[0:00] UK

[0:05] 26.

[0:10] The other thing she said about

[0:42] Eli, are we ready? >> Yeah, we'll tell our council. Right.

[0:47] » I know we got a minute, but I just want to make sure. You ready? Okay.

[0:50] » Okay. >> Good evening. Welcome to our meeting

[0:53] tonight. if we can uh stand for the pledge of allegiance. And Robert, would

[0:57] you please lead us? >> I would be honored, mayor. Thank you.

[1:00] Please stand. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[1:04] United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation

[1:10] under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. For all.

[1:16] » Okay, if you'd like to remain standing, uh Leanne Clark is here for the 28 Palm

[1:21] Ministo Association. >> Thank you. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly

[1:25] Father, we thank you for this beautiful evening for our city council, city

[1:28] manager, staff, and residents to gather to discuss important issues that pertain

[1:33] to our community. We ask for your peace to fall upon this place, and for each of

[1:37] us to share our ideas and concerns with respect and honoring the golden rule. We

[1:42] ask for your blessing upon our city. Blessings upon our hotels to have guests

[1:46] in every room 365 days of the year. For tourists to come and enjoy our city and

[1:51] stay additional time and patronize our restaurants and businesses. We ask for

[1:56] the blessings upon our business community for prosperity for repeat

[1:59] customers and new customers and for there to be a need to hire more staff to

[2:04] accommodate the need. We also ask for blessing and protection over the men and

[2:08] women serving our country and especially over the Marine Corps Airground combat

[2:12] center as well as their families. We in addition ask for your protection and

[2:16] blessing over the Morango Unified School District, Copper Mountain College, and

[2:20] the preschools and home schools as students return to the fall schedule.

[2:24] With faith, hope, and love, we thank you again in Jesus name. Amen.

[2:28] » Amen. >> Thank you.

[2:31] » Okay, roll call, please. Council member Wright

[2:36] » here. >> Council member Bildering

[2:38] » here. >> Councilwoman Ramirez here. Mayor Prom

[2:41] Scott >> here.

[2:42] » Mayor Mintz >> here. All present.

[2:45] » Okay. Uh we have no close session announcements. Any changes to the

[2:48] agenda? >> No. Okay. [clears throat]

[2:52] Okay. These proceedings will be viewed on demand at 29 Palms website at

[2:55] ww.29.org. You may also live stream this meeting by

[2:59] going on our website and clicking on meeting agendas link. And obviously we

[3:05] have all the stuff over here for where you could call in

[3:10] to the phone or zoom to the phone. So you just have to go to where it says

[3:14] register link and it's all on our website. Okay. Awards, presentation,

[3:18] appointments and proclamations. Presentation by fine food bank and

[3:21] proclamation recognizing hunger action month. So you're up. All right.

[3:30] Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon mayor, council, um city rep, city

[3:35] members. U my name is Lennena Marukin. I am the interim president and CEO for

[3:41] Fine Regional Food Bank. And in honor of hunger action month, I came to share the

[3:45] state of hunger report within your city. Um for those of you who don't know,

[3:51] September is hunger action month. Thank you all for wearing orange and uh

[3:56] participating this year in um hunger action month. Um I want to share with

[4:01] you 29 palm's impact report for 2026. Um our map the meal gap partnership with

[4:08] feeding America shows that 17.3% of city residents in 29 palms are food

[4:14] insecure. So though the these numbers may be reflected um look a little high,

[4:19] there is still a lot of work to do within the city in order to reach people

[4:23] who are food insecure. Um our data shows that um we have four partner agencies

[4:31] within the city of 29 palms. Um of those um agents I'm sorry um we have

[4:38] residents served through our mobile markets. So, we also have community

[4:41] mobile markets where we do food access and we're able to identify how many

[4:45] residents within the city are able to access these markets. Um, for 2026,

[4:50] 4,961 um 29 Palms residents were able to

[4:54] access food assistance through our direct uh mobile markets. We also have

[4:59] eight residents in 29 Palms who provide volunteer service, whether that's going

[5:04] to our food bank or going to our community mobile markets to be able to

[5:08] provide service. um eight residents within the city are providing that

[5:12] service. [clears throat] We have um our annual

[5:15] food distribution numbers in 29 palms. Again, these numbers um reflected are a

[5:21] little high because they show two agencies that are with that have a 29

[5:26] palm zip code but might be without with not in the jurisdiction. Um so we

[5:34] distributed 572,739 pounds of food assistance within the 29

[5:41] Palms um area. Of that we have a senior partner um

[5:46] Reach Out Morango Basin who serves 300 seniors in need of food assistance every

[5:52] month which is the highest um one of the highest sites that we have for our

[5:57] senior program. Um and we're able to distribute 141,240

[6:04] um,000 pounds of produce. Um so clients or neighbors are able to access this

[6:10] much pounds in the form of fresh produce. Um along with food services, we

[6:15] also provide um assistance through our outreach team that provides um

[6:20] application assistance for medical section 8 unemployment disability. 22

[6:25] residents were able to sign up for um these services um through our outreach

[6:30] team. And then our newest program in ending hunger for a lifetime, which

[6:35] tackles the root causes of hunger, is our find success workforce development

[6:39] program. We have four students who um received um a stipen um in the amount or

[6:47] the total amount awarded was $2,000. And this focuses on not only providing job

[6:52] skills but also um providing um educational attainment. So money for

[6:58] them to be able to pay for school immediate needs or whatever that looks

[7:02] like for that specific student. Um these are the resources that we're providing

[7:06] in the area. Um, thank you for your partnership and if there's any way that

[7:10] you can contribute or give back um to for hunger action month, whether it's

[7:16] advocating by wearing orange, visiting our website, doing a a local food drive,

[7:21] um partnering with one of our agency partners, anything that you can do to um

[7:26] advocate for Hunger Action Month, we'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you for

[7:29] your partnership. >> Thank you.

[7:30] » Well, we have a proclamation. I'm going to read this up here, then I'm going to

[7:34] present it to you. >> Thank you. Um, see this is uh Tony Palms

[7:38] proclamation hunger action month. Whereas September of each year is

[7:41] recognized nationally as hunger action month a time to raise awareness about

[7:46] food and security mobilize communities to support neighbors in need. Whereas

[7:50] the city of Twine Palms is committed to working with fine food bank, a member of

[7:53] the feeding America nationwide network of food banks in educating people about

[7:58] the role and importance of food banks in addressing hunger and raising awareness

[8:01] in the need to devote more resources and attention to hunger issues. Whereas

[8:06] local food banks, school nutrition programs, community meal incentives, and

[8:11] hunger relief organizations provide critical support to residents u facing

[8:15] food insecurities. And whereas hunger action month encourages individuals,

[8:20] businesses, and organizations to take action through volunteering, donating,

[8:23] and uh advocating for policies that reduce hunger. Now, therefore, it may

[8:28] resolve that the city council of 29 palms does hereby proclaim the month of

[8:32] September 2026 as hunger action month in our city and urges all residents to

[8:36] participate in activities that support food securities and community

[8:40] well-being. Further, we recognize the efforts of the fine food bank's ongoing

[8:44] commitment to providing food assistance and providing promoting hunger relief to

[8:49] our community dated this 8th day of September 2026.

[8:52] » Thank you.

[9:17] I go

[9:42] Can we clap now? [applause]

[9:50] [applause]

[10:00] » Need you to be my fashion guy or something.

[10:04] Okay. And now we have a proclamation by the National Park Conservation

[10:08] Association.

[10:12] » Presentation. [clears throat]

[10:19] » Good. Let's see. Good afternoon, city council. Thank you so much for taking

[10:23] the time um to hear our presentation on our work. U my name is Chance Wilcox.

[10:28] I'm the California Desert Director for um the National Parks Conservation

[10:32] Association. >> And my name is Mason Osgood. I'm the

[10:36] program director for the or sorry, program manager for the uh California

[10:40] Desert Program. >> And um we had asked to give this

[10:44] presentation because our names had been popping up a little bit in the news here

[10:48] in 29 Palms and wanted to make sure that um there's a mutual respect between the

[10:53] city council and the work that we do with the National Parks Conservation

[10:56] Association. um not just on specific campaigns but that you also know like

[11:00] what we have done over the years within the Morango Basin and the California

[11:03] desert as well. Actually, if you want to go back just you're fine. Um NPCA is a

[11:07] national organization that's been around for over a hundred years. It was founded

[11:10] by the very first superintendent of the very first national park. We have over

[11:15] 1.9 million members nationwide who stand beside us in the in the goal to protect

[11:21] our national parks, defend them, and defend the landscapes and gateway

[11:24] communities in and around our national parks as well. The California Desert

[11:28] Program has been around for over 25 years with staff on the ground. Um, our

[11:33] organization as a whole has a very on the ground approach and regional

[11:35] approach of understanding that every park and the communities and landscapes

[11:39] around them are unique and therefore so is the work that we do. Um, so we have

[11:43] we work tirelessly to defend the landscapes, communities, the cultures in

[11:47] and around Death Valley, Mojave National Preserve, and Joshua Tree National Park.

