Community Meeting #2: Draft Agenda and Meeting Notes

Here is the Draft Agenda for the Community Meeting #2 scheduled for 1 pm, Sunday, February 22, 2026. Immediately below the agenda is the Meeting Notes from the January 18, 2026 Community Meeting.

WONDER VALLEY COMMUNITY MEETING

Sunday, February 22, 2026, 1 to 3 pm

Wonder Valley Community Center, 80526 Amboy Road, Wonder Valley, CA 92277

Meeting Chair: Chairperson Teresa Sitz, with President Nick Harmon, and Secretary Ken SitzEveryone is invited and welcome to attend and participate.

1. Call to order and flag salute 

2. Overviews and Introductions

Overview of the meeting packet

Brief review of the last meeting

Attendee Introductions: Why did you relocate here?

FOWV: Impartiality and Ethics, Teresa Sitz

3. Public Comments on items not on the agenda

Please review the agenda, and if your item of concern is not listed, and it wasn’t summarized in the compilation of last month’s comments (in your meeting packet), please speak on it briefly -- fewer than 3 minutes.

4. Meeting Notes from January 18, 2026 are included in your meeting packet

5. Unfinished Business

Response from Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe
Waiting for agency response regarding status of the WVCC kitchen
Waiting for agency response regarding response on the intersection of Godwin and Amboy

6. New Business

KEN SITZ -- SWOT Analysis: a deep dive together into our community’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We’ll also look at the values and aspirations we share as a community. From these we will determine our priorities and strategies -- what we most want to accomplish, and how we will go about it.

7. Agenda planning -- next steps
   

   Today’s SWOT analysis will help us determine what to focus on in upcoming meetings. At the next meeting we will celebrate the community involvement in planning the agenda.

7. Announcements

1. Third Community Meeting date: March 22, 2026
2. USDA Food Distribution, 10 am, Tuesday, March 17, 2026
3. Join me in thanking the people who helped with the meeting today:Reeyna Daniel, Jill Reinig, Jeffrey Barrett, and those who participated today and helped the FOWV cover the meeting expenses.

9. Adjournment

WONDER VALLEY COMMUNITY MEETING
Sunday, January 18, 2026, 1 to 3 pm
Wonder Valley Community Center, 80526 Amboy Road, Wonder Valley, CA 92277
Meeting Chair: Teresa Sitz
Everyone is invited and welcome to attend and participate.

N O T E S

1. Call to order and flag salute

The meeting was called to order at 1:03 pm.

2. Introductions

a. Friends of Wonder Valley, Teresa Sitz
b. What We Have Going for Us, Ken Sitz
c. Attendee Introductions

3. Comments on items not on the agenda

A broad array of topics were addressed by the community. Many of the comments centered on the WVCC Kitchen, its renovation, and the budget for the renovation. The renovations are being paid for from an ARPA grant. ARPA is The American Rescue Plan Act. The project has stalled because of the necessity of an RO system with a larger capacity. The WVCC Coordinator Jim Dunham told us that it will be a fully functional kitchen that can be rented, and will serve Senior Meals.

There was a question about the Sheriff’s Department and about whether or not they were informed on laws regarding off roading. Operation Hammerstrike was mentioned with gratitude for the County shutting down pot farms.

People expressed a desire to have the Sheriff’s Department attend a meeting, as we used to do, and to also invite other agencies. People brought up dark skies, the ordinance, and lack of enforcement, as well as protection for native fauna.

One person talked about the “See Click Fix” app free from County Public Works: that allows residents to send pictures, videos, specific descriptions, and more. Download here: https://dpw.sbcounty.gov/operations/see-click-fix/

4. Discussion of Meeting Dates and Times

Shall the Community Meetings be every month, or every other month?
Shall they be on Sunday afternoons, or during the week?
The Community agreed to meet next February 22.

 

5. Agenda planning

Next month’s SWOT analysis will help us decide what we want on upcoming agendas.There was a brief description given about the SWOT process.

 

6. Announcements

USDA Food Distribution, 10 am, Tuesday, February 10
Community Meeting, with the SWOT Analysis -- Time and Date To Be Decided

 

7. Adjournment

Jill motioned to adjourn at 2:16 

2nd Community Meeting, Sunday February 22, 1 PM

You are invited to our 2nd Community Meeting at

1 pm, Sunday, February 22, 2026, at the

Wonder Valley Community Center

80526 ½ Amboy Road, in Wonder Valley.

This meeting will include a SWOT Analysis, in which we will dive more deeply into the issues that concern us. We will be looking at our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This engaging and interactive exercise will help us prioritize and strategize.

These community meetings are non-partisan. The Friends of Wonder Valley does not support or oppose any political party, politician, or proposal. The organization, Friends of Wonder Valley, and the Chairperson, remain neutral -- not taking sides for or against any position.

While we are one community, our points of view are diverse. The Chairperson must hold space for those who do not agree with the plurality, or majority.

How do we get things done? We summarize each meeting and send a report to the Third District Supervisor, or to other governing agencies. We ask for them to meet with us. We send letters -- each writer representing their own position, whatever that may be. And we build our reputation and connections with those who can help us have a positive impact on our community.

The role of the Friends of Wonder Valley is to provide a forum where the concerns of the residents can be heard, and conveyed to the appropriate representatives, or agencies.

