BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It has been five years since Bakersfield voters passed Measure N, the one-cent city sales tax that was meant to fund public health and safety projects.
Since Measure N was implemented in 2019, there has been some confusion about the citizen oversight committee the law created. The Kern County Grand Jury released a report titled "Measure N: Is It Working?" in June. The City of Bakersfield has now released its response to the report.
The City of Bakersfield has agreed to the majority of findings and recommendations in the grand jury report, with the city only partially agreeing with the finding that "members do not feel that they have sufficient time to review documents prior
to having to vote," the finding that the "triplicate reading of the proposed Measure N budget consumes an excessive amount of time and bores both the Committee and the members of the public," the finding that the city council "only receives information from the Committee through the minutes," and the finding that "has limited time to review comments of the Committee prior to taking action on the recommendations."
The City of Bakersfield also decided that two of the recommendations from the grand jury needed "further analysis." The grand jury recommened that the council should combine and present Measure N budge items in one reading and that the council "should instruct the Committee to prepare the recommendations on funding priorities and present those recommendations to the Council" while also making those recommendations into a publicly available report.
The grand jury report addresses 11 findings and gives seven recommendations for the city to attempt to complete by Jan 2, 2024.
In summary, the topics addressed in the report include the orientation of committee members, confusion about the role of the committee, process and timelines for the committee to review budget recommendations, and process for the committee to make recommendations to the Bakersfield City Council.
One of the recommendations was for the Bakersfield City Council to provide all committee members with a manual outlining the following details of the responsibilities for members.
The council must also provide information on the frequency of meetings, give more details on the Ralph M. Brown act, put together a calendar for committee members, give members a copy of the Measure N ballot and collect the contact information of committee members and city staff. All of this must be completed by Tues, Jan 2.
Measure N was introduced in order to improve parks, infrastructure, homelessness, and policing.
According to Bakersfield city officials, Measure N also aims to improve rapid response to assaults and robberies. It also aims to keep public areas safe and clean and to enhance amenities throughout the community to improve the quality of life and attract more visitors.
The response to the report can be read below.
Apple and Android
