RECAP: Yucca Valley Town Council, July 21, 2026
A brisk agenda, then a packed public comment: residents split 10–4 over reviving the Grubstake Days rodeo or banning rodeos outright, an issue not even on the agenda
Written with assistance from the Yucca Valley Resident Review Committee.
On a hot July evening, a rare summer audience turned out to educate the Yucca Valley Town Council about horses and rodeos, egged on by an equally heated Facebook thread.
The crowd did not come for the scheduled discussion items. The Council cleared its entire Consent Agenda in under fifteen minutes and moved through five department reports with little debate, but the rodeo that drew the crowd wasn’t up for a vote at all, and the Council was legally barred from acting on it or even responding. Of the roughly two hours and fifteen minutes the meeting ran, general public comment, always scheduled toward the end of business, took 50 minutes and the rodeo claimed most of it. Ten speakers urged Council to revive the Grubstake Days rodeo, while four were against.
Mayor Merl Abel was absent, excused; Mayor Pro Tem Jim Schooler chaired. The Yucca Room was half full; many of the folding seats taken, a few people standing at the back.
Relevant links:
Presentations and Introductions
The meeting opened without an invocation. Instead, Staff introduced two new hires. Deputy Town Manager Frank Luckino introduced Faith Nicholson, the town’s new community engagement and homeless services coordinator. Nicholson is a Yucca Valley High School graduate and former town aquatics employee who has spent the past four years working in the community mental health field. She spoke briefly:
I am really honored to be able to serve my community, especially in this capacity. I’ve received a lot of support and a lot of really positive feedback. So I’m really excited to see where this goes, and I’m excited to see Yucca moving in this direction. I’m excited that I get to be the one to do it.
Deputy Town Manager Shane Stueckle introduced Michaela Crippen, a new part-time kennel technician at the Yucca Valley Animal Shelter.
Consent Agenda
The Council approved the Consent Agenda — items 2 through 13 — by a single 4-0-1 (absence) vote, with one item pulled for discussion. The routine items included the June 16 minutes, three Cal/OSHA safety programs, a Section 125 benefit plan update, the fourth-quarter treasurer’s report, the annual Measure I five-year road plan, June payroll and a warrant register of about $6.73 million, an on-call concrete repair contract, a county road cost-share agreement, and the Hi-Desert Nature Museum re-plumbing project. Our agenda preview covered these in detail.
Item 5 — Tort-liability coalition
The one item pulled from consent was the request that the Town join a statewide coalition seeking to limit local-government liability in lawsuits and lend the Town’s logo to the campaign. Resident Erin Gatlin asked that it not pass on consent, arguing the tradeoffs deserved a presentation and discussion before a single vote. She also questioned why Yucca Valley would sign onto the coalition at all:
I oppose approval of this particular item…I think we should allow for a presentation and opportunity for discussion before it is considered by a single vote, because there are trade-offs for both the community and residents. I’m also not clear why Yucca Valley would sign on to support this coalition when the Town insurer is in a completely different risk pool. So, whatever this vote, however this vote is resolved, it doesn’t actually affect us at all.
That is the same point the Desert Trumpet raised in its preview: the coalition is a California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (JPIA) effort, while the Town’s insurer is the California Intergovernmental Risk Authority (CIRA), a separate pool. Council Member Robert Lombardo responded that liability costs affect the town regardless, that litigation awards have grown to the point of harming municipalities, and that reasonable limits were worth pursuing. The Council approved participation 4-0-1 (Abel absent).
Department Reports
Item 14 — Aquatics center quarterly update
Jen Wagner, the Project Manager from Dahlin, gave the eighth quarterly update on the Yucca Valley Aquatics and Recreation Center (YV ARC). The project is 89% complete with 78 calendar days remaining, but a deck-slope issue at the natatorium pool “may extend project completion.” An opening in early 2027 was projected once inspections, commissioning, and staffing are complete.
Resident Diane Hartl spoke to concerns over lighting, citing she is a “MDLT girl” referring to the Mojave Desert Land Trust, and a “night sky girl” and that the facility “will shine its lumens down and not up.” Staff responded that the YV ARC is compliant with the Yucca Valley night sky ordinance.
