BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 I\u2019m Madi Vollmer, here in Ward 3 at the Bluffs \u2014 and if you didn\u2019t know, your City Councilmember is Ken Weir. After missing multiple City Council meetings this year, some residents are wondering\u2026 who\u2019s making sure Ward 3 still has a voice?<\/p>\n
Frank Beltran is a Ward 3 resident, and he says, \u201cHe needs to step up to the plate or move on and let somebody do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Ken Weir represents Ward 3 \u2014 which stretches from Central Bakersfield all the way to the northeast, including the Bluffs area. City officials confirm he\u2019s missed 13 City Council meetings so far this year, including the last five in a row. The last time he spoke with 23ABC was in February, when he said his absences were due to illness. The last meeting he attended was more than two months ago, on August 27th, after a streak of five consecutive attendances between June and August.<\/p>\n
The city says there\u2019s no specific policy or law requiring action in his case \u2014 because Bakersfield is a charter city, not a general law city. Under city rules, it\u2019s up to the mayor and City Council to enforce or waive attendance requirements \u2014 not city staff.<\/p>\n
I reached out to City Council members, including Weir, but have not heard back from him by news time. However, Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur sent me this statement: \u201cI am wishing Councilmember Weir a speedy recovery through his medical issues. Ward 3 is essential to our city. I am hopeful our city’s administrative staff is fulfilling his responsibilities toward Ward 3 with diligence and closely monitoring the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, residents say they want answers.
Madi: \u201cDo you think there\u2019s a lack of representation here in Ward 3?\u201d
Frank: \u201cYes, there is.\u201d
Madi: \u201cWhy?\u201d
Frank: \u201cWhere has Weir been? We need representation \u2014 we don\u2019t have it. And when that happens, people lose faith in government and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question remains \u2014 who\u2019s making sure Ward 3\u2019s needs and concerns are being heard at City Hall? \u201cWard 3 needs someone who can get out and communicate with the people. When there\u2019s no communication, we don\u2019t have anything. They have to get out there and let people know someone is standing up for us \u2014 because right now, we don\u2019t see that.\u201d Beltran said. <\/p>\n
If you live in Ward 3 and have questions or concerns about your representation, feel free to email me at madi.vollmer@kero.com so I can learn more.<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 I\u2019m Madi Vollmer, here in Ward 3 at the Bluffs \u2014 and if you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[30979,2675,151,155,153,152,1409,179,2323,5794,10810],"class_list":["post-47437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-30979","tag-accountability","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-downtown","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-city","tag-community","tag-council","tag-councilman","tag-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}