On Tuesday, May 21, the Mono County Board of Supervisors announced its selection of Jim Leddy as the new Mono County Administrator.  The selection follows an extensive recruitment process begun in January and guided by the Board’s efforts to strengthen strategic planning for the county. Jim Leddy currently serves as a Deputy County Administrator/Community and Government Affairs Manager for the County of Sonoma. The Board of Supervisors intends to approve a contract formally appointing Mr. Leddy as County Administrator on June 4 with his employment starting on June 10.  The salary will be $160,000 annually.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Byng Hunt commented, “Jim brings energy, experience and a commitment to effective and efficient public services. The Board was unanimous in the decision to ask him to join our community. This Board is identifying and working on a series of short and long term challenges facing our County and we know we need an Administrator that will work with the community, the staff and the Board to maximize results.” Chairman Hunt further commented, “The Board also extends its appreciation to Public Health Director Lynda Salcido and County Counsel Marshall Rudolph for their respective services as Acting CAO during this process.”

Prospective County Administrator Jim Leddy commented, “It is such an honor to be given the opportunity to work for the Board and join with fellow public servants of Mono County in delivering high quality, crucial services. Mono County is an amazing place of rugged, natural beauty and has challenges and opportunities. I am confident by working together, we can strengthen public services while being wise stewards of taxpayer resources. The Board’s commitment to building a strong strategic planning process through collaborative partnerships is exciting and I can’t wait to get started!”

Prior to coming to Mono County, Jim has two decades of public service experience. Jim has served as the Community and Governmental Affairs Manager (Deputy County Administrator) of Sonoma County since 2008, a position with additional public information and legislative responsibilities. Prior to working for Sonoma County, Jim was the Executive Director of the Napa County Planning and Transportation Agency from 2006 to 2008. From 1993 to 2006, Jim worked for the State Senate serving in the District Offices of two Senators, first as a Field representative then District Director.

Jim grew up in the rural community of Monte Rio in Sonoma County. He possesses a Bachelor’s Degree from University of California, Davis in Sociology (Criminology Focus). Jim is also a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute, University of Virginia (Weldon Cooper School of Public Policy – 2011).

In addition to his professional service, Jim, age 45, is a former member of the Santa Rosa School Board having served two terms from 2001-2008.  Jim is married to Kathy Hayes, his wife of 15 years, and they have twin 11-year-old sons, Logan and John. -Mono County

In late March, the DWP requested that Inyo County consider a 20% reduction in pumping for irrigation at the Laws and Independence well fields, and an overall 10% reduction in pumping for irrigation in the Valley. The DWP reasoned that this reduction was necessary for the Los Angeles water supply, given that DWP estimates a snowpack runoff at about 50% of normal this year. Yet the Board of Supervisors was asked to approve such a request, Bob Harrington, Inyo County Water Department Director, explained.

“Common sense says that irrigation is going to be reduced by more than 10% [already] because of the low runoff year,” said Supervisor Mark Tillemans. Why would the DWP request a 10% reduction on the full allotment of irrigation water, when the full allotment would likely be down by 10% or more? Bob Prendergast of the LADWP agreed that after the 20% cut to groundwater at the Laws and Independence well fields, the Valley’s remaining 39,000 acre-feet supply for irrigation would likely experience a natural, 10% reduction regardless of any further action by the LADWP.

Prendergast clarified that, should this turn out to be the case, the LADWP would not withhold yet another 10% of groundwater supply.

However, should the Valley receive closer to its full allotment, the LADWP would make 10% cuts to groundwater pumping for irrigation on a leasee-to-leasee basis. Tom Noland of the Cattleman’s Association expressed concern with this plan, noting that for the leasees in the Valley, some of whom have multiple parcels, supplied by ground and/or surface water, the DWP’s approach would become needlessly complex. “It’s getting way too confusing, who’s going to get cut and who’s not going to get cut,” he said. “If the water is available, it ought to be delivered.”

Big Pine Paiute Tribal Environment Director Sally Manning offered her own perspective. “To me, this 10% is a blank check for [the LADWP] to do what they want out there this year, and perhaps set a precedent,” she said. Moreover, she said, in this second consecutive drought year “we need the water table recovering to baseline, and vegetation recovering to baseline. We’re still technically in a Drought Recovery Policy year.”

