Bakersfield, CA (Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 at 8 p.m.)— Fourth District Supervisor David Couch has been elected to serve as the chair of the Kern County Board of Supervisors for 2015. In that role, he provided the State of the County speech on January 28 at the annual event hosted by the Kern County Board of Trade. There was emphasis on changing laws due to scarcity of water and potential revenue problems for the county with the sudden abundance of oil, leading to a drop in tax revenues and falling oil prices. See The New Mountain Pioneer for February (on newsstands Friday) for a print version with highlights from the speech. Here is the speech as it was delivered, compliments of Supervisor Couch’s staff.

State of the County Address
January 28, 2015
Supervisor David Couch, Chairman
Kern County Board of Supervisors

Good evening! On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, I’m pleased to welcome you all tonight.

As I look out across the room – this really big room – I see so many people from every corner of Kern County.
For me, this shows what a large and diverse family Kern County truly is. We are cities, county areas, military bases, industries, businesses, schools, and volunteer groups.  We farm the soil, the wind and the sun.  We extract oil, natural gas and countless minerals from the ground.  We explore and extend the bounds of flight.  We’re business owners, engineers, doctors, farmworkers, educators, public servants, and parents.

 

One of the reasons that we get to do or be any of these things is our nation’s armed forces.  I would like anyone who is a current or former member of the United States armed services to please stand so we may recognize and thank you.

 

We’re here because we care about Kern County, and this is perhaps the only time we can gather in one room – admittedly, a very big room – to renew our ties, celebrate our successes, and talk about the work that remains ahead of us.

One person who could not be here tonight would like to send his greetings.

(Congressman Kevin McCarthy video greeting)

The Board of Supervisors knows that our part in the work that remains ahead, the business of governing, requires close partnership with all of you, including the people who create the jobs and the wealth on which our county is built.

As you know, one of those partners is our sponsor this evening, Rio Tinto Minerals. Please join me in thanking Rio Tinto for its fifth straight year of supporting the State of the County event.

We’re also pleased to welcome Chevron USA as a sponsor of this event. Chevron has supported schools and community efforts throughout Kern County for many decades. Thank you, Chevron.

As everyone knows, Rio Tinto is headquartered in Boron, which is literally in one of the corners of Kern County. Boron gets first mention, but tonight we’re going to celebrate every place in Kern County. If I happen to leave out your particular place, I apologize in advance. But don’t worry; your County Supervisor will let me know about it later.

Speaking of my colleagues, I would like to introduce the members of the Board of Supervisors – First District Supervisor Mick Gleason, Second District Supervisor Zack Scrivner, Third District Supervisor Mike Maggard, and Fifth District Supervisor Leticia Perez.

I’m very proud to serve with them and I look forward to working with them on the many challenges that we face in the coming year.

Before I talk about that work, we’d like to spend a few minutes showing you a quick overview of what the County did in 2014.

(County Services by the Numbers video)

That gives you an idea of the breadth and depth of County services, from health and public safety to roads, libraries, parks, and very basic things like weights and measures, that are all fundamental to a civil society.

One of those basics is safe and reliable water.  That’s even more important in a place that gains so much of its wealth from growing food and fiber. The drought has brought into sharp relief the need for all of us to work together. We must ensure that in the future, the farms, homes, and businesses, of Kern County have the water they need. Not just because it’s a good idea – as of January 1^st, it’s the law.

The new state groundwater law says that by 2020, every critical water basin in California – and that certainly includes Kern – must have a workable plan for bringing groundwater extraction and recharge into balance. The County has joined cities and water districts to form the Kern Groundwater Authority. Our aim is sustaining the Kern-Tulare aquifer on which we all depend, not just in drought years but for many decades to come.  By 2022, we will need a plan for the Indian Wells Valley, where the water table is also declining. This water is critical to the national defense mission at China Lake and for the people who draw their livelihoods from the base, so we must protect and nurture that supply.

The County has an important stake in ensuring that limited water supplies are managed for the benefit of everyone.  Needless to say, this will be difficult and contentious.  There are many beneficial uses for water, and we know that Mother Nature can withhold this precious resource any time she wants.

We have reservoirs, canals, and groundwater banks to move and store water where it is needed, but environmental laws have sent increasing amounts of water flowing to the ocean.

Having that water would really help us, but those laws are still with us.  In the end, the new state law requires that we balance the many competing local needs for groundwater. And if we don’t do this ourselves, the State or the courts – or both – will do it for us. While we don’t have enough water, we seem to have plenty of oil right now. Weaker global demand and higher U.S. production have brought crude prices down from over $100 a barrel to less than $50 in the last six months.

