BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Bakersfield City Council will hear updated information on proposed sewer rate increases during tomorrow night's meeting. The proposal returns after the city spent the past year conducting community education efforts following initial public pushback.
"We didn't do a great job a year ago when we first rolled this out," Clegg said. "We could have done more work to help people understand what the real need is and also how we meet that need."
The city has conducted town hall meetings and created educational videos to help residents understand the necessity of upgrading aging infrastructure. Officials have also re-examined their financial projections and found ways to make the rate increases more manageable.
The new proposal will start with more modest rate increases and phase in higher rates over five to 10 years. This approach addresses the need to rebuild 30- to 50-year-old treatment plants while making the financial impact more manageable for taxpayers.
"We found a way to start at a more modest number, work our way up over 5 to 10 years to get to a rate that's gonna really support our system," Clegg said.
City council members have reviewed the updated numbers during follow-up meetings, and Clegg said none have indicated the revised proposal is still too high. However, he expects significant discussion from both council members and the public during tomorrow's meeting.
The city of Bakersfield has narrowed its search for a new police chief to two internal candidates after conducting its first-ever nationwide recruitment. City Manager Christian Clegg said both finalists are highly qualified and would compete well against candidates from anywhere in the country.
The city began with 11 applicants in the open recruitment process, which included several external candidates. However, only three individuals were invited for initial interviews based on qualifications.
"We really looked at folks objectively about their experience," Clegg said. "Even though we had an open recruitment, we had several candidates from outside."
Clegg acknowledged that the recruitment pool wasn't as large as expected, citing several factors, including Bakersfield's pay scale relative to other California cities and the city's ongoing work under a Department of Justice-stipulated judgment.
"Not everyone volunteers to come and work on something like that," Clegg said.
The city manager held a community stakeholder meeting where about a dozen community leaders met informally with all interview candidates. The feedback was positive, with participants expressing satisfaction with the quality of leadership in the police department.
A final virtual listening session will allow community members to share input on desired character traits and values for the police chief position. Clegg emphasized that the session is not intended for residents to debate specific candidates, but rather to help him understand community values for this important decision.
The city expects to name the new police chief within the next two weeks.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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