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Mammoth finally eliminates embattled Airport Director 

Mammoth Lakes Town Manager Dave Wilbrecht said Thursday that the latest two positions to be eliminated or otherwise left unfilled in the Town’s Fiscal Year 2012-2013 proposed budget are the Airport Director position, currently held by Bill Manning, and a Maintenance Supervisor position in Public Works.

“As soon as we made the determination, we immediately notified the employees,” Wilbrecht said, adding that both have been given severance packages.

He said it’s anticipated that both will leave their positions prior to the budget being adopted, and that the salaries will be directed to various other pressing needs and budget balancing. Manning’s position was an “at will” situation, and the Maintenance position has already been discussed with union officials.

Wilbrecht went on to say that the current plan is to consolidate Mammoth Yosemite Airport operations with Public Works, under Ray Jarvis. Fine-tuning is still ongoing in terms of how to best allocate personnel for both town and airport services positions. Expect to hear more details presented during Town Council’s budget hearings on June 20.

The Super Bowl is over. That’s it … the last game. As they say in Hollywood, “That’s a wrap.” Now there is a BLACK HOLE in sports for the next six months. There is a little sports nirvana the first weekend of March Madness. That first weekend of the NCAA tournament is a great sports weekend. But it’s too early to discuss March Madness.

Super Bowl. That was a great game. There was some dead time without much scoring, but watching the Patriots and Brady and Belichickenhead sweat was priceless. Loved it. It’s one of the three Super Bowl outcomes I love. Number one of course is the Steelers winning the Super Bowl. Number two is the Steelers losing the Super Bowl … I mean, if your team can’t win it, you still want them in it. Number three is the Patriots losing the Super Bowl, if for no other reason than the supreme idiocy of the people that evaluate and love the Patriots. For instance, take this assessment I heard I don’t know how many times leading up to the Super Bowl:

“The Giants are better on defense and about as good on offense, but the Patriots have Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady, so they can beat the Giants.” What were people thinking? Frankly, if you think about it, the reason the Pats are losing is BECAUSE of Belichick. He is a stubborn egomaniac, who has put together an all-Smurf team, and it was evident during the Super Bowl.

As I have told you all along, they have limited wide receivers. All that talk about two Tight Ends … they are still TEs and if you play defense to take away the middle of the field and the TEs, you are left with Danny Woodhead, Wes Welker and Deion Branch to stretch the field and make plays.

So the Pats had two weeks to prepare for the Giants. I guess the Giants didn’t have two weeks to prepare for the Pats horrible defense and terrible receiving corps? And didn’t Belichick have two weeks to prepare for the Giants last time? The Pats need talent. I said before the season the Pats were done. I am surprised they got as far as they did. But they have nothing left. Belichick has four more draft picks next year in the first and second rounds, and they will get nothing for those picks same as they always do. THAT is why they can’t beat great teams.

They had a weak schedule and lost to just about every team with a winning record they faced. Oh, they beat Joe Flacco. Wow. That is quite an accomplishment. But the Pats have no skill players. No defensive ends, no CBs. Belichickenhead’s stubbornness is killing them. Every coach gets outgrown by the game. Even the great ones. They can’t seem to evolve. Look at Chuck Noll, Tom Landry, Don Shula … all great coaches, but at some point the game passes them by, unless they evolve and turn their offense and defense over to new age coordinators and ideas.

But the Patriot Way thing is taking down Belichcik like the Flex Defense and the Marino offense eventually killed Landry and Shula. Evolve or perish. That is where the Patriots are now.

Eli. The Book of Eli has been rewritten. I still don’t trust Eli from day to day. But when you look at him in the clutch, you have to give it to him. He has great playoff games. Now, he will pass 20 interceptions in I the regular season, but in the playoffs, he turns it up. Statistically, he’s better than Peyton, who it turns out is the classic regular season hero. But when teams turn up the heat in the playoffs, Peyton fades. I never gave Eli credit for handling pressure, but he wins the big games.

