ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, December 9, 2025
The packed agenda includes the formal adoption of a 5-year strategic plan and the selection of a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem
The final City Council meeting of 2025 could be brief or a marathon contingent on the amount of verbiage accompanying six awards and presentations and whether any of the seven Consent Calendar items — including the formal adoption of a 5-Year Strategic Plan — are pulled for discussion. The sole formal discussion item is the selection of a new Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. Bring snacks and water just in case.
The meeting will commence after yet another closed session: ANTICIPATED LITIGATION, SIGNIFICANT EXPOSURE TO LITIGATION, Government Code Section § 54956.9 (d)(2), (1 case - Ryan Parker Claim). It’s rare to see a case name cited, no additional information was provided.
A 110-page agenda packet, including 43 pages for the strategic plan, is available here; coverage of the last City Council meeting is linked 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, 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 bench toward 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.
AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS
With awards and presentations usually averaging 10 - 15 minutes each, expect this part of the meeting to bump up against 7pm. Year end recaps will be presented by the Youth Council, the Public Arts Advisory Committee (PAAC) and outgoing Mayor Steven Bilderain; community members Anna Stump and Audrey Philpot will be recognized for their successful Levitt grant campaign for concerts at Freedom Plaza, and San Bernardino County Sheriff Captain Robert Warrick, who heads up the Morongo Basin Station, will pass the command to Captain Steve Scovel.
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.
Usually Consent Calendar items are routine, but one of these is anything but — the approval of the City’s 5 year strategic plan.
In addition to the usual approval of the warrant register for $1,921,729.04, items covered in recent Council meetings include:
Approval of two items covered at the November 12 meeting: The second reading of adjustments to the City’s building code and a collaboration with Twentynine Palms Water District for resident education on septic system maintenance.
“Improving the Accuracy of the 2025/2026 Community Assessment.” The Community Assessment refers to the controversial allotment of close to $100,000 for two consulting firms hired at the October 14 meeting to sell residents on a 1% sales tax increase, anticipated to be on the 2026 ballot. This item covers approval of the first phase of the contract with Clifford Moss to oversee Probolsky Research in the execution of an election feasibility study, cost $14,000.
Timeline for adoption of a 1% sales tax increase by voters. (Staff report) New items up for approval:
Installation of signs prohibiting parking from midnight on Fridays to 2pm on Saturdays in the areas of the Freedom Plaza parking lot used by the Farmers Market.
Acceptance of the donation to the City of a flood zone lot (APN 061725118), currently owned by the Schuch Family Trust, in return for an undisclosed 2025 tax deduction.
Adoption of Twentynine Palms’ Five-Year Strategic Plan.
Since the April 2025 strategic planning sessions , the City has been operating on six objectives that, once they were determined, were never formally discussed in public session or approved by the City Council. So it is surprising (or not) to see an item that should be the subject of public scrutiny appear on the consent calendar in the final meeting of 2025. For ease of public review we are attaching the strategic plan document excerpted from the agenda below.
Also for the first time — prior to adoption! —objectives and strategies from the strategic plan are included in the staff reports for several agenda items.
The goals of the plan are outlined as follows:
Goal A: Financial Sustainability – Diversify revenue sources for long term financial health and sustainable reserves
Goal B: Enhanced Local Character – Invest in the small-town, rural characteristics to maintain the identity of the City of Twentynine Palms
Goal C: Improved Infrastructure – Repair existing infrastructure and build new systems so residents can live, work, and play safely
Goal D: Access to Resources – Ensure that the City of Twentynine Palms City Staff and residents have adequate resources to support daily needs and long-term wellbeing
Goal E: Local Tourism – Grow as a regional destination to expand nature-based, outdoor, and wellness experiences
Goal F: Community Outreach and Engagement – Facilitate outreach and engagement activities to increase transparency into operations and foster relationships with leadership and staff
Each of the goals is supported via five elements:
Objective Statement – What the City of Twentynine Palms hopes to achieve in the coming years.
Actions – The set of activities the City of Twentynine Palms will use to reach each goal.
Metrics – Milestones and/or indicators that will articulate annual process and achievements.
Timeline – Completion target dates for each action are organized as short term (Years 1 and 2), medium term (Years 3 and 4), and long term (Year 5).
Lead Department(s) – The City management team will be responsible for executing and coordinating implementation and reporting actions under each goal. Key supporting partners for each action are identified. These are listed in the action plan.
These are charted at the conclusion of the strategic planning document per the below example.
Selection of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem
Twentynine Palms has not codified a selection process for Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, making this item a replay of the discussion in December 2024, when Council faced a conundrum.
In May 2023, Council opted to rotate mayoral posts numerically, by district number. They decided to begin with Districts 1 and 2, yielding Steven Bilderain as Mayor and Joel Klink as Mayor Pro Tem. However, when the next year rolled around, Joel Klink retired instead of becoming Mayor. By district rotation, newly elected Councilmember April Ramirez would have become Mayor having never served on any city body to gain experience. So Council then followed the staff report suggestion and appointed the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem by Council nomination and vote — resulting in Steven Bilderain serving a 2nd term as Mayor and Daniel Mintz becoming Mayor Pro Tem.
If Council chooses to return to the rotation method, then District 3 representative Daniel Mintz becomes Mayor, and District 4 representative Octavious Scott becomes Mayor Pro Tem. But again the staff report recommendation is for Council to nominate one of their own for these positions and appoint via a vote.
So who will be the next Mayor? Anyone’s guess.
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