Manning’s argument that the Valley would need the irrigation and mitigation water, not to mention runoff water, to preserve threatened water tables and vegetation, was met by Prendergast’s argument that Los Angeles too needed whatever water it could get during a drought year. Yet when asked whether the overall amount of water pumped by the DWP for the runoff year would change, should the County approve a 10% Valley-wide cut to irrigation, Prendergast admitted, “I don’t know.” He guessed that, with this year’s 50-55,000 acre-feet allotment of water for irrigation in the Valley reduced between 5-10,000 acre-feet, the LADWP might see a few hundred to a thousand additional acre-feet of water go down the pipe to Los Angeles.

“So what’s the purpose of the request?” asked Supervisor Linda Arcularius with some incredulity.

Prendergast replied that, given the drought, “if we can get a few hundred to a thousand acre-feet, we’d gladly take it.”

The Board voted 4-0 to deny the LADWP’s request for a 20% reduction at Laws and Independence, and a 10% overall reduction to pumping for irrigation in the Owens Valley.

However, the Board approved the DWP’s second request regarding a reduction in water supply to two enhancement and mitigation projects in the Valley. The Board presented the DWP with its own requests as a condition of this approval. The first request: that water formerly supplied to the McNally Ponds near Laws be diverted from Bishop Creek Canal to an area between Riverside Drive and Owens River in place of the Ponds. This shift would reduce conveyance losses suffered by the DWP because of the transport of water to the McNally Ponds, Harrington explained, while continuing to irrigate and mitigate in the McNally Ponds area. Supervisor Arcularius called this a “long-term, sustainable solution to this problem.”

The second request: that once the DWP has a new well up and running at the Van Norman parcel near Lone Pine, some additional water be provided to the Richard’s field north of the Van Norman parcel, while an additional 30 acre-feet be provided to the Lone Pine High School farm. Supervisor Arcularius characterized the latter addition as an opportunity for an LADWP “extension of goodwill to a program that has Valley-wide use and Valley-wide benefit, and provides kids with an opportunity to grown and learn for 30 acre-feet of water.”

“It’s not clear where the DWP intends to go as far as agreeing to [this request],” said Harrington. However, he said, the Board’s request was intended to make up for years of “inadequate irrigation at the Van Norman project,” due to problems with the old well.

Representatives of Inyo County and the LADWP will continue to discuss these decisions, as well as other agenda items, at the May 20 Inyo/Los Angeles Standing Committee Meeting in Los Angeles.

Robison was caught by his haul line 230 feet below. Rescue teams had to fly via helicopter to the top of El Capitan and then be lowered to Robison and his partner, as they were approximately 2,300 feet above the valley floor. Robison was pronounced dead when rescuers reached him.

His partner was uninjured, Cobb said.

This is the first climbing fatality in Yosemite this year, according to Cobb. It is the second accidental fatality of the year. The first was the death of Kenneth Stensby earlier this month. Stensby fell from a cliff near the top of Vernal Fall.

Half Dome cables to be installed Friday

The cables on Half Dome in Yosemite National Park will be in place and open for the season on Friday, May 24, weather permitting. The cables provide access to the summit of Half Dome, one of Yosemite’s most popular hikes.

Visitors are required to have a permit to ascend the Half Dome cables seven days per week. The majority of the permits were distributed through a lottery system that ended in March. However, approximately 50 permits per day are available through a two day in advance lottery. Visitors without a Half Dome permit wishing to hike the cables may enter the lottery two days in advance of their planned day hike by visiting www.recreation.gov or by calling 1.877.444.6777. For more information regarding the lottery and the Half Dome cables, please visit www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/halfdome.htm.

The trail to Half Dome from Yosemite Valley is an extremely strenuous hike covering over 17 miles. Hikers gain 4,800 feet of elevation along the trail that passes highlights such as Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall, before reaching the cables on Half Dome’s steep granite shoulder. Metal cables and wooden planks are placed along the steep shoulder of the dome to assist hikers to the summit.

Visitors are advised to take appropriate precautions when planning a hike of this length and difficulty, and to be prepared for changing weather and trail conditions. Thunder and lightning are common occurrences in the High Sierra during the summer and fall seasons. Hikers should not attempt to summit Half Dome when rain or thunderstorms are forecasted and are advised to use extreme caution when the rocks are wet. –NPS/LAK

(Photo: Penderworth)

As quoted from one of his colleagues at MHS, “I was beyond fortunate to work with him – he had soul and integrity EVERY DAY”.  The Mammoth students came first; he honored each and every one of them.

