As students, teachers, and school employees across the Morongo Basin celebrate graduations and get ready for the summer ahead, the issue of school closures dominated the June 9 Morongo Unified School District (MUSD) Board meeting. The board has been focused on developing a strategy to address declining enrollment, falling state funding, and rising costs over the past few months. To develop a plan and review options, the board hired consulting firm SchoolWorks and formed a nine-member, volunteer Enrollment Committee to serve in an advisory capacity.

At the 90-minute meeting, Enrollment Committee Vice Chair Karla Buchanan presented the volunteer group’s recommendation to keep schools open, emphasizing that school closure should only ever be a last resort. The committee also recommended additional strategies to balance the budget and strengthen enrollment. Their suggestions included redrawing boundaries to rebalance enrollment across the district and pursuing enrollment recovery, retention, and enhancement, as well as pursuing operational efficiency.

For more background, see our coverage of the May 9 and April 21 meetings. The meeting also covered a summer Transitional Kindergarten program, an upcoming vote on teacher’s contracts, and routine business.

Passionate and well-researched public comments largely focused on the issue of school closure, but also addressed the increased use of combination classrooms, the lack of buses for school field trips, and Extended Learning Opportunities Program.

An agenda and recording is available on the MUSD’s website.

Enrollment Committee’s final report recommends keeping schools open

The report by the Enrollment Committee was the most anticipated part of the meeting. Meeting since January 2026, the advisory Enrollment Committee was tasked with reviewing enrollment trends and evaluating facilities in order to come up with a recommendation to address the potential budget shortfall that could be created by declining student enrollment. A report by the MUSD states that over the past decade, enrollment has fallen from approximately 8,400 students during the 2016/17 school year to around 7,300 today and could fall further still.

The summary and findings of the committee’s final report were presented by committee Vice Chair Karla Buchanan and were the culmination of months of meetings, community conversations, and research. Buchanan acknowledged the diversity of experience of committee members, including parents, district employees, business owners, and community members. The committee held seven public meetings, conducted site visits, and reviewed enrollment and demographic data, facility assessments, financial operational information, consolidation scenarios, and community feedback.

Buchanan explained that the committee considered multiple scenarios, from no school closures to the closures of multiple schools. Ultimately, the committee recommended that school closure should only be considered as a last resort. Buchanan explained,

The committee understood the financial challenges facing the district and took those concerns seriously. However, after extensive discussion, review of the available information, the committee reached consensus that school closures should remain a measured last resort. Members repeatedly expressed concern about the long-term impacts that school closures have on students, family, staff, and community served by those schools. Once the schools close, those impacts can be significant and difficult to reverse.

To address declining enrollment and budget shortfall, the committee recommended that the district pursue all viable strategies before considering closing any schools. They highlighted several strategies including:

• Adjust elementary school boundaries across MUSD to rebalance enrollment and make better use of resources across the district.

• Pursue enrollment recovery and enhancement, including re-engaging families whose children attend private, charter, or faith-based schools or other education alternatives.

• Enhance support and resources for students with behavioral needs that may impact enrollment.

• Expand and invest in the existing independent study program.

• Formalize advocacy for school funding at the state level to better support the needs of students with disabilities and our rural school system.

The committee felt strongly that any decisions the school board makes must take into account not only their impact on the district’s finances, but also students, school communities, and educational equity across the Morongo Basin. The process of coming to a decision matters, explained Buchanan,

For that reason, the committee is requesting that any future actions include clear implementation timelines, transparent communication, ongoing monitoring of student outcomes, careful consideration of equity institutions, and assurances that any receiving schools are fully prepared to support additional students.

Because the Enrollment Committee serves in an advisory role, the decision on next steps and action items rests with the school board. A timeline for a decision was not announced.

Parents, teachers, and community members advocate for Morongo Basin schools, with Landers Elementary and Palm Vista in focus

Teachers, parents, and community members offered public comment on the Enrollment Committee’s recommendation and the issue of potential school closures. Overall, the seven public comments focused on the impact school closures would have on communities that are already underserved and struggling with resources. Together, they reiterated that school closures do not save money overall. While commenters showed up representing Landers and Palm Vista in particular, most made it clear that they supported all schools and students throughout the district and stressed the importance of unity.

Cordelia Reynolds, a resident of Landers and Treasurer for the Landers Community Association, emphasized that the school serves as a hub for the community and provides many services to vulnerable community members. To see it close would be “beyond devastating.” She urged the board to look at the issue holistically, taking into account how many families in communities like Landers moved out when housing prices rose sharply during the pandemic due to an influx of vacation rentals. As the real estate market flatlines, she suggested that families will move back in. She said,

I’d really love for these schools to always remain open, and for us as a community in the Morongo Basin to be dedicated to these schools remaining open. If that means going to state level, then we can go to the state with it, because attendance is not something to use to maintain a school being open when we live in a rural community that’s been devastated by AirBnBs without any regulation.

Mark Farison, a teacher with a 35-year tenure in the school district also came out to represent Landers Elementary School, where he teaches. He praised the board’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and the benefits that approach brought to the district, but reminded them that,

We are not part of a corporation where success is measured by profit margins or bank account balances. We instead provide an incredibly important service to the public, and what matters the most are the families who entrust us with the care and education of their children. Their success and well-being is the ultimate measure of our accomplishment.

He explained that closing schools erodes public trust that the school board is putting children first, especially in communities with highly vulnerable populations like Landers where 91% of the families are socioeconomically disadvantaged and the school services as a “lifeline” for services and a social hub. In the 2024/2025 school year, 145 out of 168 students at Landers Elementary were considered socioeconomically disadvantaged according to data available on EdData.

Farison also questioned the economic argument of school closure saying “The numbers simply do not justify the harm that would come to the families and children, nor the disruption of their education.”

Abby Farison, a graduate of Yucca Valley High School and a political scientist with a master’s from UCLA, dove deeper into the impact of school closer from an academic perspective. She cited a number of peer-reviewed studies that showed that school closures negatively impacted education outcomes, graduation rates, enrollment, and attendance.

Her final citation was a recent study released in May 2026 by Francis Pearman from Stanford University who studied public school closures across California from 2011 and 2019. Pearman found that school closures on average had no impact on financial conditions. Ms. Farison summarized the study and how it applies to the MUSD saying, “I think that that shows that all of those schools, all those districts, I’m sure had similar projections where they expected to save money, but the math and the statistics and studies show that in the end it does not save much.”

While overall each speaker stressed the importance of unity and coming together to address challenges throughout the district, whether aging facilities, crowded classrooms, or the need for expanded enrichment programs, tensions within the district were also evident. James Osler spoke against what he viewed as systemic racism by the board by targeting Palm Vista Elementary in Twentynine Palms for closure while schools like Friendly Hills, which has more white students, will remain open. A review of demographic data of Palm Vista and Friendly Hills showed that in the 2024/2025 school year 64% of Palm Vista students identified as Black, Hispanic or Latino, Asian or Pacific Islander or two or more races, compared to 43% of Friendly Hills students who identified as Hispanic or Latino or two or more races.

Despite tensions, the message of of working together to find a solution and fight for quality schools prevailed. In her comment, Carolyn Riggs reflected on the process saying, “We learned of all these different ways to shore up the budget, and not one of these included closing any of the schools that were proposed. Most importantly, we were reminded of how dedicated the families of Morongo Basin are to students.” In closing she led the crowd in a short song to the tune of Aud Lang Syne,

From Landers to Morongo El, Palm Vista, Friendly Hill, All students there deserve our care and fight for all we will!

While the steps around potential school closure will be decided by the school board, given the energy and effort community members have put in so far to organize, it’s clear they will continue to show up.

Upcoming vote on a new contract and the importance of protecting schools

Amber Hanson, the certificated representative (who represents certificated educators and education professionals) from the Morongo Teachers Association, reminded the board about their upcoming vote on a new teachers contract. The vote will take place at the next meeting on June 16. She spoke to the two years of work that went into putting the contract together, including the bargaining process, 20 on-site meetings, 158 one-on-one meetings with members, and a “famous” survey that took 45 minutes to fill out with an 80% response rate. Hanson explained the contract is powerful because it offers teachers compensation higher than surrounding areas and it emphasizes solving conflict through collaboration and bringing teachers into decision making processes.

Hanson also addressed the Enrollment Committee and the board’s pending decision around school closure. She emphasized the importance of unity across the district and the role of schools, the school board, parents, and community members in coming together and putting in the work to increase enrollment, ensure students get the services and support they need, and help students struggling with school and other needs,

We have to be in this together, if we want schools to stay open, and we want them to be good … Community exists. You have to have conflict, but how we deal with it and what we do to solve it is what’s going to make the difference for our children and their future.

Transitional Kindergarten Boost summer session returns

Dr. Gracie Gutierrez, the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education, gave an update about the return of TK/Kinder Boost. This week-long program is designed to provide transitional support for young children who will be starting school in August. It focuses on building social skills and identifying needs children may have before school starts. It helps young students learn skills that will enable them acclimate to school, like standing in a line or going to the cafeteria. Dr. Gutierrez explained, “For many of [the children] it is the very first time that they are leaving their parents’ side, and it’s an opportunity for them to interact with adults in a school environment and to begin to familiarize themselves with that school setting.”

The program will be offered the week of June 22 to June 26 at Oasis, Onaga, and Yucca Mesa elementary schools from 8 am to 12 pm. Breakfast and lunch, as well as morning transportation will be provided from the students’ home school. While Dr. Gutierrez mentioned Oasis has already reached its enrollment cap, she emphasized the goal is not to turn anyone away, and they will rebalance staff as necessary. Interested families can fill out this short form.

Open public comment focuses on concerns about false advertising, increasing opportunities for students, and fair workloads for teachers

Non-agendized public comments focused on issues of equity and concern in the district. Ruben Rodriguez raised a concern about the lack of busses for school field trips, an issue he learned about from his wife who is a teacher in Twentynine Palms and had five field trips where busses were unavailable this year, leading to the cancellation of three of the five trips. “Going forward, we really need to find a way that when we create opportunities for our kids to get there,” he said.

Rodriguez also raised an issue related to the school closure conversation to the board’s attention: That consulting firm School Leaders is currently using their work with the MUSD on fiscal stabilization as a case study on their website. Rodriguez cautioned the board of how this may appear to the public,

[The case study] is actually an advertisement for how to bring what happened here to other districts, so after this community having to go through all of that, to see it now used as advertising … I don’t think its a real honest evaluation of what went on here, because this talks about how much trust it built in the community when it had some adverse results.

The School Leaders consultants are not to be confused with SchoolWorks, the consultants hired to work specifically on enrollment projections and demographics that helped inform the Enrollment Committee’s initial research. In casual conversation after the meeting, a parent referred to the School Leaders case study as a “scandal,” pointing out that many of the proposals for fiscal stabilization in the case study were similar to those generated by parents and community members. The parent expressed concern that the consultants had claimed and taken credit for the community’s suggestions.

Terrance Lattimer, the Executive Director of 29 Dines, shared successes of the organization’s “Harvest and Thrive” program, which was supported by the district’s Extended Learning Opportunity Program (ELOP) and thanked the board for their support. He emphasized that participants found that, “Food is a powerful gateway, a powerful doorway to learning and to expanding beyond the campus.”

Jennifer Bouma, a teacher with a 30-year tenure in the district, raised concern about the increased number of combination classes, where students from two grade levels are grouped into one classroom. “The students we serve are not members on a spreadsheet, and teachers are not robots. Decisions about staffing and class placement have a direct impact on the quality of education our students receive and on the well-being of the educators who serve them,” she explained. To alleviate stress on teachers and provide students with a better learning experience, Bouma urged the board to consider alternatives and to let the decisions about staffing and classes be made at the school level by principals who know their school, teachers, and students’ needs.

After the serious issues that the board considered, the meeting ended on a high note. During their comments section, Board members reflected on the joy of attending graduation and promotion ceremonies around the district, celebrated the new kitchen at Twentynine Palms Junior High, and shared the news that Palm Vista had received $66,000 in grants from the Toshiba and Hearst Foundations and the Honda USA Foundation.

The next school board meeting will be held on June 16, 2026 at 6 pm at Joshua Tree Elementary School, 4950 Sunburst Ave, Joshua Tree.

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It’s June and destination nuptials are back in town, but behind the scenes locals know that making it in the Mojave is no garter toss. Survival requires a creative hustle and boy-howdy do parasitic plants have some ingenious strategies for getting by.

With no roots to draw water and little-to-nothing in the photosynthesis1 department, you’d think that life as any kind of plant would be one big fail. But by tapping directly into the vascular systems of neighboring plants using haustoria, or root-like structures that penetrate tissue, parasitic plants are able to usurp resources generated by others. Uninvited, these smooth operators merge with hosts and proceed to work the buffet line. Before unmasking their identities and signature moves, let’s delve into what they share in common.

To Be Green or Not to Be Green

First of all, “parasite” is an unfair term that evokes an unwelcome microscopic thing in your gut biome or the ex-roommate who bilked you. Rather, parasitic plants exude the otherworldliness of anime demons, with exotic hues that result from their lack of chloroplasts, the photosynthesizing cells that contain green chlorophyll pigments normally associated with plant appearance. Take away chloroplasts and you lose the green.2 No green, no photosynthesis.

There are two broad categories of parasitic plants. Holoparasites are wholly reliant on other plants and make an entire career out of dependence. They’re characterized by completely atypical colors.

Then there are hemiparasites with some ability to photosynthesize but still needing a host to survive—think gig worker with a trust fund. They’re often pallid or “green if you look hard enough."

The Players

Desert Mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum), a hemiparasite

We all know this one as desert mistletoe or erroneously as witch’s broom. Mistletoe is a parasite while witch’s broom is actually a cluster of abnormal stubby plant growth that takes on a similar starburst form, hence the confusion.

Finding wild success on our ubiquitous catclaw acacia (Sennegalia greggii), mistletoe migrates to other trees of the pea family such as palo verde and mesquite. Occasionally it takes stabs at the odd creosote without gaining much traction. Veins of haustoria travel unseen beneath the bark layer looking for a new spots to emerge, making it challenging to manage in garden settings.3

How does it spread so vigorously? One of the coolest looking dispersers in the avian world, the Goth Cardinal Phainopepla, gobbles up the fruits. Gorge they must, because the berries have low nutritional value and race through their digestive tracts. Next stop, a nearby tree to pass the meal in the form of sticky seed-laden residue that must be heartily rubbed onto a branch to come free of the bird’s vent. However you feel about this plant, give it credit for engineering ways to firmly secure copious seed onto new hosts.

Small-toothed Dodder (Cuscuta denticulata), a holoparasite

Whereas mistletoe germinates aloft on branches, dodder seedlings emerge from soil and immediately start “sniffing” out chemical cues in search of a victim and groping the air maniacally to latch on. Once that happens, its temporary root-ish appendage withers away. If no host is found, the seedling dies in the five or so days that it takes to deplete the nutrients that came prepacked in the seed. This time lapse is worth a watch, even if only for the menacing B movie soundtrack and the Aussie narrator who you’ll want to have record your phone message to spam callers.

The quest to dominate extends further. By confiscating flowering signals when hosts ramp up to bloom, dodders make sure to bear fruit ahead of the decline or death of the host.4

Pretty Little Parasites

White Rhatany (Krameria bicolor)

From a distance, shrubby Krameria bicolor appears as bluish puffs of magician’s smoke, settling across the desert floor. Maintaining polite distances from their creosote hosts, K. bicolor taps into creosote roots but leaves them no worse for the wear.

Profuse nectarless flowers are filled with raspberry scented oil collected by native Centris bees, with their absorbent hairs and squeegee-like legs for harvesting. The oil is then used to line nests and roll into balls with pollens and nectars to feed larvae. Eventually, the intense magenta blooms transform into Sputnik seed capsules waiting to attach to passing animals for dispersement.

Scarlet Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata)

Crowd pleaser Indian Paintbrush only comes around after heavy rain seasons when resources are abundant. Its favorite local hosts are native grasses desert needlegrass (Stipa Speciosa) and big galleta grass (Hilaria rigida), but it also taps into roots of buckwheats, desert mallow, lupines, sagebrush, and others. Keep that in mind if trying to sow seeds on your property.5

Just looking at the deep tubular form of the bracts, which, by the way, aren’t petals, you can tell that this plant screams out for hummingbird pollination. Think long beaks and the bright scarlet-orange that hummer optics are super sensitive to. Knowing that this is a parasitic plant and seeing the green-tinged foliage, no field guides are needed to peg it as a hemiparasite.

Scaly-stemmed Sand Plant (Pholisma arenarium)

Let’s end on a zinger, the ephemeral scaly-stemmed sand plant. Small and hard to spot, it’s also a considered at high risk from habitat loss and OHV sand compaction. Multiple attempts to list6 this plant speak to its rarity. Like white rhatany and Indian paintbrush, its haustoria penetrates roots, making all three root parasites.

Incredibly, seeds must find their way underground helped by shifting sands, ant burrows, or rodents, and germination only occurs if a suitable host is sensed. A “pilot root” (more stem than root) emerges followed by haustoria, traveling several feet down and out to plug in and start resource transfer.

Sandy soil aids this exploration and protects from rot during multi-year underground dormancies. In these especially fast draining, low nutrient conditions, only the very toughest plants thrive, so it’s no surprise that P. arenarium bedfellows with hardy burrobush, ragweed, and California croton. As one example of reciprocation between parasites and their hosts, there’s evidence that during extreme drought, water from stored resources is returned by Pholisma.

Truth Be Told

When humans extract resources, we downright deplete. But after a mistletoe empties out a catclaw acacia, what remains is a fortress where the rabbits, quail, and lizards who fuel the food chain can brood in safety. Parasites like dodder support pollinators and warn hosts of threats through interplant signal transduction. Connected by networks of haustoria, defenses are shared among associates. And who knows, its death grip might strengthen host species by removing unresistant individuals from the gene pool or curb imbalances from overabundance.

Nature does stuff like that. It’s a misdirect to describe some native plants as malevolent and others as benign when each plays multiple roles in our rich desert ecosystem. As with the dodder, the transmission lines are finely intertwined, and every thread we pull reveals fascinating side hustles. Invited or not, crashers are welcome at the wedding table of Observation and Science, where thinking deeply is free.

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The June 9 City Council meeting is mostly routine, but not entirely. The Council opens with yet another closed session, holds a public hearing that comes with a residential trash-rate increase, considers a resolution backing a state public-records bill, and gives direction on a 1% sales tax measure headed for the November ballot, with a formal vote set for June 23. The full agenda packet is available here. The closed session starts at 5:30 pm and the regular session begins at 6 pm.

1. Anticipated Litigation, Significant Exposure to Litigation, Gov. Code Section 54956.9(d)(2)(1 case)

The meeting opens, for the seventh time in 2026, with a closed session. The stated basis is significant exposure to litigation under Government Code § 54956.9(d)(2), with no further detail in the published agenda. Of the City’s six closed sessions earlier this year, three (April 9, 14, and 27) concerned the City Manager transition following Stone James’s April 9 resignation, and those ultimately surfaced in public: the Council accepted James’s resignation on a 5-0 vote and later appointed Kevin Cole.

The litigation sessions have been harder to follow. Consulting legal counsel in closed session is squarely permitted under the Brown Act; what is worth watching is how these items are described on the agenda and what, if anything, is reported afterward. The February 10 session cited a threat to public services and a consultation with the City Attorney. The January 27 session, like the one set for June 9, was listed only as anticipated litigation, “one case,” and afterward the Council reported nothing. The exception was January 13, when a last minute revised agenda named the matter directly: the Indian Cove Neighbors’ challenge to the City’s facility fee waiver policy.1

The Brown Act requires closed-session items to be described on the agenda with their statutory basis and certain actions to be reported out afterward, though how much detail those require depends on the circumstances. Across these sessions, the City has generally provided the minimum: a bare citation going in, and little or nothing coming out.

PUBLIC COMMENT

You can comment on agenda items and issues important to you at every City Council meeting. Comments on agenda items take place during discussion of that item, while comments on non-agenda items take place near the end of the meeting. The Brown Act prevents Council from commenting on non-agenda items. To comment, just pick up a form at the entry desk, fill it out, and hand it to the Clerk, who usually sits just in front of the Council dais toward the right.

Council email addresses and public comment information can be found on our resources page. Be sure to email prior to 2 pm on the day of the meeting so they have time to read your email prior to discussion. You can also copy the clerk at cvillescas@29palms.org and ask that your letter be made part of the public record.

AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS

Item 2 is a presentation by the Public Arts Advisory Committee (PAAC), the City Council-appointed body that supports public art programming and maintains the City's permanent art inventory. No staff report is included and no subject is described.

CONSENT CALENDAR

The Consent Calendar consists of items usually approved with a single vote. The public is given a chance to make public comment on these items prior to the Council motion. Fill out a comment form specifying the item you wish to address and submit it in person, or send an email in advance regarding any of the items on this meeting’s Consent Calendar.

Items 3 and 4 are routine: a procedural step allowing Council to adopt Ordinance No. 328 (the salary increase, addressed under Item 6) by title only rather than reading it aloud, and approval of the minutes from May 26, City Manager Kevin Cole’s first regular meeting.

Item 5. Approval of Warrant Register Totaling $2,424,428.26

The warrant register covers all payments issued by the City during a given period; this meeting's register totals $2,424,428.26, covering payments issued between May 12 and June 3, 2026. A few line items stand out. Clifford Moss LLC, the sales tax campaign consultant, received $16,352.49, roughly double its reported monthly rate. This could reflect two billing periods or additional scope, but the agenda packet provides no explanation.

Also appearing is a $9,000 payment to Culper Consulting LLC, the firm of Yucaipa Deputy Mayor Justin Beaver. As reported in the May 12 recap, outgoing City Manager Stone James contracted the firm to produce a code enforcement manual days after announcing his resignation. The City Attorney issued a work stop order shortly after, and Stone James pulled the Council approval item from the agenda the same day the payment cleared, meaning the $9,000 was paid without formal Council authorization for the policy governing the production of the manual.

Item 6. Second Reading of Ordinance No. 328 — City Council Salary Increase

The second and final reading of Ordinance No. 328 comes after its initial reading at the May 26 meeting, where it passed unanimously. If adopted, it would raise Council members’ monthly compensation from $465 to $700, the first increase in 24 years. The increase takes effect following the November 2026 election. For a deeper-look at the Council salary discussion, check out our previous coverage from the March 10 recap.

Item 7. Information on the Importance of Periodic Septic System Maintenance

The recurring septic system maintenance education item is a standing fixture at every meeting as part of the City's collaboration with the Twentynine Palms Water District on groundwater quality. As the May 26 recap noted, resident Heather Drake urged Council to extend septic enforcement to rental property management companies, citing personal experience with a management firm that failed to maintain systems in properties she had rented and later purchased.

Item 8. Three-Year Granicus Subscription Agreement — Visit 29 Palms TBID

The Tourism Business Improvement District’s marketing website, Visit29.org, runs on the Simpleview platform, now provided by Granicus. This item renews the subscription for three years, beginning at $26,449.46 in year one and rising to $29,094.41 and then $32,003.85 — roughly $87,500 over the full term. Funding comes from the TBID’s budget, not the General Fund.

The renewal was placed on the TBID Advisory Board’s consent calendar on March 19 and now appears on the City Council’s consent calendar, meaning a three-year contract is on track to be approved at both bodies without public deliberation unless a Councilmember or resident request discussion on the item.

It also carries some recent history. At the TBID's January 29 meeting, lodging partner Susan Peplow raised concerns in public comment about the rollout timeline for the platform's new business portal and the value of the events calendar as a resource for lodging partners and local businesses. A review of Visit29.org this week found the events calendar current and 102 lodging listings, suggesting the calendar and listings concerns have started to be addressed, despite the lodging listings representing about one-third of what’s available.2

Item 9. Emergency Repair of Luckie Park Well

The southeast well at Luckie Park failed in February 2026, prompting an emergency repair completed by Chambers Choice Drilling to keep the park’s irrigation, restrooms, and pool running. Once underway, the work turned up additional problems, pushing the cost to $28,231, beyond the City Manager’s spending authority and requiring the vendor to be paid before Council could act. Council is now being asked to ratify the expenditure after the fact. The cost falls within the $50,000 budgeted for well repairs in the General Capital Projects Fund for FY 2025-26.

Item 10. SB1 Road Project List for FY 2026-27

The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 requires the City to adopt a resolution each year identifying which road projects will be funded with SB 1 gas tax revenues. The City anticipates approximately $795,609 in SB 1 funds for FY 2026-27. The money will pay for asphalt overlay totaling about 22,000 linear feet, with work scheduled from July 2026 through June 2027, across 12 street segments:

Per the staff report, the City’s pavement condition index is currently above the SB 1 benchmark of 80 and rated “good.” Cities must maintain that threshold to remain eligible for the funding.

PUBLIC HEARING

11. Placement of Solid Waste Service Charges on the County Property Tax Roll

This is the meeting’s only public hearing. Each year the City must pass a resolution authorizing San Bernardino County to collect Burrtec’s residential solid waste charges through the property tax roll, a practice in place since 2005 that the City Attorney’s staff report says saves residents money over direct billing. The County began requiring annual re-authorization in 2025.

The hearing is not a vote on the rates themselves. According to the staff report, standard residential service will rise by $3.18 per month effective July 1, 2026, and most of that increase happens automatically under the City’s existing franchise agreement with Burrtec, without Council action. It includes a 3.09% cost-of-living adjustment, $2.10 representing the third year of a four-year phase-in of state-mandated organic waste recycling costs under SB 1383, and $0.43 in added recycling costs.

The single component actually before the Council is a 1.07% increase, about $0.28 per month for standard residential service, to cover Burrtec’s costs of complying with SB 1383’s organic waste procurement mandate. The staff report presents the $3.18 figure as the overall change to residential rates on July 1, so this $0.28 charge appears to be one part of that total rather than an addition to it.

DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS

12. Support for AB 1821: California Public Records Act Amendment

AB 1821 would amend the California Public Records Act (CPRA), the state law that gives the public the right to obtain government records. Current law requires an agency to determine whether requested records are disclosable and to notify the requester within 10 days, a window understood under state law to mean 10 calendar days. AB 1821 would change that to 10 business days and would similarly shift the permitted extension under unusual circumstances from 14 calendar days to 14 business days.34

As of late May 2026, the bill had passed the Assembly and moved to the Senate, which means it is not yet law. The Council is being asked to adopt a resolution supporting it. City Manager Cole will present the item; no staff report is included in the published agenda packet, which is unusual for an action item and leaves the public and Council members without written analysis before the vote.

For residents who have submitted records requests to the City of Twentynine Palms, the response window may already look like what the bill proposes: City Clerk Cindy Villescas has consistently treated the deadline as 10 business days rather than 10 calendar days, giving the understaffed City more time to respond.

The Desert Trumpet has a direct interest in this legislation: it regularly files public records requests with the City and other local agencies, and the bill’s deadline change would apply to those requests. There is some irony in the Council being asked to put the City’s name behind a public-records law when its own compliance with that law has been challenged at past meetings. At the May 26 meeting, for instance, Desert Trumpet Editor-in-Chief Cindy Bernard raised the issue with Council members during public comment:

The Desert Trumpet submits public information requests as a part of our investigative reporting. While a few of you do a great job of supplying the documents legally required by the California Public Records Act, others of you are less forthcoming. You know who you are. In fact, documents produced in response to one of our requests show that a council member directed City staff to filter our records response using only quote exact keywords, a practice inconsistent with the City’s obligation under the California Public Records Act.