[11:53] Um, just a little bit to demonstrate kind of what we've worked on in the

[11:56] past, uh, and where where we are now. Um, our past work in the California

[11:59] desert has included opposition to the Eagle Mountain landfill, which was a

[12:03] very controversial project here in the California desert, uh, defending the

[12:06] Joshua Tree landscape from, uh, Los Angeles's landfill. Um we also have

[12:11] defended the support for Santa Snow, Mojave Trails, Castle Mountains, and

[12:14] Chuck Wala National Monuments, which create corridors of um natural

[12:18] resources, cultural resources, and recreation between Joshua Tree, Mojave,

[12:23] and Death Valley National Parks. Um we worked tirelessly as well in the

[12:27] opposition to the Ivanpaw solar facility, which ultimately we recognize

[12:30] that sometimes in this work we fail. Um but we have seen how the Ivanpaw solar

[12:34] facility has had its impacts on um not just the national natural resources of

[12:39] the area but also the visual impacts of the area. We also continue to and have

[12:43] historically garnered congressional support for funding and staffing in

[12:46] Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks including funding for wildlife um

[12:49] or for wildlife overcrossings and funding for fire protection as well. And

[12:53] then we also uh and continue to be engaged in the long-standing fight

[12:57] against the Kadis water extraction scheme. So,

[13:01] um, currently what Mason and I work on has revolved heavily around the long and

[13:06] current history of hard rock mining in the Mojave Desert and a current federal

[13:09] critical minerals agenda from the Department of the Interior that has

[13:12] really put a lot of pressure here in the Mojave Desert. We recognize that

[13:16] minerals are necessary for us as an organization, as a society, as a

[13:21] country, as a world. Um, but we recognize that also with this history

[13:24] here in the desert of hard rock mining for gold, silver, and rare earth

[13:28] elements that there's increasing pressure on our communities and our

[13:31] landscapes and our parks. And that finding a balance is particularly

[13:34] necessary right now and that sighting is increasingly more important with every

[13:39] new project. So national parks in particular have been center stage for

[13:43] this conversation about critical minerals in the United States, not just

[13:47] here in California, but also in Utah as well as in Arizona, New Mexico,

[13:51] Colorado, anywhere that there's ever been a history of mining. Um, we're

[13:55] continuing to have this conversation about what is appropriate for

[13:59] communities and for our national parks, considering the impacts to water,

[14:03] wildlife, natural resources, cultural resources, but more importantly, I think

[14:07] for the what we are about to present is economies of gateway communities that

[14:12] have really built themselves up around national parks and the residents who

[14:16] live there for the natural beauty and the recreation for those places. So,

[14:21] one of the more uh important pieces of advocacy that I think we have worked on

[14:25] in the last two years is to navigate what this looks like with Dateline

[14:29] Resources, which is an Australian company and their endeavor at Coliseum

[14:33] Mine. Um, Deline Resources is a junior Australian company that prior to

[14:38] purchasing Coliseum Mine in the Mojave Desert um had smaller projects in Fiji

[14:43] um throughout Asia. uh and they purchased Coliseum Mine in 2021 which

[14:48] was a mine that had gone into reclamation in 1994 with the passing of

[14:52] the California Desert Protection Act. Uh this means that it was supposed to go

[14:56] into back into the earth that it was supposed to be returned the way that we

[14:59] hope that all mines eventually will do. The California Desert Protection Act

[15:03] turned the land in which Coliseum Mine was situated into Mojave National

[15:08] Preserve and transferred the jurisdiction of that area from the

[15:12] Bureau of Land Management to the National Park Service. Dayline Resources

[15:16] purchased the um what we call um patented claims which are privately

[15:20] owned uh in 2021 and the National Park Service found them doing unauthorized

[15:25] road work through the National Park unit in 2023 without a special use permit.

[15:31] They gave them a cease and desist saying that in any given situation on federal

[15:36] land, a company must apply for permitting at the very least to do any

[15:40] sort of activity. and they found that the company did the road work in the

[15:46] dead of night. Anyway, um the National Park Service said, "You actually owe the

[15:50] taxpayers over $200,000 worth of damages to a national park unit." To which the

[15:56] company said, "No, we actually don't." And uh through a lot of conversation and

[16:00] back and forth, ultimately went silent, and those fees were never paid back.

[16:05] They currently have a focus of projects in national parks uh and monuments. We

[16:10] have seen them also start a new project on the edge of Mojave Trails National

[16:14] Monument for Strontium and more recently as well started staking 20,000 acres of

[16:19] claims on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park and the city of 29 Palms

[16:23] boundaries. Um these are some pictures of up at

[16:26] Coliseum. Um the top left photo is what it looked like. That is what you would

[16:30] expect from our desert national parks. Um a dirt road, solace, peace, nature,

[16:36] wildlife. Um the road on the right is what it looked like after they had done

[16:41] the um road work, unpermitted road work. And that pit is what rare earth element

[16:46] mining looks like um up at Coliseum. So

[16:54] uh thanks Chance. Uh we're going to move on to the Music Valley Exploration

[16:58] Project which uh Dline Resources is currently really interested in. Uh this

[17:02] is just in the backyard of the city of 29 Palms. Um, so the basics behind this,

[17:08] it's roughly 21,000 acres of state claims in the Pinto Mountains region.

[17:14] Uh, lookers left if you're looking towards the park entrance. Um, it's all

[17:20] up in uh those mountains, Music Valley, Pinto Mountains area. Um it's uh 1100

[17:27] acres of patented claims which are private land and then 20,000 acres of

[17:32] unpatented claims um which range in size from 30 acres to 5 acres. Um most of the

[17:40] claims are accessed through two access roads. One is Gold Park Road which I'm

[17:45] sure you all know quite well. That's at the end of the Hansen tract neighborhood

[17:49] in the city of 29 Palms. And that road continues up into public land and most

[17:55] importantly it crosses through into the boundary briefly into Joshua Tree

[17:59] National Park. The rest of the claims are accessed through Shelton Road which

[18:04] is just down the highway in Wonder Valley and that um are really the only

[18:09] two main access roads for these claims. All the claims are in San Bernardino and

[18:15] Riverside counties. Um though the Riverside County claims are much harder

[18:19] to access. they're not accessed um through going through Riverside County.

[18:23] You have to go through San Bernardino County to get to them. Um and

[18:29] majority of the claims are visible from the city of 29 Palms. In fact, there is

[18:34] a section of these claims that are within the city boundaries. Um if I'm

[18:39] correct, they're um currently staked in a residential zoning district. Um and

[18:46] you can see the claim stakes. We have some photos after this um from Utah

[18:50] Railroad and the park entrance booth. And I think it's important to reiterate

[18:55] that um Dline, this is a serious company. Uh Chance and I have been

[19:00] working a lot on fighting against this company for what they're doing in

[19:03] Colosseum and so we take them seriously. Um and I think rare earth elements are

[19:09] to be taken seriously as well. They have an immense impact on communities,

[19:13] economies, and involve a lot of heavy truck traffic, helicopter exploration,

[19:18] and tailings pile. And they leave a long legacy of impact on our public lands.

[19:23] Next slide. Here's some quick photos. This is on uh Gold Park Road. You can

[19:28] see the claim stake on the left here, that pink uh ribbon there, and then the

[19:34] uh national park boundaries right behind it. Here is a quick map of the claims.

[19:42] And um we also have some more detailed maps as well, the flyers we handed out.

[19:47] Um and as you can see here, all these claims are um right next to the national

[19:54] park. They go into the city of 29 palms. We have the access roads there. Um and I

[20:00] think what's also important to note is that they're in um a ACE, which is an

[20:05] area of critical environmental concern. and it's a designation from the Bureau

[20:09] of Land Management. It's managed for its highquality desert tortoise habitat. Um,

[20:14] and it goes right up against a national park boundary and a wilderness boundary

[20:19] as well. Um, our organization is really concerned

[20:23] about this project for a number of reasons. Um, the first of which is its

[20:27] tortoise habitat, its wildlife. Um, this area is well known for its desert

[20:32] tortoise habitat. Desert tortoises are an endangered species and they have

[20:36] impacts primarily from development all across the California desert. Um, rare

[20:42] earth mining, pit mining in general has very large visual impacts which would be

[20:48] seen from Wonder Valley and the city of 29 palms. And we're really concerned

[20:53] about the economic impacts. Uh we believe that a project like this is

[20:57] really in congruous with where the city of 29 palms is headed in their economic

[21:02] development. Um I think you all have done a wonderful job of positioning

[21:06] yourselves um as a tourism based economy with national parks, public lands

[21:11] surrounding you, all sorts of music, cultural and art development here I

[21:15] think is really exciting and this is this mine if developed would really be a

[21:20] shift um from what you all have been working towards. Um and then finally the

[21:27] this project would use uh neighborhood and city roads for heavy mining

[21:31] equipment that includes going through highways um hands and tract community as

[21:37] well as Wonder Valley. So the question here is what can the city council do? Um

[21:42] I think you guys are in a really unique position to use your voice in this

[21:46] example. There are many examples of cities passing road moratoriums for u

[21:52] mining truck traffic on specific roads. Um and even though one of these access

[21:57] roads is outside of your city boundaries, I strongly believe it's in

[22:01] your sphere of influence. It's close to your airport. It's close to the

[22:06] community of Wonder Valley. And you can advocate to the um county of San

[22:11] Bernardino on how um this project would impact your community and the economics

[22:17] economics of this community.

