IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Palm Spring is scheduled to hold a special study session Monday regarding the city’s various development projects, including its plans to revive downtown.
The session, to be hosted by the city council, will begin at 6 p.m. at the Palm Springs Convention Center, 277 N. Avenida Caballeros, according to a statement on the city’s website.
The meeting follows the recent filing of corruption charges by the Riverside County District Attorney’s office against former Mayor Steve Pougnet and local developers John Wessman and Richard Meaney.
All three men face possible time in state prison stemming from bribery, perjury and conflict of interest charges.
Wessman and Meaney are accused of having made approximately $375,000 in illegal payments to Pougnet from 2012 to 2014, when he was mayor of Palm Springs.
Both developers had major lucrative development projects before the city council at the time. Wessman’s company was the lead developer on the 20-acre downtown redevelopment project, a public-private partnership that has been planned for years.
The charges were filed Thursday. Almost immediately, the city released a statement – the only comment it has made on the matter so far – saying it had cooperated fully with the district attorney’s office and FBI during their 17-month investigation.
Palm Springs residents will be able to watch the meeting live on palmspringsca.gov or on Palm Springs Community Television Ch. 17.
