Rancho Mirage City Councilmember Dana Hobart issues resignation after 19 years
Rancho Mirage Councilmember G. Dana Hobart submitted his resignation on Thursday.
City officials confirmed Hobart's resignation will be effective on Friday, November 19, 2021. City officials did not list a reason behind his resignation.
Hobart's term was set to end on Nov. 2022.
Gabe Codding, the city's director of marketing, Mayor Ted Weill and Mayor Pro Tem Charles Townsend have been appointed to bring a recommendation to the current city council on the process to replace Hobart. That recommendation will be presented at the next regularly scheduled council meeting on December 2, 2021.
Hobart was born and raised in Los Angeles but is a longtime Rancho Mirage resident. He moved to the city with his wife Vicki in 1993.
Hobart has been a member of the Rancho Mirage City Council since 2002. He has served as the city's mayor five times in those 19 years (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2020).
Hobart has been a major influence in the city in his nearly 20 years on the city council. As the Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce notes, in his first year on the city council, Hobart initiated the move to eliminate all overhead electrical power lines throughout Rancho Mirage.
Other notable projects that Hobart was behind included:
- He led the efforts to defeat Riverside County’s plan to eventually extend the City’s borders by 4,000 acres north of I-10, adjacent to Thousand Palms.
- He was instrumental in solidifying the agreement with the Agua Caliente Tribe to annex their Casino and Hotel into the city, resulting in about $400,000 per year flowing to the City.
- He eliminated employee “pension spiking” practices and reforming other pension and related benefits which continues to save the City significant sums in pension and other costs;
- He led the efforts to completely discharge the City’s unfunded pension liability, which cost the City in excess of $500,000 per year in avoidable interest;
- Hobart initiated the Rancho Mirage Observatory project