[22:22] » Yeah. Um just to emphasize as well how um this company is moving in the

[22:27] California desert. We've seen them erase all of their other projects from their

[22:31] website and are focused entirely on the California desert. We filed a lawsuit

[22:36] for the authorizations at Coliseum in a federal district court and uh also filed

[22:40] for a preliminary injunction for which we were granted halted all activity at

[22:46] Coliseum because of the wrongful authorizations that went against the

[22:50] protections of the California desert. This is a quote from the judge who said,

[22:53] "The federal defendant suggests a national security interest regarding

[22:56] rare earth elements in allowing operations at Coliseum Mine to continue

[23:00] because of the possibility of establishing another rare earth's mine

[23:03] in the future. Absent federal legislation superseding the CDPA, the

[23:07] court does not consider this speculative national security interest to displace

[23:11] Congress's stated interest in protecting the California desert. This continues to

[23:15] this day. Representative Ruiz, who's going to represent 29 Palms starting

[23:19] next January, also has explicitly expressed interest in this project and

[23:24] opposition to hard rock rare earth element mining in the areas surrounding

[23:28] national parks. Um there are a lot of congressional champions. Senator Padz

[23:31] and Shiff have also been opposed to Deline Resources activities here and we

[23:35] think that the city at the very least um has a voice here in their own region and

[23:39] as the gateway community that would be most impacted by it and so we urge you

[23:42] to take action. So there's our contact information and we're happy to answer

[23:46] any any questions you might have. We're also around. We both live here in the

[23:51] Morango Basin. I'm a resident of Morango Valley. Mason is from Joshua Tree and we

[23:55] care deeply about this park, this community, our neighbors, and each of

[23:59] you. So thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. [applause]

[24:09] [snorts] Okay. Uh, council comments, reports, and meetings attended. Council

[24:14] member Beldrain. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I attended the

[24:18] Mojave Land groundbreaking. I think I beat MacArthur, right? Pretty sure I

[24:23] did. Uh, pres participated in the 5K for

[24:28] suicide awareness prevention month. And what else did I have? Meetings with

[24:32] citizens. Couple couple of those. That's all I have. Mr.

[24:36] Council member RmIrez, >> I also attended the Mojave Land

[24:40] groundbreaking. I attended the Basinwide Foundation awards ceremony, Cal City's

[24:46] Desert Mountain Division meeting. Um, I went to two more Washington University

[24:52] courses for elected officials um regarding AI, governance, policy, cyber

[24:57] security, um, and other trainings as it relates to

[25:02] um, cyber security threats. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Wright.

[25:07] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I I had to give it to him. I I lost count on how

[25:12] many strokes it took me to get it in there, [laughter]

[25:15] but it was still fun. Um I did attend the Mojave Land groundbreaking. Um I'm

[25:21] really looking forward to that. I think it's going to be an exciting place and

[25:25] so when it's here [snorts] and also um um we attended the basinwide foundation

[25:33] dinner an award ceremony um and that was a fantastic event and

[25:40] along those lines um I did get the chance to um offer the invocation for

[25:45] that event as well as last month I forgot to mention it that um I went to

[25:51] the uh county uh board of supervisors meeting and did the invocation for that

[25:57] meeting uh last month as well. Um I really enjoyed that [snorts] and um went

[26:05] to Reach Out uh barbecue um Friday. It was good. It was it was

[26:13] good. They they threw down. I can say that. Um it was crowded. Uh they they

[26:19] had a lot of seniors there and I went as a senior cuz you know I'm 60 now so I'm

[26:27] I'm good. And then also um we had a a tag grant meeting for with Basin

[26:35] Transit. We're going to be awarding some uh tag grants um here after the meeting

[26:42] if the board approves it. Um but we'll be awarding some uh tag grants and went

[26:47] to that meeting and then um meeting with some constituents um about resources in

[26:53] the city and things like that pointed them in the right direction to get them

[26:57] the help that they needed. And also want to let everybody know that u the wall

[27:02] hawks the youth football program uh we'll be having our first game Saturday

[27:08] at the high school. Our first game starts at 9:00. our first team and then

[27:13] the next team is at 11 and then the last team will be at 1:00. So come on out and

[27:20] support us and I do want to thank uh uh the sponsors that we have. We have a lot

[27:25] of sponsors in the city and it's greatly appreciated. Um but come out and support

[27:30] these young kids and watch them play football and and have a good time.

[27:35] That's all I got. Mr. Mayor, thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Mayor Pro Tim Scott. Uh,

[27:41] thank you very [clears throat] much, Mr. Mayor. Um, it's going to be hard to

[27:43] follow. >> Wait, sorry. I I gotta do this. Um, I'm

[27:48] going to be having my 41st wedding anniversary on the 10th. Happy

[27:55] anniversary. Love you, Freedom.

[28:01] » Yeah, it's it's hard to follow that one. Um, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I I

[28:06] also attended the uh Mojave Land groundbreaking ceremony. And I'm really

[28:10] looking forward uh to that as well. And I just want to congratulate I think

[28:14] she's in the audience, but uh Anna Stump. Um if you could raise your hand,

[28:18] let everyone know it was your vision and we really appreciate that. [applause]

[28:25] And um I had I also attended the Labor Day barbecue. I I know this gray hair

[28:32] makes me look older, but I'm I'm not a senior yet. And so but it was it was um

[28:37] it was really good. I appreciate everyone that reach out um Larry Bowen

[28:41] and the semi dabba semi da foundation as well and I had meetings with

[28:47] constituents and uh stakeholders regarding uh tourism and mining. Thank

[28:53] you. >> Thank you sir. Well I got to miss the

[28:57] golf thing because I was in San Bernardino at the SBTCA meeting. So

[29:01] thanks Honor for not checking my schedule but I love golf miniature golf

[29:06] anyway. So, yes, it was it's going to be a great um addition to the city and I

[29:10] think it's going to um provide a a great service to everyone. Uh as we went to

[29:15] the uh barbecue at the senior center, I want to thank Robin and her staff. They

[29:18] worked very hard. The place was packed when I got there. And I do want to thank

[29:22] Larry Balon for his ribs cuz he always does a great job. Um I do want to remind

[29:27] I think I see Lori back there, but I do want to remind everybody about the uh

[29:31] soup contest will be um this Saturday to support all the food pantries. It's on

[29:36] Sullivan Road at 6 p.m. They I don't know if you guys still have tickets,

[29:40] Lori, but um that's going to be she told me they had like 30 people making

[29:44] already had the soups. 30 34 people are doing soup. So, it's going to be a great

[29:48] event. Please come out and help support our um food pantries. And Anna, sorry

[29:53] you you'll have to make your comment on the public comment portion of it. So,

[29:58] sorry about that. Okay. And that's all I have. So, now we're in the city manager

[30:03] update. Thank you, uh, Mayor Council. Um, I just

[30:08] have a couple of things. Um, I I we got some exciting stuff coming up. Uh, one

[30:13] of the things that's coming up, um, it's about a month away. Uh, beginning of

[30:17] October, October 3rd, we're going to have our community cleanup day. And so,

[30:21] I urge all residents to start getting your stuff ready. You can bring it down

[30:25] and, uh, dispose of it at the, um, behind our LPAC down at the Lucky Park

[30:30] area. And um and uh there's some flyers out in the foyer that kind of tell you

[30:37] what what you can get rid of, but uh it's a good opportunity to um uh to

[30:42] bring that stuff in for free and get rid of it. So I encourage all residents to

[30:47] do that. City's trying to uh do some major cleanup around around the city. We

[30:52] encourage uh individuals to participate that in that with us. Um, also, uh, in

[30:58] October, we have Pioneer Days, uh, coming up. And Pioneer Day schedule is

[31:03] coming together. It looks like it it's going to be a great, um, a great week,

[31:07] uh, weekend. Um, October um, the weekend of October 16th, 17th, and 18th. There's

[31:14] a few events before that. So, I encourage everyone, we'll have another

[31:18] meeting. Um, encourage everyone to look up that schedule and participate in

[31:22] those events. Um the parade is on the 17th. So um I'd encourage everybody to

[31:27] come out and join us for that. Um finally, I'll just uh say and the mayor

[31:33] will um talk about this at the end, but uh our second meeting in um in in

[31:39] September is going to be on the 29th as opposed to the 22nd. So I just wanted to

[31:45] let the public know that. That's all I have.

