Their attorney told them a bad contract started the whole problem in 1997, the Bankruptcy mediator said the Town now has a good deal to resolve its debt and Mammoth officials talked about deep cuts in the police department and other Town departments and closure of Whitmore Pool to come up with the money for payments demanded by a settlement with the Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition – a settlement in which Mammoth has to pay $2 million per year for 23 years.
A packed room at last night’s Town Council meeting mostly listened. Bankruptcy attorneys Michael Tuchin and Ken Klee explained the legal points of the somewhat complex deal that frees the Town from its troublesome development agreement but will change the face of government as the community lives up to its $2 million per year debt payments.
And it wasn’t cheap getting to this point. Assistant Town Manager Marianna Marysheva-Martinez said that since 2008 unti lthe present, Mammoth has spent 8.5 million on legal fees.
Perhaps the most dramatic presentation last night came via video-phone conference from Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris.
Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris mediated the settlement and explained via video-conference that it was good for Mammoth.
She was the appointed mediator for Mammoth and MLLA. The Judge spoke via a large screen behind town staff and lawyers. She told those in the room that the deal struck in mediation would save Mammoth Lakes “a lot of money. Bankruptcy is expensive,” she said. Judge Perris revealed that in the mediation process she finally made a recommendation for a fair settlement and both sides accepted it.
Judge Perris said she thinks the deal makes sense for Mammoth. Said the Judge, “It’s a 30% discount on a $43 million judgment.” Judge Perris also made it clear that bankruptcy is risky and that uncertainty will be eliminated. “There’s no reason,” she said, “to stay in bankruptcy.”
Reality hit home when Assistant Town Manager Martinez laid out the government restructuring plan to save enough money to pay $2 million a year to MLLA and other costs. She said the plan would cut 13 employees – 7 of those out of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department. She said there would be no cuts to Tourism, Housing and Transit. No money would be taken from any of the voter-approved tax measures. Martinez said there would be discussions with employee groups on proposed reductions. She described a phased process of public meetings and decisions, with the first cuts taking place January 1, 2013.
Deiter Fiebigger, long time Mammoth resident, stood up to complain about the cut of seven police officers. “It’s a reduction of 47%,” he said. Many wondered how the police could function with such a small force. Assistant Town Manager Martinez spoke of volunteers helping.
Martinez said other cuts would include employees in parks and road maintenance. The plan also calls for closure of Whitmore Pool and Park. Outsourcing of IT services and other services will be considered. Martinez said other options include re-zoning of the Bell-Shaped parcel for possible development.
Council members talked about not liking the deal, but wanting to move forward and to concentrate on the positive. At one point Tim Flynn of Mammoth asked about personal responsibility for the horrible debt. Town Attorney Andy Morris said that the Hot Creek Development Agreement was problematic. “This development agreement did not have language in it that is common and typical of DA’s that wold have protected the Town. It would have taken a couple of sentences or a paragraph,” he said. Morris said the agreement should have said “The Town is not liable for monetary damages. That is a mistake that was made when the dA was drafted.”
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Mark and Big Al
Let me educate you.
Up most importance is officer safety and public safely.
It would be cost effective to have the Sheriff’s Department in Mammoth Lakes, but, MONO County Sheriff’s Department doesn’t work 24 / 7. That means if you are a victim of a violent crime after midnight you will not have quick police response meaning your safety or the safety of others.
CHP’s main responsibility is traffic enforcement. CHP will assist MLPD and or Sheriff’s if asked. But like the Sheriff’s Department they don’t work 24 / 7.
You mentioned something about having only one officer and or one supervisor on duty. Without getting into details re: violent crimes in progress or other related crimes, it would be foolish for an officer to respond without backup.
Both of you don’t really understand the job. You’re not the one entering a house or bank looking for an armed suspect(s). You’re not the one breaking up a domestic violence dispute, which can become volatile. A simple traffic stop can be unpredictable. It’s easy for you to criticizes, complain and judge what police officers do or don’t do. Bottom line, even after all the criticism the police still respond to any and all calls for the public.
How is one officer going to assist you and others when winter arrives? Once again, 2:00 am in the morning and you drive into a snow bank or get into a traffic accident, who do you call? I know the answer.
If you want to learn more, sign up for a ride-a-long with any agency.
Um Really, it is what I was eluding to .. so save me the education please .. I know the utmost importance is safety, not just officer safety, that is just as important as the citizen’s safety.
Agreed about Sherriff and CHP coverage except that … CHP does cover 24-7. They only have two officers on like midnight to 6, the two officers usually patrol in one unit, last I knew, unless they have changed that.
I am not an LEO, you’re right, but I do understand a lot about the job, more than you think I do. I was supporting the chief in his comments in regard to cuts putting a single officer on duty at times, especially late night/early morning hours.
I Commented with a question, that with the cuts, will it only be one officer on duty say, 2 to 6 am, with no supervisor, just an officer doing duty, or is there a supervisor, a Sargent or lieutenant on duty, in addition to a dispatcher?
If you have an officer on duty, on beat, or in the filed, you have to have a dispatcher on duty. Dispatchers can call back up .. from CHP, within the department, or the S/O.
As I said, one officer on duty is hangin it out if the stuff hits the fan without any on duty back up. Stuff can happen now!
As I said before and I will reiterate … I am not anti law enforcement, I have my issues with it, mainly on an individual basis, like everything in life, there are asses in every crowd.
If you would have read my posts on this subject, you would have seen I agree with what you’re saying and you would have seen it in the innuendo in one of the posts you quoted.
