HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES NO 42-59 mSOLUT O
RESOLF_~ION OF TBUE COUNCIL ~F THE CiT~' OF
F~AF~ERSFiELD RECITING FACTS AND STATING iTS
POLICY iN CONNECTION WiTi-X Ti-ZE BAKERSFiELD
~ffCIPAL WATER D!STRiCT~
WF~',jREAS~ the me. tubers of the Council of the City of Bah'sz~s'.~ield
are the dul3 elected rep:.~esentatives of the citizens of the Oity of
Bakei~sfield with particular reference to that pa~t of Bakersf:i. eld
generally desc~,ibed as~
'
Commencing at the intersection of Union Avenue and ~
St:ceet (or- Bernard St?eet)~ thence westerly to the Kern
River aloD4~ 34th Street, thence southwesterly to Oak
Street~ south to Palm Streete east on Palm and 4th Streets
to Union Avenue~ thence nor'[;h on '0'nion Avenue to Oalifor-nla
Avenue., east to Washington Street~ north on Washing'~on
Flower Street~ thence west to a point between 0~.~ens and
Gage Strests~ thence west to the canter. of Section 20
the vicinit~ of Alta Vista Drive m~.d Bernhard Strest~ 'bh.en;cs
south to the Section Lin.s~ west to Union Avenue and
on Union Avenue to the place of bsgimair~
e,nfDrac Bakersfield Municipa~ ~ater Dist?ict~ and
~-ffEREAS;~. the members of the City Council a~:s cha?gsd with the,
duty of acting' in l~ae best interests of said citizens and do
have an obligation to said citizens to keep them infos~med as
'm..tt-re that affect their welfare and '- 1-being~
NOW, TEE.'REFORE~ BE iT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of
Baksrsfield~ that the fo!lowip~ facts be set forth and pubticizcdz
That tl:tez~e is in existence a gove~nmental s. ntity known as
the Bakersfield Mtmicipa! Water District_~ said agency being created
in 1o-°2 ua~der the ~--icipal Water District Act of 1911 The Bakex~s~'
field t~2unicipal Water District~ hereafter- called "DistYict"~ is in
no ~aF· connected wi~8 the City of Bakersfield except 'for'!ocation~
' ~'s from said Cit ~ is not In any ~¢ay unde~
derives nor~,e of .-.t~ powe~s Y~ .
th.s csn. t~oi of said City~ and acts entirely' independent from said
City° The District boundaries are those boundaries whicii were ~s!ie
· ~i'~'' of Bakersfield boundaries in 1922 and .in general follo~ the
boumdaries as set forth in the preamble of2this Feso!ution, ~e
citizens and residents of said District are~ all ~ithin the confines
n boundary-ice of ~he City of Bakersfield
2~ The District was for-mad in i922! for 'bhe purpose of
SUlgD]V~ng ]~ra~er ~so ~h,e residen~ of the Ci~Dr ,m, xi~!~i~ 'bh.e area. here'~o
fore set for~h~ The historical fact concerning the forn~.~cbion
_ lc-~ the
B~.kersfie!d b3]unicIp~l Water District is~ ~ha~ pr-ior ~o ,~-
City of Bakersfield was faced with a serious ~mter problem d.v.e
the inadee3~-ac'~' of the then existir~ ~a'ber s~rstems su. ppiyin~
to the residents of the Oity, Oonse~uent]-y~ the Bakersfield
%~fa'her i)isi>ric'b was formed to correct tb;is deficiency. '~he Dis-b3cd. c'b
'=~-~. ~ to the vo'bers for fu~.ds by way of a bond issue for the
of acquir~-ng ~he existing wa'ber systems~ The vo'~e~:s solidl~-
e
the proposi'bion of the Districto Su'os quent '~o ~fna'b time the
Oaiifornia'~,/ater Service 0o~r~3a.ny bought out the t~o ~m. ter
~c:hen in operatfcns inxproved the systems~ e~$~nded their lines
furnished ~ater to the con~tn%i'by~ satisfactory ~o i-~s needso
puzpose for ~hfch ~ District ~,a'as formed ~as acco'~plished bye' the
Oe. iffo-z~nia ~jater Service Oorapany~ The !~u. rpose bei~.~ accomp!ished~
