Whose interests are served by having a volunteer City Council? Do part time Council Members answer to the people in their Wards, or to the special interests who paid for their campaigns?  Isn't time to have paid people work on the Council as their full time job helping solve the many tough issues confronting the community? Bakersfield clearly personifies the old saying that you get what you pay for. 

So James, if the incumbants don't file, who serves?

Hmm... maybe I should run.

Adam: Lois Henry did a column on just such a topic not long ago. Getting a charter amendment through would be a tough sell, though, since it would add probably something like a $500,000 annual cost to the city. And philosophies vary. A part-time council  means these people have day jobs and are therefore part of the community; but it also means only people with no or with white-collar jobs (and the pull to get the time off) can serve. I doubt a cashier at Von's could get the afternoon committee meetings and the evening council meetings off. Well, maybe, with enough seniority.

Tom: If the incumbents don't file, there's a special filing period tacked on to the end. If still nobody files, then the seat is most likely filled by an appointment by the rest of the council.

FSG: Yes, you probably should. Who's your councilcritter?

I would vote for you FSG. Send me an invitation to your first $1000.00 a plate luncheon. I would love to run, but imagine what the media would do with a nudist atheist republican! Not a chance. Not in this political climate, anyway.

I'm in Benham's Ward and I like her.  I know she was thinking earlier about hanging up the spurs but last I heard she was hanging in there.

FSG, go for it.

Nevermind, no dice - I just realized that I'm living in the wrong ward. 

Which one are you in FSG?  Were you hoping for Sullivan or Weir?

I'm in the 7th ward.

I think I'd rather oust Sullivan, since I'm completely agains the whole "In God We Trust" nonsense, which if I'm not mistaken was her little project.

7th is Scrivner; Weir won't be up in November; IGWT is Sullivan's project.

Isn't Ms. Benham planning to run for Rubio's seat? That's what I have heard.

And, to adampayne, I would submit that the process works and there is no need to make the City Council a full-time paid position. You want to pay them more for the same results? Look at the Board of Supervisors ... that's working out nicely, isn't it? Personally, I think the City does a WAY better job than the County in every way.  At least the City people have a genuine interest in their wards, especially Hanson, Benham and Carson. 

James, Weir won't be up in November?  How's that recall progressing?

As for Sullivan, I actually looked at a couple of houses in that ward for just that reason.  Too much too fast for me.  I just moved back home 40 days ago and have been gone for about 15 of them.  On the other hand, maybe that would make me a perfect council member...

The recall missed the deadline to make the November ballot. They had about 20 percent of what they needed. Now, July has been cooler than June I think, and they have all of August and September, and they could get it on the March ballot.

Thanks, James.  Any word on Benham?

I don't believe our current city government works. I have a problem with a mayor who runs a monopoly here. Pick one: the monopoly you currently hold, or government service. You should not have both. It is a clear conflict of interest to sit and preside over Council meetings, and continue a stranglehold on a vital public service business the community needs.

I realize I am in the very small minority of voters who think a paid City Council, whose election process should be publicly funded, is a necessary step to moving this area out of the 1930s mindset it lives in today. I also think we should have a real mayoral position with executive powers to lead the city. I am no fan of a city essentially run by a city manager, who is only accountable to a volunteer Council team, which relies solely on the information provided by the manager and his staff for policy and fiscal decisions.

There are currently only two areas of Bakersfield that gets the grease these days, the continued Northwest and Southwest development areas that Castle & Cooke control. As equity continues to plummet there has been no discussion for a building moratorium in the city limits. The glut of homes and continued growing blight of vacant houses sees no end in sight throughout the city, and a part time collection of volunteers is not the answer.

The Kern County Board of Supervisors is a completely different scenario, where much of the governance addresses state  and federal mandated policies and projects. The amount of discretionary local budget money for specific local projects is a very small percentage of the total pie allocated to the county, and restricts many projects and services many people would like to see implemented, but refuse to pony up the tax dollars to see through.  

TomW: Benham has said she's going to run. She hasn't filed. Sullivan and Hanson both told me they plan to file this weekend, but Benham was out of the chamber before I had a chance to ask.