[31:49] » Okay. Thank you, sir. All right. Consent calendar. All matters listed in the

[31:53] consent calendar to be considered routine by the city council will be

[31:55] enacted by one motion in a foreign list. Any item may be removed from this

[31:59] consent calendar and considered separately by the city council. The

[32:02] public will be given an opportunity to comment on the consent items prior to

[32:06] the city council actions. Anybody want to pull into the items? Pretty short

[32:11] one. Okay. Anybody from the public like to make a comment on any of our consent

[32:15] items? There are four of them. No. Seeing none. Okay. Okay, I'll bring it

[32:20] back to the council for a motion. >> I'll move the consent calendar.

[32:24] » Second. >> Okay, I have a motion to second. Any

[32:27] other discussion? Hearing none. >> Councilwoman Ramirez,

[32:32] » I. >> Council member Bilderin

[32:34] » I. >> Council member Wright

[32:36] » I. >> Mayor Prom Scott

[32:37] » I. >> Mayor Mintz

[32:38] » I. >> Approved 50.

[32:40] » Thank you. All right. So we didn't have any written. We have no public hearings.

[32:44] The discussion of potential action items. Item number seven, tourist

[32:47] business improvement district TBID reauthorization.

[32:54] Oh, Brienne's going to do that. All right, come on up. [clears throat]

[33:06] All right. Well, good evening, mayor, members of council. I'm here before you

[33:11] this evening on behalf of visit 29 palms the city's tourism business improvement

[33:16] district as the T-BID advisory board is seeking reauthorization.

[33:21] Our T-BID operates under one-year terms under the parking and business

[33:25] improvement area law of 1989 with the purpose of promoting travel and tourism

[33:30] in 29 palms, increasing overnight visitation and strengthening our local

[33:35] tourism economy. Our work spans destination marketing, events,

[33:39] partnerships, and visitor services, all funded by the 1.5% assessment on lodging

[33:44] properties across the city. Before you tonight is T-BID's annual report for

[33:50] 2025 2026 fiscal year, which I'll share some highlights from in just a moment,

[33:55] as well as TBID's proposed tourism marketing plan and budget for our next

[33:59] fiscal year, um, which was discussed and approved by the TBID advisory board on

[34:04] August 20th. So, I'd love to take you through some highlights of the annual

[34:09] report. Um, starting um, with really just an update at the state level. Our

[34:14] ongoing partnership with Visit California continues to create really

[34:17] valuable opportunities for us to expand visibility and reach. Visit 29 Palms was

[34:23] selected to return to their media reception event in LA earlier this year,

[34:28] which gives us direct access to major national and regional travel media. And

[34:33] we're really thrilled by the strong representation that 29 Palms has earned

[34:37] across Visit California's 2026 consumer publications.

[34:42] Some of our largest advertising investments this year have included a

[34:45] two-page advertorial in Palm Springs Life's annual Desert Living Guide,

[34:50] year-round advertising at Palm Springs International Airport, and a 13week I 10

[34:56] billboard campaign um which generated more than 5 million impressions reaching

[35:00] people headed eastbound from LA, San Diego, Orange County, and all of our

[35:04] primary drive markets. It's been an exciting year for media

[35:09] coverage as the story being told about 29 Palms continues to grow. One of the

[35:14] highlights there is Get to Going, which is Sunountry Airlines national travel

[35:19] series, which featured 29 Palms as part of a Southern California episode. This

[35:25] was produced for Sunount's in-flight entertainment and also is available

[35:30] online. um and really creates a pretty cool new way for travelers to discover

[35:36] uh the city and and learn about all the things to see and do. Between our

[35:40] website and social media channels, it's been a year of really significant growth

[35:44] as well. Um both seeing the growing interest in the city and the work that

[35:48] we're doing to strengthen our content strategy. So, visit 29.org, which is our

[35:53] city's official tourism website, reached a new benchmark this year, surpassing

[35:57] over a 100,000 new users. And notably, we've also seen a 32% increase in the

[36:03] direct online referrals that our site is generating, uh, pushing traffic directly

[36:08] out to our local businesses, our events, and some of our visitor resources.

[36:13] On social media, we've seen the emphasis on short form video drive some pretty

[36:17] exciting results, giving us also a more engaging way to showcase the destination

[36:22] and reach new audiences. Across Instagram and Facebook, our content

[36:26] views have more than doubled from last year, reaching over 895,000.

[36:31] Engagement's grown even faster with over 24,000 content interactions, which is

[36:37] more than seven times last year's results. And we've added over 3,500 new

[36:42] followers. Again, eight times the uh audience growth that we saw last year.

[36:47] Tik Tok content has reached more than 92,000 viewers. Again, really

[36:51] significant increase over last year. um seeing the same trend um on YouTube as

[36:56] both platforms are showing us pretty strong results driven through search and

[37:00] discovery showing us how video content is helping new audiences find and

[37:04] explore 29 palms. The T-BID's events program remained a significant area of

[37:11] focus and investment this year with the T-BID advisory board awarding over

[37:15] $105,000 in event funding support across 16

[37:20] events and 79 days of event programming over 2026.

[37:25] We're seeing new event anchors continue to develop and to grow, including the 29

[37:29] Palms Book Festival, the Love It Amp Music Series, and one of our biggest

[37:33] wins with the events program has been a attracting vacation races Joshua Tree

[37:39] half marathon into the city and this didn't happen overnight. It reflects a

[37:43] lot of ongoing relationship building and a lot of work behind the scenes to

[37:48] demonstrate what we can offer as an events destination. So this November

[37:52] that half marathon is expected to bring over 2500 runners directly into the

[37:57] city. Um, and it's also a really exciting example of how new lodging

[38:02] investment can create opportunities beyond just simply adding rooms, helping

[38:06] us to compete for some of these established destination events.

[38:10] » [snorts] >> The TBIT advisory board also spent a

[38:12] very significant amount of time this year evaluating and making improvements

[38:16] and changes to the events program with a stronger focus on tourism impact driving

[38:22] overnight stays uh along with improvements to the application and the

[38:26] post-event reporting process. One of the most important measures that

[38:30] we track is TBIT assessment revenue because collections are directly tied to

[38:35] lodging performance and provide an important indicator of the strength of

[38:39] our local tourism economy. We now have third quarter results and we can now

[38:44] report collections of $342,000 year to date, which is up 16.8%

[38:51] over last year. The hotel and RV segment, their collections are up 28%

[38:57] year-over-year, while vacation rental collections are up 3.7%.

[39:03] And with one quarter still to go, um we are on track for what will surely be a

[39:08] record year in T-BID assessment collections. So overall, we've seen

[39:12] pretty exciting growing um growth in destination visibility, um some growth

[39:18] across our digital channels, continued development of our events and program

[39:23] and visitor experiences, and strong lodging performance reflected in our

[39:27] assessment results, which creates a nice momentum for us to carry forward as we

[39:32] look ahead to next year. >> [clears throat]

[39:35] » So, our focus for next year, as you'll see reflected in our proposed plan and

[39:40] budget, um overall remains pretty consistent. We're here to strengthen

[39:44] awareness for 29 Palms, increase overnight visitation, and support

[39:48] lodging demand year round. Our proposed plan continues investment in paid

[39:53] advertising, of course, social media, public relations, events, partnerships,

[39:57] and visitor services. The TBIT operates on an October 1st through September 30th

[40:03] fiscal year. Um we began the budget planning in mid July at the time we had

[40:08] um first and second quarter results and tracked year-to-ate expenditures through

[40:12] middle of July for 2027. The proposed budget plans 661,000

[40:18] in revenue which is an increase of about 19% over current year's adop the current

[40:23] year's adopted budget. That includes 375,000

[40:27] in projected T-BID assessment revenue along with planned use of 275,000

[40:33] in TBID reserves pulling from our current reserve balance of approximately

[40:38] 488,000. Our planned expenditures total

[40:42] approximately 658,000 which is a 20% increase over current year.

[40:48] Events and destination development will remain a major focus with $200,000

[40:54] um dedicated to the events program. Destination marketing and advertising of

[40:59] course the core of the work that we do. Um we'll see an allocation of about

[41:03] $155,000. We're also looking to build capacity

[41:08] with a plan to add a second part-time staff to help support TBID programs and

[41:12] initiatives and also have funding allocated for contract services which

[41:17] can include social media content creation and contract services through

[41:21] civotas as modernizing the city's TBID to the 94 law is a priority which would

[41:28] allow the district to move from these annual renewals to a five-year term

[41:32] providing greater stability for long-term planning.

