Twentynine Palms' Strategic Planning: Many Needs, Little Revenue, Part 1
City Departments outline wish lists and a first look at the proposed new Palms-N-Paws animal shelter
The public portion of Twentynine Palms’ Strategic Planning kicked off Friday night, April 4, with a four-hour parade of 13 City departments and partners with wish lists of improvements in hand, including $23 million to replace the City’s dilapidated animal shelter. But Finance Director Abigail Hernandez-Conde matter of factly crushed their hopes and the mood of the packed room.
The evening provided a useful overview of City operations. Per City Manager Stone James in an email to press:
Staff recognizes that community members typically do not fully appreciate what the City is responsible for and what each City Department accomplishes (despite extremely limited resources). On Friday, the Council will hear from each City Department. Each department head will provide a brief overview of their respective department. While there is a wide variety of departments, when possible applicable departments will touch on the following areas: (i) department purpose, (ii) staffing levels, (iii) recent accomplishments, (iv) current projects, (v) future expenditures, and (vi) future opportunities or concerns.
The presentations were intended to be five- to seven-minutes long but often went far, far longer. The depth of information and presentation order was seemingly random, with those at the beginning of the evening, such as Sheriff and Fire departments, discussing services and needs in depth, and those presenting later abbreviating their talks to accommodate an exhausted audience. The reporting below is based on the information supplied. We are listing the names of the public and Council members commenting, and quoting from selected comments.
While there were several questions and some discussion between Council, presenters and residents, no microphone was provided to the public and the City recording has not been posted to the YouTube site as of this writing. We’ve done our best to capture those conversations.
Desert Trumpet views this session as a great resource, and will release it in multiple parts so we can include the slides and not exhaust OUR audience. For that reason, we are going to list presenting departments alphabetically instead of following the order of the evening.
Animal Shelter / Animal Control
Presenting: Rick Boyd, Animal Control Supervisor
Purpose:
Provide a safe haven for abandoned and stray animals
Promote responsible pet ownership
Control animal overpopulation
Protect people and property from being damaged by roaming uncontrolled animals
Enforce various city state animal welfare laws and leash laws.
Staffing (full time): One manager, two animal control officers, two kennel techs
Projects / accomplishments: Collaboration with San Diego Humane Society (SDHS) and Best Friends Animal Society; increased “live outcomes” — top 10% of shelters with reduced euthanasia (66% live / 31% euthanasia); $29 adoptions sponsored by SDHS (included spay / neuter, all shots, license, microchip); increasing adoption clinics; increasing social media; implementing foster program
Future needs: New shelter, additional part-time staff to coordinate volunteers and manage social media, a website for promoting adoptions and donations and a support organization for advocating for donations
Council comment: Octavious Scott, April Ramirez, Steven Bilderain
Public comment: Maureen Gillespie, Carlos Blandon, Linda Chartier, Joel Klink
Desert Trumpet take-away: The current shelter is in dire condition, which affects the staff and the animals. Although staff and volunteers do their best, the shelter lacks quarantine facilities, so spreading of disease is difficult to control. They also lack a dishwasher to properly disinfect food and water dishes. The shelter has roll-up doors that can be opened but otherwise doesn’t have natural light for many of the animals. On the staff side, the office is run off of a generator that often breaks down, and they’ve worked without AC in the summer. There is insufficient and inadequate storage, encouraging rodents. Boyd also mentioned that some Council members have yet to tour the shelter to witness conditions for themselves.
Animal Shelter Design and Upgrade
Presenting: Eli Marshall, Director of Information Services
This was a presentation on the proposed new animal shelter designed by Miller Architects and Shelter Planners of America — a ground-up rebuild that solves all of the issues with the current shelter and adds considerable dedicated space including indoor/outdoor kennels, rooms for a spay and neuter clinic, intake, animal training and outdoor space for walking the animals and play. There would be two connected buildings totaling approximately 12,000 square feet.
