Local briefs
Town Council approves interim Measure U funding
Next summer’s events can now be sure of their Measure U funding allocation as of the Dec. 2 Mammoth Lakes Town Council meeting. Council approved interim Measure U funding recommendations presented by Mammoth Lakes Recreation (MLR) 5-0.
Prior to the formation of MLR, the Town’s Measure U Steering Committee recommended Measure U funding for special events and arts and culture programming, and passed their recommendations on to Council. Because of the recent changeover from Steering Committee to MLR, this year’s interim funding cycle had less strategy behind it than MLR Board members would have liked.
MLR created temporary strategy in the form of an initial cap on Measure U funding at $256,880. The Board’s final recommendation came to $265,000, the same as last year’s Measure U funding allocation, minus one program no longer requesting $10,000, and two funding matches.
MLR also set out with the objective to fund at most 90 percent of what any given applicant received the year prior. That also changed in some cases.
MLR was considering 25 different applicants, with a total request of $460,770.
Most applicants received about 90 percent of their allocation the year prior, with the exception of the Mono Arts Council, which received $20,150, an increase from $14,160 last year.
The Board also suggested an increase in funding to the Eastern Sierra Symphony’s Sierra Summer Festival, which received its full request of $6,800.
One of Town Council’s questions for the MLR Board: why had it approved funding $8,000 for mountain bikes for a Mammoth Mountain Ski Area youth bike program?
“Why wouldn’t that be under Measure R?” wondered Mayor Michael Raimondo. He argued that money for the bikes could be better served supporting a new shoulder season event like Oktoberfest, which the MLR Board recommended receive $12,000 of its $30,000 request. “I know that they were a little bit light on their request, [but] it’s a brand new event that we’re looking to incubate,” Mayor Raimondo said.
Council member John Wentworth expressed frustration not only with the question of whether to use Measure U or Measure R, but also with the MLR Board’s larger approach to the allocation process.
“I’m really disappointed that we don’t have a strategy yet,” he said. “I’m not sure how we get there.”
Several councilmembers wondered whether the MLR Board might not be the appropriate entity to recommend Measure U funding.
“I think there was a definite frustration by the MLR Board, just feeling like it’s not the right fit,” agreed Council member Colin Fernie, who acts as Council’s MLR liaison. That said, “I think all the necessary due diligence and hard work was put into this process … This will be the last time we operate under this kind of interim.”
Council ultimately approved the MLR Board’s interim Measure U funding allocation recommendations 5-0. MLR Board Chair Danna Stroud said that MLR is committed to supporting the creation of a funding strategy by June of next year at the latest. “It we don’t have it in place,” she said at the MLR Board’s Nov. 16 meeting, “shame on us.”
Inyo Board defers marijuana cultivation regulation
In sharp contrast to the City of Bishop’s rush to regulate the cultivation of medical marijuana, at its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 9, the Inyo County Supervisors were in no rush. The state set a March 1, 2016 deadline in bills passed in October to allow local jurisdictions to make their own more restrictive zoning rules rather than default to yet-undecided regulations at the state level. The State will be voting on Nov. 8, 2016 whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults.
The Supervisors decided, based on the information provided to them at Tuesday’s workshop by Planning Director Josh Hart, to “wait and see” what will happen first rather than rush into creating unneeded regulations now.
Many of the Supervisors also confessed to “not being very knowledgeable” on the issue of medical marijuana and that, “considering how the public’s attitude towards both medical and recreational use of marijuana has changed rapidly in just the past few years all across the country,” they want to find out more on what their constituents think about the subject.
Board Chairman and 5th District Supervisor Matt Kingsley floated the idea of a county-wide “advisory vote” to see what county residents are thinking.
Fourth District Supervisor Mark Tillemans said that he also wanted to hear more from his constituents on the subject, a sentiment eventually expressed by all the supervisors.
While a “county-wide advisory vote,” appears unlikely, a more likely result in any deliberations concerning medical or recreational use of marijuana in the coming months is that the County Board of Supervisors will hold a series of workshops and public meeting before coming to any decisions.
Whatever is eventually decided when it comes to the regulation of marijuana within the boundaries of Inyo County and the City of Bishop will likely depend on the results of the highly-anticipated state proposition expected to be on the November 8, 2016 ballot which would legalize recreational use of marijuana for adults.
