Page 2: What a surprise
Mammoth Lakes Town Council solicited public comment on Wednesday regarding the tentative litigation settlement with nemesis MLLA (Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition).
No member of the public took the bait.
Unlike Council, most folks tend to feel awkward commenting about things they don’t know anything about.
And seeing as Council has not publicly stated the terms of the proposed deal, how could anyone possibly weigh in on it?
Given that Council has refused to divulge the facts, The Sheet feels it only fitting to make some educated guesses about the result.
My guess, at the outset, was that whatever deal was ultimately struck, that the past four years of obfuscation, deceit and lollygagging on the Town’s part would not be rewarded. Courts, at least based upon my observation, do not reward this type of behavior.
So … don’t count on any type of discount. Consider that $30 million judgment from 2008 with the $2.6 million tacked on in attorney fees as a baseline number. Never mind the money we’ve spent on it since. As for the timeline it’ll take to pay it off, only Dave McCoy figures to be alive by the time it’s done, since he plans on living forever.
Second, I believe all Town revenue sources are in play. After all, our own Town Attorney Andrew Morris wrote a brief approximately a year ago in which he stated that Council could ultimately spend Measures R and U money in any way it saw fit because, “California state law does not allow voters to establish minimum general fund spending requirements, because that would compromise Council’s authority over fiscal management.”
So, in essence, Council can reduce general fund spending by any sum it chooses, backfill that with R and U, and then spend the general fund savings on anything it pleases (like, say, a litigation settlement for example).
The sad irony is R and U were both passed by voters after the litigation judgment in April 2008.
Meaning, Mammoth residents ultimately voted to tax themselves to pay off the judgment, and conveniently Town government didn’t bother to warn them that this was a distinct possibilty until after the fact.
So I suppose the legacy of the Trails program will be that the Town will build several trails … from its offices to every ATM in town.
It is illegal to spend “special tax” funds on things that were not approved by the voters. This includes paying for the fraud the good leaders of our town perpetrated on the developer. (At least that is what the appellate court called it)If the special tax funds get spent improperly, those responsible are supposed to go to jail! (Penal Code 424) Public executions would be better. Then the next bunch who run the town might be afraid to break the law. Thank you Mr. Wonderful DA for doing suich a great job of punishing the few who have done so much to harm us the many and for punishing corrupt politicians with hidden agendas that favor the town snatchers.
I voted no and always will since our town leaders are crooks! R and U what a load of crap.
I see no reason for the secrecy, the town taking actions without public input helped get us into this mess. I don’t remember an opportunity to comment on deciding to “get rid of Hot Creek” in spite of binding agreement. If there had been transparency then this would likely never have happened.
Now we are going to settle this massive debt by itself even though we are already in bankruptcy? Why are we not at least looking at all of our obligations and deciding what can be afforded class by class?
Maybe we are doing these things but the public has to foot the bill and has a right to give input.
Any person who served on the Council when this mess was created behind closed doors that is still in office today should resign and move out under the cover of darkness. We still have not heard one word from these idiots as to how the judgment gets paid. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO USE SPECIAL TAX FUNDS FOR PURPOSES THE VOTERS DID NOT INTEND. The council is not protected by the doctime of “ministerial immunity.” JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED IF THE COUNCIL SPENDS THE MONEY AND THE DA DOES HIS JOB AND LOCKS THEM UP!