Who Is Gary?

Learn more about my background and my work serving the City of Desert Hot Springs.

Hello, I'm Gary Gardner.

I first discovered Desert Hot Springs about 15 years ago as an occasional snowbird from the Pacific Northwest. After I retired in 2015, I could have moved just about anywhere I wanted to live, and I CHOSE Desert Hot Springs – probably for the same reason you have. The small-town feel, these expansive views of our gorgeous desert, our award-winning water, the hot spring spas, the charming history, and the friendly people.

I ran and was elected to the City Council in 2018, and re-elected in 2022, after serving on the Planning Commission and chairing the Human Rights Committee. I love this city and its residents, and I want to make sure we continue along the successful path of balancing responsible growth with prudent fiscal management, and diversifying our economy while making sure our cannabis and tourism industries thrive.

Gary Gardner walking by city hall.

Bringing a Diverse Skill Set to Public Service

I'm proud of my service to our community. I have an open-door policy and enjoy meeting with residents. My personal cell phone number is on my city business card and on the city web page, and I've done my best to be a responsive council member when neighbors have brought me their concerns. Thank you for allowing me to continue to deliver for Desert Hot Springs and to make Desert Hot Springs the best place to live in Southern California.

I was chosen by my colleagues to be the city representative on a number of key regional governmental bodies – working as always to deliver for DHS. For the last three years I've served as the chairman of the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission (CVCC). This body oversees all of the conservation lands in the city, and DHS has the most conservation owned land in the Coachella Valley. My focus has been on cleaning up our desert conservation lands, and the Commission under my leadership has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars cleaning up trash and encampments in the desert.

Take a look at some of our efforts

I also serve on:

  • The Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy – working hand-in hand with CVCC on purchasing land for conservation, developing hiking trails, and educating our youth about protecting the desert.
  • Visit Greater Palm Springs tourism joint powers authority – working to market and promote tourism in our city and across the valley.
  • The Coachella Valley Mosquito Vector Control District – working to protect us from mosquitos and other vectors and vector borne illnesses.

Last year I was honored to be elected by the city councils of DHS, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert and Indian Wells to represent all our cities on the Regional Council of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). This regional planning body allocates funding and develops long-range plans for all of Southern California. My goal is to make sure that the valley and DHS get our fair share of state and federal funding that flow through SCAG.