The Twentynine Palms City Council said goodbye to Captain Dale Mondary and hello to his successor last night. Reporter Dan Stork says it also called a halt to further turf removal, selected members for the ad hoc Fire Committee, kept agenda-setting rules as-is, and approved the Special Funds Budget…
Sheriff’s Captain Dale Mondary, about to take up duties as the police chief in Desert Hot Springs, bade farewell to the Twentynine Palms Council at its June 9 meeting. He introduced his successor, Lt. and soon-to-be-Captain Jeff Joling.
The Council approved a Development Code amendment that identified quartering of ambulances as a public safety facilities usage, and expanded the permissibility of such facilities to all zoning categories.
City staffer Larry Bowden described water conservation measures that have been taken recently. Bowden said that the projected water savings are 30 percent of current usage, beating the 28 percent reduction target assigned to the Twentynine Palms Water District as a whole. Following appeals by members of the public, including Reach Out Morongo Basin Executive Director Robin Schlosser, that the grass at the Senior Center and Veterans’ Park has therapeutic and community value, the council directed staff not to remove any more grass at this time. Bowden noted that the four trees that were removed at City Hall proved to be healthier than was expected, but hey, it’s done. He also said that park sprinklers will be monitored more carefully for misdirection and waste.
Mayor Joel Klink appointed Dan Mintz and John Cole to the joint council/water district ad hoc fire committee. The time frame for coming up with a recommendation for the future of the fire department is two months. A possible recommendation is county takeover of the Department. The reasons for urgency are: The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) needs a long lead time to meet fiscal year deadlines, and Fire Chief Jim Thompson said that the department will not be able to maintain current service levels next year without deficit spending.
In the longest discussion of the evening, four of the five Council members favored retaining the current policy of requiring that a request by a member that an item be placed on a future agenda, be seconded by a second member. Cora Heiser, who had asked that the policy be reconsidered, queried each of her colleagues separately for their reasons. Reasons included: In the past, single members have swamped staff with workloads in support of a pet item. Also, some members felt that the rationale for an item should be developed to the point where at least two members felt it was worthy of consideration.
The Council approved the special funds budget of about $4.5 million for the next fiscal year. It asked that the $320,000 budgeted for completion of Knotts Sky Park improvements be brought back for more detailed consideration. City Manager Frank Luckino detailed where the special funds would be spent—mostly on road improvements. He also listed about $1.6 million in additional proposed projects that have not been funded.
