The first hour of the nearly three-hour long meeting of the Yucca Valley Town Council was a presentation by County Fire Chief Dan Munsey, who warned the council that if voters repeal the FP-5 fire fee in November, the South Desert region of the county could lose three of its six fire stations. He asked the council and residents to separate their emotions from how the fire fee was passed from the issue. He added that the fire department is making changes to reduce its costs. Then the council approved Measure Y partnership funding for 11 agencies, and agreed to add the BMX track as a recipient. However, agencies that didn’t send a representative to the meeting won’t get their funding until they send someone to a meeting so the council can ask them questions. Managing editor Tami Roleff says the council then moved on to the summer concerts and Fourth of July fireworks…
With great reluctance, the Yucca Valley Town Council agreed to cancel two of its final three summer concerts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The council also agreed to postpone the Fourth of July fireworks to the Saturday of Labor Day weekend (September 5), and to include one of the summer concerts with the fireworks. A town survey (completed by 291 residents) found that more than 92 percent still wanted the town to offer a summer swim program, so, if county regulations will allow it, the town plans to offer a six-week program of swim lessons (instead of eight weeks). And finally, the council learned that the new library renovation is complete; the town and the county are discussing how and when it will open.
The council also learned that the town’s response is just a little bit better than the state’s response in responding to the 2020 census; 61.9 percent of Yucca Valley residents have filled out their census forms, compared to 61.6 percent of state residents.
