RECAP: Twentynine Palms City Council, May 13, 2025
Finance Department warns of looming costs, Councilmember Scott advocates for arts, Council diverts shower funds despite pleas from advocates
Update: A special session of the Twentynine Palms City Council has been called for Monday morning, May 19 at 10am. While this is a closed session unrelated to recent news, there will be general public comment before the session begins should residents wish to speak to Council.
Following the fourth of a series of closed sessions on the City Manager’s performance evaluation, the Twentynine Palms City Council met last Tuesday for a meeting that lasted almost two hours. They discussed blight cleanup funds and received a cautious two-year budget outlook from City Finance Director Abigail Hernandez-Conde while community member comments on the unhoused and unused shower funds dominated – our agenda coverage of the meeting is available here and video footage of the meeting is linked here.
AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS
Presentation to the Youth Council by Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh
Members of the Twentynine Palms Youth Council inaugural class received certificates of recognition from a field representative sent on behalf of District 19 State Senate representative Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh. Youth council members recognized for their efforts were Truman Walsh, Thomas Elkins, Jaguar Goodwin, Judah Goodwin, Izzabella Hargrove, Viviana Hermosillo, Jax Langdon, Audrina McConville, Pearl Sullivan, William Sumption, Brett Viloria, Isaac Coleman, and Tallulah Coleman.
Youth Council events this past year have included community food drives and donation events, volunteering for seniors, a youth sports day, and an upcoming stargazing event to be held May 23 at the Sky’s the Limit Observatory.
Though not included on the agenda, Council then received a report on the Arts & Crafts Fair by Cathy Snodgrass of the 29 Palms Artist’s Guild. The art fair took place April 12- 13 supported in part from the City of Twentynine Palms community events grant program. According to the presenter, it received positive community feedback from both attendees and vendors. Along with music, food, collaboration with the Palms-N-Paws Animal Shelter, and donated art for sale, kids activities included rock painting and beading.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Motion to approve posed by Councilmember Daniel Mintz and seconded by Councilmember MacArthur Wright; the Consent Calendar was approved 5-0, with significant items including renewal of the annual San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Contract for $5,428,099.1
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
9. Presentation of the Preliminary Two-Year General Fund Budget for Fiscal Years 2025-26 & 2026-27
City Finance Director Abigail Hernandez-Conde presented a preliminary version of the City’s upcoming two-year General Fund budget for fiscal years ‘25-’26 and ‘26-’27. The budget was formed in conjunction with the City Finance Department, City department heads, and the budget subcommittee, comprised of Mayor Steven Bilderain, Finance Director Hernandez-Conde, Councilmember April Ramirez, and City Manager H. Stone James. The primary goal of this budget, which was based on the City’s draft strategic planning priorities is to maintain financial stability.2
There is a preliminary $213,000 budget surplus for the upcoming fiscal year (25-26) and only a $77,000 surplus for FY26-27.
Top revenue sources for the City include Property Tax in Lieu of Vehicle License Fees ($4.7M), regular property tax ($3.4M), and Transient Occupancy Tax, or TOT ($1.9M per year). The three largest expenses for the City are law enforcement, community services/parks, and administration. Hernandez-Conde highlighted that animal control, community services, and community development departments are heavily subsidized by the general fund, with 88% of the City’s animal control services supported from this. The Twentynine Palms animal shelter is slated for upgrades. Yucca Valley’s $587,290 animal services budget gets 86% of its program revenue from County animal shelter partnership funding.
Regarding the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s contract and ongoing labor negotiations with the Sheriff’s Employees Benefits Union, Hernandez-Conde recommends the City hold off on a Sheriff’s Services Specialist. This would have cost the city $108,000 annually, not including vehicle maintenance and upkeep:
I don't want to put ourselves in a position where we're bringing in more people and eventually we would have to let them go. I’ve heard that so many times at so many other cities.
City employee pension liability is expected to increase significantly, requiring larger employer contributions—the unfunded accrued liability for the City is expected to raise 111% or $74,000 from the prior fiscal year:
Those contributions are required. We have to fund our pension liability. It’s out of our control. It just comes with having employees and funding their future pensions.
