As Kern County celebrates it's 150th anniversary, the annual State of the County address took on a historic tone as First District Supervisor Mick Gleason delivered the keynote speech.
Nearly 500 business and community leaders packed in to the Doubletree Hotel tonight to hear Gleason's State of the County address. The speech was often humorous and light-hearted, focusing on the rich history of Kern County.
After leaving the podium, Gleason was asked about how he thinks Kern County will face the current challenge of plunging oil prices.
"We've got some head winds and we've got to face them just the way our predecessors and successors faced them," Gleason said. "We have reason to believe that we're going to be successful because they were. We've been doing this for 150 years, we can do this."
As for whether there could be cuts to county services in the coming year, the supervisor didn't sound as optimistic.
"We're going to have a mid-year review, and it's not going to be pretty. It's going to be tough, we'll see how it goes."
Gleason also made it clear that fixing the community drug problem and creating a better-functioning fire department were two of his top priorities heading into this new year.
