The Department of Environmental Health is seeking across-the-board adjustments that all of the county’s trash collectors — Burrtec Waste, CR&R Inc., Desert Valley Disposal Inc. and Waste Management Inc. — want to incorporate into their contracts with the county.

Based on the county agency’s request Tuesday, the board scheduled the public hearing for May 12.

Officials said the adjustments are necessary to keep pace with inflation. The waste haulers are permitted to seek rate adjustments every year based on rising landfill, transportation and other costs. They generally base their proposed increases on the previous year’s estimated changes to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for the region.

The board rarely denies adjustment requests. However, in 2020, then- Supervisor Kevin Jeffries opposed increases, arguing financial hardships tied to the COVID lockdowns made it an inopportune time to hike fees on residents. The increases were approved despite his opposition.

The proposed Burrtec hike would impact customers in Bermuda Dunes and Thousand Palms, boosting monthly rates from an average $31.09 to $32.18.

Residents serviced by CR&R, which deploys trucks to De Luz, Gilman Hot Springs, Lakeland Village, Cherry Valley, Cabazon and surrounding locations, would see their bills go from between $35.73 and $37.88, to between $36.86 and $39.08.

Desert Valley Disposal customers, most of whom reside in North Palm Springs and Painted Hills, would be on the hook for a $1.28 increase, going from an average $37.78 to $39.06.

Waste Management’s new fee structure would increase from between $35.73 and $37.88, to between $36.86 and $39.08 per month for residential collections in El Cerrito, Highgrove, Winchester, Woodcrest and neighboring communities, according to the Department of Environmental Health.

In some cases, fees would increase beyond the averages under so-called “hard-to-reach” service plans, which apply when properties are especially remote.

Waste collection for the county occurs in defined “franchise areas,” which currently number 11. Most of the existing franchise agreements have been in place since the late 1990s.

If approved during the May 12 public hearing — when anyone can speak on the proposed increases — the new fees would take effect on July 1.

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“We are aware of actions taking place both locally and nationally and determining what appropriate steps will be taken here,” Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said Thursday night.

She said a ceremonial proclamation planned during the City Council meeting on Tuesday recognizing Cesar Chavez Day will be tabled in favor of a proclamation designating “United Farmworkers Day” on March 31.

The mayor’s announcement follows numerous related ones across California and the country.

According to city officials, going forward, there will be a reassessment of the current Cesar Chavez Community Center on University Avenue, along with the Cesar Chavez statue a block from City Hall on the Main Street pedestrian mall.

Administrators are expected to soon begin soliciting input from the community on prospective new names.

Riverside County officials did not announce any formal steps in reaction to the allegations against the now disgraced labor leader. However, the Executive Office released a statement Thursday night recognizing the “serious and difficult information” that has impacted those who previously considered Chavez a hero.

“We recognize the weight of what has been shared and the impact this moment may have on many in our community, particularly within the Latino community and among those connected to the farmworker movement,” the EO stated. “Issues of harm and abuse must always be taken seriously. We stand with those who may be impacted and affirm the importance of support, care and access to resources.”

There was no word on what some of the county’s other government entities may be considering in the wake of the allegations, which stemmed from a New York Times investigative piece.

Reporters uncovered evidence that Chavez had been an alleged sexual predator, exploiting his leadership position in the National Farm Workers Association to groom and abuse females of various ages.

Among his accusers is Dolores Huerta, who had been a co-organizer in the collective empowerment movement during the 1960s. She was impregnated twice by Chavez, according to public statements.

In Los Angeles, some activists are seeking the re-christening of streets and other facilities in honor of Huerta instead of Chavez.

The city of Denver, Colorado, this week declared Cesar Chavez Day 2026 would be “Si Se Puede Day” — Yes, We Can Day— removing all recognition of the labor leader. Published reports indicated there are well over 100 places or objects nationwide saluting Chavez.

His birthday, March 31, was formally declared a state holiday in California beginning in 2000. However, counties and municipalities have always had the option to include or exclude it on their holiday calendars for local government workers. Courthouses are always closed.

