29 Palms City Council Hands City Manager Guzzetta His Walking Papers

(May 14) TWENTYNINE PALMS—For the second time in less than 14 months, the Twentynine Palms  City Council has abruptly terminated its city manager, citing no cause.
During a closed session at its regular council meeting on Tuesday May 13, the council voted to dismiss Guzzetta. The Sentinel has learned that the vote was a unanimous one, with all five council members voting to hand Guzzetta a pink slip.
The board appointed finance director Ron Peck to temporarily take the helm as city manager, pending a search for an interim city manager to oversee the city while a candidate to replace Guzzetta on a permanent basis is carried out.
Curiously, Guzzetta was given two days of administrative leave – Wednesday May 14 and Thursday May 15 – after which point his separation from the city took place officially.
Council members gave no reason for the firing beyond stating that they wished to take the city in “a new direction.”
Guzzetta’s tenure with the city was even shorter than that of his predecessor, Richard Warne. In April 2013, less than a month before he would have marked two years as Twenynine Palms city manager, Richard Warne was shown the door.
In both the Guzzetta and Warne cases, the council’s action was unilateral and caught the managers unaware. In the immediate aftermath of his sacking, Guzzetta released a terse statement claiming he was caught by surprise by the council’s action and that he was given no rationale for the move other than a generic expression of wanting to move in a new direction.
In initially announcing Warne’s leaving last year, the city issued a statement characterizing his exodus as a “retirement.” Shortly thereafter, however, reports in both the Sentinel and by the radio station KCDZ 107.7 FM, cast doubt on the retirement claim. The city agreed to provide Warne with a full year’s compensation, including his salary of $171,500, a pension contribution of $4,287.50 and another $12,432 toward his retirement fund and $16,306 to cover his health plan. The provision of severance pay to Warne undercut the representation that he had voluntarily retired. His contract did not provide for severance pay in the event of his taking retirement. The city subsequently issued a clarification, which stated, “the council and Mr. Warne came to the mutual agreement that it would be best for him to retire in lieu of termination and he was provided severance as per his employment agreement.”
It is not clear what form of severance Guzzetta, who was formerly city manager in Desert Hot Springs, Hemet and Corte Madera, is receiving. At the time of his hiring, he was the general manager of the Joshua Basin Water District. He officially came aboard as Twentynine Palms city manager on June 1, at a salary of $184,000 per year, with medical benefits and a $6,000 per year contribution to his retirement fund. His contract required that Guzzetta, who lived in Riverside at the time, take up residence in Twentynine Palms by March 1, 2014.
Citing capital projects the city had undertaken under his watch and efforts to strengthen the city economically along with the relationships he had built with the Marine Corps command and the soldiers at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center as well as with city staff, the council and the chamber of commerce, Guzzetta said he believed he had made tangible progress during his nearly one year tenure with the city.  “Everyone in Twentynine Palms has been very welcoming, helpful, and a pleasure to work with,” he said.

