Keeping Tabs on Tehachapi: Windows, Wind, Walmart

Guild to the rescue – From the operation of its little thrift shop at 101 West E Street, the Tehachapi Hospital Guild through the years has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in hard cash to purchase vital hi-tech equipment for the Tehachapi Hospital. Now the Guild has in excess of $675,000 in its bank account, and Adventist Health (soon to be the operator of the new hospital and clinics), with its big purchasing power and resources, doesn't really need those funds for equipment. As the Replacement Acute Care Tehachapi Hospital nears completion, it appears that the guild will come to the rescue in other ways. At the guild's meeting Sept. 12 at Kelcy's restaurant, Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District CEO Eugene Suksi asked the Guild to consider donating $75,000 to purchase the window coverings for the new hospital. He brought samples of the blackout curtains for patient rooms and opaque coverings for offices and other rooms. The cafeteria, with its graceful wall of glass, will not require window coverings, as it faces away from the direct sun and looks out onto the healing garden. Suksi told Forde Files that while the design and palette for window coverings were included in the construction plans, neither the healthcare district nor Adventist had budgeted for them. Guild president Jeanetta Cowden said that the Guild also may be asked for funds to finish the fountain in the hospital's interior atrium and to complete work on the healing garden.

Hospital license – David Eastman, interim president of Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley, said on Sept. 15 that the intermediary agency Noridian has completed its work on the transfer of the Tehachapi Hospital license from the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District to Adventist Health. The California Department of Public Health and the California Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are working on the forms for the license. There are four applications -- one for the existing hospital and one for each clinic. The paperwork has taken almost two months longer than anticipated. Adventist will apply for a license for the new hospital in December.

Ciao CEO – Doug Duffield, president and CEO of San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield and a principal in the affiliation between Adventist Health and the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District, is leaving Adventist to return to his native Pacific Northwest. He will assume a leadership position with "a large faith-based health care system," according to the press release from Adventist Health.

Can they inspire the makers? – The East Kern County economic diversification planners and their mounds of data (see previous page) have a challenge in replicating the accomplishments of innovative individuals who drive economic growth through their own spirit and vision. A government study is not what brought Burt Rutan to Mojave to establish his Scaled Composites company (He told the Tehachapi High School Robotics boosters several years ago that he went airport-hopping with his family and Mojave was the cheapest place to set up shop). A government study is not what inspired "wind gypsies" Buddy and Nikki Cummings to create World Wind and Solar, now with its 155 employees (95 in Tehachapi), $5 million payroll and ripple effect that to date has enabled 24 employees to buy homes and provide for their families. If the Austin company TIP Strategies can bring together nascent regional talent and an effective strategic plan, it will be money well spent. The Office of Economic Adjustment, an arm of the Department of Defense, is paying for the study under a grant that Kern County won.

Keeping employees – Nikki Cummings, president of World Wind and Solar, told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council Sept. 7 at the Tehachapi Police Department community room that their solar land management employees – surrounded in the field by reflective solar panels -- may work in temperatures of 115 to 124 degrees "They work 15 minutes and take a break for 45 minutes," she said. They wear leather chaps to protect against rattlesnakes. The company's priority is to help employees "to be happier so they don't go work for our competition," she said. The company career path is based on their Hire-Train-Retain ™ program: "Hire the right people; Train them to embrace our safety culture; Retain them by providing a path to success." Unskilled employees can start at $12 an hour and rise to an annual $60,000 to $90,000 within a year, she said. The higher salary is for traveling wind technicians. Buddy Cummings says: "If you're not growing, you're dying."

Casino at Ridgecrest – Following lively public commentary, the Ridgecrest City Council approved the sale of 26.4 acres of commercial-zoned land on China Lake Boulevard to Global Enterprises company of Las Vegas, which plans to build an Indian casino on the site. The Timbisha Shoshone Native Americans, whose ancestral tribal land includes Death Valley and the China Lake Naval Weapons Station, is partnering with Global to build the 30,000-square-foot casino that features restaurants and a hotel. Ridgecrest Economic Development Department Manager Gary Parsons reported on the land sale at the East Kern Economic Alliance meeting Sept. 7 at the Rio Tinto community room.

Now they tell us – Walmart without the agony – A new Walmart on 28 acres in Ridgecrest is set to open in November. Just as in Tehachapi, it's been more than 10 years in the making – but not because of legal wrangles with opponents. Engineering problems with the public works facilities delayed construction. The city was able to move ahead without engaging with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that enables opponents to slow down or stop any project being built in California with environmental challenges. "We never got sued and never did an EIR," Parsons (see above) told Forde Files. How is that possible? The Ridgecrest City Council developed a Specific Plan for the Walmart area and created an initiative on which the council voted. The city did its own traffic study and Walmart kicked in millions for infrastructure – widening the streets, installing lights, sewer, flood control, constructinga new intersection and left turn lane. The plan was a "collaboration between myself and the Walmart team," Parsons said. Meanwhile, the city of Tehachapi has won at the Fifth Appellate District in its 10-year battle with Walmart opponents, a group named Tehachapi First. "It was a non-written opinion, which means it is a strong case for us," Tehachapi Economic Development Coordinator Michelle Vance told the Tehachapi Kiwanis CLUB Sept. 14. "The court denied another request for a written opinion... Walmart is going ahead."

Fire, Sheriff substations to stay open – Even with a county budget that has been impacted by a loss of $78 million in oil-production revenues, Kern County is keeping Golden Hills fire station and the Rosamond Sheriff's substation open. Sheriff Donny Youngblood originally had said the Rosamond substation would close and the community of 20,000 would be patrolled by deputies out of Mojave. Supervisor Zack Scrivner wrangled Community Development Block Grant funds for the Rosamond substation, which will be moved to a new location in an economy move. Scrivner's deputy Ryan Rush reported at the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council (GTEDC) meeting Sept. 7.

School report – Also at the GTEDC, Tehachapi Unified School District Superintendent Susan Andreas-Bervel reported that on day 15 of the school year the student population was 4,300, up a hundred from last year. The district is bringing in four new teachers and adding a kindergarten and fourth grade at Cummings Valley Elementary, a first grade at Golden Hills Elementary, a sixth grade class at Jacobsen Middle School, a teacher at Tehachapi High School, three new learning directors and a co-administrator. She said there was a 6 percent jump in third grade Language Arts tests and 3 percent improvement in math. The target, she said, is 10 percent. The application for free and reduced lunch now is available online. Forty-three percent of the district students qualify for the free and reduced lunch. AndreasBervel said the district has refinanced its bonds, saving the taxpayers $1.3 million.

Salvation Army coordinator – Twenty-eight-year-old Michal Knowles is the new Tehachapi Salvation Army Service Unit Center Coordinator, succeeding Marget Willer, who was so good at running the Center that the Salvation Army asked her to take a job working with dozens of other units around the state. Willer is on the road much of the time now. Knowles has been in charge of the Tehachapi Service Unit children's after-school program, among other duties. She came close to moving to Tennessee but changed her mind at the last minute, to the joy of both Willer and the Kiwanis Club of Tehachapi, of which Knowles is a member and for which she serves as the organization's liaison to the Tehachapi High School Key Club. Her unusual name Michal is Biblical and is pronounced "Michael."