The past City Manager was not a fan of CPRA compliance — is this agenda item a sign of change?

13. Sales Tax Ballot Measure — Polling Results and Ballot Language

The City is asking Council to provide direction on placing a 1% local sales tax measure on the November 2026 ballot; a formal vote on ballot language and a placement resolution would return to Council on June 23. According to the staff report, the City faces structural pressure on the General Fund, with operating expenses, led by law enforcement costs, growing faster than revenues. The Sheriff’s Department contract for FY 2026-27, approved at the May 26 meeting, rose 7.4% over the prior year — an increase of $429,052, bringing the total to $6,220,995. The campaign’s FAQ, produced by Clifford Moss LLC, says the contract rose 10% this year, with no math shown.

The outreach has proceeded in phases. Beginning in 2023, the City conducted two community surveys. At its October 14, 2025 meeting, Council approved a $122,250 package: a Probolsky Research survey plus funding for a political consulting firm to promote a possible measure, with the consultant’s role made contingent on the survey’s results. Staff originally recommended the Lew Edwards Group, but Council substituted Clifford Moss LLC at Councilmember April Ramirez’s suggestion. Probolsky completed its survey on January 17, 2026, and then a citywide mailer went out to more than 5,000 voter households, generating 682 responses and 542 written comments; digital advertising produced 184,000 impressions and 13,455 clicks. A second mailer, signed by then-City Manager Stone James, went out in May.

The draft ballot question reads:

Shall the measure funding the City of Twentynine Palms services such as maintaining 911 response times, police officers and patrols, emergency response, maintenance of streets, parks and trails, upgrade the animal shelter, and support general city services; raising the sales tax by 1%, be adopted, providing approximately $2,000,000 annually until ended by voters; requiring audits/public spending disclosure, all funds used locally, be adopted?

As a general tax, the measure’s revenue would flow to the General Fund and could be spent at the discretion of whichever Council is seated, which is also why it needs only a majority to pass rather than the two-thirds a dedicated tax requires. That structure sits awkwardly against how the measure is being presented. Several claims in the City’s outreach materials warrant scrutiny:

• A general tax presented as dedicated spending. The ballot question and both outreach documents list specific uses — 911 response, police patrols, streets, parks, animal shelter upgrades — but as a general tax, none of those uses is legally binding; the money can be spent on anything. The FAQ concedes as much.

• A claim the City has never substantiated. Both the fact sheet and the mailer assert that “visitors and tourists would pay a large percentage” of the proposed tax. No data supporting this appear in the packet. When the same talking point was used during the City’s earlier sewer-tax campaign, records obtained by the Desert Trumpet showed the then-City Manager, asked for the figure behind it, acknowledged the City did not have that analysis.

• Grocery and prescription “protection.” The FAQ frames exempting groceries and prescriptions as a safeguard built into the measure. Most groceries and prescription drugs are already exempt from California sales tax statewide, regardless of any local measure.

• Unsourced statistics. The fact sheet claims a pavement condition index “20% above the average of all Coachella Valley cities” (Twentynine Palms is in the Morongo Basin, not the Coachella Valley), and an animal-shelter “save rate nearly 3x higher than the national average.” Neither figure is sourced.

• A regional claim stated as fact. The materials assert the City is “one of the few communities in the region without a local sales tax,” which the packet does not substantiate.

One omission is its own kind of disclosure. The item is titled to present polling results, but the Probolsky report is not in the packet. When Council first accepted the survey on January 27, the full Probolsky Research report, including methodology, sample, and a margin of error of plus or minus 5.8 percent, was included in the agenda packet, available to the public before the meeting. The June 9 packet contains only the Clifford Moss fact sheet, FAQ, and mailer. The underlying poll is absent.

The City’s current sales tax rate is 7.75 percent, with no local component. Staff asks only that Council receive the report and provide direction; the final ballot language and placement resolution return for a vote on June 23.

FUTURE COUNCIL INITIATED ITEMS

The following 14 items are queued for future Council action or discussion:

1. Shade structures around Freedom Plaza and a possible art fixture announcing the location.

2. Discussion of a policy regulating the use of City Attorney resources.

3. Discussion on creating a “Recognized Neighborhood Program.”

4. Discussion on the new federal holidays to coincide with the City’s holiday schedule.

5. Discussion on the use of City funds for grants and the potential reallocation of housing and homeless funds to grants.

6. Discussion on creating guidelines for the use of City Hall meeting rooms by elected and appointed officials for official City business.

7. Discussion on the next steps of reallocating $1.3 million for housing.

8. Discussion of Code Enforcement, compliance with Proposition 36, and a pathway to meeting new guidance issued by Governor Newsom.

9. Discussion about annexing parcels APN 0634-05-124 and 0634-05-109, also known as Set Free Ranch.

10. Discussion of a possible safe passage with CalTrans around Donnell Hill.

11. Discussion on a collaboration with Liberty Military Housing to update the City’s RHNA numbers.

12. Study session regarding the FLOCK cameras.

13. Expedited item to discuss Cooling Center hours.

14. Review and revision to Municipal Code Chapter 5.08 related to cannabis uses, to bring the City into compliance with new state legislation. Requested by Councilwoman Ramirez, seconded by Councilmember Bilderain, per the May 26 minutes.

Run for City Council! Districts 3 (Mintz), 4 (Scott), and 5 (Wright) are up for election. The nomination period for candidates begins July 13, 2026 and ends on August 6, 2026. Contact City Clerk Cindy Villescas for details and check out our article on How to Run for City and Town Council for general guidelines.

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This last Tuesday, June 2, the Twentynine Palms Planning Commission held a study session on General Plan updates. They analyzed two Land Use maps and discussed zoning intricacies in southwestern portions of the city. Three of five Commissioners were present with Vice Chair Krushat and Commissioner Paahana having excused absences.

The meeting was just under an hour. Commissioners sifted through a series of questions on utility owned parcels, residential properties that do not meet their current zoning criteria, and potential zoning changes of federal properties.

The agenda packet is here. Coverage of the meeting agenda is available here. The first 4:28 minutes of the meeting is available here, though the study session was not recorded. Per state requirements, the City has until July 1 to begin recording and livestreaming all workshops, study sessions, committee meetings, and board meetings.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None

STUDY SESSION: Study Maps 1 and 2 of the General Plan Update

The City General Plan is past due for an update. City Staff is conducting the beginning stages of this lengthy process in-house, without consultants, starting with the Land Use element. The Land Use element contains the zoning map for the City, and defines the various land uses and districts within that zoning map, from residential to commercial, rural to public, and everything in between.

City Staff is starting this process by analyzing sets of the City’s land use maps, with an anticipated 22 maps in total. For this study session, commissioners had two maps to analyze with a set of questions and considerations to discuss. They included the question of retaining the Open Space-Conservation (OS-C) land use type, which was created through a Conditional Use Permit to facilitate the development of the Ofland Resort project.1 Other questions included federal property zoning designations and the land use designations of property owned by utility companies such as Southern California Edison and the local water district.

Community Development Director Keith Gardner kicked off the study session:

There is no timeline to this, but the general plan does need to be updated, and this is going to be a slow process. We want to make sure we get it done in a thorough process as we can.

Map 1 displayed a series of five-acre residential lots owned by the federal government and a handful of lots owned by County Flood Control and the Twentynine Palms Water District.2 Also on the map was a purple section labeled “STUDY AREA” in which a series of undeveloped residential lots did not meet the correct lot size for their current zoning.

Gardner posed the following questions to Commissioners regarding Map 1:

1. Should those properties in the area bounded by Highway 62, Lee Road, Kern Boulevard, and Sullivan be redesignated to reflect actual lot sizes?

2. Should those properties owned by the federal government be redesignated as “P” or “OS-C”?

3. Should properties that are inconsistent with their land use designation be considered for redesignation?

4. Should all properties owned by the City be shown as “P” or should that be on a case-by-case basis?

5. Should a consideration be made to redesignate a portion of the properties at intersection of Lear Avenue into a commercial land use designation?

A southwest portion of the city, between Kern Boulevard, Lee Road, Sullivan Road, and Highway 62, highlighted in the map above, contains an area of one-acre residential lots that are zoned for 2.5 acres, a mismatch Gardner attributed to government survey lots that were likely grandfathered when the City incorporated.

The commission agreed to address these mismatched zoning areas on a case-by-case basis. Cure inquired on the history of the lots and argued that isolated parcels sandwiched among larger ones don’t necessarily warrant a blanket redesignation.

Chair Max Walker and Commissioner Alex Garcia were in agreement that the map should match what’s on the ground as much as possible.

Regarding designation of federal property as P for public or OS-C, Commissioners and City Staff emphasized that the City has very little jurisdiction over what the federal government can do with its own land though the land is not appropriately zoned for residential use as it is too difficult to develop.

Though commissioners were generally in favor of retaining the Open Space Conservation (OS-C) land use designation, Commissioners stopped at wanting to apply that designation to federal properties. Chair Max Walker asked if a lawsuit on the Ofland development was why the OS-C land use was no longer in play. Gardner confirmed:

We have a request from their attorney to rescind all Ofland [zoning], including the establishment of the open space conservation zone.

Commissioner Cure was in favor of designating federal land and City-owned land as Public (P) and that utility-owned parcels should be in their own separate category. Garcia was also in favor of utilities having their own separate category and inquired if the Public land use designation can be subdivided into more specific criteria.

Cure stated:

If it’s conservation, then it should be conserved and nothing else — zero grading. So it wouldn’t necessarily be applicable to some of the state or federal [land].

Gardner and Walker both acknowledged that any conversion of residential property to a different land use designation would have to accommodate state requirements. Government Code Section 65863 — the no-net-loss statute prohibits reduction of residential density below a required threshold unless replacement sites are identified.

Property owners would also have to be notified by the City before any zoning changes are implemented.

Will There Be A General Plan Advisory Commission?

Speaking from the public was Cindy Bernard, who called for the formation of a citizens advisory committee:

Why are we starting this conversation without a citizen advisory committee? There's always been a citizen advisory committee for any General Plan work we've done, and yet, for some reason, we don't have one now. We had a citizen advisory committee when we revised the STR ordinance. I don't know why we don't have one for the general plan, so I'm putting that to you to please discuss, because I think it's absolutely necessary. It'll be a mistake to do this process without a citizen advisory committee.

Because this was a study session, Commissioners were able to respond to concerns raised in public comment. Chair Walker drew from his experience working on the Marine Base master plan revisions and was ultimately receptive to the formation of an advisory committee:

For the citizen advisory thing, my experience with this — on the base, we didn't bring the base population into the conversation for a little while, while we worked through kind of how we wanted to approach updating the Base master plan. I don't necessarily know if we're there yet with where we're at in the process. I think we're just kind of working through some general thoughts and ideas.

Gardner said he was open to public input if Council chose to go that direction. Walker clarified whether or not the Planning Commission has the authority to create a committee:

Until the Council directs us to set up the advisory committee, I think coming to the meetings, which we greatly appreciate, and giving your input, is kind of where we're at, and that's where we're going to go from there.

Sitting in the audience was newly appointed City Manager Kevin Cole. Walker added:

I think, by me saying this right now with the new City Manager in the audience, I am asking for at least the conversation to be brought up to the City Council.

Map 2 - County Flood Zone Properties

Map 2’s discussion involved County flood zone properties east of Stater Bros and west of John’s Place. A handful of businesses are in this residentially zoned area— Commissioners agreed that they should be converted to reflect their commercial business and that flood zone property should have its own Land Use designation.

Lear Avenue & the Circulation Element

Within the staff report was an inquiry on anticipated development for Lear Avenue and Highway 62. Zoned for 2.5 acre lots, Gardner said there are two parcels on the southern side of the Lear/Highway 62 intersection (in Indian Cove) that are zoned neighborhood commercial. The item asks whether the four parcels at the intersection of Lear and 62 should all be commercial instead of residential.3

Bernard raised objections to Gardner's suggestion that parcels at the Lear Avenue and Highway 62 intersection could be reconsidered for a commercial designation:

We just fought very hard to make this parcel residential and not commercial. I think you’re going to find a lot of residents very upset if you take that back to commercial.

Bernard also identified what she called an inconsistency with Lear Avenue’s extension being triggered by development of the southeastern parcel on Highway 62 and Lear instead of the southernmost parcel between Sullivan and Baseline. Highlighting the Circulation Element, Bernard pointed out:

Why is the extension of Lear triggered by development on this [northern] parcel, when the whole point is — it’s supposed to go all the way up into this [the southern] parcel, per the circulation element.

Gardner said he would consult the city engineer when the commission reaches the Circulation Element portion of the review — including whether all general plan roadways are still needed as currently drawn.

Community Development Director Update

Director Gardner informed the Commission of a request from Wing-N-It to move from its current location at 72317 29 Palms Highway, to a location just west of that between Hatch Road and Highway 62, at 72115 29 Palms Highway. The moving plans showed blueprints with a cactus garden in the front and outdoor seating. The comment period ends June 12 with the staff expected to decide on the relocation application June 16. Because the move requires only an Administrative Use Permit (AUP), the approval decision is delegated to the Community Development Director. To comment on the Wing-N-It application, write to kgardner@29palms.org.

Gardner said the commission would have at least one more general plan workshop in two weeks, may have development applications coming up in July, and is potentially looking at a development code update for accessory dwelling units to better reflect changes in state law. The July 21st meeting was cancelled after all three commissioners present indicated conflicts that day.

The next Planning Commission meeting will take place June 16 at 5 pm.

NOTE: Desert Trumpet staff members Cindy Bernard, Kat Talley-Jones, and Heidi Heard live in the Indian Cove neighborhood, adjacent to the Ofland development project, and are on the organizing committees of Indian Cove Neighbors and Say No to Ofland. Read our policy for covering Ofland here.

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Editor’s note: Welcome to our first meeting recap for Yucca Valley Town Council. The Desert Trumpet is taking the first steps toward expanding coverage of local government by covering Yucca Valley Town Council meetings. Yucca Valley residents deserve the kind of accessible civic reporting that empowers more effective engagement with their elected representatives.

Meeting recaps are assembled and reviewed by the Yucca Valley Resident Review Committee, a volunteer group of Yucca Valley residents with knowledge of local government and community affairs. A member of the committee was present at the meeting. Committee members are known to Desert Trumpet staff and to one another, but have chosen to remain anonymous due to concerns about retaliation. We respect that decision and are grateful for their participation.

This preview was produced with AI assistance, consistent with the approach described in our AI Policy. As noted there, we are exploring how AI-assisted summaries can allow us to extend coverage to governing bodies beyond the current scope of our budget for paid staff. We treat this as a bridge toward fuller coverage, not a substitute for it, and we are disclosing it explicitly here.

The Yucca Room was nearly full when the meeting opened — but most of the crowd had come for the warm-up act. Youth commissioners packed the front rows with their families, a six-year-old led the Pledge of Allegiance, and the room laughed out loud when Mayor Merl Abel read the title of the boy’s recycled-art piece: “I have too many of these.” By the time the Council got to the night’s actual weight — a 24-hour gas station and a roughly $23 million biennial budget — the room had thinned to fewer than a dozen. The feel-good civic ceremony drew the house; the big-money decisions played to a half-empty room.

That is not unusual, and it is not entirely the public’s fault. The June 2 agenda ran to twenty-nine items packed into a 2,762-page packet released the Friday before a holiday-shortened week — the consequence, in part, of a light meeting schedule for the spring: the Council cancelled both its April 21 and May 19 meetings, and the business piled into this one. (Between January and May, Yucca Valley cancelled three council meetings; Twentynine Palms, next door, cancelled none.) All five members were present: Abel, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Schooler, and Councilmembers Rick Denison, Jeff Drozd, and Robert Lombardo. Every vote of the night was unanimous. The meeting ran about two and a half hours.

Related documents:
Meeting agenda and meeting video
Our agenda preview

A note on order: the Council moved the Youth Commission report up ahead of the public hearings so the students wouldn’t have to wait and because the Walmart hearing was noticed for “at or after 6 p.m.,” it took two later department reports first. This recap follows the meeting as it happened.

An invocation, and a fight that hasn’t gone away

The meeting opened, as town meetings do, with an invocation, this one from Anne Fernandez of the Yucca Valley Center for Spiritual Living, a pointedly non-evangelical choice, and a small story in itself. 1

The backstory: on November 4, Pastor Daniel Hanna of Crossview Bible Church gave an invocation that ranged well past the ceremonial. These are excerpts:

Now we bring before your throne and into your nurturing, shepherding care our concerns for the most innocent and most defenseless among us, the unborn children in the womb, and we pray that you would restrain the evil that would seek to destroy their lives even before they take their first breath in this world….

…and we pray for our children and teens and for their teachers. I pray that our kids in California schools shall not be captured by deceitful evil philosophies of man

we pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and we pray especially that evil will be restrained here this night and throughout our nation, bring back peaceful, lawful discussion to the land of the free and the home of the brave. We pray that tonight’s community dialog here will be peaceful and respectful, and that you shall be glorified this night and every night until Jesus comes back riding in on the clouds. Amen.

The First Amendment leaves the council and the clerk no room to review an invocation’s content beforehand — censoring a private speaker at the podium would violate the speaker’s free-speech rights — so the town’s 2013 resolution acknowledges this directly and can only ask, not require, that speakers not proselytize or disparage other faiths. Individual invocations aren’t the council’s legal responsibility; a pattern of exploiting the podium to proselytize or denigrate is, under the Establishment Clause — and the November 4 and March 3 invocations together raise that question. In the months since, the council has mostly sidestepped it, with no invocation at all on several nights and Mayor Abel delivering it himself on others.

The November 4 blowback prompted Yucca Valley resident Janice Taitel to launch a petition — initially calling for non-denominational invocations, then revised, after further research, to call for inclusive invocations that aren’t necessarily non-sectarian. The revised petition drew 210 signatures. Taitel presented it to the Council at the December 2, 2025 meeting during public comment and has since repeatedly asked that a policy discussion be placed on the agenda. The town reviewed the policy and found it legal. It has not held a public discussion. “Everything we do must be legal,” Taitel wrote to the Desert Trumpet on Facebook2, “but not everything that is legal must be done. YV residents should have a say in this.”

However, as recently as March, shortly after the start of the Iran war, Logan Smit of the Calvery Bible Institute prayed:

…Lord, I pray for our troops as they take on the forces of evil in this world. I pray for President Trump and his war council as he handles this situation. Be with us all in the holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen.

A Councilmember can be heard remarking, “Well done Logan” and the Mayor says, “Thank you Logan, we appreciate it.” Oddly, this invocation is present on the documentation posted to the videographer’s YouTube channel, but is missing from the official video posted to the Town website, which starts with the first agenda item.

Against that run, handing the June 2 invocation to the Yucca Valley Center for Spiritual Living reads less like routine scheduling than an attempt to quell the protest. However, the policy itself has not been revised.

New faces, and a shelter still climbing out of a hole

Public Works introduced Brenda Northup, a new administrative assistant who most recently served as town clerk for a small town in Nevada and is relocating to Yucca Valley with her family. Then Deputy Town Manager Shane Stueckle brought up three new animal-shelter hires — Wesley McDavid, Daren Bradstock, and Sierra Crippen, the last newly promoted to a full-time animal-control officer.

The new hires carry a backstory worth remembering, because it is the reason a routine personnel item matters. Through much of 2025, the shelter was the most contentious subject in town. Residents began turning out at meetings in January over allegations of improper euthanasia practices by Doug Smith, the shelter's longtime Animal Care and Control Manager, who retired in July3 following months of sustained public pressure. According to town staff data presented to the Council in April 2025, roughly 513 of the 969 dogs admitted to the shelter in 2024 — about 53 percent — were euthanized rather than adopted or returned to their owners4. The case of "Howdy," a severely neglected dog pulled off the euthanasia list and rushed into emergency surgery, became the emblem of the controversy.5

The town launched a 90-day operational review in March 2025; the final review was filed July 15, and a standing shelter committee was established, chaired by Councilmembers Schooler and Drozd. So when Deputy Town Manager Stueckle reported that the dog live-release rate now sits "just a hair below 90 percent," he was describing a turnaround, not a routine statistic, and the Council knew it.

The Youth Commission steals the show

If the crowd came for anything, it was this. Recreation Supervisor Clayton Rardon introduced Chair Acacia Smith, a 17-year-old Yucca Valley High senior in her fifth year on the commission, and Vice Chair George Wingerter, 17, a junior at the iLEAD Exploration charter school. The two walked through a year that included a Valentine’s dance with the senior center, a Kids Zone at the health fair, food-donation drives, and a return to the Grubstake Days parade, plus a middle-school recruitment forum whose pudding-eating contest got its own laugh from the room. Smith noted the commission has swelled from twenty a couple years ago to nearly forty members.

The Council ate it up. Councilmember Lombardo praised the students’ public-speaking poise as proof staff were doing their jobs well; Mayor Pro Tem Schooler, who was on town staff when the commission was created some three decades ago, marveled at how far it had come. The meeting paused for several minutes so council members could come down off the dais for photos. Then the families filed out, and the room got quiet.

Consent Agenda: a lot of money, one vote, no questions

Town Clerk Brooke Dudra reported no speaker cards and no member pulled anything, so Items 3 through 21 passed in a single motion. That is ordinary procedure; what rode along on it was not. The same vote ratified:

• more than $3.4 million in April warrants

• a $7.4 million one-year amendment to the county Sheriff’s contract — the town’s largest recurring expense, up more than half a million over the prior year

• a master fee-schedule update that stacks a 5.5 percent inflation bump on previously adopted increases

• the call for the November election for Council districts 1, 3 and 5

• $460,000 in community contracts

• a new $60,000 town truck paired with a $150,000 transfer out of capital reserves

None of it drew a word of discussion.

Three of those items — the Sheriff’s contract, the community contracts, and the election call — describe their cost as already “accommodated” in the “Adopted FY2026-27 Budget.” That budget was Item 28, still hours away from adoption. As our preview noted, the spending was approved before the document authorizing it was on the books.

Two public hearings, no public

The annual assessment levies (Item 22) and the solid-waste charges going onto the property tax roll (Item 23) are yearly housekeeping, and both passed without a single resident at the microphone, despite these being rare moments to question a charge before it lands on a tax bill. Worth knowing anyway: solid-waste rates are rising about 9 percent, roughly $3 a month for a typical household, driven by a Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment and the cost of state-mandated organic-waste diversion. (Composting runs more than twice the per-ton cost of the landfill.)

Fireworks, take two

Last Fourth of July, Yucca Valley’s fireworks fizzled. Per a report at Z107.7, the pyrotechnics vendor, PyroSpectaculars of Rialto, experienced staffing shortages and the 9 p.m. show launched late (11 p.m.) and short (7 minutes instead of 20).6 Recreation Supervisor Rardon presented a plan: PyroSpectaculars has handed over a $40,000 credit tentatively to be used at the new aquatics center’s grand opening, and this year’s July 3 show at the high school will be split fifty-fifty with the Town paying $22,500 and the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians paying $22,500 and supplying an experienced pyrotechnician. A crew that usually works the stage at Pappy & Harriet’s is handling sound.

A cyclist makes the case for bikes

Item 27, the town’s renewed roughly $8.7 million Active Transportation Program grant application for sidewalks and ADA ramps near four schools and along Barron Drive, drew the evening’s first public commenter. Eric Linnert spoke for a fledgling group called the Basin Bike Path. The group formed, he said, after a cyclist was killed in town last fall, and it recently drew about thirty riders to its first community ride. He urged the town to weight future projects toward connecting destinations by bike:

I was surprised to learn that only a relatively small portion of this proposal is dedicated to bicycle infrastructure, while the majority is directed towards new sidewalk construction. However, I would encourage the town to carefully evaluate whether every proposed sidewalk segment provides the same public benefit as additional bicycle and multi-use path investments. One of the recurring themes I’ve heard at the California Bicycle Summit was that communities are increasingly looking for projects that connect destinations rather than simply adding isolated pieces of infrastructure. Bicycle and multi-use paths can often serve a broader range of users while helping achieve safety, recreation, tourism, and transportation goals simultaneously. The town identified already many of these goals in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan adopted in 2019 yet several bicycle-related recommendations remain unimplemented.

Councilmember Denison, who chairs the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, gave a long defense of the school-centered design. The point, he said, is to pull traffic off congested streets and stitch together sidewalk gaps, and he explained how local Measure I and Measure Y dollars seed the larger grant. Mayor Abel conceded the town has “missed a couple opportunities” to add bike striping during repaving and pointed Linnert toward staff. The grant application passed 5-0; the town expects to hear back on the grant in November.

The main event: a 24-hour fuel station, and the dark-sky fight

The Walmart fuel station (Item 24) is the largest single item in the packet by far, and it has history. The original Yucca Valley Retail Specific Plan was approved on a 2008 environmental review; the fuel station was studied then but dropped and never built, the store opened in 2014, and Walmart has been back before the Council for exterior and signage changes more than once since. Now it wants six pumps, twelve dispensers, a 4,950-square-foot canopy, and a convenience store on the lot’s northeast corner. The store would keep the same hours as Walmart’s and the pumps would run around the clock.

Jared Jerome, Senior Planner from the Yucca Valley Planning Department, walked through three actions: an addendum to that 2008 review rather than a fresh study, the conditional-use permit, and the specific-plan amendment. The amendment lowers the site’s required parking, a detail our preview flagged and one that no one on the dais raised.

What residents did raise was light. Every speaker came back to the night sky.

Dean Arvidson, a Yucca Valley resident and board member of the Sky’s the Limit observatory in Twentynine Palms, read a statement prepared by a fellow board member, an electrical engineer. He called the timeline hurried, said the photometric and lighting plans carried no firm due dates, and argued the 2008 review never seriously analyzed lighting’s effect on wildlife or migratory birds.

Deb Douglas, a long-time basin resident now in Joshua Tree, spoke to what dark skies mean to people who live under them:

One of the things I remembered about being here when I first moved here is that there’s a bunch of people having big telescopes, and they go out to the Joshua Tree National Park, and they are so generous with those telescopes, and I was just captivated when they showed me what was up in the sky. I saw Saturn’s rings. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve seen that, but it blew me away. So, it’s really important to me, and I think a lot of our citizens, to keep those dark skies, and I applaud that there is some regulation here. When I’ve talked to other lighting specialists, they talk not only about 2700 kelvin, but also about shielding, so it’s low.

Susan Wells of Joshua Tree asked why no new environmental review, when the station sits in a different spot than the 2008 plan and would put fumes near homes across the street? A written comment from Donald Nordine was entered into the record without comment as to its contents.

Town Manager Stueckle said the project is conditioned to meet the town’s lighting ordinance and that the applicant agreed to go beyond it at the Planning Commission’s request; that county standards don’t apply inside town; and that state law does not require a new review when an addendum will do. He noted the town is already preparing to bring revised lighting standards to the Planning Commission around August, with night-sky advocates invited, which addresses residents’ long-running complaints about light pollution. Jerome added that the final lighting plan must be approved before any building permits are issued.

Mayor Abel asked whether the pumps would snarl the shared entrances and bus stops and about glare from the elevated pad onto Highway 62; staff said there would be no permanent change to traffic flow and that light would be held to the property line. The three actions passed 5-0, 5-0, and 5-0.

