Dennis Yates, celebrated as a pillar of the Chino Valley community in which he lived and dedicated the last 42 of his 79 years, has died.
The son of Edward Laverne Yates and his wife, Beulah Marie Yates, Dennis Yates, one of nine siblings, was born in 1945 while his mother was living at the Sterling housing complex in Oceanside among other Marine Corps wives and families waiting for their husbands to return from World War II. When his father returned stateside and was subsequently discharged, the family moved to Pomona.
There, young Yates attended Lincoln Elementary, Emerson Junior High and Pomona High School, from which he graduated in 1963. As a kid, he learned to swim at the Pomona YMCA located at 350 North Garey Avenue between Center Street and Monterey Avenue, his YMCA membership having been defrayed by an donation from an anonymous benefactor, a senior executive from the Pomona First Federal Savings and Loan, sponsored him for a YMCA membership for many years.
local businessman. While yet attending Lincoln Elementary as a fifth-grader, he obtained a paper route, delivering the Los Angeles Examiner, which was then in competition with the Los Angeles Times and the Pomona Progress-Bulletin. By the time he was in the sixth grade, he landed another after-school job, as a box boy at the Gold Strike Market at 416 North Park Avenue. At Pomona High, he was a member of the football and track teams.
After graduation, having already moved on to the stock crew and assistant produce clerk at Gold Strike Market, he became the store’s night manager.
In 1966, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, whereupon after eight weeks of basic training in San Antonio Texas, her served four years of active duty, including tours in Okinawa, Thailand and Viet Nam, including duty at the Cam Ranh Bay,  Tan Son Nhut and Hoa Lac bases. He promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.
After his discharge, he attended Chaffey College on the GI Bill, obtaining his Associate of Arts Degree.
With his wife, Rosemary, Yates had three sons – Kevin, David & Jason – and two daughters – Janine and Denise.
His experience at Gold Strike served him well, allowing him to land another position in the retail industry, in this instance with Thrifty Drugs. He acceded to the position of senior merchandising executive with the company, remaining there for 38 years before retiring.
In 1982, when he was 37 years old, he and his family moved to Chino.
As a father, he found himself involved in spurring his three son’s interest in sports in a way that mirrored his activity when he was their age. He gravitated into being the president of Chino Pop Warner and was involved as a prime mover in the Puma Youth Track Club’s Invitational Track Meet, the Chino Relays and Chino City track meets for more than two decades.
The perception of some that the city was being less than fully supportive of the community’s youth sports programs than it could have been, an off-hand remark by someone in his circle and then an outright suggestion that he should run for the Chino City Council pushed him toward doing just that. He was elected to the council in 1992, coming into that position just as Fred Aguiar was departing as mayor for the California Assembly. Nevertheless, through their shared Republicanism, something of an alliance formed between Aguiar and Yates.
He served as a councilman for three terms, being reelected in 1996 and 2000. In 2004, when Eunice Ulloa opted out of seeking reelection as mayor, Yates ran to claim the gavel, trouncing Laura De La Cruz in the process. He was reelected in 2008 and again in 2012.
His association with Aguiar paid off, in that Aguiar after leaving the Assembly had run successfully for the San Bernardino County Fourth District supervisorial position, which he resigned from to become Arnold Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff when the latter become governor. As mayor, Aguiar was able to use his entree with the governor through Aguiar to pull off a coup, that being the expansion of Ayala Park from 41 acres to 141 acres as the result of the State of California agreeing to deed – as part of an agency-to-agency transfer – 100 “surplus” acres from the adjacent California Institution for Men campus.
In 2013, when the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was slated to expand the California Institution for Men in Chino to expand its capacity by 792 beds to accommodate Level II prisoners, Yates effectively lobbied the governor’s office to drop the proposal unless and until improvements to the facility and its security were undertaken.
Yates would score multiple other political victories during his tenures as both a councilman and mayor, which included the city’s annexation of a substantial portion of the Chino Agricultural Preserve, the establishment of his alma mater’s satellite campus – the Chaffey Community College Technology Center – in Chino, improvements to the city, including the downtown area prior to the state doing away with California’s redevelopment agencies in 2012, the construction of a low-cost senior housing project in the city, the construction of the Carolyn Owens Community Center and the College Park residential development.
Politics being what it is, of course, there were a few bumps in the road, some setbacks and embarrassments.
As some saw it, the breakup of the Chino Agricultural Preserve was a less than fully positive development. Moreover, some feel, Chino in 1999 should have laid claim to the entirety of the 15,200 acres in the preserve. Instead, Ontario annexed the lion’s share of the land – 8,200 acres – while Chino obtained 5,300 acres and Chino Hills took the remaining 1,700 acres.