This is already having an impact in the oilfields, where generations of people have made their living.  We’ve been through boom and bust before, and we’ll make it through this one.

But in this price climate, oil investors are going to be more selective about where they sink their money. Yes, Kern County produces more oil than any county in the nation, but we’re still in California, where oil production seems to be under constant assault from Sacramento. And I have to say, that’s an odd way to treat an industry that fuels 96 percent of the vehicle miles traveled in California.

But that’s the policy climate we live in. If Kern wants to compete with the emerging hot spots for U.S. oil production, we need to help the industry meet California’s tough environmental standards. That’s why the Board of Supervisors ordered a comprehensive environmental impact report that should help oil companies meet state regulations while continuing to produce oil and gas here.

=This landmark document will cover every impact of oil and gas production on our air, ground, and water, and the County will start the public debate on this in just a few months.

Protecting the environment is nothing new in the oilfields. For decades, Chevron has treated oilfield water to blend with fresh water for irrigation. Now the industry is working with farmers toward expanding the use of recycled oilfield water by agriculture. A new treatment plant in Wasco will use promising new technology to treat up to 350,000 gallons a day of oilfield water for irrigation use when it opens this fall.

That’s encouraging, not only because it’s a win-win for oil and ag, but because oil and gas property taxes are the County’s single biggest source of local revenue. That’s why the oil price decline poses a huge challenge to County departments and the Board of Supervisors. Yesterday, we began the first stages of a plan to deal with the shortfall while maintaining the services we know people need.

Our department heads know how to stretch a dollar, and we will just have to get by with fewer resources.

As you know, the County and the City of Bakersfield have had our differences over some of those resources.  But I’m confident we can improve that relationship, because the people do better when we work together.  And I’m glad to see people from City Hall here tonight. Thank you for being here.

Now let’s turn to some of the challenges ahead. This is normally when we would say: “Kern Medical Center is our toughest problem”  – excuse me – our toughest challenge. But this year, there is good news for KMC. The new management team led by Russell Judd has started to turn things around.   KMC’s income in the first quarter of the current fiscal year put the hospital in the black during July, August, and September.  We expect similar results going forward from Andy Cantu, the new CFO at the hospital.

KMC may ultimately have more leeway to manage employees and expenses under new legislation authored by Assembly Member Rudy Salas and guided through the Senate by Jean Fuller that allows the Board of Supervisors to create a separate hospital authority.  The authority will run KMC like a business. What a concept! We need to cut through the bureaucratic red tape that has kept the hospital from running at peak efficiency.

Another big issue is supervising thousands of criminal offenders who are now the County’s responsibility under prison realignment.

Kern County still gets many more offenders from the courts and the prisons each year than the State said we would – and we still get less state money per offender than almost any county. But law enforcement, Mental Health and other departments are using that money to help offenders acquire the job skills and the personal resolve to reconnect with their families and the community.

The biggest hurdle many of these people face is drug use.  The most prevalent drug is methamphetamine.  Meth doesn’t just harm users, it breeds more crime and violence, shatters families, and overloads our healthcare system, our courts and our jails. The Kern Stop Meth Now Coalition teams law enforcement with community groups, businesses, churches, schools, and healthcare providers to stop the spread of meth. It’s a battle we have to win. We cannot afford to condemn entire communities to the destruction caused by meth, and our businesses need a drug-free workforce.

Enforced custody has to be part of the solution, but you can’t persuade wrong-doers toward another path if you don’t have the space to hold them for more than a fraction of their jail time.

The Board made a tough decision last year to build a badly needed new County jail to relieve our over-crowded facility.  We will build it mostly with state funds, but at full capacity, running the new jail will add new burdens to the Sheriff’s budget.

That made this a very tough call, but when the Board weighed the added cost against the public safety risk of not building it, we knew what we had to do. And when it opens in 2017, the Board will be keeping a very close eye on jail costs to keep this from eating the rest of the County budget.

We also like to build things for our law-abiding citizens.  I think we can all agree on one public works project that is well worth the money:  the Thomas Roads Improvement Program (TRIP, named for former Congressman Bill Thomas).

Projects like the Westside Parkway and the Seventh Standard Road interchange at Highway 99 are ridding us of traffic bottlenecks and adding capacity that makes our community run more efficiently.

Moving goods and people smoothly is critical to daily commerce. That’s why the Board of Supervisors committed $40 million more in County funds last year to help foot the cost of future TRIP improvements.  And TRIP is only about halfway done. Many more projects are underway or in the works.

We have chiefly one man to thank for all of this: Congressman Bill Thomas. Congressman, please stand so we can acknowledge the important legacy you have provided.

While I’m at this table – my table – let me thank the nucleus of the Chairman’s Kitchen Cabinet for agreeing to help me this year.

