We're on at the board of Supervisors.

Kern County Planning Department chief Jim Ellis is delivering the staff report on the M&B Land Development concrete-crushing project.

Both the businessman who proposed the project - Mark Polhamus - and neighbors have appealed the decision of the Kern County Planning Commission to approve a two-year use permit with a re-review of the project after that time.

Neighbors don't want the project approved at all.

Polhamus wants more than two years to operate this add-on to his flat-bed truck rental business.

I'm skipping the board of supervisors meeting this morning to work on a piece for tomorrow's paper.

But don't worry. I'll be at the afternoon session to watch the final debate over the proposed concrete crushing plant out on Rosedale Lane.

Supervisors are in a classic development pinch between neighbors who don't want the recycling operation near their homes and the land owner who points out his property is zoned to allow the operation with a conditional use permit.

Check out Lois Henry's characteristicly saucey opine on the situation here.

We'll see you all at 2 p.m.

A good resource for pre-planning your route out of Bakersfield in the event one of the dams at Isabella Lake fails are maps included in the power-point  presentation OES Chief Georgianna Armstrong presented to the Board of Supervisors today.

Here's a slimmed down version of her power point with just the maps. She said better versions will be available to the public after the plan has final approval.

Supes are getting their report on the performance of the county of  Kern's 2009-2010 budget in the first three months of the fiscal year.

The county is tracking an $11 million shortfall in revenues in the time period. Spending is tracking per budget.

It's to early to worry, county budget staff said.

"We feel its premature to begin projecting the year-end cash balance," said Budget Director Gloria Dominguez.

This morning is all about the Isabella Lake dam.

Supes will get a report on the dam investigation from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Then they'll get a look at the updated evacuation plan that will get people out of the way of the water if the dam fails.

We're on at the board of supervisors' meeting.

It looks like it will be a fun meeting. There is a good audience. The power-point the planning department is intending to run through has intriguing comments like:

"The existing plan focus has been directed to growth on the preiphery rather than infill dor densification."

and

"Currently planned growth is not transit-friendly."

Ted James is saying that the meeting is a chance to relook at the way we have been growing and see if government can' t incentivize more dense, central development.

The main event on this afternoon's agenda is the planned merger of the Public Health, Environmental Health, Emergeny Medical Services and Animal Control departments in one public health services agency.

Matt Constantine will run the new merged department under the current plan.

But first we've got to get through some other items.

Anthony Trujillo, chief of the field operations bureau of the California Department of Social Services presented an award to Department of Human Services for an exceptional rate of accuracy in the food stamp program.

Kern County Department of Human Services had a 4.36 percent error rate in its food stamp prorgam.

The state's error rate was 5.77 percent over the same time period.

Four county departments could find themselves in a merger of convienence on Tuesday when Supervisors meet.

Go here for the full story.

Basically Public Health Services, Environmental Health Services, Emergency Medical Services and Animal Control would be united in holy bureaucracy as the Health Services Agency under the control of new Public Health Director Matt Constantine.

Constantine got the permanent Public Health job Tuesday.

It's kinda like rolling Constantine's two previous gigs — running first Animal Control and then Environmental Health — into a huge job managing Public Health and then slotting Emergency Medical Services and its Director Ross Elliott into the fold.

Apparently the Kern County Board of Supervisors likes Matt Constantine.

They just changed his temp job as Director of the Kern County Public Health Services Department to a permanent gig.

The move may give an indication of what supervisors think of the possibility of merging several public health departments into a single shop.

Constantine's direction, on taking the interim job in August, was to investigate the possibility of a merger aimed at increasing efficiency in county government.

Supervisor Ray Watson, one of the two supervisors studying possible mergers, said the decision on that part of Constantine's mission will be made later - but some decision is expected in a couple of weeks.