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So I was up in Bridgeport on Tuesday evening for the District 4 candidates’ forum.

In a nutshell, Peters has the gravitas, Fesko has the fire and Huggans just seemed a bit overshadowed.

While I admired Huggans’ long family history in the area, that should not entirely comprise one’s opening statement.

She was also challenged with the following question which I swear I did not plant. It went something like, “If you can’t handle the Bridgeport Public Utility District (the subject of an ongoing embezzlement investigation. Huggans is the Chair of the three-member PUD Board), how do you expect to handle the responsibilities of the Mono County Board of Supervisors?”

Huggans responded by saying, “In my community service, I’ve always given 100%.”

In my mind, effort in and of itself isn’t enough at the Supervisor level.

As for Peters, he appears to be the most middle-of-the -road candidate, but sometimes that can hurt you in North County.

While Huggans and Fesko were unequivocally against County participation in the commercial airline subsidy program at Mammoth-Yosemite Airport to guarantee summer air service (much to the approval of a Bridgeport audience), Peters first said he was in favor of subsidizing “some small portion.”

When pressed, he acknowledged that the current County subsidy of $85,000 a year is about all he is comfortable with.

Fellow partners Mammoth Mountain and the Town of Mammoth Lakes were hoping to split the subsidy evenly this year, which would cost the County approximately $215,000.

So while Peters talked about the tourist economy and the importance of marketing, he retreated into his political shell on the air subsidy issue. Further, he suggested that “business interests in Mammoth Lakes have the capacity to subsidize more.”

Fesko’s strength is that he’s opinionated. His weakness is that he’s opinionated. Hard and fast beliefs – “government should not bail out private industry” – are wonderfully pithy, but are not always compatible with the art of governing.

The Sheet was also surprised to learn that Fesko is apparently embroiled in a civil lawsuit with his brother, Greg Fesko. While Tim says this is a “private family matter,” and that he’s matured over the past few years, we do plan to ask a few more questions about it.

One guy who’s glad he’s not running in District 4 is incumbent District 2 Supervisor Hap Hazard. If there’s one thing all three candidates could agree on, it was that they were, to quote Fesko, “disgusted” when Hazard referred to Cougar Gold representatives as a bunch of snake oil salesmen.

Triple M staying

Assistant Town Manager Marianna Marysheva-Martinez (“Triple M”) has withdrawn her name from consideration for the City Manager’s post in Yakima, Washington. Instead, she has signed a one-year contract to remain with the Town. If you’ve ever visited Yakima, Washington, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Money for schools … or pensions? 

According to an April 22 report in the Wall Street Journal, Governor Jerry Brown is trying to sell voters in November’s general election on his $6 billion tax hike package, a combination of a quarter-cent sales tax hike that would be paid by all California consumers and a series of income tax increases on people earning more than $250,000 annually, saying it will go to schools. And it will, but perhaps not where you might want it to go.

State law requires that half of all general fund tax revenues go to education, which under other circumstance might mean schools are in for a $3 billion to $5 billion windfall if the initiative passes. But critics, including some educators, insist the new revenues won’t go to arts education, sports programs or bus services, but only to backfill the insolvent teachers pension fund, not for actual education.

Schools, it seems, would have to use the money to cover their pension bills, or alternatively, to pay teachers more to offset the higher contributions that teachers may be asked to make to their retirements.

  –WSJ/Sacramento Bee

District 3 Mono County Supervisor and 2012 incumbent, Vikki Bauer faced off against challenger Tim Alpers on Tuesday night at a candidates forum in Lee Vining. Due to last year’s redistricting of Mono County, Lee Vining is now part of District 3.

The following is a summary of highlights of the candidates’ answers to some of the questions asked throughout the evening.

What will be the biggest challenge to Mono County be in the next five years?

Alpers: Balancing projects and financial stability; improving the human environment and business.

Bauer: Pension reform; keeping Mono County solvent is the first order of business otherwise we can’t provide services. Pension reforms could lead to bankruptcies. We need to get county pay in line.

Thoughts on term limits for supervisors.

Bauer: There’s a sweet spot; 12 years is good, but 16 is too long [Bauer has currently served 8 consecutive years as a supervisor]. Voters showing up [at the polls] are the best solution.

