TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Negotiations between Kern County and its 14 unions may be struggling if Tuesday's meeting of the Kern County Board of Supervisors is any indication.

Supervisors voted to declare impasse in negotiations with the unions that represent deputy district attorneys and child support attorneys.

District Attorney Ed Jagels launched a strident defense of his employees, saying they currently make 4 percent less than corresponding lawyers working for the Public Defender's office.

"Your district attorneys should make at least as much as the public defense attorneys that the law requires you to employ," Jagels said.

He was followed by attorney Michelle Domino, representing the Kern County Prosecutors' Association, who urged supervisors not to declare the impasse but to give them a raise to match pay with public defenders.

"It is clear that you value them more than you value us," Domino said. "This board values letting criminals out of jail more than it does putting them in."

That comment didn't sit well with Supervisor Michael Rubio.

Rubio said he came into the chambers intending to vote against the impasse -- but that Domino's presentation almost convinced him to change his vote.

"To suggest that we don't support many of the people who are in these chambers is simply inaccurate," Rubio said.

Supervisors confirmed with staff that the concerns raised by Domino could be settled through mediation, which follows the declaration of impasse.

Supervisors also declared an impasse with the Kern Faculty Association, which represents doctors at Kern Medical Center.

In other action Tuesday, supervisors:

* Approved mitigation fee agreements with the Saco Ranch and Stockdale Ranch projects.

The two large land development proposals will be annexed into the city of Bakersfield, shifting much of the tax revenue to the city.

But the county was able to negotiate payments from the developers that will support county services that will still be provided to the developments after annexation.

* Agreed to eliminate the Animal Control director position currently held by a retiring Guy Shaw.

Public Health Director Matt Constantine argued the position is not needed and the county can save $22,741 by hiring a leader for the department into a less lofty classification.

* Voted to oppose plans from the California Air Resources Board to lump Kern County in with all of the eight San Joaquin Air District counties for calculating the pollution reduction targets the county must meet by 2020 and 2035.

Kern County Planning Director Lorelei Oviatt told supervisors that lumping Kern in with everyone else ignores the fact that Kern County covers valley, mountain and desert areas and has unique characteristics with heavy truck traffic and military installations.

She said reducing greenhouse gases by 5 percent by 2020 and 10 percent by 2035 are goals that will be impossible to meet -- setting Kern County up for failure.

"It will not be a matter of stopping building. It would be a matter of stopping functioning," Oviatt said. "We could literally stop driving -- everyone -- and not make those targets."