A BIG MACC ATTACK (ON THE BOTTOM LINE)
Mammoth Lakes Town Manager Rob Patterson gave an update on the Mammoth Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) at the Mammoth Lakes Recreation Board Meeting on Tuesday evening.
Looks like the cost estimate for the project could be as much as $2.5 million short.
Oops.
Plans for the MACC project, located east of the existing Edison Theater, include a new performing arts theater, a new outdoor amphitheater and a new parking lot. It was approved by the Planning and Economic Development on Wednesday, April 10, 2019.
The town of Mammoth Lakes is currently negotiating a Purchase and Sale agreement with the Mammoth Lakes Foundation to acquite the property. But the project is undergoing some legal hiccups which may drive up costs and stall construction, Patterson explained at the meeting.
“As we started to dive deeper into the available funding for the construction of the MACC, we kind of came across a couple of elements that were not known to us while we were working through the Purchase and Sale agreement,” he said.
Because the project is funded through school bonds, the project qualifies as a Division of the State Architect project, meaning the agency has to review the designs for the project and enforce a higher set of standards for the building.
This is a meaningful oversight, and Patterson estimates it will drive costs up 15–20%.
Furthermore, because the MACC project builds off the existing Edison Theater, that building would too be subject to DSA standards, he said.
The Mammoth Lakes Foundation is currently redesigning and rebuilding that theater now, and it is in the construction phase.
So some changes may need to be made ‘on the fly.’
The theater construction had been slated for completion by the end of September but given recent developments, the completion date has been moved out to late November or December.
The most likely outcome is that the Town will have to come up with additional funds – either via its general fund or private donations – to pay for anticipated cost overruns due to the DSA issue.
That price tag could be as high as two and a half million additional dollars.
“It’s disheartening, I’m really frustrated,” Treasurer Heather Schaubmayer said. “It’s been three years […] since those funds were originally asked for and now we’re getting to the point we’re at the drawing line and there’s an increase.”
Schaubmayer elaborated in a phone conversation Thursday.
“The hot potato has been passed on. Kendra [new Mammoth Lakes Foundation Executive Director] is now walking into the shitshow – I don’t mean to be rough but that’s what it is.
… It was an oversight. I’m going to assume it was from a former town manager – I’m assuming but I don’t know for fact … this was the first I’d heard of it. You could maybe tell in the meeting. I was a little frustrated.”
Former Mammoth Lakes Foundation Executive Director Betsy Truax, who recently left the position to take a job as Community Engagement Director at Mammoth Lakes Tourism, chose not to comment, suggesting we speak with her successor Kendra Knight, who was also unavailable for comment.
Also at the meeting, the board approved a 2-year contract which would allow for a 6% salary increase and an additional 7% bonus on the 2023-2024 fiscal year to Mammoth Lakes Recreation Executive Director Kim Anaclerio.
Kim Anaclerio started with Mammoth Lakes Recreation in January 2019 and has been the sole employee since September 2020. This raise would reallocate about $7,000 in the budget, Board President Craig Albright said.