In other news, Jets WR Santonio Holmes and QB Mark Sanchez are going to “work on their relationship.” What are they are going to do, spend a weekend fishing together? Give me a break. What are these two, married? That team is a hideous mess and they are even talking about bringing in Peyton Manning to play with Holmes! Hah!

Holmes hates his QB and was benched during a game the Jets had to win to make the playoffs, and he’s a general miscreant to boot. But the Jets just kept him on the roster and just paid him another $15 million in guaranteed roster bonuses. Ridiculous!

Former Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner says emphatically that Eli Manning is not a Hall of Famer, because Eli isn’t consistently good. Now, I agree with the inconsistency observation, but if you can win two or three super bowls AND perform excellently in every playoff run, not even counting all the other wins he is putting up, maybe he should be in. The hilarious thing is Warner had 4 great years and some other years he was benched more than once and didn’t play more than 6 games. Warner shouldn’t even be thought of for the Hall of Fame but they are talking about him because of his STORY and 4 great years. Screw that. Warner should just sit down, eat his rubber chicken dinner and shut up.

That said, Eli does lack a certain flash, the dude’s got no personality. He’s like a tube sock with the two big blue stripes. It’s there, you need it, it gets the job done, but it’s awkward … and a little embarrassing.

The Steelers hired Todd Haley as their Offensive Coordinator. Haley? I don’t know about this one. I really don’t know enough about Haley as an offensive coordinator to comment on that. When he was with the Cards, they had Warner and were wide open offensively, but Whisehnunt was calling the plays. When he was with the Chiefs, they had Matt Cassel and he is a DUD. So, the jury’s out on this one. He is a Parcells guy and that doesn’t make me happy, but Sean Payton was a Parcells guy and look at his offense.

I know this: he’s not much when it comes to his personality … a brooding, self-involved asshole as a person. We’ll see about his coordinator skills. One thing I do like is that he will put Big Bum Ben “Rotten” Roethlisberger back in his place. Ben had too much leeway hopefully those days are over. Maybe that is why the Steelers went outside the organization to shake things up.

Ricky Williams retired … again. He must have completed construction on the RickeyWeed Dome, a covered marijuana forest on his estate. And have you ever seen a player that a team traded away 8 players for amount to so little? Ricky was a bust. He ran for 10,000 yards, the most insignificant 10.000 yards in NFL history.

Former Patriots and Jets RB Curtis Martin made the Hall of Fame. Why? Martin was a good dependable back. Hall of Fame? I don’t see it. When the NFL starts using stats only, as Major League Baseball does, the Hall of Fame will be filled with a bunch of players that put up huge numbers because they were around forever, but weren’t dominant players. Former Indianapolis Colts QB Kerry Collins and former NY Jets OB Vinny Testaverde threw for a boatload of yards because they were around for a long time, but are they Hall of Fame material? No.

Oh, and Brady’s wife Gisele Bundchen was upset that the receivers dropped so many balls. She couldn’t believe that could happen … and with her extensive football knowledge.

Maybe Brady’s wife knows what I know: it’s Belichick’s fault, him and his whole 4-foot tall Ooompa Loompa WR corps, and in the Super Bowl … how embarrassing. And I see Edelman didn’t even step on the field at Cornerback.

“American Idol” is back. And instead of being good singers, everyone is determined to make it by telling sob stories and crying every 2 minutes. And it’s getting old fast. If I hear, “This is my last chance,” “I don’t have any health insurance” or “I need this for my family” one more time, I’m gonna vomit. It isn’t your last chance … try getting a job.

Winning “American Idol” is not anyone’s birthright. If that is your career plan, you need to have your parents kick your dumb ass out of the house. Don’t whine to me about health insurance or providing food for your baby when you don’t want to work a real job because “music is your dream and the only thing you want to do.”

