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Mono Supervisors' special meeting ties up loose ends |
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Thursday, 31 January 2008 |
By Stacey Powells
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Pete DeGeorge moves up the walls of the Mono County Sheriff's Department and shares his enthusiasm with the Board.PHOTOS BY STACEY POWELLS
Devil's Gate fuels reduction needs Prop 84 money
The Board has written several letters supporting the Devil’s Gate Swauger Creek Fire Safe Council project's efforts to obtain funding from Prop 84 through the Sierra Nevada Conservancy for fire prevention in the Council’s service area. J.W. Ackles, Chairman of the Devil’s Gate Swauger Creek Fire Safe Council, has requested this support from the Board and addressed the supervisors on this issue.
Board Chair Vikki Magee Bauer stated that the Board supports the residents and the Fire Safe Council protecting the area from the effects of wildfires through education, planning, action and implementation of fuels reduction projects. The following areas are in need of fuels reduction in the Swauger Creek and Devil’s Gate Treatment Area:
60 acres off Hwy 395, 200 feet on each side of the highway, non-meadow areas
16 acres remaining Swauger Creek Road treatment 50 feet each side of road
28 acres at West End Pole Line Road, 150 feet each side of the road
9 acres at Pole Line Road south of Alaniz house
24 acres at the driveway access along Swauger Creek Road, 150 feet each side
8 acres of aspen recovery/conifer thinning near Treadwell/Rae houses
5 acres of aspen recovery/conifer thinning at Emery property south of highway
The projects are scheduled for late spring and early summer. Because of the high elevation of the project, snow might be a limiting factor and the project may be postponed until the following summer. Project implementation needs to be scheduled to avoid the nesting season for migratory birds which is why fuel treatment work will be scheduled from late August through fall and early winter to avoid potential impacts to nesting birds and wildlife. If high fire danger conditions arise during late summer and fall months, the work will be postponed until conditions improve.
Bridgeport Cemetery update
Jan Huggans, Chair of the Bridgeport RPAC (Regional Planning Advisory Committee), addressed the Board and additionally asked supervisors in a letter dated Dec. 13, 2007, that no policy changes affecting the Bridgeport Cemetery be approved until the community of Bridgeport is able to play an active role in any decision making. Bridgeport RPAC is requesting the establishment of a local cemetery committee which, “…would be better suited to establish policies that would be in line with the desires and wishes of our community.”
District #4 Supervisor Bill Reid said, “This issue of the Bridgeport Cemetery can be extremely emotional and I want to ask that when the Board meets with the Bridgeport RPAC about this, they realize that it all works better from the bottom up rather than the top down and I would like to see a grass roots effort with this issue.”
Supervisor Hap Hazard added, “As we go through these discussions, I want to bring to the table that the Tri-County area also needs to have some land for a cemetery. The county is really growing in the Tri-Valley area and a cemetery in that area needs to be addressed.”
June Lake's Bauer prepares for onslaught
Board Chair Vikki Magee Bauer, whose district includes June Lake, said she wants to do all she can to prepare for the onslaught of human capacity which could very well overwhelm the small community of June Lake if proper procedures aren’t taken into consideration. With the future development of the Rodeo Grounds and other potential projects looming in June Lakes’ future, she is requesting approval to attend the 2008 Yosemite National Park User Capacity Symposium taking place the first week in February.
According to a memo prepared by Board Clerk Lynda Roberts, the purpose of the symposium is to further the understanding of, and explore approaches to addressing, user capacity in National Parks and other public lands by engaging public managers, researchers, elected officials, tribes and general public in an open dialogue.
Objectives are as follows:
∑ Understand why planning and managing user capacity is important.
∑ Build a common understanding of and language for user capacity.
∑ Explore current perspectives on and approaches to addressing user capacity.
∑ Identify and understand the effectiveness and consequences of different management strategies addressing user capacity.
Department reports
Clerk/Recorder Christy Robles updated the Board regarding voting procedures that continue to be handed down by the State. “We have to have two people physically bring the voting cartridges from each precinct back to the Bridgeport County offices for tallying the votes,” Robles said. The ballots will be marked by hand and then scanned at the end into the optical scanners. There are two precincts in Mammoth this time around so hopefully that will help move things along.” They can opening the absentee ballots envelopes around noon but can’t start tallying until the close of poles. At the earliest it will be about 9:30 p.m. when they can start the tallying process. The results will be posted live on their Web site, and the media and public can call in on the election phone line. “As soon as the tallying is done, we are going home,” said Robles. “So if someone calls at two in the morning and expects us to be there, if the tallying is done, we will not be there to answer the phones.”
Kelly Garcia from the Department of Public works said the new chairs for the Board room will be set in place by next week. This is a good thing for those people who have been siting on the folding metal chairs.
The plan for remodeling for Sierra Center Mall (SSM) is a combined effort, with Dave Wilbrecht, Kelly Garcia and architect Pete Mokler taking the lead, but even with Wilbrecht making sure Mokler stays as accurate as possible, there is a short fall of $354,000 dollars after looking at what the architect has produced so far. “We are hoping to get some competitive bids and put together a long term plan,” Wilbrecht said. “The costs continue to escalate and we are going to have to be very careful.” The remoldeling estimate is $803,000, including a 10 percent contingency and a $400,000 rebate from the landlord.
Bauer reiterated that there are serious office space issues on the third floor and Supervisor Tom Farnetti is pushing for the conservative side of things. “We don't want to find ourselves in the same boat as the Town,” Farnetti said.
