Ron's Log

Weird Mistake At Mydesert.com

Click for a larger image.

Today, somehow, the Desert Sun resurrected a few old articles about Desert Hot Springs. Above you see a partical screen grab of this article which I'm sure will not remain available for long. It's about the initial approval in 2009 of the contract for the Wellness & World Music Festival, but you'll see the date on the article is now "12:10 AM, Jan. 27, 2012." I especially enjoy that the article misspells "Tresed Ventures."

Scroll to the end of the article and you'll see links to a couple of other resurrected articles. This one is a long article from early 2011 that has been magically redated to "11:57 PM, Jan. 26, 2012."

There is also this article from 2009 that is now dated "11:58 PM, Jan. 26, 2012."

I suspect someone at the Desert Sun was researching the Wellness Festival stories and hit a few wrong buttons, but it seems a poorly designed system that would allow a story from archives to be redated and made public.

Burning Man 2012: Fertility

"This year the Man will stand astride a grand pavilion that is similar in shape and style to the Pantheon of ancient Rome." That's what they say. You be the judge. I see temple envy.

This year's theme is Fertility.

This Is One Of The Reasons Why The Burning Man Ticket Price Is Forgettable

Among many other reasons. I never heard anyone at Burning Man complain about the ticket price.

BTW, these are not random Burners grabbed off the playa. They have done some training and practice.

During the descent there are a few times when you can make out our camp.

Click here for an image without my scribble.

What Happens When Non-capitalists Fiddle With Pricing Schemes?

The two week period for putting your name (and credit card info) into the primary Burning Man lottery for 40,000 tickets ended this past Sunday. And, as one might have predicted after last year's sell-out and the institution of this year's strange new system that attempts to allocate the tickets without being simply capitalist, "there are a lot more tickets being requested than there are tickets available." An average of 1.7 tickets/person were requested. They aren't saying how many total tickets were requested by how many people. You could only request 2 tickets, max. They are guessing that many people requested more than they really needed to help their campmates and friends. The Burning Man people who came up with this scheme (there wasn't a business degree among 'em) assure us there is nothing to fear but fear itself because "this means that there will be a large number of tickets in circulation within the existing community, tickets that simply need to be redistributed to those who need them." Translation: you can buy your ticket from a scalper.

But again they reassure us there is nothing to worry about because they are going to set up an online system in which valid tickets can be "redistributed" at face value. (It violates the Burning Man ethic to mark up the price of resold tickets). I myself have high hopes that this online ticket exchange system which will be set up by the same people who brought us this bizarre lottery, and last year's system crash on opening day, will lead to some unforeseen inequities.

If we were all in a crowd out in the desert where we could do this face to face while heavily intoxicated, it might be a lot of fun, especially if we could burn the ticket printing machines afterward. But this cold attempt to thwart the principles of economics is about as much fun as a Cuban sugar cane harvest.

Check Your Wallet

Press Release: Counterfeit Currency
Agency: Morongo Indian Reservation
Incident Date: January 26, 2012 Time: 4:27 PM
Incident Location: Morongo Casino, 49500 Seminole Dr., Cabazon

Details:

On Thursday, January 26, 2012, at about 4:27 P.M., a deputy assigned to the Morongo Indian Reservation was dispatched to the Morongo Casino & Spa Resort, located at 49500 Seminole Dr., Cabazon, regarding a subject attempting to pass counterfeit currency within the casino. Upon arrival, deputies contacted Casino Security staff and Movses Dermisyan, (22 years old from North Hollywood), who was being detained.

Initial investigation revealed Dermisyan was playing blackjack in the High Limit Room of the casino when he attempted to pass five $100 bills. The dealer, having been trained in counterfeit detection techniques, alerted security who then detained Dermisyan. Dermisyan claimed he only had the five $100 bills on him but a subsequent search of his person revealed an additional $2100 in fictitious bills.

Investigators from the Cabazon Station and special agents from the Secret Service responded to assist due to the unusually large volume and sophistication of the currency. The Secret Service advised the bills were part of a larger ongoing investigation and will be conducting additional investigation into the matter.

Dermisyan was arrested for 476 PC, Possession of Counterfeit Currency, 459 PC, Burglary, and 1203.2(a) PC, Violation of Probation, and booked at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility.

They don't say, but I'm sure the casino would tell you they enforce strict safeguards that would prevent the unintentional passing of counterfeit currency, but if the Secret Service says there's a larger ongoing investigation involving sophisticated counterfeiting of hundred-dollar bills, it couldn't hurt to double check the currency you're carrying.

Nothing Better To Do?

Ernest, Tracy and Angelina found themselves sitting around yesterday with nothing more than a stolen handgun, some meth pipes, a stack of stolen or forged state disability checks, and some other questionable paperwork with which to entertain themselves. What to do, they asked themselves. Then they came up with the plan: Put all of that felonious stuff into a stolen Honda and go race it around the roundabout at I-10 and Apache Trail in Cabazon. What could go wrong?

Press Release: Stolen Vehicle, Stolen Firearm, Felon with a Firearm
Agency: Cabazon Station
Incident Date: January 26, 2012 Time: 10:31 PM
Incident Location: Morongo Travel Center, 49020 Seminole Dr., Cabazon

Details:

On Thursday, January 26, 2012, at about 10:31 P.M., a deputy from the Cabazon Station was on routine patrol in a vehicle equipped with the Automated License Plate Reader, (ALPR), when he observed a Honda traveling at a high rate of speed through the roundabout intersection of Apache Trail and the I-10. The vehicle stopped near a gas pump of the Morongo Travel Center, located at 49020 Seminole Dr., Cabazon. The deputy's ALPR notified him that the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Redlands. A high risk traffic stop was conducted and three subjects were detained.

A search of the vehicle was conducted with the assistance of the Cabazon Station K9 Team. The search revealed a Springfield XD .45 caliber handgun that had been reported stolen by Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Industry Station, three glass methamphetamine pipes, a significant amount of state disability checks which appeared stolen or forged, and miscellaneous identifying paperwork for subjects not in the vehicle. Investigators from the Cabazon Station will be conducting additional investigation regarding the checks and paperwork.

Ernest Hernandez (44 years old from Colton), Tracy Carr (40 years old from Colton), and Angelina Acosta (27 years old from Rialto), were arrested and charged with 10851 CVC, Vehicle Theft, 496 PC, Possession of Stolen Property, and 12031 PC, Felon with a Firearm. Acosta also had both felony burglary and misdemeanor burglary warrants for her arrest. All three subjects were booked at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility.

The Automatic License Plate Readers were purchased and provided through a gaming mitigation grant funded by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, in support of the Sheriff's Department's efforts to prevent and deter crime in the local communities. This is just one example of the effectiveness of their support and partnership in these efforts.

Animal Cruelty In Menifee

Larry Jaurequi

Press Release: Animal Cruelty
Agency: Menifee Police
Incident Date: 01/26/12 Time: 2:15 PM
Incident Location: High Ridge Circle and Summitrose Drive, Menifee

Details:

Officers from the Menifee Police Department responded to the area of High Ridge Circle and Summitrose Drive on a report of possible animal cruelty.

The investigation revealed two small dogs became loose while their owner was away at work. The two dogs were a Poodle-mix and a Chihuahua. The Chihuahua was estimated at six pounds. The dogs entered a cul-de-sac in the area. A nearby resident took a golf club with him to the area of the dogs. Without reason or cause, the male swung the club against the Chihuahua as if driving a golf ball off its tee. The force of the swing sent the animal flying through the air. The suspect was preparing for a second swing when he was stopped by people that had just witnessed his acts.

The owner found the injured dog suffering as the suspect was walking away from the location. The owner rushed the dog to an emergency veterinarian, but the animal is expected to succumb to its injuries.

Larry Edward Jaurequi (58 years of Menifee) was arrested and booked into county jail for felony animal cruelty.

Winter Weather?

I saw this single cloud west of Joshua Tree (the town) yesterday at dusk, looking unusually self-sufficient. It hardly moved or changed over the course of the half hour that I was there.

Accident Involving Police

(click for a broader view).

As I was leaving the Chamber breakfast on Wednesday, I spotted the end results of a traffic accident at Ironwood and Palm, with a police car involved. I had a great view of the damaged police car, but by the time I had my camera up, the tow truck was moving in...and then the light turned green and I had places to be. The front end of the police car is smashed up, and it looks like it got rear-ended too, but that may be a trick of perspective.

Bird in a Joshua Tree

In Joshua Tree National Park.

Skyline Trail In January!

You know how the usual bad situation on the Skyline Trail happens in warm weather when out-of-towners are shocked to discover that it's very challenging to climb 8,000 feet in desert summer temperatures? On Tuesday this week it was different. They started out from Palm Springs in what must have seemed like very mild weather to a couple of Canadians, but by the time they got to 6,000 feet the fact that it is January impressed itself upon them and search & rescue was initiated.

Press Release: Lost Hikers - Search & Rescue Operation

Incident Date: January 24, 2012 Time: 5:45 PM

Incident Location: Area of Skyline Trail, Upper Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Reporting Officer: Sergeant Don Fortney

Details:

On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at about 5:45 P.M., deputies assigned to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Cabazon Station were dispatched to a report of two lost hikers in the area of the Skyline Trail, east of the Upper Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Station, near the 6000 foot level. Both had set out on a day hike, wearing light clothing, and were not properly dressed or equipped for the snow they encountered at the higher elevations. The hikers became disoriented and lost the trail, as nightfall set in. As it began to snow again, temperatures quickly dropped to about 28 degrees. The hikers did have a cellular phone in their possession and were able to call Riverside County Sheriff's Dispatch and request assistance.

