In response to Town of Mammoth employees expression of a lack of trust for the Town Council in regard to salary and benefit issues and a possible 10% pay cut, Mammoth Mayor Skip Harvey said that he believes council members have acted in good faith.

Town employee sources had said in the past the Town Council promised no lay-offs if workers would give up some benefits and pay which they did. The lay-offs came anyway, said our source.

Mayor Harvey said that recent lay-offs were mostly early retirements. As for no trust for the Council, Harvey said that “Whenever we go into difficult situations, we want to leave our options open. Regarding past lay-offs, we knew we had to reduce staff and asked some to retire early. People were given notice and severance pay,” he said.

Mayor Harvey went on to say, “We have to weigh our financial responsibility with services for the public, which is at the top. We’re doing all we can to protect services. There just isn’t enough information yet to know how everything will affect us.”

Harvey also pointed out that past employee negotiations were conducted by the Town Manager, not by the Council. “Comments by the previous town manager,” said the Mayor, “may not have reflected Town Council views.”