ON THE AGENDA: CITY COUNCIL MEETING MAY 9
How should our Mayor be selected? And budgets, budgets, budgets!
As is our usual, we’re pointing to agenda highlights but encouraging Twentynine Palms residents to read the full agenda. The regular meeting starts at 6pm on Tuesday, May 9, with the closed session beginning at 4:45pm.
CLOSED SESSION - 4:45pm
#1. Closed Session Pursuant to Government Code §54957 - Public Employees Performance Evaluation, City Manager.
Generally employee performance evaluations are not public.
PUBLIC COMMENT
The public has multiple opportunities to comment at every Council meeting. Please use the opportunity of Council meetings to question your Council members on the issues affecting our City.
Public comments for all items are limited to three minutes per agenda item, but the public is entitled to fill out requests to speak on multiple items and may also speak during general public comments. To comment, pick up a green form at the desk, fill it out, and hand it to the City Clerk who is usually sitting at the desk at the front of room on the right side. The public can also send comments via email to Council members and the City Manager and cc the City Clerk requesting that comments be read at the meeting.
AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS
#1-4. Presentation to Women of Color Global 29 for their participation in the Cash for Trash and Recycling Program, Declarations for the month of May for Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month and Presentation of Certificates of Recognition.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar consists of several items that can be approved with one vote. Generally they are routine items but the Council has the option to pull any item from the Consent Calendar for discussion. Despite the number of items, all public comment happens prior to the Council vote on the full list. This meeting’s list includes money for Safe Routes to Schools construction, acquisitions needed for road repair, and improvements and the acquisition of a new 2023 Toro Groundsmaster 3200 24HP 2WD lawnmower. Two highlights:
#9. Appropriation Limit FY 2023-24
This is a calculation that establishes a limit on general fund spending per Proposition 4 passed in 1979. The calculation is determined by weighing a population factor against a cost of living factor — so for Twentynine Palms, those factors are a .94 percent population decrease and a state wide 4.44% increase in personal income for a general fund appropriations limit of $71,202.035.
There is a San Bernardino population chart included with the staff report that is one of the rare instances where the full time population of 29 is stated: as of January 1, 2023 the population was 15,539, representing a .94 percent decrease from the prior year number of 15,687. Generally population numbers quoted by the City include the portion of the Base that’s within City limits - this year that’s 25,929 per the same chart. Most of the 24 County cities listed on the chart experienced a similar decrease in addition to the unincorporated regions, with only Adelanto, Fontana, Hesperia, Ontario, San Bernardino and Victorville experiencing slight increases. This years number including Base personnel is 25,929.
#10. Land Transfer Agreement
You may recall an eminent domain where the City wanted to acquire an “abandoned” triplex but failed to notice that an elderly woman was living there? This parcel is part of the planned parking lot and transit center project that prompted that dispute (although not the parcel she was living on). This agreement transfers the land needed for the transit center from the City to the Morongo Basin Transit Authority. The parcel is located near the intersection of Highway 62 and Desert Queen Avenue (across from the parking lot behind GRND SQRL). The MTA is reimbursing the acquisition cost of $254,000 to the City. The agreement states, “Basin Transit does not intend to move forward with the proposed Transit Center project for several years.”
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
#15. The Process of Selecting Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem Each Year - Future Agenda Item Request.
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. So in December 2022 when the new Council members were seated, the Mayor Pro Tem at that time, MacArthur Wright, became 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 became Mayor Pro Tem. This system has been in place since the City was incorporated in 1987 — when there were no Council Districts.
A 2017 lawsuit prompted the shift from at large elections to districts, but the process of selecting a Mayor remained the same. Should it change? Per that staff report, “The City Council could choose to keep the current process, appoint a person(s) to serve without consideration of votes, consider one or two-year terms as Mayor, or suggest another option.”
#16. Preliminary 2-Year Project Phoenix Funds Budget FY 2023-24 & 2024-25. A review of funds remaining in the Project Phoenix budget for capital improvements. Only four items remain for a total of $2,381,986, and these items are expected to be completed in during the 2023-2024 fiscal year (July 1, 2023 to June 20, 2024).
1. PP Package Treatment Plant $2,066,507
2. Store Improvements $66,439
3. Multi-purpose Facility Fixtures $34,040
4. Public Art $ 15,000
The package plant is a City match of a Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant. Regarding “Public Art”, proposals for several permanent public art works were received, but the $15,000 set aside would have been insufficient to fund any of them. Additionally the City had failed to include tribal representatives in the public art proposal process throwing the whole exercise on hold.
In addition to the funds listed above, there is a Project Phoenix Housing fund of 1.1M, which includes $416,000 from the property sale to the hotel developer. According to the staff report, “These funds have not been committed to a specific project.”
#17. Presentation of the Preliminary Two-Year Special Funds Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24 & 2024-25
This is the second of two preliminary budget presentations and is the beginning of a process that takes place every two years kicked off by the strategic planning sessions that took place in January, followed by review from a Council budget subcommittee, which this year consisted of Mayor Pro Tem Steven Bilderain and Council member Joel Klink.
The Preliminary General Fund Budget was presented at the April 25th meeting and covered “general fund” items such as City administration costs, police, public works, recreation and similar usual City expenses. The Preliminary Special Funds Budget covers specific items that are funded through special revenue sources—such as grants, special taxes for roads and the 1.5% TOT that funds the Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID). These funds generally support capital improvements and maintenance in addition to a series of special tasks outlined in the staff report.
The schedule for review of the budget is as follows:
April 25th: Preliminary General Fund Budget
May 9th: Preliminary Special Funds Budget
May 23rd: Proposed General Fund Budget (public hearing)
June 13th: Proposed Special Fund Budget (public hearing)
June 27th: Budget Meeting, if changes are needed following the public hearings
These budgets determine the spending priorities of the City for the next two years, and we recommend that residents follow this process closely. The budget staff reports attached to the agendas contain Powerpoint slides with easy to read summaries –– your tax dollars at work!
Disclosure: Desert Trumpet co-founder and editor Cindy Bernard is currently Chair of the Public Arts Advisory Committee, which is a part of the City of Twentynine Palms.
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