ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, May 26, 2026
Two public hearings, $6.2 million in policing costs, a Council pay raise, and a vote on $50,000 in nonprofit grants — with nine organizations not funded.
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).
Shade Structures around Freedom Plaza and a possible art fixture with “Freedom Plaza” announcing the location
Discussion of a policy regulating the use of City Attorney resources.
Discussion on creating a “Recognized Neighborhood Program.”
Discussion on the new Federal holidays to coincide with the City’s holiday schedule.
Discussion on the use of City funds for grants and the potential reallocation of housing and homeless funds to grants.
Discussion on creating guidelines for the use of City Hall meeting rooms by elected and appointed officials for official city business.
Discussion on the next steps of reallocating $1.3 million for housing.
Discussion of Code Enforcement and compliance with Proposition 36 and find a pathway to meeting the new guidance issued by Governor Gavin Newson.
Discussion about annexing parcels: APN 0634-05-124 and 0634-05-109, also known as Set Free Ranch.
Discussion of a possible safe passage with CalTrans around Donnell Hill.
Discussion on a collaboration with Liberty Military Housing to update our RENA numbers.
Study Session regarding the FLOCK cameras.
Expedited item to discuss the Cooling Center hours.
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While listed at RENA on the Future Agenda Items, we beiieve this actually refers to RHNA, as in Regional Housing Needs Allocation.
it seems that $6.2 fee for police services is FAR too exorbitant for this small city ! it should be far less for the amount of police ativity that happens in this small town !