places There's probably sufficient. But having an enterprise
that focuses on that uses these newer technology tools to
help us determine what our market rates Where is their
demand or need. Um... We're excited to start using those
tools now through We actually got a grant to start
off this pilot program for the parking enterprise Um, and...
Not only eliminate a small subsidy that comes from the
General Fund But also just manage it much more intentionally
to the benefit from an amenity standpoint for the downtown
area. Right Thank you. Thank you Council Member Smith. Others.
Let's see any other requests So we'll go on to
our next one Which is our City Attorney's Office. Welcome.
Good afternoon Uh I am Virginia Genero Your City Attorney
And I will be giving the fiscal year. 26 -
27 Budget for the City Attorney's Office.
So I start out with this slide every year And
I do it really as a reminder for our listening
audience to see that the City Council has two employees.
You have the City Managers through contract. And you have
your City Attorney Through contract And as you can see
by this chart Uh, you now have a third Um...
Employee And that is the chief assistant City Attorney Who
has not yet been hired But I am hopeful will
be hired here Uh... By the beginning of this upcoming
fiscal year And so we've put that box on the
slide in two places One as it's reporting directly to
the City Council because that will be a contract position
That chief assistant will not be part of any bargaining
unit Um... And then we also put it in a
great out version underneath the City Attorney because they will
be... Loosely directed... Under me until I leave So it's
a transitional position again For those in the listening audience...
Um... Reporting to the Council But loosely directed under the
City Attorney. S This is the slide that the City
Manager indicated that the budget team is asking all departments
and divisions to put before you Um... I have put
it up in the front It's also a duplicate I've
put it at the back And I just want to
explain a little bit Um... In that... Lower right -
hand corner You can see that our budget has increased
by 9. 6 percent. Even though the City manager and
the Finance Director have asked everyone to take a 5
- percent cut I'm going to explain so that you
understand why that really... Would be incredibly difficult If not
impossible... For our office to do that with such a
small size. Meaning that as City Manager Claig indicated with
some of the other small Departments Even if we were
to stay absolutely the same and not change anything Uh...
With the generous cost of living that the Council recently
authorized And the increase in operational costs, insurance, etc. It
would still increase by 9. 6 percent. Having said that
there are 13 positions... Um... Our complement within the City
Attorney's Compliment You can see those there in a linear
format I think what's critical to look at is the
chief assistant City Attorney is not yet funded. The assistant
City Attorney is not yet funded. There are two Deputy
City Attorneys that are not yet funded Um... One of
them is... Excuse me... Of the two Deputy City Attorneys
Uh... One of them However, some of that money is
going to be used for the salary for the chief
Assistant City Attorney... So again You can already see that
that's not going to be enough So the 9. 6
percent is a very conservative number. We are actively recruiting
for that remaining Deputy City Attorney. There are five staff
members. When you look at it in the more traditional
organizational chart format That's what you see Um... Again The
Chief Assistant I've placed in yellow Because part of that
salary will be coming from the funded deputy City Attorney
Position. The Assistant City Attorney is in red because it
is unfunded You may recall that that position was unfunded
But left in the complement last year When I indicated
that my retirement was imminent Um I felt and I
believe the council also agreed that it would be better
for the incoming City Attorney to decide what to do
with that assistant City Attorney. I would tell you that
You need four attorneys Um... In addition to the City
Attorney Whether that's one assistant City Attorney and three deputies
or four deputies That's for the next person to decide
But right now that assistant City Attorney is unfunded You
have two currently Um... Within the City Attorney's Office And
the other Deputy City Attorney Although he is in my
office And he is in a compliment for the City
Attorney's Office He has paid from the water Department Which
is an enterprise fund So again the 9. 6 percent
is a number that again is a little on the
low side. We do have 5 staff members And I
can tell you I think it's one of the best
staffs Uh... That the City Attorney's Office has ever had.
So we rely heavily on outside council And that's going
to become pretty apparent here shortly Uh this slide again
A very common slide You can see when you compare
our office. To the other top 10 cities Uh... In
California and some of our sister Cities Uh... We are
down to 4 That would be myself And that would
be the three deputies within the office right now Again
One of them Primarily exclusive to water. Uh... I oftentimes
come before you And I say that we're lean and
mean Uh... But we are down to the bone In
fact I would tell you that we're into the bone
now I mean we're minus an appendage I'm not I'm
not sure you could go I'm not sure you could
go any less than what we've had. And that is
why we rely heavily on outside council Uh, you know
that you are under contract with Klippernum Brown through 2030.
Under contract with Martyrosion And Cohen through 2030 We do
have a yearly contract with Dwayne Morris to deal with
our water issues I believe that one will be coming
a new contract We'll be coming forward Uh... For your
consideration before the end of this budget year. And now
what we're seeing though is we're seeing additional contracts. With
other outside council So we do have one with Dwayne
Morris in addition to the water to help us with
the General Plan And we're using other outside council to
help us in areas that frankly Um... We used to
handle We used to handle in - house We're dealing
with outside council now for short - term rentals Um...
For CEQA for the MILS Act for POP 218 For
eminent domain Um... For some of our economic and community
development issues such as the LAN trust And for labor
And so I think again When you go into the
next fiscal year And you are with your next City
Attorney That's one of the bigger issues I think this
council is going to have to have a discussion with
Right It's a balancing Act. How much do you really
handle in - house with your deputies? And how much
do you utilize and rely on outside council? There are
pros and cons to each approach Uh... But that's probably
something that You know You're gonna be hearing a little
bit more of as the year progresses. Again We are
very fortunate to have... Um... Our contracts with outside Council
Particularly that of Clifford and Brown and Martyrosian and Cohen
I mean just take a look at this chart It
kind of goes hand in hand what Gina Covey just
mentioned to you Incoming lawsuits alone These are just incoming
You look at 2021 There's about 20 It's doubled 4
or 5 years And remember when you have the 42
in this year The others don't go away I mean
you're handling the 42 as well as all of the
others that have happened in the proceeding year And we
are doing an excellent job of disposing of cases But
it is very much within the standard practice of the
industry to have a case that goes Uh, anywhere between
3 and 5 years So we're handling all of the
red and all of the blue Uh, that you can
see on there. Little. Bit of a pie chart here
to show you what we're dealing with Um, again When
you look at single category lawsuits Uh... By far the
largest is motor vehicle. Um... And the next largest single
category I would say to you is slip and falls
Uh... Miscellaneous contains a lot of other items Some of
those items too are items in which we, the City
of Bakersfield are the plaintiff. So I would say to
you We really want to concentrate on those items in
red and those items in green And I think again
Council Member Gonzalez asked inappropriate valid question as so You
know what do we really do to cut that pie
in half? You cut that pie in half And you've
got a different story in front of you. Despite that
again Our outside Council in terms of litigation is not
a tremendous job Uh... We they have close six cases
Four with no money State They've closed 25 13 without
any monies But Um... I wish I could stand up
here and tell you It's been a... It's been a
great year But it's been a brutal year You all
know it's been a brutal year Um... We've had three
cases that we've had to settle for over a million
dollars Two of them were over 15 million dollars. And
yes insurance paid for those cases Um... But what you
don't see on the chart And what I can't explain
to you, not because I'm unable to explain to you
But it's an unknown Which is... It's disappointing And we
don't know When we pay that kind of money What
that secondary Um... Are you gonna have the same insurance
rates Uh... From here on out What are those premiums?
