Council approves $1.4M bid for shoulder project

The Shafter City Council approved the low bid of $1.4 million to start work on the Santa Fe Way Shoulder Project. This project spans from Santa Fe Way to Los Angeles Avenue to Galpin Avenue.

Bids ranged from $1,4 million to $2.5 million, with the low bid presented by Birch Construction. Work is expected to begin on this project in the next two months.

The council presented a proclamation for the observance of February as Safe Surrender Month in the city of Shafter.

Safe Surrender was founded in January 2000 to give Shafter residents and all residents in Kern County the option of safely surrounding a newborn infant within the first 72 hours of its birth with no questions asked. A person can surrender the infant to any hospital or fire department employee with no threat of repercussion.

As of this year, since the implementation of the Safe Surrender Bill, 95 babies have been surrendered safely in Kern County.

The SSB law also protects parents or surrendering persons from prosecution for child abandonment and does not require that names be given when the baby is surrendered as long as it's surrendered in the hands of a staff member.

According to the Safely Surrendered Baby Coalition, the purpose of the law is to protect babies from being hurt or killed because they were abandoned.

Also approved Tuesday night was continued viewing of council meetings on the internet via Zoom, as well as teleconferencing. They also approved moving forward on bids for the Veterans Park basketball court project.

Public Works Director Michael James discussed details of the improvements planned for City Hall, including new landscaping, restoring the outside of the buildings, including roof upgrades, and improvements to the air conditioning and heating systems.