The Morongo Valley Community Services District Board of Directors had many topics to cover at last night’s meeting. Due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, The Board voted unanimously to keep Covington Park and the Morongo Valley Fire Station building closed to the public for an additional 3 months. The Board will revisit the topic during their October meeting. Reporter Andrew Dieleman has more…
At last night’s meeting, the Morongo Valley CSD Board of Directors also reviewed new options for distributing the District’s 2020-2021 budget. After much review, the board voted 3-2 (Directors Johnny Tolbert and Matthew Campos voting no) to accept a preliminary $816,000 budget option. The Board will finalize the budget during their next meeting in August.
The Board also reviewed a recently-completed job description for combining the District’s Fire Chief and General Manager positions into one Director of Operations position. Heated discussion between Director Johnny Tolbert and President Gayl Swarat on amendments for the job description regarding job responsibilities, communications with the board, salaries, and health insurance prompted President Swarat to order Director Tolbert’s microphone muted for the remainder of the discussion. His microphone was unmuted to take part in the vote. The Board voted 3-2 (Directors Johnny Tolbert and Matthew Campos voting no) to approve both the job description and the employment agreement for the position.
President Swarat also publicly revealed accusations that Director Tolbert had allegedly harassed a District employee; an accusation that according to Swarat has reportedly occurred on numerous occasions over several years. Director Tolbert emphatically denied the accusation, but again had his microphone muted as the rest of the board discussed the accusation. Once unmuted, Director Tolbert called the accusation a lie, stating he hadn’t spoken to the employee in months. The discussion ended with Director Tolbert threatening legal action over the accusation of harassment and “illegally” being muted during the meeting.
The Board also agreed to cancel this year’s season of the Morongo Valley Softball league and the postponed better-late-than-never Easter egg hunt due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, voted to return Cesar Chavez day to the CSD holiday calendar, and rejected a proposed membership with the labor law helpline Cal Chambers. Lastly, the board adjourned to closed session to conference regarding labor negotiations, reporting back that all board members agreed to, and signed, the fire department MOU and that it is now on its way back to the union for final review.