You already heard Gina in the City Manager tell you
that the premiums have skyrocketed Well There's probably no doubt
It's because of the number of motor Vehicle cases The
number of trip and falls And the fact that we
had to settle Um... So that's not something that I
relish coming up here and telling you But it's the
truth. Department highlights Uh you're looking at 184 active litigation
matters that our office handles right now That is by
far the most Uh... That the City Attorney's Office has
ever handled Um... In the history of the City of
Bakersfield Um... Yes We are handling some of them in
- house But the weight of those 184 litigation matters
Uh that has an impact internally to our office Even
though we rely heavily on outside counsel Uh... We are
handling some of our own in - house That we
realize have nothing to do with the City of Bakersfield
I cannot tell you how many times we have been
sued for accidents Uh... Because of get bus Even though
we have absolutely nothing to do with get bus We
get lawsuits from attorneys in LA that think that the
City of Lancaster is somehow associated with the City of
Bakersfield Those types of cases My deputies and myself, we
handle But that weight of the 184 and that weight
of Nothing is an accident anymore It's always a lottery
ticket Is impacting your City Attorney's Office That's more monitoring
that we need to do That's more invoices Cost invoices
that we need to process Uh that means the more
work for finance Department to do Because again There's more
paperwork associated with that. Um... And again at the bottom
line I get back to that balancing Act But that
means the more work for the deputies to do with
litigation. Then with your municipal issues Which I would tell
you from my perspective And being your City Attorney That's
where your priority is. That's where it should be But
it's those municipal issues Uh... We are struggling Frankly to
keep up with because of the weight of those litigated
matters. So again Uh the slide is there Uh... I
think you'll have a better feel now For that slide
I'm not sure Again I know that that increase of
9. 6 is accurate But I think It should be
a much higher number. And when you look at the
changes between last year and coming up again That chief
assistant City Attorney really needs to be funded. I understand
that one of the funded Deputy City Attorney Salaries will
be going to that But that simply is not enough
That needs to be increased. Um... The unfunded assistant City
Attorney Position eventually is going to come back to you
And I would suggest probably needs to be funded And
we are actively recruiting not only for the chief Assistant
City Attorney But we are actively recruiting for that one
remaining vacant Uh... Deputy City Attorney 2 position. DEATTON Uh
So with that Um, we're going to try to continue
that litigation posture As much as possible Um... Maintain those
municipal services were necessary We will continue to use outside
Council Um... Handle what we can in - house and
continue to recruit for that UhECA position. Thank you Thank
you Mr. Gennaro. Thank you for a very clear Report
And it's always reassuring to Know that you have a
City Attorney and a team that is doing everything possible
Uh... With such outstanding success You can't control the things
that you can't control But you've been able to deliver
with Outstanding Success So thank you so much Questions from
the Council. Council Member Gonzalez Thank you Mayor I think
You Mr. Now for your presentation And I concur with
the mayor Uh... I think you've been Your Department has
been very effective in Projecting the City And I think
You for that Um I did want to touch on
a point that you made just a moment ago Because
I do understand and sensitive to the burdens Of the
Department as it relates to the number of incoming cases
Um... I am also mindful though That there are opportunities
for us through your department Uh... To help us move
the City as a whole forward Um... Number one is
The short - term vacation rental ordinance Uh... That we
see that in full effect So that we can increase
the TOT That the City currently receives I think that's
one key area And then also Um... The area of
receivership Uh... Because I think that strategy has been proven
very successful Uh... And it's very strategic in that... We
are able to get a handle on some of these
properties with property owners who are unresponsive And allows us
to address the property But also in turn help Ugra
the neighborhood Um... Reduces longer term reduces the number of
calls for service Uh... Among police and fire and flood
ministries and other agencies that may respond Code enforcement obviously
Um... And I think overall could help us Alleviate some
of that pressure for other departments in the City overall
Um... My question is Where are we with receivership? Do
we have any active cases? And how can we expand
that? Uh... I am concerned with some of the Code
Enforcement actions that currently are pending And as required us
to take action... Remediate some sites And as a result
We're putting liens on properties But those are real dollars
That are coming from our General Fund today In order
for us to clean up properties that the City doesn't
even own Uh... I think it seems unfair to the
people of Bakersfield that we're having to take responsibility Uh...
For these properties that are owned by private property owners
And my point is that the receivership program I feel
like is a much more assertive approach And can help
prevent some of those expenditures But also helps get to
the heart of some of these issues That are facing
Uh... Our community Certainly in War II Some of the
more historic neighborhoods. Mayor Council Member Gonzalez With regard to
the short - term rentals My understanding is is that
staff is coming back to you If it's not The
May 13th meeting It will be the second meeting in
May. Um... With regard for the receivership Um... Could agree
with you more Um... And it would be... I would
love Right to have that deputy City Attorney that I
could just say You know the old Mark Selvaggio Go
be a rat on a Cheeto Um... And do that
Right? Because I think that's what having the Deputy City
Attorneys give you... And let them Uh... Let their creativity
run wild And do that Um... The receivership program has
been a success I believe the Deputy City Attorney Ashley
Zambrano has worked with Phil Burns And the two that
have been filed. Positive results for the City of Bakersfield
It's my understanding that we do not have any right
now When I say in the queue I mean at
that have been filed with court We have been working
with the receiver Mark Adams to see if he'll take
some of those additional properties on Um... But again You
know the pros and cons with that How much equity
is in the property Etc And that's where it really
gets to the You know to those creative ideas But
That is a priority in my office Yes Great Thank
you so much. Thank you Council Member Coleman.
Thank You Mayor Uh. Mr. Narrow Thank you very much
for your presentation And I really appreciate you showing that
comparison Uh... Staffing what other communities are doing That really
helps keep things in perspective. Uh... I'm real supportive of
the outside council thing And it's very easy to measure
how well outside Council is doing In the liability and
the criminal kinds of cases Because this win or lose
And we can tell But I'm more concerned about what
we're doing to Make sure that we're getting our money's
worth for the ones that are not in those kind
of situations Like. The ones that are consulting on. Water
issues And general plan issues and other things Can you
speak a little bit about that? Sure Mayor Council Member
Coleman. Um At this point There isn't a metric system
really As you point out to determine how well they're
doing win or lose. I Will tell you that Um...
How I typically do it and how I look at
those outside Council firms is ideal with the Department head
So if it's a labor issue I'm dealing with HR
If it's with the general plan I'm working with Phil
And I reach out to those Department heads and say
Look What is your relationship with outside council? Are they
coming to the City of Bakersfield? Do you have a
relationship with them A personal relationship with them That you
would or did with a Deputy City Attorney My office
And then ultimately The Buck stops with me Right And
so when the issues finally get up to my level
Um... I have to make that determination whether outside Council
is being more conservative than I would necessarily be Because
that is one In my opinion of the disadvantages of
relying on outside council They provide you with the most
conservative advice that they can and that Generally doesn't accomplish
what the City Council wants to do So it's that
level of just having multiple eyes on the topic And...
And a personal relationship. And if the topic ends up
If the Council passes that short - term rental agreement
And you're happy with it Then hey that's a plus
for outside Council If you're not happy with it For
whatever reason Then we need to reevaluate. Okay Thank you
very much And thank you for all your department is
doing I have no further questions Thank you Councilmember Coleman.
I don't see any other requests for this So thank
you very much Thank you And now moving on to
finance Department. Oh I see you're trying to set the
example within Decreasing budget. Welcome. Thank you Mayor Good afternoon
Mayor Council members taking the queue from what you hinted
at Try to be as brief as possible As you
can see four slides Hopefully that's as brief as I
can Appreciate the opportunity to present the proposed budget for
the finance Department for the upcoming fiscal year. As you
saw As was mentioned earlier This is the standard presentation
We're just showing every department And this is our budget
for next Episcopal year Uh... Compared to last We anticipated
or proposing a budget of 5. 5 million dollars Broken
down between those funding sources. As we talked about every
department was requested to reduce budget personnel budget specifically in
the general fund We are able to do that But
you do see as the General Fund did increase though
Specifically because of two areas Obviously we had COSA living
increases But in addition to that You'll see a reduction
in the trip funds. What's happening there is the distribution
of our staff has actually been increased to the General
Fund because that work from RAFF has been reduced So
we're shifted some of those costs from trip to the
General Fund So that's offset at some of the decreases
that we saw from the staffing reductions In addition to
that we did have a reduction in capital cost Specifically
related to our purchasing department that 30, 000 dollar reduction
We have the responsibility of purchasing copiers for all the
departments And that has this has been a significant reduction
in the need for those So we're continuing to reduce
that number this year It's a 30, 000 dollar reduction
for copier replacements for the upcoming fiscal year So what
you see here is about a half percent reduction from
prior year in the General Fund as a whole. Alright
So as we see these we took to heart the
need to reduce budget So we have no new proposals
for the department No specific growth We were actually able
to reduce the budget by actually six percent We met
the five percent goal reducing two positions which I'll touch
on in the next slide And addition to that we
are moving forward with as we move into next fiscal
year our plans are We have no major CIP projects
moving forward And we will continue to move forward with
the ERP implementation So we've stood up in pretty much
stabilized REERP for the financials We've helped stabilize the permitting
system And now we're moving forward with the HCM or
the payroll system in the upcoming fiscal year That is
planned to be completed by the March of the 2027
So next fiscal year In addition to that we will
move forward with the utility billing system We also hope
to complete that implementation by the end of this calendar
year. So here you see our complement as you see
here in 2526 We had an increase of five individuals
That was because we shifted the budget office and the
ERP team Five individuals moved to the Finance Department This
year we reduced by that number by two I'm mounting
to about a 280, 000 dollar reduction in the General
Fund budget A business analyst. Related to our ERP team
And we reduced the one treasury account specialist Uh, related
to the work we do downstairs in the first Forest
City Hall North. Again resulting in a current complement of
35 individuals. So that is the budget Before I move
on I want Do you have any questions specifically overreated
to finance budget. Don't see any requests Okay So we're
going to move on to the next slide related to
calipers It was requested by council about a month and
a half ago to go through the caliper's contributions And
what we're showing here is based on the most recent
actuarial reports Uh... From CALPERRS and where we see our
contributions and our costs for calipers going in the next
Well... A number of years 25 years So what you
see here is over the next five years We expect
our costs to go up by 14 million dollars in
total Peaking in 2030 31 at 98 million dollars. From
that point down We've shown this slide before Just I'm
sorry I'll back up a little bit The two amounts
of costs related to our calipers are Ununfunded Actuarial determined
liability Which is red. And then our normal cost Which
is based on our current complement Which is blue So
what you see is by 2045 If caliper earns it
what they expected to earn. Are unfunded liability We reduced
to zero And our costs would go down by 47
percent from that peak in 2031. One of the things
that we want to talk about though Again That's the
expectation We understand We've talked about this before CalPERS is
supposed to earn 6. 8 percent on its investments And
they've actually done pretty well Last three years they earned
nine percent And then based on the current performance this
year They had expected to earn 12 percent So they
are meeting their requirements And so based on that performance
We don't expect over the next two years We don't
expect that peak to go up Because they've been meeting
they are required Uh, earnings And that's that discount rate
as it's called I did want to touch on one
thing though As we move forward into the next fiscal
year There are there are certain challenges to this We've
we've relied on that peak of 2031 of pension costs.
