It's clear that the new decade promises a face lift for Taft and these renovations are reaching more than just the Rails to Trails and Oildorado. At the end of 2009 the Executive Director position at the Chamber of Commerce opened up. With Randy Miller's retirement, the empty position offered a promise of change for the Chamber and for Taft.
Miller's successor, Fred Schell, is the man with the plan. Although he is not a native of the Westside, he brings to the table an ample amount of experience in public relations and ambitious, progressive ideas for Taft. "My vision is to get Taft exposed to the rest of the world," Schell explained.
Since Schell's debut as Executive Director, membership at the Chamber is up and they're even getting big businesses looking into investing in Taft. "I'm ready to rock and I'm running with it," Schell said. "If we make this as appealing as it could be, there's no reason why we can't be a major small town doing a San Luis Obispo kind of thing."
Having visited the Carrizo Plains since the 1970s, Schell was attracted to the small town mystique that Taft holds. "The potential here is really great and the people are dedicated," he said. "I've lived all over the country, I've been around the world seven times and if you could pick an ideal town atmosphere and personality where people are real, Taft would probably be close to what you would describe."
Schell's qualifications for the job are more than adequate. With a background of 12 years in computer systems with American Airlines and Hilton, ten years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, involvement with the Los Angeles County Disaster Communications Rapid Response Team, FEMA, California Emergency Services, C.E.R.T., four years working with a non-profit organization as a media consultant and grant writer as well as being an FBI InfraGard Member along with a career in public relations and business development in Los Angeles to top it all off, he proves he has the talent the future of Taft is looking for.
Schell said he was shocked when he got the job but that it made him hopeful that the city was open to an outsider's view point and he hopes to really boost publicity for the city. "The town needs to grow and needs change," he said. "The oil industry has been here and will always be here but we have to offer different things, too and we can do that, whether it's a balloon festival or whatever...something to get people here and as the people get here, the town will evolve." While Schell knows Taft will never be a metropolis with skyscrapers, he does foresee a major influx of Los Angeles residents coming to the Westside. "From Santa Clarita to the Mexican border, Southern California is filled. There's no where else to go unless you go inland and into the desert," Schell explained. "They're going to discover just over Fraizer Park and we are the first place," he said. "The natural migration will lead them to Kern County."
The city is planning to build a park plaza at the Rails to Trails near 5th Street and while the Chamber is not directly involved with the construction of the plaza it still creates a unique opportunity to draw in the Los Angeles nomads and people from all over to Taft. "We use that to entice people to come in and invest," Schell said. However, he knows the value of the native Taftian. "The community needs to know that they are the customers of the Chamber. We're here for them," he said. "I want to ask them, 'what I can do for you?' rather than, 'how much can you give me?'"
Publicity and boosting tourism aren't the only ideas Schell has in store for the future of Taft, he also hopes to make changes at the Chamber by turning it into a true Visitor Bureau and making an electronic presence by creating a Facebook page and blog to reach outside of Kern County. However, the first thing he wants to change is being closed on Fridays. "That's the best day for weekend travelers," he explained. "And being closed is going to lose a lot of business."
Schell would also like to open a Taft store in the empty office within the Chamber, as well as on the internet, where local goods, shirts, stickers and the like would be for sale. "I also want to have a display from the Oil Museum and the Fort as well, so it's truly a Visitor's Center," he said.
Not only is Schell stepping it up at the Chamber but he is bringing the his moxie to the Friends of the Carrizo board. As a member, he has helped make plans to arrange wildflower tours through the Carizzo in the Spring and he will also be devoting a special section in the Taft store dedicated to merchandise for the Carrizo like books, maps, and shirts.
Fred Schell is determined and enthusiastic to see change in Taft and making great headway in achieving this goal. It will be exciting to see what the next year will bring from the Chamber of Commerce and its new Executive Director.