[41:36] So ultimately the continuation of the T-BID means the continuation of the 1.5%

[41:41] lodging assessment fee that provides the funding for all of the work that we do.

[41:46] Um the growth we've seen this year we feel is a really great foundation to

[41:51] continue to build from. Um and continued investment allows us to keep 29 palms

[41:56] visible, competitive and actively working to grow overnight visitation.

[42:01] So, your consideration of these plans, perhaps approval tonight, allows us to

[42:06] move forward to the next step of our reauthorization process, which is a

[42:10] public hearing, which gives our T-BID stakeholders the opportunity to voice

[42:14] their support or opposition of the renewal. Um, and before we answer any

[42:20] questions you may have or public comment, um, I'd love to invite one of

[42:23] our board members, Ben Ua, um, to share a couple of comments as well.

[42:33] Hello, I'm Ben Ua. I'm one of the board members, also one of the co-owners of

[42:36] the Reset Hotel. Uh, dig into the report. It's it's quite encouraging and

[42:42] with everything going on in the world, it's nice to get some good news about

[42:45] the city, right? So, let's highlight the main things. Revenu's up, always a good

[42:50] thing. And we actually are under budget for this year. We're going to spend less

[42:55] than what we sort of projected. When I hear those from a municipal agency, I'm

[43:00] ecstatic. Like those two things on their own are amazing, right? Revenue going up

[43:04] and disciplined spending. Kind of what you would want. On top of that, there's

[43:09] the digital media growth, which we should see as increasing our reach over

[43:13] time without spending the money. [snorts] But the part that I'm most

[43:18] excited about is kind of what we saw with bringing vacation races out here.

[43:24] We knew it was a good event. We knew that thousands of people come out to run

[43:28] at night and spend quite a bit of money when they do it. And it was a

[43:33] coordinated effort between the city staff. We were in there talking to

[43:37] Keith. We were talking to Kev, talking to everybody, talking to the tourism

[43:41] board. Everyone was working at the different hotel owners and and and uh

[43:45] short-term rental owners. Everyone was doing a little bit. Oh, can you handle

[43:49] this? Can you do this? And that's kind of the public private partnership that I

[43:56] love seeing and I think you see that kind of centered around the tourism

[44:00] board. So please re uh please consider the reauthorization and I'll take it

[44:05] even a step further. Uh if you think about it what we're doing right and the

[44:11] stats that are sort of improving year-over-year with a very very small

[44:15] staff and if you look at the budget you can see where the sort of money is going

[44:19] and a good part of that is the staff. A big amount of the hours of that staff is

[44:24] spent getting ready for reauthorization every year. Imagine if re-elections were

[44:30] every single year. what percentage of your time would be campaigning versus

[44:36] administering, right? You'd have less time for listening. You'd have less time

[44:40] for meeting with the different stakeholders. So, yes, I think we should

[44:44] reauthorize it for this year, but we really should start thinking a little

[44:48] bit long term. And I would encourage you not just to look at this year's staff

[44:51] report, but look at the numbers from the previous one and start to consider if

[44:55] this is a worthwhile investment because where we'll see the efficiencies. We're

[45:00] I've been a member for about two years. And the first year I said, you know, I'm

[45:03] mostly going to listen and kind of lay back. And [snorts] then year two is

[45:07] where you're going to start to hear me be a little bit more assertive. And when

[45:10] I kind of look at where we're at and we're seeing improvements, we're going

[45:14] to hit a plateau when it comes to efficiency. If you're thinking about

[45:17] negotiating contracts with meteor purveyors and such, it's very hard to

[45:21] negotiate a contract when it's just every single year ending up. If we had a

[45:26] couple years ago when I first came on could have negotiated two or three year

[45:29] deals, we could have locked in way lower rates because you're buying in bigger

[45:33] bulks. So, we'll keep improving regardless, but there's something to

[45:38] consider about the sort of how we're performing at this level already and

[45:42] then what we could sort of unlock in terms of efficiency if we had a little

[45:46] more time to work with when it comes to sort of the event grants. We can invest

[45:50] in these grants, but can we build long-term relationships? It's kind of

[45:55] hard when you don't even know if you're going to exist the following year.

[45:58] Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. Does anybody have any

[46:01] questions for Banna or Ben? No questions. Okay, I'll open up to the

[46:05] public. I don't have any slips here, Cindy. No slips on this item. Okay,

[46:10] we'll bring it back to council. No.

[46:15] Um, will you come up really quick? I have a few questions and and a couple of

[46:19] comments to make. We We do this uh first of all, good job on your presentation. I

[46:26] loved it. We do this every year right now.

[46:30] Um, and I just wanted to highlight some of the things that have changed right

[46:35] over the past year. Last year, we were looking for this reauthorization and we

[46:42] instead set up a council T-BID subcommittee which was made of um,

[46:49] Council Member Bilder and myself. We met quarterly and I gave you some

[46:55] milestones. I asked a lot of questions at first. I've been one of probably, I

[47:01] will openly admit it, your toughest critic.

[47:07] And then I dug deeper. I pulled this entire report apart. I

[47:13] compared it to the reports from the past 3 years. I was expecting to see, and I

[47:18] didn't tell you guys, I said, I want to see, you know, more revenue, this, that,

[47:21] and the other. And I gave you a lot of things I want to see. I was expecting to

[47:25] see a 7 to 12% increase. We have a 19% increase.

[47:30] » I told you that I needed you to start building relationships with Visit

[47:36] California. You not only built them, you fostered

[47:40] them, you grew them, and we have a presence with Visit California. That's a

[47:45] big deal. Um, I told you that we needed to find a

[47:50] way to make sure that our grants for our T-BIT events were better and you guys

[47:54] came back and said that you needed um that you guys have come up with clear

[48:00] guidelines and a postevent evaluation. I also

[48:06] asked you what was your vision and you said I want more people. We want to

[48:12] increase the revenue and um we want to make this a destination that people want

[48:18] to come to. So you did abundantly and exceedingly more than anything that I

[48:25] could ever have hoped for and I just wanted to take the time to tell you good

[48:28] job Brienne and thank you. >> Thank you.

[48:33] » Okay. Anybody else? I think the report speaks for itself as

[48:39] far as [snorts] uh uh the improvements and obviously now we have this we have

[48:43] 2500 people coming to run in the dark. I've I've driven by some of those events

[48:48] before and it's um I God bless them running in the dark like that. So it's

[48:55] I'm I'm it's I think the the um the um the hotelers got to be ecstatic. I mean,

[49:01] it's gotten it's just going to be and plus they got um the uh vacation home

[49:06] rentals or so I think it's going to be a great event for hopefully it continues

[49:10] on too. So, okay. So, I'm looking for a motion to um to approve this.

[49:15] » What number Cindy?

[49:23] » Okay. Okay, I'll make a motion that we approve the TV viz annual report for

[49:27] fiscal year 20 2526 and the TV tourism marketing plan and budget for fiscal

[49:32] year 20 2627 and adopt resolution number 2629

[49:37] confirming the intention to levy an assessment for fiscal year 2627.

[49:43] » Second motion to second. Any other discussion? Seeing none, roll call,

[49:47] please. >> Council member Bildering,

[49:51] » I. >> Council member Wright,

[49:52] » I. Councilwoman Ramirez I. Mayor Prom Scott

[49:55] » I. >> Mayor Mitz

[49:57] » I >> approved by vote.

[49:58] » Thank you Brand. >> Thank you very much.

[50:00] » Great job. [applause]

[50:05] » All right. Future council initiated items. Does anybody have any items?

[50:10] » I have one. Um, and this is kind of uh something that's coming down from the

[50:15] state um from Cal Cities and SCAG, Southern California Authority of

[50:20] Governments. And um it's probably going to be something

[50:24] we need to put sooner than later if we can. That would be to discuss Prop 1 and

[50:29] consider adopting a resolution to support Prop 1's, the Veterans and

[50:32] Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026. um that will be on the November ballot in

[50:37] accordance with um housing efforts uh supported by Cal Cities and Skagg.

[50:47] » We we'll have that uh coming up in the if not the next agenda the following one

[50:54] » before before definitely before the vote.

[50:57] » Okay. Well, I'll second that. Um I have I have an initiated item that

[51:02] I'd like to put on. I would like us to um to look into getting two-mile road

[51:07] ready for um shovel ready for any kind of grants or um monies that come down

[51:14] the road for curb gutter and bike path to expand two-mile road from Mosquite

[51:19] Springs all the way down to Encilia. I'll second that. Thank you. Okay. And I

[51:26] I want to um I think we need to discuss this mining situation.

[51:33] » I second that too. >> Second.

[51:35] » What I will say up to this point um with discussions um about the mine happening

[51:40] throughout the community. Um city staff has been looking at what our authority

[51:45] would be in in the event of this. We're we're becoming educated on mining and uh

[51:50] uh what we might be able to do and and uh with respect to uh exerting some

[51:55] influence. >> Okay.

