Candidate profiles for Mono County District 5

Well, we held off as long as we could, but now it’s time to start wading through the local candidates up for election. This week, we profile Supervisor candidates for District 5. Next week, we’ll profile the two candidates for Mono County Sheriff. The schedule after that is TBD, but I’m sure TBID will be discussed. Given the sheer number of candidates (17 for five races in Mammoth and Mono County) we will not be printing any more candidate letters to the editor – essentially free propaganda meant to bore us all to death. Without further ado, in no particular order …

Stacy Corless

In anticipation of a successful campaign, Stacy Corless, candidate for District 5 Mono County Supervisor will leave her current role as executive director of Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation (MMCF) later this spring or summer. “I plan to fully dedicate myself to County service when the seat takes office in January 2015,” she said. A Mammoth resident of 15 years, Corless has built her platform on three principles: community, environment, and the economy. “These are important foundational concerns for this region and I feel I have the right kind of experience for this job,” she said. Corless, 43, married to MMSA Senior Vice-President Ron Cohen, has a wide variety of work experience in Mammoth: as a teacher, entrepreneur, writer, publisher, and executive director of two non-profit organizations (Friends of the Inyo and MMCF). She has experience with the legislative process, working with a bi-partisan group from Mammoth to get a wilderness bill passed into law in 2009. She has worked with BLM and the Forest Service on several projects, including the Summer of Stewardship program that gathers volunteers to maintain trails in our public lands. This experience has taught Corless the value of collaboration. “County government, town government, federal agencies and non-profits or non governmental organizational partners can all work together,” she said. “It takes a lot of communication and a lot of calls but if you’re patient and persistent, you can make these things happen.” And that’s why some District 5 constituents are backing Corless. “Stacy is collaborative,” said long-time Mammoth resident Julie Duff; “She’s not just black or white. She is thorough, does her homework and doesn’t do a half-ass job. She has paid her dues in all walks of life.” Andy Geisel agreed: “She’s got a good mix of practical experience with government entities, environmental work, and a great sensibility. I’d like to see what she does with that.” As a representative of District 5, Corless could be one of two Supervisors representing Mammoth on the Board. “Our fates are intertwined,” Corless said about the relationship between the Town and the County. “We have to work together. It can be harder and more painful but ultimately the result will be better.” Corless was inspired to enter the race for District 5 Supervisor by groups such as Mammoth Forward and Mammoth Leadership Forum, which began encouraging younger citizens to run for public office last fall. “It’s time for the next generation,” Corless said. “It’s what needs to happen for society to function well. We can’t just keep sitting back and critiquing what’s going on or waiting for somebody else to do it.” Corless also plans to collaborate with these groups once elected. “I would like to echo some of the same messaging they’re using and ask some of the same questions. If Mammoth isn’t successful, Mono County isn’t successful. Many of these ideas and concepts can be applied to a county level.” Previous Supervisor, Andrea Lawrence, who served the County from 1983-1999, also inspires Corless: “She was very concerned with protecting the environment but also promoting tourism and recreation in the area.” Lawrence and Corless worked together on the wilderness bill in 2007-08, before Lawrence passed away in 2009. And Corless remembers Lawrence’s advice when it came to dealing with “giant angry men yelling at you.” Lawrence said, “You just keep it in perspective and you don’t take it personally. You’ve got support so you’ve got to press forward and do what’s best.” If elected, Corless plans to bring positivity and open communication to the Board of Supervisors. “There can be a very anti-government point of view in this race. That doesn’t really work. The County government isn’t broken. It’s actually in pretty good shape,” Corless said. “Let’s do this together;  that’s my attitude. With collaborative efforts we can make things happen. We might not always agree on everything, but we’ll find some stuff to do and get it done.” When it came to the topic of the County budget and the structural deficit, Corless said, “The CAO Jim Leddy is doing a great job in presenting a balanced budget for the Board of Supervisors to approve. I think the Board has to make decisions and guide Jim to manage and avoid risks and lawsuits that could be a huge liability for the county.” Improving the county’s recreational infrastructure, building and implementing a county strategic plan, and and maintaining county services are high priorities for Corless. “What drew me to wanting to run for the Board of Supervisors is really the higher level of structure that the Board of Supervisor oversees,” she said. And she doesn’t think that any of the issues are mutually exclusive: “Being a non-profit executive, you’re always juggling flaming sticks. Being able to keep track and move forward on a variety of projects is something that I know how to do really well.” Corless encourages residents of District 5 to take the time to learn about the issues and vote on June 3rd: “The County plays a huge role in our everyday lives. This is our chance to decide what kind of a county we want to live in.”