Due to the gravity of the situation, members of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit were activated, responded, and began a ground search. In addition, a helicopter crew from the Riverside County Sheriff's Aviation Unit was called in to search for the couple. At about 9:50 P.M., the aviation unit spotted the lost hikers but was unable to land or deploy a rescue crew, due to the steep terrain and unsafe high winds. Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit members were directed to the hiker's location by the helicopter crew who assisted in coordinating a ground rescue; however, were unable to complete the ground rescue due to the hikers being too exhausted to hike out. Rescuers provided the hikers with food, water and warm clothing and bedded down with the hikers until daybreak. In the morning rescuers relocated the lost hikers to a safe landing zone and at about 10:30 A.M, both hikers were extracted from the mountain by a helicopter crew with the Sheriff's Aviation Unit and airlifted to safety.

The hikers, identified as 46-year-old Anna Moshchenko and 48-year-old Mario German both from Canada, were found cold and exhausted, but otherwise uninjured. They declined medical treatment and were transported back to their vehicle.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department would like to remind local hikers to be mindful of even short wilderness hikes. Hikers should consider their experience, knowledge of the terrain, weather and personal physical limitations. During this time of year, the weather can change drastically, and the temperatures can drop significantly, with little or no warning. Remember to bring enough water and wear appropriate clothing. Always let friends and family know where you intend on hiking and when you are expected to return.

Hummingbird

A hummingbird in Big Morongo Canyon yesterday.

DHS City Council - January 17

The audio recording of this meeting of the Desert Hot Springs City Council is available here.

Here is Pastor Montgomery's invocation. I'm not planning to make this a regular feature, but it was referred to later in the meeting.

When the mayor called for approval of the agenda, City Manager Daniels asked that items 2 and 3 which dealt with an appeal by DHS Spa Hotel and Miracle Springs Resort & Spa of a finding by the city that they owe additional transient occupancy tax of #$10,274 and $28,116, respectively, be rescheduled for the February 21 city council meeting. No reason was given

Desert Valley Disposal

Chris Cunningham from DVD came up to speak. Next week (January 23-27) is bulky item curbside pickup. Put your stuff at the curb starting Monday morning. He said that if they don't get to it during the week, they will get it the next week, but you should feel free to phone them and remind them that there's a pile of something still waiting for pickup. 760-329-5030. Do not put out hazardous waste. DO put out old tires. And DO put out computer items. Appliances, too. Mattresses, sofas, recliners, etc. etc.

Residential hazardous waste goes to 1100 Vella Road, Palm Springs, California. They are open Saturdays from 9 AM to 2 PM through May, and 7 AM to noon from June through September. But even the hazardous waste site will NOT accept these items: waste from governments, businesses, non-profits, or anyone from outside Riverside County; explosives; ammunition; medical waste (except sharps); asbestos; 55-gallon drums; appliances. They DO accept oil, oil filters, latex or oil paints, fluorescent light fixtures, pesticides, garden chemicals, cleaners, barbecue and camp size propane, aerosol cans, antifreeze, automobile batteries, pool chlorine, TVs, computers, electronics, sharps. Regular "household batteries" (which I think means any batteries except car batteries) can go in your regular household recycling bin, according to the DVD mailer.

The October 2011 "shredding event" was a big success. Twice as many cars and twice as much shredding. He said they shredded 1.5 tons of documents.

They are working on a school education program appropriate for all levels. They had a PSA contest in November. Most participation came from the high school. They are going to do a poster contest for elementary and middle school grades. He hopes to bring some of the results back to the city council at the next quarterly DVD update.

In July a new state regulation will go into effect. It mandates commercial recycling and multi-family dwelling (5 units or more) recycling. DVD is putting together everything necessary to make that happen on time.

In answer to a question from Councilmember Pye, Mr. Cunningham explained that the household hazardous waste pickup at the fire station the preceding Saturday had been organized by the county, not by DVD.

Green waste should NOT be bagged. Put it in a separate barrel, or tie it up, or put it in your trash bin. Extra garbage that won't fit in your trash bin can be bagged up and put at the curb.

Queen Scheherazade

Her majesty and her court failed to show at all this year! They are usually late, but this was the first no-show that I can recall.

Councilmember Pye asked that Councilmember Matas be permitted to introduce the member of the Youth Council who was sitting at the dais. One sat at the dais in December, too, but had to leave before the meeting was over. She is Aleia Brown from the Alternative Center. She's in 11th grade. Mayor Parks said she hoped Ms. Brown could stay until the end of the meeting so that we could hear her observations on the meeting (or whatever). Mayor Parks told her that usually the meetings are over by 7. [Ah, we began this meeting so innocently! An additional suggestion for future meetings is that the Youth Council schedule 3 students per city council meeting, each willing to sit at the dais for a 2-hour shift. That will carry us up to the 11 PM city council curfew.]

Public Comments

Mayor Parks reminded everyone of the 3-minute rule, and that the subject of a comment had to relate to something the city can control. "Not Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry."

Judy Shea spoke on behalf of a disabled person, 71 years old, who uses a wheelchair. She had gotten down to 80 pounds, but is gaining weight now thanks to Meals On Wheels and, before that, Food Now. The Good Works Crew came and helped the woman clean up her property. Specifically she thanked Rick Daniels and Al Sengstock and Shea Hill, who she said was fabulous. Nine high school kids from Southwest Community Church helped. DVD provided five 3-cubic yard containers. The city took nine loads in its truck. There is still a little bit more to clean up. They also have some good stuff to sell at a garage sale. A dryer and a microwave have been donated to the lady, and they are looking for a washing machine for her. She needs $2,200 to keep Bank Of America from foreclosing. Donations can be made to the Desert Hot Springs Community Task Force at Chase Bank for "Pebbles." She has been a volunteer with Quake Safe. She's got a shortwave radio and has been volunteering for years.

Paul Tapia, President of the Police Officers Association, said "I'm here for one reason." He thanked councilmembers Sanchez, Betts and Pye for their support. "Number two" the contract is tentative, not final. "Number three," the Mayor read his email three weeks ago and assaulted his integrity and the integrity of the POA. He asked City Manager Daniels if he had given the mayor permission to read his email. He addressed the same question to Attorney Duran. "Number two," the POA given away $400,000 to $600,000 in the tentative agreement, and in return asks only "for language. That's it. Nothing else. Just language." He said the agenda is suggesting that Chief Williams get another $160,000 for Beaumont PD. [In November 2011 two Beaumont police officers began to work with DHS PD. On tonight's agenda is a request for an additional $130,000 (total of $160,000) to continue that arrangement.] The POA does not object to that, but the POA had no idea it would be on the agenda. Attorney Duran interrupted to say that this was the time for non-agenda item comments, and comments about the contract with Beaumont PD should be made when that agenda item came up in the meeting. Councilmember Betts asked permission to jump in. Mayor Parks answered simply, "No," and asked Officer Tapia to continue. Mr. Tapia said he only asks that the POA be involved; that the Chief consult with and recognize them. He asked for the public to support the POA. He said the police department is understaffed. He said he has no fear of retaliation and will not submit to intimidation, "no matter the consequences, even if it takes the loss of my job. It is my job."

[I'm not sure what email he is talking about. At the December 20 city council meeting Mayor Parks made a lengthy comment that I transcribed verbatim. She read an email that Officer Tapia had sent to "Philippe" at KESQ. How she got it, I have no idea. I can't find it on the KESQ website. If that's the email Mr. Tapia is talking about, then he should be addressing his concerns to Philippe, not to Rick Daniels or Attorney Duran. If there was some other email sent to Rick Daniels that the Mayor read out somewhere, then I missed that. But Mr. Tapia should know that correspondence sent to the city manager in his official capacity as city manager becomes a public document and subject to public disclosure, unless it falls into the category of something to be discussed in closed session. What could Officer Tapia have written in an email, the disclosure of which would assault his own integrity? Other than that email to Philippe, Mayor Parks said nothing about Officer Tapia.]

George Fisher said the Shake, Rattle, Rattle N Roll Earthquake Expo is Saturday, February 25, 10 AM to 2 PM at the high school. Free for attendees and vendors. There will be some presentations on earthquake safety. Animal Samaritans will be giving a presentation on safety of animals during a disaster. Edison, Verizon, the water district, the fire department will all be there.

Riverside County is sponsoring a CERT class on March 31. This is not the same as the quarterly refresher classes held in DHS. The fire chief will set up the dates for those. The spring CERT class is nearly full.

Connie Taylor spoke about the Junior All-American football league. Fundraising season has begun. The first football clinic is January 28 and 29. All youth age 6 to 14 can register for that. $15 for all six dates. They are participating in the Tour De Palm Springs. They are selling raffle tickets and will work at a SAG stop. In March they will have a golf tournament at Hidden Springs.

Dot Reed said the January DHS Historical Society Soup Supper has been postponed to the last Thursday in April.

James Provence, General Manager of the Miracle Springs Resort & Spa, reminded us that the Chamber of Commerce would have their mixer there on Wednesday evening, January 18.

Mike Platt said it's Little League Baseball time again. Sign ups are at Wardman Park every Tuesday 6 PM to 8 PM, and every Saturday 10 AM to 3 PM until February 11. Bring proof of address and age. They are seeking sponsors too. One kid is $65, or you can be a grand team sponsor for $1,000. All levels in between are possible, too.

Marcia Kegel, history teacher at DHS High School, said she is the advisor to some students who will participate in a "Close Up" trip to Washington, DC. There will be about 300 students from across the country who will sit in on Congressional sessions and get to meet Congressional aides. Two students came with her this night: Britney Steele and Alexis Hartzler.

Britney Steele said she is trying to raise money for her trip. The cost is $1,700 per student. They will go on May 21.

