[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]