Alpers: I’m a term limits guy. I impose limits on myself. You go into office with goals you want to accomplish, and it takes a lot of energy and work. The longer you’ve been in office the more slips through the cracks. I’ve been away and had time to recharge my batteries [Alpers served as a Mono County supervisor from 1983-1989 and again from 1993-1997].

How can you help small business development get going?

Alpers: The county needs to remember who it is working for. People are being harassed when they are trying to get a business going; we need to figure out how we can help. From serving in the past I know what works and what doesn’t.

Bauer: By having a personal touch. I have a personal relationship with the Planning Department (Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated that Bauer had a personal relationship with the Planning Commission, which was incorrect). [Bauer then gave an example of how she helped a man in June Lake open a taco truck business]. I helped him understand all the hoops. I couldn’t relieve the hoops but I could explain them. It took six months but it worked.

Would you support trying to get Hwy 158 designated as a state scenic byway in an effort to promote and encourage economic growth?

Bauer: I don’t see any reason not to, we have a large planning grant right now.

Alpers: I think we should look through the lens of making things better for small business and I would support any effort in that direction.

The current pay to Mono County supervisors and management, and the raises that the supervisors have received in the past three or four years outrages the public. What are your thoughts?

Alpers: We should index the employee with economic reality. Some things should be on your own dime. I recently went to D.C. on my own dime and spoke with the President for three minutes and now he wants to come to the Eastern Sierra.

Bauer: We [supervisors] receive a $740 car allowance, which is considered income so taxes are taken out. There’s a lot of travel as a supervisor and there are months that I go over that allowance. It ends up being a wash. In 2009 the supervisors took cost of living raises because employees received cost of living raises as well. Salaries are in line with 2008 and 2009. You have to honor the employees you have both union and management.

Mono County RPACs are the front lines in the county, how do you see your role with these groups?

Alpers: RPACs are where the rubber meets the road. I brought the first RPAC to Chalfant. Supervisors should be seen and not heard at RPAC meetings. We should bring information but then just listen. These groups are where you start building interest.

Bauer: I am the product of a RPAC in June Lake. As a supervisor I have been appointed to the Lee Vining RPAC when it was left without a supervisor on several occasions. I was able to step in and take care of you. I have played a part in RPACs all along.

The Bodie Hills are special and unique but have recently been threatened by gold mining. Will you support the permanent protection of the Bodie Hills?

Bauer: We have to make recreational opportunities economically viable. I supported the mining because Bridgeport needs viability. As a trade off I am working to get Bodie into the national monument program.

Alpers: The Bodie Hills are beautiful but we need to look at the bigger picture. We need a strategic plan. We need to polish our jewel and promote business. We need to get preservation and sustainability language into our policies so people coming in know what to expect.

Are you in favor of promoting something that would help businesses survive in winter?

Bauer: The RPAC plays with that all the time. Making practical use of ideas is the trick. The government needs to help move it along but not pay for it. It seems that in Lee Vining the best thing would be a permanent drought because I hear you’ve had your best winter ever. But the county counts on Mammoth so much and Mammoth needs snow.

Alpers: Government needs to provide an inviting environment. We need to get a whole variety of things. We need to be possibility thinkers. Think in bigger terms and don’t just hunker down in a hole for the winter.

The USDA is willing to loan money to my small business but the local bank won’t loan it. How can you help when there’s money out there but we can’t get it?

Bauer: Persistence is the answer. You have to prove that you can pay it back. You need to build your case with a tight business plan. Perhaps scale back to fit into constraints.

Alpers: This is a national problem, too. You have to show that you can sustain a day-to-day business. Paying attention to details separates the winners from the losers. Networking is a great key so talk to your peers. Ask yourself if you are willing to work hard enough to pay the money back.

Currently the supervisors have given up a lot of control of running the county to one person holding three positions [CAO Jim Arkens who is also the HR and Public Works Director]. One person running the county, whoever it is, isn’t good and affects the county’s checks and balances. Is this an issue for you?

Alpers: The supervisors ran the county when I was in office the first time because there was no CAO. The board is losing control of the team framework in the county. We need to go back to four board meetings per month. Team Mono County needs to be built and we need to watch bureaucratic growth.

Bauer: I’ve seen it both ways. Checks and balances cost money. Combining positions has kept us alive, fiscally. We won’t go back to what we were. We are in a new era of consolidation and we won’t ever be able to afford what we had before. Two people may be doing what three were doing. One person shouldn’t have three jobs, but I choose that versus not being able to put snowplows on the road.