Upland’s Unfunded Pension Liability At $88.9 Million

(May 15)  The city of Upland has a future unfunded pension liability totaling just under $89 million, according to actuarial figures available from the state pension system.
Despite the current and future financial burden the city’s pension fund arrangements represent, those figures were not available in the city of Upland’s audited financial statements provided by the accounting firm of Mayer Hoffman McCann.  Nor did Mayer Hoffman McCann bring the future pension liability to the attention of Mayor Ray Musser and the other members of the city council in its transmittal letter presenting the audited financial statement.
The full depth of the city’s unfunded liability was made public by Larry Kinley, an Upland resident who in recent months has made repeated inquiries and public observations about the city’s shaky financial standing.
Kinley, worked for Bank of America for 42 years, the last 15 of which he was a manager in the problem loan administration dealing with borrowers with financial difficulties.
Ironically, Kinley was prompted to find and ultimately confirm the $88.99 million pension liability because of the skepticism that had been expressed about his  warnings to his fellow citizens about the city’s dire financial condition.
Last month, after Kinley asserted at a city council meeting that there was insufficient transparency with regard to the city’s finances, city manager Stephen Dunn extended an invitation to him to meet with him to clarify those issues.  Kinley took advantage of what Dunn touted as his “open door policy” and scheduled a meeting with Dunn for earlier this week. Prior to that meeting, Kinley was under the impression that the city had an unfunded pension liability of somewhere between $30 million and $40 million.
Kinley said that upon meeting with Dunn, he asked the city manager what the current unfunded pension liability was. Dunn told him it was in the neighborhood of $80 million. Kinley asked if that was reflected in  the city’s accounting system. Dunn paged through what the Sentinel believes was  the city’s audited financial statement compiled by the city’s auditing firm of Mayer Hoffman McCann but was unable to find it there, either in the body of the 150-page text or in any of its footnotes.
Kinley asked if Dunn would be in favor of exiting the current retirement plan and substituting a defined contribution plan. Kinley said Dunn said he would entertain that notion.
After the meeting, Kinley consulted the website for the California Public Employees Retirement System, with which the city of Upland is contracted to deliver pensions to its employees. Poring through what for many would be arcane financial data, Kinley was able to extrapolate the $88.99 million number. What Kinley found is that as of June 30, 2012, the city of Upland’s unfunded pension liability for its safety [i.e., police and fire department] employees, current and future, calculated on an actuarial value of assets basis is $33,370,136 and calculated on a market value of assets basis is $54,213,809. Kinley further learned that as of June 30, 2012 the city of Upland’s unfunded pension liability for its miscellaneous [i.e., those other than policemen and firefighters] employees, current and future, calculated on an actuarial value of assets is  $21,234,203 and calculated on a market value of assets basis is $34,780,257.
In this way, Kinley derived the $88,994,066 figure, using market value actuarial terms.
Kinley said he hit it off with Dunn, who is a certified auditor himself and was Upland’s finance director before he was elevated to the city manager’s post.
“I was impressed with him,” Kinley said. “I think he is a pretty straightforward guy. He gave me the answers with no hesitation or hemming and hawing.  In that sort of one-on-one situation, I found him knowledgeable and realistic in his assessment of the challenges the city is facing.”
Kinley said he found the work of Mayer Hoffman McCann less satisfactory.
“The city was given a certificate of achievement in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association, essentially on the basis of its audited statement produced by Mayer Hoffman McCann,” Kinley said. “That bothers me when you consider that nowhere in the financial statement for the city is the unfunded pension liability raised.  I think that is a meaningful number, one that would help Upland’s citizens understand what position the city is in financially. If it wasn’t put in the report, I think it should at least have been in the transmittal letter.”
Kinley then took it upon himself to call the Government Finance Officers Association to ask why it had conferred the certificate of achievement in financial reporting on Upland when its audited financial statement contained no information whatsoever   about the city’s unfunded pension liability. “What I was told was that the current rules do not require Mayer Hoffman  McCann to disclose that,” Kinley said. “I was informed that there is a pending change to the standards so that, once the rules are adopted, including a calculation of unfunded liabilities will be mandatory.”
While Mayer Hoffman McCann may not have been technically required to include the information in the report, Kinley said he considered it inexcusable that the firm did not make some effort to memorialize the future funding burden the city faces. “At the very least, such liability should be disclosed in the cover letter from the accounting firm to the mayor,” he said. “How can the city budget for the future when you have no indication of what those costs, which are humungous, are going to be?”