The cost breakdown is $15.9 million for building construction, $5.6 million in “soft costs,” and $2 million in road improvements. Potential funding sources include adding 1% to local sales tax — equaling Yucca Valley’s 8.75% — or issuing a bond. Both require ballot approval by voters. Additionally, Marshall mentioned founding a nonprofit to assist with fundraising from private grants and foundations.
Council comment: Octavious Scott, Steven Bilderain
Public comment: LeeAnn Clarke, Veno Nathraj, Caitlin Gill, Carlos Blandon, George Mulopulos, Linda Chartier, Matt Shragge
During public discussion, Linda Chartier pointed out that when the Marines deploy, they sometimes leave their pets behind—could the Base chip in to cover the building cost? Mayor Steven Bilderain replied, “There’s been dialogue.” Councilmember Octavious Scott added that the City receives sales tax from the franchise businesses on the Base. Chartier interjected, “That’s not enough.” Scott said, “I understand your concern.”
Caitlin Gill summed it up:
But in the end, if animals are left to fend for themselves, then our roads are impacted, our safety is impacted, and all (inaudible) costs, sometimes disproportionately, to individuals in a way that is not fair or measured to the individuals or the animals. So I think as a public, as a community, if we decide that we are responsible for our animals, which we are, then we need to behave as though we are responsible for our animals, and we need to do it equally. So I think there are ways, certainly community members, that would speak out in support of being more than willing to pay their fair share of keeping these animals safe.
Desert Trumpet take-away: A new animal shelter was number one on the 2023 strategic planning list. The new design is compelling and would be an asset to the City. The challenge is finding the revenue to fund it in an environment full of uncertainty, where construction delays increase costs, a part of the construction workforce is under threat of deportation, and needed materials are likely subject to random tariffs. Additionally, the funding mechanisms being considered require ballot approval and the next regular election isn’t until 2026. Will the current shelter last that long?
City Clerk
Presenting: Cindy Villescas, City Clerk
Purpose:
Primary link between the City Council, City staff, and the public
Ensure the preservation and accessibility of public records
Improve public trust and confidence in City legislative processes through transparency and inclusion
Run elections
Staffing: one full time, one part-time
Projects / accomplishments: Revised the City Records Retention Schedule; Launched new online public records request portal (JustFOIA) and NetFile Form 700 software1
Future goals: Becoming a passport agent so that the City can accept passport applications
Council comment: April Ramirez
Public comment: Eric Menendez
Mr. Menendez reiterated a request made at prior City meetings that Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) meetings be live streamed and that City boards and commissions be publicly accessible via teleconferencing. City Clerk Villescas replied, “I know you keep bringing it up… I mean, these are informal boards, so it's kind of hard to get people, especially staff, to be here…”
Referring to an automated device that he claimed didn’t require staff, Menendez added:
Given the fact that we have a lot of big things happening here, it could really reduce a lot of information requests….I think that would be an excellent move on behalf of the City to make government more transparent.
Desert Trumpet take-away: As a publication that focuses on accountability Desert Trumpet applauds the new public information request system — it’s a huge improvement over the old system. However, requests that involve Council and staff correspondence are rarely fulfilled to our satisfaction or to what the law demands. With regards to Menendez’s request, we are unclear as to why Villescas refers to the TBID as “an informal board”—they are appointed by City Council, subject to Form 700 financial disclosures and are responsible for managing a $500,000 plus budget. We agree with Menendez that TBID meetings should be live streamed and recorded if the City is truly interested in transparency.
Coming up over the next several days — reports from Community Development, Emergency Management, Finance, the Fire Department, Human Resources / Risk Management, Information Services, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, the Sheriff Department, Solid Waste & Recycling and the Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID).
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two things : $23 million+ for pets. and the tax paying residents paying real estate, sales, and numerous other taxes get nothing for their money. I think pet owners should bear the costs of pets not the general public, many of which don't own pets.
Passports : why would the city office with two employees want to take on the task of passport applications ?? they can't even provide service of town duties, but want to take on a FEDERAL duty ? The Post Office does the service now and is equipped to do that job efficiently, even taking the photo required.
Is there any discussion of a REAL community center? Aqua aerobics at the Luckie Park pool? Yoga, Pilates, etc.?