The budget, and the document no one could read

Finance Manager Jordan Gumbish, joining remotely, laid out a 2027-2028 General Fund budget balanced in both years with about $22.9 million in revenue against $22.5 million in spending for the coming year, a surplus near $436,000 and reserves held around 60 percent. The budget folds in a five-year county shelter contract and a cost-of-living raise for staff.

It also rests, as it has all along, on a “council-approved strategic plan.” Gumbish told the Council the plan was approved in February and indeed the minutes from the February 3 meeting indicate that it was. The trouble, as our preview detailed, is that this very packet includes a plan draft labeled “Final Review” with areas highlighted as though under consideration.

The lone budget commenter, Pauline “Polly” Pisano, went straight at the process. Then she turned to Flock, the automated license-plate-reader cameras the town began pursuing in spring 2025. Pisano said she had gathered more than 300 signatures and listed cities that have cancelled their Flock contracts, asking the Council not to fund the system and to be transparent about it in the budget.

It is deeply urgent that Yucca Valley cancels its contract and stops funding these Flock surveillance cameras as a waste of our city’s funds, which should be put towards community towards programs of community uplift. Dr. King once said the prescription for the cure rests with the accurate diagnosis of the disease. I’m standing here today as a granddaughter of a lieutenant from the Boston Police Force, who served 30 years of his life, and he would agree that meeting basic needs—food, housing, and education—is what makes communities safe, not faulty, hackable tech. Yucca Valley is our home. Let’s make sure it continues to be a welcoming community.

Flock cameras are a basin-wide flashpoint: Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms run them through the same San Bernardino County Sheriff’s operator and the same vendor, though each town votes on their contracts separately, and Pisano has carried the same message to both councils.

The Council’s discussion that followed never touched the Flock question; it turned instead to whether reserves could cover surprises at the coming aquatics center. The budget passed 5-0.

The rest of the night

The Council adopted a state-mandated policy (Item 29) for handling internet or phone outages during hybrid meetings. It passed 5-0.

Under future agenda items, Mayor Pro Tem Schooler asked for a full shelter report to the whole Council, ideally June 16, and previewed numbers from the May subcommittee meeting he and Drozd sit on: April live-release rates of 86.9 percent for dogs and 100 percent for cats, a successful dollar-a-day May adoption promotion, and a volunteer program now running. Abel noted the night-sky standards heading back to the Planning Commission.

In general public comment, Bonnie Hawthorne called in by Zoom to return to the gas station, warning that the Walmart entrance is “a bottleneck on a good day” and that an elevated, 24-hour station would be visible for miles.

Staff and council comments closed the night on a note of remembrance. Sheriff’s Captain Steven Scovel reported that more than a hundred people had gathered the Sunday before for the five-year memorial of Sergeant Dominic Vaca, killed in the line of duty on Memorial Day weekend in 2021 and honored by the Council every May since. Mayor Abel, after wishing birthdays to Councilmember Denison and Mayor Pro Tem Schooler, who had spent theirs at the dais, closed the meeting in Vaca’s honor, asking the room to keep his widow, Valerie Vaca, in their thoughts. The next regular meeting is June 16.

Run for Town Council! Districts 1 (Schooler), 3 (Abel) and 5 (Denison) are up for election. The nomination period for candidates begins July 13, 2026 and ends on August 6, 2026. Contact Town Clerk Brooke Dudra for details and check out our article on How to Run for City and Town Council for general guidelines.

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The primary election in California took place on June 2, 2026 for governor, state assembly and senate, other statewide offices, and U.S. House. You can see full election results on the California Secretary of State election results page and the Cal Matters website. Below we highlight results from races impacting the Morongo Basin: U.S. House Districts 23 and 25 and State Assembly Districts 34 and 47. These results are as of 2pm on Wednesday, June 3.

The California Secretary of State reports 178,082 votes for governor out of a pool of 437,299 registered voters or turnout of 40.7%. This is a very big improvement over the June 2022 primary, the last nonpresidential primary year, when the turnout was just 22.6%. Vote counts are partial and will be certified by July 10, 2026. As of this morning, in San Bernardino County, the vote for governor broke down as:

In California’s open primary, in all races listed here, the top two vote getters, regardless of party preference, move on to the general election, which will be held Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

Congressional District 23 results

U.S. House District 23 covers a large part of San Bernardino county, as well as parts of Riverside, Los Angeles, and Kern counties. The district boundaries changed with the 2026 redistricting.1 In the Morongo Basin it includes Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Landers, and parts of Twentynine Palms. District 23 is currently represented by Republican Jay Obernolte, who is based in Big Bear.

The Republican incumbent faced five challengers, including three Democrats and two with no party preference. Two of the Democratic candidates answered our questions about issues impacting the Morongo Basin in our election preview. Results are drawn from the California Secretary of State website and are partial results. We will update the final results when they are available.

• Jay Obernolte (Republican) 58.6%

• Tessa Lynn Hodge (Democrat) 18.7%

• Pat Wallis (Democrat) 14.3%

• Karen Leigh Matthew (No Party Preference) 4.1%

• Karsten Scott Nicholson (Democrat) 3.4%

• Eli C. Owens (No Party Preference) 0.8%

Most likely, Tessa Lynn Hodge will be the Democratic challenger aiming to flip the district and unseat Republican Incumbent Jay Obernolte.

Of the 437,299 registered voters in San Bernardino County, 75,114 people turned out to vote for candidates in this district, which does not cover the entire county.

Congressional District 25 results

U.S. House District 25 covers Imperial county, a large part of Riverside county, as well as part of San Bernardino, including part of Twentynine Palms. The district boundaries changed with the 2026 redistricting. District 25 is represented by Democrat Dr. Raul Ruiz, who is based in Indio. He has represented the 25th district since redistricting in 2022. He was first elected to office in 2012, after unseating Mary Bono Mack in the 36th district.

We previewed the candidates here. Results are drawn from the California Secretary of State website and are partial results. We will update the final results when they are available.

• Dr. Raul Ruiz (Democrat) 58%

• Joe Males (Republican) 20.3%

• Ceci Andrade Truman (Republican) 12.8%

• Ronald Huffman (Republican) 8.9%

While the results are still partial, Ruiz coasted to the top spot, and it’s likely that Joe Males, a Marine Veteran, small business-owner, Hemet city council member, will be his Republican challenger in November.

Note that San Bernardino County makes up only a small slice of this district — the vast majority of votes come from Riverside and Imperial counties (districtwide total: 80,890); 1,600 votes came from San Bernardino County.

Assembly District 34 results

District 34 covers a large, wide-ranging area in Kern, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties. In the Morongo Basin, it includes Twentynine Palms and Landers. Incumbent Tom Lackey, a Republican who has represented the district since 2016, is term-limited and did not run in 2026.

Four candidates were running to replace him (they answered our questions here). As of 4 a.m. on June 3rd, all polls in the district had partially reported, per the California Secretary of State. As ballots are still being counted they may not represent the final results. We will update the final results when they are available.

• Charles Frederick Hughes (Republican) 37.9%

• Randall Putz (Democrat) 36.9%

• Steve Fox (Republican) 20%

• Manny Lin (Republican) 5.2%

The top two, which in this case appears to be Charles Hughes and Randall Putz, will be running in what looks like a competitive election for the seat in November. As of this writing, the percentages in San Bernardino County closely mirror the district-wide results. Of the 437,299 registered voters in San Bernardino County, 37,928 turned out to vote for candidates in this district, which does not cover the entire county.

Assembly District 47 results

District 47 covers Yucaipa, Banning, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Yucca Valley, Desert Hot Springs, and surrounding communities. Republican Greg Wallis has held the seat since narrowly defeating Democrat Christy Holstege in 2022 by just 85 votes, then winning a rematch in 2024.

Two candidates are challenging him for the seat in 2026; (they answered our questions here). As of 4 a.m. on June 3rd, all polls in the district had partially reported, per the California Secretary of State. These results are partial and may not represent the final results. We will update the final results when they are available.

• Greg Wallis (Republican) 49.5%

• Leila Namvar (Democrat) 29.5%

• Jason Byors (Democrat) 21.0%

The top two appear to be Greg Wallis and Leila Namvar. As of this writing, Greg Wallis was far ahead of any Democratic challenger in San Bernardino County, with 67%. Of the 437,299 registered voters in San Bernardino County, 18,615 turned out to vote for candidates in this district, which does not cover the entire county.

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This is the month where the desert sky starts to feel big again.

The Milky Way Returns

By late evening, the first bright stretches of the Milky Way begin climbing above the southeastern horizon. We’re starting to turn back toward the dense star fields near Scorpius and Sagittarius, home to the central regions of our galaxy.

In June, the Milky Way is still low early in the night, but it grows more dramatic as the hours pass. Under Joshua Tree’s dark skies, it appears as a soft river of light cutting through the darkness. Binoculars transform that glow into dense fields of individual stars.

The southern sky becomes especially rich this month. The curved tail of Scorpius rises clearly into view, anchored by the reddish star Antares, often called the “heart of the scorpion.”

Summer Constellations Begin Rising

While spring constellations still linger overhead, the stars of summer begin taking over the eastern sky.

Look for Scorpius low in the southeast, Sagittarius following behind and marking the direction of the Milky Way’s core. Cygnus the Swan rises later in the night, and Lyra, home to Vega, one of the brightest stars of summer, climbs high in the northeast.

June is also when the Summer Triangle, an asterism formed of the brightest stars in the summer sky, begins assembling itself. Vega rises first, followed later by Deneb and Altair as the season progresses.

Planet Watch

Venus continues to dominate the western sky after sunset, shining brilliantly during twilight and remaining one of the easiest objects to spot.

Jupiter is now dropping lower in the west each evening and becomes harder to catch as the month progresses. Early June offers your best chance to spot it before it disappears into sunset glare later in the summer.

Saturn rises much earlier now, becoming a prominent late-night and predawn object. By the end of June, it’s climbing into view around 1 am, giving night owls a better chance to catch it.

June’s Full Moon: The Strawberry Moon

The full moon rises on June 29, traditionally known as the Strawberry Moon, named for the short strawberry harvest season observed by Indigenous communities and early farmers.

Like all summer full moons, it stays relatively low in the sky from our perspective, giving it a warm golden appearance when near the horizon. Moonrise in Joshua Tree can be especially beautiful this time of year, with long shadows stretching across the desert floor.

Deep-Sky and Binocular Highlights

June is one of the best months of the year for binocular observing.

• M6 and M7, two bright open-star clusters near Scorpius, rise low in the south and are stunning through binoculars.

• Lagoon Nebula (M8) begins becoming visible in Sagittarius later in the evening.

• The Milky Way star clouds themselves become major observing targets, especially under dark skies.

Sometimes the best approach in June is simply to slowly sweep binoculars through the Milky Way and see what appears.

Stargazing Tips for June

Plan for later observing sessions. Astronomical darkness arrives much later this time of year

• Use the New Moon period around June 14 for the darkest Milky Way skies

• Bring binoculars. June skies reward wide-field observing

• Take about 20 minutes to let your eyes adjust fully before viewing the Milky Way

• Stay hydrated, even at night. Summer desert air is dry

June marks the beginning of the desert’s true Milky Way season. The sky grows richer each week, with dense star fields, nebulae, and summer constellations rising higher every night.

Stay out late enough, and the galaxy starts to take over.

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This upcoming Tuesday, June 2 at 5 pm, the Twentynine Palms Planning Commission will hold its second of many study sessions on the City’s General Plan update. The last General Plan update was finalized in 2012. Due to budget constraints, City staff is conducting the heavy lifting for this arduous process in-house, without outside consultants. At past Council meetings, Mayor Daniel Mintz has admitted that formulating the 2012 General Plan cost the City upward of $1 million.

Relevant Background Information:

• The Desert Trumpet has an overview of the City’s General Plan update process here.

• Coverage of the last Planning Commission meeting is available here.

• A link to the entire 20-page agenda packet is available here.

The General Plan contains eight elements— land use, circulation, housing, safety, conservation and open space, recreation, equity and social justice, and noise. Staff is opting to tackle the Land Use element first, because all other elements are contingent upon it. A ninth element on Art is currently in the works through the Public Arts Advisory Committee.

The Land Use Element & City Zoning Map

In the aftermath of the City’s strategic planning sessions where residents, elected and appointed officials, and community stakeholders had opportunities to outline their long-term goals for the City for the next 5, 10, and 20 years, the City is now taking on its General Plan revisions.

For this study session, Commissioners will review two out of an anticipated 22 Land Use maps. Whether this is the most efficient approach to updating the General Plan is yet to be determined.

The current Land Use Element is 117 pages and contains the City’s zoning map with all of its land use categories and definitions. Listed within that adopted element are ten guiding principles:

• Goal LU-1 Encourage orderly growth and development as

  envisioned by community residents.

• Goal LU-2 Protect existing neighborhoods and the area’s natural

  surroundings by encouraging development that is

  compatible with the City’s small-town character.

• Goal LU-3 Promote a high quality of life by encouraging attractive

  high quality development that is compatible with

  existing uses and the City’s desert environment.

• Goal LU-4 Adequately address the potential impacts of new

  development on the existing community and the City’s

  infrastructure system.

• Goal LU-5 Preserve Twentynine Palms natural resources and

  protect the public health, safety and general welfare of

  City residents in areas adjacent to potentially hazardous

  natural and man-made features and facilities

• Goal LU-6 Promote development of a well-balanced community that can adequately meet the needs of future residents and promotes economic development.

• Goal LU-7 Protect and preserve Twentynine Palms natural

  resources, promote the existing quality of life and prepare for future residents and businesses by promoting superior sustainable development.

• Goal LU-8 Maintain Twentynine Palms as a clean and healthy place

  to live, while protecting the City’s groundwater supply.

• Goal LU-9 Protect the health and safety of residents living in the

  vicinity of airports

• Goal LU-10 Promote a high quality of life for Twentynine Palms

  residents by developing and sustaining a strong and

  diverse local economy.

Staff has also laid out “goals” for “reviewing the land use element.” What’s notable here is the framing in the staff report: these are described as “goals that Staff has developed” — it doesn’t say “proposed goals for commission consideration and revision” or “draft goals for community input.” It presents them as already established, with the commission’s role being to work within them rather than shape them. While 1 and 2 read as goals, 3-5 are written as procedures, methods or reminders.

• Goal 1: The Land Use Element should be reflective as much as possible of actual real-world conditions; i.e. land use designations should accurately reflect the established lot sizes and actual developments

• Goal 2: Where feasible, suggestions for changes to the Land Use designations would reflect achievable long-term development

• Goal 3: Where appropriate, new land use districts may be developed – or existing land use districts may be consolidated and simplified.

• Goal 4: Historical and environmental considerations also play an important role in developing a Land Use Element;

• Goal 5: Each Specific Plan will Be studied for modern relevancy

The General Plan update is the City’s first systematic attempt since 2012 to reconcile what the map says with what actually exists on the ground, with the staff report citing commercial businesses located in residentially zoned areas as one category of interest. Residential lot sizes that do not match their listed zoning type are also being looked at.

Questions for the Planning Commissioners—and the City

For this week’s study session, staff is posing the following questions to Commissioners:

1. Should an “Open Space - Conservation Land Use District” be created?1

2. Should a “Utility Land Use District” be created to reflect ownership of the various utilities? Or should their properties be shown changed to the “Public (P) Land Use District”?

3. Should we have a “One Map” system, where the General Plan Land Use Map and the Zoning Map are the same? Or should we have a “Two Map” system, where the General Plan shows broad categories, and the Zoning Map gives more detail?

4. Should the “Public” (P) land use designation be more specific? In other words, should there be a difference between those properties used for parks and those used for utilities?

5. Should the minimum Land Use District size be maintained, or revisited?

A Potential Open-Space Conservation Category

Staff is floating the creation of an Open Space Conservation2 land use district and asking if it is applicable to federally owned properties within City limits:

B) Approximately 126 acres in the far southwest corner of the City boundaries are owned by the Federal Government and are very hilly and topographically difficult in which to build. Should those properties be shown as Open Space - Conservation (OS-C) or Public (P)?

Labeling federally owned land as OS-C signals that conservation matters more than ownership type. Choosing Public (P) acknowledges that the federal government controls what happens there. How the City handles this parcel will likely shape how it treats other environmentally sensitive or government-owned land going forward.

Per the Land Use Element:

The P (public) land use serves as a means of identifying public lands and facilities, such as City and County facilities and offices, schools, libraries, museums, parks, open space lands and other publicly owned lands. Public uses that contribute to and support the needs of the community are allowed in P designated properties.

Lear Avenue & Highway 62 Intersection Improvements Expected

Addressing expected improvements to the intersection of Lear Avenue and Highway 62, the staff report states:

It is anticipated that Lear Avenue may need to be improved in the near future, along with further engineering improvements. It may be prudent to consider a change to the land use designations at that intersection from residential to commercial.

Currently, all parcels on either side of Lear Avenue are zoned as residential. Territory north of Amboy Road is unincorporated San Bernardino County, which is also zoned for Rural Living with 2.5 acre minimums.

The Circulation Element contains the proposed road network of the City General Plan, where road improvement intentions are laid out, addressing how people, goods and resources move throughout the community:

This element primarily addresses the City’s street network which establishes the existing conditions of streets and a Circulation Plan for expanding the street network to service the land uses planned for in the Land Use Element.3

Projected improvements to Lear Avenue are included in the Circulation plan, approved April 27, 2012, which entail that as development along Lear Avenue continues, plans for up to a four-lane improvement are in place, while six lanes are planned for 62. Lear between 62 and 2 mile is marked as a special study area for potential increase to six lanes.

As stated in the Circulation Element, Lear Avenue is one of the City’s main north-south arterial roads, along with Adobe Road, Utah Trail, and Mesquite Springs Road. It also serves as a critical byway for travel to and from the 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. Portions north of Amboy Road are unincorporated.

The Community Development Director is asking Commissioners if the land use designations at the intersection of Lear and Highway 62 should be changed from residential to commercial. The justification for this conversion is nebulous, however, with the staff report arguing that converting the land from residential to commercial would “a) minimize potential conflicts with residences in the future; and (sic) 2) encourage the improvements to Lear Avenue in a planned manner.” 4

It should be noted that the Ofland project discussed in Footnote 2 was triggering the paving of Lear between Highway 62 and Sullivan, a point of contention with residential property owners along the proposed improvement. Since the residential properties already exist on the southwest side of the proposed Lear extension, it’s unclear how upgrading the southeast parcel to commercial would ease conflicts.

Questions for Residentially Zoned County Flood Control Properties

A series of residentially zoned areas fall within San Bernardino County Flood Control jurisdiction:

Flood Control owns several properties that are designated for residential development, and are realistically part of the maintenance area for the major flood control channel. Additionally, there are several commercial businesses in areas zoned for residential. Should these zoning on these properties be modified to reflect the real-world situation?5

Rezoning flood control land and Lear Avenue away from residential could trigger a state compliance problem due to SB330 state housing law requirements. The City would need to identify replacement residential capacity somewhere else if SB 330 is triggered.

Is A General Plan Citizens Advisory Committee Needed?

Whether Gardner's map-by-map approach ultimately produces a genuine vision for Twentynine Palms' future or will simply be a consuming exercise in cartography and staff time may depend on City leadership.

The General Plan approved in 2012 encompasses over 950 pages, including an environmental impact report, and broad categories with impactful implications in terms of future development and guidelines for City leaders to follow with longterm vision in mind.

Advisory committees are common for such processes— the City of Big Bear Lake established a GPAC for its 2025 General Plan update, with members appointed directly by the City Council. Along with hired consultants, the City of San Bernardino also had a citizens advisory committee for its General Plan update in 2020.

In 2022, the City created a General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) to advise on its Equity and Social Justice Element the members were Jonas Childs, Korina Cole, Jamie A. Garcia, Gary Horn, Lashara Maea and Mariana Wright-Mills. At a past Planning Commission meeting, resident Kim Ortamond spoke of her participation on a past GPAC where she advised on minimum acreage for horse stables and animal keeping standards.

Acknowledging what this process actually requires before staff gets too far down the road to change course will be up to Council and newly appointed City Manager Kevin Cole to determine. See how it plays out this Tuesday at 5 pm, 6136 Adobe Road.

NOTE: Desert Trumpet staff members Cindy Bernard, Kat Talley-Jones, and Heidi Heard live in the Indian Cove neighborhood, adjacent to this proposed development project, and are on the organizing committees of Indian Cove Neighbors and Say No to Ofland. Read our policy for covering Ofland here.

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Editor’s note: Welcome to our first agenda preview for Yucca Valley Town Council. The Desert Trumpet is taking the first steps toward expanding coverage of local government by covering Yucca Valley Town Council meetings. Yucca Valley residents deserve the kind of accessible civic reporting that empowers more effective engagement with their elected representatives.

Agenda summaries are assembled and reviewed by the Yucca Valley Resident Review Committee, a volunteer group of Yucca Valley residents with knowledge of local government and community affairs. Committee members are known to Desert Trumpet staff and to one another, but have chosen to remain anonymous due to concerns about retaliation. We respect that decision and are grateful for their participation.

This preview was produced with AI assistance, consistent with the approach described in our AI Policy. As noted there, we are exploring how AI-assisted summaries can allow us to extend coverage to governing bodies beyond the current scope of our budget for paid staff. We treat this as a bridge toward fuller coverage, not a substitute for it, and we are disclosing it explicitly here.

The packet for the June 2 meeting runs to 2,762 pages. It was generated, according to its own metadata, in the early hours of Friday, May 29 — four days before the Tuesday meeting, and over a holiday-adjacent stretch when Town Hall is closed Friday through Sunday. That leaves residents, and arguably the Council members themselves, roughly two business days to read it.1 Download it here, if you dare.

It is also the Council's first meeting in four weeks: the regularly scheduled May 19 session was cancelled. That gap matters, because routine business that would normally have been spread across two meetings is now folded into the same night that already carries the year's heaviest recurring items such as the biennial budget, the assessment and solid-waste public hearings, and the call for the November election.

It is, in our opinion, not physically possible for an average citizen, or a part-time, $950-a-month council member with a day job, to meaningfully digest a packet of this size in that window. The Walmart fuel station item alone accounts for well over 1,700 of those pages. The biennial budget book adds nearly 200 more. Making matters worse, the staff reports and supporting documents are not hyperlinked from the agenda — unlike neighboring Twentynine Palms, whose agendas let a reader click an item and jump straight to its backup. To find anything in Yucca Valley's packet, you have to scroll through the full 2,762-page PDF.

When a body releases a document no one can reasonably read before they’re asked to vote on it, the practical effect, whatever the intent, is to narrow the window for public review to the vanishing point. We think that effect is worth naming directly: agendas assembled at this scale and on this timeline function, in practice, to mute citizen scrutiny rather than invite it.

Compounding the problem, several of the evening’s largest financial commitments are justified by pointing to a budget that doesn’t exist yet. The $7.4 million sheriff’s contract (Item 18), the $460,000 in community contracts (Item 19), and the November election costs (Item 21) all describe their fiscal impact as already “accommodated” in the “Adopted FY2026-27 Budget” — but that budget isn’t adopted until Item 28, later the same night. The spending is being approved before the document authorizing it is on the books.2 And the budget itself rests on the same kind of paper foundation: it repeatedly invokes the Town's "adopted Strategic Plan," yet the most recent minutes in this packet show that plan was still an unadopted draft, and the meeting that might have adopted it was cancelled (see Item 28). That sequencing deserves a public explanation.

Yucca Valley Draft Fy 2026 2028 Strategic Plan Sm

1.05MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

A note on what we could not verify in the time available: at 2,762 pages, this preview covers the items the packet itself flags as most consequential. It is not a line-by-line audit, and it cannot be. That limitation is itself part of the story.

A Note on Public Comment

You can comment on agenda items and issues important to you at every Town Council meeting. Comments on agenda items take place during discussion of that item, while comments on non-agenda items take place near the end of the meeting. The Brown Act prevents Council from commenting on non-agenda items. To comment, just pick up a form at the desk to the left of the mic, fill it out, and hand it to the Clerk, who sits at a table, also to the left of the mic.

Here’s the list of Council email addresses to write if you can’t get to the meeting3 — be sure to email them prior to 2 pm on the date of the meeting so they have time to read your email prior to discussion. You can also copy the clerk at townclerk@yucca-valley.org and ask that your letter be made part of the public record.

The meeting also offers two-way remote participation by Zoom, comment time is limited to three minutes. (Zoom Link, Meeting ID: 995 7960 6104, Passcode: 093185).

Presentations, Introductions, Recognitions

The meeting opens with the introduction of new employees and an invocation led by Anne Fernandez of the Yucca Valley Center for Spiritual Living. The agenda’s only scheduled presentation is the new-hire introduction; the substantive presentations this cycle are folded into the Department Reports section at the back of the agenda (Items 25–29), which is where the budget adoption itself lives.

Consent Agenda

The Consent Agenda consists of items usually approved with a single vote. The public is given a chance to make public comment on these items prior to the Council motion. Fill out a comment form specifying the item you wish to address and submit it in person, or send an email in advance regarding any of the items on this meeting’s Consent Agenda.

The Consent Agenda this month runs from Item 3 (approval of the May 5 minutes) through Item 21, and it is doing a great deal of heavy lifting. The April warrant registers total $3,404,664.94, alongside payroll registers of $334,197.69 and $305,831.27 (Item 8).

Usually consent items are routine. Several here are not, and two warrant a closer look:

11. Authorization to Purchase a Fleet Vehicle. Staff asks the Council to waive competitive bidding under Municipal Code §3.12.060(G) — the "inefficient, impractical, and unnecessary" exception — and authorize purchase of a 2026 Ford truck for the new Community Engagement and Homelessness Coordinator. The bid waiver itself is unremarkable: vehicle waivers are common in small cities, where procurement timelines and dealer inventory don't line up, and by the time a formal bid closes the truck is sold.

The Council approved an identical §3.12.060(G) waiver for a GMC Sierra ($62,776) at its May 5 meeting, and Item 16 tonight waives formal bidding again for the museum re-plumbing. What earns a closer look is the money. The staff report's own quote table lists four prices, the highest being $57,865 — yet the requested authorization is "not to exceed $60,000," above every quote on the page.4 And the report asks the Council to move $150,000 from capital project reserves for a roughly $50,000 truck, explaining that the balance will "backfill" earlier vehicle and equipment purchases. The report also states there has been "no prior review of this matter." An authorization ceiling above the quoted prices and a six-figure reserve transfer bundled into a single vehicle purchase are the kind of thing that belongs in open discussion, not a single omnibus vote.

17. Master Fee Schedule Update / Phase II Adjustments. This item asks the Council to do two things at once: implement the previously adopted “Phase II” fee increases and layer a 5.5% Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment on top. The combined effect on some fees is steep. By the schedule’s own table, an administrative hearing fee rises from $244 to $430 (about 76%),5 a public-nuisance investigation goes from $162 to $199, and a notice-of-admin-hearing fee jumps from $35 to $58. Stacking a phased increase and an inflation adjustment in the same resolution makes it hard for a resident to see how much any single fee is actually going up. A fee package of this breadth is a policy decision, not a housekeeping item.

The remaining consent items are mostly routine, but not trivial:

• Item 4 — a second amendment to the vector-control contract with the County of San Bernardino Department of Public Health, primarily focused on mosquito management, bringing the total to $288,475.50 through 2028.

• Item 5 — a first amendment to the Southwest Networks IT contract, raising the not-to-exceed to $180,500 and $190,500 over two years.

• Item 6 — an audit contract extension to RAMS LLP, not to exceed $176,575.