Another Attempt To Decertify SBPEA, County’s Largest Public Employee Union

(May 13)  An effort is underway to decertify the union currently representing over 15,000 employees working for San Bernardino County.
The Service Employees International Union wants to displace the San Bernardino Public Employees Association.
Service Employees International, Known by its acronym SEIU, has been actively testing the interest of the county’s employees to depart from the San Bernardino Public Employees Association (SBPEA) for several months.
The SEIU campaign has been timed to correspond with the association’s ratification process for a new labor contract with the county, the voting on which is set to end today.
A recent posting on the SBPEA website, one headed “SEIU Promises…” outlined numerous concessions the Service Employees International Union has made in its collective bargaining efforts on behalf of employees with several governmental entities, including the state of California, the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, the cities of Hayward, El Monte, and Redwood City, the county of Riverside and the San Francisco Superior Court. The posting further references annual dues paid by SEIU members, which are called a “per capita tax paid to the International Union” of $299,797,852 in 2012. “That same year SEIU International spent $453,148,866,” the post continues. “They can’t balance their own checkbook.”
In another post, titled “Displacing The Myths” the San Bernardino Public Employees Association website seeks to defend the terms of the new labor contract, referred to as a “tentative agreement.” According to that posting, three “myths” about the agreement are that it will increase healthcare costs borne by association members, it will force county employees to pay 7 percent of their pay into the county employee pension fund and it will provide no pay increase. Those “myths” are inaccurate, according to the posting.
A third posting, “SEIU Won’t Stop,” upbraids the Service Employees International Union for using its members’ dues to run an informational campaign against SBPEA’s negotiated tentative agreement with San Bernardino County.
“Did you know that SEIU has invested millions of dollars on a “Vote No” campaign that essentially discourages unit San Bernardino Public Employees Association members from agreeing on a successor MOU [memorandum of understanding]?” the posting asks.
The prospect for the success of the Service Employees International Union ploy to decertify SBPEA hinges in large measure on the success of the new labor contract ratification. If the contract is passed, the likelihood of decertification, already comparatively dim, would grow even more remote.
Indeed, the Sentinel has obtained a copy of a mailer sent out by SEIU to San Bernardino Public Employees Association members. In that mailer it is stated that “The proposed contract would cost each county employee an average of $6,388 out of our pockets and if the premiums increase as they have in the past, up to $11,656 more in healthcare costs.”
The mailer further asserts that the proposed contract would divert “7% of our paycheck for pensions,” provide “no across the board raise,” and result in “increased healthcare costs.”
The mailer quotes Juana Gamez, who works in the county’s Children and Family Services division, as saying “I can’t afford a pay cut or to pay more for my retirement. I have already gone without a cost of living raise for five years.”
Oracio Diaz, who works in the Transitional Assistance Department, is quoted as saying, “We need a strong union that wins for union members- not one that negotiates takeaways.” Another of his colleagues in the Transitional Assistance Department, Maricruz Juarez, is quoted as saying, “If SBPEA can’t deliver a contract that keeps up with the cost of living, we need a new union.”
Vida Walker, a third employee in the Transitional Services Department is quoted as saying, “I knew I was overworked and underpaid. Now I see that I’m also underrepresented by SBPEA.”
The mailer advises recipients, “Vote no on the proposed San Bernardino County contract.”
Previous efforts to decertify SBPEA as the representative of some or all county employee divisions by agents working on behalf of the Teamsters, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have failed.

Merger Of Victor Valley & Barstow Transit Agencies

(May 12)  Barstow city officials have confirmed the county transportations agency’s previous projection that the city would derive an estimated savings of several hundred thousand dollars by merging Barstow Area Transit with the Victor Valley Transit Authority.
The county transportation agency, San Bernardino Associated Governments, last year undertook a study which found that there would be a financial advantage and potential service enhancements from merging the Barstow Area Transit with VVTA.
In response to the effort to convince local officials to consent to such a service consolidation, the city of Barstow, which has contracted with MV Transit, Inc. to service the greater Barstow area as a municipal transit agency, undertook its own inquiry.
Accordingly, assistant city manager Oliver Chi told the city council, Barstow might achieve an annual savings of $403,663 were the Victor Valley Transit Authority to expand its service area to Barstow, the seventh smallest of San Bernardino County’s 24 cities in terms of population.
The lion’s share of the savings would be had by streamlining the administrative function such that the current $467,176 cost of administrating the service would be reduced to around $207,369, a projected savings of $259,807 a year. In addition, Barstow would see an operational savings of another $143,826, bringing the total estimated savings of $403,663 per year. The county has projected that it would also stand to save about $60,000 a year in administrative costs if the two transit services merged.
The Victor Valley Transit Authority at present provides a link between its routes and the southernmost Barstow Transit stop.
MV Transit’s contract with the city expires at year’s end.
Chi indicated that within the next several weeks, an item related to the merging of Barstow Area Transit with the Victor Valley Transit Authority will be placed before the city council.
Indications were that both Caltrans and San Bernardino Associated Governments, which is known by its acronym SANBAG, would be amenable to facilitating that transition. The contract with MV came to a close eleven months ago and the city has given MV two temporary extensions on the terms of the prior contract, currently running  through December 31.
Caltrans has recommended against continuing the contract with MV beyond the currently extended term.
County and city officials are anxious to initiate a trial merger with Victor Valley Transit Authority, perhaps as early as January 1 to determine if the service enhancements that arrangement promises could actually be delivered at the cost savings projected.
Under the terms of the contemplated merger Barstow would join as the seventh member of the transit authority, which currently includes Adelanto, Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, San Bernardino County District 2 and San Bernardino County District 3.

