Tehachapi News

City teams up to create coordinated water plan

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With its water service connections inching toward the threshold number of 3,000, the Tehachapi City Council voted to join four regional entities in developing an Urban Water Management Plan.

In a 5-0 vote at its Oct. 5 meeting at the BeeKay Theatre, the Council agreed to work with the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District, Golden Hills Community Services District, Bear Valley Community Services District and the Stallion Springs Community Services District to create the state-mandated plan.

The management plan will cover three water basins: Tehachapi, Brite and Cummings Valley.

The plan, to be developed by a consultant, will take 500 man-hours to generate, at a total cost of $80,000, Tehachapi city Utility Manager Jon Curry said.

He said the city's portion is $19,840.

A sum of $24,800 was built into the 2009-2010 budget for the project, and the allocation is not to exceed that amount.

Curry said the city currently has 2,965 water customers. The California Water Code requires urban water suppliers to deliver to more than 3,000 customers to prepare and adopt an Urban Water Management Plan.

Records destruction

In other business, Deputy City Clerk Julie Drimakis said that under new state guidelines that the Council adopted June 5, 2009, certain documents were scheduled to be destroyed.

"Some I would consider non-records," she said. "Some is correspondence that did not require a reply, like one letter about bear carving in Boron."

Some items are kept longer than others.

"If it is an item involved in possible litigation, it is filed separately from the general correspondence," Drimakis said. "We are required by law to retain any record that has the possibility of litigation."

The Council voted 5-0 to proceed with the destruction.

Variety in prayer

Pastor Andy Walker of the Country Oaks Baptist Church gave the invocation, calling for wisdom in the Council.

After the Sept. 21 closed session, the Council had reported it had decided "to continue with sectarian prayer at the opening of each city council meeting but with the list of those churches invited to participate on a rotating basis to include a variety of faiths and denominations."

"We are trying to broaden our list," Mayor Linda Vernon said after the Oct. 5 meeting. She encouraged the public to bring forth suggestions for persons to give the invocations.

Public speaker Jean Dallachie, referring to the threat of a lawsuit relating to prayer at public meetings, said he could not find the wording in the constitution that says the public must be "free from religion."

While he applauded the Council's decision to continue with invocations, "I will watch what you do," he told the Council.

Wind turbine protest

Public speaker Socorro Schmidt encouraged people to attend the Nov. 12 Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting regarding the expansion of the Alta-Oak Creek wind farm project into Old West Ranch.

"This is close to heavily wooded mountains," Schmidt said. "If a fire burned it would seriously impact the watershed. I hope the citizens of the community think about that. The last fire (White Oak) was at Old West Ranch.

"I like energy as much as anybody, but that location puts other resources at risk."

She said the expansion of the industrial-size near 500-foot turbines would impact the Pacific Crest Trail and turkey vultures.

"Write to the supervisors. The EIR (Draft Environmental Impact Report) is at the Tehachapi library. Please avail yourself of it."