Report on DIF

This is the annual Developer Impact Fee report. You can download the full report here. I'll list some bits of it:

Fire Suppression and Response Vehicles has $637,720

Parkland Acquisition and Recreation Facilities has a negative ($152,459)

Streets, Bridges and Traffic Signals has $329,753

General Facilities, Vehicles & Equipment has $50,146

Law Enforcement Facilities, Vehicles and Equipment has $107,925

Community (Public Use) Center Facilities has $4,443 ($837,575 was spent in FY 2010-11)

Aquatic Center Facilities has $2,153 ($431,627 was spent in FY 2010-11)

Storm Drain Facilities has $105,192

Councilmember Pye asked about the miscellaneous revenue of $49,310 for the Fire fund. Jason Simpson said that was reimbursement from the Skyborne CFD for costs to make repairs at the Skyborne fire station. The money was fronted from the DIF. Ms. Pye also asked about the $446,072 from the Aquatic Center fund for "DHS Health & Wellness Center/BNG Club" and "25% Complete" and "25% funded with fee." While in the Community (Public Use) Center it also lists an item for "DHS Health and Wellness Center/BNG Club", also "25% Complete" and also "25% funded with fee," but here the amount is $935,785. Mr. Simpson said the money from the Aquatic fund ($446,072) is specifically for the pool. The other amount ($935,785) is for the Boys & Girls Club part of the center. IOW, there should be better descriptions of the items.

Councilmember Betts asked for more info about the problems at the Skyborne fire station. One was the well-known discovery that the plumbing did not actually connect to the sewer. There were also "issues" with the roof and emergency generator. Mr. Betts asked if connection to the sewer was a condition of approval. It was, of course. This was discussed back when it was first discovered. When they city accepted the structure without making a complete inspection, it got what it got. Mr. Betts asked why they didn't go back to the developer to pay for it. Mr. Simpson explained that the report shows that the the DIF fund recovered the money. It came from the Skyborne CFD.

Councilmember Sanchez asked how much money the Boys & Girls Club has put forth for the Health & Wellness Center. Mr. Simpson said they will be putting $900,000 into the construction of the H & W Center. Mr. Sanchez asked if it has actually been paid. The B&G Club has collected it, but haven't given it to the city yet. It's coming from donors who specifically donated for this.

Approved 5-0.

Mayor's Appointments

Jim Provence came up to speak. He said 8th Street looks great. He thanked past commissioners for their work. He suggested that Commissioners get city email addresses, similar to council addresses. He also said that when the city councilmembers report on their activities at the end of the meeting, it sounds like alphabet soup. "If it is possible, once they have their new assignments for the year, is under their names the different commissions that they're put on if the commission has its own website. That way if I remember something, and I'm sitting there trying to figure out who I need to ask the question or if I came up with an idea it's, you know, I have to wait until the next calendar meeting to figure out when that is." He said there are 8 commissions listed in the application process: Planning, Public Safety, CCAC, and ALRC are what people are familiar with. It also lists an "economic advisory committee" and "parks and recreation advisory committee" which are made up of volunteers. Then there are also the Vector Control District (Karl Baker) and the "finance committee." He wanted to know what the criteria is for being a Vector Control District trustee. He said he has never seen a finance committee meeting at any time.

Mayor Parks said one unlisted committee that needs to be added is the emergency preparedness committee. It meets the last Tuesday of every month at the Visitor Center. She said the budget & finance committee is ad hoc. It only meets prior to budget preparation.

Ms. Pye said the correct term for the "economic advisory committee" is the "economic development committee." Give her your name and email address and you're on the committee - no application process.

Mr. Betts said when someone is appointed to be a trustee at the Vector Control District, they remain a trustee until their term expires. Neither the city council nor the vector control district can remove them [except for malfeasance, of course]. He said that when the city council nominates someone for trustee, it's only an advisory nomination, and the district is not bound to follow it. He also has heard that they prefer not to have electeds on the board. [If that's correct, it's changed a lot since I used to attend their meetings - which has been more than 4 years ago, I think - back then everyone on the board was an elected official, except for the trustees from the county.]

Then the mayor listed her appointments. But first she said that before she was "first elected" (to city council or to mayor, she did not say) councilmembers had not been regularly attending the meetings of groups they were assigned to. Because of that, DHS lost out on a lot of things. [MSHCP was perhaps the most glaring of these.] So she has gone back and checked all the attendance records of all the city councilmembers (except Mr. Sanchez, of course). She also considered longevity, because longer serving members may become vice chair or chair of their committees.

Table 1

Committee	Primary	Alternate
CVAG Public Safety	Jan Pye	Adam Sanchez
CVAG Transportation	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
CVAG Executive	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
CVAG Homeless	Jan Pye	Russell Betts
CVAG Energy & Environment (E&E)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Riverside County Transportation (RCTC)	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
Airport (subject to PS City Council ratification)	Jan Pye	Scott Matas
Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Convention & Visitors Authority (CVA)	Jan Pye	Scott Matas
CVEP Legislative Committee	Scott Matas	Jan Pye
SunLine Transit	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
Animal Campus	Adam Sanchez	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Mountain Conservancy	Russell Betts	Adam Sanchez
ERICA Board	Scott Matas	Russ Martin
iHub Advisory	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
League of California Cities	Yvonne Parks	Scott Matas
Mission Springs Water District	Jan Pye
DHS Historical Society	Jan Pye
Hoteliers Association	Yvonne Parks
Chamber of Commerce	Scott Matas
Desert Health Care	Jan Pye
Property Rights	Jan Pye
Policy Rules & Regs	Jan Pye & Adam Sanchez
Youth Council	Scott Matas
Parks & Rec.	Scott Matas
Streets	Russell Betts
Economic Development	Scott Matas & Jan Pye
Emergency Preparedness	Yvonne Parks
Finance & Budget	Jan Pye & Yvonne Parks

Mayor Parks emphasized the need for the primaries to notify their alternates if they will be unable to attend. Mr. Betts moved to deny the Mayor's appointments. He said the mayor is always the primary on the CVAG executive committee, but after that you've got five CVAG committees. Each city councilmember should be the primary for one CVAG committee. He said more cooperation is needed. Other "plum assignments" include RCTC (Mr. Matas), CVEP (Ms. Parks), CVEP Legislative (Mr. Matas), Airport (Ms. Pye), SunLine (Ms. Parks), CV Mountain Conservancy (Mr. Betts), CVA (Ms. Pye) Mr. Betts said he has been attending that, Animal (Mr. Sanchez), ERICA (Mr. Matas), iHub (Ms. Parks). He said it doesn't sit well with him that he and Mr. Sanchez are coming up so short. He said he's not a potted plant and he's not going to sit and twiddle his thumbs for four years.

Mr. Sanchez directed a question to the attorney. He asked if debate had to be closed to make a decision on this item. Mr. Duran said that, yes, at some point the debate had to end and a vote had to be taken. "Or, we could basically stay here until midnight, I would say," Mr. Sanchez said. Now Mr. Sanchez spoke to Pastor Montgomery, saying his invocation was inspiring, but he had bad news for him. "Your plane trip has basically crashed totally." He said at Saturday's goal-setting session was that the council would be 100% cohesive. He asked for that to be removed from the goals. He said this was not cohesiveness, but totally uncalled for divisiveness. "We can stay here until midnight," he said again. He expected more thought and more respect. "I'm just disappointed with everybody on this dais right now," he said. He said it should be done again. "Start with the CVAG committees and you better start doing it right." He said he would ask "each three of you" how they could say we have a cohesive council.

Ms. Pye explained that the Mayor makes recommendations. "I have no way to persuade her one way or the other. I've heard her recommendations. As soon as she was finished, a motion was made. That's where I am."

"Does that mean you're happy with being on all these committees," Mr. Sanchez asked. Ms. Pye answered "I am not happy. I am not unhappy. She made her recommendations. Immediately a motion was made and I'm listening to the discussion."

Mr. Matas said he echoed what Ms. Pye said. "I didn't make the recommendations, the mayor did. This process has gone on for five years." He said he had been on CVAG Transportation for three years. Mr. Sanchez began to speak over him, saying he was not questioning him. Mr. Matas continued saying he had been on the RCTC for three years. The only new appointment for him was to be liaison to the Chamber of Commerce, a position turned down by both Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Betts. The CVEG Legislative Committee is also new for him, and he said he would gladly give it up, since it meets at 7 AM. He said he had been on the ERICA board for two years. Mayor Parks said the rule for the ERICA board is one councilmember plus one public safety commissioner. He said he was fine with his appointments. He's been attending his meetings and will continue.

Mayor Parks explained again that she had checked the attendance of everyone at all their meetings. She said Mr. Betts at the CVA was "pretty good" the first 6 months of 2010, when he attended 5 of the 6 meetings. In the second 6 months he was present at 2 of 3. In 2011 he attended 5 out of 9. [Add 'em up and you get 12 out of 18, or 66%.] He never called his alternate to go in his place. At the CVAG Human Resources Committee (now defunct) he attended 3 out of 6 meetings. Ms. Pye attended 8 out of 10 on the CVAG Homeless Committee, but she had her alternate (Mr. Betts) attend the two she missed. Ms. Pye had perfect attendance at the Airport Commission. At CVAG Public Safety Ms. Pye attended 4 out of 5 meetings. The Mayor herself had perfect attendance at CVCC and CVAG E&E. At the Executive Committee the Mayor missed one due to surgery, but then Mayor Pro Tem Matas attended in her place.

Mr. Betts said "Three out of six, the committees meet twelve times a year." He pointed out that the Human & Community Resources Committee had been disbanded. "At CVA my participation has been very good." He said he didn't know where the mayor got "3 out of 6." He was no worse than the others on that board, he said. Not everyone attends every meeting. "My attendance and participation down there has been good." He's made more than enough meetings to stay in touch with the issues, he said.

Mayor Parks said she didn't want to argue it, but asked him to recall that there were times when she asked him why he hadn't reported on any of his commissions.

Mr. Betts said he reported on the commissions as there was business that affected DHS. He said he hasn't heard reports on the executive committee either, "Okay?" "The question for the entire council is 'are you comfortable with the situation that has been recommended by our mayor?'" "It's gut check time," he said. "Does it look fair, and are you comfortable with the council having that kind of divisiveness where two people are edged out?" "I see a 3-2 split here on this vote."

