ELLIS TO DEPART THE ISLAND
Longtime Sierra resident and 14-year Bishop Councilman Jim Ellis and his wife Cami will be pulling up stakes soon (as soon as their home on West Pine St. sells).
And they’re moving to Kansas.
Ellis’s last Council meeting will take place this coming Monday.
Ellis, 56, has worked for the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power for the past 15 years. Prior to that, he worked as a dispatcher for the police department.
His wife worked for the Inyo Mono Advocates for Community Action (IMACA).
Between them, they have six children – a reverse Brady Bunch of sorts. He came to the marriage with three daughters, and she brought three sons.
They met at an after-school talent show/raffle.
Their first date? A joint trip with the kids to the Tri-County Fair.
The kids now range in age from 19 to 27.
Politics
Ellis said he’s always had a fascination with politics – ever since his grandfather served on Bishop’s Council in the ‘70s.
He even served as class president of his BUHS class his junior year.
When he decided to run for Council in 2010, the old hands said he was too young (he was 42) and too inexperienced for the job – that he should volunteer for a commission and get “seasoned.”
He pulled papers anyway.
When he told his grandfather about it, the old man didn’t mince words. “You’re a damn fool,” would be a PG-rated way to describe his reaction.
As grandfather said, you’re not gonna make any friends in that job.
But as Ellis says, he got into it to help his town and make a difference if he could.
So he took his girls out on the campaign trail (“If you want to run for office and you don’t have kids, rent ‘em” advises Ellis with a grin) and knocked on doors and won that first race.
But he learned some lessons and humility along the way. As he says, he started out with big visions while the electorate was more interested in making small improvements around the edges. So he listened. And as he advises any novice politician stepping into the role, “For the first two years, shut up and pay attention.”
Of the Councilmembers he served with over the years, the late Pat Gardner stands out. The Gardner mantra was Listen, Think, Speak, Repeat. “You
Politics
Ellis said he’s always had a fascination with politics – ever since his grandfather served on Bishop’s Council in the ‘70s.
He even served as class president of his BUHS class his junior year.
When he decided to run for Council in 2010, the old hands said he was too young (he was 42) and too inexperienced for the job – that he should volunteer for a commission and get “seasoned.”
He pulled papers anyway.
When he told his grandfather about it, the old man didn’t mince words. “You’re a damn fool,” would be a PG-rated way to describe his reaction.
As grandfather said, you’re not gonna make any friends in that job.
But as Ellis says, he got into it to help his town and make a difference if he could.
So he took his girls out on the campaign trail (“If you want to run for office and you don’t have kids, rent ‘em” advises Ellis with a grin) and knocked on doors and won that first race.
But he learned some lessons and humility along the way. As he says, he started out with big visions while the electorate was more interested in making small improvements around the edges. So he listened. And as he advises any novice politician stepping into the role, “For the first two years, shut up and pay attention.”
Of the Councilmembers he served with over the years, the late Pat Gardner stands out. The Gardner mantra was Listen, Think, Speak, Repeat. “You don’t speak just to speak. You do that and you’re just wasting people’s time,” said Ellis. “It’s not a show, it’s a job.”
Because Gardner was deliberate and selective in her remarks, they carried more weight.
Ellis also enjoyed serving with Joe Pesci because they shared a similar outlook and sensibility.
As to City Administrators, Ellis worked with six. Two stand out above the rest – the late Jim Tatum and the current administrator Deston Dishion.
“Jim changed my political life,” says Ellis. “He wasn’t afraid of ideas, change, trying stuff … he taught me what was possible.”
He said Tatum was expert at taking the stuff you tossed at the wall, and discerning what ideas had merit and were worth pushing.
He feels he’s leaving at a good time, with a strong staff (including new fire and police chiefs) in place and a Council that works well together.
He also acknowledges that the city has changed – that greater California has seeped into the local landscape. Social issues, housing and homelessness are big issues facing small municipalities. “It used to be stuff like, ‘Can I keep chickens in my backyard?’ Times have changed.”
Kansas
So how did Jim and Cami decide to retire to Kansas?
It all started over a more general conversation three years ago regarding retirement.
And Idaho just seemed like another California, Boise another Irvine.
With their six children scattered all over the place, Jim looked toward the midwest as a central location. He wanted something rural, with an airport nearby.
And then Cami got in the mix, doing research, looking at demographics (she recommends niche.com, which lets you know all sorts of stats on places).
They decided to fly out and look.
22 homes
4 days
8 realtors
Traveling 1,400 miles within a geographic box Cami had outlined.
The third home they saw was a 114-year old Victorian in the northeastern Kansas town of Hiawatha (pop. 3,200), famous for being the birthplace of the Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating (who knew?)
The home immediately became the yardstick for everything that followed.
They closed on it December 30, 2021.
And when they were handed the keys, they were handed (no joke) skeleton keys.
At first, the neighbors were a bit apprehensive of the incoming Californians, but were soon assuaged to learn Jim and Cami aren’t going there to change Kansas to their liking – they’re going there and assimilating.
*If only that occurred around here.
“I mean, I’ve got just as many guns as they do,” joked Jim.
As to their home for sale, Jim and Cami have had it beautifully remodeled and it’s literally a stone’s throw from the high school. Perfect for a family. Even a family with six kids.
And from Fisher’s desk …
Fair appointees
Joyce Kaufman, of June Lake, and Alonso Escobar, of Mammoth Lakes, were appointed to the Eastern Sierra Tri County Fair Board by Governor Newsom on December 4, 2024.
“It’s an amazing resource that, in the past, has been mostly represented by folks from Inyo County, so I’m delighted that two people have stepped forward and been willing to accept that. There’s a lot that can happen there,” Mammoth Lakes Mayor Chris Bubser said at the Mammoth Town Council’s regular meeting on Wednesday, December 4.
Kaufman is the Chair of the Mono County Democratic Central Committee, member of the International Studies Association and the American Political Science Association. She was a Professor at Whittier College from 1985 to 2019.
Escobar has been the Arts Advocacy and Policy Director at Mono Arts Council since 2023. He is a member of the Mammoth Unified School District Board of Trustees, California for the Arts Board of Trustees, and California Arts Advocates Board of Trustees.
“These are significant appointments,” Mammoth Lakes Councilmember John Wentworth said at the meeting.