Mayes’ Assembly Campaign Endowed With $70K From Sources Outside The 42nd District

(May 14)  Chad Mayes, the former Yucca Valley mayor and current chief of staff to San Bernardino County Second District Supervisor Janice Rutherford who is now vying for State Assembly in the 42nd district, has accepted at least $72,700 in substantial contributions from individuals or companies residing, based or operating well outside the confines of the 42nd District.
The sourcing and amounts of many of those contributions are of concern because of the influence they could have with regard to issues impacting the 42nd District if Mayes is elected as well as upon issues in San Bernardino County’s Second District, where Mayes is the primary advisor and policy formulator in Rutherford’s office.
Mayes has received $1,000 from Majestic Realty Co. of the city of Industry; $2,500 from Melissa Melendez For Assembly 2014 of Elk Grove;  $3,000 from the Mitsubishi Cement Corp. of Lucerne Valley; $1,000 from Pain Rehabilitation & Critical Care Medical Group, Inc. of Claremont; $1,000 from Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. of New York;  $1,000 from Paul M Attyah of Los Angeles;  $6,000 from Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. of Ontario;  $2,000 from the Rancho Cucamonga Professional Firefighters Association Political Action Committee, which is based in Sacramento; $1,000 from Ravco Construction, Inc.  of Orange; $4,100 from Reggie King of  Rancho Cucamonga; $4,000 from Richard J. Gottlieb of Beverly Hills;  $2,000 from Robertson’s Ready Mix of Corona;  $1,000 from Rodney W Borger of Colton; $2,500 from Ronald Cunning of Montclair; $1,000 from Roy Tyra of Whittier; $4,100 from the political action committee of the San Manuel Band Of Mission Indians, based in Los Angeles; $4,100 from Vanir Construction Management, Inc. of Sacramento; $1,000 from Veneokumar Nathraj of Anaheim; $1,000 from Donald Rogers of San Bernardino; $500 from the Lilburn Corporation of San Bernardino; $500 from Fontana City Councilman Saleh Michael Tahan; $500 from Brickley Construction of San Bernardino;  $1,000 from Letitia White of Fort Washington, Maryland; $1,000 from the Law Offices of Fullerton, Lemann, Schaefer & Dominick of San Bernardino; $500 from a political action committee controlled by San Bernardino County Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales, which is based in Santa Margarita; $4,100 from David Weiner of Beverly Hills; $500 from QMG Services of Ontario; $500 from Galaxy Investment Partners of West Hollywood; $1,000 from Derek Reinig of Newport Beach; $4,100 from Lloyd Fields of Beverly Hills; $500 from Vince Farhut of Pasadena; $500 from KCB Towers of Highland; $2,000 from Susan Patane of Biggs, Ca; $2,000 from Frontier Finance of Rancho Cucamonga; $500 from Environmental Logistics, Inc. of Bloomington; $1,000 from Cal Portland of Glendora; $500 from the Watson Land Company of Carson; $4,100 from the Committee To Elect Gary Ovitt, based in Santa Margarita; $4,100 from the Janice Rutherford For Supervisor Campaign Fund, based in Fontana; $1,000 from the Law Firm of Gresham, Savage, Nolan & Tilden of San Bernardino;  $1,000 from Valley Obstetrics & Gynecology of Colton; $1,000 from Pain Rehabilitation & Critical Care Medical Group of Claremont; and $500 from Phillip Waller of Upland.
Some of the donations may represent a degree of political complication for the Mayes campaign or for Rutherford, who is herself involved in a reelection campaign at present.
One of the donors, Letitia White, is a Washington, D.C. lobbyist who was targeted by the FBI in a four-year long probe that related to influence peddling on behalf of her clients.
The $4,100 Mayes received from Ovitt’s reelection committee could be questioned because of the potential conflict it presents, given his work for Rutherford, who represents the county’s Fourth District on the board of supervisors and Ovitt’s status as the supervisor for the county’s Fourth District.
Political purists may recognize a problem in Mayes receiving money from the supervisor, Rutherford, who employs him.
David Wiener, who has pursued development projects in Fontana, was widely portrayed as a corruption figure in that city in the 1980s and 1990s, largely on the basis of his involvement in the Trust 45 Scandal and his identification by former Fontana Mayor Nat Simon as a “pay to play” donor during the 1990 election. The $6,000 provide to Mayes by Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. exceeds the state’s $4,100 campaign donation limit by $1,900.

