With accusations of drinking on the job and failure to work adequate hours, Mono County Assessor Jim Lovett now faces a recall election to kick him out of office.

If the Mono Supervisors issue an order for an election, the Assessor will face recall on June 3rd. In view of the damning public statements board members have made about Lovett, the election is a certainty. On Friday, Mono County Clerk Linda Roberts confirmed that enough valid signatures were submitted for the recall.

Supervisors have publicly accused Lovett of drinking problems and failure to work more than 12 hours per week for his salary of $130,000. Lovett has never returned any calls to our newsroom, but at a Mammoth Town Council meeting Sierra Wave’s Tom Woods asked Lovett to respond to these accusations.

Lovett denied having a drinking problem and said, “No one in Bridgeport has ever seen me intoxicated.” As for meager hours in his office, Lovett said work gets done, and he’s meeting his constitutional requirement.

Citizens in the north part of Mono County launched the recall effort, headed by Dorothy Burdette. The effort caught the attention of Mammoth Town Councilman Kirk Stapp, who personally stood outside the Mammoth Lakes Post Office collecting signatures.

Mono County Clerk Roberts said that 2,049 signatures were submitted on recall petitions. She and her staff checked each one and disqualified 271. The final count of valid signatures was 1,778 – more than the required 1,630.

Roberts said this issue will appear on the February 5th Mono Supervisors agenda for the Board to issue the order to hold a recall election. If they do, the recall matter will appear on the June 3rd ballot.

With accusations of drinking on the job and failure to work adequate hours, Mono County Assessor Jim Lovett now faces a recall election.