Yucca Valley, Ca.- Friday the 13th at 10:am in the morning is the first meeting of the Oversight Board with some change-ups of members previously listed.  If there was a meeting to reconsider the new lineup, I don’t remember hearing about it.  Let me clarify that last sentence, if there was an open & public meeting to discuss the members, I did not receive an agenda or courtesy notice of such meeting.

This Oversight Board meeting will be held in the Ocotillo Room at the Yucca Valley Community Center with the agenda posted on the town’s website.  They will select a Chair and one member to serve as Vice Chair, for a one year term. Then the newly selected Chair will ask fellow Oversight Board Members to “affirm the selection of the Oversight Board Members.”  I wonder if this is kosher?

Friday the 13th, better bring the rabbit’s foot, garlic and wooden stakes as they review the Legal Status and Role of the Oversight Board to drive the final nail into the RDA coffin. They will agree to follow the Brown Act and Public Records Act, follow Robert’s Rules of Order, adopt By-Laws as a newly formed local entity and Board Members will be required to file Form 700 Declaration of Financial Interests, if they have not previously filed on April 1st in their current position.

Then there is the “Pick Me! Choose Me!” section where “Staff recommends” Yucca Valley Town Manager, Mark Nuaimi, as the official to serve as the contact person for the Department of Finance inquiries.  In my opinion, there are several qualified Members that could fill this position but Nuaimi has the need to run the show.

Who are the newly selected Oversight Members?

1. *David Cooper (Board appointee-Board of Supervisors Selection)

2. *Yucca Valley Mayor Dawn Rowe (Town appointment)

3. Vacant- (County Fire Largest Special District appointment)

4. Dave Price (County Superintendent of Schools appointment)

5. Dick Rogers (Community College Chancellor appointment)

6. *Bob Dunn (County Member of Public-Board of Supervisors Selection)

7. *Town Manager Mark Nuaimi (RDA Employee appointment/self appointed)

*At a recent Yucca Valley Town Council meeting, they selected Mayor Rowe and our Financial Manager, Curtis Yakimow.  After reviewing the list of citizens that stepped forward to serve, the YV Town Council also selected David Cooper and Bob Dunn.  Of course, Nuaimi appointed himself as the RDA employee representative.

Yakimow has been deleted as an Oversight Member and I am happy to see the County Fire selecting their own representative.  There were some unhappy campers that were not pleased with Nuaimi inserting his selection on their behalf.

*David Cooper is a CPA and served eight years as a YV Planning Commissioner in the past and was highly recommended by YV Councilman George Huntington, having served with him on the Planning Commission. Cooper was the final candidate for appointment to the YV Town Council, tied with Bob Lombardo in a dead lock vote.

*Bob Dunn, is listed as an insurance agent but that is only the tip of the iceberg.  He owns several properties in the Basin, a vested interest in the YV Airport, and the founder of the Morongo Basin Economic Consortium responsible for the Buxton Report, a financial study of the Basin.  Dunn is the founder of the political PAC, Morongo Basin Lincoln Club with his insurance office listed as their address.  His wife is a Board Member of the Copper Mountain College Foundation and is a Real Estate Broker. Both are committed to the community but I wonder if their holdings and occupations will be a conflict down the road.

The list of Recognized Obligation Schedule, ROPS, will be available on the Town of Yucca Valley’s website. In small bold caps are the words, “FINAL.”  We’ll see what the State of California says about all that……

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