Mike grew up in Long Beach, CA.  He graduated from Millikan High School and had a full scholarship to Whittier College, where he earned his BS and MA degrees.  He was an educator for over 40 years, beginning his career in Pico Rivera and then moving to Mammoth Unified School District in 1981.  He served the district for over 20 years in many capacities.  He was the elementary and high school principal, science teacher, adult education teacher, football coach, founder of the Workability program and many other county programs.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Linda, his sons Sean and Kirk, and granddaughters:  Francesca, Keana, Califia, Kamala, and Anastasia, as well as his beloved cousin Suzi, Julie and Lori, sister-in-law  Iva, brother-in-law Harry, and numerous nieces, nephews,  grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

The family will be hosting a Celebration of Life Open House at their Crowley Lake home during the fourth of July weekend.

In lieu of flowers, the family has established the Michael Oldham Scholarship Fund for MHS students.  Checks should be made out to Linda Oldham, with Michael Oldham Scholarship Fund written on the “For” line of the check (7061 Mariner Way, Long Beach, CA 90803).

“Looks like they’re going to arrest him,” I said. After a short pause, my daughter asks, “But what if he’s got a dog?”

“Huh.”

“If they arrest him, what happens to his dog? Who would take care of his dog?”

“I suppose he would call someone, maybe a friend, from the police station and they would go get his dog and look after it if he had to go to jail.”

“But what if his friend didn’t answer the phone …”

“That’s a good point, sweetie. I don’t know.”

I hop out to grab my daughter a turkey burrito from Stellar Brew, and we turn around and head back down 203 on our way to the Elementary School. She asks me to make the right turn at McDonald’s so she can get a closer look at the guy. As we pass, we see a guy who looks to be in his 30s, a little scruffy, some facial hair, a guitar leaning against a rock a few feet away from him.

“He doesn’t look like he would have a dog,” announces my daughter from the backseat. Which, of course, makes me laugh.

After I dropped her at school, I called the Mammoth Lakes Police Dept. to follow up and ask about the arrest. I spoke to Officer Andy Lehr, who recently celebrated his 10th anniversary with the department.

Lehr said MLPD arrested Geoffrey Long, 36, of L.A. on a warrant out of L.A. County.

According to Lehr, Long had been in L.A. County Jail, convicted of sodomy of an incapacitated female, but had been released early due to prison overcrowding.

He was supposed to wear a monitoring device as a condition of his release, but had removed it. Thus the outstanding warrant.

Long’s goal was to flee the state and head to Oregon, as Lehr said the state of California would not have paid to extradite him.

According to Lehr, Long told police he had arranged to stay with someone Wednesday night in Mammoth, and then catch the 8 a.m. CREST bus from McDonald’s on Thursday morning, which would have gotten him to Reno.

Those who were supposed to put him up were themselves on probation, and worried about harboring a fugitive, they arranged to have him stay at another residence – with a mother and a daughter.

Long was supposed to give the daughter the guitar in exchange for a night’s lodging.

In the morning, the mother called police saying the guitar was stolen (because Long hadn’t left the guitar at the house upon his departure).

MLPD called the CDC (California Department of Corrections) which advised MLPD that Long should be detained for the ultimate purpose of transporting him back to L.A. County.

As for the dog question, Lehr said I should tell my daughter that the MLPD takes great care in regard to potentially abandoned dogs. Every effort is made to adopt animals out to extended family, and if that is not possible, the shelter will try to adopt the dog out to any good home.

Gorilla Gains Weight

The reverberation you felt at home on Wednesday night was not from a earthquake tremor, but from the bomb MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory dropped regarding his position on single family home rentals.

Gregory said that he, along with Snowcreek Resort’s Chuck Lande and Sierra Nevada Resort’s Jim Demetriades, “strongly support nightly rentals of single family homes.”

Gregory added that, “we [as a Town] need a growth strategy,” and he believes if the town does not offer single family home rentals as an option, the customer will go elsewhere.

“Don’t equivocate,” he admonished. If the rentals are already here, Gregory suggested the Town “get the money.”

Gregory was followed to the podium by fellow supporters Planning Commissioner Dave Harvey and Snowcreek Resort’s John Morris. “We’ve been telling guests what they can rent, rather than asking what they want,” said Morris.

When asked why he chose Wednesday’s meeting as the timing for such an announcement, Gregory replied, “Seemed like a good time in light of budget discussion.”