• Item 7 — the AB 1234 reporting schedule. AB 1234 mandates that that local agency officials receive at least two hours of public service ethics training every two years.

• Item 9 — Waste Disposal Agreement Amendment #9 with the County.

• Item 10 — the FY2026-27 spending (Gann) limit resolution.6

• Item 12 — the CFD No. 11-1 special-tax levy across eight improvement areas.

• Items 13 & 14 — a Notice of Completion for the Senior Center roof, and a $90,000 extension of the Valley Pipeline emergency debris-cleanup contract.

• Item 15 — release of an RFP for on-call concrete repair.

• Item 16 — a $60,000 budget amendment from Measure Y for the Hi-Desert Nature Museum re-plumbing, with formal bidding waived.

• Item 20 — the Q3 budget report.

Three more consent items deserve to be set apart, because each commits real money against a budget the Council hasn't adopted yet — that adoption is Item 28, later the same night. Two of them—Item 19, $460,000 in community contracts for the Chamber of Commerce and the Desert Regional Tourism Agency, and Item 21, the calling of the November 3 election for Districts 1, 3, and 5 — each call their cost already "accommodated" in the "Adopted FY2026-27 Budget" that won't be adopted until later that night. The third is the sheriff's contract, big enough to take on its own:

18. FY 2026-27 Public Safety Contract Amendment. The Council is asked to approve a one-year amendment to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department contract for $7,435,821 — an increase of $526,605 over the current year. Staff attributes the jump primarily to personnel costs and to rising liability and insurance expenses tied to “recent Department litigation jury awards and/or settlements.” The report candidly notes that Schedule A costs have risen roughly 6% annually over the past decade, outpacing the Town’s revenue growth and consuming a larger share of the General Fund each year. This is the single largest recurring expenditure the Town makes, and the staff report’s own framing, that without state tort reform “these cost drivers will continue to challenge local municipal budgets,” is worth public attention.

Public Hearings

22 & 23. Assessment Districts and Solid-Waste Charges (Public Hearings). Item 22 confirms the Engineer’s Reports and authorizes the FY2026-27 levy of Street & Drainage and Landscape & Lighting assessments; Item 23 places FY2026-27 solid-waste handling charges on the property tax roll. Both are annual but both are public hearings and are the moment for residents to question the amounts before they land on a tax bill.

24. Walmart Fuel Station — EA 02-25, Specific Plan 01-04 Amendment #2, CUP 01-25. This is the largest item in the packet by far. The applicant (Kimley-Horn, on behalf of Walmart Stores Inc.) seeks to build a fuel station with six pumps and twelve dispensers, a 4,950-square-foot canopy, underground fuel storage, and a 1,556-square-foot convenience store in the northeast corner of the existing Walmart lot at 58501 Twentynine Palms Highway. The gas station would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week; the convenience store would sell alcohol and mirror Walmart’s 6 a.m.–11 p.m. hours. Several features deserve scrutiny:

• The environmental review relies on a 2008 EIR. Rather than a new environmental impact report, staff recommends an “Addendum #1” to the EIR adopted by the Council on October 14, 2008, for a retail-specific plan now 18 years old. The findings repeatedly acknowledge that the original EIR identified “significant and unavoidable impacts” requiring a statement of overriding considerations, and lean on CEQA §15164 to avoid further analysis.7 Whether an 18-year-old EIR adequately captures a 24-hour fuel station with underground storage tanks is a fair question for the public hearing.

• “Fiscal Impact: None.” The staff report lists no fiscal impact, which is plausible for a privately funded project but tells residents nothing about sales-tax or fuel-tax revenue, fire/hazmat response implications, or long-term costs.

• A parking-standard reduction is buried in the amendment. The Specific Plan amendment quietly lowers the anchor tenant’s required parking ratio from 1 space per 200 square feet (920 spaces) to 1 per 250 (737 spaces). It’s framed as a technical adjustment but is a real loosening of the standard.

• 22 existing trees would be removed, replaced with desert-appropriate landscaping. The site sits within the Yucca Valley Airport influence area and a Part 77 safety review area.

• The Planning Commission recommended approval on April 14, 2026, adding lighting conditions in a nod to residents’ repeated dark-sky concerns, but the potential light pollution posed by a 4,950-square-foot canopy running 24 hours a day warrants consideration beyond capping lighting temperature at 3000 Kelvin.

Department Reports

25 & 26. The Youth Commission end-of-term report (Item 25) and a report on the 2026 Summer Music Festival and Independence Day fireworks (Item 26) round out the back of the agenda.

27. Active Transportation Program Cycle 8 Applications. The Council is asked to authorize grant applications for curb, gutter, sidewalk, and ADA-ramp improvements near Yucca Elementary, Yucca Valley High, Onaga Elementary, La Contenta Middle School, and along Barron Drive, a rare item squarely about pedestrian safety around schools.

28. FY2026-28 Proposed Budget Adoption. Staff projects a $22.93 million General Fund with roughly $22.65 million in expenditures for FY2026-27, an operating surplus near $286,000, and ending reserves around $20.2 million (about 60% of operating expenditures). The Town Manager’s transmittal letter is dated June 2, 2026, the day of the meeting. The Council “reviewed” the proposed budget in May, but the document residents would need to evaluate the final figures is part of this 2,762-page packet released four days out. As noted above, multiple earlier items on tonight’s agenda already treat this budget as adopted.

A note on language: staff reports routinely describe a budget as "adopted" before the Council votes, which is technically premature, but common shorthand across California municipalities when the vote is expected later that night. We flag it here not to nitpick, but because it sets up a more serious problem: the budget applies the same word — "adopted" — to the Strategic Plan, where it cannot be explained the same way. There is no vote scheduled tonight to adopt the plan, no resolution number on record, and the most recent public minutes show it was still an unfinished draft. With the May 19 meeting cancelled, there was no opportunity to adopt it between then and now. Calling the budget "adopted" before a vote is a shortcut. Calling the Strategic Plan "adopted" when the public record shows no adoption ever occurred is something else.

The transmittal letter and General Fund summary repeatedly ground two years of spending in the Town's "adopted Strategic Plan priorities." But unlike every other adopted instrument cited in the packet, each carrying a resolution number and a date (Resolution No. 25-19 on August 19, 2025; Resolution No. 05-60 on October 27, 2005; Specific Plan 01-04 on October 14, 2008, and so on), the Strategic Plan is invoked with no adoption date and no resolution number attached. The most recent minutes in this same packet, from the May 5 meeting, show the plan was still a draft: Town Manager Yakimow "presented the staff report for the draft 2026-28 strategic plan review and requested input and comments to prepare the final draft," after which no motion was made.

With the May 19 meeting cancelled, there was no public meeting between the May 5 draft and the June 2 budget. That leaves no public meeting at which the strategic plan could have been adopted — yet the budget calls it adopted. The copy of the plan circulating in the packet is itself labeled "Final Review," not "Adopted." Either the adoption happened somewhere not reflected in the public record, or the Town has built a $22.9 million biennial budget on a plan the Council never formally voted to adopt. The Town should be able to produce the resolution and date; the budget doesn't.8

29. SB 707 Disruption Policy. A state-mandated housekeeping item: the Council must adopt, by July 1, 2026, a policy for how it handles internet or telephone disruptions that cut off remote public access during hybrid meetings. The proposed policy explicitly “implements, and does not expand upon” the minimum state requirement: a one-hour recess and good-faith restoration efforts, after which the Council may proceed without remote access on a roll-call finding. Worth knowing for anyone who relies on the Zoom option to participate.

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

The agenda reserves time for Future Agenda Items but lists none in advance. At the May 5 meeting, no future items were requested. Residents who want an issue calendared should note that this is the mechanism and that, at present, nothing is queued.

From May 5, public comment worth tracking: a medical-cannabis business owner (Christian Garcia) asked the Town to update its cannabis regulations to permit adult-use sales; a resident (Alexandria Brener) pressed again on unresolved lighting at Machris Park, saying the Town acknowledged the problem but gave no timeline, a thread directly relevant to the lighting conditions attached to the Walmart item tonight. Neither has yet produced a future agenda item.

The meeting concludes with Public Comments, Staff Reports and Comments, Mayor and Council Member Reports and Comments and Announcements.

The Yucca Valley Town Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 2 at 5 p.m. at the Yucca Valley Community Center, Yucca Room, 57090 Twentynine Palms Hwy, Yucca Valley, CA 92284

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It's not often that Awards, Presentations, Appointments and Proclamations and Council Comments and Reports of Meetings Attended provide the most compelling moments from a city meeting, but that was the case on Tuesday, May 26, at Twentynine Palms City Council. From two Marines speaking glowingly of picking up trash to benefit Feathers 'n Fur, to the accomplishments of the Youth Council, an ambitious housing proposal for justice involved veterans and the recent calendar of an equally ambitious Council member, the first half of the meeting was packed.

Relevant links:

• Meeting agenda

• Our agenda preview

• Video of the meeting

Active duty Marines helping out

Presentations for Twentynine Palms’ paid community beautification program Cash for Trash kicked the meeting off with the warmth that (mostly) permeated Council chambers Tuesday night. The Cash for Trash and Recycling Program is a partnership between the City of Twentynine Palms and Burrtec in which community groups and organizations volunteer to pick up trash in return for cash payments. The programs benefitting this evening were the Feathers ‘n Fur Wildlife Rehab, the Kiwanis and the Twentynine Palms High School Interact Club.

As Bradley and Jeremiah were speaking to their work on behalf of Feathers ‘n Fur, someone in the audience shouted out, “these are active Marines right here!” Jeremiah spoke to job at hand:

Just picking out the trash, it really felt rewarding at the end of the day, even though there's some hard work fighting that vegetation and whatnot... it goes by really quick when you got some people to laugh with.

A VERY productive year for the Youth Council

Initiated in May 2024, the Twentynine Palms Youth Council has just completed its second year. The council is composed of 14 student members and meets twice monthly, collaborating with city leaders, organizing community projects, and gaining hands-on experience in leadership and civic engagement. 2025-2026 accomplishments include:

• Food drive at Grocery Outlet — a repeat of last year’s effort, with strong community outreach and turnout

• Twentynine Palms Youth Olympics — a youth-focused community event designed to address the lack of activities for young people featured a dunk tank with City Council members (including Councilmember Wright in goggles)

• Astronomy night — Youth Council Chair Viviana Hermosillo noted that Sky’s the Limit, the local observatory, is an underutilized asset

• Senior Center volunteering — monthly visits, held on the fourth Wednesday of each month

• Youth as Solutions anti-vaping project — Youth Council designed and posted anti-vaping signs across schools, distributed materials at the Olympics, and organized a pledge-not-to-vape campaign

• Youth survey — surveyed residents ages 7-18; key findings: 40% of youth say there is nowhere to hang out; top requests were sports programs, arts and creative programs, community events, indoor recreational spaces, and a dedicated teen center

Chair Hermosillo and her colleagues presented an impressive five-minute documentary video produced as a part of their anti-vaping initiative. Unfortunately, staff could not get the audio working during the meeting, but the video can be watched in full here. Per Amy Tessier, Recreation Program Supervisor and Youth Council staff liaison, the documentary was chosen to participate in an international film competition, called Docathon, through MAD (Make a Difference) Courses.

Applications for the next Youth Council are still being accepted. Youth entering grades 6 through 12 in the fall are eligible.

A Housing Proposal for Justice-Involved Veterans — With Questions

As discussed in our preview, the Re-Enlist to Life Housing and Veteran Services (REL) presentation was postponed from May 12. REL is seeking a letter of support for its $12.6 million permanent supportive housing development for 32 justice-involved veterans housed in 16 units, to be funded through the State’s Homekey+ program under Prop 1 at no cost to the City.

Presenting the project were Founder Robert M. Embry and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Bevan — both are Marine Corps veterans. About the project Bevan said:

Our residents are your neighbors, they are individuals you will see at grocery stores, at community events, and in local places of worship. They are skilled, disciplined, and eager to prove their worth to the community that sits right next to the Marine Corps installation many of them once called home.

While a valiant proposal — it was met with applause from the public — several questions remained unanswered at the conclusion of the presentation.

• While REL's executive summary states the project site is in escrow, the property address is inconsistent across documents and no APN was provided.

• Embry described REL as a Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise — a specific California state certification administered by the Department of General Services. Desert Trumpet was unable to verify that REL holds that certification in either the California DGS database or the federal SAM.gov database.

• Homekey+ requires a local public entity as Lead Applicant, meaning a city, county, or public housing authority. No Lead Applicant is identified in any of the materials presented to Council.

The project was brought to Council under former City Manager H. Stone James, whose tenure ended May 16. City Manager Kevin Cole, now six days into the job at the time of the meeting, inherited the item. Given the unresolved questions around the project, it is reasonable to expect that Cole will conduct his own review before any letter of support is issued — if one is issued at all.

It should also be noted that as a Presentations item, the staff recommendation that Council direct the City Manager to write a letter of support was not actionable. No vote was taken.

Councilmember Ramirez's Ten-Topic “Meetings Attended” Report

Council Comments and Reports of Meetings Attended has a specific transparency purpose: it allows the public to see which meetings and conferences are attended on the City's dime. When the segment expands to include high school sporting events, community barbecues, and personal commitments alongside City-funded travel and policy claims, that transparency purpose gets lost. Which of these activities did the City pay for? The format as used doesn't answer that question.

As we've previously noted, Council Comments and Reports of Meetings Attended has increasingly become a platform for Councilmember April Ramirez. At the May 26 meeting, instead of aiming at a colleague as she did on August 26 of last year , Ramirez delivered an approximately 900-word account of her activities and achievements. Alongside routine community activities expected around the Memorial Day holiday, such as the Reach Out Morongo Basin barbecue, a cemetery service and a military spouse appreciation luncheon, Ramirez traveled to Lake Arrowhead for a City-County conference and Alpine for a Tribal Leaders Emergency Preparedness and Energy Summit earlier in the month.

She also listed activities in which her own role appeared to be exaggerated or was difficult to discern.

I also helped coordinate a Proposition 36 enforcement and outreach operation alongside the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and multiple community partners. I would like to thank Morongo Basin Arch under the new direction of Alfreda Wright, Molding Hearts under the direction of Lakita Johnson and Becky Reese from Family Jewish Services, the H.O.P.E. Team, San Bernardino Inroads, and all of the mental health professionals who participated on site.

As we noted in our April 14 recap, Prop 36 is a state criminal sentencing statute implemented at the county level through prosecutors, sheriffs, and courts — cities have no direct enforcement role. Notably, City Manager Cole described the same operation in his City Manager update as a joint traffic, OHV, and encampment enforcement event — without reference to Proposition 36. Mayor Pro Tem Octavious Scott was also present at the action.

Lastly, I want to briefly discuss Proposition 13. For those unfamiliar, Proposition 13 limits property tax increases and requires voter approval for certain tax changes in California. When I learned that there were discussions that could potentially weaken those protections, I became deeply concerned, because when property taxes goes up, rent goes up too, and many working families in our city simply cannot absorb that cost. I joined the coalition, and we needed 500,000 verified signatures statewide to place the issue before voters this November. I'm proud to say that our grassroots coalition got 1.35 million verified signatures, and the state will no longer be able to raise your property taxes without your permission, as 13 was intended to protect us. So, I want to thank Mayor Daniel Mintz, Council Member Steven Bilderain, Kat Reichmuth and David Cole from King of the Hammers for supporting my grassroots efforts.

This was not a grassroots campaign led by Ramirez. The campaign was in fact led and funded by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the California Business Roundtable, the California Taxpayers Association, and the California Business Properties Association — some of California’s most powerful conservative political organizations.

She closed her nearly seven-minute statement with the famous Steve Jobs quote — “the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do” — without attribution.

CONSENT CALENDAR

Passed 5-0 with two public comments. See our agenda preview for details on the items.

In public comment, Heather Drake spoke about Item 11 (septic systems), urging Council to extend enforcement to long-term rental management companies, citing personal experience with Triad Realty failing to maintain septic systems in properties she rented and later purchased.

Elliot Balsley raised a pointed question about Item 9 (the Sheriff’s $6.2 million contract): the contract includes a $195,000 line item for the Supplemental Local Law Enforcement Fund (SLEF), which Balsley noted is a state grant — not a General Fund expense. He expressed concern that approving the contract as written could pre-authorize spending those funds on Flock camera renewal without a separate Council vote. Finance Director Abigail Hernandez-Conde clarified that approving the Sheriff's contract does not pre-authorize the Flock renewal. Council will still get a vote on that at the October renewal.

Public Hearing and Discussion and Action Items sail through

Four items passed 5-0 with little Council discussion and no public comment.

• General Fund Budget Revisions FY 2026-27
  Finance Director Abigail Hernandez-Conde presented the revised budget. Key figures: $15,762,371 in revenues, $15,753,821 in expenditures, projected surplus of approximately $8,550. The City expects to end FY 2026-27 with approximately $12 million in unassigned reserves.
  

  One exchange worth noting: Ramirez raised AB 1383, pending legislation that could change the CalPERS retirement formula, asking what a jump from 3.1% to 6.1% in pension costs would look like. Hernandez-Conde estimated $100,000-$150,000 more. City Manager Cole clarified the legislation relates to the pension formula and would only affect the City if they chose to change their current formula — tempering the concern somewhat. Ramirez said she’d share the legislative call to action with the full Council.

• Master Citywide User Fee Schedule FY 2026-27
  See our agenda preview for detail on the vehicle tow fee doubling to $100, VHR appeal fee reinstatement, and other changes.

• Nonprofit Grant Recommendations

  Community Events Coordinator Scott Clinkscales presented the subcommittee recommendations. Of 12 applicants requesting a combined $196,890, three organizations will receive funding from a pool reduced from $75,000 to $50,000 due to budget constraints:

  • 29 Palms Community Food Pantry & Outreach Ministries: $25,000

  • Reach Out Morongo Basin: $15,000

  • Animal Action League: $10,000

  Mayor Mintz offered a brief explanation: “We addressed food, obviously the seniors, and did the Animal [Action League] so we could get neutering done for our animals in the city.” Mayor Pro Tem Scott noted that some unfunded organizations may find alternative funding through the Public Arts Advisory Committee or TBID — however only two of the nine would potentially qualify: Project Sheba and the 29 Palms Artist Guild. See our May 12 agenda preview for the full applicant list.

• Council Compensation Increase to $700/month
  City Manager Cole introduced the item, noting the increase hadn’t happened in 24 years and that the law had changed to allow it. If approved after the second reading, the ordinance takes effect after the November 2026 election — meaning Councilmembers Mintz, Scott, and Wright, all up for re-election, would not benefit unless re-elected. See our March 10 recap for the full backstory.

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

A brief update on two items:

• The Donnell Hill safe passage item — Mayor Mintz noted Caltrans has cleared the east lane shoulder, creating a less obstructed path. City Manager Cole mentioned improvements at the base of the hill as well. Lighting remains a question requiring Caltrans approval.

• Cooling Center hours — Scott asked Cole to bring this forward. Cole indicated he’s already looking at adjusting hours at Freedom Plaza without incurring additional costs and will report back.

Two new items added by Ramirez:

• Review and authorize repairs needed at the EV charging station at Freedom Plaza

• Review and revise Municipal Code Chapter 5.08 on cannabis-related uses to align with new state legislation — seconded by Bilderain for the education of Council

Ramirez requested that the Council review and authorize any repairs needed at the EV charging station at Freedom Plaza. City Manager Cole, six days into the job, gently redirected: repairs of that nature fall within City Manager authority and don’t require Council action. He will assess the cost and bring it back to Council only if it exceeds his authority. It may never appear on a formal agenda.

It’s a small moment but a notable one — a new City Manager quietly establishing the boundary between administrative and legislative authority on his first night at the dais.

Flock cameras dominate public comment, again

Three speakers addressed Flock cameras, one welcomed the new City Manager.

Flock cameras dominated. Five letters were read into the record — four against, one in favor. Two speakers addressed the issue in person:

Heather Drake delivered a detailed statement alleging the Sheriff’s Department is operating the Flock system in violation of California law — specifically SB 34 transparency requirements — and has stonewalled her California Public Records Act (CPRA) requests for four months:

They claim that showing me the records of my own car would violate the privacy rights of the people involved. It's my car. They're claiming that they need to protect my privacy from myself. That is absurd.

She demanded the cameras be covered, the contract agendized, and the program ended.

Jeff Drake followed, providing legal context: he argued the Sheriff’s Department’s reliance on Haynie v. Superior Court to classify all Flock data as a permanent investigatory file is directly contradicted by the California Supreme Court’s ruling in ACLU v. Superior Court, which held that mass bulk ALPR data collection is a dragnet, not a targeted investigation, and therefore not exempt. He also argued that using privacy exemptions to block a person from seeing records of their own vehicle “is a complete subversion of the law.”

Andrew Wilson welcomed Kevin Cole, saying Cole was his basketball coach growing up and “whenever I needed somebody, Kevin Cole was always there.”

The Desert Trumpet speaks to California Public Records Act (CPRA) compliance

Desert Trumpet Editor (and writer of this preview) Cindy Bernard attended the May 26 meeting in her capacity as a journalist and addressed Council on CPRA compliance:

The Desert Trumpet submits public information requests as a part of our investigative reporting. While a few of you do a great job of supplying the documents legally required by the California Public Records Act, others of you are less forthcoming. You know who you are. In fact, documents produced in response to one of our requests show that a council member directed City staff to filter our records response using only quote exact keywords, a practice inconsistent with the City’s obligation under the California Public Records Act.

She also noted that when council members and staff fail to provide requested documents, it increases staff time and city attorney time and motioning to the room indicated that those costs are ultimately borne by taxpayers. She added that those costs would increase significantly if the Desert Trumpet is compelled to enforce its requests legally.

Shortly after the Desert Trumpet’s public comment on CPRA compliance, we received an email from the City requesting that we narrow a 10-week-old records request by providing specific keywords — or face closure of the request within five days.

New City Manager Kevin Cole keeps it brief

Is it possible the days of lengthy City Manager discourses are past? Kevin Cole’s first City Manager update at City Council clocked in at just 2-1/2 minutes. In addition to participating in the previously mentioned joint enforcement action, Cole noted he’s getting up to speed on the sales tax initiative. He closed with a warm note about the public cemetery’s Memorial Day flag display, calling it “a beautiful place” that has improved significantly in recent years, while noting it’s a special district, not under City jurisdiction. In summary:

Well, it’s day six and it actually has been great. I want to thank the public, I want to thank the staff, I want to thank the council for welcoming me here. It feels like I’m home.

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Here’s a link to a Wildlife Wednesday feature on bighorns from last July.

The 49 Palms Oasis Trail in Joshua Tree National Park has been open again lately, and I’ve been grabbing every chance I can to hike it. Sometimes I do it for my Preventative Search and Rescue volunteer gig and sometimes just because I need the reward of that cool, green oasis at the end of a huffy-puffy climb and all those stone steps down.

The park closed the trail for months to repair the tread and the steps and add a new water bar or two to keep erosion down on the steep slope. More important, the park also closes the trail in the summer to give the oasis back to the wildlife that depends on it. Bighorn sheep are at the top of that list. This year the trail closes on June 1 for the summer.

I don’t often encounter sheep on the trail or at the oasis, but sometimes I do. One late winter morning I turned a corner and nearly walked into a ram and a very pregnant ewe standing maybe 30 yards away. They moved off slowly, the ewe too heavy with lamb to do her usual disappearing act over the rock, the ram giving me serious side-eye. I know how to take a hint (usually) and quickly gave them their space.

A Society Run by Ewes

For much of the year, male and female bighorn sheep live in mostly separate worlds. The rams form their own bachelor bands and go off and do ram things. The ewes, meanwhile, run a tight operation of their own.

Ewe herds, sometimes called nursery herds, are made up of adult females, lambs, and female and male yearlings. I ran into one of these herds while I was poking around in a wash to the west of the Indian Cove campground. I jumped when I heard a rattle and clack and realized it was hooves on rock. A cluster of ewes and lambs, as startled as I was, flowed straight up the rocks and looked down disapprovingly. The lambs nudged their moms and started nursing, knowing they could safely disappear in an instant.

Ewes are the backbone of the herd’s continuity. They know the terrain, the water sources, the escape routes. Young sheep learn the landscape by following older females and figure out where to find water, which slopes are safe, how to read a possible mountain lion situation. A fascinating study in Science shows how bighorns in Idaho, Wyoming, and South Dakota pass along information through social exchanges. It can take new arrivals that might have been translocated to provide genetic diversity and disease resistance several generations to learn how to best use the landscape. One researcher said:

They possess excellent spatial memory. They can remember when a path greened up and time their movements to go to that area the next spring.

Like many desert animals, bighorns remember where water pools after monsoon and winter rains. Although the park has very few year-round water sources, sheep know where they can find water in neighboring residential areas. A friend who cleaned the Invisible House in Joshua Tree said the sheep were such a nuisance (imagine not being charmed by visiting bighorns) that the property manager had to build a special wall to keep the sheep out of a water feature.1

The Breeding Season (When the Rams Come Back)

Sometime between July and October, rams rejoin the ewe herds, and things get dramatic. Breeding is a competitive, noisy, physically punishing affair. Rams charge each other head-on from 20 feet or more, crashing their massive horns together until one gives up. Those horns aren’t just for show; on an older ram they can weigh over 30 pounds. The crashes are audible from a distance and sound exactly as bad as they look. I know people who have witnessed this; perhaps I will soon.

Horn size and overall vigor determine who wins. Males reach sexual maturity in their second or third year, but most aren’t strong enough to actually compete for mates until they’re about seven years old. So a young ram might be technically ready but gets pushed aside by more experienced competition for years. Patience or persistence eventually pays off.

After breeding, the rams go back to their bachelor bands. Gestation lasts about 150 to 180 days, which means most lambs arrive between January and April, right when desert conditions are (relatively) mild and early spring green-up gives ewes the nutrition they need for nursing.

Lamb Life: Hard from the Start

Bighorn lambs are born alert and on their feet almost immediately. They have to be. Every larger predator from coyotes to mountain lions finds them tasty. Within a few weeks of birth, lambs begin forming their own little subgroups within the herd, playing together and exploring while still checking back in with their mothers to nurse. By six months old, they’re completely weaned.

Those first six months are the most dangerous of a bighorn’s life. Only about one-third of lambs survive their first summer. The heat, the lack of water, predators, and disease all take their toll. Because they are naïve and adventurous and they’re, well, sheep, some die in falls and a few have drowned in water guzzlers maintained here and there in the desert.

Let’s Hear it for the Mamas and the Aunties

That any life survives in the desert can seem like a miracle. It takes luck sometimes and good instincts. For bighorn lambs it also takes the life lesson they learn from their mothers and the aunties in their nursery herds. Watching a nursery herd disappear into the boulders, almost seeming to transubstantiate into rocks, is one of those moments that puts everything in perspective.

They were here long before us. Here’s hoping they’ll scramble alongside and away from us for many years more.

Have you seen bighorn sheep near the park boundary or in Twentynine Palms neighborhoods? We’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment or send us a note.

On Thursday, May 21 the Twentynine Palms Tourism Improvement District (TBID) Board held their regular monthly meeting. The agenda focused on funding for the Area 29 Galactic Gathering, which was approved for $10,000, and a discussion about updating grant and sponsorship requirements. Kevin Cole, the new Twentynine Palms City Manager, introduced himself and pledged to attend TBID meetings on a regular basis. Maria Madird announced her departure from the TBID due to moving out of state next month.