During closing statements, Alpers made five promises to Lee Vining. “I will correspond promptly, hold office hours in Lee Vining, attend all RPACs, report RPAC results at the board level, and have at least two town hall meetings per year.”

He also stated that he would make all of his decisions in office based on three things: his personal philosophies, what his constituents want, and what the laws allow.

Bauer asked that the public review her record when making its decision for whom to vote.

“I am just hitting my stride and would like four more years,” she said. “I enjoy my work and am an active problem solver. I ask for your vote and your support.”

Since Lee Vining does not have a polling place, residents will receive their vote by mail ballots on May 10.

Regarding our story last week on Eastern Sierra Unified School District issuing pink slips, one of our readers submitted the following comment online: “It is my understanding that Mammoth Unified School District also has issued pink slips. Will that be the subject of a follow up article?” Turns out it will, at least here for now.

The Sheet asked MUSD Superintendent Rich Boccia to respond. “[MUSD] has noticed [some] employees regarding their employment status for the 2012-13 school year. These are confidential  human resources issues, which we are required to abide by legal mandate,” he said.

Meanwhile, Boccia will swear in new Board member John Stavlo on Tuesday, March 20, at 4 p.m. prior to a Board Self-Governance workshop discussion. And, the MUSD Board of Education will review the district’s mid-year budget during its regular meeting on Thursday, March 22, at 6 p.m. in the High School Library.

Bridgeport resident Jan Huggans has stated she is officially in the running for the District 4 Supervisor seat in Mono County. Huggans’ entry into the race now makes it three candidates who are vying for the seat, which will be vacated by current Supervisor Tim Hansen in January in the wake of being redistricted out of running.

Huggans will face off against previous District 4 candidate Tim Fesko, who ran in 2010, and previous Interim Supervisor Bob Peters, who was picked to fill the seat following the sudden death of late Supervisor Bill Reid.

Huggans, who has been out gathering signatures, said she planned to run in the last election, but primary timing and family matters got in the way. A life-long north county resident, her family has old roots. “My dad was from Bridgeport, and my grandmother was born in Bodie,” Huggans said. And it’s not her first run for the seat, either. She lost by only a handful of votes in 2004 to the late John Cecil, who won the election, but died just two years later. That led to Reid stepping in and taking over for him on the dais.

A rental property manager, she served on the Mono County Planning Commission for one term. At present she serves on the Bridgeport Public Utilities District Board, and is a member of the Bridgeport Regional Planning Advisory Committee, Bridgeport Ranchers Association and the Bi-State Sage Grouse Local Area Conservation Planning Group.

“As [District 4 Supervisor], I will bring my common sense and professionalism to the job, while remembering I’m there to serve you,” Huggans pledged. Is she ready for the competition? “Yes,” she responded. “I’m pretty optimistic, too. It’s an exciting time for Mono County, with the potential for three new people on the Board of Supervisors.” Seats in Districts 2 and 3 are also up for election this coming June.

The big candidate news this week comes from fishing entrepreneur Tim Alpers, who announced Thursday morning he’s challenging incumbent Vikki Bauer for District 3 Supervisor.

Alpers said in a press statement he recently retired from a 42-year career in Aquaculture to “pursue my passion for public service.” In a phone call with The Sheet, the well-known fish farmer and fishing industry activist, who has his own variety of trout named for him, said he had previously run for office in the ‘80s, and served as District 3 Supervisor in the mid-‘90s.

“I turned the administration of the [Conway Ranch] over to my partners, and I’m ready to get my old seat back,” Alpers told The Sheet. “District 3 is one of the most beautiful in all of California, but it’s also very complicated. There are lots of issues between the Town, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, which is in the district, and the County. We need to get our collective heads together between the town and the county and get past this ‘Cowboys versus Aliens’ mentality.”

Bauer announced her plan to seek re-election last week.

“It seems like I’ve finally found my way around in the thing called government,” she said. “It would be a shame to waste all that I have learned.”

In addition, Mono County District 2 Supervisor Hap Hazard has decided to throw his hat in once again as well.

Hazard said he wasn’t initially sure he was inclined to run, but decided there’s just “too many important issues facing the county to not stay involved.” -Geisel

This year, Mono County voters will go to the polls in June. One of the decisions that will be before them will be filling the District 4 Board of Supervisors seat that opened when current representative Tim Hansen was redistricted out last year.