Ms. Pye interrupted with a point of order. "You don't know how I'm going to vote," she said. Mr. Betts said she was absolutely correct once again and apologized. He said we could be here a long, long time because it would take a 3-2 vote to end the discussion [actually, it would take a 4-1 vote to end the discussion]. "Bringing up attendance, especially when it hasn't been bad, is the same type of thing that we got started off at the first couple of meetings. 'Potshots' is what I think Councilmember Sanchez called them." Someone clarified they were "jabs." Mayor Parks said she didn't want to bring that up, but Mr. Betts forced her to bring it up. Mr. Betts denied forcing her. He went on to say "I'm not the one who got caught on mic at the last meeting expressing some sentiments that were rather harsh in words I don't want to use."

Ms. Pye asked for a point of order. She said she called it for the point of decorum. Mr. Betts said he thought he was maintaining decorum. Mr. Betts said talked about a filibuster and said this would go on for awhile. He said this is worse than a jab. It gets into the functional activity of the city council.

Mr. Matas asked Mr. Betts "in a perfect world" where would he fill himself in, the list of appointments. He answered that he'd be happy to take CVAG E&E or CVCC. "I'm not picky. I just want one. Give me Energy and Environment and we might be out of here soon. And return to the Palm Springs Desert Convention Authority [CVA]."

Mr. Matas asked Mr. Betts if the record of his attendance was not correct. He answered "I'm telling you that my attendance down there has been good. I've participated..." Mr. Matas spoke over him and I couldn't make out what either of them were saying.

Mr. Betts: "Her characterization..."

Mr. Matas: "There was no characterization. There was a reason behind it." He said he asked a question and just wanted a straight answer.

Mr. Betts: "My attendance has been good."

Mr. Matas: "CVA's clerk gave the Mayor of the City of Desert Hot Springs an attendance record. Are you saying it's wrong?"

Mr. Betts: "I'm saying my participation at CVA has been good throughout the four years that I've sat on that."

Mr. Matas: [speaking over Mr. Betts] "I believe you've been a good representative for the City of Desert Hot Springs. I'm asking a question. Is the attendance..."

Mr. Betts: [interrupting] "I haven't seen the attendance record."

Mr. Matas: "She just gave it to you."

Mr. Betts: "She recited it."

Mr. Matas: "Do you think it's wrong?"

Mr. Betts: "Yes."

[We could go on ad infinitum. This theme got picked up a couple more times with one or another person asking about the specific number of absences and Mr. Betts refusing to confirm or deny specific numbers, but characterizing his attendance as "good" or "pretty good." My opinion in this matter is that absences from a committee's meetings can be easily excused and forgiven, but the unforgivable sin lies in the failure to notify your alternate for that committee. I don't recall anyone asking Mr. Betts to verify that part of what Mayor Parks had reported, nor asking him to explain it. His alternate at CVA was Mr. Matas. ]

Mr. Matas then addressed himself to Mr. Sanchez asking what appointments he would want in a perfect world, but cautioned "But before you do that I just want to make a comment. This is not a jab, so I preface that. The Animal Campus was something I attended my first year on the council. It's an important commission, whether you think it is or not. It is an important commission because we do spend possibly over half a million dollars on Animal Control here."

Mr. Sanchez said he would defer that one to the mayor. "Everything that has Karl Baker on it, let me just right now with CVAG Public Safety." [Karl Baker used to be the primary with Jan Pye as the alternate.] He said he wanted to address juvenile crime which relates to the two gang injunctions in the city. The gang injunction does not address juvenile crime. The city has no gang prevention activities, he said. His goal is to work with the chief and the city manager to come up with a gang prevention strategy which would include youth development.

Mr. Matas asked him if he thought CVAG Public Safety would be an area of interest. Mr. Sanchez said he thought the mayor would understand that.

Mr. Matas said he was upset about that too, because he sat on that for a long time and the mayor took him off. Mayor Parks said he had been vice chair and chair.

Mr. Sanchez continued down the list, saying Karl Baker had the Animal Campus, the CV Mountain Conservancy, and he would take those three. [At this point in the meeting the Mayor was proposing to appoint Mr. Sanchez as the alternate on the CV Mountain Conservancy, with Mr. Betts as primary.]

Ms. Pye asked for a point of order, saying that the motion was to deny, but it sounded like the council was moving on to the next step.

Mr. Matas said that in order to decide whether he would support the motion or not, he needed to know exactly where Mr. Sanchez wanted to be appointed.

Mr. Sanchez said he wouldn't mind taking the Animal Campus. He said he was looking for balance and fairness. He began to talk about the goal setting session the city council had had. Mr. Matas interrupted saying he had asked a simple question, and that if Mr. Sanchez would answer him, then maybe the process would go faster, "but if you filibuster, just tell me, and I'll sit back and shut up."

Mr. Sanchez: "It gets to the point..."

Mr. Matas: [interrupting] "What gets to what point."

Mr. Sanchez: "Start with CVAG. Public Safety."

Mr. Matas: "That's what you want."

Mr. Sanchez: "Well, I'm justifying why I want to be on there."

Mr. Matas said he had listened and completely understood. He summarized the positions that Karl Baker had had and compared them to what Mr. Sanchez was getting. Mr. Sanchez said he wanted at least two primary spots. Then he asked for the primary spot on CVA and/or the CV Mountains Conservancy and/or the Airport Commission. Mr. Matas said that Ms. Pye had sat on the Airport Commission for two years and there was no reason to replace her. Mr. Sanchez said Ms. Pye was already on three major ones. Mr. Matas asked which were the major ones. Mr. Sanchez asked Ms. Pye to recite them. Mr. Matas said that since Mr. Sanchez was the one who said she was on three major ones, he should be the one to explain what he meant. Mr. Sanchez consulted his notes. Mr. Matas listed the Homeless committee and Public Safety at CVAG. Mr. Sanchez listed CVA, the Airport, "that's two, right?"

Mr. Matas said that Mayor Parks wanted to move Ms. Pye to CVA because of Mr. Betts's poor attendance record. Mayor Parks said that Mr. Betts had told her he had been on CVA long enough and wanted something different. Mr. Betts contradicted her he said that regarding the Hoteliers Association. Mr. Betts said "I don't think we had a discussion on the appointments. The last discussion we had on the appointments was you were going to make up and you were going to let us know." He said the Mayor did not reach out to find out what he was interested in doing. He was waiting for that call, he said.

Mr. Matas summarized Mr. Sanchez's wishes as CVAG Public Safety and CV Mountain Conservancy. Mr. Sanchez said that was correct. Then Mr. Matas summarized Mr. Betts's wishes as E&E or CVCC. Mr. Matas pointed out that E&E and CVCC meet back to back and it has been the usual practice to appoint the same person to both to save travel time.

Mayor Parks said she is vice chair of E&E and next year she'll be chair, so she won't give that up. CVCC is "part and parcel of that," she added. Mr. Matas said that some mayors sit on every committee themselves. "Forever!" added Ms. Parks.

"To not have a CVAG committee does not work for me," Mr. Betts said. He said he didn't think it worked for Adam. "The mayor has grabbed 3 out of 6 for herself," he said.

Mr. Matas asked if either Mr. Sanchez or Mr. Betts had contacted the mayor prior to this meeting to let her know which appointments they would prefer. Mr. Betts said that, yes, he had let her know that he wanted E&E. Mr. Sanchez said the first meeting he had with the mayor was the day he had the first meeting with the city manager. The mayor asked Mr. Sanchez his interests, and he brought up the Christmas parade. At that time Mr. Sanchez got the impression that the mayor really wants to have control here. Mr. Sanchez expressed an interest in being on the budget committee, but Ms. Parks told him no, that she would be on it along with Ms. Pye.

Mr. Matas said the earlier comments that "all three of us masterminded this against you" was unfair. Mr. Betts said he never heard that comment. Mr. Matas said he was just characterizing. Mr. Betts said it was a mischaracterization.

Ms. Pye called for the question. Mr. Sanchez said he still had some more discussion. Mr. Betts referred to Robert's Rules, but before he could begin to read the relevant rule Ms. Pye retracted her call for the question.

Mr. Sanchez said that in the short period he's been on the council, "one month," he's had the opportunity to visit other cities, specifically Coachella and Palm Desert. He's talked to councilmembers about this very issue. A majority of them said this: "We have so many committees to get involved in, they feel comfortable that councilmembers should rotate." If one person sits in a spot on a commission "how does the rest of this commission also get a chance to learn?" It has to be fair and balanced, he said. "We all have the same amount of energy and drive and knowledge to give back to the Coachella Valley."

He went on to say "There's going to come a day when there's a new mayor in Desert Hot Springs. And when that new mayor comes in Desert Hot Springs, I'm sure that person's going to say 'You know what, junior councilmember? You can sit on SunLine. It's okay. It's a good, powerful position. But it's all right. I have enough self-esteem and I don't have a big enough ego that I'm going to take it myself.' So the day's going to come when that's going to happen." He said he was upset. No one the dais is better than him, he said. "I'm not going to move forward at all on this until we go back and start all over again and go through them and make it fair and balanced."

Mr. Betts spoke in favor of appointing Mr. Sanchez to the Public Safety committee. He then spoke about some of his experience with CVAG committees over the past four years. "I also feel that I have got enough intelligence to down there and sit on that committee and the time commitment - I'm certainly putting in a lot of time here. I don't have another job that I work. I put all my hours into working this city council." [Note that statement - we'll come back to it.]

Mr. Matas said that not every city in the Coachella Valley rotates its appointments to commissions. For example, when Dick Kelly passed away he had been sitting on the transportation committee for 18 years. He made a motion to continue this item at a later date. He said that he felt that Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Betts had no respect for the mayor's position in this community. "You think it's all political, and I disagree with you ont that."