A notable moment came later, during staff comments, when Deputy Town Manager Shane Stueckle offered an extended defense of the schedule on what he called the largest project the town has ever built, at a roughly $50 million total investment. He attributed delays to a Western Joshua Tree permitting requirement that fell on the Town (not the contractor) and required Fish and Wildlife permits, plus some design issues and construction-plan questions. He noted the contract carries liquidated damages of $3,000 per day for contractor-caused delays, and that the Town has already initiated those conversations with the contractor. Stueckle framed the project as close to its original schedule with a difference of roughly six months on a $50 million build — and still within budget.
Item 15 — Tripepi Smith communications contract
The Council approved a multi-year professional services agreement with communications firm Tripepi Smith through June 30, 2028, at an $8,550 monthly retainer, 4-0-1 (absence). The Town has used the firm since 2021. Account director Alexis Gillam presented the firm’s work, citing campaigns for the Town’s 35th anniversary, the Orchid Festival, the State of the Town video, and emergency communications, along with engagement metrics.
Two residents spoke. Diane Hartl asked whether the firm had drawn on the Morongo Basin Historical Society’s archives and pressed for more public fire-safety awareness. Cheryl Contopulos urged the Town to do more to publicize the animal shelter’s turnaround, noting the dog save rate had climbed from around 40% to nearly 90%:
…the dogs. There’s almost 100 as some of you might know…and they’re wonderful dogs. And I think celebrating the fact that the save rate for dogs was 40% before, and now it’s to 90%. We’re almost at no kill. Town needs to know that. The Morongo Basin needs to know that.
Council members praised the firm; Denison highlighted its responsiveness on public-safety and emergency messaging. As covered in our preview, the staff report’s budget figures don’t fully reconcile: the $120,000 cited for FY26-27 is about $7,600 short of the $102,600 annual retainer plus the firm’s recommended $25,000 as-needed budget.
Item 16 — Independence Day recap
Recreation staff recapped the July 3 Summer Music Festival and Fireworks Spectacular at Yucca Valley High School Stadium, co-sponsored by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, whose financial support cut the Town’s fireworks cost by half. The date moved from July 4 to July 3 because the town's fireworks contractor, PyroSpectaculars, could not secure a pyrotechnician for July 4 — a consequence, Recreation Supervisor Clayton Rardon said, of a national pyrotechnician shortage1.
The staff report asked the Council to “provide direction regarding future Independence Day events.” The context: last year’s show, also run by PyroSpectaculars, was cut short by equipment problems, and the Town was given a credit as a result. Council members were uniformly positive and leaned toward keeping the July 3 date permanently, with next year’s event likely at the completed aquatics center. Councilmember Drozd floated a drone show for the Yucca Valley Aquatics Center opening. No formal action was taken.
Items 17 and 18 — Investment policy and voting delegate
Finance Manager Jordan Gumbish presented the biennial investment policy update, which consisted of clarifying language only, with no change to strategy, alongside a portfolio update from the town’s investment manager, Chandler Asset Management. The Council approved the policy 4-0-1 (absence).
With City Clerk Dudra confirming the Mayor’s intent to attend all three days of the League of California Cities annual conference in Anaheim this September, he was designated as the voting delegate in abstentions, with Councilmembers Lombardo and Denison offering to serve as alternates. Mayor Pro Tem Schooler indicated that he would be attending two of the three days of the conference.
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Future Agenda Items
Councilmember Lombardo raised the idea of a sister-city program, prompted by conversations with foreign visitors, suggesting a possible student or staff exchange. He asked to keep it “on the radar” without moving it forward, citing the Town’s current workload.
Public Comment: The rodeo arrives at Town Hall
The Grubstake Days rodeo dominated public comment at the June 16 meeting, when residents turned out to ask the Council to help revive the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) rodeo that was once the celebration’s headline attraction. However, an opposing side showed up for public comment at this meeting: two speakers asked the Council to ban rodeos in Yucca Valley outright. Audience sentiment still tilted heavily toward revival with ten speakers urging the Council to bring the rodeo back while four were against.