SB Court Opens Amid Unanimous County Protest Over Justice Realignment

(May 13) The San Bernardino County Justice Center in downtown San Bernardino began operations on May 12, meeting an opening deadline that essentially ensures that the realignment of San Bernardino County courts will be effectuated, as Presiding Judge Marsha Slough intends, by the end of the month.
The 11-story San Bernardino County Justice Center located at 247 West Third Street in the county seat, plans for which were first set on paper more than seven years ago and which has been under construction for three years, is the linchpin in Slough’s realignment plan.
The realignment will entail transferring all civil cases countywide to the new San Bernardino Justice Center, which contains 35 courtrooms within its 11 floors. In addition, San Bernardino district criminal cases, now being heard in the San Bernardino Central Courthouse built in 1927, will be tried in the new San Bernardino Justice Center.
West Valley Superior Courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga, which currently is the venue for both civil and criminal cases originating on the west end of the county, will be devoted almost entirely to
criminal cases, including those arising on the county’s west end and other felony and misdemeanor cases from the county’s central district which are currently routed to the Fontana Courthouse.  A small portion of the criminal cases now heard in Fontana will be adjudicated in San Bernardino. At least temporarily, hearings on both civil and domestic violence restraining order matters will be heard at the Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse.
The historic San Bernardino Courthouse will remain as the forum for the family law cases it currently hosts and will soon serve as the venue for the family law cases presently heard in Rancho Cucamonga.
The Fontana Courthouse will become the stage for all small claims, landlord tenant disputes and traffic/non-traffic infractions from the San Bernardino, Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga districts. The lion’s share of criminal cases now being heard in Fontana will transfer to Rancho Cucamonga. A lesser number of the Fontana criminal cases will go to San Bernardino.
The Victorville Courthouse will remain a venue for High Desert family law cases.
Some have questioned the wisdom of Slough’s vision for the transformation of the county court system and the centralization of all civil courts in downtown San Bernardino.

Far flung San Bernardino County, which spans 20,105 square miles, is the largest county in the lower 48 states, with a land mass greater than the states of Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. Slough’s change is imposing a tremendous logistical burden on many of the county’s citizens who need to access the courts. Driving distance from Needles to San Bernardino is 212 miles, with an average one-way traveling time of three hours and nine minutes.