Mr. Sanchez repeated his statement about a new mayor in Desert Hot Springs some day. He repeated his assertion that this was not fair and balanced.

Mr. Matas said "You know what's unfair, Mr. Sanchez? CVAG Public Safety, 20 years as a volunteer fireman in this community..." It became difficult to make out the rest as Attorney Duran was trying to get in a word, Mayor Parks was occasionally banging the gavel, and Mr. Sanchez was trying to speak as well. "You keep pointing the finger! You keep pointing the finger!" Mr. Matas said.

Attorney Duran suggested a 5-minute recess so he could use the restroom. Mr. Betts asked if it was permitted to recess while there was a motion on the floor. Mr. Duran asked the maker of the motion to indulge his bladder. Then he said that it was up to the Mayor whether to permit the recess or not. We had a five minute recess.

Mr. Matas said he was still interested in tabling this item, even if it would just be tabled until later in this meeting, so that city council could go ahead and deal with the city's commission appointments. Mayor Parks said that "continue" was the word, not "table." Mr. Matas referred to using the filibuster to bully the way onto certain committees.

Mr. Betts cited Robert's Rule of Order which says this sort of motion is out of order because it could effectively suppress debate by a simple majority vote. Ending debate requires a two-thirds vote [that means, in the case of a 5-member body such as this city council, 4 votes]. He said there is a way to cut this item short and move on, but he said he would wait to discuss that when he had the floor.

Mayor Parks asked for a ruling from the city attorney. Mr. Duran said that Mr. Betts's interpretation was correct.

Mr. Sanchez said he would like to have Public Safety and "one other committee of value, other than Animal Campus." He said he was more than willing to give away Animal Campus to anyone. He would like to have the iHub advisory board. He would also be willing to be liaison to the Desert Healthcare District with Jan Pye. [That particular task does not have an alternate - it's a one-person assignment.]

Mr. Betts said he would just like to retain CVA and to have one CVAG committee, either E&E or CVCC. He's happy to give up Hoteliers. He then ran down a list of many other appointments saying he would accept not being appointed to them. He said Mayor Parks was correct that his attendance was not good at the CVEP Legislative Committee. "I have work conflicts on that one and it's just impossible for me to meet and that was from day one." [Recall that earlier he said doesn't have another job and puts all his hours into the city council.] He said his attendance at CVA has been "very good."

Mr. Sanchez said he would like to be on the budget committee with Jan Pye.

Mayor Parks explained that the iHub is set up so that it can only be the Mayors of DHS, PS and CC and their Mayors Pro Tem. Nobody else.

Mr. Betts listed the committees that he would accept not being appointed to.

Mayor Parks said she stood behind her appointments. She said her reasoning was solid and based on attendance and longevity.

Mr. Sanchez asked if "we" could write down all the committees that Mayor Parks has.

[It would have been a good use one of those monitors in the Carl May to display the list of appointments during this discussion.]

Mayor Parks acknowledged that she had a lot and that she has had perfect attendance at all of them. She was chair of the Executive Committee last year. The E&E and CVCC go together because they are scheduled back to back. She's on the taxi committee at SunLine, which is very important. She said she represents the city well.

She said no one in the last four years has belittled an appointment they were given, or turned down a liaison assignment. "I don't know why this has to be so contentious," she said.

Mr. Sanchez said that the council needs to agree that every member gets a CVAG assignment.

Mr. Matas again asked to be able to vote on the motion, but Mr. Sanchez had said he would continue to filibuster until he got his way, "and that's called a 'bully'," he said. Mr. Sanchez disagreed. Mr. Matas said he could play the same game that Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Betts were playing, but he wanted to get to the rest of the agenda to allow the people in the audience to go home, if they wanted to. He said there was no reason for him to stick around if the filibuster was going to continue. He said he could leave, and he could take the audience with him. "We'll go have some dinner." When he said that, I thought there was a ray of hope that Mr. Matas would be picking up the tab for dinner for about 30 people, but nothing came of it. He went on to say that this also happened while Alex Bias was mayor and the filibustering went on forever. It hasn't happened in the last 4 years. He called the question.

The vote to end debate failed 3-2 with Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Betts voting against.

The Mayor estimated the meeting could go to midnight for even 7 AM.

Mr. Betts spoke for awhile.

Mr. Matas called the question again. He was seconded by Ms. Pye.

The results were the same: 3-2.

Ms. Pye said she was willing to vote yes on the motion to deny in order to get the council "out of the sandbox."

The vote to deny the Mayor's appointments was approved 3-2 with Mr. Matas and Ms. Parks voting against.

Mr. Betts moved that all of the Mayor's appointments by approved, except

1. Mr. Betts would be appointed primary at the E&E committee.
2. Mr. Betts keeps the CVA.
3. Mr. Sanchez would get Public Safety.
4. That the finance committee be Ms. Pye and Mr. Sanchez.
5. Desert Healthcare would be Ms. Pye and Mr. Sanchez.
6. Property Rights would be Ms. Pye and Mr. Sanchez.

The result is Table 2

Committee	Primary	Alternate
CVAG Public Safety	Adam Sanchez	Adam Sanchez
CVAG Transportation	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
CVAG Executive	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
CVAG Homeless	Jan Pye	Russell Betts
CVAG Energy & Environment (E&E)	Russell Betts	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Riverside County Transportation (RCTC)	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
Airport (subject to PS City Council ratification)	Jan Pye	Scott Matas
Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Convention & Visitors Authority (CVA)	Russell Betts	Scott Matas
CVEP Legislative Committee	Scott Matas	Jan Pye
SunLine Transit	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
Animal Campus	Adam Sanchez	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Mountain Conservancy	Russell Betts	Adam Sanchez
ERICA Board	Scott Matas	Russ Martin
iHub Advisory	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
League of California Cities	Yvonne Parks	Scott Matas
Mission Springs Water District	Jan Pye
DHS Historical Society	Jan Pye
Hoteliers Association	Yvonne Parks
Chamber of Commerce	Scott Matas
Desert Health Care	Jan Pye & Adam Sanchez
Property Rights	Jan Pye & Adam Sanchez
Policy Rules & Regs	Jan Pye & Adam Sanchez
Youth Council	Scott Matas
Parks & Rec.	Scott Matas
Streets	Russell Betts
Economic Development	Scott Matas & Jan Pye
Emergency Preparedness	Yvonne Parks
Finance & Budget	Jan Pye & Adam Sanchez

Mr. Betts did not specify different alternates, so he would be his own alternate at E&E and Mr. Sanchez would be his own alternate at Public Safety.

Mr. Matas asked for clarification that even though Ms. Parks is vice chair at E&E, Mr. Betts wanted to take her off of that. Mr. Betts confirmed that. Mr. Sanchez seconded.

Ms. Pye suggested that the council first deal only with the CVAG appointments. Mr. Betts agreed.

Table 3

Committee	Primary	Alternate
CVAG Public Safety	Adam Sanchez	Adam Sanchez
CVAG Transportation	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
CVAG Executive	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
CVAG Homeless	Jan Pye	Russell Betts
CVAG Energy & Environment (E&E)	Russell Betts	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts

Mr. Sanchez asked what the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission entails. [Where has he been these last few years?] Mr. Betts said it works closely with MSHCP. Mayor Parks explained it's the oversight of the purchase of property for conservation.

Ms. Pye said she was willing to give up the Homeless committee, because it's on the same day as the Airport Commission. Mr. Sanchez said he would take it. Mr. Betts amended his motion.

Table 4

Committee	Primary	Alternate
CVAG Public Safety	Adam Sanchez	Adam Sanchez
CVAG Transportation	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
CVAG Executive	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
CVAG Homeless	Adam Sanchez	Russell Betts
CVAG Energy & Environment (E&E)	Russell Betts	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts

That change meant Ms. Pye had no primary CVAG assignments, but you won't hear Mr. Sanchez or Mr. Betts fighting to correct that injustice. Attorney Duran asked if he meant to put Ms. Pye on Public Safety. Mr. Sanchez said No. Mayor Parks and Ms. Pye both said they want Ms. Pye on Public Safety. "Well, no," Mr. Sanchez said.

Mayor Parks said this was getting down to "I want what I want and to heck with what everybody else wants." Mr, Betts said "Well, that's what we started with." Mayor Parks disagreed, saying she had good reasons for her appointments. "I had no personalities in there. I had attendance and longevity. You're usurping my authority. You're saying the mayor doesn't count. And then when she gives you a CVAG committee which is Homeless, you still want Public Safety."

Ms. Pye explained that her reason for giving up Homeless was that it was on the same day as the Airport Commission, so that takes a big chunk out of her day. The Homeless committee meets in Palm Desert as CVAG committees do, while the Airport Commission meets at (you guessed it) the airport, which is close to where she works.

Mr. Matas accused someone [Mr. Sanchez, Mr. Betts, both of them, it wasn't clear] of highjacking the meeting. "Councillor Pye tried to compromise with you, but you said 'No,' Mr. Sanchez."

Mr. Sanchez had a flight scheduled to Sacramento that evening. It was not explained who made that naive scheduling. But with the debate going on, his reservations had to be rescheduled. Mr. Matas said this had cost the city money unnecessarily and it was Mr. Sanchez's fault.

Mr. Betts said this was not a circus (Mr. Matas had used that word). He said this is how government works. He pointed out that Ms. Parks still had two CVAG committees, which he thought was fair, and "Nobody else up there has two." He overlooked the fact that Mr. Sanchez had two.

Mr. Sanchez said he wouldn't mind being Ms. Pye's alternate on the Public Safety committee. That was the position he had in Mayor Parks' original set of appointments. Mr. Betts accepted that as a friendly amendment.

