Recently some Mammoth Town Council members were personally offended and made reference to “lobotomies in Bridgeport” and “a slap in the face” when Mono Supervisors asked the Town to apply for a community grant for Fourth of July expenses. Council members seemed to feel the Supervisors should okay the $5,000 request for an event which benefits County and Town residents. Mono County Administrator Jim Leddy points to a process for all community funding requests.
In response to the Town Council’s sharp comments, CAO Leddy briefly mentioned to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday the process for dealing with funding community events. The process involves writing a letter to make a case for requests. Leddy said the County made the process public on September 15th with a deadline of January 15th. The Town of Mammoth requested $5,000 in Fourth of July funding on December 3rd. The Board addressed it December 17th and sent a letter to the Mammoth Town Council December 20th to say in-kind services would continue and that a community grant program was available, encouraging them to send in a letter of request.
At least four of the Town Council members, excluding Michael Raimondo, made comments agreeing that the County asking the Town to apply for funds was beyond principle and a slap in the face. They included jokes about Supervisors getting lobotomies in Bridgeport and forgetting that they serve the community of Mammoth Lakes.
Asked how he feels about those comments, CAO Leddy said, “I appreciate their passion. Community events are important.” He said he’s looking for opportunities for a positive relationship with Mammoth and is talking with Interim Town Manager Dan Holler “about a lot of issues.”
Leddy called the grant program a “fair process for all communities.” The Board of Supervisors will allocate community grant funds on February 4th. Leddy said there is $40,000 available and $61,000 in requests. Leddy said the amount available was reduced due to budget concerns.
Mammoth officials say that they will fund the Fourth of July events, without the County’s funding help, by use of private and Town funds.
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Kudos to the Mammoth Times editorial in the current edition regarding this issue – basically the hometown newspaper saying that Eastman, Wood, and Bacon should be ashamed. MT should be applauded for telling it like it is and stating the truth. John Eastman and Rick Wood have been playing this game for far too long – their behavior is childish, irrational, and way over the top. It is exactly how the Town ended up on the bad side of the airport debacle – a decade plus of bad decisions based with arrogance and ego led by Wood and Eastman. Their legacy’s, along with Ms. Bacon, are shameful.
As someone who has done more grant applications that I ever want to admit I just wonder if the leadership TOML is just lazy. Unless this grant requires obscure things like the Fed’s Environmental and Historical Preservation documentation, this is a item that should have been taken care of by sitting down at a desk and typing for a little bit. To make the comments that the town council made is disturbing and denigrating, especially since it wasn’t as if the County was asking for anything else that any other Municipality or County would ask for. It screams lack of leadership, lack of accountability and a childlike attitude towards others.
So the Mammoth Town Council won’t apply for FREE money because they’re peeved? That’s just dumb. Remember this at election time.