courthouseWith the State of California still short of money, officials had earlier ordered that new county court building projects to be reassessed, cut back or even cancelled. Inyo Supervisors planned to send a letter to the State urging continuation with the Inyo project.

Inyo County was on the list for a new, $30 million court building in Bishop. Then, in late April the California Judicial Council issued a press release to say that Inyo County’s project was among 13 that would not move forward but would be “reassessed to find significant ways to reduce costs, including, where feasible, reducing square footage, undertaking renovations of existing buildings instead of new construction, evaluating lease options, and using lower-cost construction methods.”

The earlier press release said that Inyo’s project would have to be reduced up to 14% at that point. The Legislature had spent at MONO COURTHOUSE 10 08least $1.7 million in court construction funds on other budget problems last fiscal year.

At today’s Inyo Supervisors meeting, Administrator Kevin Carunchio was expected to ask the Board to receive an update from Inyo Superior Court on the status of the new court project and to consider sending a letter in support of securing the funding.

In Mono County, the Supervisors expected to consider the cost of developing the Old Sheriff’s Sub-Station into living quarters and a museum for Jim Ouiment of Mammoth Dog Teams. Ouimet currently rents that building as a headquarters for his dog sled business. The Supervisors will consider upgrading the old building and asking Ouimet to serve as a caretaker for the considerable amount of county-owned heavy equipment stored in the same location.

A controversial topic was also scheduled to come up at today’s Mono Board meeting. Jon Urdi, head of Mammoth Lakes Tourism, planned to talk to the Board about an air service guarantee of $100,000 to cover 2012 summer and fall air service. The Board agenda said the actual consideration of this request will take place in later budget hearings.

While some Supervisors support an air service subsidy, others say their constituents have different priorities.

 

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