Table 5

Committee	Primary	Alternate
CVAG Public Safety	Jan Pye	Adam Sanchez
CVAG Transportation	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
CVAG Executive	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
CVAG Homeless	Adam Sanchez	Russell Betts
CVAG Energy & Environment (E&E)	Russell Betts	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts

Attorney Duran summarized the nominations, whereupon it was realized that no one had been keeping track of the alternates, except for Mr. Sanchez as the alternate at Public Safety. Mayor Parks listed her original alternate choices and the problem in E&E was spotted. Mr. Betts said it was his intent to just trade places with the Mayor - i.e., she would become the alternate (and lose her vice chair position). The Mayor said she did not agree to that.

Mayor Parks talked about attendance again. She described his attendance as "dismal." Mr. Betts said they had been getting very close to compromise "and you're going back the other direction."

Mr. Matas talked about his long, deep experience in public safety. In addition, he sat on the Public Safety committee for three years. But when the mayor asked him to step aside, he did not hesitate to do so because he respects her opinion. He said Mr. Betts does not respect the mayor and repeated that this was a circus and said Mr. Betts had created it. He described it as "bullying."

Mr. Betts suggested that he take CVCC (as primary) and let Ms. Parks remain the primary at E&E. Ms. Parks said she would agree to that, so long as she could get CV Mountain Conservancy. Mr. Betts resisted. Ms. Parks then agreed to exchange CVCC for E&E (with demanding CV Mountain Conservancy), but she challenged Mr. Betts to be there at every meeting. Mr. Duran offered to restate the motion.

Table 6

Committee	Primary	Alternate
CVAG Public Safety	Jan Pye	Adam Sanchez
CVAG Transportation	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
CVAG Executive	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
CVAG Homeless	Adam Sanchez	Russell Betts
CVAG Energy & Environment (E&E)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC)	Russell Betts	Russell Betts

Mr. Sanchez said that Mr. Duran needed to list the alternates, but Mr. Duran said he hadn't heard any consensus develop on the alternates. Mayor Parks ran down the list and made herself the alternate on CVCC.

Table 7

Committee	Primary	Alternate
CVAG Public Safety	Jan Pye	Adam Sanchez
CVAG Transportation	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
CVAG Executive	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
CVAG Homeless	Adam Sanchez	Russell Betts
CVAG Energy & Environment (E&E)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC)	Russell Betts	Yvonne Parks

Approved 4-1 with Mr. Matas voting against.

Three hours into the meeting, and still two hours to go. What thrills lie ahead?!

Mr. Betts made a motion which netted out to the following:
Table 8

Riverside County Transportation (RCTC)	Scott Matas	Yvonne Parks
Airport (subject to PS City Council ratification)	Jan Pye	Scott Matas
Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP)	Yvonne Parks	Russell Betts
Convention & Visitors Authority (CVA)	Russell Betts	Scott Matas
CVEP Legislative Committee	Adam Sanchez	Jan Pye
SunLine Transit	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye
Animal Campus	Adam Sanchez	Russell Betts
Coachella Valley Mountain Conservancy	Russell Betts	Adam Sanchez
ERICA Board	Scott Matas	Russ Martin
iHub Advisory	Yvonne Parks	Jan Pye

He had said he did not want to be the alternate for CVEP, but he didn't designate another alternate. Later, when Attorney re-read the motion, he had Mr. Betts in the alternate position, so there he is.

Mayor Parks said she could not support Mr. Betts at CVA based on his past performance. He asked her to show him something, but apparently she didn't have what he wanted to see. Mr. Betts said "We have a 'he said, she said' on attendance," which is not quite correct. Mayor Parks is saying that he attended 12 out of 18 meetings while Mr. Betts is saying that's good or pretty good or very good or no worse than others. Mr. Betts asked Mayor Parks what E&E has been working on. Mr. Matas interrupted saying the Mayor had the floor and Mr. Betts was hijacking her time. Mr. Betts said he would wait his turn. Mr. Matas again accused him of bullying and of disrespecting the mayor. He said that Mr. Betts could have met with the mayor and worked this out ahead of time. Mr. Betts said he did sit in the mayor's office and do that.

After some non-productive discussion by the others, Ms. Pye asked the attorney to restate the motion. Ms. Pye asked if any councilmember has poor attendance, can the mayor re-appoint. The attorney said "Yes."

Mayor Parks said she could agree with the entire motion except for the CVA. Ms. Pye tried to say something about meeting attendance, but Mr. Betts interrupted (off-mic) saying attendance had not been a problem. Ms. Pye advised him to "Listen to a person who doesn't know about the attendance, okay? I'm trying to work a compromise here." Again she asked for clarity on whether the mayor could rescind an appointment due to poor attendance. The mayor said she could. Mr. Betts continued to dispute his attendance record, but didn't turn on his microphone, so it's difficult to make out in the recording.

Mayor Parks said the re-appointing Mr. Betts to the CVA goes against everything she asked for when she made appointments a year ago.

Mr. Sanchez said it's all about "us, finally just working together, being cohesive and moving forward and now evaluating everybody's performance as we move forward. I think it's all about doing the right thing."

Approved 3-2 with Mayor Parks and Mr. Matas voting against.

Now Mr. Matas made a motion that netted out to this:

Table 9

League of California Cities	Yvonne Parks	Scott Matas
Desert Health Care	Jan Pye
Property Rights	Jan Pye
Policy Rules & Regs	Jan Pye & Adam Sanchez
Parks & Rec.	Scott Matas
Streets	Russell Betts
Economic Development	Scott Matas & Jan Pye
Emergency Preparedness	Yvonne Parks
Finance & Budget	Jan Pye & Yvonne Parks
Western DHS Drainage Plan	Russell Betts

The sharp-eyed will have already noticed that Youth Council is off the list, Mr. Matas saying something about how there isn't a committee for that now; and DHS Western Drainage Plan has been added to the list.

Mr. Sanchez said it was obvious that the economic development committee had the most bang for the buck. It's the most upfront, he said. It's a very big committee. He said it was fine if Mr. Matas and Ms. Pye wanted to stick with that committee. He said he wanted to serve on one of these committees, apparently overlooking the fact that the motion had him on the Policy Rules & Regs committee. He explained why he wanted to be liaison (or joint liaison) to Desert Health Care. Ms. Pye asked him if he'd like Property Rights. Mr. Sanchez said yes. Mr. Matas restated his motion and, after Ms. Pye talked about how the Property Rights group came to be, and why she was the liaison, Mr. Matas revised his motion to remove Property Rights from the list, saying that the Property Rights group could invite a councilmember to attend its meetings if it so wished.

Table 10

League of California Cities	Yvonne Parks	Scott Matas
Desert Health Care	Jan Pye
Policy Rules & Regs	Jan Pye & Adam Sanchez
Parks & Rec.	Scott Matas
Streets	Russell Betts
Economic Development	Scott Matas & Jan Pye
Emergency Preparedness	Yvonne Parks
Finance & Budget	Jan Pye & Yvonne Parks
Western DHS Drainage Plan	Russell Betts

Mayor Parks explained that Policy Rules & Regs is very important, possibly the most important, committee. She considered it a plum that she was giving to Mr. Sanchez.

Mr. Betts said he would echo what Mayor Parks said about Policy Rules & Regs, and that he thought after his meeting with her that he had that position himself.

Approved 5-0.

Ms. Pye asked Attorney Duran to explain that the council had decided not to appoint liaisons to the city commissions.

Commission Appointments

Mayor Parks said that first they would do the Planning Commission. Each city councilmember would nominate his or her commissioner and then the whole council would vote on them, one by one.

Mr. Betts nominated Steve Sobotta to the Planning Commission. There was a discussion as to whether a second was needed. Mr. Matas said the nomination constituted a motion, and it would require a second. Attorney Duran suggested a longer process: (1)a councilmember makes a nomination, (2) a councilmember moves to approve the nomination; and (3) a councilmember seconds the motion.

Mr. Sobotta has been a Planning Commissioner for at least a couple of years. Approved 5-0.

Applications for commission appointments are included in the agenda packet. There is not necessarily an application for every nominee. Mr. Sobotta, for example, being a sitting commissioner just needed to let someone know (the city clerk or a city councilmember, usually) that he wanted to continue in his spot.

Mr. Sanchez nominated Michael Burke. His application. Approved 5-0.

Here Mr. Daniels suggested that all the nominations for one commission be made and then dealt with all in one vote. Even Attorney Duran said he thought it was a great idea. We in the audience had been set to call out for our second round of pizza deliveries, but that was canceled when we saw that things were going to proceed at this crazy breakneck speed.

Mayor Parks nominated Anthony Colarossi, who has been on the Planning Commission for some time.

Mayor Pro Tem Pye nominated Jack Becker. His application. He served on the Paris, Texas, Planning Commission in 1969-71! In the U.S. Army he got "Special warfare training for Armor Combat on Russian Front." Okay, he's qualified.

Mr. Matas appointed John Gerardi who has served as chair of the Planning Commission for quite some time.

Those three, Colarossi, Becker and Gerardi, were voted on as a package. 5-0.

There are no alternate commissioners any more.

Now for the Public Safety Commission.

Mr. Betts nominated Russ Martin, who has been on the Public Safety Commission for quite awhile, and is currently chair.

Mr. Matas nominated Jeff Bowman who has been on the commission a long time.

Mr. Sanchez nominated Carolina Vasquez. Her application.

Ms. Pye nominated Leroy Eastman, saying she was taking into account his law enforcement background plus the fact that he had attended Public Safety meetings. His application. He served as a reserve officer for the Glendale Police Department for 33 years until his retirement in 2007. He's president of the Neighborhood Watch at Vista Montaña.

Mayor Parks re-appointed Kelly Brady.

Approved 5-0.

On to the Community & Cultural Affairs Commission.

Mr. Betts appointed (with his mic off) Joe McGee (or McKee). No application form, but I think he was at the Planning Commission meeting a week earlier.

Mr. Matas re-appointed George Fisher.

Ms. Pye re-appointed Dot Reed.

