IS IT AFFIRMATION? OR APATHY?
You would have thought there’d be more candidates.
The Town of Mammoth Lakes is not far removed from a divisive, six-month STR (Short-Term Rental) moratorium, lifted this spring
In lifting the moratorium, Mammoth’s Council announced that, rather than considering a cap on rental permits to encourage/force long-term rental of properties, that it would instead pursue a tax increase with the idea of dedicating the added revenue to building more workforce housing,
Moratoriums, tax hikes … these are the types of things that generally motivate opposition.
This year, they motivated no one.
There were two council seats up for this election cycle, and two candidates who filed the paperwork. So barring an improbable write-in effort, incumbent Mayor Bill Sauser and Brent Truax will join John Wentworth, Amanda Rice and Chris Bubser on the dais this November.
Sarah Rea did not seek reelection.
The Sheet asked Sauser what his take is on the lack of an election. Does it reflect affirmation of the current council’s direction, or does it reflect community apathy?
“I am somewhat disappointed by my town,” began Sauser. “It’s apathy. We complain [around here] after it’s too damn late to do anything. This is a reflection of that. We hear negativity [directed] to council, but no one is willing to stand up.”
Sheet: Do you think people are waiting to express themselves at the ballot box with all these tax measures looming?
Sauser: The 2% tax (Council’s proposed two-point hike of the Transient Occupancy Tax rate, which would push Mammoth’s effective bed tax rate to a staggering 16% – 2nd highest in the state) … I don’t think people will look into it enough before they vote.”
Sheet: Do you support the tax increase?
Sauser: I’m ambivalent about it … the law of unintended consequences has a way of biting us.
Sauser’s concern is that high taxes may tip the scales and drive customers to other destinations.
As for Truax, he views the lack of an election as more a combination of affirmation and apathy. “People are busy with their lives … and there’s no burning issue [at the moment].”
“Airbnb is dying its own death,” he said, alluding to lagging bookings and a plunging Airbnb stock over the past six months. Travel habits appear to be normalizing. So whatever war may have loomed over STRs and moratoriums seems like a rushed, premature and distant hallucination.
Sheet: Why’d you run this time? (Truax has run for council twice previously)
Truax said he’d like to expand the conversation beyond housing into areas like infrastructure (lousy internet) and the town’s strained relationship with the Forest Service (“How do we get that partnership back on track?”)
Councilman John Wentworth echoed Truax in that he doesn’t know if it’s apathy or the lack of a burning problem which explains the inertia.
He does think with the hollowing out of the community (due to cost-of-living) that there is not as deep a pool of engaged citizens (and therefore, potential candidates).
And, he adds, ski culture has been replaced by remote work culture – and remote work culture has the view that, “locals will deal with the problems. I don’t have to participate.”
In terms of replacing Sarah Rea with Brent Truax, he says it’s a bummer on one hand just because Council is losing a younger generational voice, but that Truax should appeal to members of the business community who don’t feel represented.
Councilmember Chris Bubser was disappointed by the lack of election simply because election cycles represent “the best time for ideas to be exchanged. It’s super-disappointing more [citizens] aren’t engaging on a deeper level.”
The Sheet caught up with former Mono County Tourism Director Jeff Simpson this week.
Simpson, 40, worked thirteen years for Mono County Tourism, serving as director for the last two after Alicia Vennos’s retirement.
Simpson has moved on to run his own marketing firm, Eastern Sierra Marketing, full-time. His clientele is largely located in Mammoth/Bishop.
“I founded it in 2016 and have been doing it on the side for eight years,” he said of the business. Simpson’s expertise is in social media. “When I was at Mono Tourism, we grew [the social media] to 300,000 followers.
He had visions of perhaps playing out the string at the county until retirement at 55, but said he got burned out on the Pushmi-Pullyu nature of the job.
“Everyone hates you,” he said bluntly. Because people want you to bring business to the area, but then complain in the same breath about tourism’s quality-of-life impacts.
Another burnout factor has been the musical chair lineup of Mono County CAOs, though he was quick to mention that he’s a fan of the current CAO, Sandra Moberly, and hopes she stays and continues to provide stability.
And while he didn’t mention it, the fire which consumed his home in Walker has also weighed on him over the past few years.
Simpson has since relocated to Bishop and has two children enrolled at Round Valley Elementary.