Kirk Stapp

Kirk Stapp has been educating himself about Mono County for over a year in preparation of his bid for District 5 Supervisor in the upcoming June 3 election. “People don’t know what the County does,” Stapp said. “I get lots of questions [in speaking with voters] about the Town and even about National Politics, but not about the County.” Stapp’s main question: “The County has a $63 million dollar budget. What are they doing with that money?” Stapp moved to Mammoth in 1974, and worked at Mammoth High School as a political science and English teacher, as well as serving on the Town Council, Mammoth Education Associate and most currently as President of Mammoth Lakes Housing. “I’ve seen the community change,” Stapp said.  “I think I represent a broad base of the community. I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring [for the Supervisor’s race] and see if they agree or not.” Stapp was on the Mammoth Town Council from 1986-2008, before becoming a full-time caregiver for his wife, who suffered a stroke. About his time on the Council, Stapp said: “I took on some big issues, and I was very boisterous. But it was good. I learned a lot. I learned to not completely trust people; trust but verify.”  Referring to the way the Town Council handled the Mammoth Yosemite Airport, Stapp said, “looking back it was really sad the way the Council was manipulated. But, you know, we’re always going to have government so why not get involved?” Stapp began building his candidacy for Supervisor last January after sitting down with the outgoing Supervisor, Byng Hunt. Stapp has gone to the majority of Board of Supervisors meetings over the last year, and has met with current Supervisors and some Department Heads. “The Supervisors set policy and they set the budget,” Stapp said about his campaign focus. He is most concerned with the County’s budget: the $4.7 million structural deficit, the drop in the County’s reserve budget, future expenditures, like the updates to the vehicle fleet by 2023, and the plan to keep making cuts without looking for potential revenue sources. “The budget is really a killer,” Stapp said. “They haven’t even figured out some of the problems yet. It’s ‘to be determined’ and that’s scary to say.” “What are the funding tools available to the County? I think I have the background to know where to go look,” Stapp said. “We’re going to have to look at fees and tax measures, and essential and non-essential services, which makes the Board very uncomfortable and it makes the public very uncomfortable. But that’s reality and it’s the reality the public is facing.” Stapp suggested changing certain policies instead of just cutting costs. Without endorsing or denouncing Sheriff Obenberger, Stapp questioned the $400,000 spent on overtime by his department. “That issue never really got addressed [by the Board]” Stapp said. “They need to go back and look at the policy and look at what the Sheriff is implementing. Is the policy being abused? Is it really addressing the economic issues?” Collaboration with the Town is high on Stapp’s lists of solutions as well. “In 1984 when we incorporated there was huge animosity between the Town and the County. There’s resentment that has gone on for quite some time,” Stapp said. “We’re at a time when we’ve got to push that aside and say, ‘look, we’re the Eastern Sierra.’ The Supervisors need to take the lead on that.” “Any place the Town and County can collaborate is going to save them both money. It’s not that they need to jump into it, but certainly create a mechanism to evaluate the possibilities,” he said. Stapp knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the issues, and he is slowly building his campaign to let the voters know it. He recently signed up for Facebook, he is “walking the streets,” and he welcomes phone calls (his number is listed). “I enjoy politics,” Stapp said. “I think I can represent this part of the community and the Eastern Sierra, both of them. I think I can divide my loyalties without compromising them.”

Greg Eckert

I was warned before I met District 5 Mono County Supervisor candidate Greg Eckert for an interview that his nickname is “Grumpy Greg.” So the first thing I did was ask him about it. “Honestly, I’ve never heard it,” was Eckert’s response. Then a fairly lengthy pause. “Well, if you approach me after I’ve been plowing for four days, I’m sure it’s pretty accurate,” he said. Eckert, 57, has lived full-time in Mammoth since 1982. He’s been married to wife Terri for 27 years and has two grown daughters. He is in the property management as well as snow removal businesses. While Eckert has always been a political junkie of sorts, he has never run for office until now. By political junkie, I am mostly referring to the “safety meetings” Eckert famously hosts on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. at his office on Sierra Park Drive. They are informal meetings attended by loader operators, lawyers, locksmiths and everything in between. And the politics of those in attendance “spans the spectrum,” says Eckert. Self-described as being “right-of-center” in his political beliefs, Eckert elaborated: “What that means is on a national level, I’m among the 70 percent who get screwed every year … because we’re not represented by the people who can win the primaries.” So why is Eckert choosing to run for office now? And why for County Supervisor? The primary reasons, says Eckert, are the perilous state of the County’s finances, as well as the perilous state of the local business economy in general. “The County is in worse financial condition than the Town at this point,” he said. “They’ve spent down their reserves, and now that they’ve filled the Department Head positions, they can’t ‘borrow’ the salaries from those unfilled positions to backfill their structural budget deficit.” “Three years ago, we had $7 million in reserve. Now we’re below $2 million.” “They made a big deal about whacking car allowances [in the name of fiscal prudence], but then they turned around and gave raises to offset the financial impact to employees of the loss of the car allowances … it costs more to give a raise than to give a car allowance.” Sheet: What is your opinion of [outgoing Supervisor] Byng Hunt’s performance? Eckert: I’m not sure. The way the Board has handled the budget over the past three years has been abysmal, but I think it was a team effort. As for the business economy, he used a boxing analogy. “It’s the 10th round and we’re all gasping, on the ropes.” He is all for pushing economic diversification, particularly now that Digital 395 is in place, and would like to see a business district created at Mammoth Airport where he hopes the Town and County can cooperate, offer tax incentives and draw technology firms to the Eastern Sierra. “We have to turn sagebrush into something that has a long-term return,” he said. As for the County Planning Department, “We have a habit of producing three-ring binders every five years [that sit on shelves]. Let’s put these people to some practical use,” he said. Another way Eckert feels we can grow the economy, or at least preserve the economy, is to keep public lands open to the public. “I’m not an advocate of strip-mining or clear-cutting … it’s just that once you close [an area], it never opens again.” Access to acreage, posits Eckert, equals access to tourist dollars. The “Greens,” he said, are better organized politically, and know how to pack a room when it matters. “Over the past twenty years, people whine about outcomes [land closures], but … they never showed up [to protest the closures]. The silent majority is treading water in the pool. My biggest enemy is apathy.” Eckert said he is certain that one of his opponents [Corless] is in the green camp. As for Stapp, he said, “I don’t know Kirk’s platform.” Does he support the MMSA land trade? “Yes, so long as it’s fair.” How about mining in the Bodie Hills? “No. Strip mining is a dirty business.” How about government staffing? “I would always like to see less government employees, but the better question to ask is, ‘are they staffed at the right level?’ … we will need to be staffed at a lower level until the budget improves.”

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View more 2014 election coverage from The Sheet.