Diverse topics lit up a long Twentynine Palms City Council meeting. Dan Stork has split his report into two parts. Today: a surprising decision on Planning Commission appointments , multiple closed sessions, a disputed easement, and a problematic consulting contract. Tomorrow: Suggestions made in the budget forum. Finally: public prayer public comments…
The surprise at the Twentynine Palms City Council meeting was how the Council dealt with Planning Commission appointments. Acting on a recommendation by task force members Dan Mintz and Jim Harris, the Council appointed Rob Fleck and Bud Wiederholt to the 4-year slots currently occupied by Bill Easter and Cary Alderson. Then they appointed Easter and Alderson to replace Commissioners Pamela Carmichael and Richard Banneck, to serve out the remainder of their terms. The changes take effect immediately. Closed sessions on the performance evaluation of City Manager Richard Warne sandwiched the meeting. Unable to finish their discussions in the hour preceding the 6 p.m. open session, they returned to closed session after the 8:46 p.m. adjournment. The Council withdrew into a brief, third closed session in the middle of the meeting to discuss potential litigation related to a scheduled public hearing. That public hearing concerned a request by Bill Tally, the owner of the Twentynine Palms RV resort, that the city vacate a street easement that crosses his property. He made the same request in 2007. The Planning Commission, acting on advice of the City Engineer, recommended re-aligning the easement rather than vacating it, in order to retain multiple emergency accesses to a subdivision in the area. After hearing opposing arguments from Tally and residents of the area, the Council voted 4-1, with Jim Harris opposed, to deny Tally’s request. A resolution to transfer the contracts that the city has with the consulting firm Hogle-Ireland to Moore Iacofano Goltsman, a firm which has acquired Hogle-Ireland’s assets, was pulled from the consent agenda. Hogle-Ireland oversaw the update of the General Plan, and has been engaged to do the same for the Development Code. The Council rejected the transfer, and will review the status of the contract work at its next meeting, before making any contract decisions.
A DIVERSE TWENTYNINE PALMS CITY COUNCIL MEETING, PART ONE 0F THREE
