The Yucca Valley Town Council authorized a donation last night of $1,000 to the Yucca Valley High School Select Choir to partially fund its $60,000 trip to Washington, D.C. this spring, and agreed to provide matching funds for another $1,500 raised during a radiothon on Z107.7, set for February 10. In addition, the council allocated $100,000 in grants to five organizations as part of the Measure Y quality of life partnership program. Managing editor Tami Roleff was at last nightâs meeting, and says that the Grubstake Days rodeo is threatened this yearâŚ
Yucca Valleyâs Grubstake Days may not have a rodeo this year. Rodeo organizer Missy Buchanan applied to the town council for a grant of at least $52,000 from the Measure Y funds to produce the rodeo during Grubstake Days. Buchanan said she is working full-time this year and doesnât have the time to go out and solicit funds for the rodeo, and the deadline to have the funds is now. She told the council that if the rodeo doesnât get funding, there will not be a rodeo for Grubstake Days. The rodeo was not one of the organizations selected to receive a grant from the Measure Y fundsâthose were the Boys and Girls Club ($15,000), Morongo Basin CERT ($10,000), Tri-Valley Little League ($50,000), Morongo Basin Haven ($12,000), and the Basin Wide Foundation ($13,000). However, the council asked that the issue of providing funds to the rodeo be brought back to the councilâs next meeting.
In other business, the council learned that it will need to set aside a minimum of $340,000 each year to maintain the new roads that are being built for the sewer project.
The council voted unanimously to re-establish an ordinance concerning shopping carts. The townâs previous ordinance expired in 2012, and retailers have not been as vigilant in retrieving errant carts. The council also passed a resolution that would impose a $50 fee on businesses who had more than five citations in a year for missing shopping carts.