I understand the anti LEO sentiment, some just have to bitch about anything and everything, mostly it is an authority issue, me I just don’t like officers that think they are something on a stick, it messes it up for the good ones out there.
deep pocket L.A.snobs running a little town in the sierras,its a conflict between the underpaid locals.who ski and love the atmosphere created by the mountains,fresh air and peace,theyll put up with little pay just to live here,then you have the money grubbing,nose in the air and basically uncool, rich….you know whats making decisions only to stuff their pockets,believe me i worked for a rich idiot who ended up being mayor,he hated the locals,and fit into the sierras like a turd in a punch bowl,and as far as i can see,it aint gonna get any better!
I agree Ferdinand.
As long as deep pocket politicians can trick the masses into voting for the mega-wealthy expecting a trickle-down thing, the economic situation in Mammoth will not get any better. There will always be a huge disparity between the rich skiiers and those that pick up their garbage and wax their skis.
Time for some collective bargaining? You know. Walk-outs. Strikes. That sort of thing.
Mammoth Mtn. Is DONE DEAN FINNISHED Cancel Christmas…just like June Mtn. the writing is on the wall, The Economy is only going to Get Worse and Worse 🙂 this u can b sure of and as soon as the War with IRAN starts the price of gas and Deisel will be $6 – $8 dollars a gallon, oh it’s coming and sooon 🙂
What a negative outlook! Hey, maybe it won’t happen. Even if it does, don’t you think trouble might be better met with a positive view?
Just a thought. Benett
One person’s “negative view” can also be called “cockeyed realism.”
The mega-wealthy (ski resort CEOs included) and their rich pals look after the other members of a club most of us don’t belong to.
It’s almost as if they are deliberately pushing the boundaries as they have people believing in trickle-down economics B.S. If a person complains, they are called “Communists” or just plain “bad Americans.”
I don’t see this far from reality if we don’t get our democracy back, The peoples best interest has been put behind big donor profits for awhile now!
John- I sure you don’t have kids, saying stuff like that.
I get the feeling Mono Sheriffs are not in a position to take over police services overnight or even next year. I think they only have about 25 deputies.
I have the feeling the Mono County Sheriff dept is completely capable of stepping up to the plate.
Doing away with MLPD would be a step in the right direction. We would get more offficers on the streets with the same amount of overhead.
If you think Mammoth was better in the 80s you’re blind. MMSA is so much better today with its multiple high speed chairs. In the 80s you had slow moving chairs and you had center pole chair at chair 1. You had to side step up the hill just to get on chair # 1. The cafeteria had cheap picknic tables and the food sucked. Today,you have great food, comportable seating, etc. In the 80’s ski patrol tore down our whimpy jumps for liability reasons, today the park will send you 100 feet in the air if you so desire. Our snow park is world renown and the best come here to practice. Also, in the 80s, snowboarding was not allowed. How great was that? Not to mention we have some of the best groomed runs around. I have been fortunate enough to ski at at least 15 ski resorts and Mammoth Mountain is honestly one of the best around. Give credit to our great acomplishments at our resort. We deserve it.
We just now have a big bill and we don’t need to cut cops or whitemore pool. We may need to look at the 5 million for descretionary funds from transportation, housing, tourism, Measure R and Measure U funds. The time is now to make the hard decisions that the council is too gutless to make. Law enforcement is an essential service whether you admit it or not.
Familyguy- You are totally missing the point. It’s not about MMSA. MMSA rocks and always has. TOML has become a complete joke over the last 30 years. It’s a community completely ran by ignorant and arrogant idiots, elected by ignorant and arrogant locals. Thank God the same people don’t control things up the road at MMSA.
Rusty & company have done a stellar job, especially when compared to the TOML clown council.
Every voting citizen within TOML is their own worse enemy. They continue to get the government they elect and deserve.
Half Moon contracted with the Sheriff for about half of what their PD cost them. I like having our own police force but, the reason the Sheriff or CHP can do it cheaper in contract is you do not have to have ANY overhead like a $250+ Chief, 8 support personnel, or even a station if that’s what’s laid out in the contract. The contract could just pay for the meat and potatoes with a couple officers per shift. The other advantage to this route over a one man PD is that when trouble strikes, the larger agency can shift/recall personnel around to deal with the issue.
Not to mention that a larger agency ALWAYS has a supervisor available somewhere to field questions. If you field a single officer and he cant control the situation by himself or without supervision, he will have to escalate his use of force options and may possibly have to shoot someone to gain compliance (on something even as routine as arresting a drunk). Imagine how big that’s suit will be when the officers states that he/she was trained to call for backup because he couldn’t arrest the person by himself but he didn’t have any. Good luck town in court!
The town should look at all its options including a complete contract with another agency for police services and make those totals public so the public can choose.
You get the sherriff or CHP to do it .. you get two officers .. maybe one .. resident. Or you might get them to respond from elsewhere … hmmmm
just some thoughts
From the staff report, it looks like the Town will look into this in detail. However, I have a few concerns about contracting out with the CHP or the County Sheriff.
First, the staffing levels at the County Sheriff are not nearly adequate to provide 24/7 service in ML. And even in the “good old days”, there was a substation located in Mammoth Lakes. I seriously doubt whether the Town could negotiate an agreement with the Sheriff’s office that would not include the costs of salary, benefits, retirement, supervision, and overhead for a much-expanded Sheriff’s department; the majority of which would be providing services in ML. I question whether this would actlually reflect savings over the current staffing. It would certainly result in less local control.
Contracting out for services doesn’t necessarily mean we’d save any money. Just my two cents worth.