The leading reason Warne got the boot in every city he has served as city manager is his need to control every aspect of city business. The biggest thing that leads to his object failure as a city manager is his convoluted budgets that take the power of both the People and the Council out of the Equation.
The proposed 2012-2013 Twentynine Palms Budget is no exception. Millions are allocated to projects that have not been given a public hearing or a Council vote. It is an all or nothing package. Sort of like the Affordable Healthcare Bill…. The council has to pass it to find out what is in it.
SNAFU, FUBAR, Cluster F___, are some of the words that one is reminded of while reading the Warne budget Novel.
No budget should ever remove public scrutiny and the need for approvals by the Council for any project no matter how noble.
Try to decipher this mess yourself. See what we are talking about. You will see that Warne manages to jam an “I” in the word “Team.” If we would have wanted to hire a dictator we would have interviewed Raul Castro or Robert Mugabe.
The Proposed Budget FY2012-2013 will be discussed at a City Council Workshop and Public Hearing, beginning at 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 26, at Twentynine Palms City Hall, 6136 Adobe Road, 760-367-6799.
PROPOSED BUDGET – Fiscal Year 2012-2013
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Executive Summary, Table of Contents
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – City Manager’s Budget Message
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 1 – Strategic Planning
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 2 – City Organization
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 3 – Accounting & Financial Reporting Systems
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 4 – Budget Policies
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 5 – Budget Summaries
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 6a – Fund Budgets (pp 228-300)
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 6b – Fund Budgets (pp 301-346)
Proposed Budget 2013-2013 – Section 6c – Fund Budgets (pp 347-381)
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 7 – Statistical Information
Proposed Budget 2012-2013 – Section 8 – Glossary
![[UNSET]](http://www.vote29.com/newmyblog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/UNSET-75x75.jpg "Local Smoke Shops Shut Down By Sheriff’s Department")
where can I post my invitation to Lori
“Lori here at smith’s ranch we have a location that is private shaded with sanitation facilities, that would be a great spot to set up your farmers market. If you were able with your city connections convince them that a farmers market / fee market is right for 29. I would give you a premium shaded location for your operation. I as a business owner understand the difficulties and truly wish you the best one way or the other. I will continue to shop at the JT FM “
It’s a PROPOSED budget nummy. Everybody can discuss it. The City Council has to ammend it and or pass it. Your personal animosity floweth over.
I see your point but why would a highly paid city manager PROPOSE a budget that he can’t afford?
Perhaps we just have a difference of opinion of what a city manager is to actually do.
I believe he is subordinate to each and every council member and he does not PROPOSE to spend more than the yearly income of the city is unless he ASKS for permission to do so first at a public meeting and he then gets 3 council members to allow him to PLAN to spend the money.
This is all backwards Larry and you know it!
A city manager manages he does not lead! I want to see my council lead and not manage.
There is a huge difference in leadership and management and they are not the same concept at all.
Perhaps we can ask the Sherman Block Leadership Institute if they will allow our council members and city staff to attend. It would be an eye opener for some.
Hi Larry,
You and I need to talk like I have so far with several council members. This budget is a tragedy. I would remind you that any city manager that is taking 1.7 million in reserve funds to balance his budget is more than Not probably lost.
Those reports we have from Livingston are proving to be very accurate.
And hereYucca under professional leadership will again be adding to their reserves just like 29 always did before the arrival of Warne and his first full year of being on the job.
That’s what City Council meetings are all about. The Council questioning the staff and the public speaking up. If the City Manager needs to take 1.7M to “balance” the budget, where and what in the budget needs to be cut? Other than the 60K for the sign at NatPkDr what should be cut? 12K to the YV Visitor’s Center? What is the purpose of the Reserve (rainy day) funds? Expenses such as retirement fund contributions keep going up. CALPERS isn’t making as much as they projected they’d make so the city’s contribution is going up to make the difference. Again, what is the purpose of the reserve funds? It’s there for emergencies. This may be the year when expenses exceed income. Let’s not blame the economy on the City manager. Let’s discuss it at an open City Council meeting in a business like manner. No theatrics, no vendettas, just good citizenshp like Norman Rockwell painted.
“The First Amendment creates a forum in which all may seek, without hindrance or aid from the State, to move public opinion and achieve their political goals…” Knox v. SEIU, 10-1121. Opinion by Alito
Hi Larry,
With all due respect Larry you are way off base on this one. I was on the Council for 8 years went through 7 city budgets under two different city managers.
Not one of those 7 budgets ever proposed a plan to spend into the RED and then balance it by taking money from the reserves.
This current budget by Warne is more than a budget it is a program that he thinks our city wants and needs. And to be blunt it is not his job to come up with programs that he thinks the city wants and needs.
