ON THE AGENDA: City Council, March 26, 2024
A new City Manager is proposed as is waiving rental fees for the Sanctuary Church
A relatively busy ten-item agenda greets City Council for the last meeting of March. The Council will again consider whether to waive fees for church use of City property and look at Project Phoenix wastewater treatment as well as check in on business improvement loans plus…..wait for it…..consider the appointment of a new City Manager, H. Stone James. We cover agenda highlights; the full agenda can be reviewed here.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Comments on agenda items take place during the discussion of that item. 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 green (or occasionally gold) form at the entry desk, fill it out, and hand it to the Clerk, who is usually sitting in front of the Council bench on the right side. You can also send comments by email to City Council members to be read at the meeting — be sure to request that your comments be read aloud at the meeting. Send a cc to Cindy Villescas, the Council secretary. You can find the email addresses here.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar consists of routine 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. Again, fill out a comment form if you wish to address any of the items on this meeting’s Consent Calendar. For this meeting, the calendar consists of:
Vacation of a portion of Foothill Drive for the Reset Hotel as discussed at the February 6th Planning Commission meeting.
Review of City investment policies.
Granting of a $1 per year lease to AHA Projects, the non-profit fiscal sponsor for Mojaveland artist-designed miniature golf course, for land adjacent to Theater 29.
Minutes for three City Council meetings with closed sessions, presumably concerned with the hiring of the City Manager, all with nothing to report.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
Item 6: Project Phoenix – Treatment System Improvements
This item is for funding the final round of improvements to the Project Phoenix project. Per the staff report, this includes “the installation of an advanced treatment system to treat the wastewater from the existing businesses, community center, visitor center, and future hotel. The system involves the construction of a packaged wastewater treatment plant and will utilize the existing septic tank as a holding tank to increase capacity of the system.”
Bids were received and read on November 9, 2023, thereby starting a 60-day period ending of January 9, 2024, after which bids could be withdrawn. Staff is recommending the low bidder be disqualified for not meeting minimum requirements. The second lowest bidder, 316 Engineering & Construction Co. of Rosemead, has agreed to honor their submitted bid of $1,999,934 until April 30, 2024.
Item 7: Sanctuary Church Event—Direct Staffing Costs
Recreation Division Manage Kary Minetrea spoke to this item at the prior City Council meeting and now recommends the City waive three days of rental fees totaling $3,855 for the Sanctuary Church 20th anniversary celebration. Past policy is that nonprofit organizations are entitled to complementary use of City facilities for one day per calendar year. Minetrea is recommending the church be excused for three days of fees and billed only for staff time at $245.77.
The church will be occupying the Community Center / Gym and kitchen for four days beginning April 25 culminating in the April 28th event. It appears that April 27 is excluded from the calculations as the church is storing set-up that day and will not be actively on-site.
It’s unclear whether approval of this item will set a precedent for other nonprofits wishing to use City facilities for more than one day per year. Public comment at the March 12 meeting expressed concerns about whether all nonprofit organizations in the City would be treated equally with regard to this policy.
Item 8: Business Loan Improvement Program Status
The Business Loan Improvement Program was established by Council in September 2021. The loans, which range from $5,000 to $40,000, require a 50% match from the property or business owner, and must be repaid in 10 years with 3% interest.
As of September 2022, $350,000 was allotted for loans, with $160,000 applied for and $40,000 distributed. Currently $172,730.74 has been disbursed to seven applicants.
The program was originally limited to exterior improvements to the businesses located in the Downtown Specific Plan. But at that time, given apparent lack of interest — 340 properties were notified but only four applied — Council expanded the eligible area to all commercial properties in the City.
Staff is seeking direction regarding closing the program to enable evaluation of whether the program met its goals and reallocate left-over funds.
Item 9: Membership Dues Joint Powers Authority (JPA)
At the March 12 meeting, Monique Arellano from the San Bernardino Council of Governments (SBCOG) reviewed SBCOG's recent initiatives, funding and costs. She informed the Council that starting July 1, SBCOG is increasing its membership dues for all member cities, and advised that yearly dues for Twentynine Palms would increase from $14,476 to approximately $23,341. This agenda item to authorize payment of those increased dues (or not).
Twenty-four San Bernardino County cities and the County Board of Supervisors are SBCOG members. The council’s mission is “to improve the quality of life and mobility in San Bernardino County,” and it is the hub for several County transportation-related agencies and commissions. The SBCOG also advocates for regional issues at a state and federal level — their federal legislative platform can be viewed here and their state platform is here.
At the last Council meeting Arellano noted by way of example that SBCOG had channeled over $500,000 in grant funds to the City in 2023.
The budget of the SBCOG is covered through dues paid by member agencies calculated based on population and general fund size.
Item 10: Appointment of City Manager
Several months of closed meetings have culminated in the recommended appointment of Stone James as City Manager with an annual base salary of $176,425.60. The agenda does not include James’s resume, application, or even the last position held, but does mention that he holds a doctorate in Policy, Planning and Development and has “considerable experience in local government and the public sector.” No appointment date is mentioned in the staff report but the contract reads “as to be effective as of March __, 2024.
