City to post opening of Hetge's Council seat

At their Jan. 21 meeting, the Tehachapi City Council directed City staff to publish two times a notice to appoint an at-large member of City Council to replace Councilman Kenneth Hetge who resigned on Jan. 2. The appointee will finish out the rest of Hetge’s term, which ends on Nov. 3, 2020. A special election was not an option due to the November election when that seat will change from at-large to district.

The Council again took up the subject of the Urban Greening Grant project that would supply around 470 trees to four locations throughout the City of Tehachapi, the most prominent being the center median on Curry St. between Tompkins Elementary School and Highline. Last September, Development Services Director Jay Schlosser recommended that the City Council NOT accept the bids ($134,000 and $215,000) from two design firms as they were in excess of projected expenses for the work. Wood Architecture submitted an estimate of $62,560 for the project design services and the City Council approved that agreement. Wood Architecture designed the landscaping for the Downtown Park & Ride and Flying J Travel Center.

City Manager Greg Garrett announced that Development Services Director Jay Schlosser had received the ASCE 2019 Outstanding Civil Engineer of the year award for Region 9 (California) and will be honored in Sacramento on April 3. He will then go on to compete against nine other engineers for the National award. Garrett also announced that copies of the City 2019 Year in Review are now available at City Hall.

Councilman Phil Smith said that KernCOG has completed their report on the truck climbing lanes on eastbound Hwy 58. The project has been divided into three sections beginning at General Beale Rd. and will cost from $30-$35 million. The project had been submitted to CalTrans for funding under emission reduction funding but was denied. KernCOG is now searching for other funding. It is estimated that, depending on funding, the project could possibly be completed by 2026.

April Wiley, 2020 Census Partnership Specialist, said the Census Bureau is looking for a Kern County team of volunteers to assist with the 2020 Census. She stressed that the 2020 Census does not include questions about citizenship. In the last Census, nearly 600 adults and 2,000 children were missed in Kern County resulting in a loss of government funds for federal programs including education. Anyone interested in joining her team can contact her at [email protected]

Tehachapi City Council meetings are held the first and third Monday of the month at 6 p.m. in the Wells Education Center, 300 S. Robinson St., Tehachapi.