AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS
March 25, 2026 COUNCIL MEETING
REGULAR MEETING – 3:30
REPORTS
Item 5.a Second Quarter 2025-26 Budget Update (All Wards) City staff will present a report on the fiscal year 2025-26 budget progress.
REGULAR MEETING – 5:15 PM
APPOINTMENTS
Item 6.a Keep Bakersfield Beautiful Appointment (Ward 6) Due to the resignation of the Ward 6 alternate, there is a vacancy on the Keep Bakersfield Beautiful Committee. Staff recommends that the City Council determine a replacement to serve concurrently with the nominating Councilmember’s term expiration.
ORDINANCES
Item 7.c.1 New City Council Appointment Position Entitled Chief Assistant City Attorney (All Wards) The current City Attorney is expected to retire at the end of 2026 or soon thereafter. The City Council desires to begin recruitment immediately and use whatever remaining time the current City Attorney has to be a mentor to the prospective new City Attorney. As such, it is the Council’s desire to create a new City Council position called Chief Assistant City Attorney. Based on the Charter, this must be done by ordinance. The City Manager and Finance Director will address how this proposed position will be paid and the compensation in ongoing budget updates, as well as the next Fiscal Year 2026-27.
MISCELLANEOUS
Item 7.h.1 Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program Round 1 funds (Ward 1) In March 2024, California voters passed Proposition 1, a two -bill package including the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) (Senate Bill 326) and the Behavioral Health Infrastructure Bond Act of 2024 (BHIBA) (Assembly Bill 531). The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) was authorized to establish the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) to construct, acquire, and expand properties and invest in mobile crisis infrastructure related to Behavioral Health. On November 20, 2024, the City Council authorized the application to and participation in BHCIP. The City, in partnership with Kern County Behavioral Health, applied for funding not to exceed $25,000,000. The proposed project, Calm Horizons, would establish a new residential treatment facility for behavioral health and substance abuse at 2310 Wible Road. On May 27, 2025, DHCS notified Economic and Community D evelopment staff of the conditional award in the amount of $22,867,345 for the proposed Calm Horizon s project. On January 8, 2026, the City entered into the Program Funding Agreement 7690 -CA BHCIPBOND_1054_CalmHorizons- 01 to acquire and rehabilitate project property. This agreement requires the City to provide cash match funding in the amount of $2,286,7 34.50 and sunk costs in the amount of $265,000. The match funds are proposed to be accounted for in the Opioid Settlement Funds received by the City through the National Opioid Settlement Agreement. Staff recommends appropriating $22,867,345 in BHCIP funds into the Economic and Community Development Operating Budget to continue grant implementation. There is no fiscal impact to the General Fund.
PUBLIC SAFETY/VITAL SERVICES MEASURE
Item 7.j.1 Community House Kitchen Improvements Project (Ward 2) City owns the Community House located at 2020 R Street (Facility) and is in need of updating the kitchen equipment and amenities (Project). This Project is a coordinated effort between the City and the Bakersfield Senior Center (BSC) to utilize the Facility for hot meal preparation and serving the local senior community. BSC will be
providing the City with kitchen equipment that will be utilized as part of the project. These items include, but are not limited to: a gas range, refrigerator, freezer, double oven, and buffet serving tables. The Facility will be temporarily used by the BSC until their new senior center is constructed. After the new senior center is constructed, the Facility wil l be available for programming and rental. Five bids were received for the project ; Staff reviewed the bid proposals submitted by JL McDaniels Compa nies, Inc., dba McDaniels Construction (Contractor) in the amount of $347,349.61, which was deemed acceptable and recommends approval of an agreement for a not-to-exceed amount of $347,349.61. This Project is funded by Public Safety and Vital Services funds and the Capital Outlay Fund within the Capital Improvement Program, and no additional funds are needed at this time.
REPORTS
Item 10.a Community Choice Aggregation Update (All Wards) In 2023, the City Council directed staff to continue evaluating the feasibility of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) following a referral to explore innovative energy strategies that could provide greater local control, increased customer choice, and potential cost sa vings for Bakersfield residents and businesses. In addition, Council requested staff to explore creative solutions to larger-scale energy production, microgrids, and other energy solutions that would create greater savings and serve as economic development tools. Staff engaged the California Choice Energy Authority (CalChoice) to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study and Willdan to evaluate pathways and the feasibility of utility -scale Distributed Energy Resources (DER) implementation. The update will include presentation s for CalChoice and Willdan findings.
Pending Council direction, n ext ste ps include preparation of a formal Implementation Plan and solicitation of proposals for preparation of the final Implementation Plan to be submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Following preparation and Council approval of the Implementation Plan, the Plan would be submitted to the CPUC for certification. Based on regulatory timelines, staff would target a January 2028 CCA implementation date . The Implementation Plan is estimated to cost between $50,000 and $100,000 and can be funded by existing General Fund appropriations in the non- departmental fund. Some savings can be achieved if community outreach and education efforts can be completed by internal Communications & Marketing staff, limiting the impact on the General Fund.
Prepared by: Alex Hinojosa, Management Fellow CC: Department Heads City Manager’s File
City Clerk’s File
News Media File