ARVIN, Calderon — “A City with Growing Pains” is how a recent Grand Jury Report describes the City of Arvin and it is also critical of certain city practices.
- A Grand Jury report reveals financial irregularities in Arvin, including poor infrastructure and excessive billing by the city attorney.
- Mayor Olivia Calderon expresses vindication, stating these issues reflect concerns she raised before her election.
- Key findings include the council's failure to fill vacancies and call for special elections.
- Despite the issues, the report acknowledges successes like community policing and a fully electric bus fleet.
- The city has 60 to 90 days to respond to the Grand Jury report.
For your convenience, the skimmable summary above is generated with the assistance of AI and fact checked by our team prior to publication. Read the full story as originally reported below.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A just-released Grand Jury report is critical of financial practices in Arvin. That report also points to several issues it says the city needs to address.
Some of those findings by the Kern County Grand Jury include the city's poor infrastructure regarding its roads and sidewalks, the council's failure to appoint or replace a vacancy on the city council or to call for a special election. Of special note... Is the charges to the city by city attorney Nathan Hodges.
All of these concerns are no strangers to Arvin Mayor Olivia Calderon, who before taking office, voiced the same concerns at City Council meetings.
"I feel vindicated," stated Calderon. "I ran on a platform, of transparency and accountability, Priscilla. The issues that the grand jury report has now made public are concerns that I have been expressing for some time now."
The Grand Jury takes the city council to task for failing to closely examine the billing by the city attorney. The report reads in part, quote, "The lack of scrutiny of billings from the Outside Law Group has resulted in the payment of invoices that are billed in excess of the contracted amounts."
The current city attorney, Nathan Hodges was hired on a temporary basis and is not full-time. The mayor has since requested that the city begin accepting bids to hire a full-time city attorney.
"I made it very clear that as the mayor, I am going to do my due diligence, I am going to ensure that when it comes to our public funds—our taxpayer dollars—that we're being responsible," said Calderon.
According to the Grand Jury Report, for basic services that could be assigned to paralegals at the cost of 115 dollars per hour, the city has to pay the attorney 260 dollars an hour.
"We have a small budget here in the City of Arvin. It's an eight million dollar budget and the needs are great," said Calderon.
But it's not all bad news, however. The report also highlights some of the city's accomplishments. Among those is the Police Department's focus on community policing which has reportedly decreased the city's crime statistics.
The city has also been recognized for its Transit Department and its ability to convert its bus fleet to fully electric.
The city now has 60 to 90 days to respond to the report.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