Present were Vice Chair Ashton Ramsey and Board Members Maria Madrid, Ben Uyeda, and Liz Schickler. Chair Rakesh Mehta joined by teleconference.

Director of Marketing update

Marketing Manager Breanne Dusastre opened the meeting with her regular monthly update. In conjunction with celebrating California Tourism month, Dusastre shared highlights from the 2025 Economic Impact of Travel report, including:

• $158.9 billion in travel-related spending statewide, which was up 1.7% from 2024.

• 1.2 million travel-related jobs across California, a 0.4% increase from last year.

• $13.6 billion in state and local tax revenue generated by travel, which was up 3.6% from last year.

On the local level, Dusastre shared preliminary results of the second quarter of TBID revenue collection, which covers January through March, 2026:

• Revenue collection for this quarter is about $130,000, which is up 19% from the same period in 2025.

• The hotel and RV segment accounted for $74,000 of the revenue, which was a 33% increase from last year.

• Collection for vacation rentals is up 4% from the same quarter last year.

• The total collected so far year-to-date is $232,000, which reflects a 13% increase over last year.

Dusastre also reported that a three-month billboard campaign on the I-10 near Palm Springs has been launched in a location that generates about 418,000 weekly impressions based on its location, which she hopes will have an impact on destination visibility for Twentynine Palms.

Praising Twentynine Palms as a place loved by visitors and locals

The only general public comment was offered by Suzanne Lyons, a part-time resident who also lives in Humboldt County. She discovered the Best of California magazine in a hotel on her drive to Twentynine Palms and commented on a feature about Twentynine Palms,

I was interested to see that the things that they praise for tourists are many of the same things that we just love about living here. So [this] strikes me that there’s kind of a win-win going on with quality of life and our town making us all happy as residents, but also being a great experience for people when they come here and discover the town.

The Best of California is published by Visit California, the statewide tourism organization, and features sponsored destination content.

Funding for Area 29 Galactic Gathering approved

The board awarded $10,000 in funding for the Area 29 Galactic Gathering, which will be held August 13 to 16 during the Perseid Meteor Shower. Now in its third year, the event is organized by Rediscover 29, an association of local businesses. It aims to bring together alien, space, and desert-enthusiasts, including 200 out-of-town guests, for four days of events like film screenings, art shows, performances, a glow-in-the-dark dance party, citywide scavenger hunt, and an alien themed pool party.

The funding discussion and decision for Area 29 had been tabled at April’s meeting because of a lack of a quorum due required recusals for board member Shickler and Vice Chair Ramsey. Both operate businesses that are paid members of Rediscover 29 and were not able to vote on funding.

There were three public comments in support of the event. Sarah Lyons, President of Rediscover 29 and co-owner of Scorpion Lollipop, submitted a written comment. She highlighted that a space themed festival was recently announced at Pappy and Harriet’s for the same weekend, which showed that the event concept has value, but that planning must begin soon. She wrote,

We have an opportunity to build something truly special and unique in our city with this event, and it’s unfortunate that Twentynine Palms could yet again be overshadowed by another high desert community.

Jimmy Brower, Vice President of Rediscover 29 and owner of Sun of the Desert, stressed the importance of symbiotic relationships between groups like Rediscover 29, the TBID, and other local nonprofits to support tourism and economic development in Twentynine Palms. He suggested that event marketing and tracking an event’s impact must be a connected, group effort that needs ownership and buy-in from TBID stakeholders and local businesses. Practically, he suggested a QR code to track bookings from events like Area 29.

He also echoed Lyons comment, remarking it was unfortunate that Pappy and Harriet’s and the Pioneertown Motel announced a space-themed festival, which was ticketed at a price higher than what Twentynine Palms can command right now. However, he noted Twentynine Palms has an advantage,

We have something that I see distinguishes us from many of those other upper echelons of visitor caliber and deep pocket books, which is really local flavor. We bring something that is unique and something that can’t be matched because of the people doing it, the organizations funding it, and understanding where those dollars go, which is right back into our community versus out into a different thing.

Anna Stump expressed her support for Area 29 and Rediscover 29 as an organization, stating, “I totally believe in this group of people. They are amazing. They are the future of this town.” She also emphasized that Area 29 was distinct from the Pioneertown event, suggesting that the city could piggyback off of it and encourage people to stay in Twentynine Palms, where more lodging is available, and experience funky, free events.

Uyeda proposed funding for $10,000 of their $14,487 request. He praised the event’s goal to activate venues around the city, but reiterated the importance of tracking impact of overnight stays and how essential that was to the application. The funding passed 3-0-2, with recusal by Shickler and Ramsey.

The juxtaposition between the Space Craft event at Pappy and Harriet’s, which is relying on outside event producers Night Howl, while Area 29 leverages the connections, creativity, local knowledge and expertise of local businesses and creatives, raises an interesting question about the direction the TBID could choose to go in terms of event funding. Do they want to bring in outside producers that can pull in high ticket prices or better invest in and nurture local talent with the potential of creating memorable signature events that also reflect the community of Twentynine Palms?

Board discussion of grant and sponsorship guidelines

The majority of the meeting was spent on one agenda item: Discussing how grants and sponsorship guidelines could be revised to be clearer and better support the TBID’s mission and goals. Grants and sponsorships are funded by the 1.5% passthrough tax (also known as the Transit Occupancy Tax or TOT) on lodging properties within Twentynine Palms. For this fiscal year, TBID allocated $150,000 to the program. $120,000 designated for event grants, which are designed to support signature events and range from $3,000 to $20,000 in funding per event. $30,000 was designated to sponsorships, with a maximum of $3,000 of funding available per event.

Issues that have been repeatedly raised with the grants and sponsorship program by the board, applicants, and community members include:

• Lack of clarity and consistency in scoring

• The varying quality and completeness of applications

• The lack of connection between funding and results, including the number of overnight stays booked.

• The staff time it takes to prepare, follow up on, and administer grant applications.

• Whether events fuel the TBID’s mission to promote Twentynine Palms as a tourism destination and if they are an effective use of TBID funds.

These issues were reiterated by board member Uyeda to help frame the discussion. The board is looking to rethink the grant process and guidelines before the application cycle for 2027 events begins.

Public comments offer suggested improvements

Vicky Waite and Jimmy Brower offered public comment about the grants and sponsorship guidelines. Waite, the past recipient of a TBID sponsorship noted the jump between $3,000 and $20,000 was large, especially for smaller events. She asked if funding could be more balanced between grants and sponsorships and if the sponsorship funding potential could be raised slightly to $5,000, which would be impactful for regular, smaller-scale events with a proven track record.

Jimmy Brower reiterated the value of engagement of local businesses and nonprofits in organizing events and adding value to Twentynine Palms outside of the National Park. He stated,

[Local business owners and nonprofits] are your movers and shakers, aka event producers ... There’s there’s value in seeding and investing in homegrown events created by Twentynine Palms residents, business owners, and nonprofit leaders. The reciprocally [between these groups] supports and fosters comfort, trust, and familiarity, something that, in my opinion, TBID really needs to work on, as it’s unfortunately eroding in the community.

Brower suggested this trust could be repaired through workshops, seeding and investing in local events, keeping event support local, and helping organizers scale sustainably towards self-sufficiency.

Board members offer their ideas for an improved grant program

In order to get clear, actionable feedback on the grant program, Uyeda took the lead on facilitating a discussion about event grant and sponsorship criteria. A member of the events subcommittee, he asked each board member to articulate their suggestion for how funding applications should be evaluated and how the program could be improved. Their responses generally echoed each other and emphasized both clarifying criteria and the types of events the TBID is looking to fund.

The discussion touched on:

• The need to track impact overnight stays and marketing exposure and demonstrate return on investment.

• Simplify scoring and clarify evaluating and funding criteria.

• Emphasize and encourage events that activate multiple nights that are smaller and regularly scheduled, such as music series, trivia nights, or a monthly new moon festival.

• Invest in public art or monuments that create a lasting impact through shared social media content.

• Ensure the dollar amounts that organizations are requesting are in line with the impact they have and enable applicants to apply for a greater range of funding, potentially eliminating the split between grants and sponsorship amounts.

• Simplify and streamline the application process, potentially with support from the city’s IT department, to make applications easier to submit and evaluate and to save the Director of Marketing’s time, as she currently spends more than half her time administering the program.

In closing Uyeda brought up a fundamental question about the goal of the event and grants sponsorship program, asking “What is this for? Is this to see new things? Is it to support the things that are working and keep investing in them?”

Uyeda also discussed how expectations and funding criteria could be clarified and that dollar amounts could be tied to the potential number of overnight stays. This guidance would offer event organizers,

Predictability on their planning, because otherwise we’re incentivizing people to write really fabulous proposals, see how much they get, and then just rework it with what they got. That’s not efficient project planning, so we should have some sort of financial expectation relative to the judging criteria if they make it through to that final round.

Uyeda briefly brought up the question of the TBID’s annual re-authorization and whether that presented a challenge in investing in the grants process, if the very existence of the TBID was unsure from year to year. Despite Uyeda’s comment, a future agenda item to discuss reauthorization was not proposed. Shickler and Uyeda, the current events subcommittee, will meet and put suggestions into writing for the next meeting for discussion.

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The May 26 City Council meeting is the first regular session since the departure of City Manager H. Stone James, whose two-year tenure ended May 12. The meeting, held at City Hall, begins at 6 pm.

Incoming City Manager Kevin Cole has already made a brief first appearance at the May 21 Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) meeting, where he stopped in to introduce himself on day four of the job: "As I get my feet under me, I'll attend these meetings on a regular basis," he told the TBID board, adding that he had nothing yet for a City Manager update but looked forward to working with the group. May 26 will be his first appearance before the full City Council.

The agenda is substantive for a post-holiday lift: two public hearings, several consent calendar items, and two action items that deserve more than a quick vote. The agenda packet is available here.

PUBLIC COMMENT

You can comment on agenda items and issues important to you at every City Council meeting. Comments on agenda items take place during discussion of that item, while comments on non-agenda items take place near the end of the meeting. The Brown Act prevents Council from commenting on non-agenda items. To comment, pick up a form at the entry desk, fill it out, and hand it to the Clerk, who usually sits just in front of the Council dais on the right.

Here’s the list of Council email addresses to write if you can’t get to the meeting — be sure to email them prior to 2 pm on the date of the meeting so they have time to read your email prior to discussion. You can also copy the clerk at cvillescas@29palms.org and ask that your letter be made part of the public record.

Keep in mind that the City has been falling short on documenting public comment — see our analysis here.

AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS

The meeting opens with three presentations before getting to business. The
Feathers ‘N Fur Wildlife Rehab Team, the Kiwanis Club of Twentynine Palms, and the Twentynine Palms High School Interact Club will be recognized for their participation in the Cash for Trash and Recycling Program. The Youth Council will present its annual Year in Review.

The third presentation may sound familiar: Re-Enlist to Life Housing and Veteran Services (REL) will finally get its turn before Council, having been postponed at the May 12 meeting when Mayor Mintz announced it would be held to the next meeting. As we covered in our May 12 preview, REL is seeking a letter of support for its $12.6 million Permanent Supportive Housing development for 32 justice-involved veterans, to be funded through the State’s Homekey+ program under Prop 1 at no cost to the City.

The question about the address raised in that preview remains unresolved. The project is described as located at 605 Utah Trail on 40 acres, but that address does not appear to exist — the numbering doesn’t align with current Utah Trail addresses — and the staff report provides no APN for the proposed parcel. It’s a reasonable question to ask whether a letter of support can be written for a project whose location hasn’t been established in the public record.

CONSENT CALENDAR

The Consent Calendar consists of items usually approved with a single vote. The public is given a chance to make public comment on these items prior to the Council motion. Fill out a comment form specifying the item you wish to address and submit it in person, or send an email in advance regarding any of the items on this meeting’s Consent Calendar.

Consent items include approval of the May 12 meeting minutes and several items of varying consequence: the routine annual levy of assessments for the Lighting and Landscaping Assessment District (covering parkways in Tract 16729 and the Historic Plaza, with no increase from last year); a nine-year extension of the City’s waste disposal agreement with San Bernardino County, locking the rate at 83% of the County’s gate rate through June 2035; Amendment #5 to the Split Rock Avenue Bridge design contract, adding $104,000 for a third channel redesign forced by changing direction from the County Flood Control District; and the standing reminder from the City and Twentynine Palms Water District: please maintain your septic system.

8. Appropriation Limit FY 2026-27

California’s Proposition 4 (the Gann Initiative) requires the City to set an annual cap on General Fund spending each year. The General Fund covers the City’s core operating expenses — law enforcement, parks, code enforcement, administration, and other day-to-day services — as distinct from restricted funds like gas tax revenue or grant money, which can only be spent on specific purposes. Based on state population and income change calculations, the City’s Proposition 4 appropriation limit for FY 2026-27 is set at $87,524,044 — well above the City’s projected appropriations.

9. Annual Contract with San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for FY 2026-27

The Sheriff’s contract for law enforcement services comes in at $6,220,995 for FY 2026-27, a 7.4% increase over last year, or $429,052 more. Speaking of the General Fund, at $6,740,026 when incidental costs are included, law enforcement represents approximately 43% of the City’s total General Fund expenditures, by far the largest single line item in the budget. The main driver of the increase is a sharp jump in insurance and personnel liability premiums. The County’s preliminary premium allocation to the City was $624,411, a $246,226 increase over the prior year; the County approved a one-time subsidy reducing the City’s share to $498,375.

The contract provides two patrol deputies on-duty at all times, one traffic officer (40 hours/week), a School Resource Officer (shared 50/50 with Morongo Unified School District), two citizen patrol units, two detectives, and support services. The budget for FY 2026-27 had under-budgeted this contract by $293,511; the budget revision on this agenda (Item 12) corrects that.

PUBLIC HEARINGS

12. Proposed Revisions to the General Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27

This is the second year of the City’s two-year budget cycle, and staff is presenting proposed revisions before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year. The bottom line: the revised budget projects $15,762,371 in revenues and $15,753,821 in total expenditures and transfers out a surplus of approximately $8,550. The City expects to end FY 2026-27 with approximately $12.8 million in reserves, with about $12 million unassigned, well above the City’s 50-55% reserve policy target.

Key changes from the original adopted budget include:

• The Sheriff’s contract came in $429,000 higher than budgeted — see Item 9 for detail.

• Employee cost-of-living adjustments are set at 3.1% across the board.

• The Councilmember compensation increase — which was budgeted to take effect in January 2026 — did not happen on schedule. It is now expected to take effect January 2027 at the earliest (see Item 15), so the Council budget was reduced by $28,000.

• Contributions to nonprofits were reduced from $75,000 to $50,000. (See Item 14.)

• The events budget for Juneteenth ($2,500) and the JT 55 Ride ($17,500) were eliminated, for a combined savings of $20,000.

The budget proposes $282,000 in transfers from the General Fund to the Capital Projects Fund for playground equipment, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) project management, a dump truck for Parks maintenance, and seed money for a future street sweeper. It also proposes drawing $355,000 from reserves, including $200,000 for additional pension liability prefunding, $25,000 for a cost allocation and fee study, and $25,000 for a sewer fee study.

San Bernardino Regional Housing Trust JPA membership dues, approved by Council at the April 14 meeting, are budgeted at $30,000 for the first year, with ongoing dues expected to run $25,000 to $40,000 annually by year three.

13. Amendments to the Master Citywide User Fee Schedule for FY 2026-27

The City’s fee schedule, last comprehensively overhauled in 2020 with assistance from consultant Willdan, is updated annually. For FY 2026-27, a 3.1% Consumer Prince Index (CPI) increase was applied to most fees. Development Impact Fees were adjusted by 2.67% based on the Engineering News Record Construction Cost Index.

Beyond the standard CPI increase, several fees are worth noting:

• Vehicle tow fee doubles from $48 to $100 — the first increase in over six years. The City’s prior rate was among the lowest in the region; Yucca Valley charges $100, the County Sheriff $155, and San Bernardino $349.

• Ancillary business and entertainment license fees are formally added to the fee schedule, following Council's adoption of Ordinance 327 at the January 13, 2026 meeting. These licenses, which cover covering secondary commercial activities or live entertainment operating within an existing business, are added on to an existing business license rather than issued as a separate permit. The fee mirrors the standard business license: $123.26 for a first-year application and $44.36 for renewal.

• Vacation Home Rental (VHR) appeal fee ($375.91) is reinstated after being inadvertently dropped from the schedule in FY 2024-25.

• Public road improvement inspection fees are corrected from 1% to 2% of project valuation — reflecting actual longstanding practice that was never updated in the fee schedule.

DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS

14. Subcommittee Recommendations for Contributions to Non-Profit Organizations

Twelve nonprofits applied for Community Development Block Grants during the open application period this spring, requesting a combined $196,890. At the May 12 workshop, eleven organizations presented before Council. The pool was originally advertised at $75,000, but following the workshop, staff determined that budget constraints reduced the available amount to $50,000. The subcommittee, which was made up of Mayor Daniel Mintz and Councilmember Steven Bilderain, recommends the following distributions:

• 29 Palms Community Food Pantry & Outreach Ministries: $25,000

• Reach Out Morongo Basin: $15,000

• Animal Action League: $10,000

Nine of the twelve applicants are recommended to receive nothing — including arts, youth, veterans, and military family services organizations covered in our May 12 preview. The funded three all provide direct basic-needs services: food distribution, transportation for vulnerable residents, and affordable veterinary access. Of the two spay/neuter organizations, the Animal Action League has an existing paid relationship with the City, conducting shelter clinics at $3,600 per clinic for several years. The unfunded organization, PALS of Palms N Paws, is a newer nonprofit (founded October 2025) dedicated to supporting the municipal shelter through a resident spay/neuter voucher program.

A notable exception to the apparent basic-needs pattern is the Armed Services YMCA, which operates a food pantry on the Marine Corps base for lower-enlisted military families and expects to distribute 200,000 pounds of food to roughly 10,000 military family members in 2026, a direct service that was passed over. The staff report provides no criteria, scoring, or rationale explaining the selections, so any pattern readers detect is inferred rather than documented. Council may approve the recommendations, modify them, or table the item.

It is worth noting that the budget revision in Item 12 reduces the nonprofit contributions line from $75,000 to $50,000 for FY 2026-27. Organizations that applied based on the $75,000 advertised amount were not informed of the reduction until after they presented. The outlook for next year is bleaker still; the budget projects the nonprofit contributions pool dropping further to $25,000 in FY 2027-28.

15. First Reading: Ordinance to Increase City Council Monthly Compensation to $700

This is the first reading of an ordinance that would raise Council members’ monthly pay from $465 to $700, the first increase since December 2002. Council gave direction to bring this ordinance forward at the March 10, 2026 meeting, after a discussion that was more revealing than the outcome.

The increase is authorized under Senate Bill 329, enacted January 1, 2024, which updated Government Code Section 36516. Under the population-based method Council selected, cities with populations up to 35,000 may set compensation at up to $950 per month.

At the March 10 meeting, City Manager Stone James framed the discussion with a regional comparison showing Twentynine Palms Councilmembers earning $465 against a regional average of $975, and noted that adjusted for CPI, $465 in 2002 is worth roughly $832 to $850 today, meaning Councilmembers have effectively taken a pay cut every year for 24 years. He also put the time commitment in perspective, noting that the two or three hours at the dais twice a month are “actually the smallest amount of time” Councilmembers spend on the job.

Public comment was unanimously in favor of an increase, including from former Mayor Joel Klink, who had originally raised the issue in October 2024 and suggested the full $950.

The Council discussion that followed revealed a generational split. Mayor Mintz and Councilmembers Bilderain and Wright focused almost entirely on their own discomfort. Bilderain said he felt bad seeking a pay raise “when we’re trying to raise taxes at the same time,” Wright said he hadn’t known the position was paid when he first ran, and Mintz was brief: “I’m going to tell you now I won’t vote for $950.” None of the three addressed the harder question: who can afford to serve on a council paying $465 a month?

The two younger first-term members did. Mayor Pro Tem Scott noted that staff members receive cost-of-living raises — why not Council? Councilmember Ramirez moved $825, calculating based on gas, mileage, and childcare costs she personally absorbs. That motion failed 3-2, with Ramirez and Scott voting yes. Wright then moved $700, which passed 4-1, with Mintz the lone no vote.

A few things to understand about timing: this is only the first reading. A second reading at a future regular meeting is required before the ordinance takes effect. And critically, the increase cannot take effect until Councilmembers begin a new term — at the earliest December 2026, when the November election results are certified. Councilmembers Mintz, Scott, and Wright are all up for election in November 2026. The total annual salary cost at $700/month would be $42,000, an increase of $14,100 from the current rate.

FUTURE COUNCIL INITIATED ITEMS

The growing list of future agenda items now stands at 13 items carried over from prior meetings, including three new additions from May 12: a collaboration with Liberty Military Housing on RENA numbers1 (requested by Ramirez), a study session on Flock surveillance cameras (requested by Ramirez, seconded by Scott), and an expedited discussion on Cooling Center operating hours (requested by Scott, seconded by Wright).

1. Shade Structures around Freedom Plaza and a possible art fixture with “Freedom Plaza” announcing the location

2. Discussion of a policy regulating the use of City Attorney resources.

3. Discussion on creating a “Recognized Neighborhood Program.”

4. Discussion on the new Federal holidays to coincide with the City’s holiday schedule.

5. Discussion on the use of City funds for grants and the potential reallocation of housing and homeless funds to grants.

6. Discussion on creating guidelines for the use of City Hall meeting rooms by elected and appointed officials for official city business.

7. Discussion on the next steps of reallocating $1.3 million for housing.

8. Discussion of Code Enforcement and compliance with Proposition 36 and find a pathway to meeting the new guidance issued by Governor Gavin Newson.

9. Discussion about annexing parcels: APN 0634-05-124 and 0634-05-109, also known as Set Free Ranch.

10. Discussion of a possible safe passage with CalTrans around Donnell Hill.

11. Discussion on a collaboration with Liberty Military Housing to update our RENA numbers.

12. Study Session regarding the FLOCK cameras.

13. Expedited item to discuss the Cooling Center hours.

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The May 19 Planning Commission meeting clocked in at just over 26 minutes, setting in motion an initiative that will shape Twentynine Palms for decades to come: the first steps toward updating the City’s general plan. In attendance were Commissioners Alex Garcia, Vice Chair Jim Krushat, and Chair Max Walker, with Leslie Paahana arriving a few minutes after the meeting started. Commissioner Jessica Cure was not present.

Relevant links:

• Meeting agenda packet

• Desert Trumpet Agenda Preview

• Video of the first four minutes of the meeting. The study session on the general plan was not livestreamed.

Public Comment: Is the City in Violation of the Brown Act?

No members of the public came forward during the opening public comment period.

Posters on social media have reported that they have sent letters and emails to the Planning Commission (and City Council) that have not been read aloud or acknowledged on the dias during the meeting nor have they been mentioned in meeting minutes.1

City Council and Planning Commission meeting minutes have recently become less detailed about public comment: current minutes (2025–2026) list speakers’ names but omit the substance of their remarks, and written letters—while sometimes listed by name—are neither summarized nor acknowledged during meetings.

This is a change from past practice: 2023 minutes show that letters were read aloud at meetings and both spoken and written comments were summarized in the minutes for City Council and Planning Commission alike.2

The Brown Act does not require that letters and emails be read aloud or noted, but they do need to be made available for public inspection “upon request and without delay.”

• The City of Berkeley, for example, includes letters sent by the public in its agenda packets.

• In Manhattan Beach, the City Clerk briefly announces at the meeting that written correspondence has been received on an item and sometimes lists the names of senders.

• San Luis Obispo posts letters and emails about agenda items on its website. Richmond posts correspondence alongside meeting minutes: all written public comments received are published on the city's website for the record with the meeting minutes.

The lapse in Twentynine Palms appears to be that letters are not available for public inspection online, in the agenda packet, or in City offices. Now that Kevin Cole, the new City Manager, has taken office, those who wish for more transparency could bring this issue up in public comment at a future Planning Commission meeting or at the upcoming City Council meeting on May 26. It would be to the benefit of the City and the community to know more about the issues that affect everyone who lives in Twentynine Palms. It would also avoid a Brown Act violation.

The Consent Calendar, which consisted of approval of the May 5 meeting minutes, passed 4-0-1 (absence).

Study Session: Planning the General Plan

Community Development Director Keith Gardner described how the City’s General Plan, the master document that guides how land is used and developed in Twentynine Palms, was last fully overhauled in 2012. The state of California requires that each city have a general plan that includes these elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, safety, and environmental justice.

Twentynine Palms’ General Plan currently combines conservation and open space into one element and also includes a recreation element because of the importance of Joshua Tree National Park to the City’s economy.

Gardner proposed something new for the update: adding an arts element to the General Plan. He said he is already working with the City’s Public Arts Advisory Committee (PAAC) on the new element, which would identify good locations for permanent public art, temporary installations, and performing arts spaces around town.3

The City’s staff will conduct the work to lead to the new General Plan without hiring outside consultants. Gardner said the City will be doing as much work in-house as possible, which means the update will likely take longer than it would in a city that has budgeted to hire planning consultants. He told the Planning Commissioners:

We’re just making sure we’re going down the right pathway, make sure we’re all in agreement. This is where we want to go, and realistically, it’s going to be a while. There is going to be workshop after workshop, discussing different areas in detail, different policies in detail, and you’ll probably be sick of this topic, but this really needs to be updated, because it’s reaching [the end of] its useful life.

In the spirit of starting with the hard things first, Gardner said staff recommends tackling the Land Use element first, since almost everything else — traffic planning, population projections, where future homes and businesses go — depends on it. He laid out five goals for the update:

1. Land use designations should reflect real-world conditions as accurately as possible.

2. Proposed changes should reflect realistic long-term development.

3. Land use districts may be consolidated or simplified where it makes sense.

4. Environmental and historical factors must be considered.

5. Each existing Specific Plan will be reviewed for whether it is still relevant today.

Gardner walked the Commission through a study map of the southwestern part of the City from Shoshone Valley Road west to the City boundary, and south from Highway 62 to Joshua Tree National Park. The map was included for illustrative purposes only; no zoning changes are being proposed yet.

The map highlights parcels owned by flood control districts, utility companies, and the federal government that are currently zoned for residential development even though development on those properties is essentially impossible. “The reason why that's important,” Gardner said, “is that you have traffic counts and population projections, etc., based upon what the general plan has for its land use.”

Commissioner Garcia said the process seemed headed in the right direction and he was looking forward to seeing it unfold. Commissioner Paahana emphasized the importance of accurate data for traffic and housing numbers. Vice Chair Krushat asked Gardner to clarify how gray areas on the allowable land use chart should be read. He confirmed that if a use isn’t listed, it isn’t permitted. Krushat also raised a question about the difference between the terms “single family dwelling” and “single family residence” in the development code. Gardner said cleaning up that kind of language is exactly what this process is for.

Chair Walker compared the City’s approach to the way the Marine Corps recently updated its own base master plan and said it felt like the right direction. He asked Gardner to include a direct link to the General Plan in future staff reports, noting that the City’s website can be hard to navigate. (It’s here.)

In comment on the General Plan, Carlos Blandon suggested a roundabout to slow traffic on Lear Avenue.

City Development Director Update

Keith Gardner said that a smog check station proposed for the southeast corner of Adobe Road and Hwy 62 is moving through the administrative use permit process. (The Desert Trumpet took an in-depth look at this proposed business here.) Notices went out the same day, and unless someone objects, it is set to be approved by the end of the following week.

