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May 2008 |
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Mono Supervisors make history, subpoena Assessor Lovett |
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Sunday, 26 August 2007 |
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By Lara Kirkner
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
In a tense moment at the Mono County Courthouse, the Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to subpoena the county’s Assessor, Jim Lovett.
“This is truly a dark day for Mono County,” stated Board Director “Hap” Hazard.
Since the action has rarely, if ever been taken, a subpoena had to be drafted by the County’s legal counsel Marshall Rudolph. Even though Lovett is an elected county official, the Board does have the power to force him to show up to their meetings for questioning about his behavior and the state of his office. Lovett had been put on the agenda for the morning portion of the meeting and had been contacted by CAO Dave Wilbrecht last week to let him know of the scheduling. According to members of the Board, Lovett had told the County Clerk, flat out, that he had no intention of coming before the Board again.
The subpoena time was set for 2 p.m. that same day with the understanding that if Lovett was served the paperwork and still failed to show up, he would be considered in contempt and the Board would need to report him to a judge who could have him arrested. Lovett’s subpoena specified that it had to be served by the Sheriff and read aloud to him. It also specified that if he were not found, he would not be considered in contempt if he did not show up at the appointed time.
The Board had told Lovett in the past that they did have the power to subpoena him, so he was well aware of the consequences he might have to face from his actions.
Calling what Lovett has been up to during his time of office a “violation of public trust,” the Board sent the Sheriff out to find him. The one catch with the subpoena was that it would be very difficult to serve in the state of Nevada. It has been reported that when Lovett is not in Mono County Friday through Monday of every week, he resides in Wellington, Nev. With curiosity running high as to whether or not he would show, the Board continued on with other business.
Shortly before 2 p.m., Lovett walked into the Board’s chambers and waited patiently for them to finish the topic they were discussing. Hazard then called him to the podium, and the grilling began again. Similar to the conversation held the week prior, Lovett was asked about the state of his office, how many times he had been to work in the last week, whether or not he had been drinking while on the job, and why he had still failed to deliver a written apology to Supervisor Bill Reid for untruths he had told about him to his staff.
Lovett defiantly claimed he would only answer questions regarding the inner workings of his office and employees and that he did not want to go over the same things the Board had asked him the week before. The Board, however, kept asking, and Lovett answered that he had not been drinking on the job but had a six-pack of beer and a pizza the night before, the he had worked two and a half days the week before but was working more than 40 hours each week with the time he spent thinking about work while at home, and that he would agree to take a random alcohol test if the Board so desired.
When told that he must start coming every week to the Board meetings to report on his office, Lovett simply said he would not.
“I won’t come unless I put something on the agenda or need to be consulted on an agenda item,” he said.
When asked what projects he was working on at home to justify claiming more than 40 hours per week, Lovett responded that sitting at home thinking about the treatment he’s receiving from the Board is something that takes up a lot of his time and is something he considers work.
Supervisor Reid, fearing that Lovett is still drinking while at work, made a motion to take away his privilege to drive county vehicles because of drinking and driving liability issues, and the Board agreed 5-0.
Supervisor Hazard did apologize to Lovett for bringing up his welfare check the week before, saying that was a personal issue that did not need to be brought up.
“But the line between your personal life and business is blurring,” Hazard added.
Hazard told Lovett that he is expected to show up weekly to the Board meetings until further notice. The Board planned to look into whether a training conference that Lovett was signed up for on Tuesday, Aug. 21 could be taken away from him in order to force him to show up to their meeting that day.
The discussion ended with Hazard giving Lovett an opportunity to send a message to the citizens of Mono County.
“I diligently perform the duties of assessment,” was Lovett’s reply.
Other Board news
– The Board presented a certificate of appreciation to Don Banta, who recently retired from the Lee Vining Public Utility District after serving for 55 consecutive years as an elected board member.
– Newly appointed Deputy District Ranger for the Mammoth Lakes and Mono County districts, Mike Schlafmann, introduced himself to the Board and updated them on two major Forest Service projects. The Black Point Cinder Mine will run again this winter on a notice of intent with restricted use to the present open pit while the Forest Service and the Jollys (owners of the mine) work on the plan for long-term operation. The Cunningham property was the second project Schlafmann discussed and he stated that after the Forest Service did their preliminary appraisal of the 120-acres the price was not high enough to please the Cunninghams, so they have gone back into negotiations with Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.
– The Board approved 5-0 the Health and Human Services Department Operations Plan for Emergencies, an agreement with the Town of Mammoth Lakes to expend grant funding for the installation of a generator unit at the Health and Human Services Department and the Town’s Emergency Operations Center, 11 new automatic external defibrillation devices for the county’s volunteer fire departments, and the community emergency response team/medical reserve corp. grant funding for the Town of Mammoth.
– County employee Tom Wallace gave a presentation to the Board regarding the need to leave the state’s system of environmental health due to high fees for the program. The County would like to explore the option of making the environmental health program an in-house operation. County staff will explore the budget for a change like this but feel that they would spend the same amount on staff for an in-house program like this as they do now on fees to the state.
– The Board heard from June Lake residents who live on the Clark Tract and would like to see the roads repaired so that they are less dangerous during the winter. They would like to do this by setting up an assessment district. According to county records, residents of the Clark Tract tried to do this in 1997 and the county spent $10,000-$15,000 in preparation to do this, but things fell through at the last minute because the second homeowners were not willing to pay the assessment district fee and the county was forced to eat the up-front costs. Community members in attendance at the Board meeting said that they wanted to take another run at it because residents had been less aggravated when money had to be collected for a band-aid repair last winter in order to keep their snow removal. Each resident willingly paid a few hundred dollars toward the repair last year. The Board agreed to enter in to an agreement with a consulting group called SCI to put together a survey that will ask the residents whether they want the assessment district or not. The work with SCI will cost the county up to $5,000, but the Board stated that it hoped to see some backfill on that amount from community donations.
– Lastly, the Board, with its Housing Authority hat on, reviewed the housing mitigation ordinance to see if it is functioning properly after its first year. Some developers in the audience felt that it had not.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 September 2007 )
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