In a meeting that was long on presentations and short on transacted business Tuesday night, the Twentynine Palms City Council heard about prisons, transit agencies, women of distinction, and public art, and voted on traffic light studies and electric charging stations. Dan Stork broke his report into two parts. Today, everything except prisons…
The appearance of Dr. Ray Wolfe, the Executive Director of San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG), was clearly an effort at damage control, to minimize local concern over the prospects of consolidation of the Morongo Basin Transit Authority into a county-wide agency. Wolfe emphasized that any governance change in the MBTA would have to be approved by Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley. Council member Jay Corbin, noting a consolidation done in Orange County through state legislative action, remained wary of what recommendation an “efficiency study” might produce. Bouquets and certificates were presented to Twentynine Palms residents who were honored by Representative Paul Cook as Women of Distinction. They are: Susan Reilly, Muffin Hill, Sandy Smith, Jan Peters, and Kathi Papp. Pat Flanagan gave a quarterly report for the Public Art Advisory Committee, with emphasis on a rehabilitation of Veterans’ Park. Librarian Debbie Medina said there will be a dedication to the late Dan Luckenbill of a Simi Daba sculpture following the Pioneer Days parade. Very quickly, the Council authorized an engineering study for a traffic light at Encelia, approved issuing an RFP for another signal study at Lear, and approved a fee schedule for an electric vehicle charging station at Bucklin Park (free for 6 months to attract users, followed by a review).
