|
Farnetti retires, Hunt runs again, Johnston will run |
|
|
Saturday, 19 December 2009 |
Four-time Mono County District 1 Supervisor Tom Farnetti will be retiring at the end of his term next year, he announced recently.
“I’ve been doing this for 16 years and I’m not as young as I was,” he said. “It’s been a good run, but I think it’s time for some new blood.”
He has a new grandchild and said he wants to spend more time with his family.
He said he was proudest of his work on the measures that made the county auditor and treasurer positions appointed, instead of elected positions.
“That has allowed us to get highly skilled professional people in charge of the county’s fiscal health and it’s one of the main reasons this county is in such good financial condition,” he said.
He isn’t as happy with the way the Town of Mammoth’s redevelopment lawsuit went. He tried to convince the Town to decrease the area it considered to be in need of redevelopment, hoping that would strengthen the Town’s case. In the end, the Town lost the case and Farnetti said it’s a shame, because some of the areas truly needed to be redeveloped.
Farnetti has served as a supervisor since 1995 and is one of the Town of Mammoth’s three supervisors. His term ends in January 2011.
District 5 Supervisor Byng Hunt announced on Dec. 8 that he will seek re-election. “The state is in the ICU,” he said, adding that the experience he has and maintaining continuity are valuable in such times.
Hunt was a planning commissioner for the Town of Mammoth Lakes for three years, a town council member for Mammoth Lakes for six years, and has been on the Mono County Board of Supervisors since 1999. He is currently the Chair of the Board, following the death of former Chair Bill Reid in October of this year.
In more county news, Mono County Assistant Community Development Director Larry Johnston announced he will run for Farnetti’s District 1 seat. Johnston has been with the county for more than 15 years and prior to that, was a independent planning consultant in Mammoth Lakes. If he is elected, he would have to give up his current position with the county. – WG
Mammoth’s water district may go solar
Although nowhere near as ambitious as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s recently approved pilot plan to put a huge, solar panel project on 660 acres of the dry Owens Lake, Mammoth’s water district is moving forward with a plan to use solar power to generate electricity for its wastewater treatment plant.
The project in Mammoth would be placed on the agency’s emergency effluent basin, a 3.5-acre parcel next to the district office that the district uses as a back-up storage basin in case of an emergency, according to district spokeswoman Irene Yamashita.
Both effluent storage and power generation can occur at the same time and using solar power for the wastewater treatment plant, the most energy-intensive facility at the district, would help to offset the cost of electricity. The end result is that the solar array could provide about two-thirds of the wastewater treatment plants energy needs, thus helping to keep water rates for customers down, Yamashita said.
The district is hoping to use the panels to generate about 600 kilowatts of energy.
The district recently filed a document stating that it believes the project will not have a significant impact on the surrounding area or environment. The public is invited to comment on the district’s plan for the project between Dec. 7 and Jan. 7, 2010.
For more information, call 934-2596.
To comment, go to www.mcwd.dst.ca.us or visit the district office to get a copy of the project plan. The district office is located at 2315 Meridian Boulevard in Mammoth. – WG |
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 December 2009 )
|