First and primary example other than the ones you have already found in regards to signage is the expenditure of $350,000.00 for a “splash pad” at the pool.
You find for me Larry were that kind of project has ever been voted on for construction by the council.
On a secondary matter CALPERS has nothing and I mean nothing to do with this 1.7 million dollar in the red budget. Virtually all of the 1.7 million can be traced back to Capital Projects that have never been approved!
If our council approves this budget then they have relinquished their authority as granted to them by the people that voted them into office to a man that was hired with a cloud over his heard from Livingston, Ca.
Expenses have not exceeded income it is in black and white and color in that 400 page novel.
I am fired up now after the events of today and this continued disregard for the safety of our city by this city manager who thinks taking $350,000.00 from the reserves to build a spalsh pad is more important than the city having an adequate Fire Department.
Time to declare for the elections are coming up and I have my target set on removing two individuals from our city immediately and another two within weeks of that election.
As you well know Larry it only takes three council members to totally change the direction of city hall. There are at least two council members right now that want a change and are hoping for a shake up come November. Perhaps come November some people will be looking for a new job. Just maybe.
Splash Pad? $350K? When was the Public Hearing for this? When did that get voted on?
Gateway sign construction? What Gateway sign? You can’t be talking about National Park Sign Construction can yeah???? No Public hearing(s).
Split Rock Bridge design $150,000.00 no kidding when was that ever brought to the Council? What we the People don’t get a say in this???
More Bike Paths to nowhere that nobody uses for $150,000.00? And there is more!!
No Larry tell me it ain’t so, you can not be warm and fuzzy about not having well over a million buck in public works without a single public hearing or a single authorizing Council Vote? That can’t be the American Way.
sure hope those smart guys on the council ask some hard questions of staff, I don’t get the increase in the real property values between 2008 and 2012 must have been a mistake don’t think there could be an increase to the tune of one billion, nine hundred sixty eight million, three hundred and twenty thousand and change during the housing crises. Let’s say that is an error by an overpaid pencil pusher on a city’s most important document and go back a year to 2011 and compare it to 2008, it still shows nearly 20% increase in value. Hope the smarter ones than I in this town checks this out; this high school dropout thinks this is a sham and a fraud. We get what we deserve please reverence page 383. What else and what are the implications on pension payments to the state.
Steve, Sounds like you are getting ready to run for City Council again. In all due respect to you, you were on the Council during the good times. These are the lean times. The City manager’s job is to propose a budget. The City Council’s job is to enact one. Which means they can change, modify or reject the proposed budget in its entirety. Again I ask you when is it proper to use the Reserve funds. You seem to be evading the question.
Reserve funds are to be used for an emergency such as bad economic times that effects your ability to provide police and fire protection and provide basic needed infrastructure such properly paved roads.
Monetary reserves are not there to build splash pads and the other nonsense that is in this 1.7 million dollar deficit spending plan.
I evade nothing nothing Larry, I call it the way it is and I do not do it nicely when the iceberg that sinks the ship is of my port bow at 500 yards.
I take aim and steer a course that saves the ship at the expense of the few that were so foolish to place the ship in jeopardy in the first place.
BTW – do we not have a public safety problem coming up with a Fire Department problem? Hmmmmmm lets build that splash pad first.
Where in this budget are the answers to funding fire protection? Oh wait I am still reading the literary equivalent of War and Peace. Maybe I will find it by the time my house burns down.
Dan, They vote on it Tuesday the 26th. Try to be there. Try to comprehend the meaning of the word “PROPOSED”. If you don’t like the splash pad, speak against it. The Split Rock Bridge item is a good suggestion from staff. It was there I believe that we lost 5 lives during a flash flood several years ago. Safety first.
Yeah and we have a set of gates that solves the problem….
Is that a joke?
No it is not a Joke.
We have gates that are closed at each side of the wash at Split Rock when a storm approaches…. That system has served us well since they were installed after the Drowning incident.
Why in heavens name do we need a bridge across the wash at Split Rock? We have maybe 5 inches a year total rain. Where split rock channel flowing with water is measured in minutes per year.
We do not need to spend Millions to build a Bridge across Split Rock Road. Folks can drive around up to city hall and turn west there to get to the North side of Split rock for the 20 mins the wash might run and the gates are closed.
This is not rocket science here. We have limited funds lets spend them wisely and frugally. We are going to have to make good on those bonds that Warne floated. Might as well start now pulling ourselves out of this hole Warne has dug for us.
And if memory serves me we already did a study on building a bridge across Split Rock under Swigart …. Hence the Gates. You think something changed in the finance department that Warne might be able to pull $5-10 million out his arse to build it?
Larry We are speaking against it… and by doing so here it may get other people who believe in the rule of law to speak against it.
