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And outgoing Councilmember Skip Harvey did, along with others in Suite Z, who joined him for a slice of cake and honored his 8 years of service during his final Council meeting on June 6. Harvey thanked staff, his fellow Council members and especially the citizenry for all their support. “Gorgeous, enchanting, mystical … those are the words we should use to describe Mammoth,” he said in parting. “I love this town!”

Meanwhile, incoming Councilmember Michael Raimondo is now set to be sworn on June 13, at which point he’ll go right into a closed session meeting. “Out of the frying pan, into the fire,” he noted.

The Planning Commission meeting originally scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 10, has been RESCHEDULED for Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. in Suite Z. Due to its proximity to Thanksgiving, the Nov. 24 meeting has been canceled. Assuming the Commission doesn’t need any special meetings, the final planning commission meeting of the year will be Dec. 8. Commission Chair Tony Barrett said he plans to cancel the Dec. 22 meeting as well, due to close proximity to the holidays, and attempts to save money on staff time by consolidating more meetings. -AG

The Town of Mammoth Lakes, the Inyo National Forest, Friends of the Inyo, and MLTPA for the FINAL Lakes Basin Special Study (LABSS) public meeting. The meeting will discuss summertime mobility and transportation in the Mammoth Lakes Basin as part of the LABSS project. The evening’s program will feature presentations on traffic data, an interactive group exercise, and discussions about potential solutions to area management issues such as parking, public transit, pedestrian integration, and more.

The meeting is being held at the Westin from 5:30-8:30 p.m. For more information, and to download meeting materials, visit http://www.mltpa.org/projects/current/SOS_2010/LABSS/mtg3_101028/.

After a rash of recent bear activity, including one man being bit and another bear being shot, the Wildlife Subcommittee will reconvene today at 2 p.m. in Suite Z to discuss several forward-moving efforts. The Subcommittee felt at its last meeting that it should be meeting more regularly now since September and October are the busy season for the bears.

After Don Jower was bitten by a bear at the Labor Day Arts Festival, Festival Coordinator Gaye Mueller requested that a meeting be held between the Town of Mammoth, Mono County Health Department, and other vested agencies and organizations to revamp language for special event food vendors and how they need to store their food. The Wildlife Subcommittee will discuss this language at its meeting today.

Police Chief Dan Watson also plans to review the contract for Wildlife Specialist Steve Searles and the group will continue to discuss the use of firearms by the Wildlife Specialist on Forest Service lands. Watson has been researching other methods of explosive weapons that are not firearms in the traditional sense.

The next Inyo-Mono Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP) Planning Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 25, from 9 a.m. until noon in the Bishop Paiute Tribal Council Chambers
Paiute Professional Building, 50 Tu Su Lane, in Bishop. (Enter main doors on left side of building from parking lot; Tribal Council Chambers will be directly in front of you.)

On the agenda this week:

Agenda (Items that will require actions/decisions are in BOLD)

1.  Standing Items

• Welcome and Introductions
• Announcements
• Process “gut” check
• Approval of July 27 Planning Committee meeting summary
• Public comment period

2.  MOU (final version attached)

• Please bring any signed MOUs to the August 25 meeting
  
• Action Item: Approval and adoption  of planning/implementation MOU
• Discuss timeline and process of new MOU taking effect

3.  Policy statement pertaining to the Brown Act

• Language to be included in the policy statement:
• Agendas for both Planning Committee and Coordinating Committee meetings will be posted to the Inyo-Mono IRWMP website (www.inyomonowater.org) at least 72 hours prior to the meeting
• A public comment period will be added to the agenda
• Planning Committee meeting agendas will be included in both Inyo and Mono County Board of Supervisors agendas
• Action Item: Discuss proposed changes to policy statement and develop recommendation to adopt statement at September PC meeting

4.  Fiscal agent

• Entities interested in pursuing fiscal agency should be prepared to state and discuss their interests at the Aug. 25 meeting
• Action Item: Develop recommendation for fiscal agent to be decided upon at the September Planning Committee meeting
• If no stakeholder submits an application, CalTrout, by default, will remain the fiscal sponsor for the Planning Grant.

5.  Strategies/Objectives and Project Ranking Criteria Development

• Present results of the work group and determine next steps

6.  Planning Grant Application

• Review requirements for writing the proposal
• Review the information needed and request help in information gathering and writing (or reviewing)
• Determine immediate next steps to write application

The Planning Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 22. Location and times TBD. -Press Release

Last Thursday a meeting with the Eastern Sierra Unified School District’s Board and the Mono County Office of Education was expected to occur, but just as quickly as the meeting was scheduled, it was canceled. The purpose of the meeting was for ESUSD and MCOE to further discuss the proposal that MCOE has put on the table to consolidate fiscal and human resources between the two entities in order to save ESUSD several hundred thousand dollars during its economic crisis, which has caused the district to lay off numerous employees, including 15 teacher positions.

The meeting was canceled when the Board and Superintendent Don Clark found out that MCOE Superintendent of Schools Catherine Hiatt had opened the meeting to the public. The Board had originally invited a few select members of the community, and Hiatt thought this was because the meeting was going to be held in the small confines of the MCOE offices. She let the public know at a meeting on Wednesday night that the venue would be changed to Bridgeport’s Memorial Hall so that it could accommodate whomever wanted to attend.

“I e-mailed Don [Clark] the next day to explain the change,” Hiatt said. “They invited some of the community, but you can’t be selective.”

A short while later Hiatt found out that Board President Margie Beaver was seeking legal counsel about changing the format of the meeting by opening it to the public. Shortly after that the meeting was canceled, to be rescheduled at a later date.

Hiatt said she was told by ESUSD that they want things to cool down and when she had opened the meeting to the public it had changed things for them.

“I explained that it would not be helpful to people to hear what the plan was second or third hand and that by allowing people to hear what is going on you will eliminate confusion and rumors,” Hiatt said. “It was clear that they did not want to meet.”

Hiatt went on to say that she would really like to see the matter be put to a close. She wants the citizens to be heard and the ESUSD Board to make a decision on MCOE’s proposal, which has now been before them for 26 days.

Calls from The Sheet to Clark and Beaver last Friday were not returned.