Assuming operating expenditures stay constant, the City can use up to $3.3 million in reserves before it reaches its 55% reserve threshold, but the Finance Department warns that ratio could decrease if the City adds fixed costs to already approved projects, such as additional staff members or additional buildings. “$3.3 million seems like a lot, but it's really not. It doesn't get you much when you think about the long term,” said Hernandez-Conde.
Some of the items not included in the preliminary budget are Council’s strategic planning priorities, yet to be stated, and funds for a long-rumored ballot measure initiative in 2025. It is unclear what the ballot measure would entail, but talks of an increase in the City’s sales tax rate or Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) have been occurring at the City level for a number of years.
Speaking from the public on the preliminary budget were Cindy Bernard and Mary Jane Binge. Bernard asked when strategic planning would be finalized, inquired on a recently released community strategic planning survey, and asked questions on a TOT audit the City is allocating a proposed $13,000 for a third party to perform.
Binge also inquired on the community survey:
What is the survey, who sent it out, and how were we supposed to get it—on the strategic planning?
“We put it out over social media and we’ve announced it here at City Hall,” said City Manager James. Mayor Bilderain asked James if the survey had gone out in an email. “I believe it did. I believe that it went out—I can check on the last newsletter,” said James, who then explained where the survey link can be found on the City’s website.3
Councilmember Octavious Scott said he was concerned the homeless fund decreased to $25,000, stating he wished for the budget to increase to $50,000 and advocated for both Parks & Rec and the Public Arts Advisory Committee to receive an additional $25,000 in funds each by reallocating the community grants fund. Scott called the proposed $15,000 budget for the PAAC “limited”:
I feel like it's empowering to the Public Arts Advisory Committee as well as the Parks and Recreational [sic] Department if they have a little bit more wiggle room for those events.
Council and the Finance Director agreed to rework some line items in another budget committee discussion before approving the final two-year budget, tentatively set for the next Council meeting on May 27. Mayor Bilderain stated:
That gives PAAC $40,000—that’s where we have some issues because [the] homeless and other stuff we got going on don’t get that much money, so we have to figure it out.
10. Reallocation of Funds to Clean Up Blight
City Manager James presented this topic, which entailed diversion of unused navigation center and shower funds toward the City’s Code Enforcement department for blight clean up, homeless encampment clean up, and property abatement efforts. James said the City only has $5,000 annually designated for these clean-ups, suggesting the $30,000 be divvied up among a handful of derelict properties:
We have a situation where the need greatly outstrips the available funds so we really have to think about how do we get the biggest return on our investment for the community.
Twenty minutes of public comment on the agenda item ensued.
Mary Waalk, licensed therapist at New Horizon’s Counseling and former registered nurse, says that showers are a basic human need:
Our homeless community could benefit greatly from having showers. That’s sometimes what stands between them and getting a job, and our humans are more important than just looking at property.
Astrid Johnson of Morongo Basin A.R.C.H. asked if at least some of the money could be used to provide other shower services, such as the program Jen DeFalco runs at Motel 6 through Acts of Kindness, and spoke to concerns of housing displacement and issues with families paying their utility bills. “The threat of becoming homeless is an ongoing issue out here.”
Susan Davis, resident and member of the Morongo Basin Community Coalition said the Coalition will give Council a presentation that includes a plan for shower services:
There is a plan in place to provide the mobile showers so we would just ask you to not make a decision until you've heard their presentation. Thank you
However, when Councilmember Scott asked City Manager James if there was a future Council agenda item on the schedule for a presentation, James said no.
Carrie Kish, employee of Reach Out Yucca Valley and member of the Morongo Basin Community Coalition, said in March 2024 the Coalition’s Healthy Cities Initiative voted unanimously to prioritize mobile showers:
This funding would allow us to have a more dynamic program. Like was mentioned, we were hoping to present this information to you in more detail next council meeting. We were not able to get on for this meeting, and then we saw that the reallocation was coming up so we just wanted to bring it to you and humbly ask if you could wait to make this decision and allow us the opportunity to share what we've come up with and what we think is a very sustainable plan.
Mayor Bilderain asked Kish when the coalition will be presenting their plan to Yucca Valley. Kish responded, “We are starting this program in Twentynine Palms and then they’ll be taking it to other cities once it’s completely up and running.”