So we should just not publicize it and let it just pass under the radar?
So in your world we are supposed to just talk about it at the meeting, no discussion before the meeting.
We would not want to exercise our 1st Amendment Rights and gather in common to redress grievances would we Larry??
This is a public forum where political ideas and even the wisdom of PROPOSED or otherwise expenditures can be freely discussed. This ain’t the Soviet Union nor is it Office Hours at the COs HQ.
Steve, His proposed budget is asking the City Council for permission. The City Council ENACTS the final budget. Did you ever give the City Manager a wish list? Let’s say he is managing to propose a new budge for the coming fiscal year.
Good going Steve, Let’s scratch the Splash Pad. Do you have any more deletions to offer to balance the budget?
Well, yes I do!
I as a single council member would be derelict in my duties if I took a private wish list to the city manager to fold into the budget.
It is improper! I would need the support of 2 other members before I do that. If you allow each council member to get his own private wish list via the budget so as to allow him or her to support their own respective special interests is total insanity.
What you are missing Larry is Warne has given the council two weeks to digest a 400 page document that is just too much for them to digest.
They are being pressured as we speak to approve it as written and we can amend it later but we must have a budget by 1 July.
We just see things differently my friend.
Could they not extend the due date, as they have done in the Federal Government, with a Continuing Resolution and send it back to trim the fat and make the document as small as say when Swigart or Tree were Managers? In those days they Worked with about the same amount of money but the budget was a less than 100 pages… easy to read and understand.
They can operate without a budget as they did last year when Warne did not have his first budget in the history of the city ready – in other words it was late in being adopted and the city continued to run.
So yes they can delay this several months if need be. I would think if they refuse to accept it, as they should, they should then require Warne to produce a much slimmer budget in both the reams of paper and the unneeded plans to spend 1.7 million in reserve funds.
And then direct Warne to bring the projects that he is planning back to the Council in order of priority, maybe two per council meeting so that each expenditure can receive the in depth review and analysis that it deserves.
Again this is a matter of issuing orders and directives to a subordinate member of the city.
Each council member is higher on the pyramid than Warne is I just wonder who of the five will start verbalizing that Warne works for them and not the other way around.
Steve,
I agree that the council needs to take their time on this budget. I don’t think is an accident that the money that is coming out of the reserve fund is almost the same exact amount of money as the absent tax increment. I guess it is hard to deal with a decrease in funds that have been streaming in to the city via the RDA. In times of plenty a splash pad may not be a bad idea-although think $350,000 a bit much.
Page 16 Overview of Parks and Recreation: In addition to continuing its current programs, the Community Services Department will spend $350,000 to install a splash pad in Luckie Park in the vicinity of the swimming pool. The restrooms in the park will also be renovated ($11,500) and the basketball courts resurfaced ($17,000). A new well will be installed at Knott’s Sky Park ($190,000) and the electrical system will be cleaned up, upgraded and expanded ($65,000). A new athletic field will be constructed at Knott’s Sky Park that will permit the City to expand its youth baseball, soccer and football programs. The FY2013 budget contains $50,000 for materials for this project. City crews will provide the labor.
While some of these projects might be noble and needed these are Public Works Projects that need to be vetted by the Planning Commission and the City Council. These should not be hidden in a budget resolution that will more than likely be passed unanimously on a future consent calender.
This is not what Representative Government is all about.
Why did you prevent comments on Margo’s Z107.7 blog? That’s a 1st amendment violation. And you were yelling for a free and open internet. What you did is censorship.
Seriously, Larry?
Yes.
“Closed for comment”. Why not just delete her post? That’s the way China does it.
What would be the point of a continued dialog on the subject, Larry? What, you want to fan the flames on something that is over? It is over, Larry.
Where is the chivalry in continuing to talk on the subject.
I personally wish the woman all the best. I hope she is able to successfully continue in her endeavors. Let it end today.
The End, el fin, Sfarsit, wakas, конец, ha sikum, slutten, Fim, Fin, rampung, selesai, Ende, son, isigcino; amagcino; ukuphela, do you get it? It is over.
And Larry that is all I am going to say on the subject.
China deletes-The USA uses the “mercy rule” in little leauge. Game over.
Thanks for your comment.
The censor didn’t even let the game begin. Shame.
Larry, in order for there to be a free press, there need be a forum to speak.
For those that may not understand, Larry is talking about the Post in Cactus Thorns under the title, “Z107.7 Radio Editorial Misses the Mark…..again.”
Dan blocked all comments to this article because Dan and his business Mustard’s Last Stand are at the center of the controversy. Interestingly, Dan criticizes Richard Warne and city Staff for there lack of disclosure while he is the same offender of free speech and lacking in transparency.