The post RivCo Leaders React To Cesar Chavez Allegations, Policy Changes Announced appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

“The Wildomar City Council and former City Manager Dan York have agreed to York’s retirement commencing on May 9, 2025,” according to the brief city statement. “York will receive a severance payment in the amount of $44,026.66, which is equivalent to 2 months’ of his pay.

“York has served as City Manager since 2/1/2022,” the statement continued. “The City Council appreciates York’s service to the Wildomar community and wishes him a happy retirement.”

York was officially placed on paid administrative leave following unanimous votes by the City Council on April 11. The three separate votes, which took place during a closed-door meeting, resulted in York 1) being placed on leave effective immediately; 2) authorization for the city attorney to draft a mutual separation agreement featuring early retirement for York; 3) City Clerk Janet Morales being appointed interim city manager.

In a late-night follow-up news release announcing York’s leave, the city stated that its City Council “will move quickly” to find a permanent city manager.

According to an email from York to City Council that was sent the morning of the closed-door meeting, the city leader expressed gratitude.

“I understand the decision you are about to take this evening,” York began in the email, which was made public by Third District Wildomar City Councilmember Joseph Morabito. “I am very appreciative and honored to have served the city faithfully the last dozen years. I recall 4 years ago talking to many that there is a season for everything, including the City Manager assignment. Thank you for allowing me to exercise my strengths of fiscal and operational management during my term as your City Manager.”

York continued in the message, “Today I feel accomplished. We achieved financial health and have built a cohesive city team. I feel you and the community are well poised to define and execute the next season. I truly wish full success. Some day in the future, I look forward to reminiscing our past victories and celebrating the completion of your goals.”

York concluded, “I am confident that Tom and I will easily navigate the completion of the Separation Agreement next week. In sincere gratitude, Dan.”

There was nothing in York’s email message that alluded to why City Council was voting on his leave.

In an online post, Morabito said the public “‘why’ will never be gotten into detail; legally, it can’t be. I hate how these things work, but I don’t write the rules, and the rules most certainly apply to me and my big mouth as much as anyone else.”

Morabito said the April 11 closed-session City Council meeting was two hours long, and York did not attend it.

York began serving as Wildomar City Manager following the planned retirement of City Manager Gary Nordquist. Before his appointment, York served as Wildomar Assistant City Manager.

According to city documents dated January 2025, York’s annual salary was $264,100.

City managers take on the role of chief executive officers of city government, but serve at the pleasure of City Councils. More details about the search for York’s replacement are expected at upcoming Wildomar City Council meetings.

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HEMET, CA — Riverside County supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved the allocation of $796,680 in federal relief funds to support a Hemet youth program aimed at encouraging participants to pursue fire service or related careers.

“I applaud (county Housing & Workforce Solutions) for making this happen,” Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said. “A community fire cadet program is something we don’t have much of in the county for young men and women looking for a public safety career. I thank everybody for making this happen.”

Housing & Workforce Solutions sought the allotment of American Rescue Plan Act funds for expansion and further development of the existing Hemet Community Fire Cadet Program.

Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez, whose Fifth District encompasses Hemet and San Jacinto, is a major supporter of the program, which he described as an effort to encourage high schoolers and college-age residents to “explore opportunities in public safety.”

“The program will impact the county as a whole, as the youth (who) complete it will have the opportunity to … become viable candidates to fill vacant public safety positions throughout the county,” according to an HWS statement.

The county will enter into a roughly 30-month contract with the Hemet Fire Department to expand its Community Fire Cadet Program, offering up to 60 participants paid internship training opportunities, in courses that run about eight weeks long.

The contract will expire in December 2026.

“The partnership with the (fire department) will provide vocational training assistance and direct connection to established vocational training programs that offer further training and preparation to become an emergency medical technician, firefighter or paramedic,” HWS said.

The amounts slated to be paid to those who qualify for the program were not specified.

The board appropriated $6.2 million in ARPA funds to HWS for a range of uses.

In 2021, the county received $480 million in ARPA money and almost $500 million in 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act allocations.

The funds have been used for homeless and rental assistance programs, along with other social welfare efforts, but they’ve also been appropriated for capital improvement projects.

