Arts Commission chair defends panel’s actions amid Brown Act violation claims over Bogert statue

In the latest update on the long-running dispute over what the city of Palm Springs will do with the statue of former mayor Frank Bogert, the chair of the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission spoke out last week regarding allegations of a Brown Act violation.

“I want to state clearly and for the record that the commission acted lawfully and followed the required process,” said Chair Gary Armstrong during the commission’s regular monthly meeting Feb. 5. “City Council and city staff were aware of what the commission was considering, and our agenda, materials and remarks were reviewed in advance by appropriate city stakeholders.”

“Our discussion and action were conducted in an open, publicly noticed meeting, consistent with the Brown Act and the city’s ordinances. The commission did nothing improper. We applied the ordinances as written, acted in good faith and stayed within the scope of our authority. There is no further action for this commission to take, unless and until we are directed by City Council or the city manager’s office. Until we are told otherwise, the statue will remain securely in storage.”

Armstrong’s remarks came months after a chain of events that began in November, when then-Mayor Ron deHarte suggested moving the statue out of storage and to the Village Green during the portion of a council meeting when councilmembers can propose future agenda items. Councilmembers agreed to have the Arts Commission decide on the placement, even though City Attorney Jeff Ballinger warned that the discussion wasn’t on the posted agenda for that meeting.

Under the Brown Act, local government bodies must provide advance notice and agendas on the topics they’ll be discussing, allowing members of the public concerned with the topic at hand to attend the meeting and make comments.

In January, the commission voted 5-1 with two abstentions to approve relocating the statue to Village Green. The statue has sat in storage since 2022, when it was removed from City Hall following a controversial city Human Rights Commission report that linked Bogert to the displacement of Section 14 residents in the late 1960s.

The commission’s decision came after nearly two dozen speakers expressed confusion over why the commission was considering putting the statue back on public display, nearly four years after many in the city thought the large statue of the former mayor on horseback, cowboy hat in hand, had permanently ridden off into the sunset.

On Jan. 14, less than a week after the commission’s vote, the city attorney announced that the decision would be voided and the statue would remain out of public viewing. According to Ballinger, the City Council met in a special closed session to discuss a potential violation connected to the council’s November discussion about the statue.

“Based on the advice of the city attorney, the City Council is of the opinion that a potential inadvertent violation of the Brown Act occurred at that November meeting,” Ballinger said. “As such, and in the interest of transparency, in the spirit of the Brown Act, the city views the … action of the Arts Commission as void, and the city will treat that action as such.”

Also at last week’s meeting, Armstrong and city staff reminded commissioners that they can only abstain from a vote if they have a conflict of interest, and that they must identify that they’ll be abstaining before the discussion rather than participating in the commission discussion and making comments only to abstain from a vote at the end.

“You can’t abstain or recuse because you’re uncomfortable,” said Armstrong.

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