It’s been several weeks since the Town of Mammoth made a counter offer to Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition (MLLA) regarding the Hot Creek litigation settlement.

“We are waiting for a response,” Town Manager Dave Wilbrecht told The Sheet on Tuesday. He added that there are 35 MLLA partners (people who own a chunk of MLLA, according to Town Attorney Andrew Morris) that have to review the offer and come to some kind of consensus.

“It takes time to talk with 35 people,” Wilbrecht said.

If the Town and MLLA reach an agreement, Wilbrecht explained that the next step would be to draft a legal contract. “We don’t need a judge to do that, the attorneys can work up drafts,” he explained.

After that, Wilbrecht said Council wants to have a public process to communicate the status of the situation to the community and here how people hope to move forward.

When asked whether or not he expected an agreement to be wrapped up before the end of the year, Wilbrecht said, “We’re always optimistic.”