About 45 minutes prior to last night’s Twentynine Palms City Council meeting, five local organizations presented formal requests for a share of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Reach Out Morongo Basin, Mil-Tree, Morongo Basin Unity Home, San Bernardino County Public Library Literacy Program, and 29 Palms Community Food Pantry all made requests, followed by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department who put forth their own. The city will receive approximately $163,000 in CDBG funds for Fiscal Year 2023/2024.
After several announcements and formal acknowledgements, the council got caught up in a Consent Calendar item pertaining to the city’s holiday schedule. Councilmember Klink requested that city employees take their own birthdays as holidays and a lively discussion ensued. After agreeing to obtain employee input, the item was tabled for future discussion.
The first of two public hearings re-visited an appeal to halt a Vacation Home Rental (VHR) permit at 68467 Sullivan Road. The appeal had been previously denied by the Planning Commission and had won a delay by the council in January. Despite pleas from those appealing the application, the council voted to approve the VHR permit, with Councilmember Octavious Scott casting the lone “nay” vote.
The second hearing focused on issuance of tax-exempt bonds for the renovation of a 48-unit multi-family rental housing project built in 1981 known as Twentynine Palms Apartments; the item was easily approved.
The bulk of the meeting focused on the updated mission statement of the Public Arts Advisory Committee (PAAC) as well as other elements of the group. Chairperson Cindy Bernard made the case for a larger membership that might include up to seven art professionals from the wider Morongo Basin citing concerns around ethnic diversity and variety of art mediums. Several members of the art community addressed the council in support of the PAAC, but the council pushed back and nearly tabled the topic until Bernard made a plea for an immediate vote, saying that PAAC is applying for a $100K grant and the deadline is fast approaching. Council voted to approve with the stipulation that the PAAC mission statement be re-written to clarify it as an advisory entity only and that two councilmembers sift through PAAC applications along with Bernard.
The council then selected Councilmembers Joel Klink and Daniel Mintz to serve as Delegate and Alternate Delegate for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Annual General Assembly.
A mid-year budget update for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 was delivered by Finance Director Abigail Hernandez. The city has $6.9M in reserves and there were two transfer requests: $84K from General Fund to Capital Projects Fund re-roof city buildings, and $368K from General Fund to the Sewer Fund for the Wastewater Package Treatment Plan at Project Phoenix. A request was also made by council to allow funds for the hiring of a city detective sooner, rather than later.
Regarding the Planning Commission, the council had received 15 applicants and re-appointed Jason Dickson and Max Walker and appointed new member, Eileen Leslie.
Finally, the council discussed an intention to terminate the inactive Fire Safety Plan which will resurface on the agenda again as a resolution in a month or so.
The next meeting of the Twentynine Palms City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, February 28.