WV Community Meeting, Sunday, 1/18/2026

This is a photo of a community meeting a long time ago, and we're posting it because we forgot to take pictures at Sunday's meeting.

More than 42 people attended the Wonder Valley Community Meeting, held on Sunday, January 18. It was the first Community Meeting held in 5 years. Teresa Sitz, the Chairman of the FOWV, facilitated the meeting. Ken Sitz spoke on what the community has going for it. Jeffrey Barrett, the FOWV Community Liaison, helped run the Public Comments, and occasionally added perspective. FOWV Director Reeyna Daniel ran the door with Georgene Shelton. Many thanks to Jim Dunham for coming in on his day off to set up. Thanks to everyone who attended and a special thanks to everyone who contributed to offset the costs of the meeting.

The meeting was a little more than an hour, and people broke into groups afterwards and had a good time meeting each other and talking.

A report about the meeting is being sent to the Third District Supervisor’s Office. The report and any reply will be read at the next meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 1 pm, Sunday, February 22. Please plan to be there. Let's get some things done.

WV Community Meeting Sunday 1/18/2026, 1 pm

There will be a Community Meeting at 1 pm, Sunday, January 18, 2026, at the Wonder Valley Community Center, 80526 ½ Amboy Road, in Wonder Valley.

I’ve lived in Wonder Valley with my husband and son for a little more than 10 years. Shortly after moving to Wonder Valley I was appointed to the MAC, the Municipal Advisory Council and served for three years. The MAC was composed of representatives from the 9 unincorporated communities in the Morongo Basin and met monthly in Joshua Tree. We heard from the Third District Supervisor's Field Rep -- then Mark Lundquist, the Sheriff’s Department, the CHP, County Fire, and other agencies. We asked questions and returned to our communities with answers.

We also gave reports on our communities. These reports were drafted at a monthly community meeting held a week or two before the MAC meeting. We’d meet, and hear what the community wanted. I’d draft a report, and read it to them. They’d offer corrections, and additions, and then endorse the report for me -- the MAC Rep -- to read at the next MAC meeting.

At the monthly Community Meetings the community would first comment on items not on the agenda. Then we’d talk about items they’d added to the agenda at the prior meeting. Toward the end of the meeting they’d add items to the agenda for the next meeting. Below you’ll find an Agenda, and Minutes, from a Community Meeting held on May 6, 2017, as an example.

At the last few Dale Basin Well Owners Association (DBWOA) meetings people made it clear that they wanted public meetings again. The DBWOA was not designed for that purpose.

In 2017, my husband Ken, and I, along with founding members Stewart West, Gary Tufel, and Jill Reinig, formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization called the Friends of Wonder Valley. Over the years, and up until 2020, FOWV hosted more than 100 events of all kinds at the WVCC, including Community Meetings.

There hasn’t been a Community Meeting in Wonder Valley since Covid in 2020.

The Friends of Wonder Valley is happy to host the Community Meeting on January 18. Teresa Sitz will serve as facilitator. We anticipate a lengthy comment section. We will be discussing the scheduling of meetings, and proposing items for the next agenda.

Since there is no MAC we will send our Monthly Community Report to Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe’s office, to the Desert Trail, and to anyone else The Community wants to reach out to.

If we are able to reinstitute Community Meetings we will be 1 of only 2 unincorporated communities out of the 9 in the Morongo Basin, to have constituted their own community meetings. The other community is Landers.

I hope to see you at the meeting. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Teresa Sitz

December 2025 Update: Good News!

 It’s been a hard few years for our little board. First there was Covid, which shut down the Wonder Valley Community Center -- our primary venue for events and programming. Then several board members were hit with personal hardships. Our dear friend and board member, Gary Tufel, died in May of 2025. In addition to all of this, renovations were started on the WVCC, making it unavailable to us.

Despite all of this, the Friends of Wonder Valley (FOWV) continued hosting the monthly social meeting Chit Chat & Chew; and we continue to buy supplies for, and support, the USDA Food Distribution.

THE GOOD NEWS IS…
We are thrilled to announce that in our recent end-of-the-year board meeting, we added three new board members: Nick Harmon, Reeyna Daniel, and Kelly Hake, and confirmed Jeffrey Barrett as our Community Outreach Liaison.

This is in addition to board members: Teresa Sitz, Ken Sitz, Isul Kim, and Stewart West.

We are meeting early in January to start planning events and programs, and are excited to begin working together.

Join us by supporting our work! Give through the PayPal Giving Fund. Nonprofits, such as ours, are thoroughly vetted, and no fees are taken from your donation.

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Dark Skies & Wonder Valley - Fri, April 14, 2023 @ WVCC

Join us to learn how we can protect the Dark Skies in Wonder Valley.

Friday, April 14, 2023 • 7:30pm

Wonder Valley Community Center

80526-1/2 Amboy Road, 92277

Free and open to the public.

Upcoming events at the Wonder Valley Community Center

It's been a busy Spring so far at the Wonder Valley Community Center (WVCC) with many of the events sponsored by the Friends of Wonder Valley (FOWV) or staffed by volunteers working with the FOWV.

Here's a calendar of events at the WVCC through the beginning of Summer. Besides the monthly USDA food distributions we've supported there an Bystanders Overdose Response Training (Narcan training) in February, a Dale Basin Well Owners Association membership meeting in March, and the first of a series of monthly 'Chit-Chat and Chew' Saturday morning community drop-in's scheduled for 2nd Saturdays through June.