Because the item was not on the agenda, Mayor Pro Tem Schooler reminded the room that the Council could listen but could not act or comment. Nothing was decided.
How the crowd got here
By the time of the July 21 meeting, the rodeo had already been argued by advocates for both sides for three weeks in the opinion pages of the Hi-Desert Star and across local Facebook groups. The print exchange ran as a back-and-forth: a July 1 letter to the editor by Allie Irwin of Joshua Tree, Rodeos are not a tradition worth restoring, urged the Council to ban rodeos; it was answered by a July 8 guest column by revival organizer Missy Buchanan, Rodeo celebrates values that shaped Yucca Valley; which them prompted a July 15 letter by Melissa Spurr, also of Joshua Tree, Suffering is built into rodeo events.
The debate spilled onto social media the same week. On July 15, Gina Pasquini, who led the call for revival at the June 16 meeting, posted in the Facebook group “What’s Going On in the Morongo Basin,” urging supporters to attend the July 21 Town Council meeting, while also branding those opposed as “a certain group that opposes western sports” who “don’t even reside in the Morongo Basin.”; on July 18, Buchanan posted a campaign update in a second group, “What’s Really Going On In The Morongo Basin,” announcing that “the countdown to Memorial Weekend 2027 has begun.” Between the print and online threads, the exchange drew hundreds of reactions and comments and turned, at times, personal.
In fact, the most visible opponents are Morongo Basin residents: Irwin and Spurr both live in Joshua Tree, and other speakers against the rodeo revival identified as Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms residents. A speaker in favor mentioned being from Landers. Joshua Tree, Landers, Yucca Valley, and Twentynine Palms are all Morongo Basin communities. The “outsider” accusation draws a town-line boundary around an argument that appears to be Basin-wide on both sides.
In the meeting, Sandra Harkness’ characterization of the opposition was as extreme as she apparently believes the opposition to be:
…owning an animal, in their view, is slavery. This is the extreme people we’re dealing with. So when they get up here and talk, I’d like you to take them with a grain of salt because they’re based in emotion and not fact.
Mayor Pro Tem Schooler, in his role as acting Chair, eventually interrupted:
If we could refrain from disparaging any other speakers, everybody’s….
Harkness stopped Schooler, indicating she was speaking “in general.”
The revival case
In front of Council, Pasquini was upbeat, calling the rodeo effort “my brainchild…my baby.” She discussed working on rodeos elsewhere before returning to Yucca Valley where she was raised and asked that the Grubstakes rodeo be placed on a future agenda:
I miss Grubstakes Days. I saw Grubstakes Days in its grandeur. I was in the Grubstakes Days parade with my horse. I think by preserving our past, we strengthen our future. We can’t forget everything that we’ve done in our past, and I really do want to team with you guys. You represent the city. We’re the city. I want to work with you.
She was followed by longtime residents and a series of youth riders. The most detailed defense came from Kaylin Moon, 16, a former “Tiny Miss Grubstake Days Rodeo Queen” in 2017, whose Mom, “was a rodeo queen for Yucca Valley in 1996,” and aunt “was a rodeo princess in Yucca Valley in 1998.” A member of the California High School Rodeo Association, she argued the sport is closely regulated:
The PRCA has a rule book that is 250 pages long with extensive rules and regulations that protect the animals. I know from my own experiences that rodeo competitors and livestock contractors take amazing care of their animals. These animals are not only their livelihood and a huge investment, but are part of their family.
The youngest speaker, Lucy Olea, tied the sport to daily responsibility for the animals in her family’s care:
A rodeo is a competitive equestrian sport that displays the working skills of cowboys and cowgirls. Although I have never been a rancher. I do have 13 chickens, two guinea fowl, two turkeys, four dogs, one lizard, and three beautiful horses. I am responsible for feeding, mucking2, and exercising our horses…
I don’t play soccer. I don’t play pickleball. I ride horses.