Mayor Parks nominated "Brian McDaniels," but from the back of the room Dr. Brian McDaniel, who had waited all this time with his family stood up and corrected her, saying "Doctor Brian McDaniel." His application. He's the band director at the high school. He suggests that the CCAC may be ou tof touch with the youth of DHS, and he hopes to bridge that gap.

Mr. Sanchez nominated Luis Sanchez. His application. He also goes by Luis Sanchez-Porras. He's the one who left blank the item that asks "Registered Voter in Desert Hot Springs since:" Mayor Parks asked about that and asked Councilmember Sanchez to be sure he is a registered voter. Mr. Sanchez agreed.

Approved 5-0.

There were no applications that indicated an interest in Architecture and Landscape Review Committee. Mr. Betts moved to continue the item for 30 days. Approved 5-0.

In quickly scanning over the commission applications I see that there's a tremendous breadth of experience among those who applied, all suggest good ideas that they would like to see come to fruition in our city, and most have never attended a commission meeting. Those meetings are all open to the public, and they all can be influenced by people who show up and make their opinions known - especially if you show up at every meeting and keep pushing whatever it is you want to push. I hope that over the next two years all those names unfamiliar to me become regulars at some commission or another.

Establishing Speed Limits

This was the speed survey that the Public Safety Commission studied at their September 8, 2011, meeting. The survey did not recommend reducing the 35 MPH speed limit on Desert View east of Cabot's, nor did the Public Safety Commission raise that issue in September.


Map of streets with speed limit changes, showing the locations of properties of city council members - click for full size.

Councilmembers Betts and Matas needed to recuse themselves from this item, but it required four votes for approval, so straws were drawn. Mr. Matas left the meeting and Mr. Betts stayed.

A speed survey is required every five years in order to permit the police to use radar to enforce the speed limits.

Mr. Betts pointed out Little Morongo between Mission Lakes and Pierson. The current speed limit is 40. The survey recommends raising that to 45. The survey showed that the 85th percentile speed on that stretch of road is 46.8. Mr. Betts asked if the city could set a higher speed limit. Mr. Daniels said it would require a traffic engineer's recommendation.

Mr. Betts read off "Two Bunch Palms Trail to south city limits," saying he had that underlined for some reason. It's not entirely clear to me where he was reading, but it must have been Palm Drive, because it's the only road that goes from Two Bunch Palms Trail south to the city limits. What the survey says is Palm Drive from Two Bunch Palms to Camino Campañero is 40 and should remain 40; from Camino Campañero "to south city limits" is 40 and should be 45. This was discussed at Public Safety, and maybe that's why Mr. Betts had it underlined. At Public Safety we became aware that the contract traffic engineer did not know where the "south city limits" are. He saw the sign at Camino Aventura and thought that was it, not realizing that the city extends to I-10 and there are additional city limits signs farther south. IOW, how far the traffic engineer wanted the 45 MPH zone to extend is unclear in the survey. We hope it was only to Camino Aventura.

Then Mr. Betts went to Mission Lakes Boulevard where between Indian and Little Morongo it is 50 MPH and the survey recommends leaving that unchanged. Mr. Betts thinks that's too fast. The study showed the 85th percentile speed on that stretch was 49.9. Only the eastbound along there is in the city. Westbound is in the county.

Then on the same road between Little Morongo and West the speed limit is 45 and the survey recommends that be left unchanged, too. Mr. Betts said there have been 2 or 3 accidents along that road due to traffic coming from the new middle school. He thinks the speed limit should be 35 MPH.

Pierson between Little Morongo and Golden Eagle/Atlantic the speed limit is 30, and the survey recommends 50. There is a school zone speed limit in there too. The 85th percentile there drives at 52.0. From Golden Eagle/Atlantic to West the speed limit is 30 and the survey recommends 45. The 85th percentile drives 43.2 according to the survey.

Mr. Betts moved to reduce the speed limit on Mission Lakes between Little Morongo and West to 35 MPH. Mr. Daniels suggested an alternate motion to approve all of the proposed changes except for that stretch of Mission Lakes. Mr. Betts revised his motion accordingly, including lowering the speed limit on Mission Lakes to 35 MPH.

Ms. Pye asked Chief Williams his opinion on the proposed change on Mission Lakes and his opinion on whether the Public Safety Commission thoroughly vetted this thing. The Chief suggested that if the council wanted to sit on that change on Mission Lakes, he could bring back additional data to a future meeting for discussion. Mr. Betts wondered if the speed study was done before or after all the accidents at Sonora and Mission Lakes. [The contract was awarded for the traffic survey in June 2011, and the report was made to Public Safety in September, so the survey took place in July and/or August 2011.] Chief Williams said he didn't have information at hand about accidents on Mission Lakes, and that's why he suggested that he could bring it back at a later meeting.

Approved 4-0, and the issue of Mission Lakes Boulevard will come back at the second meeting in February.

Consent Agenda

Approved 5-0 without discussion were these items:

• Awarded the design engineering contract for Essential Road Improvements Phase III to Omnis, Inc. for $94,500. Not only is Omnis top-ranked, but it's got an office in the city so it gets a local preference. DMC Design Group bid $90,882, but with application of 5% local preference to Omnis's bid is effective $89,775 for comparison purposes. This is for Acoma through Granada, between Cactus and Palm.
• Authorize an agreement with the county for animal shelter services. The 6-year contract expired January 15, 2012. The new contract would extend through June 30, 2015. It will cost a total of $545,952, which is about $13,000 per month. Full cost is $14,447 per month, but the county is giving us a reduced price and stepping us up gradually to full price. "[S]taff will aggressively pursue a more cost-effective shelter service." This is only for shelter services. Not for the animal control officers who patrol in DHS.
• Continue the Vacation Rental ordinance to February 21.

Grant Writing Services Amendment

Mr. Daniels said Mr. Betts had raised some questions about this item earlier, and he had responded to those questions, but he wanted to be sure that the entire council had the same information. The city got four proposals from grant writing services. The Grant Factory came in lowest at $75/hour. Quantum Quality Consulting bid $95-$115/hour; Carey & Associates $85/hour; and PMC $85-$160/hour. The city has used The Grant Factory before with a contract for $30,000. This proposal is to amend it with an additional $30,000.

Approved 5-0.

List of Claims & Demands

Here's a sample of what the list of claims and demands looks like:

There's a number in the first column. Moving to the right you see three or more dates for each item. Mr. Betts drew attention to check number 15540, payable to Temecula Computer Services for "Report writing services 10/11 to 10/22/11" for $2,125.00. The three dates on it are 11/8/2011, 10/24/2011 and 11/30/2011. He asked what report that was. Jason Simpson verified that the number in the first column is the check number. He said this consultant is customizing automated reports for code enforcement and the building department using New World. Mr. Simpson used a TUMPF report for CVAG as an example.

Check number 15564, also payable to Temecula Computer Services in November was for $2,600. It says it was for "Report writing & system analysis." Check number 15810 payable to Temecula Computer Services for $1,700 was for "Report writing services 11-21 to 12-02-2011."

Mr. Betts asked if this is something that we would eventually get our arms around, or is New World so deficient that it requires this sort of support all the time.

Mayor Parks recognized Ms. Pye before staff answered Mr. Betts. Ms. Pye said she is familiar with SQL and Crystal Reporting. She said SQL is very complex. Mr. Betts said he was familiar with it as well. Ms. Pye said she thought it must be less expensive to pay a consultant than to hire an employee who can do SQL. Mr. Betts said he just wanted an explanation of the charges.

Mr. Betts said "check number 15959," but I believe he meant 15929. That's a check for $1,900 dated in December payable to Temecula Computer Services for "Report writing services."

Mr. Simpson explained that when he came to the city it still relied entirely on paper reports. The city bought a system that came with canned reports. Now the city needs to refine some of those reports. That's what Temecula Computer Services is doing. It spans all the city's departments (except the city clerk, I imagine). The rate is $50/hour. The previous consultant was $200-$250/hour. Mr. Betts interrupted Mr. Simpson after about four sentences of explanation, saying that he didn't want to be here all night, he just wanted an answer to his question. Mayor Parks explained that Mr. Simpson was trying to explain so that Mr. Betts didn't have to go page by page and ask about each check. Mr. Betts said he was finished with that issue and understood it completely.

Check number 15505 for $5,000 was paid to Development Management in October. Mr. Daniels said that's Michael Bracken, our economic development consultant.

Check number 15517 for $5,628.35 payable to Liebert Cassidy Whitmore for "Employee Relations General" and "Employee Relations O'Connor." Mr. Simpson said that's an attorney for employment matters.

Two checks, number 15570 and 15572 were both payroll items.

Check number 15593 is for "EDD Charges." Mr. Betts asked if that's payroll. Mr. Simpson affirmed that it is. EDD is unemployment insurance.

Check number 15599 payable to Graphic Solutions Ltd. for $8,683.35 for "Provide initial research & planning; PO opened 6/30/11." Mr. Simpson said that's for the master directional signage program.

Check number 15654 for $5,628 payable to LaRochette Textile for "Final Payment For Conservation Treatment." That's for treatment of some of the art and artifacts at Cabot's. It's funded from grants.

Mr. Matas suggested that lists of questions about items in the claims & demands could be emailed to staff before the meeting so that staff could provide more complete answers at the meeting.

Mr. Matas and Mr. Betts got into a disagreement about whether Mr. Betts was playing games, which gradually rose in volume until Mayor Parks stopped it.