First, someone you all know, Assembly Member Connie Conway, Former Assembly Minority Leader, former President of CSAC, and former Chair of the Cities, Counties, and Schools Partnership.

Between Connie, Carl Sparks, Bob Hampton, and the former Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, I may survive this Chairman thing. Better yet, the County will survive it.

Besides TRIP, the County is also investing in other kinds of infrastructure. The Pine Mountain fire station that opened last year will help to improve emergency and paramedic response in the mountains.

The new Information Technology building will house the County’s automated systems up on the bluffs by Bakersfield College when it opens later this year. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to put our main computers in a basement in the middle of a flood plain, but this building will fix that.

We’ve moved the library in Buttonwillow from an unreinforced brick building to the newly renovated Omni health building downtown – which the County will lease for $1 a year for the next five years.  Library visits, computer use, and circulation have all increased at the new central location.

The Shafter Learning Center is a new partnership between the City of Shafter and the County library.  The city refitted half of the library space with technology and classrooms where people of all ages can continue their learning.

The County’s new animal shelter on Fruitvale Avenue has been up and running for a little over a year, and it’s been a great platform for delivering better services.  Animal Services has made solid progress in spaying and neutering, adoptions, and rescues. They’ve taken mobile spay/ neuter clinics to many outlying areas including Tehachapi, Boron, California City, Mojave, Rosamond, Arvin, Oildale, Buttonwillow, Kernville, Lake Isabella and most recently, Lost Hills.

The department has improved its animal “save rate” and kept it high throughout 2014.  For that, I’d especially like to thank the volunteers. You’ve gone above and beyond to help the County find humane alternatives for these animals.

It is my hope that we can find a way to develop the County’s undervalued assets such as Buena Vista Aquatic Recreation Area.  With some upgrades and more efficient use of its water supply, we could better capitalize on Buena Vista’s location as the first large water recreation area north of Los Angeles – with all due respect to the outstanding resource we have a little further up the road at Lake Isabella. We will be looking for state and local funds to try and make that happen.

Sometimes it takes just a little water to have a lot of fun, so the County used federal money to finance the new spray park in Arvin. The spray park recycles 100 percent of its water, by the way.  And the county park in Lamont finally has its new playground equipment and will soon have lighted walking paths with exercise stations, thanks to several private foundation grants.

Mojave will get new streetscaping with federal funds allocated by the County.  The East Niles Senior Center will get parking and roof repairs, better disabled access and security fencing.

Inyokern’s water system will receive a new well, pump, and other renovations through the County’s allocation of federal funds.

Infrastructure is an important County responsibility, but safeguarding health and safety is equally critical.

These threats can come from unexpected quarters. After 100 tons of yard waste were illegally dumped from City of Los Angeles trucks in Frazier Park late in 2013, Kern County staff investigated and found all kinds of other trash in that waste. But even scarier:  By dumping their yard waste here in Kern, L.A. violated state quarantines against three highly destructive insects that could have wiped out Kern County’s nearly $7 billion farm industry.

The County fined L.A. almost $900,000, but an administrative law judge will decide the penalties L.A. must pay.

Another problem the Board has battled is farm and oilfield theft. Since the Board gave the Sheriff more deputies to combat these crimes, the value of property stolen and the number of incidents has been cut by more than half in just two years, and more property has been recovered.

Those are the kinds of things county government does best: protect health and safety for local residents, and invest wisely in local infrastructure.

But I think our most important job as County Supervisors is to create the right conditions for economic growth and then advocate strongly for the industries that create jobs and wealth for our residents.

That is how you get $17 billion in solar investment and some of the largest solar and wind energy arrays in North America. That is how you get a decade of economic growth unmatched by any area in the nation. And that is why, even with falling prices for our most important product, we continued to see bright economic news in 2014.

(Kern County Economy by the Numbers video)

These encouraging numbers mean that more people are working and providing for their families.  It’s been said many times – because it’s true – that a job is the best social program there is. And no one deserves to be hired more than our nation’s veterans.

Our Board is grateful that Chevron USA has given the Kern County Veterans Service Department a $250,000 grant to develop the Kern Patriot Partnership to connect veterans with jobs. The partnership will create an online portal to match the skills, knowledge, and dedication of our veterans with high quality employers who need good people.  Thank you, Chevron.

Everyone and every place in Kern County helped to build the numbers you just saw, and behind those numbers are some amazing stories.

For example, did you know that two egg ranches on the outskirts of Wasco and Delano together produce 60,000 dozen eggs per day? That’s right – more than 700,000 eggs – every day.

