Blood on the tracks
No shelter from the storm for top municipal brass as Council makes cuts
In the end, it appears Mammoth Lakes Town Council lost faith in the Town’s administrative leadership.
At its regular meeting Wednesday, Council unanimously approved $902,146 in job cuts, much of this excised from upper management.
This new round of layoffs was made before Council adopted its 2010-11 budget.
The job eliminations will be staggered over the next several months.
The positions chopped, with the major, senior staff names in parentheses, were a Principal Planner (Steve Spiedel) at $156,251, an Engineering Assistant at $107,543, a Building Official (Alex Ramos) at $155,875, the Assistant Town Manager (Karen Johnston) at $218,381, a Police Officer position that is currently vacant at $139,121, an Accounting Assistant II at $81,565, the Human Resources Director (Michael Grossblatt) at $181,005, and the Finance Director (Brad Koehn) at $198,863.
These figures are what the above employees would cost in wages and benefits if employed for a full year.
The contract with the Town Attorney was also chopped by $50,000, but Town Attorney Peter Tracy is set to retire in December, anyway.
The Town will balance some of these layoffs by adding a new position, that of Administrative Services Director. This position will ultimately combine the duties of the Human Resources Director and Finance Director.
The delayed implementation of these layoffs has already cost the Town $281,491 and the consolidation study that was outsourced to help reach this conclusion cost $10,000.
Prior to its vote, Council opened the podium to members of the public. Former Town Clerk Anita Hatter explained that she was disturbed by the thought of these drastic cuts, not because she was worried about her friends who were on the list, but because she was worried about how it would affect Town services.
“You are performing a lobotomy and you do not have the license to do that,” she said. “An action like this will have consequences that will last for years.” Hattar added that the last time Council made rash decisions the interim Town Manager ended up granting the largest pensions plan available for employees, which is why she was able to retire at 53.
“Good for me, not good for the Town,” she said.
Mammoth resident Leigh Gaasch also asked Council to reconsider the cuts. Only Mayor Skip Harvey was swayed in the slightest by the two pleas.
“I’m not sure we have explored all our options and I don’t support the layoff direction,” Harvey initially said. However, after the other four members of Council expressed their desire to move forward with the layoffs, Harvey backed down and conceded to create a unanimous vote.
“This is a budget balancing exercise and an opportunity to reorganize the town’s structure,” Council member John Eastman said. To which fellow Council member Rick Wood added, “Change is not to be feared. There will be gaps, but over time it will be OK.” Wood also pointed out that this was not a new or rash decision but one that had been developing for some time.
“These are not fun decisions, but they have to be made,” concluded Councilmember Matthew Lehman.
In addition to the layoffs, Council also: approved a resolution to establish a trust for retiree health costs; approved a resolution to affirm the Town’s investment policy; released Measure A tourism funds to Mammoth Lakes Tourism; and earmarked $440,000 it already had in a “wait and see” fund for any air service subsidy costs before officially approving the 2010-11 budget.
In other Council action …
Council approved the recommendation to make skateboards the sole use of the skatepark, officially closing it off to bicycles. An ordinance will now need to be written to put this vote into law.
The Recreation Commission presented the 2010 fall Measure R priorities to Council for its approval. Focus is on consideration of incomplete projects and new project planning.
Jane Baer, who is responsible for getting the Volcom Brothers Skatepark built, took issue with how much Measure R money is currently going toward project planning.
The voters thought they were voting for parks and trails but 80 percent of the money keeps going to planning, said Baer, whose Measure R project requests have so far been denied. She also wondered why Measure R money was not being used for maintenance of existing facilities.
Recreation Commission Chair Bill Sauser told the Council that he completely agreed with Baer and was anxious to get shovels in the ground. He pointed out, however, that according to the ordinance, Measure R money cannot be used to maintain existing facilities because it is not allowed to supplant funding for projects that are currently funded.
Council suggested that future Measure R meetings and workshops be webcast so that discussions would be recorded and there would be no question about the process.
Sauser said he would love to see that happen, but he did not want to have to use Measure R funds to pay for the webcast. Baer suggested, if the webcast proved to be too cost prohibitive, the Town at least start tape recording the meetings as it has done in the past. The fall Measure R presentations will take place Oct. 19 and 26. Council requested that a resolution on a method of taping be determined by these dates.
The last big item on the agenda was Council’s review and acceptance of the Draft Downtown Neighborhood District Plan Report. The report had already been circulated through all of the commissions, and received a 5-0 approval vote from the Planning Commission on July 28.
Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory, one of the biggest proponents of the project along with Snowcreek VIII developer Chuck Lande, pushed the Council to accept the report as presented.
“We need to be capital-ready when the market turns around,” he explained. He believed the report was a step toward defining what the town wants on Main Street so that when investors return, the Council and Town staff would easily be able to approve or deny project requests.
Council approved the report with the understanding that it is not the final plan, just the strongest idea to work on and develop.
The next Council meeting is scheduled for Sept. 22 at 6 p.m.