[51:57] » Thank you. Okay. Public comment. This is a time for the public to address the

[52:01] city council on issues within the jurisdiction of the city council that is

[52:04] not on this agenda. All comments are to be directed to the city council and

[52:08] shall not consist of any personal attacks. Members of the public are

[52:11] expected to maintain a professional courteous decorum during their comments.

[52:15] There's a time limitation of three minutes per person. If you have haven't

[52:18] already done so, please fill out a name, address, slip, and give it to the city

[52:22] clerk. City council's prohibited by state law from taking action discussing

[52:25] items not included in the printed agenda. Public comments are specific and

[52:29] general items will be uh deferred until a consideration on the agenda. Um Eli,

[52:34] there was it during I guess it' be under the the number seven. We didn't have

[52:39] anybody called in or anything. I forgot to ask check with you. No, we had one

[52:43] registrant but they did not show up before the meeting was locked at 605.

[52:46] » They didn't show up there at the house but they didn't show up.

[52:48] » Yeah, >> I like that. All right. Do we have any

[52:50] comments right now for on the open comment?

[52:53] » We have no no attendees in the queue. >> Okay. [clears throat] So, these are the

[52:57] public comments and first one is Etha Williams. Etha,

[53:02] » did I say that right? >> Yes.

[53:04] » Oh, thank you. God.

[53:08] » Uh, thank you. Hi. My name's Etha Williams. Um, I've been a 29 Palms

[53:13] resident for about uh just over six years now. Um, and I'm just uh speaking

[53:18] to encourage the council to take whatever action possible to prevent uh

[53:22] the mining developments we heard about earlier. Um, whether that be, you know,

[53:26] preventing the use of Gold Park Road um or other actions. Um, I have recreated

[53:31] actually on Gold Park Road extensively. I like to ride my bike up there. Um, I

[53:36] do a lot of running up there, climb 29 Palms Mountain from there. So, it's a

[53:41] very important area for me personally. It's very short distance from my house.

[53:45] Um, and I would just hate to see that destroyed by this extremely destructive

[53:49] mining. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, Nicholas Garver

[53:55] Graver.

[54:03] » Hi. Uh, I'm going to introduce myself. I've spoken before city council before,

[54:06] but I'm introducing myself in a slightly new way, which is um as the uh newly

[54:11] appointed interim president for the Pacific West Region National Park

[54:14] Service uh union. Uh so uh we represent 14 National Park units up and down the

[54:21] West Coast uh expanding soon to be many more parks uh but including Joshua Tree

[54:26] National Park. Uh our members are very concerned uh uh at um uh what we're

[54:32] looking at with this mining operation. Um we're really concerned about what

[54:36] happens to the national park. We know the sort of dynamic with 29 Palms,

[54:39] right? Where the park brings in about $56 million in economic activity to

[54:45] these communities. But we have to make a extra pitch in 29 Palms to bring people

[54:49] over here and say, "Hey, this is a great way to go in. We want to go we want you

[54:53] to go in the north entrance. That's better for the park for for the workload

[54:57] of staff having to manage two entrance stations. It's much better if it's more

[55:00] balanced out. Um and it's also 29 Palms is where we we have our park

[55:05] headquarters um where most of the park staff work and also um within the sort

[55:10] of what I imagine is the dust cloud of this new mining operation. Uh we have

[55:14] our our north entrance station and we have our uh workstation at Pinto Y at

[55:20] the base of Bell Mountain. Uh these are all places where if there's a huge dust

[55:24] cloud, if there's visible mining activity, uh we're going to be impacted

[55:28] by that. We're going to be breathing that air. Um and also, uh we know that

[55:32] park visitors aren't going to want to come through 29 Palms. They're not going

[55:36] to want to come through the north entrance if there's a giant mining

[55:39] operation right outside the door. Uh and we know we know what those sightelines

[55:43] are. We we work there every day. Uh we know that you'll be able to see that

[55:46] mining operation. I also want to speak to you as a as a person that lives uh if

[55:50] you saw that map that uh MPCA handed out. Uh there's a little arrow pointing

[55:55] uh towards the Hansen tract. The little tip of that arrow is my house. Um and

[55:59] somebody that lives in that community, we have children playing in the street.

[56:02] We have dogs. We have um uh you know, our community is alive out there and we

[56:08] like to spend time in our yards. We like to spend time in our neighborhood. And

[56:11] that neighborhood is where those mining trucks will be driving through if we

[56:16] have a mine out there. There's no other way in and out of that um that mine of

[56:21] Gold Park Road without without hitting, you know, driving past people's houses,

[56:26] residents of 29 Palms. And we don't want to see that. We we really want to

[56:30] continue to live in a quiet, peaceful community, a community that's not uh

[56:34] plagued by data centers and plagued by big mines. Um uh we want to have a a

[56:39] beautiful town. We want to watch the sunset and the sunrise over those

[56:42] mountains uh where that um that uh that mine is proposed. Um and so uh please

[56:50] urging you to to keep our our city roads our neighborhood roads for neighborhood

[56:55] uses uh and introduce that moratorium. Thank you.

[56:58] » Thank you sir. Sandy Bernard.

[57:07] » Hi. You caught me by surprise. I wasn't going to announce the city council

[57:10] candidate forum at this meeting, but now I have to because the next meeting is

[57:14] after the forum. So, I just want to let everybody know that uh Desert Trumpet is

[57:18] holding the only in-person city council candidate forum, as far as we know,

[57:23] that's going to be public and open to everyone. Um it will be happening on

[57:27] Saturday, September 26th at 3:00. Um it will last until approximately 5:30. The

[57:34] first 15 minutes, we will have in-person taking of questions that can be asked of

[57:39] the candidates by the moderators. The moderators will be me and um Chris Clark

[57:45] from 90 Miles of Needles podcast. Um we are also taking public questions via

[57:51] email, although we do have some guidelines for public questions which

[57:54] I'm going to read out right now. Um public questions for our council

[57:59] candidates can be emailed to editor desert.org.

[58:03] This will also be on our website when we set up our city council um forum page.

[58:08] Um and questions from the public. It should be noted that all of them will be

[58:14] screened in advance to avoid partisan questions, personal attacks or profane

[58:18] comments. The public will be instructed to submit questions that all candidates

[58:23] are able to answer and anonymous questions are not allowed. So if you do

[58:26] email questions into us, please be sure your name is on them. Um, and all

[58:32] questions will be read out by the moderators. We're not able to have the

[58:36] public directly ask questions of the candidates, so we can ensure the

[58:40] questions meet our rules. Also, I want to make it very clear that candidates

[58:44] will not have access to the questions in advance. So, all of their questions will

[58:48] be happening on the spur of the moment, and I know you guys can all handle that

[58:53] really well. [laughter] Um, we have um confirmations from all candidates that

[58:58] they'll be participating. Um, Council Member Wright might be a few minutes

[59:02] late due to a football conflict, but everybody's supposed to be there. So,

[59:06] looking forward to it and I hope we see you all for free at um the gym at

[59:11] Freedom Plaza for our forum. Thanks so much.

[59:16] » Saturday, September 26th. >> Thank you,

[59:21] Anna Stump. [applause]

[59:32] Good evening, council members. Um, honest, thank you so much for coming to

[59:36] the opening of uh the brown groundbreaking of Mojave Land. And I

[59:41] forgive you, Mayor Mintz. I will catch you later with the moneyolf, but I don't

[59:45] want to talk about mini golf uh in that capacity. Uh, I do want to say that

[59:50] Mojave Land is very opposed to the mining activity. I urge you um to try to

[59:55] make it very difficult um for this mine to exist. Um when Mojave line gets

[1:00:01] finished, I will be one of of several uh nonprofits in District 4, including

[1:00:09] Theater 29, the historical society and um Sky's the Limit and the 29 Palms Art

[1:00:17] Gallery. All of us depend on tourism dollars to help us support what we bring

[1:00:23] to the public of 29 Palms and the Rango Basin, which is our real goal. And we

[1:00:30] need those tourism dollars. I'm only speaking from Mojave Land, but I really

[1:00:34] do not want to see a mine while I'm playing miniature golf. And that is

[1:00:37] where you will be able to see it from the golf course. So, please uh and hear

[1:00:43] it and smell it and see the trucks rumbling by. So, I hope that you will

[1:00:48] oppose this mine. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause]

[1:00:51] Daniel, you're up.

[1:00:59] » Good evening everyone. Mayor, Mayor Prom Scott, city manager Cole, and members of

[1:01:04] city council. We're are standing at a critical junction for 29 palms.

[1:01:08] California Proposition One and the updated behavioral health services act

[1:01:11] are fundamentally reshaping municipal funings.