The post Supes Earmark $800K Toward Hemet Youth Firefighting Program appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

ADUs are one of the few bright spots for the state’s housing market at a time of rising construction costs, high interest rates, and continued local resistance to greater housing density. These unassuming units, often basement apartments, backyard cottages, and converted garages, are far more affordable to build than other housing options and have become a politically palatable infill alternative to apartment complexes.

With median construction costs of about $150,000 in California, ADUs cost less than a third of traditional, federally subsidized affordable housing. As a result, the median ADU in the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast is affordable (costs less than 30% of income) for a low income family, 31% of ADUs in Los Angeles County are affordable, and large numbers of ADUs are affordable in other regions, as well.

Over the past eight years, ADU construction has skyrocketed. California went from about 1,000 ADU permits in 2016 to 5,000 in 2017 to 25,000 in 2022.

This boom did not come easily. Many local governments have resisted ADUs, fearing they would overcrowd single-family neighborhoods. While some of these concerns are legitimate, the state’s housing crisis has persuaded state lawmakers that cities must allow more housing construction, even in built-out areas — and ADUs are one way to achieve that.

California lawmakers have worked for decades to limit local governments’ authority to block construction of these units. The effort began in 1982 when the legislature prohibited cities from categorically barring ADUs. Local governments responded by placing what a report from the Furman Center at New York University called “cumbersome and unpredictable discretionary  review requirements on applications for ADUs.”

Local resistance prompted the state in 2002 to mandate ministerial (rather than discretionary) local approval of ADU permits. Yet ADU production remained low.

Reforms in 2016 finally made inroads. That year, the legislature adopted two bills, AB 2299 and SB 1069. These required cities to allow ADUs on single-family lots. They also prohibited them from requiring design features such as direct pathways to the street and setbacks for garages converted into ADUs. These laws also eliminated parking requirements for ADUs near transit stops and for ADUs attached to existing houses; prohibited cities from requiring new water, sewer or utility connections for ADUs, or from charging utility fees for ADUs; and required ministerial permitting of ADUs to occur within 120 days.

More state laws followed, as legislators and advocates identified and removed other barriers to ADU construction.

Suddenly, ADU production surged across the state. According to the California Department of  Housing and Community Development, ADUs will meet 3% of the state’s housing needs for the period from 2021-2028.

Yet this growth has been uneven. In a recent study, the Rose Institute of State and Local Government analyzed differences in ADU production in Long Beach, San Diego, Anaheim, Pomona, Ontario, and Corona in light of the state’s assessment of these cities’ housing needs. In  Long Beach, the state’s per capita ADU leader, these units have met 5% of housing needs. By  contrast, ADUs make up only 2.6% in Anaheim. Within the Inland Empire, only 1% of housing needs are met in Ontario, 1.1% in Corona, and 2.2% in Pomona.

The report found that variations in ADU production can result from several factors, including the local housing market. For example, Ontario, like other cities in the Inland Empire, is still developing outward into greenfield sites, potentially reducing the demand for ADUs due to the availability of new single-family homes.

Familiarity with ADUs also matters. Planners in Long Beach, a leading producer of ADUs, describe these units as part of the fabric of their city, and say the knowledge they have gained processing ADU applications helps them approve permits faster than in some other cities. By contrast, other cities have less experience with this form of housing.

Local policies can affect ADU production, as well. Although the state has limited local control over ADUs, standards can still vary on several important dimensions. This is where local governments can most make a difference.

To help meet housing production goals, cities should assess where their regulations may be holding back ADU production and consider loosening standards in those areas. In particular, local lawmakers should look closely at three factors: parking requirements, structural setback requirements, and fees.

Parking requirements can add significant costs to new development, making them infeasible for homeowners without access to large capital flows. Structural setbacks can make larger ADUs geometrically infeasible, limiting the variety of options available to would-be buyers and renters. Finally, fees place high up-front costs on ADU developers, who often are individual homeowners,  further dissuading them from realizing their property’s potential.

Giving homeowners a little more wiggle room in how they build their ADUs could make the difference between catching up to statewide ADU production levels and missing out on a powerful tool to meet housing needs.

The post ADUs can help the Inland Empire meet housing needs appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The Riverside County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office is seeking 1,298 people who may have unclaimed funds due to roll changes. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are owed, but potential claimants need to hurry because the statute of limitations is nearing.