As a consequence of the realignment, the city of Rancho Cucamonga is suffering the loss of the privilege of serving as host to a major portion of the county’s civil cases and simultaneously bracing for the influx of massive numbers of criminal defendants, as well as their associates and family members into its downtown district. The Rancho Cucamonga City Council was the first major public entity to register official opposition to the proposed realignment. On April 2 it adopted a resolution calling upon the managers of the court system in San Bernardino County to preserve its branch courts unless it can be demonstrated the closures will result in a savings of at least ten percent of the court system’s budget.
The city council unanimously endorsed the resolution and gave direction to city staff to carry the resolution to local members of the state legislature and insist on a response from them.  The council further directed Mayor Dennis Michael to take up the court realignment issue with the San Bernardino Association of Governments, the county’s transportation agency and regional planning board which has as its voting directors mayors or council members from each of the county’s 24 cities as well as all five members of the board of supervisors.
Michael did so and on May 7 all 29 members of the SANBAG board considered the resolution. A staff report by SANBAG Director of Legislative and Public Affairs Wendy Strack stated,  “For a county spanning 20,000 square miles, the proximity of courthouses to those with matters pending before the court carries significant cost and time pressures for impacted parties. San Bernardino County is already facing the largest shortage of judges in the state of California. According to the statewide judicial needs study released in October 2012, the San Bernardino Superior Court system should have 156 judges and more than 1,500 staff member, yet it operates with only 43 percent of that suggested staffing. The state has already closed the Chino, Needles, and Big Bear courthouses and shuttered courtrooms in Joshua Tree. The reduction in service and pending closure of courtrooms in Barstow will mean that crime victims, jurors, law enforcement officers, court personnel, and others are forced to drive many more miles to make court appearances. Our cash-strapped local governments are already struggling to provide basic services to residents. The overtime and fuel costs associated with longer court trips will create even more budget pain for our 24 cities and the county of San Bernardino.”
The resolution was endorsed by all 29 members of the SANBAG board.
City officials have met with State Senator Mike Morrell, who has indicated a willingness to seek a legislative resolution of the matter.
Slough’s critics maintain the shuttering of the county’s satellite courtrooms and the centralization of civil courtrooms in San Bernardino will not provide significant monetary savings and merely reduces the administrative burden of maintaining a geographically dispersed system. That administrative convenience will translate into far greater costs to be borne by the county’s governmental agencies and the county’s residents, they maintain.
Slough, however, in March told the Sentinel that the realignment was driven by fiscal necessity in that the court system in San Bernardino County had seen its 2008-09 budget of $110 million drop to $99.2 million in 2009-10, move up to $108 million in 2010-11, dip to $103 million in 2011-12, and then suffer a precipitous decline to $84 million in 2012-13.
“I know for those on the outside looking in and even for some of those on the inside it is very hard to get your arms around this,” Slough said. “The rationale behind this may not seem clear but… We are doing it this way because it allows us to focus our resources where we need to focus them.”

New Rest Stop Marks Eastern Gateway To Historic RT 66

(May 16)  Ribbons were cut on historic Route 66’s new eastern entry this past week.  Marking the entry, a new rest area and information kiosk for travelers, was added to the historic byway.  Construction of the facility is credited to the Needles Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the City of Needles.  Dignitaries and honored guest cutting the ribbon and a cake in celebration included Dr. Edward Paget, Mayor of Needles, Mike Ahrens, BLM Needles Field Manager, Teri Raml, BLM California Desert District Manager and Randy Banis,  BLM’s Desert Advisory Council Chairman.  Approximately 35 people, many who were participating in the BLM’s  Desert Advisory Council meeting held in Needles on Friday and Saturday May 9 and 10, were in attendance.

While the rest area does not yet include “rest rooms” it does feature a covered sitting area and informational kiosk including a map of the route, location data and points of interest along the way.  The hallmark of the facility is the welded metal sculpture of the Route 66 iconic logo displayed at the pinnacle of the cover.

It is located at the “5 Mile Road” exit  (Exit 148) of Interstate 40 (I-40) between Needles and Park Moabi.   Though a section of the original Route 66 alignment exists nearer the bridge at the Colorado River, the section between it and the new rest stop was paved over by I-40.  The 5 Mile Road exit of the I-40 is a suitable location for a start point to tour Route 66 westward. West of the rest stop, Route 66 follows the historic alignment and is a two-lane road.

