The Morongo Valley Community Services District Board of Directors held its final board meeting of 2020 last night where directors were sworn in—Christina Gorkey (who replaced Matthew Campos) and returning director Johnny Tolbert. Reporter Andrew Dieleman has more from the meeting…
Before the meeting officially began, Director Johnny Tolbert expressed concerns over the legality of the meeting since Director Christina Gorke had not been given the meeting packet before the meeting began. Gorke agreed to continue the meeting with informational assistance from other board members.
During the meeting, the board unanimously approved a resolution authorizing Director of Operations Gary Yearsley to secure a recently awarded $180,000 grant from the State Department of Parks and Recreation for repairs and updates to Covington Park.
The board also heard part of a presentation from Morongo Valley Fire Captain Brennain Gorter on applying for SAFER grant funding through FEMA to restructure the fire department and address what he called “understaffing issues” in the department. The presentation was interrupted by Deputy Fire Chief Jim Brakebill, who stated he knew nothing of the stated issues and that the chain of command for reporting the issues had not been followed. After a brief argument among board members on whether or not to continue, the rest of the presentation was canceled, and the topic tabled until the next board meeting.
Lastly, the board canceled the 2020 Chuck Osborne Volunteer of the Year award as no volunteer opportunities were present in the district during the COVID-19 shutdown.
