At last night’s meeting, the City Council proclaimed June 19 as Juneteenth, and the entire month of June as LBGTQ+ Pride Month. Chelsi Chastain from Copper Mountain College received the Pride proclamation and announced a “Lunch and Learn” event for June 26. The Council honored the outgoing Interim City Manager, Larry Bowden, and received a presentation from Rediscover 29, TBID. This business organization fills the void of a missing Chamber of Commerce in Twentynine. Plans for Visit 29 include quarterly business mixers and a pamphlet with essential information for prospective business owners.
TBID stands for Tourism Business Improvement District and is a way of funding tourism promotion and economic development. Funds for TBID are generated by a 1.5% self-assessed tourism fee that is levied and collected from all hotels, motels, RV resorts, short-term vacation rentals, and any other business providing transient occupancy and subject to the City’s Transient Occupancy Tax (9%) within the City’s boundaries.
After the Presentations, item 9 of the Consent Calendar was modified: the Events Ad Hoc Committee is awarding an additional 5,000 to Dine 29, making a total of 7,000, a correction of 500 to the written Consent Calendar.
Item 12 of the Public Hearings was the amendment to the City’s Master Fee schedule for 2024-2025, including amendments to the City’s Master Fee schedule and proposed budget revisions for the Capital Projects Funds, Special Revenue Funds, and the Successor Agency Fund for the Fiscal Year 2024-2025. The Project Phoenix funding was approved separately.
The City Council or other agencies establish Special Revenue Funds to collect money that is used for a specific project. Capital Projects Fund accounts are used for acquisitions or construction of capital facilities. The Successor Agency fund is a Fiduciary Fund that accounts for the assets and liabilities transferred by the former Twentynine Palms Redevelopment Agency to the City in the Successor Agency fund.
Councilmember Daniel L. Mintz abstained from the Phoenix Project vote. The Phoenix Project plans for activities associated with the downtown revitalization project and the Enterprise fund. A total of 240,000 is left from the 2.3 million allocated from the general fund. The City has 164,000 allocated for storefront improvements or the business loan program. There are 31,000 for multi-purpose facility fixtures, 29,000 for street furniture, and 15,000 for Public Art.
The City is projecting 1.8 million for parks and 8.8 million in safety projects, such as chip-and-seal, street repairs, street widening, and pavement prevention work. Construction on the Split Rock Bridge project has begun and is estimated to cost a little over 4.1 million. The completion date was not mentioned. Safety improvement projects on Adobe Road and Utah Road are estimated at 220,000. Upgrades to the animal control building are 178,000 out of the Capital Projects Fund, and the new animal shelter is estimated at slightly over 716,000.
The Council approved a transfer of $70,000 from the General Fund to the Sewer Fund and approved the budget revisions for Project Phoenix and Enterprise funds.
Eli Marshal, Director of Information Services at the City Of Twentynine Palms, presented an update on the Solid Waste and Recycling Program. Marshall said the commercial rollout is complete, and they are initiating a residential rollout. Marshall explained that the City’s responsibility for organic waste was reduced from 230 tons in the negative to 210 tons in the positive. The new City Manager, H. Stone James, said the positive numbers were due to Marshall’s advocacy efforts. Marshall worked to remove the heavy fee for the farmer’s market, and calculations changed for rural districts, which also drove down the initial costs to the City.
Cindy Bernard, editor in Chief of the Desert Trumpet announced a free public event called “Envisioning Our City’s Future,” A Twentynine Palms Town Hall. The event will be held on June 29, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Twentynine Palms Community Center in Freedom Plaza. The Desert Trumpet was given the event space for free as part of the City’s policy.
Special guests are Chris Clarke, environmentalist and journalist; Paul Razo, a local business owner and member of the Twentynine Palms Public Arts Advisory Committee; and Carrie Williams, Co-owner of Jeanine Beauty Supply and CEO of the nonprofit Women of Color Global 29.
The meeting was concluded with comments by City Manager James. He said the number of vacation rental properties was declining, and permits were not being renewed. However, even though the number of STRS is decreasing, the City has received 2% more Transient Occupancy Tax from vacation rentals than from hotels. He added that the Suites2 Hotel next to Freedom Plaza is undergoing its fourth round of plan checks and is beginning construction.