If you're not aware Assembly bill 1383 is currently been
passed by the assembly and is in the Senate. And
what that does is it reverses the public employee pension
reform Act of 2013 for public safety employees In essence
it reduces It increases I should say the cost by
reducing the years The peak year It goes from you
can retire at 55 Instead of 57 at the peak
amount of 3 percent versus 2. 7 percent So they
are reversing some of the PEPRA benefits And that if
it passes that peak in 2031 will likely go away.
So I just wanted to highlight that And it is
a challenge that we foresee Uh, again the legislature has
to officially approve it It passed one of the houses
And it is currently in front of the Senate for
potential approval So I want to talk about this We've
again shown this slide We've said we have a light
at the end of the tunnel But that light may
dim if the legislature continues in its current path. So
that is my presentation If you have any questions I'm
open for those Thank you Mr. McKeegan Questions. Council Member
Smith. Thank You Mayor I just wanted to follow up
There's been conversations in the past about the annual audits
And the single audit and just You know Are we
getting there? Where are we at? Yeah We've talked about
this at budget finance Uh as I still call it
Um So we did We were able to reach out
Uh we have a completed the late year 2024 Uh...
It was completed and submitted But the single audit. Is
still being worked on by staff And... Specifically our auditor.
One of the upcoming Council meeting You will note that
we are switching auditors We have a new audit firm
that is moving forward Next year So they will be
taking over For the 25 fiscal year and 26 We
have plans with them We've worked with them Really a
good timeline of what we can do to catch up
So we have In essence We're going to combine our
processes for 25 and 26 for things like the inner
work So they can all be done and expedite that
process We anticipate that the 25 fiscal year audit can
be done by the fall So October is the plan
that I see They actually said potentially September But I
want to have a reasonable expectation So it's 2025 We
should the 2025 fiscal year out It should be done
by October And then we anticipate that we will be
caught up for 26 So the 26 audit should be
done based on our current scheduled by December January Uh
that's the normal timeline And we based on our conversations
We feel that we can catch up by 26 for
the 26 year audit Which ends this fiscal June 30th
of this year We should be able to get back
on track and actually complete that audit by the end
of this calendar year And Mr. McDo track Thank you
for that response Randy Could you also just highlight for
councils benefit because I don't think we've done that in
a public setting. The fix to the reporting for capital
assets that was needed in this last year that we
are now able to get all the information out of
the system The delay on the ERB Sure That is
the reason for the delay in 2024 Uh we talked
about in the budget and finance. The the resulting delay
the additional delay Uh... Resulting from 2024 was caused by
the ERP implementation So what happened was we had anticipated
that our fixed asset module would be in place in
the new Oracle system And what happened is the system
didn't properly convert all our assets So we went back
and forth with our implementer for about three to four
months Trying to get it right And ultimately I basically
said we need to just get this done So we
had a built - a work around to complete that
audit and complete that fixed acid information So that added
delays because we had anticipated that fixed asset information to
be properly Put into the individual fiscal year for 2024
And it was not done And it created significant delays
just waiting on that implementation to be complete Which wasn't
the complete now. Thank you Look forward to being caught
up So do I. Thank you Council Member Smith Anyone
else. Thank you Mr. McKeeken. And now we move on
to Recreation and parks. Well today we had people from
the state and another group actually here talking about How
we can get more funding for parks And I saw
some of your representatives out there Uh, this morning at
that meeting. Thank you Absolutely And that's going to be
a big part of our budget moving forward Mayor So
I'm good afternoon Mayor Council members Uh Darren Budak recreation
Parks director has requested I will move through these very
quickly Um, and fortunately you're maybe unfortunately some of the
items that were discussed earlier when it comes to the
rates and stuff Compound on my budget in particular Uh,
we have a very large budget when it comes to
personnel and stuff So these cost when it comes to
fleet cost Uh, workman's comms cost All those things that
are Somewhat out of our control really hit our budget
hard One thing I do want to point out here
is you'll notice on our first line item under personnel
services It shows a moderate increase And that's even with
us meeting the City manager's direction of reducing our budget
Um, our staffing personnel now getting into that in a
little bit later But the two big driving forces in
our increase You can see at 6. 36 percent is
Rital outlay Our projects, our operations cost And so. And
as you can see in its states here You know
as already been labored many many times already is these
costs are being driven by things that I would say
are outside of the Department's control Um... Your fleet cost
your technical services and all those things Um... We get
told what those costs will be And then we have
to implement them into our budget I can tell you
My staff and my department did a great job in
providing a flat budget But when you put these cost
in there Then you see these costs. Um... On the
capital side You can see we proposed 10 projects We
brought 10 projects forward and working with City Manager's Office
3 of them are currently on recommended list And then
another 7 are up for Council's consideration And happy to
ask answering any questions about those at the end. And
then moving on. Our Department As you can see topped
out at 202 full - time employees That's a very
large Department takes a lot of staff to do the
work that's going on out there in our Parks and
streetscapes Um... And in following direction We did reduce RT
- full - time complement And we took a serious
look at it And we went from the top down
We looked at our upper level supervisory positions all the
way down to our entry level One key thing I
do want to point out is in this... Well there's
a mistake there My fault Uh we had reduction of
6 positions We have 5 General fund positions and 1
PS VS position Um... As outlined there Worth noting is
that this is all happening in a time that this
Department is growing Um... Each and every year Uh... We
acquire anywhere from 5 to 10 new acres of streetscapes
Every single year because a new development In City Baker's
field is very developer friendly And we encourage that But
we every single one of those streetscapes We get those
We have to maintain them And that's happened every single
year for the last Several years So why we maintain
202 R8 grades over the last 3 to 4 years
is increased Anywhere from I'll say 20 to 35 acres
and streetscapes Now This does not include the new parks
Lynell Brahma that was opened up Uh... Year and a
half ago Mason Moran We just talked about Um... We
have three new parks Um... That are in design right
now Anton Giovanni Herschel Moore and Alondra Park So those
are all parks that are gonna come online in some
phase in the next two to three years So I
think that's gonna be a challenge moving forward As you
see our acreage is increasing And staffing introducing So it's
a... But as in As we always do in Parks
and recreation I do want to celebrate the wins we've
had in the last year Um... My staff has done
a phenomenal job It'd be in stewards of the money
that we are provided to do these projects And you
can see just in some of these pictures Uh this
is centennial park rehab Uh taken it from an unusable
condition to a state ART pickleball and tennis court facility.
So some other great win through one of the grants
As you were talking about mayor was one of these
arts and parks that we did over there at Saunders.
And Took What was a very attractive Walker graffiti at
one point and turned it into an art for the
city and the residents And it's been very well received.
Uh... And last but our latest But this is This
one's been a long time coming Jastro Park Stage has
been on the plans for several years Because of various
requirements with historic and funding and stuff We finally pulled
it together Thank you to the City Council Councilman Gonzalez
for pushing so hard on that Uh... And look at
it now It's been restored It's being used I know
we've already had multiple concerts out there And it's been
a great success for that Um... For that park And
reinviting the community and getting those positive activities back in
the area. And then this one was a unique opportunity
for us to collaborate with BLNC down there. When they
first opened that facility They had a lot of open
space and encouraging people to go out and use the
space But as we found out very quickly as we
know In recreation and parks You know That's nice in
spring and summer But when our NFL When summer hits
these outside areas need shade So we were able to
partner with them and get in there and provide these
shade structures over these areas Which allow them to be
used year - round. Uh I can keep going Jefferson
Park Uh total remodel Well actually replaced the entire bathroom
there Made an ADA compliant Um... Just a great improvement
up there. And then Sternpark was a unique one where
we actually went in And this is First Time in
a very long time where we put in a new
restroom facility into a park that did not have one
But because of the use and the local group Uh...
The stern walking group It was a sought after It's
been on a plan for several years And we were
able finally pulled it together And it was very well
received. And then just some ADA accomplishments We've done Excuse
me throughout the year As you can see throughout our
parks. So with that I'm happy to answer any questions
Thank you Mr. Budak And then just speaking of ADA
and special needs I have received so many positive compliments
about Wilson Park and the fencing that goes around that
area now that provides families with children who are autistic
and with special needs The safety the security in a
really beautiful setting So thank you to your entire team
This came about when I got an email and the
person said to me I didn't think you'd ever do
anything about it But since it on to you all
and you all did something very very wonderful and the
community is extremely grateful for that So thank you I
was able to note that this morning in the presentation
with the state office Thank you very much And now
on to Council Member Gonzalez Thank you Mayor Uh thank
you Mr. Budick for your presentation And thank you to
your Department for all the wonderful work you guys do
day in and day out for our city. Parks. Really
make our city a community Uh that's what really brings
people together these public spaces And we're seeing it time
and time again And I appreciate Jostro Park improvement That
was a that was a longtime coming Uh decades of
disrepair and it looks beautiful We just had a concert
there Actually three concerts over the last Three Sundays in
April after Easter And last one we had over 500
people at Jostro Park on a Sunday afternoon People picnicking
people on What looked like for his dates People at
BBQs And it was just wonderful to see all the
families utilizing the park And uh... And being very positive
And you know I believe You know parks actually do
contribute to public safety Because not only does it allow
for more people to come into spaces that are large
and You know fill in with positive activity But it
also gives youth an opportunity to engage in positive ways
get their You know energy out and also Um there's
a lot to be said about Um... The effects of
mental health The positive effects that green spaces provide So
I want to thank you for your work Um... Just
one anecdote Uh lower park Uh... There was a softball
field Uh... There was... I felt underutilized for quite some
time Um... And we were able to convert that into
soccer field And I was getting a little concerned because
I hadn't seen anybody really use it But this last
weekend as I was going by Uh... I noticed kids
actually playing soccer in the park And that really warned
my heart Because that is exactly what we're trying to
do Get more people to utilize our spaces in better
ways So I want to thank you again A couple
questions Uh under personnel services What percentage of the personnel
Uh service expenditures Are the park rangers. Percentage of our...