~',here ~'as no longer aD.y need for action on -bhe part of i~he
Thue~ ivjhe District never entered into any operations of any nature
such as acqu:iring !ines~ we!ls~ or facilities for the p~=pose
su.p'pl]~i~ ~-mter to the area~ which has been describeds~ and therefore=~
th~ District became do~mant~
A].thouC~h there has never~ to the present de~'be~ been, azv~-~'
or oi~ers-tion on '~he part of the District ~Ln' suppi~'i~ ~.~ater to inhe
Distric'~; residents~ there have been ~ax levg, es made on ~he o~<.~'!ers of
· property' ~aithin the Dist~iot~ ~,rhich area is served by the Oaliforn!e~
~Te. tere Sererice Oom~aan3~, These ,le~ies ~-,rere nmde in the yea, re !923~2h-~
192~$,-2~ a~.d 19h.2-1-~.3s and totaled retu. rns in excess of F:7-fty Thousand
]Sot!are (~FSO~O00~O0)~ ~Teedless to say~ the residents of :the Distrg. ct
ITJ_~ i~-e~'e~t~-d no- -benefit- fr'o~the~ ~tax- lr~2~ s-- -since -the -Dis%~ic~
· never entered into any operations~ Also~ since 1922 ~hen the District
~,m.s formado the' District ~$ not had a stx~!e cons~aer of ~-ater
supplied by o? thz'ough the Distribt~ either inside the a~=ea
District or outside the area~
3- It is to be noted in these ~in~ir~s of fact that th.~ Dist~ict
is sinpowered to levy an ad valorera tax on the prcpen~ty of owners within
the a~sa which has been generally described above ~
It is to be fu~ther noted in these findings~ t~t the ~District~
by the aforesaid Municipal Wats~ District Act o~' 1911s is empm~er~d
to ampex to it~ areas which are not' centiguous to the existi~ area
of the Distx~ict~ including uninhabited areas which have a s~ns. lt tax
base as compared to the developed area of the existing District.
Pum~sus. nt to Section 20-12 of th~ M~nicipal Water District Act of 1911~
r~'~ the district is given broad ~owe:~s to
entitled "Dist~ict Powe. ~ ~ .
undertake p:~ojects for the De~e~T~it o,~f ~
4. On the ~th day of March~ ..19%9~ the aforesaid District
snte~sd into a contract ~dth the County of Ke~n wherein it was p~oposed
that the District ~de~take the exploration and d~illing of a w~'ber
v~e].l in o~der to supply water to certain u.~~i~o~a~q~-jrJa~ in
~e Co~ty o~ Kern,. The contra~t between the District and the County
of Kern in pa~t ~ecites~ as follows:
"W~e~eas~ a sex~ious water sho~tag~ has developed in a
certain portion of the ~n~inco~:po~ated area of the Ccunty~
~hlch is z-e'fe~ed to as the Northeast portion of the
Greate~ Bake~sfie!d Area adjoini~ the service area
~the Californla Water Service C~mptny and the East Nilss
Cc~bb~ty Services District~ Said water shortage has
seriously impeded the development of said are~ for resi~
dential~, co~e~cial~ business~ industx,ial and
purposos ~
The contract does not propose to benefit in a~y mm~sr whatsoevsr~
the ~esidents or citizens of '~e District o~ the City of Baken~sfield
silence the avowed purpose of the centsact is to benefit the
area ts the No~thsast of the City of Bake~sfield. The citizens of
the City of Bakersfield owning prop salty within the te~:~itorial limits
of the Dis~~s ~s~cetof o~s]~l~d~' ~'a~]e~k~~ s~.b jec ted to ~ax
levies for a projoct from which they will derive no benefit~ and may
bs further subjected te tax levies fer pu~.~osss from which '~ey will
de_~ive no benefit°
The District has called for bids to drill a '~.~atem~ ~ell i~l oy~dsr
to carry out the terms and the conditions of the contract mentioned
above° If water is discovered as a result of the drllli_~ of the