[1:01:16] For our community, this is not just regulatory shift. It is a massive

[1:01:19] financial vehicle to permanently address local homelessness, behavioral health,

[1:01:23] and neighborhood strain. All without spending a single dime of our city

[1:01:27] council's general fund. Right now, municipalities face relentless pressure

[1:01:31] to meet state housing quotas and manage complex social challenges. Too often,

[1:01:36] cities get caught in a loop of fingerpointing between private

[1:01:39] landlords, overburdened case workers, and code enforcement. But we have a

[1:01:43] unique opportunity to look closely at what outside resources are actually

[1:01:46] available to our city to target and apply for through POP Prop 1. Billions

[1:01:52] of uh billions are flowing into specific state pipelines in our city can leverage

[1:01:57] behavioral health continuum infrastructure program $4.4 billion in

[1:02:02] state grants for outpatient clinical and crisis intervention facilities including

[1:02:06] 1.5 billion ring fence for public entities. Home Key Plus is $2 billion

[1:02:12] dedicated to permanent supportive housing acquisitions for individuals

[1:02:16] facing severe behavioral health challenges or housing instability.

[1:02:20] Expanded local revenue under SB 326, San Bernardino County must direct 30% of its

[1:02:26] local behavioral health revenue towards housing interventions and tenency

[1:02:30] support for those with serious mental health or substance abuse challenges.

[1:02:35] While Prop One was passed at the state level, the real work happens right here

[1:02:38] during local implementation. As the county updates its three-year spending

[1:02:42] plan, this council and our residents must watch closely for upcoming local

[1:02:46] resolutions, county alignment opportunities, and capital grant

[1:02:49] windows. When these items come before you, your

[1:02:52] support and leadership are vital. By proactively streamlining zoning,

[1:02:57] establishing site readiness, and inviting turnkey operational models, 29

[1:03:02] Palms can capture its fair share of external dollars. We can secure our

[1:03:07] housing goal, protect our neighborhood standards, prevent revolving door

[1:03:10] evictions, contribute to fewer 911 emergency calls, and support our most

[1:03:14] vulnerable residents at zero cost to our local budget. Thank you guys.

[1:03:18] » Thank you. Thank you, Daniel. [clears throat]

[1:03:21] Jimmy Bower, come on down, Jimmy.

[1:03:32] Thank you so much, Mayor, uh, and everyone in attendance. Uh my name is

[1:03:35] Jimmy Brower. I'm a 20 and Palms resident, business owner, and nonprofit

[1:03:38] leader. Uh I'm here to voice my opposition for Music Valley to be

[1:03:42] commercially mined. Uh as a resident in the Hansen track and living off one of

[1:03:46] the potential access roads, a mining facility in my backyard would be

[1:03:49] devastating for residential property values, residential health, our local

[1:03:54] economy, and our residents overall quality of life. This mining facility

[1:03:59] will inarguably create adverse health conditions through constant dust

[1:04:03] contamination, commercial vehicle exhaust, and light pollution, working

[1:04:07] against residents and one of our largest tourism industries, outdoor experiences

[1:04:11] such as stargazing in our dark skies, hiking, uh, climbing, and our

[1:04:16] hospitality. As someone who owns and operates a small business here in 29 and

[1:04:20] thrives on both a local demographic as well as out of town visitors that come

[1:04:24] for the desert's natural beauty, this mine would be crushing to mine and many

[1:04:28] others momentum that have been built and invested. When I think about the driver

[1:04:32] of our local economy, I refer back to park visitorship numbers by park

[1:04:36] entrance in addition to overnight campers in various forms. With all this

[1:04:40] data being made publicly available online year-over-year for 2024 to 2025,

[1:04:45] overall park visitorship dropped by 2%. Uh it might not sound like a lot, but it

[1:04:50] is, especially whenever you compare it to uh spending in our communities. In

[1:04:54] that same time, overnight camping dropped nearly 18%. Also in that time,

[1:04:58] the west entrance of Joshua Tree was nearly up 1% while the north entrance

[1:05:03] here in 29 Palms was down 6.2%. And through July of this year, overnight

[1:05:08] camping is already down 11% and visitorship year-over-year is on an

[1:05:12] accelerated decline, trending down by 8%. Um, now I can read a pie chart and

[1:05:17] know that the huge part of our tax revenue goes to support city services

[1:05:22] such as public works and road maintenance, as well as the resident

[1:05:25] enjoyment and character development such as our wreck, youth, uh, sports, and all

[1:05:29] the fantastic programming that comes out of parks and wreck. This equates into

[1:05:34] visitor tourism which helps us keep running literally in a really big way. I

[1:05:39] don't know about you all, but I would rather see a visitor a visitor's

[1:05:43] vehicles buzzing around town, patroning our retail stores, restaurants, and

[1:05:46] calling uh calling our tow trucks when they're stuck in the sand and also lined

[1:05:51] up at our north entrance of the park rather than commercial hall trucks, dump

[1:05:54] trucks, and mining trucks rumbling through our streets, creating more

[1:05:58] potholes, and lined up at our north entrance. The facts are simple. Opening

[1:06:03] up a mining facility might create a few jobs in the short term and fill some

[1:06:06] pockets, but it will effectively kill our residents quicker from pollution,

[1:06:10] kill our small town or our small business and nonprofit economy that runs

[1:06:14] off visitorship, and it'll kill the hometown pride so many have worked hard

[1:06:17] to build now and across the last century. When you make your decisions,

[1:06:21] consider three things. Our residents quality of life, the impact on our local

[1:06:25] economy, and the effects of our natural environment. All these add up to two

[1:06:29] words, strategic plan. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause]

[1:06:33] You must have rehearsed that because you did it right at the right at the mark.

[1:06:37] Right at the second it went off. That's good. Good job, J. Robin, you're up.

[1:06:51] » Hello, Mr. Mayor and city council members. A couple of things I wanted to

[1:06:55] touch on real quick was for the barbecue on Friday. Um, I wanted to say a huge

[1:07:00] thank you, a public thank you to the Simidava Sculpture Foundation for

[1:07:04] helping sponsor that and for our two anonymous donors that also helped with

[1:07:08] that. Um, I would like to personally name some people. I would like to thank

[1:07:12] Larry Bowen and Eli Marshall for cooking the ribs and the chicken were a big hit.

[1:07:18] I wanted to thank our city manager Kevin Cole and his wife Karina for coming and

[1:07:23] helping serve everybody in their volunteer time and Dana Bowen for coming

[1:07:27] and helping volunteering and for mayor MZ and Mayor Prom Scott and Mr.

[1:07:32] MacArthur Wright who was an official senior woo woo for coming and enjoying

[1:07:36] barbecue. Um, bouncing back to the senior center real quick. I wanted to

[1:07:40] read a letter real quick that I got from a couple of our senior congregants and

[1:07:45] in regards to our youth council of the 29 Palms youth council and it says to

[1:07:50] whom it may concern. My name is Dorothy G. Rose. I am a regular member of the

[1:07:54] senior center here in 29 Palms. She goes monthly or is it quarterly? A few of the

[1:08:00] youth come to the center at about 1,400. Here they usually play board games with

[1:08:05] a few of us. This letter is to let you know how appreciative I am of them being

[1:08:09] there. They surely bring joy and laughter. They show that despite our age

[1:08:13] differences, their friendship is much accepted with great gratitude. They come

[1:08:17] with such friendship and care for us, and their leadership and wonderful

[1:08:20] demeanor surely will carry them a long ways into their future. I hope that the

[1:08:25] program continues long after these particular young men and young women who

[1:08:29] do come to the senior center. Now, thank you again for the wonderful program you

[1:08:33] have in showing the youth of the opportunity and the service of their

[1:08:37] community. What they bring is not just the hour or two of joy and laughter from

[1:08:41] this one particular senior center man. They bring much more. Respectfully

[1:08:46] submitted Dorothy G. Rose and Sandra Harris. So, this the youth council comes

[1:08:51] to the senior center every month and we're and does activities with them.

