The Morongo Valley Community Service District has finally found a solution to not having a permanent general manager—simply getting rid of the position. During last night’s marathon four-and-a-half hour meeting, board Vice President, and member of the general manager ad hoc committee, Kristina Brook presented a proposal to the CSD board to revise the board’s general manager position into a director of operations position. Morongo Valley Fire Chief Gary Yearsley, who has served as the board’s interim general manager for the past year, was unanimously appointed the position. Yearsley will also retain his position as fire chief. Board President Gayle Swarat said that the new position will be closely monitored and amended as needed. Reporter Andrew Dieleman has this report on the rest of the meeting’s open session…
During last night’s meeting, The Morongo Valley CSD heard a presentation on the current state of the Geeson Park ball field, finding that select areas of the outfield may be unsafe due to backlogged maintenance. The board voted unanimously to have “use at your own risk” signs posted at the ball field until the necessary maintenance can be completed. The board also finalized a community needs assessment survey, which will be made available to the citizens of Morongo Valley within the next few days; approved the hiring of a new fire captain/paramedic for the Morongo Valley Fire Department, and approved the amended board audit. The board then moved to new business: calling for nominations for the 2018 Chuck Osbourn volunteer-of-the-year award and approving the hiring of a grant consultant to assist with writing and submitting park and fire department grants.
The board then went into closed session to hold a public employee performance evaluation on the interim general manager. The board reported that a performance score was mutually agreed upon. The board tabled a number of agenda items, including discussions on making the community building kitchen commercially compliant until the county health department can conduct an inspection of the kitchen, discussions on replacing the floor of the Donna Munoz conference room, the purchase of a new slide for Covington Park, the hiring of a part-time office clerk, and discussions on the CSD’s mid-year budget review.