It would be great if we could all be be filthy rich and famous, and not punch a clock every day at McDonald’s, the bank or on a construction site. But the fact is that ain’t reality … and frankly, the majority of people crying all those sob stories don’t have enough talent to host a karaoke night. But if they did, at least they would have a job until they realized their dream of having singing career was just that: a dream … a pipe dream. Get a job.

(But sure make things difficult)

This one is not entirely Airport Manager Bill Manning’s fault.

The issue is rental car agreements at Mammoth Yosemite Airport between the Town, Enterprise Rental Cars and Hertz Rental Cars.

In an effort to raise additional airport revenue, Manning proposes a surcharge on both rental car companies if they maintain more than 12 cars at the airport at any one time.

Hertz franchisee Tom Cage has threatened to move his operation off-site if the $3 nightly surcharge per additional vehicle is applied.

Currently, the Town collects 15% of the gross rental fee for any car rented at Mammoth Yosemite.

During peak season (as in March, 2011), this fee nets the Town more than $12,000 rent per month.

The Town’s latest RFP (Request for Proposals) for Rental Car Operators indicated that services rendered by the Town in exchange for the fee include terminal counter space, parking, utilities and snow removal.

The RFP also states, ironically, that “a minimum of 15 vehicles be available on-site.”

Manning maintains that there is limited parking at the airport and that he has to charge for the additional spaces. After all, members of the public pay $8/night.

Cage believes the current parking area can be efficiently managed to create an ample number of spaces.

What complicates things is that Cage has two sites where he rents cars: both at the airport and at Mammoth Chevron in town. The airport rentals are subject to the 15% airport surcharge, whereas the in-Town rentals are merely subject to a flat $10 fee.

In short, it’s cheaper to rent in town, especially if you’re renting a vehicle for more than a few days.

The cynic would believe Cage is using the airport as a cheap storage lot while he tries to funnel rental business to town, where he would theoretically have a price advantage over his competitor, who only rents at the airport.

Cage insists this is not the case and that he generally makes half his rentals out of the airport.

Yes, he does acknowledge, if people really grumble about the price, he will let them know that they can take a shuttle to town and rent for less, but it is not something he broadcasts up front.

The issue he has with the additional parking surcharge appears to be that of a tipping point.

He feels he pays enough taxes already, and if the Town pushes him too far, he will move his airport operation across the highway to the industrial park on the west side of 395.

Then, like they do at most airports, he would shuttle customers from the terminal to the rental car location and pay the flat $10 rental fee to the Town.

Which would, theoretically, drastically reduce Town revenue derived from rentals.

Last month, Cage rented 68 cars out of the airport and paid a total of $2,168 in rent to the Town.

Based off-site, he would pay just $680 in fees to the Town for the same 68 cars.

This year, with added flights, Cage anticipates both rental car companies will need to have a combined 60 to 70 cars available to meet demand.

Adding cars isn’t cheap.

Paying nightly surcharges on added cars could jack Cage’s rent by $600 or $700 a month.

Finally, Cage’s lease is subject to 30-day notice of termination.

So he’s largely disincentivized to invest in his business to meet expected demand.

Effectively capping the Town’s ability to generate revenue from increased rental car business.

I’ve often heard the phrase in discussions about Town development projects that, “We don’t want to build the church for Easter Sunday.”

In other words, we don’t want to build so many units that they are only occupied for a couple of days a year.

The problem you encounter with the airline business is this: you do kind of have to prepare for Easter Sunday, because when one flight is cancelled, generally several flights are cancelled. And you’re left with a lot of folks who need transportation.

To serve these folks, it would be ideal if we had plenty of cars on-site.

As Cage says, imagine a guy taking a cab down to the airport. He’s then told his flight is cancelled. So he inquires about renting a car. “Sorry sir, the rental companies don’t keep enough cars down here because it’s cost-prohibitive, but we’re happy to call you a cab so you can go rent one back in town.”

