The Yucca Valley Town Council gave a recorded presentation on the state of the town at the start of last night’s meeting. Outgoing Mayor Robert Lombardo and the council members discussed the improvements made in the town during the past year, such as the sewer project and the new roads, renovated and upgraded parks, the new library project, community events such as the summer concerts, Grubstake Days, economic development, such as the opening of the Grocery Outlet store this summer, and public safety. The council then recognized outgoing Mayor Robert Lombardo and named Jeff Drozd as the new mayor and Merl Abel as the mayor pro tem. After that, managing editor Tami Roleff says the town council got down to business…
The Yucca Valley Town Council received five proposals to buy the abandoned gas station at 55460 29 Palms Highway, and voted unanimously to sell it for $205,000 to Pioneertown residents Terry Madden and Jason Taylor, who plan to renovate it into retail space, a coffee shop, motorcycle, bicycle, and off-road shop, and metal fabrication shop. In addition, the gas station will serve as the headquarters of the Jessi Combs Foundation, whose purpose is to educate, inspire, and empower women. Combs, who was Madden’s girlfriend and teammate, was killed in August while attempting to break a land speed record. The council members loved the vision of the renovations and said one reason they wanted to sell to Madden and Taylor was because they were the first ones to approach the town about buying the property and they had been negotiating with them in good faith for several months.
Next, the council voted to update its memorandum of understanding with the Morongo Unified School District for the school resource officer. The school district currently contributes about 15 percent of the cost of the school resource officer; the new MOU would increase that amount to 50 percent in four years.
And finally, the council learned that the California state auditor analyzed the finances of all 471 cities in the state. Yucca Valley was found to have a low overall risk of financial distress in nearly every category that was analyzed.
https://california-auditor.connect.socrata.com/