Note also that a few days ago Dan posted a letter sent to the city but Dan only post part of the letter because he was at the center of the subject matter of the letter.
I call this manifest hypocrisy that undermines the credibility of this blog.
watch my lips Ben…. I only asked for one of the letters….. I did not ask for all of the letters. I quickly looked the other 11 letters over saw who they were and soon forgot there names. I did not file them into my long term memory, sorry. You could “Water Board” me and I could not tell you now who signed the letters.
Again watch my lips….. In my humble opinion, it does not help my cause or the Blog for that matter, to drag these 12 members of the business community out and hold them to public scrutiny. There is no real purpose. They have exercised their right to redress in signing those letters. So be it.
There is no real purpose in continuing to battle that has ended. No one won. Both of the combatants lost. It is time to turn swords in to plowshares.
If you put your signature to a letter advocating a regulatory position why in the hell would you want it kept secret?
Why even post or talk about a regulatory targeted letter without an author (s)?
It seems it would have been fair to let the 107.7 guy respond, or better yet he should have been encouraged to respond to an editorial that targeted him. Fair is fair and is equivelent to as they say pouring hot coal on your adversaries heads.
Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear.
William Shakespeare
You Dear friend, “To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on”
William Shakespeare
Touche’
Branson-you know better. It was a joint discussion/decision to block comments on the Z107.7 story. Why? Because the comments were surely to go off topic and Lori’s press release was her desire to place a period on the matter.
I wrote about Daigneault using her situation to take cheap shots..behind her skirt and without her knowledge or consent. If the comments added more controversy for her, what purpose would it serve?
Besides, it is not about Mustard’s Last Stand vs. Farmers market…that issue was resolved a long time ago. There is a hot dog vendor at the Wednesday Farmer’s Market, remember?
The bigger picture here is a small vendor being able to eek out a few bucks to make a living (not buy a new Harley Davidson or take cruises.) Just looking to put food on the table and work within the rules & regulations.
I am going to ask Admin to approve a story called “This N’ That” for an open Forum of only off topic comments and questions, ok? Should be interesting…
Margo, Dan is the so-called publisher. He has the absolute authority and final decision to do what he wants. I believe it was his idea. You nor I have never put up a story and tagged it “Comments are Closed”. As always, I respect your views. Keep up your good work. You have my undivided support.
I don’t buy into Dan’s hyperbole that he was concerned one iota about Lori since Dan “hates Lori’s guts,” why would he desire to protect her while at the same time go after Richard Warne, City Staff and RSG’s Matt McCleary for their outrageous lack of transparency?
Dan is part of the the two story put up in CT, but I don’t believe Dan had a “nefarious plan” to bring down the 29 Palms Farmers market even though demonstrated he has a serious lack of compassion, even those whom have lost love ones he sticks a knife to their backs.
Watch that knife Margo, it has a lone and sharp blade with blood on it.
Excerpts from our Reuse and Copyright page.
….While we’re strong believers in free speech, we reserve the right to edit or delete offensive comments or comment spam or other offensive material. … Our contributors, however, reserve the right to embarrass and make asses of themselves in public…
Margo,
I appreciate both your story to tell Lori’s side and your defense of Dan as well. All stories are important. in my opinion, there are those that wish we would talk about Gary, Lori, Dan etc… anything but Warne and what is going on with the city of 29.
What the heck are we in need of a Huge Digital Sign at Adobe and 62??
Maybe…..
From Twentynine Palms General Plan Recreation Element-Indoor Facilities – There is a huge demand for an indoor recreation center
given the location of the City and the extreme outdoor temperature it
experiences. A multi-purpose indoor center is ideal as the space for indoor
gymnasiums in the City for both recreation activities and community
programs are becoming extremely limited. Such activities that could take
place in this facility include; dance, fitness, flexible classroom space,
indoor sports, social gathering and social programs. A proposed location
for this facility could be established at the existing Community Services
building site. In addition, senior and youth programs can be tailored into
this new center, and the existing centers repurposed.
Community Pool Facilities – Due to the extreme high temperatures there
is a need to stay cool in the City. The implementation of aquatic features
like SPLASH PADS and interactive fountains at parks, and water play features
and slides at existing swimming pools, would provide comfort and relief
for those recreating outdoors. The City should upgrade the swimming pool
at Luckie Park, and water playgrounds in new community parks and
Veteran’s Park to incorporate desired aquatic play opportunities.
How is Theatre 29 a part of Luckie Park? Also in Draft Recreation Element
Theatre 29 Part of Luckie Park
73637 Sullivan Road
Theatre 29 (local community theatre group)
YouthClub Part of Luckie Park
5882 Luckie Avenue
After school and summer youth program