ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, February 10, 2026
Black History Month is recognized, a closed session with "threat to public services or facilities" as the topic, and local food pantries to receive storage capacity improvements.
This upcoming Tuesday, February 10, 2026, the Twentynine Palms City Council will hold a regularly scheduled meeting at 6 pm following a closed session at 5:30 pm. A light agenda encompasses a handful of consent calendar items and only one discussion item.
Coverage of the last city council meeting is available here; the 61-page agenda packet for the upcoming meeting is linked here.
CLOSED SESSION
1. THREAT TO PUBLIC SERVICES OR FACILITIES, Government Code Section 54954.5, Consultation with City Attorney, Patrick Muñoz.
Because closed session item information is largely limited to members of Council and the City’s legal consultants, the precise details of this particular closed session topic are not known. “Threat to public services or facilities” falls under Brown Act compliance as an allowed closed session topic. Historically, California cities have used this to discuss various topics, such as cyber security threats, as seen in a 2022 meeting in the town of Lincoln.
According to the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, this type of closed session meeting falls under the category of “Security Threats,” with the following purpose:
To consult with the Governor, Attorney General, district attorney, agency counsel, sheriff, or chief of police, or their respective deputies, or a security consultant or a security operations manager, on matters posing a threat to the security of public buildings, a threat to the security of essential public services, including water, drinking water, wastewater treatment, natural gas service, and electric service, or a threat to the public’s right of access to public services or facilities.
In this instance, Council will be consulting with City Attorney Patrick Muñoz. Typically, at Council meetings, closed sessions involve anticipated or ongoing litigation. Using the search feature on the City’s webpage, one can see that this marks the first time the City will be conducting a closed session with security as a subtopic.
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
2. Proclamation Recognizing February 2026 as Black History Month
Council will kick off with their traditional proclamation honoring February as Black History Month. This symbolic declaration comes after a weekend of controversy and denunciation from both Republicans and Democrats at both the local and national level following a February 5 posting by President Donald Trump of a racist video on his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. International news organizations called out the video for what it is— “imagery with an unmistakably racist connotation.”1
Reverend Samuel J. Casey, Senior Pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship based out of San Bernardino County, denounced the President’s video in a letter published Friday evening, stating the following:
You cannot ignore what has happened. As we celebrate the 100th Year of Black History Month, such imagery wounds, reopens historical scars of racial injustice, and contradicts the very heart of the Gospel. The prophetic voice of Amos reminds us that words even from high places matter. When religious communities fail to condemn injustice, we risk becoming complicit in it.
Republican Senator Tim Scott, of South Carolina, who is the only Black Republican currently serving in the U.S. Senate, condemned the President’s video and urged Trump to delete it in a post published to X, formerly known as Twitter, on February 6:
Republican Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska also condemned the video shared by Trump, stating in a social media post “… a reasonable person sees the racist context to this. The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize.”
The racist video depiction remained up for twelve hours following its publication, according to USA Today, and has since been deleted.
Local celebrations commemorating Black History Month include a Harlem Renaissance-themed murder mystery dinner hosted by Women of Color Global 29, which will take place Friday, February 27 at Freedom Plaza. Tickets for the dinner event are $35; to RSVP, contact 760-272-0373.
3. City Clerk’s Department Update
This department update will likely be given by City Council Secretary and City Clerk Cindy Villescas. No notes for this anticipated update have been included in the agenda packet. While Council often receives presentation updates from the Finance department, Animal Control, City Manager, and Public Works, a department update from the Clerk is not typical.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar usually consists of routine items approved with a single vote. The public is given a chance to 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.
The consent calendar for Tuesday’s meeting consists of five items, including approval of last meeting’s minutes, available here.
Other items include approval of a Warrant Register to the tune of $1,081,882.31. Noteworthy payments on this month’s register include $13,747.25 paid to Terranova Planning & Research Inc., a consulting firm based in the Coachella Valley that assists both government agencies and private clients in regional development projects, including the proposed solar farm slated for Harmony Acres and the Ofland Resort in Indian Cove. The City also paid $22,500 to Poblosky Research, a consulting firm the City contracted to survey residents on an anticipated sales tax increase to be featured on the November 2026 ballot.
Those survey results are available here.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
9. CalRecycle Local Assistance Grant Fund Expenditure and MOU for Food Recovery Organizations.
California Senate Bill 1383 was passed in 2016 to reduce methane pollutants and to encourage recycling of organic waste. Requirements for this bill were to have been met by municipalities with a program implementation deadline of 2025, requiring localities to reduce the amount of organic waste products sent to local landfills by 75%, and to send 20% of unsold yet unexpired foods to food recovery organizations.2
After some hefty lobbying and new grant compliance terms issued by CalRecycle, Twentynine Palms applied for funding in 2023 and was awarded a grant in 2024. The City is contracting with Bestbuy Restaurant and Equipment Supplies to expand the refrigerator storage capacity at three of the City’s local food distribution sites, referred to formally as Food Recovery Organizations (FROs). These include:
The Hope Project 29 Palms, Inc (C.L.E.P.) which operates out of Sanctuary Church on Adobe Road3
The 29 Palms Community Food Pantry, Inc., now operating out of First Assembly of God Church on Sullivan Road
Reach Out Morongo Basin, Inc., which operates out of the Twentynine Palms Senior Center on Adobe Road
This contract will entail purchase approval for new refrigerators, freezers, and metal racks for more food storage capacity, using grant funds in the amount of $73,751.73 with a $1,500 contingency to adjust for inflationary costs. It will also require the three above mentioned FROs to enter into a basic memorandum of understanding with the City, in compliance with CalRecycle’s grant funding terms.
FUTURE COUNCIL INITIATED ITEMS
Shade structures around Freedom Plaza and a possible art fixture with “Freedom Plaza” announcing the location.
Discussion on partnering with the Boys and Girls Club.
Discussion of a policy regulating the use of City Attorney resources.
Parking in Residential Areas.
Moratorium of Drive-thru facilities in the Downtown area.
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.
Following the closed session at 5:30 pm, the Council meeting will take place at 6 pm, 6136 Adobe Road. See you there!
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Source: CalRecycle
We believe this refers to the Hope Center 29 Palms, which operates under the non profit organization Community Learning & Equipping Project (CLEP).