Contract cancelled
Conway Ranch agreement to terminate July 18.
In a letter dated and delivered June 18, Mono County terminated their Conway Ranch Aquaculture Agreement with Inland Aquaculture Group, LLC. The letter gave a 30-day notice of termination, stating that a mutually acceptable solution cannot be reached in order to re-open the hatchery, which has been closed since November due to drought conditions.
“We’re not able to run the hatchery because of the drought,” said Raven Angeles, Business Manager for IAG. “We were waiting for miracle March, but it didn’t happen.” Angeles said they were waiting for the County to approve an agricultural well in order to restart operations, but that never happened, either.
IAG asked Mono County on June 9 for further negotiations “based on facts, not your contentions or the attempts of the County to rig the facts,” a letter from IAG to the County stated. Given a dispute about the water flow levels at the ranch, IAG asked to suspend all operations and rent requirements for the remainder of 2014.
“While in the past we have been able to renegotiate the terms of the [Conway Ranch] Agreement … there is no alternative under these conditions but to close down the hatchery,” the letter stated.
County Counsel Marshall Rudolph was unable to comment on the termination due to the ongoing litigation with IAG, which is asking $1.6 million dollars to settle the lawsuit with Mono County over development of Conway Ranch. IAG invested money and infrastructure into the property before the County ran into grant restrictions preventing further development.
According to Rudolph’s termination letter, the Agreement states that “the County does not and cannot provide any assurances to IAG regarding the nature and quantity of water that will be available… IAG understands such risks and limitations.” However, the Agreement also provides room for negotiations for a “mutually acceptable solution” in the case of insufficient water flows, due this year to the State’s extreme drought situation.
Rudolph ends his letter by saying, “It thus appears that any further efforts to reach a mutually acceptable solution … would be futile. The County therefore has decided to exercise its right to terminate the Agreement.”
“It’s kind of a shock,” Angeles said. “I spoke with both partners last night. They are not sure about their decision just yet but we should know in a week or so what our plans are.”
“Hopefully in the long-run they will realize the benefits of a hatchery out there,” Angeles said. “The Supervisors aren’t paying attention to what the community needs right now.”