Yeah Do we know what the cost is for Park
Rangers annually. I don't have that. Cost breakout percentage wise.
Okay I'm wondering if as we prepare the final budget
If we can differentiate the personnel costs related to PARC
Rangers Um... From all other personnel costs in the budget.
Specific to this Department I assume Correct Yes we can
do that Yeah. Alright And then as I look at
the requested items Recommended projects I noticed that the PARC
amenities and renovation improvements The PARI account. Were recommending Stop
is recommending half a million dollars Um... And then as
we look at the projects to consider Um... Imagine these
are projects pending any type of budget opportunity or Opportunities
in the discretionary fund Mr. Cleck How would we decide
if we should fund some of these projects? We're experiencing
a flat budget this year. Yeah indeed So as I
noted earlier today on your May 18th We will tee
up Uh summary of what is available for capital projects.
Um... We will also list out what are the recommended
and the optional projects And then it will come to
Council could provide You know some direction Even at that
time on May 18 Or following your budget public hearing
in June You can provide direction about which of those
projects to include Or I would recommend at the council
We don't have to do the optional projects We can
also decide to wait and forego those projects and wait
to future years and bank some additional one - time
money just as savings That's another option Um but those
decisions will come 18th And in the June budget adoption
Okay great So are the pari Expenditures are those in
response to You know Destruction of Park Equipment or things
that we have to repair Or are those enhanced features
that were installing? It's a mix I'll let Mr. Budak
outline Yeah so as a matter of fact Um I
can say the two projects that was brought up by
the mayor and yourself were both done out of the
party The soccer field at low was part of the
party Money We use that And then the pilot project
for their autism fans at Wilson Park was done out
of that part But to answer your question Yes It
is a mix Sometimes we will get big vandalism done
to a park where they'll go in. Off top of
my head We're a little stripped the copper out of
our security lighting and stuff We'll go back and we
use PARI Or we are also using when we're doing
some of these other playground We have we will come
in there Um, supplement maybe add some additional sidewalk to
some amenities and or shade So it is a mix.
Got it And I'm headed somewhere with these questions So
What percentage of the PARIA counties use to address vandalism
issues. I can't give you an exact percentage But I
would say probably at least a third of it. Okay,
so 150, 000 perhaps in this 500, 000 dollar allocation.
Is used just to respond to vandalism. That would be
fair Okay What I'd like us to consider if possible
with staff Uh, analyzing this request Is that we reduce
the party amount this upcoming year. Um... But we actually
create some room for one of the items for council
to consider related to the PARC security cameras Um... So
that we can perhaps prevent some of this vandalism in
the future Uh... And perhaps overall reduce the expenses related
to vandalism Uh... In some of our parks. Okay Thank
you. And now cancel member Smith. Thank you Mayor. I
just want to say to the Wilson Park I've gotten
feedback on also And the ability for schools and parks.
To start to work together is a great opportunity. And
the history of the frustration of people saying Ayy You
know that school's empty all the time Or that park
work together So that's great to start that and to
move forward in different areas. Uh I also like to
bring up Riverwalk Park some years ago I said We
can wait on that And it turned out being I
don't know Felt like five years instead of one year
Uh Great to see that work being done and look
forward to it being finished. On the funding sources I
don't see a separate for the maintenance district funds Are
those just included in general fund? Or where's that? Yeah
They're included in our overall budget. But you've got General
You've got funding sources and different sources So which source
are they actually in. Just under the General Fund tab.
Okay. And then we've had a lot of community input
on the tree planning urban Canopy NICU show that And
also the input on trimming trees less Are we cutting
our trimming. Tree budget or where we at on that?
No we are not cutting our tree We have an
annual contract in our operating for tree trimming And we're
not reducing that Now we're trying to reallocate and come
up with a trimming cycle That will help reduce that
This was our first year working with TAG And we're
evaluating with what I'll say the new standard of our
trimming during certain times of the year So this was
our first year But we're hopeful that we will be
able to reduce that cycle in the coming years. In
different locations on different species throughout the city. So but
the recommendation was that we trimmed them too often. Not
just the time of year I mean it was both.
So you know Instead of every year every two years
Whatever it was every five years So we're still studying
that or where are we at on that? Yeah We're
just in the first year looking at that We started
that process Um... I'll say in August of last year
When we got outside of the nesting season And so
we looked at that and we're going through our annual
contractor and then our tree division We are hopefully we'll
have a recommendation Um... Early next year to say Okay
here's the new cycle We're going to be on a
two - year in this area with these trees Depending
on maturity and location types of trees Street escapes versus
Parks You know There was a lot of different things
elements that go into that But yeah our goal is
to reduce it But in this current budget year We
did not because we didn't know where we were going
to be at We were hopeful with the tree inventory
We're going to get to that someday Great Thank you.
Thank you Council Member Smith. I don't see any other
requests So thank you Mr. Budak. And now we'll move
on to the Police Department and colleagues We do not
have a PowerPoint print net on this in case you're
looking for it. Well Welcome Chief Stratton We can say
chief. Thank you. Let's ask him some very hard questions
for his first one. Forget any grace to blame Chief
Terry for things for a little bit Hoping. Thank you
for the opportunity to be here Uh... Today and discuss
the proposed budget for Biscalyar 26 and 27.
Well she's working on bringing up the presentation. I can
we're sitting here Uh, thankfully we have Ariam who's Crunching
extra numbers. And so we updated the presentation while we
were. While we were seated. But in taking a look
at what we were working to do this year Um...
We worked on making sure that we had still three
core priorities that we wanted to ensure that we were
able to preserve essential public safety operations That provide for
the immediate protection Uh... Of life property and community safety.
We wanted to ensure that we were sustaining proactive and
evidence - based crime prevention strategies And sound management practices
to ensure that accountability and measurable public safety outcomes And
we were wanting to identify reductions in lower impact or
non - core functions while seeking to minimize the adverse
effects on vital services and community trust. So it was
actually really good exercise for us to be able to
look at where we could find efficiencies and where we
might be able to ensure that we were Um... Being
as efficient and as effective as we could be... And
that we're being good stewards of taxpayer dollars We're able
to identify some areas for some reductions And we were
able to make significant amount of reductions in personnel. Um...
And looking at some of our personnel reductions We looked
at areas where we could reclassify positions Areas where we
could Uh... We were utilizing positions Uh... We see some
potential for technology coming in the next few years Uh...
Which will allow us to make some... Some additional realize
some additional efficiencies. Uh... We were able to look at
where we could reduce Um... Some of our overtime and
callback Uh... In trying to be more efficient with. Um...
Our overtime budget We're able to make some cuts and
some outside services as well as some equipment. Um... We
were able to expand our school resource officer program Which
will offset some funds Some salaries that are being paid
by the school districts Um... And then we're looking at
the expansion of our red flex program to ensure traffic
safety We think that has the potential to offset some
of our financial costs as well. Even with making all
those cuts and trying to project out what we believe
some of the growth can be Um... We were able
to make a 5 percent. What we thought was a
5 percent reduction Some of those areas It still results
in approximately 2. 39 percent increase in overall expenditure And
breaking those down in two separate areas Uh The first
is in salaries and benefits Even though we were able
to make as many of the cuts and the efficiencies
As I previously described with increases in medical insurance and
workers'compensation as well as with purge contributions We're still seeing
Um... And... And an increase of approximately 2. 78 percent
And then we saw a 1. 05 percent increases Um
as it relates to some of our service rates for
vehicles and technologies Again arriving at an overall increase of
2. 39 percent Um to our budget Um, we think
that You know just looking ahead over the next couple
years as we've been able to implement our real -
time information Center and just getting that started We anticipate
that there will be growth there as we look at
You know drone is a first responder and things like
that over the next couple years and where a lot
of agencies are going and where we think technology is
taking us We do think that there's an opportunity for
additional efficiencies and looking for additional savings moving forward And
as I start to kind of wrap my arms around
the Department a little bit more and from the handoff
with Chief Terry Um, I'm interested in seeing where some
of those other efficiencies Uh... May lie. So that is
the presentation that we have here I'm happy to do
the very best that I can to answer any questions
you may have. Thank you chief That was the shortest
presentation ever I think. I think so Colleagues Any questions.
Council Member Coleman. Thank you Mayor Chief Congratulations your selection
and deployment is chief. And I think the City is
going to be great Uh... What do you in charge.
Um... Thank you sir Try not to let you down.