Gardner and the Commissioners discussed their summer schedule, but no firm plans were made for meeting cancellations. And with that, the meeting adjourned.

Last week, the Desert Trumpet covered the U.S. congressional races, which we reported on here. Now it’s time to look at the State assembly races. The Morongo Basin is divided into two districts. District 34 covers Twentynine Palms and Landers. District 47 covers Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley. You can look up which district you are in using the CalMatters website. The site is dated 2022 but don’t worry, scroll down the page and you’ll see updated information.

State Assembly is one of two chambers in the California legislature; the Morongo Basin’s State Senate representative is Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, and there is no race taking place for this seat this year. Assembly members take part in creating laws and establishing the state budget, introducing, debating, and voting on bills that become law if approved by the legislature and signed by the governor. Residents in the Morongo Basin depend on state funding for schools, roads, healthcare access, and emergency preparedness.

Voting Information and Resources

You should have already received your voter guides and mail ballot. To check your voter registration status, register to vote, find your polling place and other election information, use the following links:

• Check if you’re registered to vote, find your polling place, and get election information on the California Secretary of State’s website.

• Voter registration closed on May 18. If you miss the deadline, you must complete same day voter registration when you go vote.

• For more detailed information, CalMatters also produced a comprehensive guide of voting FAQs and resources.

California holds an open primary, meaning that you can vote for a candidate of any party, and the top two candidates receiving the most votes will move on to the general election.

Voting deadlines

The following deadlines apply to the primary election, which takes place on June 2:

• May 4: Mail ballots were sent. Voters may pick up a ballot or vote early at an early voting site.

• May 5: Secure ballot boxes opened. Here is a link to ballot box locations.

• May 18: Last day to register to vote online. After that, you must complete same day voter registration.

• May 28: Vote centers open for early in-person voting. The County Registrar lists these locations here. The closest location is 6171 Sunburst St. in Joshua Tree. Voting takes place in this location from May 28 to June 2, 10 am to 6 pm.

• June 2: Primary Election, mail-in-ballots must be postmarked on or before election day.

District 34 Candidates

District 34 covers a large, wide-ranging area in Kern, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties. In the Morongo Basin, it includes Twentynine Palms and Landers. Incumbent Tom Lackey, a Republican who has represented the district since 2016, is term-limited and not running in 2026. Four candidates are running to replace him:

Charles Hughes (Republican) Navy veteran, retired law enforcement lieutenant, and small business owner. Currently serves as Antelope Valley Union High School District board trustee and has served two terms as Board President. Active with Antelope Valley Boosters and hosts a weekly Coffee4Vets breakfast for veterans. His campaign priorities center on reducing regulations, cutting taxes for the middle class, supporting law enforcement, expanding school choice, and protecting parental rights in education.

Randall Putz (Democrat) Small business owner and longtime Big Bear Lake official who has called the region home for 25 years. Served nearly two decades as a school board trustee for Big Bear Lake, fire authority director, city council member, and three-time Mayor of Big Bear Lake. His campaign focuses on affordable housing, healthcare access, stronger schools, and good local jobs, with an emphasis on working across party lines.

Steve Fox and Manny Lin (Republicans) did not respond to our questionnaire.

District 47 Candidates

District 47 covers Yucaipa, Banning, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Yucca Valley, Desert Hot Springs, and surrounding communities. Republican Greg Wallis has held the seat since narrowly defeating Democrat Christy Holstege in 2022 by just 85 votes, then winning a rematch in 2024. Two candidates are challenging for the seat in 2026.

Greg Wallis (Republican, Incumbent) Did not respond to our questionnaire.

Jason Byors (Democrat) Jason Byors grew up in a working-class family, where his mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. That experience drives his lifelong advocacy for working families and the underserved. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Babson College, in Wellesley, MA, Jason moved to southern California and built a career in software engineering with Fortune 500 companies including Sony Pictures, Toyota, and Twentieth Century Fox, and with the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica. He now runs his own software consulting business. He and his partner JR live in Palm Springs.

Leila Namvar (Democrat) Working mom, labor leader, and public servant based in Indio. Born in Iran, she has worked since 2005 for the City of Indio, rising from Planning Technician to Public Arts Program Analyst. She previously served as Chapter President of SEIU 721 at the City of Indio, leading contract negotiations three times. Her campaign focuses on working families, affordable housing, good-paying jobs, and expanded access to education and healthcare.

CANDIDATE RESPONSES ON ISSUES AFFECTING THE MORONGO BASIN

All candidates regardless of party were sent a questionnaire with the same questions pertaining to how they would approach issues impacting Morongo Basin residents. We received responses from Charles Hughes (Republican) and Randall Putz (Democrat), running in District 34, and from Leila Namvar and Jason Byors, both Democrats running in District 47. Incumbent Greg Wallis (Republican) did not respond. We are publishing the answers as we received them, with edits to spelling or grammar as needed. If we receive additional responses, we will include them here. Election coverage is produced independently without candidate review or editorial endorsement.

Assembly District 34: Candidate Responses

1. Quality of Life. Twentynine Palms and much of the Morongo Basin rank in the bottom quartile of California’s Healthy Places Index. California has tools — funding, grants, and legislation — to help struggling communities. What specific state programs or bills would you pursue or recommend to local governments to improve quality of life here?

Charles Hughes (R) Twentynine Palms and the Morongo Basin need state government to pay attention to communities that are too often overlooked. I would work with local leaders to pursue funding through programs focused on infrastructure, public safety, parks, broadband, water, and community health.

That includes making sure rural desert communities are competitive for state grants, not pushed aside by larger cities with bigger staff and more resources. I would also support legislation that cuts red tape and gives local governments more flexibility to address their own needs.

Randall Putz (D) People in the Morongo Basin know what it feels like to be overlooked. We pay taxes like everyone else, but too often our communities are at the back of the line when it comes to infrastructure, healthcare, economic investment, and basic services. I think the state needs to do a much better job recognizing the unique challenges rural desert communities face.

One thing I would push for is more direct technical and grant-writing support for smaller communities that don’t always have the staffing to chase complicated state funding opportunities. Whether it’s broadband, parks, roads, healthcare facilities, or economic development, there are programs out there, but too many rural communities struggle to access them. I also think state funding formulas should better account for places facing persistent health and economic disparities so we’re not constantly competing at a disadvantage.

2. Affordable Housing. California’s housing crisis hits rural desert communities hard. Residents and local politicians feel that red tape, high permit costs, and lack of funding slow construction in places like Twentynine Palms. What state-level reforms such as streamlining permitting, expanding tax credits, or increasing affordable housing funds would you champion to get more homes built here?

Charles Hughes (R) California needs more housing, but Sacramento’s one-size-fits-all mandates are not working for rural communities. I would support reforms that reduce permitting delays, lower fees, expand infrastructure funding, and make it easier to build housing that actually fits the needs of communities like Twentynine Palms.

I would also support expanding access to affordable housing funds, tax credits, and workforce housing programs for rural areas, while protecting local control so communities can grow responsibly.

Randall Putz (D) Housing is one of the biggest issues facing our region. Teachers, healthcare workers, young families, service workers, and seniors are all struggling to find housing they can afford. I support reducing unnecessary red tape, speeding up permitting where it makes sense, and expanding funding for workforce and affordable housing.

At the same time, I’ve spent years on the front lines where state mandates collide with local realities, and I think both sides sometimes get it wrong. Sacramento can be too rigid, but some local governments also resist any responsibility to help solve the housing crisis. I believe in a balanced approach that combines flexibility, incentives, and accountability. Rural communities should have a voice in shaping growth, but we also have to recognize that doing nothing is not a solution either.

3. Healthcare & Mental Health Access. Many Morongo Basin residents lack nearby medical and mental health services and depend on Medi-Cal. California has invested billions in mental health reform. How would you work to expand access to physical and behavioral healthcare in rural, underserved communities like ours?

Charles Hughes (R) Rural communities need better access to doctors, mental health providers, and emergency care. I would work to expand telehealth, support mobile clinics, recruit providers to underserved areas, and ensure Medi-Cal patients can actually access care close to home.

Proposition 1 created the Behavioral Health Services Act and a $6.4 billion bond for behavioral health treatment and housing infrastructure, and rural communities should receive their fair share of those resources.

Randall Putz (D) Healthcare access is one of the biggest quality-of-life issues in the Morongo Basin. Too many people are driving long distances just to see a doctor or get mental health support, and for many families that delay in care becomes a much bigger problem later.

I support expanding rural healthcare infrastructure, strengthening telehealth, and creating stronger incentives for doctors, nurses, and mental health professionals to work in underserved communities. We also need more local behavioral health services and crisis response resources. People should be able to get help close to home before situations spiral into emergencies. In rural communities especially, healthcare access can’t depend on your zip code.

4. Road Safety & Transportation. Highways 62 and 247 — two main arteries through the Morongo Basin — have been cited as three times more deadly than the average California road. Residents also lack reliable public transit. What will you do at the state level to make these highways safer and improve transportation options in our region?

Charles Hughes (R) Highways 62 and 247 need serious attention from the state. I would push Caltrans to prioritize safety improvements such as better lighting, turn lanes, signage, shoulder improvements, passing lanes where appropriate, and targeted enforcement in dangerous corridors.

I would also support local efforts to compete for Highway Safety Improvement Program funding, which is designed to reduce fatalities and serious injuries through data-driven road safety projects.

Randall Putz (D) Anyone who regularly drives Highways 62 or 247 knows how dangerous they can be. We’ve all seen too many serious accidents and too many lives lost. Improving safety on those roads needs to be a much bigger priority for the state. That means practical investments like safer intersections, better lighting, passing lanes, shoulder improvements, and stronger coordination between Caltrans and local communities.

But transportation is also about mobility and access. Seniors, workers, students, and veterans in the Morongo Basin often have very limited transportation options. We need more creative rural transit solutions that actually fit the realities of large desert communities.

5. Renewable Energy & Neighborhoods. California is pushing hard for renewable energy, but large solar projects are proposed on desert land adjacent to existing neighborhoods and wildlife habitat in Twentynine Palms and in adjacent unincorporated areas. How do you balance the state’s clean energy goals with protecting desert communities, ecosystems, and the economic value of residential parcels from industrial projects?

Charles Hughes (R) I support energy reliability and responsible renewable energy development, but desert communities should not be treated like dumping grounds for industrial projects.

Large solar projects must be reviewed carefully to protect neighborhoods, property values, wildlife habitat, and the character of the desert. Local residents deserve a real voice in these decisions, and projects should be placed where they make sense, not forced next to existing homes.

Randall Putz (D) I support renewable energy, but I also believe desert communities should not be treated as sacrifice zones. The desert is not empty land. It’s home to people, wildlife, recreation, cultural resources, and entire neighborhoods whose quality of life matters. I think California needs a more thoughtful approach that prioritizes already disturbed lands and involves communities earlier in the process. Projects should provide real local benefits and avoid unnecessary impacts on residents and habitat whenever possible. We can move toward clean energy without steamrolling the people and places that make the desert special.

6. Climate & Extreme Weather. California faces more frequent extreme weather — including the severe flash floods that damaged homes and closed Adobe Road in Twentynine Palms. What state investments in flood control, emergency preparedness, and climate resilience would you prioritize for the Hi-Desert?

Charles Hughes (R) The Hi-Desert needs stronger investment in flood control, drainage, emergency response, and road resilience. The flash flooding that damaged homes and closed Adobe Road showed how vulnerable rural communities can be when infrastructure is not prepared for extreme weather.

I would prioritize funding for stormwater systems, road repairs, emergency communications, evacuation planning, and local disaster preparedness so communities are not left waiting after damage is already done.

Randall Putz (D) The flooding that damaged Adobe Road and impacted homes in Twentynine Palms was a reminder that extreme weather is becoming more common and more disruptive. Rural desert communities need more support before disasters happen, not just after. I’d push for more investment in flood control, drainage systems, emergency communications, road resilience, and wildfire mitigation. Smaller communities often struggle to compete for state funding even when the needs are obvious. Climate resilience planning also has to reflect the realities of desert communities, where infrastructure is spread out and resources are more limited.

7. Education & Youth Opportunity. Twentynine Palms is an economically disadvantaged community with limited local job prospects. California contributes to school funding and workforce training programs. How will you ensure that Morongo Basin students have access to quality education, vocational training, and career pathways that allow them to build a future here?

Charles Hughes (R) Students in the Morongo Basin deserve the same opportunities as students anywhere else in California. I would support stronger career and technical education, partnerships with local employers, apprenticeship programs, and workforce training tied to real jobs in the region.

That includes pathways in public safety, healthcare, construction, skilled trades, aviation, logistics, tourism, and military-adjacent careers connected to the Marine base.

Randall Putz (D) As a former school board member, I care deeply about making sure young people in the Morongo Basin have real opportunity. Too often students feel like they have to leave the area to build a future, and I think we can do better than that. I support expanding career technical education, apprenticeships, dual-enrollment opportunities, and partnerships with community colleges, healthcare providers, local businesses, skilled trades, and the Marine base. We should be creating stronger pathways into good-paying careers right here in the region. I also think we need continued investment in counselors, support staff, and broadband access so students are fully supported both academically and personally.

8. Jobs & Economic Development. The Morongo Basin’s economy depends heavily on tourism and the Marine base, leaving it vulnerable. California has economic development tools — grants, small business support, and workforce programs — that many rural areas never see. What concrete steps would you take to bring stable, well-paying jobs to our region?

Charles Hughes (R) The Morongo Basin needs a broader economic base. Tourism and the Marine base are important, but families also need stable, good-paying jobs outside of those sectors.

I would work to bring state economic development tools to rural communities, including small business grants, workforce programs, infrastructure investment, and incentives for employers to locate or expand in the region. The goal should be simple: help local businesses grow, attract new employers, and make sure people can build a future here without having to leave.

Randall Putz (D) The Morongo Basin has incredible potential, but the economy needs to become more diversified and resilient. Tourism and the Marine base are important anchors, but we also need to grow opportunities in healthcare, construction trades, clean energy, outdoor recreation, remote work infrastructure, and small business development.

One thing I’ve seen over the years is that many state economic development programs are designed with large urban areas in mind. Rural communities often don’t have the same capacity to compete for grants or attract investment. I want to make sure desert communities are not overlooked and that we’re bringing resources here that help create stable, year-round jobs people can actually build a life around.

Assembly District 47: Candidate Responses

1. Quality of Life. Twentynine Palms and much of the Morongo Basin rank in the bottom quartile of California’s Healthy Places Index. California has tools — funding, grants, and legislation — to help struggling communities. What specific state programs or bills would you pursue or recommend to local governments to improve quality of life here?

Jason Byors (D) First, I will prioritize improving access to healthcare. That means making sure seniors, veterans, Medi-Cal recipients, and working families can get timely, affordable care without unnecessary barriers. I will work to sponsor and pass CalCare, which will make healthcare a human right in California.

Secondly, I will focus on affordability and building an economy that works for everyone. Too many people are struggling with the rising cost of living and are worried about whether they can afford to stay in their communities. I will support policies that create good-paying jobs, encourage responsible economic growth, and ease the financial burden on working families. This includes small business grants, tax cuts for small businesses, and helping push investment by sustainable industries to the region.

Additionally, I will be bringing back funding from the state to the region. Our incumbent Republican Assemblymember has brought no resources back to our region. Democratic Assemblymembers have supported my campaign because they want to work with me to bring resources back to our communities. Local mayors and city council members have also endorsed me because they trust me to bring funding back locally.

Leila Namvar (D) California already has tools to address health and quality-of-life disparities like those seen in Twentynine Palms and much of the Morongo Basin, but rural and frontier communities often struggle to access them. The challenge is not a lack of funding or policy; it is ensuring these resources consistently reach the communities with the greatest need, as identified by the Healthy Places Index.

Health care is a human right and non-negotiable. In a state that is the fourth largest economy in the world, California has both the capacity and responsibility to ensure that access to care is not determined by geography or income. That means fully funding and prioritizing systems that expand mental health care, substance use treatment, primary care, and emergency services in underserved rural regions, including through stronger incentives for providers to work and remain in high-need desert communities.

We also need better support for rural health infrastructure and workforce development, including expanding telehealth capacity, stabilizing small clinics and hospitals, and creating long-term pipelines to recruit and retain medical professionals in places like the Morongo Basin.

At the same time, quality of life depends on basic infrastructure. Safe water systems, reliable wastewater services, and stable housing are essential public health foundations, and state investments must be better coordinated to ensure these needs are met in disadvantaged rural communities.

Finally, I support strengthening the role of the Healthy Places Index so that it is not just advisory but directly guides how housing, health, and infrastructure dollars are allocated, so that communities like Twentynine Palms consistently receive their fair share of investment.

2. Affordable Housing. California’s housing crisis hits rural desert communities hard. Residents and local politicians feel that red tape, high permit costs, and lack of funding slow construction in places like Twentynine Palms. What state-level reforms such as streamlining permitting, expanding tax credits, or increasing affordable housing funds would you champion to get more homes built here?

Jason Byors (D) We have to address the housing shortage that continues to drive costs up. I support policies that streamline the approval process, establish clear timelines for permitting, and hold agencies accountable. Delays and uncertainty increase costs and discourage development. The state should create stronger incentives for cities to produce housing, especially near jobs and transit, and tie funding to meeting those goals. Encouraging a mix of housing types at different income levels is also critical so communities can grow without pushing current residents out.

Additionally, we must make sure we keep current homeowners in their homes. We should look at targeted relief programs that help people stay current on mortgages and property taxes, especially during periods of economic uncertainty.

Leila Namvar (D) California’s housing crisis shows up differently in rural desert communities, but the impact is just as severe — high costs, limited supply, and a permitting system that often assumes more staffing and administrative capacity than small jurisdictions actually have.

California’s housing shortage is at the root of both the affordability crisis and the homelessness crisis. We need to build more housing, but we need to build it faster, smarter, and with accountability. First, I would streamline the approval process. Too many projects are delayed for years due to bureaucracy and litigation. We can maintain environmental protections while cutting unnecessary red tape that slows housing production, especially for projects that already comply with zoning and planning standards.

Second, we need to take Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) targets seriously. Too often, cities and counties treat them as advisory rather than binding. I would support stronger accountability so jurisdictions that fail to meet their obligations face real consequences, while those that meet them are supported and rewarded.

Third, I support increasing density in appropriate areas, especially near existing infrastructure, services, and employment centers. Fourth, we need to better align state housing incentives and funding with rural construction realities. Many programs are designed around urban development models and do not adequately account for higher per-unit costs or limited local financing capacity in places like the Morongo Basin.

We also need to expand incentives that make it financially viable to build affordable housing, including public-private partnerships and tax tools that support mixed-income developments. In addition, we must invest in workforce housing — the “missing middle” — for teachers, healthcare workers, and essential employees who are increasingly priced out of the communities they serve. Finally, local governments should be given not just housing goals, but also the technical assistance and tools needed to meet them.

3. Healthcare & Mental Health Access. Many Morongo Basin residents lack nearby medical and mental health services and depend on Medi-Cal. California has invested billions in mental health reform. How would you work to expand access to physical and behavioral healthcare in rural, underserved communities like ours?

Jason Byors (D) I stand with the 86% of Californians surveyed in a recent poll that support CalCare, a system of universal healthcare here in California. 42 percent of voters surveyed say it’s gotten harder to afford health care in the past several years, and 33 percent have skipped or delayed care due to cost. That is unacceptable. We must move to a system where all Californians who want healthcare can receive healthcare, while those who want to remain with their private insurance can choose to do so. Healthcare is a human right, and universal healthcare would allow healthcare access to all Californians, regardless of economic status.

We must additionally address access to healthcare in rural, underserved communities. I will sponsor legislation that will financially incentivize healthcare workers to work and live in underserved areas. Additionally, I will help create funding specifically for healthcare providers that serve rural areas so that they don’t go out of business.

Leila Namvar (D) Access to both physical and mental health care in rural communities like the Morongo Basin is a basic equity issue. Distance, provider shortages, and limited transportation mean that even residents with Medi-Cal coverage can struggle to actually use the care they are entitled to. Expanding access requires not just more funding, but better distribution of services and stronger incentives for providers to practice in underserved areas.

First, I would prioritize expanding community-based care in rural regions: smaller clinics, mobile health units, and integrated care models that combine primary care, behavioral health, and substance use treatment in one setting. In places where population density does not support large facilities, care has to come to the patient rather than the other way around.

Second, we need to fully leverage and expand telehealth as a permanent part of the health system, not just a supplement. That means investing in broadband reliability, ensuring parity in reimbursement for virtual visits, and supporting providers who build long-term telehealth capacity for rural patients.

Third, workforce shortages are one of the biggest barriers. I would support stronger incentives, loan forgiveness, housing assistance, and targeted recruitment to attract and retain doctors, nurses, therapists, and psychiatric providers in rural and frontier communities. Without a stable workforce, funding alone will not translate into access.

Fourth, behavioral health must be treated as core health care, not a separate system. That includes expanding crisis response services, outpatient treatment, and early intervention programs so that people are not forced into emergency rooms or jail systems when they are in crisis. Finally, Medi-Cal should function as a true access guarantee, not just coverage on paper. That means improving provider participation, reducing administrative barriers, and ensuring reimbursement rates are sufficient to make rural participation viable.

4. Road Safety & Transportation. Highways 62 and 247 — two main arteries through the Morongo Basin — have been cited as three times more deadly than the average California road. Residents also lack reliable public transit. What will you do at the state level to make these highways safer and improve transportation options in our region?

Jason Byors (D) We need targeted safety upgrades through Caltrans and the State Highway Safety Improvement Program. I will work on adding proven, life-saving infrastructure: centerline rumble strips to prevent head-on collisions, better lighting in high-risk segments, more passing lanes to reduce dangerous overtaking, and protected left-turn pockets.

To protect pedestrians, I’d advocate for a “Complete Streets” approach on state highways that pass through communities. We should add safe pedestrian crossings, shoulders for cyclists, and traffic-calming measures in town centers like Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms so people aren’t risking their lives just to cross the street.

I also highly value public transit. We have to expand transportation options — because safety improves when people have alternatives to driving long distances. I’d fight to bring more state funding to expand regional transit connections, including partnerships with agencies like SunLine Transit Agency to extend service into the Morongo Basin.

Leila Namvar (D) Highways 62 and 247 are essential lifelines for the Morongo Basin, but the high fatality rates reflect a serious mismatch between road design, traffic volume, and regional need. Improving safety and mobility requires both immediate engineering fixes and longer-term investment in transportation alternatives.

First, I would prioritize state funding for targeted safety improvements on these corridors: improved lighting, rumble strips, wider shoulders, passing lanes where appropriate, and clearer signage. In higher-risk intersections, we should also evaluate replacing stop-controlled intersections with traffic signal lights or other controlled signal systems where traffic volumes and crash patterns justify it. In some locations, roundabouts or redesigned intersections may also significantly reduce severe collisions.

Second, we need a stronger focus on enforcement and technology in high-risk stretches, including enhanced patrol presence, speed management strategies, and data-driven identification of crash hotspots so resources are deployed where they will have the greatest impact.

Third, long-term safety depends on reducing dependence on high-speed highway travel for everyday needs. That means expanding regional public transit options, including more frequent and reliable bus service connecting towns within the Morongo Basin and linking residents to job centers, schools, and healthcare services.

Fourth, I would support state investment in rural mobility solutions beyond traditional transit, such as on-demand shuttle services, rideshare subsidies for low-income residents, and coordinated transportation for medical and essential trips, especially for seniors and people with disabilities.

5. Renewable Energy & Neighborhoods. California is pushing hard for renewable energy, but large solar projects are proposed on desert land adjacent to existing neighborhoods and wildlife habitat in Twentynine Palms and in adjacent unincorporated areas. How do you balance the state’s clean energy goals with protecting desert communities, ecosystems, and the economic value of residential parcels from industrial projects?

Jason Byors (D) This is a complicated issue that involves many moving parts, but I will work on three major avenues.

First, we must avoid intact habitat and neighborhood edges. The state should steer projects away from sensitive desert ecosystems and homes from the outset. Second, we should prioritize disturbed land — brownfields, retired ag land, landfills, and highway corridors — using tools like the California Energy Commission Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan to pre-screen low-conflict zones. Third, let’s expand the use of distributed solar: rooftops, warehouses, and parking canopies. This reduces pressure to industrialize open desert while delivering power closer to where it’s used.

Leila Namvar (D) California absolutely needs to meet its clean energy goals, but how we build matters just as much as how much we build. In the Mojave Desert, including areas around Twentynine Palms, we are already seeing the tension between utility-scale renewable projects, sensitive ecosystems, and nearby residential communities.

First, I support a clear “right project, right place” approach. That means prioritizing renewable development on already-disturbed lands — such as brownfields, former agricultural sites, degraded lands, and existing transmission corridors — before moving into intact desert habitat or areas adjacent to established neighborhoods.

Second, we need stronger early-stage community input that actually shapes siting decisions, not just comments after projects are largely defined. Third, cumulative impact analysis needs to be taken more seriously. It is not enough to evaluate projects one at a time when multiple large-scale developments can collectively transform landscapes, strain infrastructure, and affect property values. Fourth, we should encourage a more diversified clean energy strategy, including rooftop solar, community solar, and distributed storage.

Finally, we need to ensure that communities hosting energy infrastructure see real benefits — whether through local investment, infrastructure improvements, or long-term community compensation agreements — so that rural regions are partners in the transition, not just the footprint for it.

6. Climate & Extreme Weather. California faces more frequent extreme weather — including the severe flash floods that damaged homes and closed Adobe Road in Twentynine Palms. What state investments in flood control, emergency preparedness, and climate resilience would you prioritize for the Hi-Desert?

Jason Byors (D) First, we must make sure that homeowners insurance providers serve our area in case there is an emergency. We currently have a homeowners insurance crisis, and I will work to make sure these insurance companies work with Californians.

To help prevent flooding, culverts, washes, and bridges need to be upgraded and expanded so we can deal with extreme weather conditions. Additionally, I will fight for state funding for communities like Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms to install green infrastructure to help mitigate runoff.

Leila Namvar (D) The Hi-Desert is increasingly experiencing extreme weather events — flash flooding, heat waves, and wind-driven storms — that strain infrastructure that was never designed for this level of climate volatility. The Adobe Road flooding is a clear example of how vulnerable rural desert communities are when drainage systems, road design, and emergency response capacity are not built for modern climate conditions.

First, I would prioritize state investment in regional flood control and stormwater infrastructure. That includes upgrading and expanding drainage systems along key corridors like Adobe Road and other wash-prone areas, improving culverts and channels, and ensuring road designs account for the intensity of modern storm events rather than historical rainfall patterns.

Second, we need better early warning systems and local emergency preparedness capacity. That means improving real-time weather monitoring, evacuation communication systems, and ensuring that rural fire and emergency services have the staffing, equipment, and coordination support they need during fast-moving events.

Third, I would support investments in “climate-resilient infrastructure standards” for rural counties, so roads, drainage, and public facilities are built or retrofitted with future climate conditions in mind. Fourth, wildfire and post-fire flood risk must be addressed together. Burn scars and surrounding desert terrain can dramatically increase runoff risk, so mitigation planning should integrate vegetation management, watershed stabilization, and erosion control as part of a unified strategy.

Finally, resilience planning must include funding flexibility for small and rural jurisdictions. Many local governments simply do not have the engineering staff or capital reserves to design and build these upgrades without sustained state partnership.

