Whitmore spared the ax
Pool and other rec programs survive for now. Bunyan of a lawsuit still unresolved
As the Mammoth Lakes Town Council neared the completion of balancing its interim budget this week, concerns over Whitmore Pool led to larger community concerns over the fate of Town recreation programs in general.
In a final push to come up with budget balancing options, Mammoth Town staff suggested making a cut to the Recreation Department that would have effectively closed Whitmore Pool recreational facility. Staff suggested that $83,000 be cut from Recreation Department personnel, which is the cost of staffing the pool. Recreation Manager Stuart Brown was sent to the Recreation Commission on Tuesday to apply for Measure R money to backfill the cut money. The Commission said no. All of its members, excluding Pat Agnitch, believed the request was a blatant form of “supplanting,” – i.e. using voter-approved funds for a specific purpose to backfill general fund obligations
Commissioners also felt that the request was putting the cart before the horse.
“With employee concessions this will most likely be a non-issue,” said Commission Chair Bill Sauser, and he was correct.
By the Wednesday evening Town Council meeting, word had spread about a possible closure and swimmers filled the Council Chambers to speak in opposition to
closing the pool. It was the largest crowd that the recent budget discussions had drawn in more than a month and a half. However, Town employees had, by that point, agreed upon concessions that made the $83,000, as well as other potential cuts, unnecessary.
“We do not need to eliminate $83,000 in recreation at this time,” said Interim Town Manager Marianna Marysheva-Martinez. “Employee concessions have saved a lot – at least for the next month.”
Members of the public still came to the podium to defend not just swimming and the Whitmore Pool, but recreation as a whole, fearing what was to come for the department down the road when a Hot Creek settlement is finally reached. One of the most prominent speakers was Olympic skier Stacey Cook, who explained that she was the product of parks and recreation in Truckee, Calif. and now represents Mammoth on the world stage because of the path those experiences put her on. She encouraged the Council to give kids in Mammoth the same opportunities she had growing up.
“Families don’t come and stay here because of education,” added long-time resident and mother of an 8-year-old Keeley Ferguson, “it’s because of the activities. If it weren’t for the pool, we’d be out of here during the summer, spending our money somewhere else.”
“If Mammoth loses recreation then the lawsuit doesn’t matter,” added another parent, Michael Locke.
The consensus from the audience was that Measure R dollars should be used for things such as keeping the pool open. Most agreed that the Town should focus on keeping facilities it has in good shape. Don’t build new things, as some have argued is the goal of Measure R, if you can’t maintain them.
Sandy Hogan received a round of applause when she suggested that the Town Attorney come up with a legal definition of what supplanting and other Measure R restrictions actually mean. Hogan believed that the Whitmore request to Measure R was a legal one, and that supplanting was only an issue if Measure R was used for existing facility maintenance funds.
“We’re allowing this money to sit there when we could be using it,” Hogan expressed. She also believed that Measure R, rather than General Funds, could have funded the recent replacement of the playground equipment at Mammoth Creek Park.
“Staff should make an accounting adjustment and charge it to Measure R,” she said. “That would save you $136,000.”
In the end, Council was able to approve a balanced, interim budget (with a final push coming from $433,000 in employee concessions) on time; a feat that Councils in the recent past haven’t always been able to accomplish. A very limited amount was cut from the Recreation Department, none of it from personnel. In response to the community’s concerns surrounding potential cuts to this department, Councilmember Rick Wood pointed out that the after the police department, recreation is the highest funded department through the General Fund. The Mammoth Lakes Police Department agreed to give up its on-call stand-by pay of two hours and to give up holiday pay for all in exchange for overtime pay for the officers actually working on holidays.
The General Employees Association, Management Employee Association and Executive Managers all agreed to one rotational furlough day per month, which means that the Town offices will stay open Monday through Friday but will have a shortage of staff at any given time.
The concessions saved two of the three police officer positions on the chopping block (the third position may be funded through a grant), as well as a Community Development Department employee and a management position in the Public Works Department. An Assistant Engineer position will need to be eliminated, but a potential retirement may make a layoff unnecessary.
Two maintenance worker positions are on the chopping block but could be saved if the Public Works Employee Association agrees to concessions in the next few days. As of Wednesday the PWEA was the only union that had not made any concessions.
At the last minute, Councilmember John Eastman realized the budget did not include the typical funding for the Mammoth Museum/Hayden Cabin of $15,000. He asked that the funding be included with the minimum 10 percent cut that all departments had realized during the budget balancing process. Other Council members agreed and the $13,500 was included. The difference was split between a further cut to the contract with the High Sierra Energy Foundation (final total cut equaling $10,500) and a further cut to funding for the July 4, 2012 events (final total cut equaling $11,350).
Going forward, it’s anyone’s guess as to what other budget balancing measures will be necessary, but the community’s concerns regarding recreation seemed to be heard by at least one Council member. “I think the community made a good point about recreation tonight and we heard them loud and clear,” said Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Lehman.