I wanted to ask you about where you are in
terms of. Compared to your full compliment Where are you
at with staffing. Yeah I don't know off the exact
top of my head You know our compliment coming in
this year is 512 I want to say we were
probably close to about 470 We have 35 that were
in the Academy right now And those are those count
towards our overall complement Even though they're not realized actual
officers on the street So we always have a little
bit of a gap there Um... But I want to
say we're probably close to be a 94 percent staffed
Uh over the last couple of weeks we have had
You know we're in a constant state of attrition Every
year I've got 14 years worth of data It says
we lose somewhere between 25 and 30 people a year
Um... Just for a variety of different reasons And that's
right about... We're trending towards this year as well So
I don't have the exact number off my head But
I want to say we're at that 460 to 470
range Something like that This elastic Academy that graduated I
believe in December They're on field training They should be
coming off of field training here in the next week
or two And so that's going to be able to
increase the number of officers on the street Biden number
20 or 25 The Academy that we just started in
March They won't graduate until October by the time they
get off field training It'll be the early part of
2027 before they're really able to be handling culture service
and being able to help So we'll have a little
bit of a gap in that timeframe But we're doing
okay. So what are your priorities for the coming years
as far as the enforcement. Yeah I think Yeah They'll
be very similar to where we are and what we've
been doing You know want to just be as open
as we can And as flexible as we can to
handling problems and things as they come up and they
arise It's great to have some plans and some ideas
But things can change operationally depending on the issues that
arise So I want to just continue to do very
best that we can to solve problems and looking at
long - term chronic problems that we're having there How
we how can we build relationships and partnerships within our
community to try to solve those long - term chronic
problems that are arising I want to continue to focus
on our gun violence reduction strategy Um, and as we've
focused on that gun violence reduction strategy I see that
that model works Um, so we're... Being able to use
some of the Calvip Grant funds that have come up
to be able to study intimate partner violence and doing
some studies over the last couple years and working with
Um, with Stanford as well as some other groups to
be able to look at are there other things that
we can do and look at not necessarily as a
predictor of violence But look at some of our past
for intimate partner violence and seeing if we can bring
some overall reductions in that area Been partnering with the
open door network to take a look at some of
those areas too And I think that there's a real
potential that we might be able to bring some reductions
in intimate partner violence I want to continue to look
at roadway safety and ensuring that our LR roads are
safe I'm excited about Um The expansion of the red
flex program I think that has the potential to continue
to calm some of our roadways Um, there's some additional
areas as it relates to traffic There's some interesting technology
that's out there that Um, we're looking at through like
the international associations the chief of police I don't know
that California laws caught up with it and is going
to allow for some of the AI - based traffic
cameras and things Um... But it'll be interesting to see
You know where the laws go with that in the
next couple years has technology develops But I think our
real - time information center will have Um, the ability
to help us maybe with some of the traffic combing
stuff as well So that's absolutely something I want to
continue to focus on. As we get closer up to
complement and as the school resource officer program has shown
to be effective Um, we have more school districts that
are coming online Uh, I like the idea behind that
too I think it provides for a safe and a
secure school environment and the chance that the unthinkable could
happen Um, but it also creates an opportunity for positive
work in relationships and mentorship with kids And so I
like to see that potential growth as well So those
are some of the things that are that are on
the forefront of my mind But ensuring that we have
strong patrol staffing that we're responsive to be able to
meet the immediate needs of any corner of the city
of Bakersfield Is going to continue to be a priority
for our department. Thank you. You mentioned the school resource
officer and dad reminded me I wanted to thank you
for the word Captain Crowder has done to respond to
Uh, demands in the Harris Road area after the last
accident. Uh, he's mobilized officers that do a little bit
maximum enforcement kind of things on Harris Road And also
I was working with the resource officer from the schools
there Apparently they share them now. Uh, to try to
make sure that they're deployed in the areas they need
to be during the school in and out time So
I want to thank you for allowing him to do
that and give him the resources he needs. Just on
that on that note Yes, so Captain Kirkker is the
captain over our traffic Uh, over many things, but traffic
is one of the areas there And we do have
officers in that area I believe is the Panama Buenavesta
school district And we've been able to grow within the
Panama One of us at school district that partnership that
we've had with that district has been exceptional Um, and
they've I believe were at two, if not three officers
They're that they're funding And so being able to share
them amongst the school districts has been very very helpful
So hope to continue to see growth, but A big
partnership with Panama Bunavista And they've been fantastic partners. One
last question Uh One of the complaints I get Uh,
a lot is the people that are panhandling and the
median of the streets. Uh... all over town And I
go to a lot of communities in California I don't
see that everywhere And I was wondering if you could
talk about that a little bit about What might be
able to be done about that? Yeah There has been
a variety of different enforcement options and things that we've
looked at Um. For quite some time We've spoken with
the traffic judge as well to gain an understanding about
him And we have different medians that our position differently
within our city And I'll have to get myself completely
refreshed back up with it But I recall that in
certain areas where there's a narrow median And the first
one that comes to mind is at California and oak
If you can envision the median there at Californian Oak,
and that meeting is very narrow The traffic judge Um
told us that how they see it as that median
is almost extending upward and upward into the sky And
so median like that They see that a person is
potentially in danger It could be impeding traffic Um, and
that's a median that they agree would be enforceable And
some of the other medians where there's more area and
the more space Um... There they don't see that as
necessarily being a median that is as enforceable So it's
not really a black and white enforcement Um... Issue It
does require a little bit of a critical thinking and
some focus for our officers But there is absolute enforcement
That can be done Um... They are citations that can
be issued It's not an arrestable offense It's not a
bookable offense But there are citations that can be issued
And I think You know There's a variety of different
opinions about the overall effectiveness of whether a person That's
issued a traffic Citation is going to show up to
court and pay Uh, uh, traffic Citation or not So
there are steps that can be taken I don't know
the overall long - term effectiveness of it But it's
absolutely things that we can continue to explore and work
towards and have a proactive stance Tourist. Thank you Chief
I have no further questions Thank you Council Member Coleman
Just following up on that same line of questioning about
the medians You mentioned the traffic. Court judge Yes, is
that the local one? I know that Mayor Dyer in
Fresno has talked about not allowing anyone on the medians
And they go after them right away So is it
a local interpretation. Uh No I believe it's the vehicle
code And I think that vehicle code is a statewide
vehicle code Um... Again, I don't know necessarily what the
medians are looking like in Fresno As opposed to what
they look like here But our court's interpretation is that
it does vary depending on how The layout of that
median looks And so it's something I can I can...
Devil Deeper into and make sure I'm a little more
firm on my understanding On something I'm happy to be
able to bring back and speak about Thank you Chief
I get many queries about that issue Council Member Smith.
Thank You Mayor Uh just a couple things Uh... Appreciate
your focus on Traffic Comming and doing what we can
We continue to lose too many lives on the streets
of Bakersfield Uh... There are cities that I think the
state is having a pilot Speed cameras Uh... So that'd
be nice if the state would move forward That's kind
of what I was referring to when I talked about
some of the laws haven't really caught up with some
of the emerging technology That's out there But I would
anticipate that in the next couple years as that technology
becomes Um... Little more prevalent It would almost be a
very similar principle who we have with RedFLEX cameras But
there's some technology that's being piloted as it relates to
stop sign enforcement as it relates to crosswalk infringement in
general Speed cameras and things like that again It's not
something that the state has, but the other states that
are doing it The technology is certainly out there So
I think that that's something that will be coming towards
our state in the next few years Alright, I appreciate
that And the number of red light. Citations that we
give a year astronomical And I anticipate you're going to
see an explosion of it. This next year is we're
essentially doubling the amount of cameras that we have within
our city And it's probably still not probably still not
enough And so we were looking at a phased in
approach Let's put in this next phase and see where
it takes us Um, but I would anticipate that there's
still going to be additional Um, room There's room for
additional growth in that regard And we're trying to take
a look at where the collisions are occurring and where
these intersections are occurring Um... And can we make them
safer? Interestingly enough that sometimes red light cameras increase the
number of collisions But generally they're rear end collisions that
are not fatal They're being big reductions in those broadside
head - on collisions Which are the things that bring
fatalities But you do see people slamming on the brakes
and slowing down until you get an increase in some
of the rear end collisions Those caused me less concern
obviously We're really trying to save lives And so if
we can bring a reduction in those broadside and head
- on collisions That's where a big portion were our
effort lies Appreciate that attitude. Uh. I think that's all
I had Thank you Yes sir. Thank you Council Member
Coleman. Council Murphy Gonzalez Thank you Mayor Um Just wanted
to dovetile off this First and foremost Congratulations Chief Thank
you sir Excited to see you at the helm Thank
you Um and looking forward to working with you Um
Council Member Smith's Um point Uh that Rite cameras I
feel are effective There's so many times where I'm at
a red light And I as a rule We like
three seconds before I proceed to enter the intersection upon
a green Because I don't know how many times now
There's been a car that's been You know running that
red and what have You know T - boned That's
right And so every time I'm in Uber or Lyft
always Gently remind the drive Hey just be sure to
take a few seconds Take an extra couple seconds When
you're out and about Because I want to try to
help Encourage people to be a defensive driver That's right
Um, and so I really appreciate that But also You
know the traffic enforcement The motorcycles that we've deployed I
think have been really effective Agreed You may not be
prepared today But I would love to see over a
longer period of time Uh... What the trends are as
a result of those investments Um... And I think that'll
help us kind of paint a bigger picture of what
we can do moving forward And how this council might
be more strategic Uh... Moving forward... The other thing that
comes to mind is that. Um... When in 2018 We
were discussing PSVS And... We did a lot of analysis
Um... Other jurisdictions and what the Police compliments Uh... Look
like in comparable cities And we often looked at You
know A number of officers per capita Um... Because we
recognize that some communities are much larger Some smaller Uh...
