PALM SPRINGS, CA (February 13, 2017) Jerry Ogburn, retired urban planner and designer, has been elected chairman of the Mount San Jacinto Winter Park Authority (MSJWPA), governing body of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Ogburn was appointed to the Authority by the Palm Springs City Council in 2006 and previously served as chair in 2009.
For over four decades, Ogburn worked as an urban planner and designer in both the public and private sectors leading interdisciplinary teams of specialized consultants. Most recently, he served for five years as a senior designer for The Planning Center in Rancho Mirage, and then another five years for MSA Consulting, Inc., also in Rancho Mirage, as a senior planner. In January of 2017, he formally retired from the latter. Currently, he is secretary of the Board of Elders for Our Savior’s Community Church in Palm Springs, is a member of the Palm Springs Rotary Club and a member of Desert Roundtable.
According to Tramway General Manager Rob Parkins, “With the upcoming refurbishment of our Mountain Station and other Tramway improvement projects, Mr. Ogburn’s expertise in planning and design will be especially important.”
Ogburn succeeds 2016 Chairperson Bary Freet, a 2012 Riverside County Board of Supervisors MSJWPA appointee and retired Palm Springs fire chief.
The seven-member Authority, a public agency and public corporation of the State of California, was created by the Mount San Jacinto Winter Park Authority Act Ch.1040 of the Statutes of 1945, as amended by Ch.70 of the Statutes of 1947 and Ch.1004 of the Statutes of 1951, of the State of California.
The current Authority members (with one vacancy) are: Jerry Ogburn and Nancy Stuart appointed by the Palm Springs City Council; Bary Freet and Brian Nestande appointed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors; and Janice Oliphant and Jon Sheinberg appointed by the Governor.