Taft swears in two new police officers; council approves consent calendar

Taft — The Taft City Council on Tuesday swore in two new Taft Police Department officers, heard the department’s monthly statistics and approved the consent calendar covering items 11–15 by a 5–0 roll-call vote.

The council administered oaths to Juan Topete and Bryce Veach in a brief ceremony early in the meeting attended by family and department staff. Police Chief McMinn introduced the officers and described their training history, saying Veach and Topete completed consecutive academies: “he did back to back academies, I believe, 16 weeks and then another 24 weeks, something to that nature.” Chief McMinn invited the public to a graduation/stage ceremony for the two officers scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. at Harvey Hall Auditorium, Bakersfield High School.

The swearing-in was followed by the police department’s monthly report for July. Chief McMinn gave patrol and incident statistics, noting several figures in sequence. He first referred to “1,154 total incidents” and said 387 were patrol checks, then later stated, “Total incidents, we had 786 for the month of July,” and provided additional detail: 399 officer-initiated contacts, 157 total cases written and 89 total misdemeanor and felony arrests (71 misdemeanors and 18 felonies). The chief also credited the Kern County Sheriff’s Department academy for recently trained officers who joined Taft.

The council then considered the consent calendar, which the mayor described as items “routine” and asked whether any council member or member of the public wished to remove an item. No removals were requested. The consent calendar comprised: item 11, minutes of the July 15 regular meeting; item 12, payment of bills (noted in meeting as “some $700,000 plus or minus”); item 13, monthly report for Kern County Fire Station No. 21 for June 2025 and a staff recommendation that the activity is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per guidelines cited in the staff report; item 14, an amendment to the joint powers agreement of the Central San Joaquin Valley Risk Management Authority and a related resolution with a CEQA finding; and item 15, adoption of the City of Taft Title VI program update for Taft Area Transit with an associated CEQA finding. A motion to approve the consent calendar was moved and seconded; the clerk called the roll and the motion passed 5–0.

During public comment, an unnamed resident spoke about two topics. First, the speaker described the state law often called the Phone Free Schools Act and said districts must develop a smartphone-use policy by July 1, 2026, with input from students, parents and educators and five-year updates; the commenter urged parents to check Taft High’s current rules so they are not surprised when the law takes effect. The same speaker also criticized statements by California’s governor about energy policy and climate change; those remarks were delivered as comment and were not presented as policy or action items before the council.

The council closed the open session after announcing it would meet in closed session on a single real-property negotiation item with City Manager Craig Jones under Government Code provisions cited in the agenda. The mayor adjourned the open meeting and the council proceeded to closed session.

Politics and personnel items were the night’s most time-consuming subjects: the ceremonial swearing-in and the police report drew family and staff attendance, while routine administrative business was handled through the consent calendar vote. The council’s closed-session item was announced but no outcome was announced in open session.