But that's really Eye - opening For many of us
Uh... And really helpful for the community to kind of
understand what we have And how we compare. Um... I'm
wondering if in the future I know the demands on
your time as you've entered this position But in the
future If we might be able to analyze that... Comparison...
As a council Um... And... And help guide some of
our future decisions related to the budget Yes And something
I've done kind of informally on my own I've looked
at the top 20 Cities and reached out to those
police chiefs to get what they're compliment is and Look
at some of those things We are definitely much... We're
on the leaner end You look at a City like
Oakland Which is smaller than us geographically Which only has
maybe 6 or 10, 000 more people And has 300
more police officers The city of Fresno has almost double
the complement of police officers that we have And I
don't know that they're double the size of our city
Um... In some of these areas We are covering more
areas geographically Um... Our City is continuing to grow And
we do believe that our police forces is lean We
believe we have the tools and the resources that we
need to be able to respond to our city But
it does It means that we're able to spend less
time focused in on certain areas And you're constantly just
trying to get to something Bring some... Some calm to
it Restore it to its homeostasis And then you'll be
able to get on And so I do believe that...
That... That our compliment at some point When we can
get to that growth within our City And whenever we
can get to a spot where we're being good stewards
economically That we can move towards a more structured growth
But I do believe that that would be in order.
Homeostasis That's the first time I've heard that in the
Council Chambers That's great I love that word Um But
I appreciate you And also just want to say Thank
you to the Impact Team And for all the work
that those... They do fantastic Let's do every single day
I work with them I feel like daily And that
includes the weekends And they're just completely responsive And... It's
very much appreciated... In War 2 And all the Business
Owners and homeowners Uh... Who rely on in the Impact
Team to resolve many of the issues Uh... That we're
facing So thank you so much to that Well Thank
you for saying that I really appreciate the impact team
too But I'd be remiss if I didn't give a
lot of credit to the entire community Vitality Program And
there's people from across the entire City that are all
working towards that And really been proud over the last
couple years Um that the City has been able to
take more holistic and comprehensive approach at kind of looking
at the Just The entire You know City ecosystem and
how we're able to operate and move within There So
I think it's a really great program I'm hopeful that
we're able to see some improvement as far as long
- term effectiveness goes But being able to get to
there and be able to get to an initial response
I'm very very pleased with where that's at. Thank You
and now Voice Mayer. Thank you Mayor Hi Chief Stratton
Hi good morning Good morning Um one welcome And congratulations
on your first budget workshop Thank you First Day Right
into Um You get to say that your first day
starts with a budget earring That's right Like every police
officer's dream Yes exactly I'm sure this is exactly how
you drafted up Always wanted to be Well I wanted
to join in on just sharing that even before today
You've always had a traffic calming - oriented approach to
how we make our streets safer And just on the
heels of the accident that happened in Ward 7 Um,
you know us folks Council member Smith Council Member Coleman
Council Member Bashir Tasha have really been putting our heads
together as to How we Come up with solutions that
aren't just Uh incident - based and responsive And in
our conversations with the neighbors in and around the area
And looking to get the school district involved in the
conversation Um, one of course accountability being with us Um
residents and constituents And everyday Citizens who are on the
roads But also how do we as a City ensure
that we meet our end of the responsibility with one
How we design our streets and then to how we
enforce Um, and it kind of being You know At
least what I shared with neighbors is You know it's
not just one size fits all It is a two
things can be true at the same time while also
Uh needing like a multi - pronged approach Uh... As
to how we truly make street safer And I feel
in this moment that Harris Road example and a very
tragic example can be utilized for us at the City
to design Um. Designate system of not only response But
also prevention And that being You know Police Department as
well as public works You know sitting at the table
together And that being kind of the system of how
we operate It is the design of the road while
also knowing that you all are already doing targeted enforcement
in these high risk corridors. And I think while the
neighbors were not surprised by You know how many accidents
happened on that corridor You know for some of us
A Harris Road might not be the first street that
comes to mind It might be a pan mole or
white lane Um So just some initial thoughts But also
if within a budget hearing like today Um as a
city start thinking through what is a system of whether
it's shared resources share dollars across to Departments Or maybe
you're already thinking of some like cross - collaboration I
just wanted to put that out there and knowing that
you have You do your own research on your own
And have shared different ideas in the past especially Um...
In places like Ward 7 were cycle Cyclist accidents and
pedestrian accidents have been You know One of the reasons
why I've called you many times And you've been incredibly
helpful with that And coming up with ideas Um... Just
wanted to use this as an opportunity to brainstorming kind
of see a few had ideas as well Love it
Thank you Well first of all I'd like to thank
the council because Um... You may not know it But
you each of you have shaped and challenged my own
thought process as it relates to traffic I have a
very operational base background in gangs and SWAT and a
homicide I didn't work traffic coming up So it's not
something that I have this firsthand close Uh understanding of...
In working with you over the last couple years Each
of you talked about traffic safety and the technology that's
coming with cars and vehicles And I've thought through that
And you talk to me about... You know just speeds
and narrowing roads in a variety of different things And
so in some of the my own research and things
that I've done I've really kind of distilled down our
approach Kind of the R3Es You know where I look
at our education environment and enforcement And oftentimes the police
department is really only enforcement - based And that's really
where my head has been limited to quite frankly But
as you know We've looked at the gun violence reduction
strategy and figuring out How can we look at things
from a more systems - based approach? It's something that
I'm very interested in so I don't stand here before
you today and have the answers to it But collaboration
is something I'm absolutely dedicated to and I know that
Um... There's a variety of different big brains that I'd
like to be able to tap into in some best
practices from across the country and things that we can
try to implement here We're totally open to those things
because our end state is what we are holding tight
to our end state is to bring a reduction in
fatalities and making sure that year over year We're bringing
reductions into that note We have in the last couple
years we are seeing reductions. I want more and I
want more reductions We're not going to take our foot
off the gas We're going to continue pushing towards that
Um, but it is absolutely something we're open to We
want to continue to look at what enforcement and what...
Education can look like and we're open to idea So
if you all have ideas of ways of things that
you think the Police Department can be doing We're open
to any and all of those things to try to
bring some reductions But you're right Harris Road is not
something that would have come to my mind I would
have told you Panama Lane And I think the data
would support that But I told you white lane And
I think the data would have supported that as well
Um, and that's what led us to some of the
locations as it relates to our red flex cameras and
where we're putting cameras Um, as well to try to
bring some of those reductions But it just shows that
these things can happen anywhere Um... I do think that...
You know some of the street racing and things like
that It's very transient in nature, not transient in this
sense that what we talk about Like transients and homelessness
But it really moves around We are seeing areas And
kind of you're going to see it on some of
the outer portions of town But something like this It's
becomes pretty central And you look geographically now in Harris
Road is kind of central to our map in our
area So Open to ways that we can do. We
want to be Perflexive, responsive and the ability to be
able to move around to be as effective as we
can. Thank you I appreciate that. Thank you Vice Mayor
Chief Op in times when there are accidents The public
calls for stoplights instead Street lights and stoplights instead of
stop signs Can you comment a little bit about the
data says about those? I heard some conversation I think
in the Police Department about the efficacy of stop signs.
As compared with stop lights Interesting I don't have any
of that information I don't know it off the top
of my head Um... Totally open to those And again
That's something that... I need to get more educated on
myself is quite frankly from an enforcement standpoint It's like
Okay, there's a stop sign And here's the code when
you run a stop And here's the vehicle code for
that When you run a stoplight Here's a vehicle code
for that And when you run a stop light If
the traffic camera Here's the vehicle code for that And
that's really been very reactive in enforcement based throughout the
entirety of my career on it It's really only been
the last year or so Last year or two of
working with you all Is this become a focus of
the council It's becoming more of a focus of my
own to be able to look at some of those
things So I definitely think it's worth looking at. And
we work really closely with traffic engineering within the city
And so we rely on them for their expertise too
Is to what the standards are And I don't know
what they are is to win a stop sign is
put up versus when Uh stop light is put up
Um... But these are conversations As we're having closer partnerships
with the schools and the school districts are asking questions
about Um... About what can be put up and when
speed bumps can be put up And I've got several
different We stop and talk with crossing guards And stop
and just chat with them And they have some. Amazing
horror stories about the things that they see every day
And so... You know We want to make sure that
we're trying to do the very best that we can
to prioritize school district enforcement and working with the current
high school district to see if they're able to maximize
enforcement And some of their areas their schools as well
And so... All definite options for trying to bring some
improvement and ensure that we're safe everywhere But certainly some
of the school zones would be some of the highest
priorities for me And just in my heart And you
know in the morning and in the afternoons Ensuring that
our children are able to get to and from school
in a safe manner And I do think that high
visibility traffic - based enforcement is going to be a
component of that Thank you chief If I understood the
conversation correctly Stop signs might even be more effective in
certain situations Because everybody has to come to a stop
So I was just curious about that But thank you
so much for your presentation I don't see any other
requests to speak So thank you for that And now
we move on to our last presentation of this session
And that would be fire. Chiefs Thank you so much
for their successful Fire Department open house It seemed like
the public was very engaged I heard a lot of
appreciation Express by families who were there They really seem
to enjoy that And a good turnout Even earlier in
the day Maybe then in past years Yeah it was
actually a great turnout Uh... Wonderful Saturday. Um couple hours
well spent. Uh... We're guessing anywhere between 5 and 800
It's hard to count But we're incredible opportunity to demonstrate
Uh... What our Department does Our partners with PD and
Parks with their ranger program were there. Uh... We had
Cal Water PGE So a little bit of everything there
And uh... Everybody got an opportunity to come out Enjoy
a great day Um... Go through a couple water events
CS Repel and Tara Bakar and learn about the fire
service We love talking about the fire service So it
was great for us. Uh So Unreal Mayor Council members
Thank you very much for this opportunity to present Uhr
propose 26 - 27 Budget Uh... I always like to
start off our presentations with our mission statement The mission
of the Big Shrill Fire Department Protect Engage and inspire
safe community through all hazard response. Community risk reduction while
delivering legendary customer service That's something we really take the
heart Something that's really important to us I'd like to
give you just a quick update on Uh... BakerSville Fire
Department. Um... You have a very capable BakerSfield Fire Department
Over the past 10 or 15 years are call volume
is doubled. Uh... And in that 10 or 15 years
Our Department capabilities have expanded. Uh... We now have a
Type 1 hazmat Uh... Hazmat rescue team We also have
a regional USAR Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. Uh...
