The Morongo Valley Community Services District Board of Directors held their regular meeting last night at 6PM in Covington Park’s multipurpose room. With the regular meeting’s stacked agenda sandwiched between two closed sessions, the MVCSD Board showed outstanding expedience thoughtfully moving through twelve new business and action items.
During his report, Fire Chief Brakebill announced the completion of the CSD office’s reconstruction, a project ongoing since damage incurred from last summer’s landmark storms. The Board voted 5/0 to approve Brakebill’s updated Fire Chief job description, since his dual duty of General Manager has been separated. The ongoing search for a new General Manager hasn’t been as easy as the Board hoped; in the meantime, they voted 5/0 to extend interim GM Brittany Chavez’s contract for three more months, with an extra $5 added to her hourly rate.
Due to aggressive legal counsel acquisition by former Board members who resigned in 2023, the MVCSD still has two outstanding balances looming from their short-lived attorneys Best, Best, and Krieger for $602 and $3822. The Board voted 5/0 to pay these balances immediately.
The Board considered a request from the Firefighter’s Auxiliary to designate Covington Park a tobacco free zone. While all were in favor, there remained the question of enforcement, especially with community member’s preference for smoking at Covington Park’s AA Meeting. Tireless volunteer Buddy Stogner offered to buy four “no smoking” signs with his own funds and post them himself, and the Board agreed to “see how it goes.”
Finally, T-Mobile’s $25 million Hometown Grant was discussed, a new program where the corporation will invest in 500 American rural towns. While concerns were raised about the possibility of cell-towers being placed in return for their investment, Board members agreed they’d look further into details by the end of March deadline.