Gregory’s comments, however, almost led to setting off a smoke alarm – given the smoke emanating from Teri Stehlik’s ears.

“Wow, do I feel blindsided tonight,” she began. “We’re standing in the way of what our customers want? Really?” she asked rhetorically, pointing out that Mammoth has a variety of housing product to offer.

She then quoted a South Lake Tahoe study which she said showed that after home rentals were legalized, Tahoe experienced a sharp drop in room tax collections, though it did experience an uptick in sales tax collections and lift ticket sales.

“Rusty would get what he wants, but how about you?” she challenged the Council. The almighty dollar, she posited, would crush the community.

Stehlik concluded by saying the 800-pound gorilla has become a 2,000-pound gorilla (ostensibly by tacking on the weight of Lande and Demetriades).

In other Council news … Hector Caldera, representing the Mammoth View (a proposed 54-unit development located at the intersection of Main Street and Mountain Boulevard, said the project hopes to break ground next May … provided the Town grant a “slight modification in entitlements.” Very subtle … and Sandra Moberly said the Community Development is down to two employees (her and Jen Daugherty) because someone just went out on family leave, so she begged for patience from the community. They’re doing the best they can … speaking of leave, the Town’s Finance Director, Cyndi Myrold, is also on leave indefinitely for undisclosed reasons … and Stu Brown said Whitmore Pool is opening Monday for lap swim and swim team … John Eastman noted during budget discussions that the Town has lost six employees during the past two months and that we could lose two more imminently – this may be the reason why Staff and Council have tentatively scheduled a retreat in the fall to discuss employee burnout … and finally, an interesting stat – MMMartinez pointed out in her budget presentation that despite apparent improvement in visitation numbers in FY12-13 over the drought year of FY11-12, that the increase didn’t necessarily translate to sales. Her numbers showed a 1.5% decline in sales tax revenue year-over-year from summer 2011 to summer 2012 with a further decline in the October-December numbers.

And one short letter of correction …

In reference to Chris Lizza of Lee Vining’s letter in The Sheet, Sat. April 13, “The Prime Meridian,” he states “Rusty even has a lane!” So there is no misconception, Rusty Lane was named after the Pearsons dog, “Rusty.” Clyde Pearson was the County Road Foreman in “yesteryear.” Any old timer in Mammoth will confirm that fact.

-Lloyd “Digger” Wilson

Retired Sheriff

Well, that didn’t take long.

Less than two weeks after leaving his post as General Manager of the Westin Monache, Brent Truax took over Monday as the General Manager of the Sierra Nevada Resort.

Rhonda Duggan, who had been serving as General Manager of the Sierra Nevada Lodge, now becomes Director of Sales and Marketing for the entire resort.

Truax said in an interview Wednesday that his goal is to take the resort to “the next level. It needs to be four star,” he said.

“We’ve got the rustic elegance and three great restaurants,” said Truax, whose immediate goal is to develop packages with various partners to offer greater service to help guests coordinate their activities.

The packages will run from the fairly standard (golf, biking, horseback riding) to the eclectic (transportation to local hot tubs with picnic).

Another one of Truax’s immediate priorities is to replace Executive Chef Kerry Mechler, who recently left. Truax acknowledged that the Resort is recruiting from outside the area to fill the position.

Truax, who said he’d been in communication with Resort Owner Jim Demetriades before he left the Westin, is unfazed by Demetriades’s notoriously steep expectations. Editor’s note: Native Vermonters are generally unfazed by most things.

“Jim will give me more leeway to do the things I want to do to raise the experience,” he said.

And Demetriades will provide the resources to do it. Reached by phone on Thursday, Demetriades said the Resort will be hiring for additional management positions.

In the medium-term (over the next five years), Demetriades also said he is interested in building business/conference facilities to accommodate 300 (provided he can work with the Town to ensure the process is both efficient and economically feasible) and a pool/spa facility.

Short-term goals include the construction of a porte cochere and installation of elevators.

Some members of the community remember previous ESUSD Boards of Education earmarking some of this funding for a gym. Superintendent Don Clark, who was hired two years after Measure E was approved, however, stated at Wednesday night Board meeting held in Benton that while discussions had been had among previous Boards to this end, no formal resolution or vote was taken.

