On Council agenda: How to attract locals to jobs, traffic calming, and more

? The Palm Springs City Council meets Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. You can tune in on YouTube, the city website, or Channel 17 on cable.

First up: The Council will discuss approving a city-sponsored informational program for young people.

What that means: Councilmembers and staff say there are lots of opportunities for young kids to learn about city government, but there are fewer options for young people over the age of 18. 

What to do: The city wants to host several catered informational lunches from different city departments this summer aimed at attracting more city residents between the ages of 18 and 24 into city positions.

• City staff noted in a report that in recent years recruitment for open positions has mostly led to new employees from outside Palm Springs, and even from outside the valley.
  
  
• They hope this plan will engage locals and eventually hire local young people for positions. Even if they don’t apply for a city job, Council hopes they’ll be more engaged in the inner workings of city government.

Next up: Also on the agenda is the Palm Springs Police Department’s use of military equipment.

Again? This issue came up last month, and Council still has to adopt the final official policy on the uses of each type of military equipment because of the new state law AB481.

• Arsenal: As a part of the staff report on the topic, the public learned just how much military equipment the police force is equipped with for a city of 50,000 people, including:
  
  
  • An ICOR MK3 caliber robot used to open doors, disrupt packages and clear buildings.
    
    
  • Two Lenco BearCats (Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter-Attack Trucks).
    
    
  • 15 Colt AR 15/M16 semi-automatic rifles acquired through the 1033 program which allows surplus military equipment to be transferred to local police at no cost.

Finally: The Council will consider the three “traffic-calming requests” in the Desert Highland Gateway Estates, Little Tuscany, and Melody Ranch neighborhoods.

• Slow your roll: Some of the measures include speed humps, more signage, electronic speed feedback signs, and roundabouts.