Supervisor Byng Hunt has reservations about putting all that money into remodeling the Sierra Center's third floor, especially since sometime down the line there will be a new civic center built. “I know we need the space right now, but I would like to see that money be invested into the new facility if possible,” Hunt said. The County lease for the mall is approximately 11 years.
Mono County Sheriff Rick Scholl introduced the new appointments within his office. “With the retirement of Undersheriff Greg Busey, we had some openings,” Scholl said. “Dave O’Hara has been promoted to Lieutenant effective as of Jan. 21, and the slot he vacated was filled by Sergeant Pete DeGeorge. The new Undersheriff is Ralph Obenberger.” Both O'Hara and Obenberger addressed the Board on their law enforcement history.
Lovett recall update
Even with a few hundred signatures thrown out because they were not in the system or the recorders office could not read their writing, according to Clerk of the Board Lynda Roberts, more than 1,800 signatures have been verified for the recall of County Assessor Jim Lovett. “I have done a spreadsheet and am going over all the signatures to see if any of them have been duplicated.” Both Roberts and Christy Robles are confident that the tally will meet the deadline which is Jan. 25.
Board reports
County Administrative Officer Dave Wilbrecht went to Sacramento and sat with the State Director of Finance from Governor Schwarzenegger's office while they reported on the budget crisis for the State of California. “There will be a 10 percent cut in the state budget for the general fund. For Mono County the concerns are if they have holdbacks in funding for counties,” Wilbrecht said. “This won’t necessarily impact our county unlike some other counties that have to take loans out to pay employees, but we will closely be monitoring the state budget. The good news is that there is no direct impact to child support services. Other projects to consider are: does it make sense to purchase the Sierra Center Mall and start construction of a new County jail and when can that process begin?”
Meanwhile Hunt attended the Town/County liaison meeting last week. “Kirk Stapp said many things have to be put on hold because of the state of financial affairs as a result from the lack of development,” Hunt said. “Regarding the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) purchase, nothing is final because it is a long process and even though the property was given to the AOC for a new courthouse there are no guarantees that the AOC will use it to build a courthouse.”
The contractor hired to help with the tax assessment for the sale of MMSA is moving forward with that work. The Town is proposing to increase sales tax by one-half percent, and South Management Incorporated has been hired to work on the South Gateway Project. Hunt also attended the ESTA meeting where Bauer also serves as Board Chair. “Ridership is up at Eastern Sierra Transit Authority, even though the rates have been raised.”
Farnetti met with Tim Alpers and Todd Obanyon from the Inland Agriculture Group. They are preparing to make a presentation to the Board sometime in February regarding concepts and ideas they have for Conway Ranch including using Conway Ranch Fishery as a staging area for Alpers Trout. Alpers stated that they have done about $300,000 in improvements since they’ve had the contract.
“The CSAC (California State Association of Counties) Web site has a good breakdown of the state budget and I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Mammoth Lakes Library on Sunday Jan. 20,” he also reported.
Hazard attended the Mammoth Lakes Town Council meeting and said members were very supportive of how the emergency issue was handled during the first real storm of the season. More time was spent with the Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT) to discuss a new funding mechanism on land conservancies. “When land gets put into a conservancy, the private property goes off the tax roles,” Hazard observed. The state might want to purchase about 50 acres between Swall Meadows and Aspen Springs then turn around and try and sell it to private ownership which would bring it back into the system and put it back on the tax roll. The state is also considering funding ESLT in order to purchase the property so they can turn it around and sell it to private parties. “It will motivate ESLT to find sellers so they won’t have to pay property taxes,” Hazard said. He also attended the Town/County Liaison meeting and later met with Alpers and Obanyon, about Conway Summit Fishery. Finally, Hazard formally announced he will run for re-election in June.
On Jan. 9, Supervisor Bill Reid and Assistant County Council Stacey Simon met with Ken Spooner, General Manager of the Walker River Irrigation District. Information was exchanged in regards to the bill passed by Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to acquire water rights in Nevada. Of the money appropriated via the bill, $56 million remains to acquire to water rights from Nevada. “The Walker River Basin Project wants to take more water from Smith Valley and Mason Valley in Nevada for Walker Lake. Legislation doesn't provide for the purchase of water California,” said Supervisor Reid. “The WRID would rather lease water than sell it out right,” Reid said. The lease program Ken Spooner is looking at is said to be a 75 year program to encourage farmers to lease their water for use in Walker Lake.
Supervisor Reid said he has been working on trying to get someone from Antelope Valley to represent Sierra Resource Conservation and Bruce Woodworth, a surveyor heavily involved in Antelope Valley RPAC, said he would be honored to serve.
Bauer said, “We've been preparing for developers to come in to June Lake for several years and the County has worked hard on our affordable housing ordinance. Affordable housing continues to be a hot topic for the June Lake area because 25 percent of employees that June Mountain hires should be housed in June Lake.” Workforce housing is also being proposed to Intrawest, the Rodeo Grounds developer. “We made sure we are covered, which is why the Board did the ordinance,” Bauer added.
Regarding her current tenure with ESTA, Bauer remarked, “It was an honor to be selected as Chair of ESTA,” Bauer said. “ESTA is in the transportation business and we should be able to serve the needs of the County. Ridership was up 67 percent within 10 days of new increase in fees for ESTA.” Bauer announced that she also plans to run for re-election in June for another term in her seat on the County Board.
Read complete story at MammothTimes.com
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Last Updated ( Friday, 08 February 2008 )
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