The proposition itself does not specifically mention a gym for Benton either. The ballot language back then stated “Eastern Sierra Unified School District Bond Measure E: To accommodate growth; repair and renovate aging electrical, plumbing and air-ventilation systems; modernize classrooms; improve technology to meet the demands of a 21st century education; become eligible for millions in state matching funds; improve student safety; all through a comprehensive plan.”

The question remains whether or not the discussions held by previous Boards were enough to constitute a commitment to the project. Current ESUSD Board members were divided.

“We need to revisit this using a portion of the bond money,” said Board member Melinda Melendrez, who represents the Benton area. “We probably couldn’t complete the gym but we could get it going and then use other money. We’re not investing in this school and it’s dwindling away.” Melendrez explained it as a vicious circle, comparing it to an experience she’d had while working at the Home Depot.

We weren’t making sales because we didn’t have enough people in the department and we couldn’t hire more people because we weren’t making sales, she explained. It was a vicious circle.

“We need to throw an investment into the school and make good on promises,” Melendrez added. “There are two local contractors who want to build a gym here. We just have to take the first step and invest in the school.”

Melendrez said Benton was just looking for a 6,000 square foot outbuilding where the children could play sports in the winter.

“If anyone has a legitimate reason why this school shouldn’t have a gym let me know and I’ll fight you for it,” Melendrez said.

“Can we revisit the bond to see what’s there and see if we can get some money out,” Board member Gabe Segura asked Clark. The answer was yes.

“We need to reprioritize projects and bring some money back to the gym,” Melendrez said.

Since the agenda item stated that the discussion would cover what other options the Board had to explore for funding the gym, Segura asked Clark what the other options were.

“There are four viable sources that I can think of,” Clark said. “Another bond specifically for a gym, a parcel tax, donations, and grants. But there aren’t any grants out there that I know of that would do this [build a gym].”

“We need to review which projects are priorities,” Segura said.

Board Chair John Peters, however, had a different opinion.

“We have spent more time on the gym than any other item,” Peters said. “It’s not exhausted but it’s been thorough. Nobody doesn’t want to see a gym here but I don’t see how a gym you’re describing is feasible with the remaining bond money.”

According to Clark, there is approximately $4 million left in the bond. He said that the money that has been used so far has gone to renovations at all campuses in the ESUSD, including approximately $2 million in Benton. The only school that hasn’t receive bond money is Lee Vining High School because it was completely rebuilt anyway after burning down 10 years ago, Clark said.

“We need something new at the table, funding-wise, to get the wheels turning,” Peters continued. “You can’t just start it hoping to get the money. Other sources need to be identified first.”

Melendrez disagreed, claiming that people need to see the District invest in the school and then other funding sources would be easy to find.

“There is $1.5 million [from the bond] that could have been allocated and would have built something, we can do something with this,” she said. “We can build a smaller gym with room for growth. All we need are four walls, a roof and a floor for now.”

She added that she refused to ask for another bond or a parcel tax at this time.

“We have to look at the whole district and its needs, and the amount of money remaining in the bond,” Peters argued.

When an idea of somehow partnering with Mono County was thrown on the table, Supervisor Fred Stump, who attended the meeting, took the podium.

“I’m getting complaints about this process because people don’t trust you,” Stump said to the Board. “They don’t trust you because they don’t have a clue as to what you’re doing. You need to send a letter to residents to explain your thought process. They haven’t seen the thorough process your describing.

“If promises must be broken, you need to explain why really well,” he said.

Stump addressed the idea that has been thrown around to turn Benton’s community center into the gym.

“The community center is off-campus and I’m not sure a conversion would do you any better,” he said. “If you’re serious about getting the County involved, let me know. I don’t think the community center idea is doable.”

Segura suggested that the Board add the discussion to its next agenda as an action item (Wednesday’s discussion did not allow any action to be taken).

“We haven’t exhausted every avenue,” Segura said. “I’d be willing to do some legwork and I’m sure Melinda would too. We need to exhaust everything.”

The TBID proposes to levy a 1.5% assessment on gross monthly revenue of restaurants and retail, a 1% assessment on gross monthly lodging revenue and a 2% levy on ski lift tickets and ski school.

At Wednesday’s Council meeting in Suite Z, MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory said 2% of all bike park ticket revenue should also be assessed.

The TBID, designed to raise money to support commercial air service and additional marketing, is considered a self-imposed assessment of local businesses, and not a general tax.

The assessment is proposed to be tiered based upon certain criteria. Those businesses which have at least $150,000 in annual revenue with at least half that revenue coming from visitors, as determined by credit card receipts, would be subject to the above assessments. Business that don’t meet the threshold would pay a flat $500 fee.

