Former Inyo County associate planner Elaine Kabala was introduced at Monday’s Bishop City Council meeting as the new part-time associate planner/economic development coordinator. She will assume the planning duties of the soon-to-be-retired Gary Schley. Schley’s duties as building inspector will be carried out by a second Inyo County inspector with the City contributing $60,000 to that position’s salary.

Bishop Fire Chief Ray Seguine explained that the power outage inadvertently set off the department’s fire alarm Sunday evening. The dispatcher console’s back-p battery had been disconnected while work was being done on the unit. When the generator kicked-in after the outage, it tripped the alarm.

Joe Lane of Mountain Rambler Brewery was the feature business report. The brewery will be doubling its production with the installation of four new brewing tanks in November. Lane reported that Mountain Rambler’s license allows for parking lot parties four times a year and he is planning on taking advantage of the opportunity.

The City will be paying back the $230,606 in mis-allocated sales tax to Bishop by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Direct Pay Permit. The funds will come from the City’s reserves with no impact on city services, said Administrative Officer Jim Tatum. “The likelihood that this will happen again are slim.”

The Council approved comments on the Inyo National Forest Revision Plan with one change, stressing an increase in trails for hiking and motorized vehicles. The comments reflected by those of the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments and the Eastern Sierra Recreation Collaborative.

By Deb Murphy