7. Education & Youth Opportunity. Twentynine Palms is an economically disadvantaged community with limited local job prospects. California contributes to school funding and workforce training programs. How will you ensure that Morongo Basin students have access to quality education, vocational training, and career pathways that allow them to build a future here?

Jason Byors (D) Again, this is a funding issue that our incumbent Republican Assemblymember isn’t addressing. Local school board members have endorsed me because they know I will fight to bring back funding for our school districts from the state. I will ensure there is funding set aside for rural communities so that all students can thrive.

Additionally, I will work with our labor union leaders to make sure there is vocation training and apprenticeship programs locally. Labor union workers have endorsed my campaign because they trust me to get this job done.

Leila Namvar (D) Twentynine Palms and the broader Morongo Basin face a dual challenge: schools are asked to serve high-need student populations while local economies offer relatively limited pathways for young people to stay, work, and build a future. Education policy has to connect directly to opportunity, or we continue losing talent to larger metropolitan areas.

First, I would support strengthening funding formulas so that high-poverty and rural districts receive stable, predictable resources that reflect real student needs, especially for counseling, special education, and English learner support.

Second, we need to expand career technical education (CTE) and vocational training that is actually tied to regional workforce demand. That includes healthcare, emergency services, renewable energy, skilled trades, logistics, and public sector careers. These programs should not be add-ons; they should be fully integrated pathways that allow students to graduate with both a diploma and a marketable credential.

Third, I would prioritize stronger partnerships between schools, community colleges, local employers, and state agencies to create clear “pipeline” programs. Students should be able to see a direct line from classroom to apprenticeship, internship, or job placement without leaving the region.

Fourth, we need to invest in broadband access and digital learning infrastructure so rural students are not at a structural disadvantage when it comes to advanced coursework, college preparation, or remote career opportunities.

Fifth, teacher recruitment and retention in rural areas must be addressed more aggressively, including housing support, incentive programs, and professional development pathways that make it sustainable for educators to stay in communities like the Morongo Basin long-term.

8. Jobs & Economic Development. The Morongo Basin’s economy depends heavily on tourism and the Marine base, leaving it vulnerable. California has economic development tools — grants, small business support, and workforce programs — that many rural areas never see. What concrete steps would you take to bring stable, well-paying jobs to our region?

Jason Byors (D) As previously stated, I will support policies that create good-paying jobs, encourage responsible economic growth, and ease the financial burden on working families. This includes small business grants, tax cuts for small businesses, and helping push investment by sustainable industries to the region.

But more directly, we need a fighter for our rural communities. I don’t just talk the talk; I walk the talk. Even though myself and all three candidates for this seat live in the Palm Springs/Cathedral City area, I have personally been out to the Morongo Basin, Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms, and other rural communities in the area dozens of times on the campaign trail. I’ve listened to community members’ needs. And I promise you — I will fight for you in Sacramento.

Leila Namvar (D) The Morongo Basin’s economy is resilient, but it is also overexposed to a narrow set of drivers — tourism and the Marine Corps base — both of which are outside local control. Long-term stability requires deliberately diversifying the economic base so that residents have multiple pathways to stable, well-paying work without leaving the region.

First, I would focus on expanding targeted small business development support for rural communities. That includes simplifying access to state grants and technical assistance, reducing administrative barriers, and helping local entrepreneurs navigate permitting, financing, and procurement systems that are often designed for larger urban firms.

Second, workforce development should be tightly aligned with industries that can realistically grow in the Hi-Desert: healthcare, behavioral health services, renewable energy construction and maintenance, logistics, public safety, and skilled trades. Training programs should not be abstract; they should connect directly to apprenticeships, certifications, and local hiring commitments.

Third, I would prioritize attracting state-supported investment in infrastructure that enables job growth, especially broadband expansion and transportation improvements. Reliable internet access is now foundational for remote work, small business growth, and modern education and training programs.

Fourth, we should actively leverage state and federal incentives to encourage clean energy manufacturing, maintenance, and supply-chain activity to locate in suitable areas of the inland desert region, while ensuring siting respects environmental and community boundaries.

Fifth, I support stronger regional economic planning that treats rural areas as intentional investment zones rather than afterthoughts. Finally, public-private partnerships can play a larger role in creating stable employment pipelines, especially in sectors like healthcare systems, renewable energy operators, and infrastructure maintenance, where long-term contracts can anchor good jobs in the region.

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The Planning Commission meets Tuesday, May 19 at 5 pm at City Hall, 6136 Adobe Road. There is just one substantive item on the agenda, and it is an important one that has the potential to shape Twentynine Palms moving into the future: it’s the first in what will be a series of study sessions on updating the City’s General Plan. The agenda packet includes—for illustration purposes—possible rezoning for southwestern Twentynine Palms, including Indian Cove and points west. Residents of this area will want to pay attention to these proposed changes.

The agenda is available here.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

After Commission announcements, the public may comment on topics not on the agenda. Comments on agenda items will be taken when that item comes up. Fill out a comment card and hand it to staff, or email your comments to Planning Commission members and Community Development Director Keith Gardner in advance and request that they be read into the record. Each speaker has three minutes.

CONSENT CALENDAR

The only Consent Calendar item is approval of the minutes from the May 5, 2026 meeting. That meeting featured a public hearing on a Conditional Use Permit for the Friends of the Historic Plaza that allows regular Sunday events at the Plaza parking lot, which the Commission approved unanimously.

STUDY SESSION: Introduction to the General Plan Update

This is the main event. The City’s General Plan, essentially the master document that guides how land in Twentynine Palms is used and developed, was last overhauled in 2012. An Equity/Environmental Justice element was added after considerable community input in 2023.1 The Housing element is due for another update in 2029.

State law requires cities to have a General Plan, and California prescribes that it cover specific topics, called “elements”: Land Use, Circulation, Housing, Conservation, Open Space, Noise, Safety, and Environmental Justice. The City’s current plan also includes Recreation.

City residents often invoked the General Plan in recent, sometimes contentious conversations about land use around the E-Group PS solar facility and the Ofland Resort and a lack of a coherent City plan guiding these developments. These projects both included Conditional Use Permits that changed zoning from residential to commercial and other usage types without considering—as some speakers claimed in comment at public meetings—land use regulations in the 2012 General Plan. In particular, commenters claimed, “preserving the desert environment” and “preserving the City’s desert small-town feel” were concepts that were ignored. Changes to the General Plan have also come up in discussions of commercial campsites, when the scant amount of commercial tourist zoning has been noted by City staff and Planning Commissioners.

No consultant has been hired to assist in developing a new general plan, and there’s no budget for it in the upcoming fiscal year. Instead, City staff have been doing their own research to determine what needs to change before a consultant is brought on. In this meeting, City staff will check in with the Commission and getting feedback on the direction.

Staff are recommending that the Land Use element be tackled first, since so many other elements depend on it. The road network, for instance, needs to match where people actually live and where future residential and commercial development is likely, which means the Land Use Plan has to come first. Staff have proposed five goals for updating the Land Use element:

• Goal 1: The Land Use Element should be reflective as much as possible of actual real-world conditions; that is, land use designations should accurately reflect the established lot sizes and actual developments.

• Goal 2: Where feasible, suggestions for changes to the Land Use designations would reflect achievable long-term development.

• Goal 3: Where appropriate, new land use districts may be developed – or existing land-use districts may be consolidated and simplified.

• Goal 4: Historical and environmental considerations also play an important role in developing a Land Use Element;

• Goal 5: Each Specific Plan will be studied for modern relevancy

The staff report is clear that this session is just an introduction. Staff want to know whether the Commission agrees these are the right goals and not to take positions on any particular property or policy yet. An Environmental Impact Report will likely be required before the General Plan Update is finalized.

Two attachments come with the staff report: a land use map of the southwestern portion of the City west of Shoshone Valley Road to the City boundary, and south of Sunnyslope to the boundary of Joshua Tree National Park. The report notes that the map is included for “illustrative purposes,” and there is no suggestion that any zoning changes will be discussed.

The area labeled “STUDY TO RL-1” west of Kern to the City’s western border stands out on the map as a large block currently under review for a potential rezoning to higher-density residential, although much of this land is already zoned RL-1.2

A detailed eight-page chart of all the allowed uses and development standards in each of the City’s zoning districts.

Why this matters

A General Plan Update is one of the most consequential things a city can do. It shapes what gets built where for years to come. Residents who care about the future of Twentynine Palms have an interest in staying engaged as this process unfolds. This first study session is an important entry point: no votes, no specific proposals, just a conversation about goals. That makes it a good time to show up and be heard as the planning process begins.

The meeting can be live-streamed through the City’s website at www.29palms.org. Recordings are available on YouTube after the meeting. Planning Commission study sessions have not been live-streamed in the past, but as the Desert Trumpet recently reported, California SB 707 updates the Ralph M. Brown Act, requiring local legislative bodies to provide the public with the ability to attend all open meetings via two-way audio/video by July 1, 2026.

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On Tuesday, Twentynine Palms City Council met for a nearly two-hour meeting where they hosted a workshop on nonprofit grants, received recognitions from Yucca Valley Mayor Merl Abel, heard from concerned residents on the Flock surveillance system, and recognized outgoing City Manager H. Stone James for his two years at the City.

Our agenda preview for the meeting is linked here; video footage of the meeting is available here.

CDBG Non-Profit Grant Applicant Presentations

Before the official meeting, Council hosted a grant workshop where they heard three-minute presentations from 11 of 12 nonprofits applying for a pool of $75,000 in available City funds.

Presenters and requested amounts were:

• 29 Palms Artists’ Guild - $11,300

• 29 Palms Community Food Pantry & Outreach Ministries - $30,000

• Animal Action League - $10,800

• Armed Services YMCA 29 Palms - $10,000

• Basin Wide Foundation - $10,000

• First Assembly of God Church - $55,790

• Girls on the Run Inland Empire - $15,500

• Joshua Tree National Park Council for the Arts - $5,000

• PALS of Palms N Paws - $10,000

• Project Sheba - $10,000

• Reach Out Morongo Basin - $25,000

Joshua Tree National Park Council for the Arts Director Vickie Waite and board member John Cole presented on the upcoming 14th annual Joshua Tree National Park Art Expo, a free event that draws more than 400 attendees and features a month-long juried exhibition of art inspired by the national park. The City has co-sponsored the event every year since its inaugural 2013 expo, and the organization is requesting $5,000 to continue that partnership. “We will be grateful for whatever the City can give us,” said Waite.

Lori Cosgriff presented on behalf of the 29 Palms Community Food Pantry and Outreach Ministries, requesting $30,000. Her presentation focused heavily on celebrating the volunteer base that runs the pantry. Cosgriff emphasized the pantry is run exclusively by people who give their own time.

The pantry hosts three food distribution programs. Three days a week, the pantry serves 150 to 200 families across 29 Palms, Wonder Valley, Desert Heights, and the Marine Corps Base. Volunteers also coordinate a monthly USDA food distribution to approximately 144 families, and collaborate with Reach Out Morongo Basin to provide 300 boxes of food to seniors.

Last year, our pantry spent $57,000 on food and we received 21,000 pounds of food in donations and our board of directors kept our costs at less than 8% of our total operating budget

The organization relies on food donations, monetary donations, and grant programs.

Grace Lebda spoke on behalf of the Youth Activity Center at First Assembly of God Church. Requesting approximately $56,000, the location is seeking funds for the building to have an HVAC system, allowing for expanded programs and operating hours. The building currently has no cooling system, leaving the center inoperable during hot days.

In a city like ours where summer temperatures regularly reach extreme levels, having a safe, reliable indoor environment is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. Our youth center serves as a critical hub where our youth can go after school, during weekends, and throughout the summer months. It provides structure, supervision, and positive engagement in a setting that keeps them safe and off the streets.

Two organizations presented requests for City-based spay/neuter clinics: Animal Action League, a mobile low-cost clinic that has operated in the Morongo Basin since 2005, and PALS of Palms N Paws, a nonprofit founded in October 2025. Both organizations noted that residents in 29 currently have no access to a spay-neuter voucher program, unlike residents of Yucca Valley and unincorporated San Bernardino County.

Presenting for PALS was Michelle Benedum, who said the nonprofit has partnered with Animal Action League on two community clinics. Showing a strong community demand for affordable spay/neuter services, Benedum said each clinic filled within 48 hours and had zero no-shows.

Summing up presentations was Director of Reach Out Morongo Basin, Robin Schlosser, reporting that the nonprofit served over 1,200 residents in 2025, logged 15,000 trips, and 104,000 miles last year, serving Wonder Valley, Desert Heights, Indian Cove, and 29 Palms.

Reach Out MB assists with transportation to and from appointments, grocery shopping, meal delivery, and assistance to those who are home bound and without transportation, and operates out of the 29 Palms Senior Center.

60 to 80 seniors gather there for daily lunch programs, health clinics, chair yoga, art groups, Medicare and financial information sessions — and is where the Twentynine Palms Youth Council regularly volunteers. They also deliver food boxes to homebound seniors who cannot otherwise access services:

We hand delivered over 1,400 of those boxes to shut-in seniors that would not be able to access these programs because they can’t get out of the house. So we hand deliver these boxes and the food to them.

Desert Media Foundation, which had applied for $3,500, was unable to attend.

No formal action was taken on funding requests as this was just a workshop. Council members will vote on nonprofit fund distributions at a future date.

REGULAR SESSION

The official Council meeting kicked off shortly after 6 pm with a Pagan-inspired invocation from Stephanie Ballard. Her invocation focused on five elements with themes that related to the City and encouraged audience participation.

Mayor Daniel Mintz announced that an anticipated presentation from Re-Enlist to Life Housing and Veteran Services will be postponed until the next council meeting.

Agenda Item 10, under the Consent Calendar, entailed council approval of a $9,000 payment to Culper Consulting for services to provide a City code enforcement manual. The item was removed from the agenda by outgoing City Manager James without explanation.

As the Desert Trumpet reported here, James signed the Culper Consulting contract to the tune of $17,000 on April 16, just seven days after announcing his resignation. Signature lines for City Attorney Patrick Muñoz and City Clerk Cindy Villescas for the contract in the agenda packet were blank. The City Attorney issued a work stoppage on the contract four days later.

City attorneys were not present at Tuesday’s meeting. The staff report pertaining to the agenda item stated that Council would be pulling funds from its code enforcement cleanup budget to cover the costs of Culper Consulting’s invoice, though Council never formally approved the consultant contract in the first place nor did the City post a formal RFP (request for proposal) for code enforcement consulting services.

As of now, it is unclear if approval of funds to cover the $9,000 consulting bill will be a formal agenda item at a future meeting. Culper Consulting is operated by Deputy Mayor of Yucaipa, Justin Beaver.

The item also entailed approval of a code enforcement report provided by Gemini Consulting, whose principal is a former colleague of James through his previous employer—Cathedral City.

A copy of the item’s 130-page staff report is available here.

AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS

Council heard two presentations– one from Yucca Valley Mayor Merl Abel, presenting for the 35th birthday of Yucca Valley, and the other from San Bernardino County Fire Department’s Division 4 Assistant Chief Bill Villarino, who provided an operational update on Twentynine Palms Station 44.

Abel acknowledged Yucca Valley and Twentynine as partners in a shared region with a shared identity, noting that Twentynine Palms inspired Yucca to incorporate in 1991:

Our residents don’t really look at city limits. They experience the high desert and the beauty in one connection, one connected region. They work across our communities. They support local businesses throughout the Basin.

Chief Villarino said that thanks to a three-year federal grant, the fire department has been able to add a fourth full-time firefighter to ME44 at the Twentynine Palms station and spoke on the department’s Explorer Program.

Council marks end of Stone James era at City Hall

One behalf of the City of Twentynine Palms, Mayor Daniel Mintz presented a plaque to outgoing City Manager H. Stone James for his two years of service. Steve Reyes, Field Representative for County Supervisor Dawn Rowe, also presented James with a certificate of recognition from the District 3 Supervisor’s office.

DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS

None

FUTURE COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS

Councilmember April Ramirez requested to add a future agenda item for a study session or discussion regarding constituent concerns on the Flock surveillance program, which was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Octavious Scott.

Scott requested an expedited item—that the City look into its cooling center operating hours.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Council heard from seven audience members: Lashara Maea, LeeAnn Clarke, Diana Rozendaal, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Heather Drake, Scott Curry, and Robin Schlosser.

Rodriguez, Dean of students at Palm Vista Elementary School, thanked Councilmember Bilderain and Mayor Pro Tem Scott for their attendance at a recent Morongo Unified School District board meeting in which possible school closures were the topic.

Maea, Clarke, and Schlosser recognized Stone James for his work. Maea spoke on behalf of the 29 Palms COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster), thanking James for recognizing the need for disaster response organizations in Twentynine Palms:

I would hope after your departure that the City Council and the individual who will sit in your seat but not replace you will continue to pick up where you left off.

Schlosser commended James on coordinating assistance for seniors during a critical flash flood, and noted his work in homelessness services as Co-Chair of the East Desert Regional Steering Committee.

I’ve had the honor of working with him from the very beginning when he first started and the city flooded and he was out there in his boots and hauling sandbags and mud.

Heather Drake and Diana Rozendaal raised concerns about Flock surveillance cameras, with Rozendaal highlighting a recent press release from the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Department that she says read more like an advertisement for Flock than an informative, factual police report.

The Sheriff’s press release pertained to an instance of repeat domestic violence that occurred May 1st, which states:

The use of FLOCK was critical in locating the suspect’s vehicle, which ultimately led to locating the suspect and protecting the victim from further harm.

Per Rozendaal:

The report editorializes, calling Flock camera technology critical and stating that it may have inevitably saved the victim’s life. May have inevitably is not the language of a factual police report. It is the language of marketing. But let’s be clear about what actually happened. The fact the victim was attacked twice. The Flock system did nothing to prevent the first assault and it did nothing to prevent the second.

Rozendaal highlighted that Deputies Maldonado and Arenas played an undeniably critical role in saving the victim’s life in this instance—not the Flock technology:

It overstates the technology’s value in a way that obscures what community safety actually requires: Timely, well-trained human response.

Scott Curry raised concerns regarding a personal banner he had paid for and displayed on a parcel off Lear Avenue and Highway 62. The banner thanked the outgoing City Manager:

At the top it said ‘Stone James’ and it says, “Thank you for your leadership.” I posted that about 10 o’clock in the morning. And my client who owns the property received a letter dated the same day. “Take it down….The sign’s too big…..You’re in a residential area….The post shouldn’t be there.” It’s the fastest you’ve ever moved for code enforcement within five hours, six hours. Very interesting and very suspicious to me. I’m disappointed with what I think happened.

City Manager Update

Stone James delivered his final City Manager update, thanking a number of individuals and local organizations, including the 29 Palms Ministerial Association and the Rotary Club. James concluded with a pointed quote from Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech, delivered in Paris on April 23, 1910:

If he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

The next City Council meeting will take place May 26, 2026.

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Update – May 2026: The situation in the Morongo Basin looks much the same as it did in 2024. After another wet year, rabbits had a strong breeding season; however, some of the young rabbits born this spring did not inherit immunity to rabbit hemorrhagic virus (RHDV2) from their mothers, and some have since died from the disease. Residents should continue to report dead rabbits to California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and follow safe handling guidelines. The CDFW is not seeing a large uptick in reports—yet.

July 3, 2024

Residents of the Morongo Basin, including Twentynine Palms, have reported finding dead cottontails and jackrabbits these last few weeks, bringing back disturbing memories of the rabbit hemorrhagic virus (RHDV2)¹ that burned through the rabbit population in 2020.²

The Desert Trumpet reached out to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and received information from Senior Veterinarian Dr. Deanna Clifford about the RHDV2 cases that are currently being reported from Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and the Indian Cove area.

Which Animals Are Affected?

RHDV2 kills up to 100% of the rabbits that catch it, which includes desert cottontails, black-tailed jackrabbits, and domestic rabbits. There is no treatment for it, but there is a two-dose vaccine for your pet bunny—which is available from vets in the low desert who treat exotic animals; El Paseo Animal Hospital in Palm Desert carries the vaccine, for example.

It appears to be specific to rabbits and does not transmit to humans, pet dogs and cats, or other wild mammals. Nonetheless, wear gloves if you have to handle a dead rabbit and wash your hands well afterward.

How Does the Virus Spread?

The RHDV2 virus is seasonal, Dr. Clifford said. Kits have immunity from their mothers, but lose it after they stop nursing—one reason we are seeing some dead rabbits now. There is immunity in the wild cottontail and jackrabbit population, and it is hoped that rabbits won’t experience the mass die-offs of 2020.

It is likely, Dr. Clifford said,

“that the virus has remained present in the population at a low level, then periodic outbreaks occur when a lot of susceptible rabbits are present on the landscape. This could be from a good reproductive year with a lot of young animals present and from normal population turnover due to average lifespans of individual rabbits (2-5 years roughly). We have seen a seasonal increase in dead rabbit reports and RHDV2 cases in spring-early summer each year, which corresponds to the time that rabbits are most abundant with a lot of young animals present.”

The belief is that the rabbit community will develop strong immunity over time. A CDFW Biologist Supervisor also said, “The working hypotheses for what’s behind a resurgence include two recent wet years producing crops of naive young rabbits and hares, or variation in the RHDV2 virus leading to evasion of prior immunity, or of course, some combination thereof.”

The virus spreads:

• from direct contact between rabbits, carcasses, water sources, flies, fleas, and mosquitos

• predators can spread it through their feces.

The virus is very difficult to eradicate and freezing weather won’t kill it. Infected rabbits may look disoriented or have difficulty moving and die quickly.

What Do I Do If I Find a Dead Rabbit?

1. Take a photo and do an online mortality report for CA Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). If your internet access is spotty, you can also call (916) 358-2790 to reach CDFW’s Wildlife Health Lab to make a report.

2. From CDFW: Reporting parties are advised to remove carcasses to slow the spread to healthy rabbits; we recommend double-bagging carcasses, spraying the outer bag with 10% household bleach solution, and disposing of in regular trash, or by burying it more than three-feet deep. If samples are sought in your area, a representative of the CDFW Wildlife Health Lab may contact you to seek your assistance in preserving a sample by freezing or refrigerating.

3. We also recommend carefully cleaning water dishes with bleach regularly or removing them up entirely, because they can spread the disease.

Rabbits die quickly from the RHDV2 virus. You may see blood around the mouth, nose, or rectum. (Photos by Kat Talley-Jones)

Dr. Clifford said that the CDFW has been receiving reports of dead rabbits from Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree. “Having members of the public continue to submit reports on what they are seeing is valuable for trying to understand more about what potential impact the disease may have in a local area, and how long recurrent outbreaks appear to be causing mortalities.”

We will update information about the RHDV2 virus if we receive more information and are grateful for information we received from CDFW. Let’s hope that our local cottontails and jackrabbits quickly weather this outbreak.

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1 RHDV1 spread from China in 1984, and it was contained by about 2001. The RHDV2 mutation arose in 2010 in France and has since troubled rabbit populations worldwide. For a fascinating look at the virus, see Susan Orlean’s 2020 “The Rabbit Outbreak” in the New Yorker. (The article is behind a paywall; here is a PDF.)

The 2026 California Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, June 2. Mail ballots were delivered to the U.S. Post Office on May 4 and early voting began the same day.

Due to California’s redistricting with the passage of Prop 50 last fall, the Morongo Basin now falls into two congressional districts for the US House of Representatives. The majority of the Morongo Basin is in District 23, currently represented by Republican Jay Obernolte. A slice of Twentynine Palms, along with much of the low desert, is now located in District 25, represented by Democrat Raul Ruiz. To see how your district changed, you can use Cal Matter’s election district look up map.

Below we’ll share basic voting information, brief background on the candidates for the US House in both District 23 and 25, and responses from Tessa Lynn Hodge and Pat Wallis, both Democrats running in District 23, to a questionnaire sent to all candidates about issues affecting the Morongo Basin.

Voting information and resources

You should have already received your voter guides and mail ballot. To check your voter registration status, register to vote, find your polling place and other election information, use the following links:

• Check if you’re registered to vote, find your polling place, and get election information on the California Secretary of State’s website.

• Register to vote by May 18. If you miss the deadline, you must complete same day voter registration.

• For more detailed information, CalMatters also produced a comprehensive guide of voting FAQs and resources.

California holds an open primary, meaning that you can vote for a candidate of any party, and the top two candidates receiving the most votes will move on to the general election.

Voting deadlines

The following deadlines apply to the primary election, which takes place on June 2:

• May 4: Mail ballots are sent, voters may pick up a ballot or vote early at an early voting site.

• May 5: Secure ballot boxes open. Here is a link to ballot box locations.

• May 18: Last day to register to vote online. After you must complete same day voter registration.

• May 28: Vote centers open for early in-person voting. The County Registrar lists these locations here. The closest location is 6171 Sunburst St. in Joshua Tree. Voting takes place in this location from May 28 to June 2, 10 am to 6 pm.

• June 2: Primary Election, mail-in-ballots must be postmarked on or before election day.

District 23 Candidates

Since 2021, District 23 has been represented in Congress by Jay Obernolte, who lives in Big Bear. Obernolte is a Republican who often sides with President Trump on issues including immigration, environmental regulation, and defense. His 2025 Town Hall in Yucca Valley drew more than 200 people, many who came to express their dissatisfaction with his policies and approach to governance.

Including Obernolte, there are six candidates running to represent District 23:

• Jay Obernolte (Republican, Incumbent) Owner of Farsight Studios, a software development company and resident of Big Bear. Former mayor of Big Bear and representative to the California State Assembly. Endorsements include the Police Officers’ Defense Coalition, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Association, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

• Tessa Lynn Hodge (Democrat) Clinical social worker and business owner and lifelong district resident. Endorsements include the California Democratic Party, Teamsters 1932, California Young Democrats, San Bernardino County Young Democrats, United Food and Commercial Workers 1167, and many local mayors.

• Karsten Nicholson (Democrat) Freelance journalist based in Crestline. No endorsements listed on his website.

• Pat Wallis (Democrat) Army veteran and software developer based in Yucca Valley. Endorsed by Denise Davis, City Council Member, Redlands, California and Paul Dulisse, Captain, NYFD LTC, US Army (Ret.).

• Karen Lee Matthews (No Party Preference) Navy veteran, doctor, and small business owner. Endorsed by the Forward Party, Former Republican California State Senator William Emmerson, and Independent Candidates Action.

• Eli C. Owens (No Party Preference) Tech industry leader and early leader of California’s cannabis economy. No endorsements listed.1

District 25 Candidates

Democrat Dr. Raul Ruiz, who is based in Indio, has represented the 25th district since redistricting in 2022. He has been in office since 2012, when he beat Mary Bono Mack in the 36th district in a highly competitive race. In the 2024 primary he received 82% of the vote.

Including Ruiz, there are five candidates running in the 25th district:

• Dr. Raul Ruiz (Democrat, Incumbent) Emergency physician, founder and director of the Coachella Valley Healthcare Initiative, serves on the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

• Ronald Huffman (Republican) Journeyman Electrical Worker and Control Operator, as well as a union steward.

• Joe Males (Republican) Marine Veteran, small business-owner, Hemet city council member. Endorsements include the Republican Party of Riverside County and the San Bernardino Republican Party.

• Ceci Andrade Truman (Republican) No profession or endorsements listed.

