Remarks by Ron deHarte
79 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 4
Thank you, Jenny. Welcome. A lot of familiar faces. Oh, did I shut it off? No, we're good. A lot of familiar faces. At the last session we had, I asked for folks to show the district that they're from. So how many folks are from District 1? District 2? And 3? 4? Wow, equal numbers in number five. Pretty split across the board. Number five? Oh. okay... pretty split across the board couple frequent fires some familiar faces... happy to have you back and... you know it's a great opportunity the working group has been collecting a lot of... good feedback from folks who've been attending this is…
They very well could be, and there's no call for another admin person to be hired.
Yeah, there's no call for that. That was just an estimate from the city attorney's office on what if. So there's a question about, okay, what's the cost if you're to do this? And that was an assumption made to come up with a global cost. But if the community feels that there shouldn't be an admin position, that's a pretty easy thing for this working group to report to Council.
councilmember to heart is the direct mayor option necessarily going to change the role of the City Council or is it simply adding another position and expense to the city budget so the no and yes it does come at a cost the mayor is currently paid around forty nine thousand dollars a year there's no ask in the concern the Thank you. The drive that came forward to begin with the ballot initiative to increase any salary So the you know that hasn't been asked to change Council members get paid 42,000 something like that so there would be impact to the budget from a salary standpoint if you're…
I don't think anything's being excluded. So these are just some thoughts that have been presented. Feedback from the community. This is wide open. I hadn't heard this before, but that's a great option to share tonight with the working group. And they're taking notes to record that as no mayor at all.
Yeah, really, really good and thoughtful question. What we have seen in the history is our council races can exceed $100,000. Even in a non-citywide election, we've hit $100,000 for a district-wide election. Council, running for council is not an inexpensive proposition to go forward with. Where does that money come from? Well, a leader who has a following generates money to run for that office. Whether it's running for a district-wide office, and we've had expenses since we've gone to district-wide from the 30,000 range to the 100,000 range, over 100,000. So supporters find their…
Yeah. And the working group doesn't know because we launched the survey the day after one of these sessions, or two days after one of these sessions, and I did ask, there was around 340 people had already taken it in a week, in the first week.
Well, it puts me to advocate for my position. But my personal opinion is residents throughout the city should be able to have a say in electing that individual. And at the same time, have a say in electing their district representative. So I feel that folks should be able to determine both sides in both lanes who they want to see representing them in that office.
So what we've heard, we've heard a number of different thoughts that have been presented in these workshops. The working group has got to take those thoughts and consolidate them. Then they will share with us. Now when we get into public comment, I invite you to tell us how do you see it? Do you see it as a sixth member of council? Do you see it as a person who has no vote, a vote, veto vote, tie vote? So your opinion will shape if the discussion goes forward. We need your thought, your idea on that. Because some of the conversation that's been presented already, we're hearing a sixth member…
And the survey. So you have in the survey you can put more questions and answer your own questions in that survey if you don't see your questions being asked.
So the discussion so far is the working group will prepare a report to council and that will be a public report presented during a regular city council meeting. And they may decide to have a community meeting to talk about the findings too. So that's yet to come. They haven't had that conversation. I don't think they've had those conversations. So that's the next phase that they're going to get into.
Don't waste your question and public comment time. Get it out now so it doesn't count against your time, okay? There's some comments for you.
There's a, we don't have them, oh, so there's five districts.
Sure. I can give you a timeline of what happened. So in 1982, the community decided that they wanted to elect their mayor at large. So the voters in the city of Palm Springs voted and said, we want to elect our mayor. So from 1982 through 2018, the city and voters in Palm Springs voted to elect their mayor. In 2018-19, you had the conversation of California Voting Rights Act, threat of a lawsuit. So the city was being threatened by a lawsuit. And a working group at that time held 30 some odd community meetings from June through the end of the year, getting feedback, talking to the community,…
And I'm happy to talk to you offline and not stand at the podium and advocate. But my position is very well known. It's not a secret. It's do a Google search and you'll see many reasons that I've stated publicly.
I would leave that to the working group, but I would assume that kind of conversation.
So what we've heard from these meetings, it comes down to just a handful of reasons. Stable leadership, we've heard feedback, having citywide representation, somebody that I could vote for in a citywide election that I'm able to have a say in who that person is. We've had a consistent communicator. What are some of the other thoughts that have been brought forward? Anybody have any comments? a stable individual serving long term. Long term and has been defined as possibly two years or four years. So it doesn't, the conversations that folks have been having haven't said they're looking for a…
Thank you. We don't know the outcome and the attorneys will tell the working group if your idea of the type of mayor you'd like to see through that legal lens, what legal questions come from that. So that's going to come down the road. I didn't, somebody else is the note taker from our working group. And it's on camera, so I think they're going back and making sure that the notes and feedback is very well documented.
Working group, what are some of the disadvantages?
Fewer opportunities for a minority individual to run for office. That's been something that is shared as not a positive. What else is there?
a number of meetings. You've attended a number of meetings. Public comment is an opportunity to share that voice. Why do I disagree with? What is the disadvantage that I see for doing this? Or what is the pro for doing this? So share that, give us that. I was repeating, I constantly look to the working group because they're the ones that are compiling everything. And if I misspoke on anything, I will take them to task, I promise. Yes, I certainly don't want to share something with you all that has not been shared in my presence. And I've only been here... two nights or three nights. Council…
It's Dominic? I think it's a comment. Dominic Moonhouse? Moonheart?
Is he gone? I believe we're pulling him up right now. All right, Dominic, can you hear us?
Dominic, are you making a public comment or are you asking a question?
Yes. There we go. We can hear you. Dominic, are you a question or a public comment?