Bolls retiring to go fishing
Dale Bolls will retire this August after 17 years of service with
Cathedral City as Public Works, Parks and Facilities Manager. His last day
of work will be July 15.
Talk about the good life – Dale and his wife, Pat, will spend the summers
in Waseca, Minn., not far from their families. In the summers, he plans to
pursue his favorite hobby of fishing in nearby Clear Lake and volunteer with
a church. And then in the winter, it’s off to Pensacola, FL. where Dale’s
brother has built them a home on his property. It’s not far from New
Orleans, where Dale loves to listen to jazz in the French Quarter. Dale’s
been checking out houses for sale in Waseca on the internet. Pat’s daughter
then goes and looks at them and by the time he will arrive back there in May
for a vacation, she will have a list of the best ones for him to look at.
Since Pat does not fly, she’ll just have to trust him to make the right
decision.
Recruitment to fill the position will begin soon.
Chamber recruitment begins
The Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has launched a recruitment to
fill the position of departing Chamber CEO Greg Wetmore. Coincidentally, the
Chamber CEO posts will be open in Palm Springs and Palm Desert, too. Wetmore
will become executive director of the Gay Associated Youth non-profit
organization in May.
Traffic signals being fixed
A motorist ran into and partially destroyed the signal controller cabinet
at East Palm Canyon and Perez, damaging the detection system, which is now
on automatic. That means the phases change according to set timing cycles,
not according to fluctuating traffic flows. Republic Electric is working on
the repair to get the signal back in operation In the meantime, the signal
cannot respond to actual traffic needs and is running sluggish and causing
back ups.
In that same area, at East Palm Canyon and Auto Park Drive, signal timing
is being changed to provide longer green lights for East Palm Canyon
traffic..
Invoices and beyond
Rick Riggs is the new accounting technician responsible for accounts
payable in the Finance Department .But don’t think his head has always been
buried in the books, A graduate of Chapman University, he has traveled
extensively throughout the world. He worked at First Interstate Bank in
traditional branch banking and on special projects in the electronic banking
division in the bank’s LA headquarters. He has also worked for small
businesses in Orange County and temporarily at the La Quinta Resort.
BearCat reports for duty
The Cathedral City and Palm Springs Police Departments Specialized
Response Team held a press conference to unveil the new Lenco Ballistic
Engineered Armored Response Vehicle (BearCat) on Thursday. The event was
held at the PSPD, where Chiefs Stan Henry and Gary Jeandron explained the
vehicle will help protect victims and officers in hostile situations. It
will be used jointly by the team and by both departments in a cooperative
and cost-saving effort.
KMART building
Fire Chief Steve Sowles has had discussions with the new and former
owners of the KMART building which give indications that the structure may
be torn down within the next three months. The building has been a constant
problem for nearby homeowners and Code Enforcement. Vandals break into the
structure, trash accumulates in the area and it is the target of taggers.
New ventures approved
At its last meeting, the Planning Commission approved two projects in the
downtown. They include a conditional use permit for Greg Evans Eyewear in
the Pickfair Promenade, offering optometry services and a large selection of
eyewear and contact lenses. Evans is moving his business from Palm Desert to
Cathedral City. The other was design approval for a 30,000 sq. ft. two-story
retail/office building to be built by CK Development south of the Mary
Pickford Theatre. The project will now go through plan check.
Saving the landfill
Deanna Pressgrove, environmental conservation manager, reports that the
last Electronic Collection Recycling Effort this month was a huge success,
diverting 88 tons of electronic equipment from the landfill.
The next “Stop Identity Theft” shredding event will be held Saturday, May
11, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon in the parking lot next to the Desert IMAX
Theatre.
Attention, contractors
The Palm Springs Unified School District has increased school impact fees
for construction. Residential fees went from $2.24 to $2.63 sq. ft. of
accessible space. Also, fees were increased from $0.36 to $0.42 sq. ft. for
commercial/industrial/senior housing construction.
Street sweeping funds run out
Federal funds for street sweeping on residential streets prone to PM10
pollution will be gone in June. Monthly street sweeping of collector streets
is made possible in conjunction with a CVAG program that keeps the main
streets clean. Property owners were not charged for residential street
sweeping. Residential street sweeping was instituted when the federal
government ruled that funds used to combat blowsand could be spent to sweep
streets in areas where blowsand is prevalent. In Cathedral City, that
included most residential neighborhoods except the Cove. Previously, the
Community Services District paid for residential street sweeping. However,
voters rejected continuation of the CSD.
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