Late last week, at least two candidates filed papers and announced they are running for Hansen’s seat on the dais.

Tim Fesko, owner of the Meadowcliff Lodge in Walker-Coleville, and Bridgeport Inn owner and former Interim District 4 Supervisor Bob Peters have both said they are formally starting up campaigns.

In an email statement to the media, Fesko said, “After much soul searching and encouragement by many of you, along with a strong desire to represent the North County, I am hereby formally announcing that I will be seeking the seat for the Mono County Board of Supervisor, District 4.

Peters told The Sheet on Saturday morning, “I believe that the new District 4, even though it’s not ideal from a geographical standpoint, will provide real opportunity to create a better understanding between the needs of residents of the Town of Mammoth Lakes and the unincorporated north county communities. Bringing a more responsive Mono County government closer to the people was an important part of what I did as a member of the Board of Supervisors for the unincorporated communities in 2010. I intend to do just that, if elected, for the Mammoth Lakes residents, who are now part of District 4.”

Fesko narrowly lost to Hansen during the last election for the District 4 seat, which was to replace then Interim Supervisor Bob Peters, who was hand picked by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to take over after the sudden death of Bill Reid.

Peters has a lengthy public service history. He has served as Chairman of the Bridgeport Valley Regional Planning Advisory Committee, (RPAC), on the Mono County Tourism and Film Commission for six years, including two years as its Chairman, and was most recently Chairman of the Mono County Redistricting Committee during summer of 2011. Peters said he plans to soon debut his campaign website.

The end result of the redistricting process means District 4 now includes a portion of Mammoth and its cache of registered potential voters. It also means that Hansen, who lives in Lee Vining, is now a resident of District 3, and can no longer represent District 4. Current Board of Supervisors Chair Vikki Bauer represents District 3, but Hansen so far has said he has no plans to run for that seat. Apart from Fesko and Peters, no other candidates for the District 4 seat have yet emerged.

Lesley Yen tapped as new Interim Deputy District Ranger

“I’m looking forward to getting to know the rest of the forest,” said new Forest Service Interim Deputy District Ranger for the Mammoth and Mono Lake Districts, Lesley Yen.

After a little more than a year working on the Inyo National Forest, Yen stepped into the Interim Deputy District Ranger position on Monday to fill the void left by the departure of Mike Schlafmann last month.

“They wanted to get someone local into the position,” Yen explained. “The work was piling up.”

Through the Presidential Management Fellowship program, Yen, who holds two Masters degrees from the Yale School of Forestry (one in International Relations, the other in Environmental Management), found herself in the Eastern Sierra back in July 2010. She took on the position of Natural Resource Specialist at the White Mountain Ranger District and was working there when this opportunity became available. The Natural Resource Specialist job was Yen’s first position with the Forest Service.

Originally from Boston, Mass., Yen looked to move west after completing graduate school and felt that the position at the White Mountain Ranger District was not only an interesting assignment, but would also be a good way to get her feet wet.

“The job was a major draw, but I also love outdoor sports, especially rock climbing,” she said.

With all of the work awaiting her in her new position, however, she may not see any rock for a while.

“I had hoped to wrap up some southern [White Mountain] projects but I have been so busy this week I haven’t been able to do so,” Yen said of her already swamped schedule.

Yen’s main goals during her stint as Deputy District Ranger are to support District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge as well as hone her own leadership skills.

“I won’t take on exactly the same suite of duties as Mike because I don’t have the same level of experience and I don’t know the programs, but I’ll be able to do some other things that he wasn’t [able to find time for].” Yen said. Her focus will be day-to-day management. “I’ll be working out of Lee Vining more than Mike was, and that will be the same for whoever takes on the permanent position.”

Yen said she would be interested in applying for the permanent position, but she doesn’t know when the Forest Service will look to fill it. Currently, her interim status is based on a maximum 120-day detail.

“It could be less than that if they open the position up sooner, or it could end up extending past that,” she explained.

For now, however, she’s focusing on adjusting to her new status and location.

“Right now I live in Bishop and am commuting to Lee Vining, but I will be moving to Lee Vining soon,” she said.

