 Some youngsters hit the water slide at Heathy Communities of Southern Inyo’s Fiesta de Lone Pine event. Healthy Communities is currently planning to open two youth centers, one in Lone Pine and a second in Independence, to give local students something fun to do after school and in the summer. Photo by Charles James By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
5-28-2009 It’s for the kids. That’s why the Inyo County Board of Supervisors approved a trial agreement to allow Healthy Communities of Southern Inyo to operate youth centers out of the Independence American Legion Hall and Statham Hall in Lone Pine.
The board gave Healthy Communities and the kids the opportunity to use the facilities for one year, with the stipulation that the organization and a student-run board agree to pay any extra utility costs incurred by the youth facility operations.
Healthy Communities Board of Directors President Arlene Grider and Board Member Jaque Hickman initially asked the board to waive a straight-forward $11 an hour utilities fee for each property.
“Eleven dollars an hour for utilities, to me, that seems an exorbitant price for utilities for four hours a day, that doesn’t leave money for staff coverage,” Grider said.
Through cooperation and partnership with the Inyo County Office of Education, Lo-Inyo School and Lone Pine High School, Healthy Communities has raised approximately $21,000 to operate the youth facilities three days a week in each community. Coso Geothermal, residents and local businesses have also committed to donating pool tables, ping pong tables, TVs and more for the youth centers.
“Through donations we have commitments for furnishing the facilities, but $11 an hour, that’s $7,000 per facility per year,” or one third of the youth center budget, said Hickman.
Fourth District Supervisor Marty Fortney, whose district includes Independence, said that Healthy Communities Director Charles James had said that the youth groups in Independence and Lone Pine and volunteers from his organization would commit to volunteer work to help with repairs and maintenance at the two facilities, and asked if the organization was still in a position to do that despite the tight budget.
“We did talk about volunteer labor for repairs, but we can only do small volunteer labor because once you get to a certain cost, you must stay within the public contract code” that requires major work to go out to bid, Hickman said. “I think we would make some improvements, but any major work plan would have to be submitted to the county.”
Although all five board members agreed that the youth center idea had a lot of community support and was a good idea, considering Southern Inyo’s lack of opportunities for youth recreation, especially among students with working parents, First District Supervisor Linda Arcularius, Second District Supervisor Susan Cash and Third District Supervisor Beverly Brown were hesitant to waive the utilities fees during such financially uncertain times.
Inyo County is currently contributing more than $300,000 a year to the Inyo County Senior Program, which pays for utilities and upkeep at both Statham Hall and the American Legion Hall.
Those three board members from the northern portion of the county said they did not like the prospect of passing higher utility costs on to the senior program.
Planning Director Mike Conklin said that the county does have the ability to track electricity usage by the hour, so it can determine exactly how much the youth centers use while they occupy the facilities. He added that the county cannot, however, determine how much propane is used.
Fifth District Supervisor Richard Cervantes argued against monitoring the youth centers’ use of utilities, saying that Statham Hall, in his district, serves as the town hall and a meeting place for many community organizations. “They don’t all pay utilities,” he said.
According to Arcularius, in addition to raising the utility cost for the buildings, the youth centers will also take up room in the buildings and prevent the county from renting them out for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and other events, which means even less revenue for the county.
Fortney agreed. “My biggest concern is scheduling,” he said.
To that, Hickman said Healthy Communities has, in writing, agreed to relocate its operation on days when other residents want to rent the facilities for special events.
“Healthy Communities will give up the buildings willingly when we are given notice, and that’s in writing,” Grider said.
Ultimately the board decided that the only objection was the possibility of passing costs on to the senior program.
Supervisor Cervantes made a motion, supported by Fortney, to waive the utilities fee. Brown, Arcularius and Cash voted no.
Cash then made a motion to waive the $11 an hour fee, and require Healthy Communities to pay any utility costs that they use via Conklin’s monitoring system. Cash’s motion also mandates that the terms of the agreement are to last for one year, at which time the county and Healthy Communities will review the process and make any necessary changes. That motion passed unanimously.
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