Bellomo-no basin RPAC

The Mono County Board of Supervisors reappointed the board members of the Mono Basin Regional Planning Advisory Committee (RPAC) at their regular Tuesday meeting, with the exception of one member: Katie Maloney Bellomo.

In the meeting, Supervisor Tim Alpers publically acknowledged Bellomo’s contributions to the RPAC over the last several years, while at the same time informing the Board that he no longer thought she was a good fit for the RPAC.

Mono Basin RPAC member Chris Lizza was also present at the meeting and agreed with Alper’s comments, adding a few anecdotes of his own. Both men commented on the “adversarial” nature of Bellomo’s interactions with other RPAC members, County staff and members of the public in her role on the RPAC during the public Board meeting.

Bellomo, who was not present at the Board meeting, later listened to a recording of the comments made about her. She denied allegations that she ever used her title as an RPAC member in meetings with State legislators or any public agencies and could only provide speculation as to why she was not reappointed.

Bellomo provided this statement to the Sheet:

“After hearing the discussion at the meeting yesterday, it is no longer clear to me what the role of an RPAC member is.

I think this needs to be clarified going forward so that both the Board and citizens know what it means when we are told an RPAC has made a recommendation. What is the role of the people who are coming up with a recommendation? Are they independent of the Board, or are they an outreach arm of the Board?

I had viewed myself as a person appointed to candidly express my viewpoints on issues brought to the RPAC, even if my views were contrary to those of the County, its staff, or the District Supervisor. I also thought of RPAC members as representatives of the community, and I often vigorously advocated for viewpoints that I knew were important to one or another grouping of citizens in the community, even if they were contrary to County positions. There are clearly at least some other Mono Basin RPAC members who seem to think it is their role to speak up if they disagree with the County.

After listening to Supervisor Alpers yesterday, I think Supervisor Alpers (and maybe some other Board members?) has a different view of the role of RPAC members. It seems to me that Supervisor Alpers sees the RPAC as a place where members of the community are appointed to sit on the RPAC and act as County liaisons with the community. His view would have RPAC serving as an arm of the Board to help in the implementation of County goals and County projects. I am not saying this would not be a valid purpose for an RPAC. But if that is what an RPAC is, then it would be beneficial to have that clarified to the citizenry and all RPAC members.

For example, under the model Supervisor Alper describes, on the subject of the Conway Conservation Easement, he felt my role as an RPAC member was to help him as District Supervisor and the County in general implement their goals for what the conservation easement should contain. I, on the other hand, believed my role on RPAC was to critique the County position and to try to convince the County to modify its position if I didn’t agree with the County position.

What I always have liked about the Mono Basin RPAC is that it is a completely democratic experience. Everyone is on equal footing, and people come and speak their minds.   And I have always liked that the RPAC members are all trying their best to contribute their own viewpoints to come up with something good for the community and the County. I think it would be too bad if RPAC members were told their role was to help implement County policy rather than to critique it, but that is a choice for the Board to make.

It was Supervisor Alpers’ prerogative to select people he wants to have on this RPAC.  But I wish he had handled this differently. I don’t think that the performance of any County employee or County appointee, including anyone appointed to an RPAC, should ever be discussed in an open meeting of the Board.”