Regardless of whether or not she is eventually awarded the Deputy District Ranger position on a permanent basis, Yen hopes to stay in the area.

“The fellowship [essentially a vehicle for hiring] ends in June, but one of the stipulations that comes along with it is that I would receive a job at the end, but maybe not here,” Yen explained. “However, I’d really like to stay.”

With the Mammoth Unified School District Special Measure S election less than two weeks away, The Sheet spoke with MUSD School Board Member and long-time local resident Greg Newbry to talk about the measure.

The Sheet: There has been some talk that the school board gave teachers raises last school year. People are wondering why the Board would do this if the District had a budget shortfall. Can you explain?

Greg Newbry: We didn’t give raises. It was a one-time lump sum from the educational stimulus package. We couldn’t hire or give raises with it because it wasn’t sustainable. Since our teachers haven’t had raises in three or four years, we wanted to give them something.

Sheet: So it was more like a bonus?

Newbry: Yes.

Sheet: How does Measure S relate to class sizes?

Newbry: You can’t clump all class sizes together and use an average. Schools are required to have certain classes for areas such as Special Education. If you have a Special Ed. class with one student, but then you have a standard English class with 34 students, an average doesn’t work. You can’t say that on average Mammoth classes have 21 students.

AP classes are also very small but are very important. We could cut these classes, and may have to if S doesn’t pass, but it would be such as mistake.

Sheet: How do second homeowners play into Measure S? Do they have a right to vote on it?

Newbry: By law (California Election Codes 321, 349, 2150) a second homeowner is not allowed to vote in an election if their primary domicile is not in the area where the election is being held. The suggestion that absentee owners whose primary residence is elsewhere, register to vote in order to control our town’s future is illegal.

Sheet: It seems reasonable to think, however, that second homeowners would be concerned about what is happening in a place where they are invested.

Newbry: Of course they are concerned about what happens, but when you choose to invest in an area that is not your home, you take obvious risks. There’s concern from both sides, but we want the people living here to control the town’s destiny. We don’t just want people that have money to buy a second home to control our destiny.

Sheet: Why did the school district choose to hold the vote on Measure S as a special election when special elections are so much more expensive?

Newbry: Special elections are expensive, but if we waited we would lose money. The District has already cut $900,000 from the budget. We need Measure S to slow the bleeding. We don’t really have the money [for the special election], which is why there haven’t been flyers sent out and we haven’t done a lot of publicity. If the District didn’t fund the election we’d just have to find someone else to do it, but the Board passed the resolution for Measure S so we have to fund it.

Sheet: What type of vote will Measure S require?

Newbry: A two-thirds vote.

Sheet: Can you provide a concrete example of the direct impacts on students and their families if Measure S fails to pass?

Newbry: If S does not pass class sizes would be larger, we could lose AP classes and busing and we may not be able to continue the recent upswing in student grade-point averages. It would impact students’ abilities to be college bound and would therefore impact families immediately and forevermore. Essentially MUSD would just turn into big buildings that babysit kids.

It would also have an impact on the community as a whole because people in the upper income brackets looking to move are looking for areas with good schools. If we can’t provide that the town would just turn into one big hotel.

If it fails to pass I may not stay on the Board. If the community doesn’t support schools, I’d feel like I was wasting my time.

Synopsis

Measure S is a renewal of the $59 parcel tax that property owners have paid annually, regardless of lot building or size, for the past eight years. Measure S, if passed by the voters on Nov. 8, would preserve funding for a specific list of school needs: high quality academic programs (such as AP classes), books and supplies, smaller class sizes, music and arts programs, technology, and highly qualified teachers.

All revenue raised by Measure S would be invested in Mammoth’s local schools and cannot be taken by the state. An independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee of parents, teachers and community members accounts for funds brought in by the Measure S. The measure would last for a limited period of five years and exempts senior citizen property owners 65 and older, although if these individuals wish to pay the tax they simply need not apply for the exemption.

Currently Measure S provides more than $600,000 in funding to the schools, annually.

Clean Air Projects Program (CAPP) Administrator Lisa Isaacs officially secured a $5.5 million air pollution management mitigation contract from the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (GBUAPCD) Governing Board on Monday. The contract will fund both direct projects, such as paved roads and diesel generators, and indirect projects, such as education, to help cut down on air pollution in Mono, Inyo and Alpine counties.