Mammoth Lakes Tourism Executive Director John Urdi said Wednesday night that the TBID had 68.35% support.

Of the top 68 revenue generators in Mammoth representing 81% of the total business, “we had 65%,” he said. This despite having 11 national chains on that list which didn’t respond, so therefore didn’t vote, so therefore counted against.

But what turned a rote discussion into an interesting one was the testimony of Derek Johnson, owner of Crystal Crag Lodge in the Lakes Basin.

Johnson was particularly critical of what is essentially a tax being imposed on a sales-weighted basis. Is it constitutional? he asked. And if it is constitutional, well then, is it proper?

He then discussed the cumulative impact of taxation and wondered about the loss of business due to pricing out the customer which we’ll never be able to calculate.

He said there is more opposition to the TBID than supporters would lead you to believe and that many business owners disagree with it, but they have chosen not to speak out because they don’t see the point.

Johnson extracted the following from Urdi: That of 636 businesses eligible to vote, just 71 voted for the TBID. Doing the math, that means that 11% of the voters controlled 68.35% of the vote, with Mammoth Mountain controlling 40% of the vote all by its lonesome.

Speaking in support of the TBID was MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory, who promised that in addition to MMSA’s participation in the BID, that the company will significantly increase its own marketing efforts over the next three years. Already, he said, MMSA has opened a new marketing office in El Segundo which it plans to staff with up to six employees.

As Gregory said, “Ask yourself why Vail puts so much into marketing?” Editor’s note: He didn’t answer his own question, but I suppose the answer would be, ‘Because it works.’

“We have a much better product,” he continued, “but we’re shrinking like a has-been.”

Gregory added that the RFID technology the Mountain installed to gather data and track customers shows that there are a lot more customers who come a lot less often than they used to.

For the BID to become adopted, a few more hurdles still need to be cleared. 1.) a 45-day protest period, which began Thursday, followed by 2.) a public meeting before Town Council on June 5 and a public hearing on July 3. The BID could be implemented as early as August 1. Protests can be lodged with Town Clerk Jamie Gray or Mammoth Lakes Tourism Exec. Director John Urdi.

In the case of Police Chief Dan Watson, very creative.

Creative to the point where Mammoth Lakes Tourism Executive Director John Urdi might feel a wee bit threatened.

In a memo to Council, Watson suggested that it would make fiscal sense if the Town moved his department into MLT’s building next to the USFS Welcome Center along Hwy 203.

Under Watson’s proposal, Urdi’s organization could be moved to the former Finance Department offices (now vacant) on the second floor of the Minaret Mall.

Watson points out that the MLPD is paying about $60,000 annually for the privilege of operating out of its current rabbit warren on Old Mammoth Road.

The current department building “has been a short-term solution [for housing the department] for 27 years,” deadpanned Watson.

Meanwhile, the MLT building is paid for and MLT pays rent of just $1/year to the Inyo National Forest.

According to Watson, local Forest Supervisor Jon Regelbrugge said the building is required to be used for Town business according to the terms of the lease, and that a police station would be consistent with those terms.

“I fully expect John [Urdi] to object,” said Watson, “and two Councilmembers I’ve heard from so far don’t like the idea … but my responsibility is to make recommendations to Council … that are efficient, effective and save money.”

The Chief says the MLT’s building could accommodate a department of up to 30 personnel. “It’s large enough to house at least what we were before,” he said. And though not designed as a police building, Watson believes it could be converted relatively inexpensively.

When reached for comment, Urdi responded by saying “I’m opposed to it slightly … with every fiber of my being.”

Urdi said the funding that built his headquarters came from tourism dollars or grant dollars via tourism.

Mayor Matthew Lehman, who is opposed to the idea, believes moving MLT would constitute “an improper use of Measure A [tourism] dollars.”

“I respect the Chief [Watson] for coming forward,” added Lehman, “but I don’t think it’s an appropriate place [for the Police Dept.].Financially, he said, it also doesn’t make sense in the near term because the MLPD has four years left on its lease – so if you play musical chairs, you’re still left with space that’s still sitting fallow.

Councilmember Michael Raimondo, also against the idea, commented, “Having a police station as the first thing you see upon guest arrival doesn’t send the most welcoming message.”

He would rather see the Town sublease the former Finance Dept. space.