[1:08:55] They do games. They they have done art activities. Um and some a lot of it is

[1:09:01] just having conversation and that intergenerational act is just they love

[1:09:06] it and it so thank you for having the youth council and thank you for them

[1:09:10] coming out to see us. And then last but not least, last time I was here I talked

[1:09:14] about a sign on Mosquet Springs Road and semi trucks. And the funny thing was was

[1:09:19] that night I was driving home and it was about a quarter to nine at night and

[1:09:23] sure enough there was a semi-truck going up up Mosqu Springs Road in the dark and

[1:09:27] I'm like he's going to have fun backing out of here. But I also noticed that a

[1:09:32] couple of days later there was this really cool sign at the end of the road

[1:09:35] with a semi-truck and a circle and a line going don't go this way and a sign

[1:09:40] going macak that way. So thank you very much for putting that sign up. Have a

[1:09:45] great day. >> Thank you Robin. [applause]

[1:09:48] Leanne Clark. >> Thank you, Mayor Mens. Thank you,

[1:09:53] council. Uh 29 pounds ministerial association wants to remind everyone we

[1:09:58] will be hosting our uh last mayor's prayer breakfast for 2026 on Tuesday,

[1:10:04] September 22nd, 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at First Assembly of God Church. It will

[1:10:11] be in the Youth Activities Building located at 73355

[1:10:15] Sullivan Road. There's no cost to attend and includes breakfast. And secondly, uh

[1:10:21] the ministerial association will be participating in the 90th annual pioneer

[1:10:27] days. Uh we will be hosting a pioneer day sunrise service on Sunday, October

[1:10:32] 18 at 6:00 a.m. at Patriotic Hall in Lucky Park and the speakers will be

[1:10:38] reflecting on the theme for this year. So it's always a exciting thing to hear

[1:10:43] as each of them share their perspective on the theme for pioneer days. Also I

[1:10:49] just want to congratulate the T-BID and especially Brienne and all of the hard

[1:10:53] work um that has been done and I thank you council member Ramirez for

[1:10:58] reflecting on that. We've been praying for this community. we are going to see

[1:11:03] even further increase and you'll be impressed by next year of the uh

[1:11:08] percentage increase that uh RT bid is going to be providing. So I'm excited

[1:11:14] and also I want to say that I do agree with each of the individuals that uh

[1:11:19] came up here regarding the concern of the mining project. I do agree and

[1:11:24] especially the business owners I do know have uh shared with me the importance of

[1:11:30] that north entrance to the park because it draws the people on Highway 62. It

[1:11:36] causes them oftentimes to stop in their business and so I do think it's

[1:11:41] important that we support our business community very much. I'm a very big

[1:11:46] advocate for local business and so again I know you'll be looking into more

[1:11:51] information and and making a good decision but I just want to share uh

[1:11:55] again my concern of uh that project as well and again thank you guys uh for a

[1:12:02] great meeting tonight. I thought it was wonderful. I really enjoyed it and God

[1:12:05] bless you all. >> Thank you Gretchen. Gren Gretchen, sorry

[1:12:11] my throat is being funny.

[1:12:16] » [clears throat]

[1:12:20] » Hello, I'm Gretchen Grunt and I just want to make comments as well on the

[1:12:24] mining uh prospects. Um I got a call about a week and a half ago, a random

[1:12:30] call from a woman who said that she was randomly calling 29 Palms businesses. Um

[1:12:37] she was about to sign to purchase a house in 29 Palms. She's been a longtime

[1:12:44] visitor to 29 Palms and fall in love with our community. And she's at the

[1:12:49] 11th hour of signing for this house she wants to purchase here. And she hears

[1:12:54] about the mining prospects and freaks out and trying to get all the

[1:12:58] information she could about whether it was going to happen or not. And I don't

[1:13:04] know if she ended up buying the house here or not. So, just wanted to share

[1:13:08] that story. Thank you,

[1:13:12] Miss Audrey. You're up.

[1:13:16] » Good evening, council members, mayor, city manager, city clerk. It's a

[1:13:22] pleasure to be here today to speak with you. So, here's first I'll give you the

[1:13:27] good news. The good news is the fall season of the Levit Amp 29 Palms music

[1:13:35] series is about to start on September 26th and it will be every Saturday

[1:13:42] through October 24th. And as part of this, and I have cards if

[1:13:48] anybody wants them after the meeting, um,

[1:13:53] part of this is a site visit from the Levit Foundation.

[1:13:59] This is the grant that we got to produce 30 concerts in three years. We're

[1:14:05] halfway through year one right now. And what I think about all the time and

[1:14:12] since the grant officer is coming, all of the city council members, city

[1:14:17] officials, and other stakeholders are being invited here to hear her and meet

[1:14:23] her on September 26th at 10:30 to 11:30 in the morning. So, please mark that on

[1:14:30] your calendar as well. But here's here's the here's the rub.

[1:14:36] This is about creating sustainable events [snorts]

[1:14:43] and building the economy and the community in 29 palms. So there's the

[1:14:50] rub. Everything that I am doing as the chairperson of this committee and also

[1:14:56] the producer of the concert series um is aimed toward longevity.

[1:15:04] Levit has a habit of renewing these three-year grants.

[1:15:10] What do you think might happen if mining started here? What do you think might

[1:15:18] happen?

[1:15:21] I live on the Hansen tract right off of Baseline Road on Persia Avenue.

[1:15:28] I love the views that I have. I love going out at night and I bought this

[1:15:37] house knowing thinking that my property values would increase and I would have a

[1:15:42] nest egg for my children and a place for them to live. My son lives with me now.

[1:15:50] My stepson just moved to Yaka Valley. We're talking about creating

[1:15:56] a a a our own family compound, if you will, where we could

[1:16:03] continue to live and contribute for generations to come. But is that going

[1:16:09] to happen if the air gets polluted? If the water gets polluted, if tourism

[1:16:16] stops, if the music series stops, what's going to happen? I ask you to seriously

[1:16:25] consider these questions. Thank you. >> Consider what the council can do. Thank

[1:16:29] you. >> I appreciate it. Thank you.

[1:16:31] » Okay. Chris Cardner Carver.

[1:16:38] » Good evening, council members. My name is Chris Carer.

[1:16:42] » I live in Wonder Valley and tonight I represent Protect Music Valley. We are

[1:16:49] residents of Wonder Valley who are gravely concerned about the Music Valley

[1:16:53] Mine Project. We have joined together as protect Music Valley, uniting to defend

[1:16:59] our desert community from destructive industrial scale mining.

[1:17:04] We like our neighbors in 29 Palms have much at stake in the face of a Music

[1:17:10] Valley mine. the impacts to our economy, on our roads, to the health of our air

[1:17:16] and water, to our night skies, to our quality of life, and to the future of

[1:17:21] the wild desert that we love. These impacts are potentially disastrous to

[1:17:26] both our communities. We hope and we expect to work together with the people

[1:17:32] of 29 Palms and the city of 29 Palms to protect both of our communities from the

[1:17:39] threat of the Music Valley mine. Uh for neighbors who are interested in

[1:17:43] learning more, we are at protectusic valley.org. We have these little slips

[1:17:50] and we thank you for the opportunity to address you tonight.

[1:17:53] » Thank you so much, [applause] Katherine Powell.

[1:18:00] Katherine Powell. I'm sorry. I was telling the city clerk.

[1:18:03] » Oh, [laughter] Katherine Powell. Um, also a resident of

[1:18:08] Wonder Valley. I am a member of Protect Music Valley and uh thank you for uh

[1:18:14] allowing the National Parks Conservation Association to speak tonight and to

[1:18:18] inform you about the upcoming proposal for a mine and that I feel very strongly

[1:18:23] against it as well as a resident worried about our water, worried about our air.

[1:18:28] Love the park. It's sacred. We need to protect it. So please, we look forward

[1:18:32] to working with you to stop this. Thank you.

[1:18:34] » Yeah. Thank you, Eli. Do we have anybody waiting to come on?

[1:18:39] No, we don't. But could I add a quick comment about the cleanup?

[1:18:43] » Um, last cleanup in April, anybody if you've come know you'll see me there in

[1:18:48] a straw hat guiding you through the process. But we had about 40 residents

[1:18:52] bring household batteries. We do not take batteries at the cleanup site. Um,

[1:18:57] if you want to dispose of household batteries, the city pays on your behalf.

[1:19:01] the third Saturday of the month, you can go to Joshua Tree Household Hazardous

[1:19:05] Waste Facility and get rid of the batteries batteries there from 9:00 am

[1:19:08] to 1 pm. So, if you bring them, there's nothing I I can't take them. People have

[1:19:12] tried to please please take I can't help you. Please don't bring them. Take them

[1:19:16] to the other site. So, that like this month, the 19th of the month, that site

[1:19:20] is open from 9:00 to 1 for our residents.

[1:19:22] » Yeah, that also includes paint and uh other um chemicals. We, you know, the

[1:19:27] city, we pay for that. You're we everybody pays for into that. So, please

[1:19:31] use that if you have them. That's >> it's a third Saturday of every month.

[1:19:34] » Third Saturday of every month. >> Okay. Uh that's all the slips I have.

[1:19:38] So, we are going to >> Mr. Mayor, if I could uh one more thing

[1:19:41] I I want to um because we have quite a bit of public here tonight. We have

[1:19:45] someformational um flyers on the back counter about measure G. So, it's just

[1:19:51] some information. We have the sales tax measure on the ballot in November and

[1:19:56] there's um someformational flyers back there. If you have questions, there's a

[1:19:59] website on there that you can go uh and email me directly and I can answer some

[1:20:04] of your questions. >> Thank you.

[1:20:06] » Okay, we're going to adjourn this meeting to September 29th.

[1:20:12] [applause]

City Council - Regular Meeting - 08 Sep 2026

Transcript