Morongo Unified School District Superintendent Tom Baumgarten talked to the Yucca Valley Town Council last night about his vision for the school district 10 to 20 years in the future. Baumgarten hopes Yucca Valley and the Morongo Basin will work together with the school district to develop programs to train students for jobs needed in the Morongo Basin. Next, the council recognized Jessica Cuna and Maureen Neely as the part-time and full-time employees of the year. Managing editor Tami Roleff fills in the details of the rest of the meeting…
The Yucca Valley Town Council gave its approval last night to submit 3 project applications for competitive grants from the county, and after discussion, agreed to match 35 percent of the projects’ costs. Council member Robert Lombardo tried unsuccessfully to get his fellow council members to commit to a 50 percent match of the grant funds, which would increase the applications’ score in the competitive grant application. The projects would add curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and ramps near the Yucca Valley High School, Yucca Valley Elementary School, and Onaga Elementary School, totaling $637,000 for the three projects, with a potential cost to the town of $223,000. The council also approved a $4.2 million contract with the Sheriff’s Department, which is an increase of more than $83,000 from over last year’s budget, but does not yet include an increase in Sheriff services. The Sheriff’s contract is about 42 percent of the town’s budget. The council learned that the first quarterly payment of Measure Y sales tax revenues is expected to be about $375,000.