That was the one that deployed to the Palisade's Fire
A year and a half or so ago Uh... We
have a Swiftwater Rescue team, a state certified Swift water
rescue team Which responds all throughout the Western United States.
Um... Last year we responded nearly 50, 000 incidents. And
I would like to point out something nearly 2, 700
of those were advanced life Uh... Support So our paramedic
services. Which is an incredible accomplishment for us. Uh... As
you know We do provide a paramedical level of care.
Uh... We respond to many fires outside of Bakerfield Supporting
Uh... Both... Our surrounding states And our surrounding communities I
think last year The year before we Actually A couple
of our members went up to Alaska And then of
course we have our prevention and inspection services. Some of
the accomplishments for this last year Uh... One that... I
really like And you guys have received a copy of
it as our annual report Which really talks about Um...
Our last year. And some of our accomplishments in the
year last year And then How we're moving forward. Uh...
Department Dwight Infrastructure Uh improvements Um... Of course we had
our... This is really speaking to our last open house
Uh... A year or so ago. Uh, but we did
just have her open house Uh... On Sunday or on
Saturday And then responding to multiple fires Uh We've also
deployed our parametric bike team and UTV team throughout BakerSilled
I think probably our most recent deployment is a BakerShield
Marathon Where they were actually put into use a couple
times As we know Some of those marathon routes. Are
a little harder to get our large Fire engines Our
rescues into so The bike Uh... And UTVs make a
lot of sense in those. So our goals Um we
have many goals These are just a couple of them
Uh... Funding opportunities Uh... Whether it be Grant or revenue
generation through cost recovery. Fees Uh... Continued enhancement through developing
a new EOP and Expanding or improving upon our services
to handle a large - scale Um... Mass disaster event
Which we hope we never have to use But your
bake shoulder Firefighters are prepared for that. Uh... BakerShield Fire
Department Social media sites We realized that Um... A lot
of people use social media out there And it's a
good way to get our story out there And a
good way to inform the community. And then of course
URating Our updating our current CountyOut plan That's something that
we're in the process of doing right now That is
critical for some of our FEMA funding. Um... And then
Uh... Implaying our Department - wide dashboard Which will be
both an internal and external facing Dashboard 4 Our community
to actually look into. Now to actually get into the
budget Um... Like all the other departments This budget is
reflective of our budget cuts And we have seen a
9. 23 And overall budget Uh... Like I just said
This is reflective. Of Uh... The cut set We have
had, and I'll talk specifically about that Uh... Coming in.
The next couple slides. Uh... Our primary drivers for the
increase Our COLAS, our salaries and benefits. Uh... Departmental CIP
request. Uh... And then our internal rates And we've heard...
Um... The EQO I know those internal rates insurance fleet.
Um... CS. Those drivers. Uh... That's are one of those
things that... Our hard to control. Um... But... Are necessary
cost. So Budget reduction impacts. These are the impacts that
the Department is going to actualize... Come... July 1st with
these... Proposed budget cuts. Uh... The first one is we're
gonna remove one rescue. Uh... From service. It's actually gonna
be rescue 2 out of Station 2. Uh... That's gonna
result in a reduction of three captains and three firefighters.
Uh... Those positions will be eliminated and they'll go away.
Uh... We'll also eliminate one Deputy Chief Uh... Position... And
we will restaff the additional two rescues through attrition to
two firefighters as opposed to a captain and a firefighter.
So they'll go from a captain and a Firefighter to
two firefighters. Uh, we will also carry four Firefighter and
four engineer Vacancies throughout the fiscal year Will to result
in salary savings of essentially the salary and benefits Minus
the time and half for overtime. We do have some
capital improvement request Um... As you guys have seen as
Council seen. Uh, there are two different kind of categories
for our capital improvement request. The first one is our
recommended projects. Uh The first one is an NFPA, an
OSHA compliant Turnout replacement. Uh... Recently matter of fact, as
late as soon as April Last month. Oh she has
adopted NFP 1850, 1851 Which is going to require an
advanced testing on our turnouts. And we actually have started
a very minimal amount of that testing And we anticipate.
A large replacement in our turnouts. Um... HVAC systems for
station 5, 6, and 13. And then our body armor
Uh gonna be expired here soon Uh, and replacing that
for all of our... Firefighters in the field. And then
Products Uh projects for consideration. Floor rehab at Fire Station
6, 7, and 11. Which essentially is removing the tile.
Um... Pulling up all the glue And just taking it
down to Polishing the concrete. Uh... We found in our
past couple stations. Concrete is easy to maintain And it
never goes bad So, and then Uh... New parking area
for Fire Station 3. Uh... Next year Uh, we will
actually celebrate our 150th anniversary for the Big Shield Fire
Department As you guys can see from... Pictures there Now
None of our stations are 150 years old But we
do have some old stations that do need some... Uh...
TLC Station 1 right there is actually built in 1939
And I believe that pump RE UC there is 1800s
Uh... So. With that. Um... I'd be happy to answer
any questions. Thank You Council Member Gonzalez Thank you Mayor
Chief Thank you so much for the presentation Again, thank
you for all the work that You do every day
And all of the Department I appreciate. I appreciate I
think we all very much appreciate Fire Department Um... And
all of the Firefighters who would get out there every
day Um... Calls have increased. That's a trend that continues
over the last What... I've been on the City Council
Forever, yes Um... What are your... Some of your busiest.
Stations. Yeah You know this downtown corridor is some of
our busier stations. Station 1, station 2, station 6. Station
7 are probably our 4 busiest stations. Um... And the
calls... The call types range anywhere from EMS calls to
fire calls. I would say we probably have most of
our fires and our downtown corridor within Station 2 Station
1, station 6 Okay And... One of the proposed. Budget
reductions is to remove... A rescue, and it's a rescue
2 out of Station 2. Correct. What types of calls
does a rescue respond to? Yeah The rescue concept is
actually a great concept. Uh... These were... Uh... Brought around...
Uh... After PSVS was approved. And Essentially what they are
is A2 - person Firefighter and a captain. Uh... Pick
- up truck And they respond to the first medical
A call that is in that station. And the whole
idea behind it was we analyzed Uh... The station, the
call volume, the station had, and then the current calls
And that's really the important thing is looking at the
concurrent calls. And... The idea is we wanted to make...
Our response time is short as possible. Uh... So we
deployed rescues to... Initially station 2 and station 6, and
then Station 1 And they would respond to the initial
medical aid call Leaving that engine available for potentially that
next fire or rescue call Or even that next medical
8PAL. Okay, so... If we remove rescue 2 at a
station 2. One of the busiest stations. In the entire
City... What happens? Who then responds? We then require an
engine to respond? Certainly, yeah It does have some operational
impacts for sure. Um... In fiscal year 24 - 25
We had just around 700. Um... Concurrent calls and station
2's area. Uh... Last year Rescue 2 ran nearly 3,
100. Incidents, and those are both medical Aid and fires,
mainly medical Aids. Um... So what will happen is On
those concurrent calls, Um, we're gonna see increased response times.
Uh... And what's gonna happen We'll be Engine 2 will
respond to the First Medical Aid, call That comes in
for that area, whether it's a fire Uh... Vehicle Accident,
pedestrian... Or a medical ACOL. Uh... An apparatus from outside
of that first - in, commonly Station 1, station 4,
station 6. Engine 41 Uh... We'll be responding into that
area. And... Servicing that Paul. So there is a longer
response time when it comes to Uh... Not having rescue
2 There. It sounds like this... Not only will Impact...
Uh... The area surrounding station 2, but will have implications
for the City. Potentially You know when we have another
Resource responding into another first - end. If we get
a call, not first in, you know, the resource. For
that first - in that's already responded to another person
has to have another apparatus Respond from another area into
that area. Once a BakerSield Fire Department apparatus is committed
to a call Uh... We don't stop and change our
priority to another Incident. So It's not something where... Say
we have a call that Engine 4s respond into Station
2s area, and they get another call in there, their
first - end They don't stop responding to Station 2
and go back to their first end. They keep responding
to Station 2 in another apparatus, or another resources responded
into the Station 4s area. So, yeah, it definitely could
create increased response times. And these positions are actually filled
positions, is that It isn't the scenario where... You know,
in many other cases throughout the City in other departments...