A cross section of Chino citizens feel that Dennis Yates along with four of the other council members at the time – Eunice Ulloa, Glenn Duncan, Tom Haughey and Earl Elrod – engaged in typical political underhandedness and self-serving greed when they adopted Resolution 2006-051 on June 20, 2006, which was made retroactive to August 1, 2005. That resolution resulted in a health benefit bank compensation paid to the city council members that was more generous than the comparable benefit available and paid by the city for its employees as mandated under Government Code §36516(e), such that in 2010 the city council members received health benefit bank compensation of approximately $26,629 annually, whereas other city employees received benefit bank compensation of $15,672, a difference of $10,957 annually. This was alleged to be in violation of California Penal Code §424, related to the misappropriation of public monies. It was further asserted that in order to circumvent the maximum compensation requirement of the government code, the city council tailored a unique employment contract with the city attorney, which would allow the excessive health payments to also be classified as retirement benefits. This uniquely drawn up contract applicable only to the mayor, council members and city attorney was averred to be violation of Government Code §1090, California’s conflict of interest statute, since the city council members had a financial interest in the contract with the city attorney and they voted to approve it.  In 2011, after the State Controller required the compensation of the city council to be included in the database made available to the public, the city council took action to reduce the health bank benefits they had voted for themselves to being the same benefit amount as made available and paid to the other employees of Chino. It was thus the contention of some in the city that the total illegal benefits so derived by the mayor and city council exceeded $270,000 between 2005 and 2011.
That information had remained under wraps until the California state controller created a database in 2012 disclosed the compensation and benefits paid to California’s governmental employees. The data base also revealed that since the year 2000, Chino City Council members had received $1,440 annually in deferred compensation in addition to their salary. Such deferred compensation was never authorized by the passage of a city resolution or ordinance as required under Government Code §36506 and §37206. Public scrutiny of the matter in the aftermath of the state controller’s creation of the database led to the city council adopting Resolution 2013-46, authorizing such payment, which was seen as a tacit admission that the council had been acting illegally for nearly 13 years. The city council, despite adopting Resolution 2013-46, took no action to require that its members reimburse the city for the alleged previously unauthorized and illegal payments.
In addition, those monitoring the city council’s actions propounded that the city council had violated Government Code §36514.5 when in December 2005 it adopted Resolution 2005-093, resulting in a monthly communication allowance of $100. That $100 monthly allowance was in violation of the state’s reimbursement laws as such a monthly allowance is not for an actual expense. Additionally, it was noted, prior to 2005, the city council never adopted a resolution or ordinance authorizing the payment of a communication allowance as required under Government Code §36506 and Government Code §37206.
It was alleged the mayor and most of the council members had thus received $123,176 each to which they were not entitled.
The district attorney’s office began looking into the matter in 2014, at which time the practices were quietly discontinued. Neither the mayor nor the council members were prosecuted, but the episode served as an illustration of what some saw as an abuse of privilege and authority, as well as mendacity, by the mayor and council.
Two years later, perhaps in reaction to the scandal over the payments to the council, Yates announced he would not seek reelection.
In his mature years, Yates, with his graying hair turning white and his full mustache, took on the aspect of the character designed by the artist Daniel Fox for Parker Brothers Company to serve as the mascot of the board game Monopoly. The character, who over the decades took on various different names which included the Monopoly Man, the Monopoly Guy, Rich Uncle, Milburn Pennybags, Pennybegs or Mr. Monopoly, was said to have been modeled after the American Progressive Era businessman J.P. Morgan. The resemblance of mature Yates to the character, seen on the 18 of the Monopoly chance cards and 16 of the Monopoly community chest cards is remarkable.
The City of Chino posted on its website, “The City of Chino is deeply saddened to announce the passing of former Mayor Dennis R. Yates, a dedicated public servant, veteran, leader, and pillar of our community. Mayor Yates was 79 years old. Mayor Yates’ commitment to Chino and its residents spanned over two decades of service, beginning with his election to the Chino City Council in 1992.”
The posting continues, “An advocate for youth programs, Mayor Yates was integral in the creation of the Chino Youth Museum, a lasting tribute to his belief in fostering educational opportunities for children. He also spent decades as a volunteer and mentor with Chino Pop Warner football, where the Yates Field at Ayala Park stands in his honor, named after him in recognition of his 28 years of service to the program. Mayor Yates’ unwavering dedication to his community was honored with Chino’s highest accolade, the prestigious Spirit of Achievement Award in 2019. This award recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the city, reflecting the lasting impact of his leadership and service on Chino’s growth and vitality.”
Beyond his service to Chino, Mayor Yates held influential positions on boards and committees at regional and state levels. He served as vice chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, board member of Omnitrans, and representative to the San Bernardino Association of Governments. Through these roles, Yates helped shape regional policies that improved the quality of life, not only for Chino residents but for communities across the region.”
Quoting Mayor Ulloa, the posting states, “Dennis Yates was a true public servant who loved his community and devoted his life to making Chino a better place. His leadership and vision have left a lasting legacy on our city, and his impact on Chino will be felt for generations to come. We send our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Rosemary, their children, and grandchildren.”
-Mark Gutglueck