Page 2: So when do we start talking about things?

All through the recent political campaign, the candidates kept telling me how important it was to comprehensively address the Town’s budget situation.

So naturally, I waited with breathless anticipation for Council to begin its budget discussion at its June 16 meeting.

The Snowcreek Development Agreement got in the way, and the budget discussion was postponed until this past Wednesday evening, June 23.

Council puttered about for another five hours Wednesday, miraculously managing to avoid a meaningful conversation about the budget yet again.

The discussion was rescheduled for June 30.

During the five o’clock hour, when the smart money’s on Jimmy Buffett, Council did hold a “Workshop to discuss priorities and goals” where the budget was addressed generally.

Incoming Council member Rick Wood described the workshop as “completely unproductive … We didn’t move the ball forward one yard.”

“Matthew [fellow Council member-elect Lehman] asked me afterward, ‘So when do we start talking about things?’”

Next week, apparently. Wood promises Council will “get into the meat of it” on the 30th. “It won’t be a make-nice week next week,” he said. “I’m not afraid to say no.”

What Council danced around but never tackled on Wednesday was a simple starting point.

While Council member Bacon says she’s comfortable working off this year’s actuals (projecting the same $17.5 million in revenue for FY 2010-2011 that the Town anticipates collecting in 2009-2010), Council member John Eastman wishes to budget more conservatively than that and continue to use whatever surplus remains at the end of the year to replenish the Town’s REU (Reserve for Economic Uncertainty).

Eastman’s position was supported by Wood.

Which is fine, but without a defined revenue projection to work from (other than the $17.8 million number he and Finance Director Brad Koehn developed for the draft budget), how is Town Manager Rob Clark supposed to contemplate any real changes to the draft he’s already created?

I guess it just amounts to waiting around for another week.

I asked Clark at one point during the meeting while we were sugaring up at the cookie tray, “Were you blown away by the lack of direction [by Council]?”

Clark replied in his typically subtle fashion, where he doesn’t let on whether he’s joking or not, “It’s better that way. I can make up my own [direction].”

Ah, leadership.

The most telling exchange of the night occurred when Council member Suginomora, who is still operating under the illusion that someone gives a damn about what a lame duck Council member thinks, expressed confidence that Bacon would carry on their work [transitioning the Town to a performance-based budget] after she’s gone.

“It’ll only last a couple of hours,” quipped Bacon in reply.

If that. As Wood said during a break afterward, “We’re gonna throw those two years of work out.”

So what did Council talk about?

Council spent approximately one hour and 45 minutes on Wednesday discussing the approval of 2010 spring funding recommendations for Measure R.

That’s right, Council glossed over the $17.5 million budget in order to talk about $114,000 in potential Measure R funding awards.

Which represents approximately 7/10ths of 1 percent of the budget.

And Council couldn’t approve the expenditure! Measure R funding requests were bounced back to the Tourism and Recreation Commission for further review.

Just to give you an idea, some of the R spring funding awards sent to Council for approval Wednesday included: $24,000 to the Town for tennis court rehab and design; $10,800 to the Eastern Sierra Nordic Ski Assn. for biathlon equipment; $20,000 to the Town for Community Center park playground equipment; $17,500 to MLTPA to fund the completion of its wayfinding and standards manual for the trail system.

You get the idea.

However, one request not funded was a $355,000 request from Mammoth Nordic for expanding the Nordic system here in Town.

The request included $150,000 for a new trail grooming machine.

The Commission, in its denial, asked Mammoth Nordic to reapply during the Fall 2010 funding cycle.

The Fall cycle, said Tourism and Recreation Director Danna Stroud, is when larger projects are evaluated. The spring funding cycle, according to Stroud’s staff report, “is intended to cover unanticipated emergency or maintenance/administration costs of projects already awarded funds during the fall process, but can also include funding for new awards/projects. Preference would be given for previously awarded projects and ‘once in a lifetime’ or time-limited opportunities.”

Knox believes his application is time-limited because, although he doesn’t need the funding this cycle, he needs a future commitment to fund in order to get delivery of a new trail grooming machine in time for next winter.

But then things got a little sideways.

Councilman Skip Harvey suggested that a member of the Tourism and Recreation Commission (Knud Svendsen) should not have participated in deliberation on Mammoth Nordic’s request because Svendsen had a conflict of interest.

Would Svendsen, whose employer (Mammoth Mountain Ski Area) owns Tamarack Ski Center, wish to support a competing Nordic recreational opportunity in town?

This led to a larger discussion about “process,” and as any professional train wreck watcher can attest, mere mention of the word process can give Council member Suginomora a contact high.

Among other things, Suginomora wished to send the funding requests back to the T&R Commission so it could develop a “point system” to quantify the value of competing projects.

T&R Commissioner Teri Stehlik was at the meeting Wednesday. We caught up with her the next day to ask a few questions.

Sheet: Do you have any idea what you are being tasked to do?

Stehlik: No.

Stehlik then elaborated, saying she was aware the Commission needed to figure out some sort of point system and that they would look at the conflict of interest issue raised, but it was her initial, blunt reply which spoke volumes. Certainly, she felt the Commission had done its due diligence to ensure application approvals reflected Measure R principles and priorities.

What’s somewhat mystifying is Mammoth Nordic’s push for reconsideration. On the one hand, one can admire Mr. Knox’s passion for his cause and the expansion of Nordic opportunities promises great potential economic value to the community. A second grooming machine (Mammoth Nordic already owns one) will also allow the group to expand its service coverage outside Town limits.

On the other hand, Mr. Svendsen is probably none too thrilled about having his integrity called into question, Mr. Knox has had a long running and well-known feud with T&R Commission Chair Bill Sauser, and now you’ve got Teri Stehlik who appears less than pleased at having to spend more time on something she thought she’d already finished

Then there are the obvious long-term implications of Mr. Knox’s request. If he’s asking for $200,000 to fund operations in year one, does that promise to be a future, permanent fixed cost? That would be a significant annual commitment of Measure R dollars, approximately 25 percent of Measure R revenues.

But how would you not spend that money for ongoing operations when you’ve already laid out $150,000 for a rather expensive grooming machine?

The guess here is that the Commission will still table the request until fall, pending the provision of additional data which will demonstrate positive economic impact.

What was ultimately gained Wednesday is difficult to figure at the moment.