BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern County Public Works Department Code Compliance Division will soon receive new vehicles and additional officers in response to recommendations made by a grand jury in July. The Kern County Board of Supervisors has approved all of the grand jury's recommendations in order to address the challenges faced by county code compliance officers.
Kern County Chief Administrative Officer James Zervis says the recommendations will supplement work already being done in the county.
"I think when you review the report it points out some of the areas that we can do a better job in with code compliance around the county, both in staffing, resources, vehicles, training," said Zervis. "There's kind of a number of different aspects there."
Some of the changes the supervisors agreed to make include increasing the number of code compliance officers by 2, as well as adding funds to the 2023-24 budget for 4 new trucks, with funds for another 4 going into the 2024-25 budget.
"We have an aging fleet in code compliance and it's been recognized that in order to sufficiently do our jobs that we need good equipment to go with it," said Public Works Director Joshua Champlin. "So the board has committed to providing us with new vehicles in order to assist us and better our response times, and more efficiencies in the field. That's a big improvement we're going to see, and with the added people, we're going to see quicker response times."
In addition to the recommendations provided to county supervisors by the grand jury, 3 recommendations were given for the Kern County Sheriff's Office, including the prospect of sending deputies out with code compliance officers to help ensure their safety. So far, KCSO has not commented on those recommendations.