All candidates regardless of party were sent a questionnaire with the same eight questions pertaining to how they would approach issues impacting Morongo Basin residents. We received responses from two Democratic candidates in the 23rd District, Tessa Lynn Hodge and Pat Wallis. We are publishing the answers as we received them, with edits to spelling or grammar as needed. If we receive more responses, we will include them here.

Candidate responses on issues impacting the Morongo Basin: Tessa Lynn Hodge and Pat Wallis, Democratic Candidates, District 23

1. Jobs and the Local Economy

The Morongo Basin economy depends heavily on Joshua Tree National Park, and on the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. Federal workforce reductions and shutdowns are already affecting both. In addition, the changing economy has caused slowdowns and softening in the tourist economy the Morongo Basin depends on. What concrete steps would you take to protect and diversify the economic base of communities like Twentynine Palms, Yucca Valley, and other Morongo Basin communities?

Tess Lynn Hodge: As a lifelong resident of the district and small business owner I know how difficult it can be to make ends meet in a rural community. What we have seen under this administration and others is Congress governing through crisis. Instead of working collaboratively, negotiating in good faith, and passing budgets that fund our schools, healthcare, and needed services, members in both parties are using budgets, and the American people, as bargaining chips.

While I can’t guarantee that I can get all 435 members of the House to play nice, what I can do is introduce legislation that protects national park workers and the surrounding communities during a government shutdown. This legislation would include funding to keep our beloved national parks, like Joshua Tree, open, and federal employees like our national park workers paid when a shutdown happens. The legislation would also include that no member of Congress shall be paid if a shutdown occurs. I’ve yet to hold a position where I get paid to not do my job and I don’t intend for my position as your representative to work that way either.

We also need stronger programs to help small businesses. Small businesses are more likely to reinvest into their own communities, provide entry-level employment opportunities, and create around two-thirds of all new jobs. Ensuring small business owners have access to SBA microloans, grants specifically targeted to small businesses, and programs to help build technical skills is vital to ensuring that the Morongo Basin has a robust economy.

We should also seek to create additional partnerships with the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. By creating new partnerships and programs we can help veterans start small businesses after leaving the military and encourage them to stay local, and create training and apprenticeship programs for veterans and their family members in healthcare, clean energy, or the trades.

Pat Wallis: The economy of the Morongo Basin must diversify if we are to create the types of jobs families can build a future on. A strong regional economy can’t be built around a single pillar, whether that’s federal payrolls, defense contractors, or tourism. When any one of those softens, families here feel it immediately. Rising to the challenge of building a future where our kids can imagine living and thriving here means doing something we haven’t actually done, and that is to deliberately build a regional economic development plan.

Community colleges like Copper Mountain exemplify excellence. The rub is that they are training people for the economy we have today. That’s necessary and hard work, but it’s not enough. As a former city planner [in the town of Moraga, CA] and military master planner, I understand what it takes to build the future our region deserves. Together, we must design an economy to sustain our shared vision for the future of our region — and work backward from there. That’s planning 101.

Where do we want the Morongo Basin and the wider Hi-Desert to be in 20 years? Once we can answer those questions honestly, the obstacles to reaching our shared future become clear.

• What types of high-tech jobs in engineering and science do we need to support to realize this future?

• Do we need a four-year higher education presence to train and educate the workforce we need?

• What anchor institutions (hospitals, universities, government centers, …) do we need to seed?

• What modes of regional manufacturing make sense given our water, land, and workforce?

• How many mouths can regional agriculture realistically feed?

• What kinds of light manufacturing and high-skilled jobs can we genuinely attract?

Finding answers to these questions changes the game in how we talk about jobs here. Without a map, we drift and lose our way. This is exactly how our region became a dumping ground for warehouse sprawl, data centers, logistics hubs, solar farms, and other extractive industries that don’t serve our desert communities and don’t pay a living wage.

My vision is for a regional economy that’s self-reliant and self-resilient.

I’m fighting for a future where our kids can afford to live here because the jobs are good, where wealth circulates locally instead of being siphoned away by absentee investors.

I’m fighting for a future where the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center and Joshua Tree National Park are pillars of a diversified economy — not its entirety.

As your US Representative, I’ll propose laws and policies that build toward that shared future, with the planning rigor it deserves.

2. Affordable Housing

What federal funding or policies would you support to bring more affordable housing to the Hi-Desert communities like Yucca Valley, and Joshua Tree?

Tessa Lynn Hodge: The housing issue is multi-layered with several factors affecting the rising costs of both rent and home ownership. What we all know is that many of us are being priced out of the communities we love, and members of our community entering adulthood after graduating high school and college are increasingly unable to move out of the family home.

A significant issue in the Morongo Basin is the high number of homes that have been turned into short term vacation rentals. We must protect housing for actual residents by working across local, state, and federal jurisdictions to place limits on short term vacation homes and corporations who buy up homes as investments.

An issue I believe we all know all too well is the red tape and bureaucracy that exists when trying to build. There is a big difference between protecting our environment with smart policy and the bureaucratic nightmare that currently exists. It’s interesting that across the country AI Data Centers have been able to go up in the blink of an eye, but affordable diverse housing seems to be at a standstill. Again, at the local, state, and federal level elected officials must work together to address bureaucratic barriers to building the housing we need. I will work with our local and state officials to identify those barriers and identify federal assistance to streamline building processes.

At the federal level I would support and expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit which incentivizes the development of affordable rental housing. I would also support rural housing grants which provide low interest loans and grants for those in rural areas looking to buy or even repair their homes. I also support the expansion of first time home buyer assistance programs and low interest loan programs.

Pat Wallis: Housing in the Morongo Basin is broken. In some communities, a third to half of residential homes have been pulled off the long-term market by hedge funds, speculators, and short-term rental operators. I’ve seen the aerial maps of the homes yanked from the market, and it paints a devastating picture. Don’t believe the lies that we can just build our way out of the problem when investors are buying faster than we build.

This leads to another critical point. We need to build housing that the people of our district can afford. The core to any solution for our housing affordability and availability crisis is to return existing homes to the people who live and work here. I’ll push to eliminate the “active income” tax loophole that rewards investors for turning homes into hotels, and I’ll support the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act with amendments that would cap how many housing units corporations could own in any zip code. This includes an exemption for portfolios of 10 homes or fewer to protect local mom-and-pop landlords. Our goal should be for local families to build generational wealth. It should be to support Wall Street in building ever-larger monopolies.

I’ll also support federal legislation to encourage investment in shared-equity homeownership models like the Champlain Housing Trust (Burlington, VT), which, when founded with seed money from the City of Burlington, was then led by Mayor Bernie Sanders. In 1984, it was the largest community land trust in the U.S. In 2008, it won the UN World Habitat Award. This is a model for affordable housing we should replicate far and wide.

Other measures include first-time homebuyer assistance and zoning that allows multigenerational housing, so seniors can age in place near family. For renters, I support rental-market standards that prevent predatory increases and federal matching grants to expand affordable student and workforce housing partnerships.

But none of this works if the communities most affected have no formal voice in their own future. The Morongo Basin Municipal Advisory Council was dissolved in 2021 and never reconstituted, and that’s not a great outcome for hearing people’s voices. No community should ever be surprised by major development or infrastructure decisions in its own backyard.

Federal economic development law already requires regional planning that engages community leaders, residents, and stakeholders — through the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, or CEDS, process administered by the Economic Development Administration. I’ll fight to amend the federal CEDS regulations so unincorporated communities can elect their own representatives to the planning process — directly. Federal infrastructure and housing dollars shouldn’t flow through plans that don’t give residents of the Morongo Basin a voice.

3. Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid

Many residents here depend on Social Security, Medicare, and Medi-Cal to survive. Recent federal budget proposals threaten to cut these programs. Will you commit to protecting them — and how will you use your seat in Congress to do so?

Tessa Lynn Hodge: Unequivocally, yes. We are all just one bad day away from needing social supports like Medicare, Medi-Cal, and Social Security. In my time as a social worker in this community I have met far too many residents who did “everything right”; they worked hard, got a good job, saved, and because of one bad day like an accident at work, a car accident, a severe medical diagnosis, a job loss, etc. they lost everything. We must protect these safety nets for all of us, because goodness forbid it’s the day you need them but don’t qualify because of some “T” that isn’t crossed or “I” that isn’t dotted, or because someone judged you as “undeserving”. Matthew 25:40 says “The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”.

In Congress I will fight to ensure that Social Security remains solvent, and that benefits are not cut and the retirement age is not raised. We must do away with the Social Security Tax cap. Currently the cap sits at $185,500 which means that the working and middle class are disproportionately propping up the Social Security system, and it is not sustainable. For Medicare and Medicaid I will never vote for a budget that cuts these programs. In our rural areas our hospitals depend on Medicaid and Medicare funds to survive and stay open.

I will also fight for a single payer healthcare system like Medicare for all. The fact of the matter is that when people have stable access to preventative healthcare, dental care, and mental health services, they are more successful, miss less work, are able to spend more in the economy, and our hospitals have less emergency room visits, and are able to focus on treatment instead of fighting with insurance companies. Ensuring that people have affordable access to healthcare is a rising tide that lifts all boats, especially economically.

Pat Wallis: I will protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid without qualification.

Social Security and Medicare are earned benefits. Working Americans pay into them their entire careers, and the deal is simple: contribute now, draw on it later. Cutting them to finance tax cuts for the wealthiest is a betrayal of that compact. Medicaid is different — it’s not something workers pay into and earn back. It’s a commitment we make as a society to make sure people who can’t afford care still get it. In a working-class district like ours, it’s not just a solemn commitment to one another; it’s a lifeline.

In CA-23, 48% of residents depend on Medicaid, and roughly 20% of families rely on SNAP. Yet Jay Obernolte voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) — the largest Medicaid cut in the program’s 60-year history at $900+ billion, including the most severe SNAP cuts on record. He didn’t just vote for it; he called it a “generational opportunity.” In a working-class district where the median income is just $77,000, his betrayal is a direct hit on those who can least afford it.

In Congress, I will vote against any budget that cuts Medicare, Social Security, or Medicaid benefits, eligibility, or provider reimbursements that keep rural hospitals open. I’ll fight to roll back the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP from the OBBBA, and I’ll fight to lower drug prices through direct Medicare negotiation.

I’ll also use the seat itself to push for change and hold our government to account. This includes committee testimony, floor speeches, and public hearings in the district. It’s vital to express the human cost of these cuts on the record.

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4. Veterans’ Services

Many veterans live throughout the Morongo Basin, yet veterans here have lost their local VA representative and must drive over an hour for help. What will you do to restore in-person VA services and fully staff the Veterans Crisis Line in our district?

Tessa Lynn Hodge: This is a topic that hit close to home as my grandfather, father, and two of my uncles are veterans, and I have two cousins who are active duty. Too many politicians like to pay lip service to veterans, but their votes in Congress speak for themselves. In Congress I would fight to ensure that the VA is properly funded and staffed. Recruitment and retention within the VA system needs to be improved to ensure veterans have access to the care they need.

This will be especially important in the coming years as the current administration has cut the VA workforce by huge amounts. A recent ProPublica report found that the VA had lost approximately 500 psychologists and psychiatrists, and about 700 social workers. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker myself I can tell you that these social workers were crucial to supporting veterans in connecting to local services, finding and connecting to supports, providing direct mental health services, running groups, planning medical discharges and aftercare, navigating crises, etc. Additionally, 90% of VA facilities are reporting severe shortages of doctors and 80% are reporting a severe shortage of nurses. Is this how we treat those who served our country?

At the federal level we must also expand mobile VA clinics and increase the VA’s partnerships with local healthcare providers, especially in rural areas. Simplifying access to services should also be a priority to reduce the barriers veterans face when trying to access the support they need.

Pat Wallis: As a disabled veteran who hurt my back in a training accident, this is personal. We are being failed twice—once by the bureaucracy, and again by the representative who’s supposed to fight for them. With over 41,000 veterans in CA-23, roughly double the national concentration, not having a dedicated veteran’s representative and forcing veterans to drive over an hour for help is unconscionable.

The 2024 Inland Empire State of Veterans Report called accessing benefits in our region “taxing if not intimidating.” That was before DOGE tried to fire 83,000 VA employees, totaling 17% of the workforce serving our veterans. Using flawed AI tools, they tried to gut cancer programs, burial services, and the contracts implementing the PACT Act before public outrage forced them to scale back. Still, almost 600 contracts were canceled. Throughout the entire DOGE debacle, Obernolte was a consistent cheerleader of the same reckless cuts that I will fight to reverse.

Specifically, I will fight to rebuild VA staffing and infrastructure, for in-person VA representation in the Morongo Basin, and to fully staff the Veterans Crisis Line in our district. While we’ve gained presumptive coverage for burn pit and Agent Orange exposures, it means nothing if there isn’t anyone left at the VA to process the claims or deliver the care. Another problem in the Morongo Basin is access to care. While the VA’s “Community Care Network” carve-outs may work in urban areas, we’re already in a healthcare ‘desert.’ So, rather than pointing our veterans towards privatized care that doesn’t exist in our rural communities, I will fight for VA facilities closer to where our veterans live.

I’ll also push for integrated wrap-around care. Right now, if a veteran walks in for PTSD treatment, other needs go ignored. We need a system that screens simultaneously for housing, employment, and other health needs and connects veterans without requiring them to navigate a labyrinth of agencies.

And here in CA-23, I’ll work with veteran service organizations to host an annual veterans’ assistance event at different sites in the district, where veterans can navigate benefits, claims, and care without doing it alone.

5. Healthcare & Food Access

Parts of the Morongo Basin are a food desert, and our region ranks among the lowest in California for health outcomes. Many residents rely on SNAP food benefits and need better access to mental health care. How will you protect these programs and improve healthcare access for rural communities to ensure food security?

Tessa Lynn Hodge: As a Licensed Clinician Social Worker I’ve spent my career serving our rural and underserved communities. I’ve worked in community based mental health, school based mental health, and in medical social work in our hospitals and I know the challenges families in our areas face when it comes to both food and mental health. When I first decided to run for Congress in February 2025 I was working for SAC Health, a non profit that provides medical and mental health care in rural and underserved areas. I was hired for their Barstow office, and I was the first clinician hired after they had been attempting to fill the spot for a year. They were unable to find anyone who lived local to Barstow, or who was willing to make the drive. This is the same issue most rural communities, including the Morongo Basin face. A manageable client load for a mental health provider to ensure quality client care is approximately 20-30 (there’s quite a bit of paperwork on the back end to account for outside of client sessions). In community based mental health I had a client load of anywhere from 40-70.

In private practice my client load is lower, but all of the paperwork on the backend is done on unpaid time. The system is set up for provider burnout, not just for mental health providers, but for nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers as well. In an already underserved area, provider burnout is just one more factor leading to poor access in our rural communities. So how do we address this?

1. Rural healthcare is increasingly becoming its own speciality. At the federal level increase funding to medical schools like Loma Linda to expand training opportunities into rural communities. This includes lifting the federal funding cap on residency slots.

2. Create programs beginning in middle and high school and expanding to community colleges to create a pipeline into the medical profession, especially focused on rural and underserved areas. Recruiting people to fill positions in their home communities increases long term buy-in and the likelihood they will stay in their communities past mandatory pay back timelines.

I want to reiterate that I am a strong proponent of a single payer healthcare system like Medicare for all. The United States is in a healthcare crisis and we are quite literally on the verge of healthcare collapse. We must take forceful action to ensure our healthcare system doesn’t just remain in palace, but is improved for all of us.

In Congress I will never vote for a bill that cuts SNAP benefits. Many in our rural communities rely on these benefits including veterans. Again, we are all one bad day away from needing these social security nets.

Pat Wallis: Rural communities like the Morongo Basin face a compounding problem: fewer providers, longer distances, lower incomes, and worse health outcomes — and recent federal cuts are making all of it worse. Almost 20% of district families rely on SNAP. Almost half are on Medicaid. For the people of our district, access to food and healthcare aren’t separate issues.

I will fight to reverse the OBBBA’s SNAP cuts, which are projected to strip CalFresh benefits from almost 400,000 Californians. SNAP is one of the most effective anti-hunger programs we have. Obernolte calls it fiscal responsibility, but cutting it in a food desert is just callous, it’s irresponsible.

Real food security requires planning, and as part of the planned district-wide economic development plan, I support investment in local food economies — regional processing, cold storage, and farm-to-table distribution — so producers aren’t shipping food hundreds of miles only to ship it back.

On healthcare, I support Medicare for All. In the US, we pay ~$14,000 per person for healthcare. In other developed democracies, the totals are half that. To justify these outrageous costs, we’re told we’re getting the best healthcare in the world. If that’s so, why is our average lifespan just 79 years compared to the 83 years in these other countries?

I know firsthand the peace of mind that comes with knowing I will always receive the medical care I need from the Veterans Administration. Every American should have the same access to affordable healthcare that I do.

My other priority is keeping rural hospitals open. They’re already operating at a deficit, and the Medicaid cuts will accelerate closures. I’ll push for federal stabilization funding for rural hospitals and for protected reimbursement rates so providers can continue serving patients here.

As we know, access to healthcare is often an infrastructure problem out here. We hear of telehealth as the rural answer, but that only works if we have reliable broadband and cellular coverage. We are all aware that getting to and from a physical clinic can mean driving on unpaved roads in poor condition. I’ll fight for federal investment in rural broadband, cellular buildout, and road infrastructure as the actual prerequisites for healthcare access here. Without that backbone, every other healthcare promise is just words.

6. Climate & Extreme Weather

The Morongo Basin has seen severe flash floods that damaged homes and roads in recent years. What will you do to help desert communities prepare for and recover from extreme weather?

Tessa Lynn Hodge: First and foremost, protecting our environment and addressing climate change has to be a priority. Investing in new green technologies, shifting away from fossil fuels, and going after corporate polluters will be a priority for me in Congress. Change is hard, and it can be uncomfortable, but we must adapt and embrace new technologies that lessen carbon emissions and truly create energy independence.

To address the immediate need of the severe flash floods in the Morongo Basin the federal government needs to treat disaster preparedness as the priority it should be. I’ve spoken with those who work in the disaster preparedness space and the general consensus is that research is funded, reports are submitted, and the reports with recommendations go into a filing cabinet never to be seen again.

We must start listening to our experts and following the recommendations to avoid loss of life and damage to property. Investing in infrastructure to improve drainage and reinforce vulnerable roads, and having responsible land management can help reduce the impact of extreme weather.

Pat Wallis: Our desert communities face wildfire, high winds and wind damage, earthquakes, and flooding. But our infrastructure and insurance systems weren’t built for any of it at the intensity we’ve seen over recent years.

On preparation, I support significant federal investment in pre-disaster mitigation across all these threats. This includes hardened infrastructure, improved flood control and drainage, defensible space programs, seismic retrofits, wind-resistant building standards, and home hardening grants for the highest-risk properties.

No surprise here, but it’s way cheaper to harden and prepare a home than to rebuild one. The January 2025 LA fires caused tens of billions in damage. The cost of hardening those 13,000 homes would have been a fraction of that. The same logic applies to all the hazards we face in the basin, including flood, wind, and seismic mitigation.

It’s clear the private market is breaking down across CA-23. Personally, my insurer of choice, USAA, quit covering homes in California. My homeowner’s insurance has more than tripled since 2020. Insurers are pulling out, premiums are exploding, and families are being forced from homes they’ve held for generations.

I support a public option for catastrophic disaster coverage backed by a federal reinsurance backstop, with premiums capped so working families and seniors aren’t priced out. Under this proposal, routine home coverage would stay in the private market while catastrophic regional risk would be shared.

During recovery, FEMA and SBA disaster assistance must reach our rural communities. I’ll push for streamlined disaster declarations, faster individual assistance, and federal support for the nonprofits and mutual-aid networks that are usually first on the ground here. Another topic is demanding transparency in insurance risk modeling so homeowners and communities that invest in mitigation see savings on their premiums.

7. Renewable Energy & the Desert Environment

Large-scale solar projects are proposed on desert land near throughout the Morongo Basin. Residents are concerned about grading, dust, and harm to wildlife like the newly endangered Mojave desert tortoise, in addition to the loss of value of their homes. How do you balance the need for renewable energy with protecting desert ecosystems and local communities?

Tessa Lynn Hodge: Too often we have seen large scale projects pushed onto rural communities despite the objections of the residents. The people who live in the Morongo Basin deserve to be heard and respected in these processes. As a born and raised resident of the 23rd who spent the majority of my childhood in the rural community of Phelan, I know why we love our big open desert. The night sky, the quiet, the staring out and being able to see for miles, the seemingly inhospitable desert that we know is full of life. That life, the life of the Mojave Desert Tortoise, the jackrabbits, coyotes, chuckwallas, and so many others deserves to be protected. Protecting them means balancing the need for renewable energy with the need for protecting their habitat.

I support prioritizing renewable energy projects on land that has already been developed or is going to be developed, such as on roof tops, parking structures, or abandoned and idled commercial properties. Additionally, such projects should come with community benefit agreements to ensure that the community is benefitting from these projects. Community benefit agreements would ensure local hiring, investment in infrastructure, and increased protections for homeowners, residents, and small businesses.

Pat Wallis: While I support the transition to clean energy, I will never support turning the Morongo Basin into a sacrifice zone to power someone else’s city.

Renewable projects that fragment the habitats of endangered species, generate dust storms, drain aquifers, and reduce nearby property values aren’t the climate solutions any of us want here. Proposals like this just cost-shift from the urban elite onto rural communities just trying to survive. Moreover, they generate backlash that just delays the broader clean-energy transition we all want.

Any large-scale solar project on desert land must be properly sited, community-informed, and environmentally responsible. It must consider the project’s cumulative environmental impact. This means real local consultation with community representatives. And it means maintaining a preference for using sites on already-disturbed land, like on rooftops, parking lots, brownfields, and degraded sites.

But there’s also a smarter path, one that I’ve personally been researching in my professional work for two decades. Buildings and transportation account for roughly 60% of global carbon emissions. Energy efficiency, passive energy design in buildings, building electrification, and distributed solar on existing structures deliver enormous emission reductions without razing a single acre. It’s our duty to exhaust these paths before sacrificing our desert ecosystems and the home values of the families living here.

8. Public Lands

A Senate budget bill proposes auctioning tens of thousands of acres of BLM public land in and around the Morongo Basin and hi-desert. Public lands are vital to our economy, environment, and way of life. Do you support or oppose these sales, and why?

Tessa Lynn Hodge: I do not support the sale of large amounts of BLM public land in the Morongo Basin and High Desert. Especially when it is done hastily and without the input of local communities. Our desert ecosystem is fragile and is worth protecting, and in our desert environment water conservation must always be a priority.

Selling tens of thousands of acres of BLM land in and around the Morongo Basin could be catastrophic for local water sources which have already experienced overdraft. As climate change continues to become more severe, we are seeing conflicts and disputes over water in many parts of the world, including here in the US. Selling off protected land for development in a water scarce area is not responsible governing.

Pat Wallis: I oppose the proposed sales of BLM public lands in and around the Morongo Basin. However, the auction proposal is just the visible piece of a much larger problem that can’t be understood before we understand where we live.

Roughly 65% of the geographic area of CA-23 is public land — National Park, U.S. Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife, and BLM. That’s not incidental to the 23rd District. It is our district. Over the last 15 years, the budgets for the agencies that manage those lands have been cut by up to 70%. Guess what? The current administration is proposing to slash what remains by another half. That’s problematic for us. The consequences are everywhere we look. We’re seeing more wildfires, and our homeowner’s insurance costs are skyrocketing. On top of that, we’re seeing the abuse of the BLM permitting process and visible degradation of service across the board.

This malign neglect only benefits the deep-pocketed donors who’d like to turn our communities into extraction sites for more solar farms, mining pits, and industrial yards. I’ve been to Keys Ranch in the National Park, and I’ll pass on doing that to the rest of our desert. Selling this land, which is our birthright, is the next step in the same project.

Joshua Tree National Park and the surrounding BLM lands are the engine that drives our local economies. The case for keeping these lands public is obvious. There’s no way to replace that with a one-time auction payment.

On top of that, the excuse for these proposed sales as a housing-affordability fix is a sham. We absolutely do not have a land shortage. If anything, we have a glut of hedge funds, speculators, and short-term rental operators converting existing homes into investment properties.

As your US Representative, I’ll vote against any bill or reconciliation language authorizing these sales. Further, I’ll fight to restore full funding for the agencies that manage our public lands and to require genuine local consent for any BLM disposal in CA-23.

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Tara Jane O’Neil

The work of Tara Jane O’Neil innately crosses genres and boundaries—like several genies emerging from a single lamp. The multi-instrumentalist, composer, and visual artist has performed under her own name and in collaboration with other musicians, artists, dancers, and filmmakers since 1992. Her kaleidoscopic discography includes a dozen solo albums. She was a founding member of the legendary art punk bands Rodan and the Sonora Pine. TJO has performed solo songs and improvisational explorations in venues around the world from the Firehouse JT to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Tara Jane O’Neil’s most recent album, The Cool Cloud of Okayness, was released in 2024 on Orindal Records.

Derek Monypeny

Born in the Arizona desert, a veteran of multiple explorations into the Sahara desert via Morocco and Western Sahara, and now a resident of the Mojave, Derek Monypeny sees his musical mission as adding to and expanding on what he calls the "desert continuum”; the psychedelic sirocco swirl of desert-based stringed instruments played with utter abandon by musicians the world over.

Derek uses a variety of instruments to achieve these ends. In addition to guitar, he has recorded an album of solo oud recordings (Don't Bring Me Down, Bruce) and is currently performing and recording using the 15-string bulbul tarang (Indian electric banjo).

Derek is a former member of the bands Oaxacan (Oakland, CA), ALTO (Portland, OR), and Sir Richard Bishop's Freak Of Araby Ensemble. He has collaborated and toured with artists such as Bill Orcutt, Jozef van Wissem, Mike Watt, Eva Aguila, Ak'chamel, and many others.

Ash Ingalls

Ash Ingalls wanders many pathways of vibrational praxis though their work as an improviser, recording artist, radio DJ, and independent researcher, in addition to founding & facilitating Searching Records, a cassette label presenting a wide spectrum of improvised music from both local and international community. Ash is involved in multiple music projects as a producer and multi-instrumentalist, with an intuitive gravitation toward acoustic string instruments (cello, bass, guitar, ruan, banjo, etc.) modified through shadowy electronic effects. They perform ritualistic drone-folk with Ritual Ashing, loop-based explorations with Entwined, and chaotic free-rock with Aeon Jung. Based in Joshua Tree, CA.

Ellen Schloff

Ellen Schloff is an experimental multi-instrumentalist & vocalist whose improvised performances draw from their classical training in violin and piano and merges electronic elements of layered loops with effects, creating a kaleidoscope of sounds and gestures, transforming them into symphonic compositions.

What is an exquisite corpse?

Desert Trumpet Editor in chief Cindy Bernard explains the concept for the performance, which takes place at Spirit Wind, the house designed by composer George Zelenz (1968-2022). Prior to Desert Trumpet, Bernard was the founder and director of SASSAS, an organization dedicated to experimental music and art, for which she produced more than 150 events including Welcome Inn Time Machine for the Getty Pacific Standard Time Public Art and Performance Festival (2012).

An exquisite corpse is a surrealist collaborative art/writing/music game where each participant adds to a work without seeing what came before. Named after the first sentence produced by surrealist artists in Paris in the 1920s: "The exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine." The results are often bizarre, dreamlike, and unintentionally poetic.

Applying the exquisite corpse idea to music was developed and deployed for several SASSAS performances.

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