The money comes from the LADWP, explained Isaacs; “Essentially it’s a judgment on air emission issues that they agreed to pay to go toward something like this.”

One hundred and seventy five thousand dollars of the funds have already been approved by the District Board to pay for a stretch of paved road in Keeler, which will cut down on dust pollution. Another $500,000 was awarded to Bishop-based Inyo Mono Advocates for Community Action, and will be used for weatherizing and updating non-compliant and inefficient heating devices, some in low-income housing, such as wood stoves and fireplaces. “This project will get measurable results: we’ll know how many stoves are being replaced, and how much smoke they would be producing,” Isaacs said.

Dust and smoke are two of the primary pollutants in the District, particularly in the southern end of Inyo, which is home to Owens Dry Lake. The dust from that area is a problem because it is PM (particulate matter) 10, which means the fine particles of dust are small enough to get into the lungs. The District also has problems with smoke from frequent forest fires. One solution would be to “turn our local-standing dead trees into fuel and burn them as pellets,” which are less smoke-producing than wood, according to Isaacs.

In Mammoth, the biggest problem is road cinders swept into the air by traffic. “The Air Quality Management Plan for the Town of Mammoth Lakes is from ’91. Updating it would be a great project to fund.” Isaacs also envisioned setting aside funding for expanded street sweeper services to combat the cinder problem.

Isaacs will be releasing a call for projects before the end of the year. Projects need to be finalized by 2013, so she hopes to have proposals in by early 2012. “We’re trying to stretch the $5 million as far as possible with the help of matching funds and partnerships.”

The funding is open to everyone, from individuals to the federal government. For more information, contact Lisa Isaacs at capp@gbuapcd.org.

Was redistricting about fairness, or political expediency? 

As I pondered the absurdity of Mono County’s redistricting process, which resulted in having 700 Mammoth Knolls residents being lumped into District 4 to join their County brethren in Bridgeport, Walker and Coleville, I decided to call Knolls resident Dawn Vereuck for a reaction.

Vereuck, who’s been burning the midnight oil volunteering for Mammoth Rocks, hasn’t been keeping up with the news of late and was caught unawares. “How is that even possible?” she asked, a little stunned.

How did Nancy Walter, who’s been away most of the summer traveling in Russia, react? “I’m not overly happy,” she said. When asked if the Knolls residents had essentially been treated as sacrifical lambs in the process, Walter replied, “I wouldn’t call it sacrificial. But certainly, it was the most expedient [decision]. They felt we could learn to live with it.”

Tom Cage wasn’t so benign. “700 people in Mammoth Lakes will get no representation,” he said. “It stinks of unfair political practices.” Then he paused for a moment. “It feels unfair … I don’t know whether it is.”

In Kirkner’s story last week, Byng Hunt was quoted as saying, “Maybe it will open the door to more conversation between north and south counties.”

When asked about that comment this week, Hunt said candidly, “I was very honestly trying to assuage myself [with that comment].”

“The other options were equally absurd,” he added. “It [Option B] was the best of the lousy answers.”

The lousy answer achieved by the redistricting committee and approved by the Mono Supervisors on a least affected 3/most affected 2 vote, was arrived at much like the answer to a Sudoku puzzle. Through the power of elimination, you end up with the inevitable result.

In this case, District 3 Supervisor Vikki Bauer (by far the best politician in Mono County), convinced all that Lee Vining and June Lake needed to be reunited within one district.

Then it was determined that combining all the rural communities into one super rural district stretching north-south from Topaz to Chalfant [Option A] wasn’t workable because we couldn’t possibly expect a Supervisor to represent a district that unwieldy in terms of travel.

Then it was decided that the demographics of Hap Hazard’s District 2 are largely unchanged so why mess with it. Besides, as Bauer explained, “Hap begs off every issue involving Mammoth that comes before us. He views Mammoth as a cesspool.”

So obviously, tweaking Hazard’s district to include part of Mammoth would meet with stiff resistance.

One option which didn’t even make the final round voting was the one titled B2. This would have preserved Tim Hansen’s residence in District 4 and ability to run again for his seat.

But Mammoth Supervisor Byng Hunt didn’t like that option because it would’ve “decimated” his district and made it too “jagged.”

“At least he’s still got a district,” deadpanned Hansen.

When asked if he would run against Bauer for the District 3 seat, Hansen demurred. “I’m a lame duck. No offense, but I want nothing to do with June Lake and Mammoth Lakes.”

