From County Supervisor Ray Watson's office:

Fourth District Kern County Supervisor, Ray Watson, has agreed to form a Mountain Communities Municipal Advisory Council (MCMAC) to serve the communities of Frazier Park, Lebec, Fort Tejon/Tejon Village, Pinon Pines, Lake of the Woods and Pine Mountain Club. A resolution to form the MCMAC and its bylaws will be brought to the Kern County Board of Supervisors for approval.  After reviewing applications and meeting with a number of individuals, five members have been selected for initial appointment: Stacey Havener, Linda MacKay, Steve Newman, Robert Peterson and Anne Weber. “These individuals were selected based on demonstrated leadership, community service and broad representation of community interests and geographic areas. We are leaving open the option to extend membership to seven at some point depending on the need to represent additional interests within the communities,” Watson said.

Stacey Havener is a real estate broker and currently serves as president of the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce. Her leadership and initiative has achieved strong membership growth within just a few months. She has supported Junior Falcon Football, the Shakespeare Festival and was recently appointed to the Kern County Board of Trade. Stacey resides in Pine Mountain Club. Her business and community service activities cover all of the Frazier Mountain communities.

Linda MacKay, who resides in Frazier Park, has had a broad range of community involvement through her employment with the Family Resource Center.  She has served two terms on the Mountain Communities Town Council, one term as president. Linda sits on the Environmental Justice Advisory Group to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and is a strong advocate for a wide variety of environmental issues.  She is a member of the Boys and Girls Club.  Linda is one of the original group that researched and suggested the formation of MCMAC.

Steve Newman, retired after 34 years as a sergeant of the Los Angeles Sheriff Department, is a resident of Frazier Park. For 16 years he worked on gang investigations and oversaw the State gang database as Chairman of Cal Gang. He was responsible for managing multi million dollar grants. He has been a member of the El Tejon Unified School District Board for nine years, four years as chairman. He coordinated the Emergency Response Grant for the District. Steve is interested in community cleanup, tourism, service to Lockwood Valley communities and emergency preparedness. He is familiar with managing budgets and working in a team environment.

Robert Peterson resides in Lebec and works for Tejon Ranch. He has 28 years of experience in real estate, land planning, economic development and maintenance of sustainable development standards. He serves on the Tehachapi Fire Safety Council. Rob has lived in small towns for much of his life and understands the unique challenges they face. He is interested in improving conditions for youth and fostering more involvement in outdoor activities.

Anne Weber resides in Frazier Park. She established the Mountain Communities Family Resource Center in 1999, and in her management capacity has served a wide variety of human service needs throughout all of the Frazier Mountain Communities. She previously worked with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools and graduated from the Kern County Network for Children Leadership Class. She has participated in the Mountain Communities Collaborative since it was established in 1997. She serves on the American Red Cross Disaster Alert Team for the Mountain Communities, the Kern Council of Governments Social Services Technical Advisory Committee and the Boys and Girls Club of Frazier Mountain. Anne has extensive interaction with many County departments and social service agencies.

The purpose of MCMAC is to conduct community outreach, provide a regular public forum for discussion of issues, provide the catalyst for public/private partnerships for improvement projects and to advise the Fourth District Supervisor regarding proposed developments.

Supervisor Watson emphasized, ”MCMAC will not be a gatekeeper between the community and his office or the County. I am more than interested in meeting with any individual or group at any time.” The MCMAC will be an appointed body. Should the MCMAC and community decide to fund specific projects or services through the formation of a Community Service District and the implementation of self assessments, the CSD would have a board of directors elected by the local community through the County election process.

The County and all levels of government continue to experience severe budget restrictions, but Supervisor Watson will continue to seek grant opportunities and public/private partnerships for local projects such as the Downtown Beautification Project, and will look to the MCMAC for any community input they have regarding these projects.

Further details of the MCMAC’s operation, such as when and where meetings will be held and which topics they will focus on, will be determined by the initial MCMAC appointees along with public input at a public meeting Supervisor Watson will be arranging in the near future. As soon as the date is determined, Supervisor Watson will notify the local community and all interested parties.