No explanation was given as to why the Coalition is choosing to launch the proposed program in Twentynine Palms over Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, or Morongo Valley other than reference to a successful shower event that occurred six months ago, in December 2024 at Motel 6 here in Twentynine Palms, which received temporary funding through monies unrelated to the City.
Daniel Castillo, Reach Out Yucca Valley’s Director of Community Health and Policy, urged Council to table the topic:
We're talking about return on investment—you know, cleaning up one house is not going to solve the issue, right? So we have to start with those social determinants of health and the preventative factors, look into what could we do for maybe 20 or 30 individuals, right? Get them a shower, get them resources, set them on a good path for being a working professional or somebody productive to society. That's going to make a difference, right?
Janet Johnston, Joshua Tree resident, Morongo Basin Conservation Association Director and member of the East Desert Regional Steering Committee, also encouraged Council to table the item until Reach Out could give a presentation:
It seems like a really good idea to hear the full presentation in two weeks, I think it would be, that Reach Out will give. I know they're a solid organization and as they said, they’ve been around for a long time now. It'd be good to hear the numbers that they actually will need, so maybe it's something where some of the funding is going towards the showers and some of it can also go towards this project, maybe leveraging the very generous offer for the volunteer hours as well to mitigate the difference.
Marissa Mullins, Twentynine Palms resident and member of the Morongo Basin Community Coalition, praised the December 18 shower event hosted at Motel 6 in collaboration with Acts of Kindness and Wing N It.
Cindy Bernard, Twentynine Palms resident and Editor of the Desert Trumpet, called the agenda item a tone shift at the City level.
It just seems like this item is indicative of a philosophical shift on the part of some City staff and some Council members about how we treat our unhoused.
Jen DeFalco, who coordinates showers for the unhoused at Motel 6 through her organization, Acts of Kindness, praised Reach Out’s work but called for long-term solutions, calling homeless encampment cleanup efforts repetitive:
You go in there, you clean the properties, and in a couple weeks, if the unhoused are not taken care of, they're right back at the properties. The properties are being destroyed again, then you go back and you clean again… We need a plan to where we can help our unhoused individuals better than what we're doing so that they don't have to keep going to abandoned buildings and don't have to go to properties and don't have to go to bathroom outside and they don't go for a month without showering.
Carlos Blandon spoke of his own personal experience being displaced and advocated that funds go to property cleanup.
In Council discussion on the topic, Councilmember Scott inquired with City Manager James if Reach Out Yucca Valley was scheduled to present to Council in two weeks. “No,” said James who also serves as Co-Chair for the East Desert Regional steering committee, saying he believes “they’”are trying to schedule Reach Out to present to the steering committee then alluded to a potential influx of “tens of thousands of dollars” via two half-grants received by the steering committee to address homelessness:
And so it is my hope that with the the hundreds of thousands of dollars— certainly tens of thousands that are coming into that committee— that as a committee, we can work with all of the resource partners.
Scott made a motion to table the topic, which failed to receive a second by colleagues. Councilmember Ramirez, who also serves on the East Desert homeless partnership board, said “Homelessness is never going to be a one size fits all solution.”
Ramirez then highlighted over $600,000 in grant money and taxpayer funds various non-profit organizations in the room had received over time to address homelessness, saying she met with Reach Out Yucca Valley on April 22nd where there was no mention of a mobile shower program:
I want to know what happened between April 22nd and today that now there's this pressing matter to reallocate these funds.
Ramirez elaborated,
I'd like to reference a headline that came from the county. This was on November 6, 2024. It's “San Bernardino County announced 11.82 million in grant money to boost homeless shelters and housing capacity.” So that is coming to our region. Not the entire 11.82 million, but in the past— let's just talk about the types of funding that some of our local organizations have received. HHAP 1 grant funding to our area specifically was $265,497. HHAP 2 grant funding was $131,000. HHAP 3 grant funding was $162,725. HHAP 4 granting, also again with the $94,000 that is going to be redistributed, but $98,524.29 was distributed for a grand total of $657,840.29. That's a lot of money. There is still more money that is coming from the county, and I'm kind of at a crossroads, because at the same time, while I'm saying that there is still money and there's funding and there's an additional $94,000, I don't know why the $30,000 that we have here is suddenly of importance within the past two weeks.
Ramirez then read a letter from a local downtown business owner who has been having trouble with the unhoused population who says the problem has impacted sales drastically with little City or Sheriff Department intervention on the matter.