~ter well, v~ch Is to be located in the vicinity of the mouth of
the Ke~n Rive~ Canyon~ t~ans~ssion lines ~dll ~ve to bs established
~t a cost in excess e~ Five Hun&red Thous~d Doll~s ($500~000~00)
a~d th~ owners of prope~y in the District~ who will not be benefited~
~-ji].l be subjected to t~ levies by way of ad valorem taxes on ~ei~*
pL~opez~ty, for. the privilege of supplyi~ water to an area tha'b is
not in the Ci~ of Bakersfield or in the Bakersfield Mt,micips. 1 We-tern~
Distx$ict and from w~ch they m~y e~ect no benefit~
5. The Board of Directors of the District are ch~ged with
the. duty of car~ing out the functions of t~ District insof at as
the District ts empowered to act~ In t~s comection~ it is
specifically provided by the M~ioipal Water Act of 1911 that the
District may acquire by purchases leaSe~ condemation or other?~ise~
~jater ~orks~ waters~ water rightsm l~ds, water work systems and
cOnstruct~ mintatn, and operate conduits~ plpelines~ reservoirs~
~orks~ xnac~nery and other property useful and necessa~ for the
p~f!~~m~~ct/They ~y also sell ~ter to cities ~nd
other territo~ ~D~,~A~~ and if a~ '~E!P~- exists after
supplying the water .necessary to 'the i~abitmts of the District 'they
or
~.y then sell the ~!E!waters to any other agency person~
The contract entered into by md between the District and ~e
County of Kern specifically asserts that the p~pose is to supply
s.~eas outside the District with w~ter so t~t those areas m-y be
de~-eloped~ Thus~ no benefit is Lntended for the areas inside the
District~ although these are the areas w~ch must bear the cost of
the project~ by tax assessment.
The City Council hereby states and declares that the action
taken by the Board of Directors of the Bakersfield Municips. i Water
District in calling for bids for the pu~'pose of di~illir.,,g a ~,~'s. te~ ~,~ell
in the area located near the mm~th of the Kern Ri'~ex~ Ca~yo~ is not
in the best interests of the citizens o.~T the City of Bake~sfield an~
in p~-rticular those Q$tizens re. ruing p~operty witl~n th~ City of
B~ke~sfield~ heretofore described as that portion of the CitU~' ~hich
constitutes the bondsrise of the Bake~rsfie].d Municipal Water
. ~e City cramoil fu=~.the~ states and decla~-~es that it is
-po~'e~~ or authority to' cause the dissolution of the Bakersfield
N~nicipal Water District~ Tt~t such dissolution c~n only be a~comp].ished
by the acts of the residents of the area ~ithin the District~ pu~suant
to the p~ovisions of the M~ic~.pal Watex~ District Act of 1911~
~e City Co~cil hereby states ~d declares t~t the entity
~c~.o~n as the Bakersfield Municipal Wate=~ Distx~ict is being used as a
wehicle for the development of az~eas outside ~e Distract and that the
citizens and residents of ychs District should fo~th~ith and ~'ithout
delay~ take ~.~tever steps are necessary' to protect thei~ inte:~estso
It is f~ther stated ~d decl~ed by the City Council o~ the
City of Bakersfield ~-~t the Mayor~s oflice w'ill freely ans~'er any
inqui~ies regsm~ding the Dist~ict fr~ any kno~ledge possessed by the
Mayor~ and welcomes such ~.quiries~
I L~EREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution ~.,ms passed and
adopted by the Coumcil of the City of Bakersfield at a regular msst~
i.~ ~ June 1959 by the fo!!o~im~
~ thsPsof held on the 29th day of
vote:
AYES: BA~~LEY, CARNAKIS, COLLINS, CROES. DOOLIN, STIERN,
NOES: -.
Council of the City o~ Bake.-~sfisld~