Check number 15672 for $13,000 payable to All Surface Roofing & Water for "Remove and Replace roof for fire station - Syborne [sic]." Skyborne station is about 6 years old. Mr. Betts asked about the roof warranty. Mr. Simpson said the city still has the opportunity to recover this expense from D.R. Horton, but the leak had to be fixed. Mr. Betts asked if the city had put in a claim for reimbursement. Mr. Simpson said the city accepted the fire station and that D.R. Horton is still seeking reimbursement for it. The $13,000 is recoverable. Then Mr. Betts asked if D.R. Horton was liable for the rook leaking. Mr. Simpson said he would verify the warranty, but he doubted that it was for more than 2 years. Mr. Betts asked the attorney if he needed to investigate this. Mr. Duran said that he imagined that the original contract should make it clear if there is a warranty or not. He said he could look into that, if that's what the council wants to pay him to do [that's not exactly how he phrased it]. City Manager Daniels said staff would research the issue of a warranty on that roof, and bring the results back to the council.

Check number 15760 payable to the Escrow Group, Inc. for $24,100.24 for "Refund Nuisance Lien on PTax paid 10/31/11 Ck." Mr. Simpson said that code enforcement had filed a nuisance lien and the lien was paid twice, once by the property owner at escrow and also by the bank, so this is the city refunding the double payment.

Councilmember Sanchez asked about check number 15778 for $429 payable to El Pariente Mobile Car Wash for "PD Vehicles Mobile Car Wash." Mr. Daniels answered quickly "Police cars." Mr. Sanchez asked "So we drive them to Palm Desert," miscomprehending the abbreviation for "Police Department." Mr. Simpson explained that they come here to clean the cars. Mr. Sanchez said he wished there was someone in DHS who could do that. Mr. Daniels said the city does look for local contractors, but there's the insurance and RFP process.

Mr. Sanchez's eye was caught by an item for the Boys & Girls Club for $950 for "Grand Auction 2012 (March 10, 2012)- One." He asked if the city took a full table last year. Mr. Daniels said he thought the city bought one last year and this year. Mr. Sanchez asked if "we are all invited." Mr. Daniels said he could expect an email from Kristie Ramos about that.

Next item, for "Billboard San Bernardino Fwy." Mr. Daniels said that's the Hoteliers' billboard. In addition to this one on I-10, there's one on 62. The amount is $1,250 and Mr. Sanchez asked if that were monthly. The answer was Yes.

Check number 15889 for $501 payable to Family Services of the Desert for Annual Party Honoring Lisa Houston and." Mr. Sanchez asked if we do an annual party for Lisa Houston. Mr. Daniels said this was a charity event for the Founder of Find food banks. It honors different people every year.

Check number 15902 for $375 payable to Heitec, Inc. for "Consulting Services." Mr. Daniels said it's an engineering and survey company contracted with to verify an easement.

Ms. Pye drew our attention to the list of purchase orders for 2011 that was in the agenda packet (Download the 16-page report here.) Bottom line (literally, bottom line) it shows that the city paid more than the contract amount in 7 instances for a grand sizzling total of $181.81. The biggest single overpayment was $92.82 (contracted $742.56, expensed $835.38) for "Hampton Inn & Suites Camarillo, Ca 7/24 - 7/29 & 7/31 P.D. Official." The explanation given is "Original PO issued without meals." In Camarillo that was probably 3 grilled cheese sandwiches with tap water.

To give some perspective to the $181.81, the total of all contract amounts was $18,582,493.11 (181.81 = 0.00098%), the total of all expensed amounts was $8,912,518.17 (181.81 = 0.002%).

Approved 5-0.

Law Enforcement Service Contract

The city already had a $30,000 contract with the City of Beaumont to provide two police officers to DHS. The main reason is we have four police vacancies, and six police officers who are unavailable for assignment (workers compensation, military, administrative leave), and two new police officers in the Field Training Program. This item is for an additional $130,000 to extend through the end of June 2012.

Mr. Betts asked about this sentence: "BPD personnel assigned to DHS will drive BPD patrol vehicles." Chief Williams said "They were, but they're not." They drive BPD vehicles to DHS, but here they get into a DHS police car to actually go to work.

Approved 5-0.

Comments, Reports

Mr. Betts asked about the position at Cabot's advertisement. He hadn't seen it on the city website and there's a 90-day clock ticking. Mr. Daniels said staff would have information on that available at the next meeting. Mr. Betts said the 90-day clock ticks from the time the ad is posted, "so we're adding another 30-40 days that now?" Mr. Daniels said staff's goal is to have this done within 90 days of the day that council directed.

It was the January 3 city council meeting where the direction was made. That's 14 days (not 30-40) before this meeting. The motion by Mayor Pro Tem Pye was: "motion is to have city staff draw up a scope of services description for the duties of contract consultant to register and catalog at Cabot's Museum; to advertise the position in the public record of note, indicating the scope of services; and that this be done within the timeframe of 90 days, inclusive of a study session on Cabot's to answer the questions of Mr. Betts prior to the end of the 90 days; and to extend the existing consulting contract for a period of 90 days." Counting out 90 days puts the deadline around April 3, 2012. Mr. Betts said he wanted city staff to use the full 90 days to advertise. [But that wasn't what the motion said.] Mr. Daniels promised a report at the January 24 study session.

He said he was disappointed in the process at the goal setting session. There was too much packed in one day. He would like to do it again, but he doesn't think a facilitator would be required again. It was unfortunate it was combined with ethics training, he said, because there wasn't enough time.

Ms. Pye pointed out that it was now 10:06 and she didn't think anyone wanted to hear what she had been doing.

Mr. Matas said he had attended a lot of significant meetings, but he cut it short. "Someone started a Twitter in my name," he said, "they posted it with me sitting at the dais, a local press person emailed me and told me about it because of the last election there was a councilmember who had multiple postings in his name, with his face and name, and I would ask, and I'm sure someone's out there watching thinks it's funny. Please stop it."

[I've been unable to find a Twitter account in Scott Matas's name with anything embarrassing on it, so either the problem has been fixed, or I'm looking in the wrong places.]

Mr. Sanchez said this was his third meeting and it felt like he had already been here a year. He said he hopes we can keep ourselves together. He said he has hopes for a cohesive team. He thanked the Police Officers Association with the toy drive. He said he agrees with Mr. Betts about the goal setting.

Mr. Matas announced the Little Morongo Trails Clean Up on Saturday, January 28 starting at 8 AM. Just come past The Ranch and look for the people.

Mr. Daniels said he would post his comments on the city website.

Filed under Desert Hot Springs | permalink | January 23, 2012 at 11:53 AM | Comments (5)

January 22, 2012

Annexation 29 coming to LAFCO

On the LAFCO agenda for Thursday, January 26 is the hearing on "Annexation 29" for Desert Hot Springs. Here's the LAFCO staff report. They recommend denial of the application, saying...

First, there is currently ample supply of vacant developable land within the Desert Hot Springs city limits, making an expansion of its boundaries unwarranted. Secondly, the annexation creates a poor service boundary by excluding an inhabited pocket area of inhabited territory. Also, there are concerns that this area is outside of recommended fire response times. Lastly, and most importantly, recently enacted legislation prohibits the approval of this annexation since it excludes an adjacent "disadvantaged unincorporated community."

The total area is 624 acres with a population of about 250. There are 39 registered voters living there. The "pocket area" they refer to is Dos Palmas, which is west of the proposed annexation area, and east of Palm Drive. "To date there have been no outreach efforts to the pocket area, whereas Commission Policy indicates 'cities are expected to solicit the opinions of landowners and residents in substantially surrounded areas.'"

One of the factors to be considered in the review of a proposal is "...the likelihood of significant growth in the area, and in adjacent incorporated and unincorporated areas, during the next ten years." There is no near term development proposal associated with this annexation. Available land within the City with existing infrastructure will likely and appropriately develop first.

Also, "The County Fire Department reports that the majority of the annexation area is outside of the recommended responses times of" the Sky Valley and downtown DHS fire stations.


Note that the annexation is in two non-contiguous chunks.

What if this proposal were redone to include Dos Palmas, with the additional expense of the annexation process to be picked up by the developers behind Annexation 29?

Filed under Desert Hot Springs | permalink | January 22, 2012 at 02:04 PM | Comments (1)

"lower-key you time" is us

Sunset magazine has found us. They say Desert Hot Springs is a one-horse town. I hope someone tells them that we plan to have more horses in the future. They highlight Miracle Manor, the DogSpa, Hotel Lautner, and recommend the DHS Spa for kids. Aside from spas they suggest visiting Mission Creek Preserve, Windmill Market in North Palm Springs for their date shake which is, they say, "the best in the valley" (I think the sign out front says that too), and Mariscal Cactus on Dillon Road.

Filed under Desert Hot Springs | permalink | January 22, 2012 at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2012

Yosemite Timelapse

Hard to take a bad photo in Yosemite.


Filed under California,Photography | permalink | January 21, 2012 at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2012

I think you'll recognize the setting

The Victory Judge starts at the windmills, goes up highway 74, and ends up in San Diego. Watch closely for Jeff Bowman's brief walk-on.


Filed under Coachella Valley,Travel | permalink | January 20, 2012 at 07:39 PM | Comments (1)

We're Number 1! (and 3, 4, 5, 12, 14, 19, and 20)

Trip Advisor's Traveler's Choice 2012 - Top 25 Relaxation/Spa Hotels in the U.S. includes eight (8) spas in Desert Hot Springs!

• Bella Monte (#1)
• Two Bunch Palms (#3)
• Living Waters (#4)
• Sagewater (#5)
• The Spring (#12)
• Swiss Health Resort (#14)
• Tuscan Springs (#19)
• El Morocco (#20)

Filed under Desert Hot Springs,Travel | permalink | January 20, 2012 at 07:24 PM | Comments (2)

Google Street View Into B & H

Google Street View has been expanding to include the interiors of businesses, and now they've done the interior of that retail temple of photography and electronics: B & H Photo on 9th Avenue in Manhattan. They didn't photograph the entire store. I can understand that things like navigating a stairway are still in beta at Google, but they didn't even include all of the street level floor.






A part of the overhead conveyor system that carries your purchases to the cashier area.


Film.


Cashiers.

Filed under Photography,Shopping,Technology | permalink | January 20, 2012 at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)

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