Council OKs buyout option for city manager

The Shafter City Council voted to approve a buyout option for the employment contract between the City of Shafter and its City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who began with the city in 2020, has a contract that expires in March 2025. Gonzalez has announced to the council that he plans to retire at the end of his contract. Gonzalez also said that he would be willing to accept a buyout of his current contract if the city finds a replacement before the expiration of his contract.

In the terms of the buyout proposal, the city would pay Gonzalez the lesser of two options. The first option is to pay him six months base salary, plus his cell phone expenses. The cost of six months of base salary for Gonzalez is approximately $114,000. The other option would be to pay Gonzalez the remaining months left on his contract, which would include his base salary and cell phone, whichever option would be the lesser of the two, depending on when and if they find a replacement before the expiration of the contract.

The city, with either option, would also keep paying his health insurance premiums until the end of the contract in March 2025, unless Gonzalez finds employment before that time and it includes paid health insurance.

The council approved the resolution, which would take effect if a replacement is found before March 2025.

In other action, the council approved a plan to move forward with a project that would result in a roundabout located at the intersection of Seventh Standard Road and Highway 43. This project includes an initial widening of Seventh Standard Road. The project involves the participation of the city of Bakersfield, Kern County and the City of Shafter. Members agreed that this roundabout would help all three agencies and would be beneficial for the future connection of Seventh Standard Road to Interstate 5. The project is at a cost of over $4 million, which is approximately $1.5 million per agency.

The Wonderful Company has offered to pay the city of Shafter's portion of the cost, in return for future traffic impact fee credits for future development at the Wonderful Industrial Park, in an amount equal to its contribution to the project. An agreement between the city and the Wonderful Company to finalize this arrangement still needs to be developed and brought before the council for consideration.

[CORRECTION Aug. 8, 2024, 4:34 a.m.: Due to an editing error, part of the location of a planned roundabout was inadvertently truncated in an earlier version of this story. The new construction will be at 7th Standard Road and Highway 43.]