LAFCO FINDS TWENTYNINE PALMS CEMETERY BOARD TRYING TO GET ON COURSE

The Twentynine Palms Cemetery District Board of Directors — which last year had been put on a short leash by the Local Agency Formation Commission, following the revelation of financial irregularities — had a special meeting on January 22 with the head of LAFCO. Reporter Dan Stork asked the Executive Director of LAFCO what the meeting was about…
Kathleen Rollings-McDonald, the Executive Director of LAFCO, told Z107.7 that the Board of the Twentynine Palms Cemetery District had invited her to speak with them. She said they asked her “to come out and meet with the Board of Directors regarding the conditions that were placed upon the Cemetery District when we did their service review — one of which was a forensic audit, the requirement that they submit their mid-year financial reports, their preliminary and proposed budget, and other things. So I reviewed with the Board of Directors the expectations of the Commission and meeting those obligations, and answered their questions on how to proceed.” We asked how the directors reacted to what they were told. Ms. Rollings-McDonald told us, “They were receptive — they just as a whole, as a Board of Directors, wanted to understand exactly what our expectations were.” In summary, a group of local public servants is trying hard to set their organization back on course.