The Morongo Basin Municipal Advisory Council met with the intent of establishing priorities among the issues it will address. Dan Stork tells how they went about doing this…
In its Monday night meeting at the Joshua Tree Community Center, the Big MAC used a two-part approach to addressing its priority issues: MAC Chairman Mike Lipsitz assigned specific MAC members to chair and serve as information focal points for subcommittees devoted to specific topics. Then, acting on a suggestion by Donna Munoz, the field representative for Third District County Supervisor James Ramos, the MAC scheduled each of the next several meetings for an informational presentation on a specific subject. Here’s how things got parceled out:
Solar energy projects chair: Elizabeth Karmann, meeting December 9. (This topic was scheduled first, because the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the new ordinance on the subject at its December 3 and December 17 meetings, so the timeline for community input is short.); Large-scale housing developments and related land use issues chair, Mark Lundquist, meeting January; Roads chair, Max Rossi (who was absent from this meeting), meeting February; Code enforcement chair, David Peach, meeting March;
Homelessness and poverty, no chair designated, meeting in April.
Other topics that were identified as being of interest, but have not been scheduled for presentation, include: flashing blue emergency lights; and firearms discharge rules. Donna Munoz said that she would arrange for speakers from the County on specific topics, as well as arranging for regular participation by the Sheriff’s Department and perhaps the CHP. She also promised to look into funding for audio or video recording of meetings. Lipsitz took responsibility for looking into a web site and/or Facebook presence.