A bit of sleuthing reveals that for the last seven years James has served as the Economic Development Director of Cathedral City. His Linkedin profile lists strong points as “Strengthening Communities through Effective Leadership, Policy Decisions, and Economic Development.” Stone has held several positions in the Coachella Valley, including working on the General Plan Advisory Committee and serving a Planning Commissioner for the City of Indio and advising on a general plan update for Palm Desert. He has a background in land acquisition and served as Vice President of the Land Advisors Organization from 2008 to 2017. His doctorate is from USC as is his masters in Real Estate Development.
Interestingly, he has a certification for Police Officer/Law Enforcement Officer/Peace Officer (POST), and his EMT license is current as is his real estate broker license. And he certainly sounds healthy — in December 2023 he participated in the Ironman 70.3 Triathlon in Indian Wells La Quinta.
For further reading, here’s a list of recent articles on James’ initiatives in Cathedral City, where he’s clearly had an impact on economic growth (some links are behind pay walls):
The website for Economic Development, Cathedral City
Cathedral City’s Economy Continues to Grow, Palm Springs Life, October 20231
Cathedral City hopes to lure its first developments north of Interstate 10, Desert Sun, January 11, 20232
Are Inland Empire warehouses moving toward the Coachella Valley? Desert Sun, January 28, 20223
$40 million Amazon facility nears completion in Cathedral City, Desert Sun, October 31, 2021
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Selected quotes from the article:
”It is fascinating to watch what effective strategic plan implementation looks like,’ says Stone James, the city’s [Cathedral City] economic development director who holds a doctorate in policy, planning, and development. ‘So many times, companies create strategic plans which are put on a shelf never to be seen again.’ James describes the intentional process the city is implementing, where staff meets weekly with roundtable discussions on strategic plan goals and what is being done to accomplish those goals. James went on to state, ‘what the City is accomplishing is impressive and what makes Cathedral City’s strategic plan even more meaningful is the (strategic) plan took into consideration a statistically valid community survey City leadership proactively conducted. That survey exposed what the City is doing right and what needs to be improved. The Council and senior leadership took this blunt feedback and crafted strategic plan goals to build on existing momentum and turn weaknesses into strengths.”
“‘The plan builds momentum and provides consistency in action,’ James says. ‘As the plan is reinforced, frontline staff will better understand the council’s direction for day-to-day decisions. While this concept of Commander’s Intent seems simple, from a leadership and operational perspective, having clearly articulated mission, values, vision, and goals is profound.’ Among the actions enumerated under the plan’s “community investment” goal is this: ‘By the end of 2023 complete the design phase and begin construction on the Dream Homes Park.”
Selected quotes from the article:
The ‘north city,’ as officials call it, is approximately 5,500 acres of open land bordered by Palm Drive and Bob Hope Drive. Cathedral City has had a longstanding goal to develop the area and approved two specific plans in 2009 and 2014 to guide future projects there.
”A general plan lays out a city’s overall vision for development and how to facilitate it, while a specific plan is more detailed and focuses on a particular area. It can be costly and take around two years to complete the latter,’ said Stone James, Cathedral City’s economic development director….’But one of the risks with a specific plan is you never know what the market wants,’ James said.
He said the north city’s specific plans focus on a lot of mixed-use projects, such as residences above retail stores. But developers need construction capital, and may not get it for those kinds of projects next to the freeway, in a wind belt, with only wide-open desert around it, James said.
So instead of creating a new specific plan, James proposed a resolution that would allow the city to support alternative land use proposals if they can meet certain criteria. The city council approved the resolution in November.
Selected quotes from the article:
“We now have 152 jobs that pay the minimum wage or more, that offer 401ks, they offer medical benefits, and what I’m most proud of is they offer 100% tuition reimbursement. So if you went to work there, and even if you were making $15 or $17 an hour, not only do you get benefits and get your 401k, but if you wanted to go to school, they would pay for it… Those jobs could mean a world of difference for 152 people in our community,” said James.
As for the potential impacts on air quality or other environmental issues, James emphasized that Amazon was already delivering packages to Cathedral City and other parts of the Coachella Valley, but that previously the delivery vans were driving from the closest last-mile facility in Riverside.
“‘People are ordering from Amazon already, and the trucks are in our cities already… For the naysayers, the people who didn’t want it here, my thought was, So you would prefer that they drive in from Riverside every day to deliver your package, you just don’t want them to drive from within Cathedral City to another spot in the city to deliver your package… That just doesn’t make good sense,” James said.
James also said he did the math for how many vehicle trips would be clocked to and from the last-mile facility if it was still a Sam’s Club, which occupied the building previously, and found that the number of cars driving to the store each day would number over a thousand, in addition to the semi-trucks still needed to supply the store. And as online shopping continues to grow in popularity, James questioned whether Amazon and other retailers might actually be reducing the total number of vehicle trips from shopping in-person.
“‘Is it better for me to make multiple trips in order to get stuff, like go to Costco, go to Home Depot, go to Lowe's, maybe drive to Los Angeles, or better to just order and have one truck come out here and deliver it for not just me, but an entire neighborhood?” James asked.