Marcona Preserve gets go-ahead from city

Marcona Preserve will be the newest addition to Shafter's south side, joining Gossamer Grove.

The City Council approved the name change for the new housing development located off of

Seventh Standard Road, from its original Heritage Ranch.

Another change is the removal of provisions for a gated, age-restricted neighborhood with privately maintained infrastructure.

Lennar Homes is also removing the swimming pool and private recreation building that was in

the original plan. They also changed and increased the lot size of the different lots.

In accordance with current water conditions, the plant palette was also changed. There have been

newer and better landscaping plants that can be used for the development that was not available

when the plan was originally proposed.

The council also received and discussed results from a financial audit conducted for

the year 2021.

LCL Accountants and Advisors found four weaknesses in internal controls. They were a delay in financial reporting, inadequate controls over financial reporting, timely recording and depositing cash receipts, and failure to maintain internal controls and accuracy of finances reports due to a financial system conversion.

The issues were due to a financial system software change and the transition to that system.

The majority of the findings have been addressed already by the city and staff. The firm also said

that there were no difficulties in performing the audit, with complete cooperation with city staff, the report said.

They also said that in January they will be conducting a 2022 audit, getting the city caught up on

their timeline for reports and audits.

In the city's financial report, it was concluded that the City of Shafter is a very stable city with strong financials. The General Fund increased from $56 million to $59 million last year, with

an increase in sales tax revenue from online sales tax to $4.2 million for 2021. This was up

substantially from 2020 numbers.