Hansen, however, thinks that the redistricting gives Mammoth more power, not less, with Mammoth having a vote in four of five districts.

Two Mammoth districts are 100% Mammoth. Bauer’s District 3 is comprised of 63% Mammoth voters. District 4 will have 23% Mammoth voters.

Mammoth Lakes Town Councilman Rick Wood said his initial thought was that even though Mammoth would have just a slice of District 4, he thought that slice  would be large enough to provide a certain degree of leverage.

When informed that the slice was 23%, Wood replied, “That’s not leverage.”

“All we’ll do with the demographics [over the next decade] is that Mammoth will continue to grow and continue to be underrepresented.”

Bauer countered, “They [the Town] are in such desperate straits [financially] that all they wanted was three seats so they could hijack the County budget.”

Bauer is currently the only supervisor who is essentially a swing vote, balancing the interests of incorporated Mammoth and unincorporated Mono County.

She said one thing that’s become evident during the redistricting process is that there remains a lot of friction between Mammoth and the outlying Mono communities.

But, she said, what Mammoth residents don’t often take into consideration is that they have the benefit of an extra layer of government. If the unincorporated areas aren’t properly served by the County, they have nowhere to turn.

I asked Bauer what would have happened if District 4 had been stretched southward and June Lake had been split. How many June Lake voters would have been lumped into a largely Mammoth district?

About 200 was the reply.

Is it fair then, I followed, to disenfranchise 700 Knolls voters as opposed to, say, 200 June Lake voters?

Because Mammoth has the extra layer of government, she said, the 200 June Lake voters deserve more consideration.

Sticker price

I talked to Mammoth Lakes Tourism’s John Urdi on Tuesday to ask him about the letter to the editor which appeared last week criticzing his sticker postcard.

Urdi said 5,200 postcards were sent out and that MLT spent about $3,000 on the effort.

The $36,000 number referenced in the letter concerns the entire budget for the rebranding effort in the short term , placing the logo on Town vehicles, business cards, website, et. al.

“I have heard only a few truly negative things about the branding [process],” said Urdi. But he thinks it’s critical. “Mammoth Lakes is a destination. It’s not Gardnerville.”

Criticism, he said, comes with change. Mammoth Mountain caught heat when it transitioned its logo, noted Urdi.

Cottonwood Plaza

Expect the chain link fence to come down in Bishop sometime soon now that investor Ray Eslamieh has bought the Cottonwood Plaza in Bishop.

Eslamieh owns a number of El Pollo Loco franchises down south.

The initial thought was that Eslamieh would put an El Pollo Loco into the old Burger King location as an anchor tenant, but it was determined that Bishop is not a large enough community for an El Pollo franchise.

Unfortunately, Eslamieh has been suffering from illness of late, so pending his recovery, the rental and renovation process has stalled.

Isaacs wins recommendation

Ted Schade of the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (GBUAPCD) announced this week that he is recommending his Board award the management contract for the $6 million in mitigation money paid to the district by the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power to Lisa Isaacs.

Isaacs would oversee disbursement of the funds to organizations which would create local clean air projects.

Isaacs and Rick Phelps of the High Sierra Energy Foundation were the only two bidders. Isaacs bid was $86/hour or $172,000/year. Phelps bid was $125/hour or $254,000/year.

Both bids contemplated one total full-time employee.

The contract will last for two years, and likely three said Schade.

The Board will have the option of accepting Schade’s recommendation, choosing Phelps, or directing staff to run the program with existing personnel.

Town hiring!

That is not a misprint.

The Sheet learned this week that interviews were held this week to hire a “temporary maintenance worker” at the airport.

When asked why the hire is being made now, Airport Manager Bill Manning replied, “Brian Picken and I are the only remaining airport employees from last winter and as such there is a significant amount of firefighting, snow removal, and general airport training required for the new hires.”

Hmm. Doesn’t sound temporary.

When asked where the job was advertised, Sr. Personnel Analyst Noreen Wilbur said the job was posted in June in the Fifty Center, Inyo Register and Town website.

Interesting, since The Sheet has the Town’s legal classified contract and yet the legal classified was placed elsewhere.

Several Councilmembers were unaware of the planned hiring.

Finally, a late press release from the Sheriff’s Dept.