The Desert Advisory Council joined in the ribbon cutting as part of a scheduled field tour of a portion of Route 66. A Corridor Management Plan for Route 66 between Needles and Barstow is currently underway. Lardner-Klein Landscape Architects, the contractor preparing the CMP, will host the webcasts, which will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon (Pacific Daylight Time) on May 22, 2014 to address the topic of “Visitor Experience,” on August 28, 2014 to address the topic of “Transportation” and on October 23, 2014 to address the topic of “Marketing and Heritage Tourism Development” regarding the CMP.  Route 66’s Intrinsic Qualities and their Stewardship were addressed on April 28, 2014.

Members of the public participating in the District Advisory Council meeting held on May 9-10 were also treated to cake in celebration of the rest area opening while visiting with government employees who participated in the construction of the facility. The District Advisory Council advises the BLM’s California Desert District management on issues important to the public including new applications for use of public land.

District Manager Raml informed the Sentinel that she “was busting with pride over the accomplishments of the Needles Field Office.  With limited resources, these dedicated employees used their ingenuity and $3000 to construct a useful and attractive facility to serve all of the people.  I hope that the visiting public can appreciate it and that they will treat it with respect.”

With reference to the very limited federal funding applied to this project, it should be noted that the lands managed by the BLM amounts to a major presence in San Bernardino County.  As a subagency of the United States Department of the Interior it administers 247,300,000 acres of American Public land.   San Bernardino County is the largest county in the United States outside of Alaska. The predominant acreage within the 20,105 square mile confines of San Bernardino County is desert, specifically the Mojave Desert.  The major landowner in the Mojave Desert is the BLM.
Whereas it was once said that “As General Motors goes, so goes the nation” it is at least as true that “As the BLM goes, so goes a major portion of San Bernardino County.”
In this way, the funding crunch for the BLM has a major impact on the quality of the environment, and life, in the place we call home.

Unlike the National Park Service, BLM operations including employee salaries are typically funded by project proponent payments of application fees and rent for use of public lands for private projects.   The reality is that the BLM must process land use applications or some of their costs including employee salaries go unpaid.  Staff cut backs, layoffs due to reductions in funding are not uncommon.

Traditionally, it has been a characteristic of BLM employees to be dedicated—they desire to serve the public well.   In the case of the lack luster funding for the rest area, the BLM employees have taken up the slack.  Any appearance of inability to steward an important asset like Route 66 or other public lands and facilities could be used as ammunition to argue for privatization which would leave the public out of the loop on how an asset is used.
One can see such scenarios clearly repeated in the public sector on the local level…the public pays for an asset, a failure is caused by lack of resources or funding to maintain the asset, blame for the failure is placed on the agency in control, control/ownership is sold to privatize the asset.  When a Congress is set on privatizing public assets, what we might expect to see is a refusal to properly fund agency management thus causing failure, blaming the failure on the agency, then using that failure as an excuse to privatizing the property.

Congress needs to fund the maintenance of Route 66 and improve its safety. The historic byway is scenic and a cultural treasure–a resource that deserves the careful scrutiny of public participation in its future use not only to guarantee its availability for public enjoyment but also as a very necessary public emergency transportation route out of southern California. That being said, the road is best in the hands of a public agency that allows for private concessions and entrepreneurial involvement.  The BLM is such an agency.   The paltry amount allowed for the new rest stop is an example of where priorities in federal funding need to be revisited and revised.
On the other hand, those employees involved in the construction of the helpful safety rest stop at 5 Mile Road deserve credit for what they accomplished on such a small budget, their careful planning and conservative use of public funds.

Standard Pacific Committed To $2.6 M In Infrastructure On Lytle Creek Development

(May 11) Standard Pacific Corporation will be required to finance $2,634,000 worth of infrastructure as a condition of resuming the development of 98 lots in the unincorporated county area near Devore.
The Standard Pacific Corporation recently purchased the property, consisting of  Tract 16977-1 located northerly of Lytle Creek Wash and southerly of the intersection of  Glen Helen Parkway with State Highway Interstate, from Lennar Homes. Lennar initially obtained approval for the project in 2006 and committed to completing the required road and drainage, and water improvements by August 22, 2008. The board of supervisors granted Lennar five extensions on its completion date from September 9, 2008 to August 22, 2009;  January 12, 2010 to August 22, 2010; December 14, 2010 to August 22, 2011; from November 1, 2011 to August 22, 2012; and from December 18, 2012 to August 22, 2013. The county allowed those delays upon Lennar maintaining that “poor economic conditions” prevented it from proceeding with the project.
Standard Pacific has committed to take over from Lennar the promise to expend $1,033,000 on materials and $516,500 on labor for road and materials;  $402,000 on materials and $201,000 on labor for a water system;  $294,000 on materials and $147,000 on labor for a sewer system; and  $27,000 on materials and  $13,500 on labor for landscaping. It obtained a surety bond to satisfy the county that the work would be completed.

