NEWSLETTER, DECEMBER 11, 2022

Last Council meeting of the year and our last newsletter of 2022

Dec 12, 2022

UPDATE, DECEMBER 15: Since this article was written the City released the application for Planning Commission. See our story for more information and a link to the applicaiton.

Happy Holidays to all our subscribers! Thanks for reading and commenting on our articles and to those of you who’ve participated in the new chat feature. Desert Trumpet is an all volunteer publication – since the City is on a light schedule over the holidays, we’ve decided to take a break too. We plan to be back the 2nd week of January just in time to break down the first City Council meeting of 2023. In the meantime, we’ll be opening up the chat to for our subscribers to share holiday tidbits and photos of great holiday decorations. We’d also love to hear from you on what you’d like to see Desert Trumpet cover when we return in 2023.

Raising a glass to all of you.

Cindy, Heidi, Jonathan, Natalie and all of our 2022 guest writers.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Upcoming City meetings, all in Council Chambers at City Hall, 6136 Adobe Rd, Twentynine Palms unless otherwise specified.

•Tuesday, December 13, 6pm, City Council, see summary below.

•Wednesday, December 14, 5pm, State of the City address outgoing Mayor and Council member Karmolette O’Gilvie, Project Phoenix Gym

•Wednesday, December 21, 3pm, Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC)
With long time members Pat Flanagan and Ann Congdon retiring and new members coming in, it’s expected that the PAAC may be seeing some changes.

•Tuesday, January 10 , 6pm, City Council
Possibly the only Council meeting in January, as the calendar may be cleared for strategic planning workshops taking place later in the month.

•Tuesday, January 17, 5pm, Planning Commission
The Commission has experienced absences recently and this is confirmed as the only Planning Commission meeting in January. The Commission will be returning to its usual schedule in February, with at least one new member.

•Wednesday, January 18, 3pm, Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC)

•Thursday, January 19, Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID)
Attendees at the November 30 special meeting left disappointed as the TBID continues to struggle with funding events. The issue of event funding was first addressed when the budget was presented over the summer and a promise to make reserves available has yet to be realized. Expect more fireworks as residents continue to request a share of the approximately $285,000 TBID budget to support events in our community.

A complete list of meetings and agendas can be found on the city website: City of Twentynine Palms Meeting Calendar

NEW COUNCIL MEMBER TO BE SEATED AT FINAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF 2022

A 406-page agenda will close out 2022 for the Twentynine Palms City Council on Tuesday Dec 13, 2022. The 22 item agenda begins with a meeting cancellation and and ends with the selection of the next Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem.

We encourage interested parties to read the entire agenda packet for details: Twentynine Palms City Council Agenda

The first announcement on the agenda cancels the City Council meeting that was to take place on December 27. This is the 3rd month in a row that the Council has cancelled one of the two monthly meetings.

AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS

#5. Presentation by the Public Arts Advisory Committee (PAAC)
A presentation by long time PAAC committee member and current Chair Pat Flanagan who is stepping down at the end of December. It’s anticipated that Flanagan will present achievements by the PAAC while she and Ann Congdon led the Committee. Congdon stepped down in October. These resignations represent a changing of the guard at the PAAC, which was formed in 2004 and administers the Art in Public Places program.

CONSENT CALENDAR

The consent calendar consists of multiple items which can be approved as a batch. The Council has the option to pull any of the items from the consent calendar for discussion. This meeting’s consent calendar contains a dozen items, a couple of which are notable:

#17. Clean Water State Revolving Funding (SRF) Resolution

This item consists of two City Council resolutions related to the sewer system project. The first affirms that the City will seek reimbursement from the California Clean Water State Revolving Fund for expenses related to sewer planning and potential construction, up to the anticipated cost of $158.5M. The second affirms that the City will go forward with a corresponding grant application to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund for funds to plan and construct the sewer.

#18. Certification of Election Results

Here the City Council can vote to confirm and certify the election results as tallied by the County Registrar of Voters. See Certification of Election Results. - Pdf for details. This is a necessary step before the incoming council members elect can be seated. These are:

Daniel L. Mintz Sr - District 3
Octavious Scott - District 4
McArthur Wright - District 5

PUBLIC HEARING

#19. Updates to the Housing Element, Safety Element, and Land Use Element of the General Plan.

This is adoption of the Housing Element. Housing Elements run on an eight year cycle, this is the 6th cycle Housing Element for the period Oct. 2021 through Oct. 2029. Housing Elements must be approved by the HCD (California Department of Housing and Community Development). The City has at this point received informal approval from HCD for its Housing Element after the document underwent two significant revisions. Changes include by-right approval of ADUs and JADUs (accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units); density bonuses; making it easier to add employee housing and Low Barrier Navigation Centers for homeless individuals; removal of location restrictions for congregate care facilities; and lowering approval barriers for multi-family housing.

DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS

#20. San Bernardino County Housing Trust

This is for submittal of a Letter of Interest from the Mayor on behalf of the City Council for participation in a proposed new organization, the San Bernardino Regional Housing Trust. This new Housing Trust would potentially help fund projects related to housing people who are homeless, housing rehabilitation, workforce and missing middle housing, and could utilize and promote land banking and community land trusts.

#22. Selection of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem

In Twentynine Palms the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem rotate yearly among City Council members, with the order of succession to Mayor Pro Tem determined by the number of votes received in elections. Usually the Mayor Pro Tem ascends to the Mayor's seat and the individual who received the next highest votes becomes the Mayor Pro Tem. The Current Mayor Pro Tem is MacArthur Wright, so he should ascent to Mayor. In the 2020 election Steven Bilderain received 961 votes, more than Klink in 2020 or Mintz or even Wright in 2022, so Council member Bilderain will likely become Mayor Pro Tem. Of course, they could also throw the usual system out and nominate and vote in a different Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, but Council rarely bucks convention.

PLANNING COMMISSIONER MENDOZA RESIGNS, THREE SEATS UP FOR APPOINTMENT IN 2023

Long time Twentynine Palms Planning Commissioner Gregory Mendoza has resigned. Mendoza was first appointed to the Planning Commission in 2010 and his seat is one of three up for appointment early 2023. The other two seats are Jason Dickson, first appointed in 2018 and Max Walker, who was last appointed in 2019 (date of first appointment could not be verified). Both Dickson and Walker have indicated they plan to reapply for their seats.

Although Planning Commissioners are not appointed by council district, some residents feel that all districts should be represented on the Commission. Mendoza was appointed prior to the division of the City into council districts and resides in District 3. Dickson and Walker reside in District 5, while Commissioners Jim Krushat and Leslie Pahana both reside in District 2. No Commission members reside in Districts 1 and 4.

Twentynine Palms’ ordinance requires Planning Commissioners to reapply for their seats every four years. City Manager Frank Luckino believes applications will be available in mid-December and due in mid-January. Applications are reviewed by a subcommittee of two Council Members, potential applicants are then interviewed with recommendations for appointments taking place in February.

Interested residents are encouraged to apply. Contact City Manager Luckino (fluckino@29palms.org )or Community Development Director Keith Gardner (kgardner@29palms.org ) for further information.

The Desert Trumpet

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