[Kern County] Grand Jury: One employee is not enough to cover over 8,000 square miles

The Kern County graffiti abatement program covers approximately 8,163 square miles and right now only one employee manages all that space, according to a Kern County Grand Jury report.

The report said the one employee is constantly buried in requests coming from all corners of the county and is in need of some relief. The City of Bakersfield has 12 trucks, 12 full-time employees and covers less than two percent of what the one county employee is expected to cover.

The grand jury also found that the way graffiti removal requests are processed is highly inefficient and the process needs to be simplified.

Residents and business owners can put in a request online on the city and county pages but some people do not know whether they fall under the county or city jurisdiction, according to the report. This issue causes the county maintenance manager to spend several hours processing graffiti removal requests before being able to process and send an employee to the location to start the removal.

While processing requests are a problem for the county, the grand jury found the county program is extremely underfunded and understaffed. Right now, the county graffiti abatement program relies on other maintenance workers when extra assistance is needed.

The City of Bakersfield budgets $2 million a year for its graffiti abatement program, while the county has allocated less than $81,000 a year since 2018, according to the report.

The grand jury recommends the following:

·       The Kern County Graffiti Abatement Program should have its own dedicated budget.

·       By Fiscal Year 2022-2023, the Board of Supervisors should, at a minimum, double the budget of the Kern County Graffiti Abatement Program.

·       By January 2023, purchase a new vehicle with new equipment.

·       The County should consider purchasing a sandblaster in the next fiscal year.

·       By February 2023, staff should be a minimum of three (one supervisor, one full-time employee, and one extra help).

·       Within six months, a system should be implemented that automatically directs the removal request to the proper authority (between city and county).

A.   The graffiti abatement website needs to include an area map that CLEARLY indicates county and city jurisdictions for the reporter.

B.   When filling out a request for graffiti abatement online, the forms need to specify where the request is needed, in the City or the County.

·       The City and County graffiti abatement staff should meet weekly to address their application problems until they are resolved.

·       Kern County should apply for Federal Grant funds allocated for the homeless and gangs, as they are a major contributor to graffiti.

You can access more Kern County Grand Jury Reports by clicking here.

KGET.com
Mason Rockfellow
March 23, 2022