“Our office is working diligently to contact the potential claimants, in hopes that they will recoup these funds that are due back to them,” said Treasurer-Tax Collector Matthew Jennings. “We will continue to exhaust all methods of communication to distribute these unclaimed funds to the rightful owner.”

The tax collector’s office says claimants have been contacted before, but due to unresponsiveness, they will have additional time to submit claims.

The list of eligible claimants is live — see it here. If you’re listed, your claim must be postmarked by August 1. After that deadline, unclaimed funds will be transferred to the county’s general fund.

According to the county, a roll change occurs in two forms: an escape assessment or a correction. Both forms of roll changes are regulated by Revenue and Taxation Codes. Once the roll change occurs, the Treasurer-Tax Collector is required to mail a form to the appropriate person entitled to the refund before the funds can be released. Claimants must have completed a form within four years from the date that the payment was made or within 1 year after the mailing of the letter, whichever is later, officials said.

For those who may have unclaimed funds that are near the statute of limitations, visit https://apps.countytreasurer.org/unclaimedrefund or call 951-955-3900 to learn more.

The post 1,298 People Owed Money By County Of Riverside; See If You Are appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

A new California law that took effect this year may be the most important political reform the state has enacted in a half century. No wonder special interests and the politicians they help elect are trying to kill it. The law takes aim at the practice known as “pay-to-play,” where individuals, groups and corporations make campaign contributions to local government officials just before and after they vote on items providing a direct financial benefit to the donor.

You might think that such blatant conflicts of interest were already against the law but they were not. Since the 1970s, California’s Political Reform Act has banned conflicts where elected officials vote on matters affecting their own financial interest. And since the 1980s, we have banned appointed members of local boards and commissions from taking action on matters that affect contributors when the appointee receives donations for a political campaign.

But politicians who were directly elected to their positions rather than appointed were exempt from that ban. Senate Bill 1439, which I authored, closed that loophole. The bill is simple. It says that local elected officials can’t vote on matters that have a direct financial effect on interests that have contributed $250 or more to the official’s campaign in the previous year. It also blocked local officials from accepting such a contribution for a year after the vote.

The new law will apply to votes on real estate developments, trash hauling contracts and other matters where there is a direct link between an official’s vote and the financial interests of the donor. The need for the bill was made clear by recent cases around the state. In 2016, a Los Angeles developer contributed $50,000 to a campaign committee supporting a city councilmember just two months before a scheduled vote on the developer’s project.

In 2018 and 2020, nearly a third of about $125,000 donated to Huntington Park city council members came from eight companies and their executives who had contracts pending with the city, according to an investigation by KCET. While it rarely makes the headlines, it is common knowledge that local officials solicit contributions from private interests who have matters pending at the city council or county board of supervisors. That kind of strong-arming is not a crime unless the public official links their action to the recipient of a contribution.

But preventing the public official from voting when they receive such a contribution would reduce the incentive for that kind of corrosive behavior. Although the bill passed without an opposing vote in either the Senate or the Assembly, special interests and local officials sued to try to block the law’s implementation. Their arguments were disingenuous, and a Sacramento Superior Court judge agreed last week, rejecting the lawsuit and upholding SB 1439. Their claim that the law violated the free speech of donors ignored that the law applies to elected officials, not contributors.

Donors are still free to support whoever they want. Elected officials are simply not allowed to vote on matters that directly benefit those who contribute to their campaigns. The argument that the law is flawed because it does not apply to spending by independent campaigns on behalf of elected officials is also misleading. Those making that case know full well that the Supreme Court has ruled that such spending is protected by the First Amendment and couldn’t be included in SB 1439.

Finally, the same interests complaining about SB 1439 violating their right to make contributions are questioning why it doesn’t also apply to state officials. Although the lion’s share of state decisions apply to the general public, not specific interests, I agree that the same rules should apply to state officials in the few cases where it is relevant.

I intend to pursue that reform as a follow-up to SB 1439. We need to preserve SB 1439 – and expand it – so we can ensure that our government officials are making decisions for the public interest, not the special interests.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

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