Where when we actually remove positions They're vacant. These are
actually filled positions today, is that correct? They are. Uh,
rescue 2 is staff today, and it is running incidents
today. Uh... I will say that... Those positions... Uh... If
rescue 2 does get eliminated, will be eliminated through attrition
So there won't be anybody laid off. But it is
a resource right now that is... Uh... Utilized. Utilize. Right
now And responding to incidents today. Okay, I appreciate that
so much. I just... I just want to voice my
concerns colleagues of this particular recommendation, and this potential cut
Uh... And the impacts that it has to Public safety.
Uh... Amongst our community. Um... I, for one, will not
be supporting this particular reduction and cannot support a budget
that includes this Uh... Reduction. Um... Given the impacts to
those in our community who desperately need it. Given the
fact That increases... For calls for service, are being experienced
year after year, and given the innovation really Of these
rescues. And the fact that we're able to respond much
more swiftly, much more nimbly... To some of these... Live
- or - death situations that our community members face.
Um... I think it is important for us to maintain
Uh... This same level of service, and to figure out
ways in which we can make that. Happen, and to
maintain these services. And so... I'm going to make a
referral that we look towards other Options in terms of
budget reductions, but we not include this reduction in the
upcoming budget. Thank you, Chief. Appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank
you Chief, vice mayor. Hi Chief, thank you so much
for the presentation Thank you. It's nice to see you
this afternoon. My question's actually for our City manager. What
is the status on our Fire Master Plan. Thank you
Ayes Mayer. I'm actually turned back to Chief Albertson to
give us an update on where the Firefighters Association is
at on that Yeah, thank you. I can provide an
update on that. We've actually been in contact with them.
They required some additional information RGIS Department has delivered that
to them, and we should see some results here soon,
probably within the next month or two. Okay. As what
we were told. I will say we were told that
about three months ago Uh... But we have been in
contact with them, and they are... For lack of a
better terms, uh, crunching the data. Okay Yeah. I think
it's been over a year since we first since I
first made that referral, and I... It's unfortunate that it
takes so long, and it is something that is so
urgent. Um... Given that fires don't wait, and we could
really use that data to be able to make some
informed decisions so that we don't have to make unfortunate
cuts Um... To any department, but particularly your department That
is responding to such urgent and dire needs in our
community. Um... So I still very much look forward to
that plan coming back and Hoping that it shows that
as call times increase. Um... We need more substations. We
need to be developing more infrastructure as our City grows,
especially as our City grows south. Um I was just
at Mountain View Elementary School at their opening and their
south of Taftair, only building south of Taftaiway, and I
was sharing with them how we often... I often have
conversations with the Fire Department about Master Planning and how
schools kind of are dictating You know where our community
is moving. Um... And so, you know, in the same
similar spirit Uh... I hope that it reflects exactly what
we need, and so we can make really pointed decisions
related to our budget. I had a question about the
paramedic level of care. You had shared 2, 700 advanced
life support paramedic responses Um... And that is... Extremely high.
Is there like a comparison of, has that also increases
as a data point? Or is that pretty consistent with
waves? Well, I would say it has increased, but it
necessarily has an increase because there's more ALS calls, but
because we have more paramedics out in the field. Okay.
Um... We run roughly, uh, respond roughly to 37, 000
EMS calls a year. Uh... In the past, we haven't
had paradics. And over the past years we have slowly
developed a paramedic program. We currently have four resources running,
uh, ALS balls. Uh, rescue one, Agent 15, engine four,
and engine 13. Engine 13 is there at Panama Einstein.
Um... So, uh... That is something that myself and our
chief staff are constantly licking to see where we can
expand those services. Uh, couple of the places that we
have expand those services. Is with our Bike team and
UTV team. Like I talked about earlier where we respond
to large events. We staff the marathon, we staff big
concerts. Uh, we also have SWAT paramedics now. In the
past, when PD had a SWAT call, they would ask
for an engine to come respond. And as you may
or may not know, SWAT call - outs are usually
lengthy call - outs. And that engine resources committed to
that call - out for that long time, that period
of time, which is sometimes significant. So now we have
to actually developed a SWAT paramedic program where... Where we
have specially trained paramedics, uh, that integrate into the SWAT
team. And now when they get a call out, our
SWAT parabnetic candles, the EMS portion of it. And now
we do not respond in engine or an apparatus to
that. Which has been great. So we constantly look to
see where we can expand our advanced level care resources.
Okay, that's kind of where my question was as well.
Does our department do other departments kind of separate out
like the paramedic responses versus buyers, physical fires? Um, and
how... How that kind of looks at CitySilmilar to ours.
Yeah, I will say not every other department. Um... Does
the SWAT paramedic? Uh, program like we do. But a
lot of them do like a UTV or bike team.
Um, a lot of other departments provide advanced level. Uh...
CARE. Like REERMICTO. We see it here in Current County
with their medic squads. Uh, they don't necessarily provide, do
the same platform that we do. But much like LA
County. Um, LA City, things like that. Other departments like
that. We mirror kind of how our program performs off
of theirs. And then the specialized programs. Are one of
those things that we've really kind of adapted to. We've
seen a need there with the marathons. We've seen a
need there with a large events. Um... The Christmas parade
was a great one. Um... And as we saw a
couple years ago, it was a huge benefit. That and
the fact that the incident happened right in front of
a fire station definitely helped. Uh, but, uh, we've seen
the need for that. And that's something that, as well
as BPD, have been able to address those. Thank you,
Chief. Chief, what percentage of the total 50, 000 incidents
are non - fire - related. You mentioned in 37,
000 EMS, that's about 74 percent of the total. Roughly
90 percent are non - fire - related. There's about
10 percent of them there. Maybe a little bit over,
maybe even into the 11 or 12 percent that are
fire - related. Which is higher than, um, a lot
of other communities. Uh, BakerSield is a very active community
when it comes into one we're talking fires. Uh, we
run anywhere between five to 6, 000 fires a year.
Um, not all of those are structure fires. Roughly a
thousand to 1100 of those are structure fires. Um, I
am a board member for Cal Chiefs in California training
officers, association. Um, and a network with other departments on
a regular basis. And most of them don't see the
activity that we see. Um, so, um, yeah, we're definitely
very active department when it comes to buyers. Thank you.
Council Member Smith. Thank you Mayor. I was just wondering
how it has worked out. We talked for years about
reimbursement from insurance companies and where we're at on that.
We are actively collecting reimbursement for insurance companies, mainly our
vehicle accidents. Uh, we were doing it for structure fires
for a little bit. And we stopped and we just
restarted again. Uh, we are receiving some reinbursements. It's not
a lot. Um, it's anywhere between seven to 11, 000
a month. Uh, but we currently are looking at a
cost recovery platform for what's called first responder fees. And
essentially what we're looking at is doing some cost recovery
through insurance companies. And once again, uh, for our medical
calls. Um, as I just stated we run around 36,
000 to 37, 000 medical calls every year. Um, that
could have a significant impact on revenue generation. And I
hate to use a word revenue. It's more of a
cost recovery generation. Um, and, um, we are in the
process of doing a study. Uh, to determine what that
fee is going to be. And then, uh, hopefully here
in the next three or four months we'll bring, uh,
that study and that recommendation to council, uh, for your
approval and we'll implement that. So which calls are we?
So currently we are collecting for V collection structure fires.
If we get a large rescue, um, a while back
we had a trench rescue. They're kind of lengthy. We'll
do the cost recovery for that. But some of the
things that, uh, are required for this is they have
to have insurance. Um, one of the agreements that we,
uh, had with you, the council is that we were
not going to direct Bill our community members. Right. Now,
uh, you could potentially see where community members community members
could get a bill. But it's because insurance has already
reimbursed them for that amount on the structure fires. And
then they just need to remit that to the recovery
company. But it's not, it's not additional money out of
their pocket. What you're looking to look at the EMS
also. Yeah. We're in the process of doing that right
now. Um, the study is going to start here soon.
We're just gathering some information together to send it off
to a company called DTA. They're going to establish. We
wanted to make sure that we had a fair equitable
rate as far as the COS recovery component. Right. Um,
and, uh, we should have that here soon. And we'll
be bringing it to Council. Hopefully here in the next
three or four months. Okay. Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you, chief. I don't see any of their requests
to speak. City Manager colleague. Would you like to offer
some closing comments? Just really briefly mayor and council again.
We'll be back here on May 18th. We'll have the
remainder of the departments. And then also again, a summary
of where we're at with general fund and capital improvement,
um, budget. And we'll, we'll, we'll see us back at
that time. Thank you. Colleagues, do you have any other
questions. Seeing none. We stand adjourned at 214. Sorry. Oh,
this is big. Motion to receive and file motion. Okay.
Please cast your votes. I know. I saw that right
there. It's like, remember to do that. You got to
vote.
And just motion is approved with council members audience. Gonzales.
And Bashir Tash absinthe. And we're. Just. And we are.
Sorry, Mayor. Thank you. And so now we stand a
journa 215.