Lynn Valbuena Now Reprising Role As San Manuel Tribal Chairwoman

(May 12)  Lynn “Nay” Valbuena, who served as chairwoman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians two decades ago, has returned to head the tribe, having been reelected to the post last month.
“I am humbled by this election to lead the people of San Manuel,” said Valbuena. “The future of our tribe requires that we continue the work initiated by our ancestors generations ago to ensure not only our survival, but also to maintain our cultural strengths as well as a commitment to progress in an increasingly complex world. I am firmly committed to these principles.”
Valbuena has been active in guiding the tribe’s operations since 1974, when she was selected to a position on the San Manuel housing commission, which provided oversight for the housing program on the reservation, which is located near Highland in San Bernardino County.
For the last 19 years, Valbuena has served as chairwoman of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations (TASIN), a regional tribal organization in Southern California whose purpose is to advance tribal government issues with local, state and federal governments.
Among her current affiliations, she serves on the board of trustees for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, as trustee for the Autry National Center based in Los Angeles, is serving in her 23rd year as delegate to the National Congress of American Indians, and has been a member of the Advisory Council for the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of California for 15 years.
Valbuena has been active with regard to several local agencies and charities. She was employed as a stenographer, court officer, resource officer and public spokeswoman with the San Bernardino Police Department for 16 years.  She previously served as a board member with the San Bernardino Valley Lighthouse for the Blind and the San Bernardino YMCA.
She has received numerous distinctions throughout her career, including the San Bernardino County Safety Employee’s Benefit Association Distinguished Benefactor Honoree in 2011, California Assemblyman Bill Emmerson’s California Woman of Distinction award in 2010, Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations (WEWIN) honoree and the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) Chairman’s Leadership Award.
Valubena and her husband Stephen have two children and three grandchildren.

County Extends Lease With Glenborough For SB Workforce Development Office

(May 7) Glenborough, LLC, which has for the last five years been leasing 16,642 square feet of office space in San Bernardino to the county of San Bernardino for use by its workforce development department, will take in almost $2 million more for the extension of that lease for another five years.
On May 6 the board of supervisors approved exercising a five-year option to extend the term from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019 for 16,642 square feet of office space at 658 E. Brier Street, Suite 100, in San Bernardino for a total of $1,997,040.
In approving the lease extension the board authorized the county’s real estate services department to negotiate keeping the Workforce Development Department in its current quarters as an alternative procedure to seeking bids from other owners of office space.
In a report to the board of supervisors, Terry Thompson, the director of the county’s real estate services department and Sandy Harmsen, the director of the county’s workforce development department, wrote “This item will amend an existing lease for the workforce development department  by extending the term five years from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019 for office space in San Bernardino because of the continuing need to provide employment services to job seekers and employers in the San Bernardino area. The workforce development department  administers and operates programs under the Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA). These programs are often provided by other parties and institutions that partner with the workforce development department  and co-locate in the workforce development department  facilities.
The employment development department is co-located at the workforce development department’s facility at 658 E. Brier Street, Suite 100, in San Bernardino, and provides similar, but not identical services to job seekers and employers. The combined services offered to those seeking employment include career counseling, job search, assessment and occupational training services provided through employee resource centers. Business customers benefit from customized recruitment services and a large pool of pre-screened job applicants provided through business resource centers.”
For the 16,642 square feet, the county will pay $375,444 to lease the property from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015;  $387,420 from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016;  $399,408 from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017;  $411,396 from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018; $423,372 from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.