Conclusion: I guess I’m flummoxed as to why Manning has unilateral latitude to make policy down at the airport. Council or the Town Manager needs to … manage him.

It’s the last week to place your bid for Laurel Stanford Manning’s Cedar Juniper Tree painting! The current high bidder is local Keith Hofer at $600! The painting is a one-of-a-kind original and there are no reproductions available. You can outbid Keith at The Sheet News’ Facebook page or by emailing support@thesheetnews.com. Bids will be accepted until Wednesday, July 6. The winner will be announced in the July 9 issue of The Sheet. The painting is on display at the Looney Bean if you want to take a closer look. It’s a good cause. Proceeds go to pay for Laurel’s groceries!

It’s the last week to place your bid for Laurel Stanford Manning’s Cedar Juniper Tree painting! The current high bidder are Mammoth local Lynn and Stu Need at $500! The painting is a one-of-a-kind original and there are no reproductions available. You can outbid the Needs at The Sheet News’ Facebook page or by emailing support@thesheetnews.com. Bids will be accepted until Wednesday, July 6. The winner will be announced in the July 9 issue of The Sheet. The painting is on display at the Looney Bean if you want to take a closer look. It’s a good cause. Proceeds go to pay for Laurel’s groceries!

You could be the lucky winner of this Cedar Juniper Tree painting by local artist Laurel Stanford Manning! This original piece of artwork will be sold to the highest bidder. Place your bid either on The Sheet News Facebook page, or by emailing support@thesheetnews.com. Bids will be accepted until Wednesday, July 6, and the winner will be announced in the July 8 issue of The Sheet. The painting is currently hanging at the Looney Bean in Mammoth. Stop by and take a closer look!

Former airport employee Doug Kriese may not be too thrilled if a report pending from the Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t go his way. Kriese, readers may recall, was the whistleblower who notified the FAA of safety regulation violations he says he witnessed at the airport during his tenure there from October 2009 through Jan. 23, 2011.

The FAA has yet to release its determination, but on Wednesday during the Mammoth Airport Commission’s regular meeting, Airport and Transportation Director Bill Manning briefed commissioners that, according to sources who may be privy to the report, preliminary indications are that the FAA report will not be a “clean report,” but will show that the airport was not out of compliance. He didn’t elaborate further, only adding he had no definitive, inside knowledge of what was in the report.

The investigation included, at the very least, a focus on an alleged breach of FAA safety regulations section 139, which deals with aircraft rescue and firefighting equipment. Kriese alleged that after the airport’s annual burn exercise in early December 2010, the AFFF, or aqueous film-forming foam used for fire suppression, in the airport’s rescue vehicle was completely emptied. When Kriese went to refill the tank, he found that there was only enough left to fill it 20 percent. He claimed that he notified his superior, Manning, who then ordered 100 gallons of the necessary foam.

The delivery time, however, was one week, which meant that the airport would go an entire week without this fire suppressant stocked at adequate levels. Kriese said he suggested to Manning they go to Fire Station #1 in Mammoth and borrow some AFFF. Then, when the new foam arrived, they could replace what they had borrowed.

Release to the public and media of the FAA’s final report is expected soon.

In other air service news, on Tuesday the Mono County Tourism Commission formed a subcommittee to streamline how the County interfaces with its fellow air service partners, namely Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, the Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Lakes Tourism. The subcommittee will also serve as a liaison to Mono’s Board of Supervisors particularly as concerns how much financial support the County is willing to contribute (if anything) to subsidizing more of the “shoulder season” periods of air service. (MMSA has said it will continue its full support of winter service, but is backing off of other times that aren’t yielding as much return.)

The Board is divided on the matter. Supervisor Byng Hunt thinks the County should participate to some degree, but Supervisor Larry Johnston is dead set against any Board-approved funding.

