ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, May 28, 2024
A food festival grant, local nonprofit funding, General Fund budget -- and a bold climate justice partnership
Featuring a just-long-enough agenda on the cusp of summer doldrums and fewer Council meetings — we’ve tried to confirm Council’s summer meeting schedule but no reply yet — at their May 28 session the Council will tackle approving a budget, doling out grants, and consider teaming up with a local nonprofit on an audacious federal grant proposal.
We cover agenda highlights; the full agenda can be reviewed here.
PUBLIC COMMENT
You have an opportunity to 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, whereas comments on non-agenda items take place near the end of the meeting. Comments are limited to three minutes. 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.
Note the Council has stopped reading letters from the public into the record at Council meetings. 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 2pm on the date of the meeting so they have time to read your email prior to discussion. You can also copy the clerk and ask that your letter be made part of the public record.
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:
Adopt Resolution No. 24-___ Opposing Initiative 21-0042A1, The Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act. Also known as Ballot Initiative 1935, this initiative would make it more difficult for local governments to raise fees and taxes.
Acceptance of Work and Notice of Completion for the Renovations to Luckie Park Basketball Court Resurfacing Project.
Twentynine Palms Lighting and Landscaping Assessment District #1, Engineer’s Annual Report, and Levy of Assessment for FY 2024-2025.
Resolution Amending Fiscal Year 2023/2024 Measure I Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan.
DCA - Chapter 19.90 Dedications and Improvements - Second Reading.
Approved City Fee Waiver Policy for Facility Rentals.
Purchase of a new Code Enforcement Vehicle.
Annual Contract with San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department for FY 2024-25.
PUBLIC HEARING
Item 14. Proposed Budget Revisions for the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2024-25
City Finance Director Abigail Hernandez will present the final version of the City's General Fund budget, following her earlier presentation of a preliminary version to the Council on May 14, 2024.
Overall, staff projects City revenues of $13.8 million, expenses of $13.6 million, and $11.7 million in reserves.
Budget highlights include a COLA increase of 4.3% for City fees and wages; a "conservative" projection of $1.9 million in TOT revenue from lodging within the City; line items of $5,000 for election expenses, $50,000 for housing & homeless assistance programs, and $50,000 for Community Event grants; and projected insurance cost increases of 12% to 20% versus the prior year.
In their report, Finance staff recommends the Council assign from the current year budget $250,000 for the new Animal Control Shelter, $50,000 for Community Event grants, $52,000 for Risk Management activities, as well as carry over to next year's budget $32,000 for the Navigation Center and $15,000 for the portable showers which were previously programmed from the City's housing and homelessness program.
One anomaly Finance notes is a significant mismatch between projected expenditures and revenues for the Community Center at Freedom Plaza — staff projects $214,000 in annual expenses versus just $1,500 in rental fee revenue.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
Item 15: Community Events Grants.
The Events Ad Hoc Committee, consisting of Councilmembers Daniel Mintz and Octavious Scott, reviewed Community Events Grant applications and recommends the City contribute $1,500 towards the "Dine 29 Food Festival + Restaurant Week" event.
At their April 23 meeting the Council tabled this same grant request pending reassurance that all Twentynine Palms restaurants would be offered the opportunity to participate in the proposed festival.
"The Dine 29 Food Festival and Restaurant Week is an objective of Black Cactus Co-Working to help support and amplify food businesses in the community of Twentynine Palms," per the event description included in the Council agenda report.
Among materials for the proposed event is a list showing that many of the restaurants in 29 have already signed a statement of support for the event.
The staff report notes that $50,000 is available for Community Events Grants in the budget considered today. Of this total, $9,500 is currently available for allocation — so if the Council approves this $1,500 grant, $8,000 will remain for other events.
According to Terrence Latimer of Black Cactus Co-Working, back in April the City refused to fulfill Black Cactus Co-Working’s original $15,000 grant request and reduced it to $1,500 without explanation.
Note that Community Events Grant applications for the fiscal year starting July 1 are due on June 30. The guidelines and application are here.
Item 16: Sub Committee Recommendations for Contributions to Nonprofit Agencies.
Kary Minatrea, Recreation Division Manager, will present recommendations for CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding generated from the four funding applications presented at the CDBG workshop held immediately prior to the February 13 Council meeting .
The City allocates $50,000 of CDBG money each fiscal year to support local non-profit organizations.
The subcommittee recommends that the City allot Twentynine Palms Community Food Pantry and Reach Out Morongo Basin their full funding requests of $30,000 and $20,000 respectively.
The recommendation for Morongo Basin Unity Home would grant them $5,000 out of the $12,000 they requested, by reallocating $5,000 to them from the City's Housing and Homeless Program budget
Finally, the subcommittee recommends declining to fund the Twentynine Palms Branch Library's $10,000 request for their Adult Literacy Program.
Item 17: Consideration of Partnership with Women of Color Global (WOCG) in Connection with proposed Grant Application.
Women of Color Global (WOCG) will propose that the City establish a partnership with them by executing a written partnership agreement, and creating a Council subcommittee to help WOCG obtain a $10 million Environmental and Climate Justice Community federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Nancy Black, Project Manager at WOCG, initially presented this same proposal as an informational item (without any vote) at the April 9 Council meeting.
If successful in securing the grant, WOCG proposes offering Twentynine Palms a variety of services, including a newly constructed $5 million Climate Resiliency Center, two customized solar-powered mobile climate emergency passenger vans, a community garden and community events.
The proposal includes three key requests from the City:
Donation of a City-owned half-acre vacant parcel at Freedom Plaza and Cactus on which to construct the Climate Resiliency Center.
Hook up of the Center’s septic line to the city’s existing wastewater treatment system at Project Phoenix.
City facilitation for using the property at 73666 Joshua Drive, currently used as a commercial business, for use instead as a Community Greenhouse Garden.
Estimated construction cost is $5 million, with total cost for the first three years, including construction, pegged at $6.1 million.
WOCG will explain their operational goals, staffing plans and financial projections; explain how they plan to fund maintenance and operations beyond expiration of the grant; detail how they’d avoid creating operational liability for the City; and explain what they’re requesting the City to contribute to the proposed WOCG/City partnership.
Included in the agenda packet is a copy of WOCG’s statement of California nonprofit corporation information document, dated 5/16/24, listing Carrie Williams as CEO, Karen Harper as CFO and Courtney Trader as Secretary. Also included are their qualifications and backgrounds. Finally they provide a list of local collaborating organizations, including the Joshua Tree National Park Association, 29 Palms Farmers Market and the High Desert Emergency Action Alliance.
FUTURE COUNCIL INITIATED ITEMS
The sole item listed is to revisit funds that were allocated for the portable showers and Navigation Center.
CITY MANAGER UPDATE
The agenda lists no specifics but this should be City Manager Stone James’ 2nd report since he was hired.
Correction (May 26, 2024): The original version of this article described the 73666 Joshua Drive property in WOCG's grant proposal as City-owned, with the proposal requesting it be donated by the City for use as a Community Garden. Actually according to County records this property is owned by Karen Harper, who's listed in the WOCG proposal as CFO for WOCG, and the proposal asks that the City "facilitate the transfer of the vacant lot at 73666 Joshua Drive to a Community Greenhouse Garden." We regret the error and have corrected the article.
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