After three consecutive meeting cancellations in April, the Morongo Valley Community Services District board of Directors met last night in a marathon 4-hour phone conference meeting. Among the meeting topics was a presentation of Gary Yearsley’s qualifications as the Morongo Valley fire chief, which residents had been requesting for several months. That list is now on display at the CSD office. Tensions once again elevated as the board readdressed a possible conflict of interest for one of its directors. Reporter Andrew Dieleman tells us what happened…
At last night’s meeting, the Morongo Valley CSD Board of Directors readdressed an accusation that Director Matthew Campos allegedly showing interest in the district’s general manager position was a conflict of interest due to his current elected position. Director Campos again denied the accusation, stated he did not want the general manager position, and refused to recuse himself or resign from the board. After much discussion and inconsistent attorney reports, the board voted 3-2 (Director Campos and Director Johnny Tolbert voting no) to send the conflict of interest to the California Fair Political Practices Commission for review.
The board also revisited and finalized a settlement of $82,425 for Fire Chief Gary Yearsley’s 2.5 years of uncompensated overtime hours as duty officer; voted to keep Covington Park closed, but assess reopening the park during each future board meeting; approved the fire suppression assessment fee resolution for the 2020-2021 fiscal year; approved an agreement that will provide dispatch services from CalFire to assist the Morongo Valley Fire Department; scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday, May 27, at 6 p.m. to review the Districts 2020-2021 fiscal year budget; and awarded the Chuck Osborne Volunteer-of-the-year award to Carl “Buddy” Stogner of the Morongo Valley Sport’s League.
Lastly, the Board adjourned to closed session to conference with labor negotiators, reporting that they were reviewing the memorandum of understanding and would be providing more information at a future meeting. The board tabled an update to a board resolution that would change the process of how board members contact legal counsel, pending further discussion and updates to CSD documents.