Chair Jimmy Little and Commissioner Danna Stroud suggested the subcommittee could help better define the County’s role, in terms of “deliverables, product and what [financial support] is going to buy.” Little opined that perhaps the other partners weren’t specific enough during their recent Board presentation as to reasons why the County should fund air service, leaving the perception that the funding would be more of a “bailout.”

Mono Economic Development Director Dan Lyster said that reticence on the part of the Board is likely due to the County being not as fiscally flexible as it was last fall when it kicked in $45,000. “If people are flying in and going to Bodie or Lee Vining or Bridgeport, that’s where the value to the County is,” he indicated, choosing to focus his remarks on potential benefits of air service investment

As envisioned by the commission, the subcommittee would include both Little and Stroud, Lyster and Alicia Vennos from County EDD, and ideally MLT Director John Urdi and MMSA Marketing CEO Howard Pickett, as well as Supervisor Hunt and Board Chair Hap Hazard.

“There has been a lot of communication between Mammoth Lakes Tourism, Mammoth Mountain and the Mono County Tourism Commission about the benefits of year-round air service to the county as a whole. The recently established Air Service Sub-committee should help articulate those benefits,” Vennos commented.

Lara Kirkner contributed to this report.

Manning doesn’t get his (East)man

So much for a honeymoon period.

Just four days after assuming her duties as Mammoth’s Town Manager, Marianna Marysheva-Martinez (Sheet moniker: MMM) was forced to intervene in a personnel matter tinged with nepotism.

The controversy centered around Airport Manager Bill Manning’s filling of an Airport Maintenance Coordinator position at Mammoth Yosemite Airport.

Out of a field of eight candidates, Manning and three other members of his interview panel (Assistant Airport Manager Brian Picken, Hot Creek Aviation G.M. Pat Foster and Public Works Maintenance Manager Todd Murphy) selected William Thomas Bauman of San Diego as their top choice.

Bauman, however, just happens to be Councilman John Eastman’s prospective son-in-law (Bauman has been dating Eastman’s daughter and a September wedding is reportedly in the offing).

In an e-mail response to questions posed by The Sheet, Eastman wrote:

“On Will applying for the position at the airport – I can see where some eyebrows may have been raised. Yet, I bent over backwards to not get involved in any way. I recognize that we all live in a small community, so I was very careful to not be involved. On the other hand, I don’t feel it is fair to penalize an otherwise qualified candidate from applying for an entry level position. I merely introduced Will to the job opening, and the kid did the rest. Will made the inquiry and made his application completely on his own. Other than telling Will of the job opening, and driving him to the airport for his interview, I have had no involvement, what-so-ever. Will did share with me that he was interviewed by 4 men at the airport session, and that he was given a tour of the facility. In the end, Will was selected by the four members of the interview panel for the position, pending further administrative requirements, based solely on his own merit.

Not sure how important “experience” might be with this particular job. It is my understanding that this is a low end, entry level position, where youth, attitude and personality might be more important than any specfic experience.”

The position was advertised in The Sheet during the month of February. The qualifications for the position were enumerated as follows: “Candidates must have knowledge and experience in operating heavy equipment; knowledge of materials, methods, practices, and equipment used in airport maintenance and repair activities; knowledge of federal, state, and local rules and regulations related to airport maintenance; and knowledge of occupational hazards and standard safety precautions. Possession of, or ability to obtain within one year of employment, an appropriate, valid California Class B driver’s license. Possession of or ability to obtain First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Certificates. Possession of certification or ability to become certified as a weather observer. Prefer: Strong background in aircraft rescue and firefighting techniques, as well as security and first aid methods, practices, and equipment.”

The salary range for the position starts at $40,024 annually, and includes a typically fat taxeater bennie package.

It is The Sheet’s understanding that Bauman, who either just graduated or is about to graduate from San Diego State University, does not have a plethora of work experience, and certainly far less experience than some of the other candidates. The Sheet wished to ask the interview panel about this particular issue, but Manning and Foster did not respond.