The ban case
Allie Irwin asked the Council to do something concrete: sponsor a future agenda item to consider a municipal ordinance:
…what I’m asking is for the Council to put a consideration of a municipal ordinance prohibiting rodeo events in Yucca Valley on an upcoming agenda. I’d like you to address town sponsorship, use of town property, and the event permitting process. Fighting over whether to have a rodeo isn’t a dispute where reasonable people can agree to disagree, and I don’t expect the Council to settle that for me tonight. There are genuinely different beliefs in this room, but there is one group here with no voice and no vote.
Irwin added that taking this move aligns Yucca Valley:
with a documented trend among California municipalities, reduces the town’s exposure to liability, code enforcement, animal control demands, and takes into account the desires of a minority but a substantial number of community members who believe that animals are exploited in rodeos.
Brenda Calvillo of Twentynine Palms also called for a ban and noted that the past need not determine the future:
Communities evolve. We can honor our Western heritage without using animals in competitive events. Respecting tradition and showing compassion are not mutually exclusive. They can go hand in hand. Yucca Valley has the opportunity to create events that celebrate our unique community without putting animals at risk. Imagine a Western heritage festival with live country music, line dancing, cowboy poetry, historical reenactments, local artisans, blacksmith demonstrations, delicious food vendors and performances that focus incredible skills without involving animals.
Beyond the rodeo
Public comment ranged well past the rodeo, with wildfire a recurring worry. Janet MacKinnon, a licensed architect, and Norman Shertzman both raised the risk from invasive plants and tumbleweed on open land near the airport. MacKinnon framed it as a wildfire fuel problem:
We have an invasive plant invasion here in Yucca Valley. There are many invasive species: Sierra mustard, ragweed, tumbleweed, and goat heads, and several grasses that are visible as yellow grasses on the desert floor, driving east as you go to Copper Mountain College. If one continues east past the college, the sand color returns to the desert floor. These grasses – red brome, cheatgrass, and Mediterranean grass – are highly formidable and have plagued Joshua Tree National Park for years, resulting in a serious wildfire problem that wasn’t there before. The Yucca Valley Town Council may be a solution to this problem by leading the effort for removal and disposal of invasives to nip this invasion in the bud, so to speak.
She request the item be placed on a future agenda. MacKinnon echoed a basin-wide worry that these invasive grasses have reshaped the fire danger across the Morongo Basin and into the national park.
Bobbie Breckenridge asked the Council to take a stand on federal immigration enforcement, an unusual request in Yucca:
Almost every single one of us in this room has an immigrant story we are proud of… I am here today to make a powerful request to this council to protect the residents of Yucca Valley from the faithless and unlawful activities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency… [beginning with] adopt a local sanctuary policy consistent with California's SB 54 that limits local cooperation with ICE, so we do not use our town resources, time, labor, funding to assist this agency. Number two, pass a resolution limiting use of town-owned property for ICE operations unless required by a court-issued judicial warrant. And number three, support and fund the dissemination of Know Your Rights materials.
Council and Staff Comments
Captain Steven Scovel of the Sheriff’s Department reported nothing noteworthy call-wise and praised new hire Faith Nicholson’s work on homeless encampments. Councilmembers welcomed the two new employees, praised the July 3 celebration and the aquatics center’s progress, and, as Lombardo put it, thanked the public for a “respectful exchange” of views. Schooler closed by echoing the sentiment.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
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This report was produced with some AI assistance, reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by humans. Please see our AI policy.
Run for Town Council! Districts 1 (Schooler), 3 (Abel) and 5 (Denison) are up for election. The nomination period for candidates begins July 13, 2026 and ends on August 6, 2026. Contact Town Clerk Brooke Dudra for details and check out our article on How to Run for City and Town Council for general guidelines.
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Rardon's comments on the pyrotechnician shortage were reported by Z107.7/KCDZ ("Pyrotechnician shortage moves Yucca Valley fireworks show to July 3rd," May 13, 2026)
Originally published as “milking”, corrected shortly after publication on July 25.
Thank you for this reporting. Keep up the good work!