Councilmember Mintz, owner of the Bowladium and the building occupied by Mexican Street Tacos, reminded Council that non-profits are already budgeted to receive $50,000 and homelessness is budgeted to receive $25,000 in the upcoming fiscal year that could be allocated towards Reach Out’s program later if they like the presentation:
Trust me, I have a small business. I have homelessness there every day. I treat them like human beings. They get to use my restrooms. I don't kick them out of there... So for someone to say that I've changed my way of handling homelessness — then you don't see me every single day at my business with my employees.
Unprompted, City Finance Director Hernandez-Conde stepped up to the podium. In the midst of ongoing federal cuts and looming financial constraints at the City, Council was called on the carpet to support its staff members and department heads:
In my presentation, I forgot to mention something, but recognizing our financial position and our potential deficit in upcoming fiscal years... When I met with all department heads, they were all cognizant of that. They realized how this can impact our future generations and so one of the things that was across the board— “How can I save the city funds? How can I reduce?” I mean, our budget is already very tight with the resources that we have, with the programs that we're providing. They were all trying to find ways to reduce their budget and continue to offer the same amount of services that they currently have with even less resources than what they currently have.
Hernandez-Conde praised the City’s efforts in providing community services, saying the City funds many programs that she does not see other cities doing, but warned of increasing expenses from a professional standpoint:
I just want you to know what your departments are doing to help, and essentially, if we continue this route, what's going to happen— you're going to be forced to either lay off people, you're going to [be] forced to increase taxes, increase user fees. Again, who's supporting the City?
Motion to approve posed by Councilmember Wright, seconded by Councilmember Mintz. Approved 4-1 with Councilmember Scott opposed.
11. City Manager Contract Amendment
When this agenda item was reached, Mayor Bilderain stated,
Number 11 has been pulled.
The agenda item pertained to an amendment for the City Manager James’s contract and salary negotiation. On Thursday, May 15, 2025, the City released a required 72-hour meeting notice of an upcoming Closed Session scheduled for this Monday, May 19, 2025 at 10 am.
Agenda items include a conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation and significant exposure to litigation as well as a fifth meeting on the public employee performance evaluation of the City Manager. A public comment portion prior to the closed session is scheduled where community members can address items that are not listed on the released agenda.
FUTURE COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS
After some back and forth between Councilmembers Scott and Wright, which prompted a procedural clarification from the City Clerk, Scott requested that Reach Out Yucca Valley be added to a future agenda as an action item.
Councilmember Ramirez expressed interest in Council exploring partnership with Jamboree Housing Corporation for affordable housing and NPHS, Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services, for an owner-occupied rehab program, which was seconded by Scott.
OPEN PUBLIC COMMENT
Speaking in open public comment were Carlos Blandon, Jen DeFalco, Diane Garten, and Cindy Bernard. Garten addressed council on a series of dust-inducing sand dunes that were placed by public works crews near Samarkand and Calle Todd following the July monsoonal floods, and that an email sent to public works crews on the matter went ignored. Mayor Bilderain asked City Manager James to follow up:
City Manager, can you make sure that email gets answered. That’s probably the problem. I mean, we can’t talk about it. I’m just saying.
Answering a followup question from James, Bilderain responded, “The reason why the road hasn’t been cleaned. Turtle Rock. That’s why. It’s that road.”
Bilderain may be alluding to a housing development address in the immediate vicinity of the area Garten described that is dubbed the Turtle Rock residences.
CITY MANAGER REPORT
City Manager James informed residents of a Community Disaster Preparedness Event, praised organizers of the recent Chalkfest at Historic Plaza, and highlighted a recent pop-up Palms N Paws adoption event where residents could adopt pets at a discounted rate.
The next regularly scheduled City Council meeting will take place May 27 at 6 pm.
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“Total law enforcement costs for the upcoming fiscal year are budgeted at $5,939,605.” (City staff report)
Second to this are five remaining goals—preservation of local character, improving infrastructure, access to resources, local tourism, and “community outreach and engagement.”
An email from the City with the survey link included was sent the next day, on May 14. A new social media graphic was also distributed by the end of the next day. A press release linking to the community survey was published on Z107.7 May 15, 2025, two days after community members voiced concerns at the Council meeting.