Town Manager MMM addressed the matter rather diplomatically following a closed session of Council on Wednesday. “One of the areas that I have been charged to look closely into was personnel processes and policies,” she said via e-mail. “Having looked into this particular recruitment closely, from start to finish, it became apparent that the Town lacks a centrally managed recruitment and selection process. We are going to change this, and we will start with the airport, given that their recent recruitment has not yet been completed.

In the next few days, I will be working with relevant staff to determine the exact needs of the airport, chart a clear recruitment/selection/hiring process that is transparent and consistent, and begin this recruitment anew.”

Side note: When I went down to the airport to try and speak with Manning directly on Wednesday, I discovered that his office is located inside an area which requires security clearance. Hilarious. Talk about bunker mentality. I wonder if Bill shares an office with the Publisher of the Fifty Center. Never see him around town either.

While MMM becomes accustomed to Mammoth’s unique dysfunctionality (and kudos to Eastman for trying to jam through that hire before she got her feet wet – that’s a wily politician for you!), we are reminded of how fortunate we are to have a Town Manager not named Clark.

This feeling becomes even stronger every time there’s a discussion of the future of the Mammoth Ice Rink.

*For background information on the rink deal, see www.thesheetnews.com/archives/3002

On Wednesday, representatives of the Mammoth Unified School District and the Town got together to try and figure out what to do about the rink, which the Town chose not to operate this year.

Currently, the Town is stuck in purgatory on this one (that or hell has frozen over. Yuk yuk.). Mayor Skip Harvey said Wednesday the Town’s invested about half of the $4.4 million required to get the facility completed.

The quandary is that the Town doesn’t really have the money to move forward, yet doesn’t have the stomach to walk away from its multi-million dollar investment.

The lease deal the Town signed with the school district in 2007 calls for $42,000/year in rent.

Harvey is hoping to renegotiate that number downward by two-thirds.

The District appears open to that … provided it receives some assurances that the rink will actually be built and operated.

Judy Farnetti pointed out the irony/comedy of the Town looking for a $28,000/year break on rent so it can spend another couple of million dollars to finish a facility which has historically lost $200,000/year on its operations.

Councilmember Jo Bureaucrat, er Bacon, said the Town needs to get done with its visioning, processing, RECSTRATing and American Idling  before it will know what its recreational and funding priorities might be.

The Sheet would point out that for better or for worse, Council prioritized this ice rink in the nascent days of MLTPA and before Measure R or the Whitmore Track project ever existed.

Really, it’s a bit of deja vu. Think of the airport. We signed with one partner and then immediately got distracted by another. Here, we commit big money to an ice rink and then ditch our old partners and promises for newer partners and promises.

As School Board member Andrew Bourne said, “The perception [on the rink] is one of unkept promises,” a sentiment echoed by fellow Board member Greg Newbry.

Mayor Harvey acknowledged that the Town could apply for Measure R funds to help complete the project. The Sheet’s response is, “Well, what are you waiting for?”

Can you find 7 hearts in this image? (Artwork by Jim Warren/Courtesy www.PlanetPerplex.com)

Local artist Laurel Stanford Manning will act as host for a special art show that features “new heart” art in the spirit of the Valentine’s Day weekend.
On display will be original “heart” works by another noted Eastern Sierra artist, Lori Michelon, from 5-8 p.m. on Friday night, Feb. 12, at Paisley Fine Art & Framing, 123 Commerce Drive, in studio A-1.
“It’s just a good excuse for us to throw a party to celebrate Valentine’s Day,” Manning said. “We’ll have other art on display, too, but the centerpiece will be Michelon’s ‘heart’ exhibit. Hearts are a big part of her work, so it was a natural.”
“Come by, meet the artist and pick out a piece or two for the heart in your life,” Manning said.
Info: 760.924.2400.