Delano’s strong and growing economy is one very welcome success story.  The new Delano Marketplace opened last year, and the much-needed shopping center has been a real economic stimulator.  Across Highway 99, Paramount Citrus opened its huge Halo production facility last year that employs 500 people and produces 800,000 bags of fruit each day for six months out of the year.

Delano is also celebrating its 100^th year as a city. The official centennial is April 13th, but they’re kicking off the party this weekend. So Happy 100^th, Delano.

Also, Happy 50^th Birthday to California City, Kern’s youngest incorporated city.

And in Kern County’s Fourth District, I cannot leave out the small city with the big heart, Maricopa.  One of the biggest hearts in Maricopa belongs to the owner of Tina’s Diner, who has a cheerful word for everyone and she makes the best breakfast I’ve ever had. As you can see, I dine there often.

Also in the Fourth District, Taft is starting to realize its economic potential with a new 200-home development and a 70-room Best Western Hotel that will open this spring.

The Westside Recreation and Park District held the grand opening of Oil Field Park, a smaller replica of Fenway Park, last year in Taft.  Kids can play Wiffle Ball and instructional baseball at the new park, and it will be a great tourism draw.

Athletic success is a long Kern County tradition, not just here in Bakersfield but also in less famous programs like Boron High School football.  With barely 150 students, Boron is the smallest school in California that still puts 11 men on the field. But the Bobcats play big-time football. They’ve won four CIF titles, and this week, the team is going to the Super Bowl as guests of the NFL. So watch for their inspiring story during the telecast.

And the Disney motion picture about McFarland High School’s cross-country team opens in theaters across the U.S. next month. Besides putting Kern County out there to the nation, the McFarland story shows what it takes to be a champion.

Kern County is filled with amazing people who have made their mark in the world. Last week, country music legend Merle Haggard returned to visit the home where he was raised in Oildale.  Merle’s childhood home is being dismantled and rebuilt, board by board, at the Kern County Museum. We hope it will attract many of the fans he has made all over the world to Bakersfield.

The Petroglyph Festival celebrates some of Kern’s very first residents, and it has made Ridgecrest a Kern County destination.  Last year’s inaugural festival drew several thousand people who came to see the area’s Native American heritage depicted in representations of the ancient petroglyphs on rocks at Leroy Jackson Park.

I’d also love to tell you about the amazing things they’re doing at China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center and Edwards Air Force Base to help keep our nation safe, but these secrets are best revealed on the field of battle.  So tonight we will just say thank you to Edwards and China Lake for all they are doing.

Before the military bases, before there was oil ‒ almost before there was agriculture in Kern County ‒ there was gold. Did you know that the first new gold and silver mine in California in over a decade is being built in Kern County? The new mine at legendary Soledad Mountain south of Mojave will employ up to 190 people and there may be enough ore for at least 30 years of mining.

Tehachapi now has the largest battery-based energy storage system in North America. Southern California Edison funded the demonstration project with help from a D.O.E. grant.  It’s basically a huge lithium-ion battery that stores 32 megawatt-hours of power. Since battery storage will be key to expanding renewable energy, it’s exciting to see that technology being pioneered right here in Kern County.

And speaking of pioneers, one of Kern County’s most enduring stories has been our aviation and aerospace milestones.  From Glamorous Glynnis to Voyager to Spaceships One and Two, the pioneers of flight have risked their lives to push the realm of the possible faster, farther, and higher. Last October, we lost one of those pioneers, Spaceship Two test pilot Michael Alsbury.  His fatal crash reminded us all of the great price that such progress can exact, and we offer our sympathy to his family as we honor his memory.

The pioneering spirit that led Michael Alsbury to follow a lifelong quest for flight is the same force that brought people from all over the world to Kern County to seek new lives and forge new futures.  Kern County has shown that it’s still a place where all things are possible.  Our Board must do everything we can to keep that promise alive.

The County faces many tough decisions in the year ahead: how to keep our economy growing, how to stretch our budget to protect people’s health and safety, how to balance the countless competing needs with the limited resources that we have. And I’m sure there will be other challenges we don’t even know about yet.

Your County Supervisors will do our best to meet those challenges. We cannot promise you that we will always choose the perfect course of action. But as these decisions arise and as I search for answers, I will always go back to something my father told me: Do what you think is right and take the consequences.

That’s what I think most of us want from our leaders: Make a thoughtful decision and own it.  That is all we can pledge to you, and in return, we ask for your help in reaching those decisions.

We need and value that help. We are grateful for our partnerships with all of you in this room and in our communities.  We hope you will continue to join us in making Kern County one of the greatest, most productive areas in California and the nation.

Thank you for all that you do, and thank you for joining us tonight.

 

This is part of the January 30, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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