Bishop - June 3 hopefuls meet for final forum

Supervisor Susan Cash and challenger Ted Gardner were both received warmly by audience members at Tuesday’s candidates forum. The candidates fielded four questions, three from the League of Women Voters, which hosted the event, and one from a local resident. Photo by Mike Gervais

Candidates running for office in the June 3 election met for the third and final League of Women Voters, Eastern Sierra forum this week, hosted Tuesday at the Bishop Senior Center.
All three candidates for Superior Court Judge and both candidates seeking a seat on the Inyo County Board of Supervisors representing the Second District were in attendance with dozens of spectators looking on.

Second District Inyo County Supervisor and her challenger, former Bishop Mayor Ted Gardner, were issued three questions from the League during the first portion of the forum, but only received one additional question from audience during the second half of the meeting.
The candidates hoping to win a seat on Inyo County’s Superior Court bench, however, received too many questions from the audience, and the time limit for the forum ran out before they could all be addressed.
In opening, all five candidates were given three minutes to introduce themselves and give spectators a brief history of their experience.
“I have a vested interest in this community,” said Cash, noting that she is a 16-year resident of Inyo County and raises two children here.
Cash was one of the first female corrections officers to work at Inyo County Jail. She was also a corporate account director at a Bishop business and the fiscal director at Wild Iris before being elected to the Inyo County Board of Supervisors four years ago.
“A lot of people think this is a Tuesday job – it is not,” Cash said. “It’s hard, exhilarating work.”
Cash explained that a bulk of a county supervisor’s duties lie in committee assignments, where she works with the City-County Liaison, Eastern Sierra Council of Governments and the Eastern Sierra Transit Authority, among many others.
Gardner moved to Bishop with his family in 1958. He obtained his Criminal Justice degree from Cal State Long Beach before returning to the Eastern Sierra and serving on the Bishop Police Department for 15 years.

Gardner served two terms, eight years, on the Northern Inyo Hospital Board of Directors, worked on the Pioneer Cemetery Board and the Bishop Parks and Recreation Commission before being elected to the Bishop City Council in 2001.
While on the City Council, Gardner said he served on many committee assignments and spent one year as the city’s mayor.
“I feel the experience I’ve gained provides an excellent background to serve in local government,” Gardner said, noting that it is important for local officials to know the difference “between good policy and micro-management.”
The first thing the League wanted to know from the supervisorial candidates was how the county Transient Occupancy Tax should be utilized. The League asked if the candidates feel the TOT should be spent proportionate to the area it was collected or if it should be put in the county’s General Fund and allocated according to population.
“My answer is neither,” said Cash. “By definition, ordinance, it is a General Fund revenue,” which means it is not earmarked for specific areas in any way.
According to Cash, obligating the funds for specific regions of the county “would create a new layer of bureaucracy to track” and tie the hands of local government.
Gardner explained that 60 percent of the county’s TOT funds are collected in Southern Inyo. “Residents of Northern Inyo would not be in favor of spending that money in the area it was collected,” he said.
Gardner said he would like to see the money spread evenly throughout the county. He suggested using part of the tax money to help support the local chambers of commerce.
“I do not feel the TOT should be used for salary, rent or utilities,” but advertising county resources, Gardner said.
“It is the duty of the supervisors to meet the needs of the community on an equal basis,” he said.
The second question by the League of Women Voters asked the candidates what they feel the county’s financial and administrative duties should entail now that the Lower Owens River is flowing.
Gardner said the LORP will continue to be a “work in progress” as the county and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power share the job of monitoring and managing the new waterway.
“Why has the process been so slow?” Gardner asked. “The first duty is for the Water Department to have a permanent director and for the department’s activities to be as transparent as possible” so the community knows exactly where work on the project stands at all times.
From there it will be the county’s duty to “talk to the man in charge” at LADWP, he added.
Cash said that “the Lower Owens River Project will never be completely finished. We have started a river and hopefully it will be here long after I’m gone.”
Cash said that LADWP has provided the county $5.25 million for cooperative management of the river project. “That’s the first source to pay for the county’s half of administration,” Cash said.
“The taxpayers will be obligated” to take on some cost of that management “after those funds are gone,” she added.
The final question from the League asked the candidates how the current economic downturn in California has affected county finances; and if there is a negative effect, how each candidate would change the county budget.
According to Cash, in the coming years “we’re going to have some tough decisions, it’s not going to be pretty.”
She said that she could not tell residents what changes could be made to the county budget because “I can’t predict what the governor is going to put forward” for the state budget.
She said that in order to cope with upcoming fiscal challenges, “local elected leaders will have to be working together.
“It’s going to be a very tough next couple years, but I will be fighting for those dollars.”
Gardner agreed with Cash.
He said the budget crisis “has affected all government agencies. It’s difficult to respond about budget adjustments, because the information is not available” because the governor has not released his budget.
“Forty-eight percent of Inyo’s budget is received from outside sources” such as the state or federal government. “The board will have to work with state and federal elected officials” to help find funds to keep county programs running effectively, he said.
He said that the county has the ability to generate funds through mining and other business ventures that could be utilized in the area.
Gardner concluded by saying that to deal with the upcoming fiscal situation, the Board of Supervisors “will have to listen to the taxpayers about the services they are receiving. The Board of Supervisors owes the taxpayers an explanation for where their tax dollars go.”
The only question from the audience on Tuesday was simple, important and to the point: What is your vision for the future of the Owens Valley?
“We must continue to develop a very strong community and value our resources,” Cash said.
Cash said that it is the responsibility of local elected officials to “help everyone grow their own heaven and develop a program that will help our kids do that.”
She said that could be accomplished if the community continues to welcome people, visitors and prospective residents.
“And we must continue providing the necessary services” that make a community, she said.
Gardner said that his vision for the county “would be that we try to develop an economy that will draw young families to the Owens Valley.”
He said that bringing young families to the area will stimulate economic growth.
He also said he would like to see business development, namely mining, that could create job opportunities that would draw people to the area.
“This county has very valuable natural resources and there is mining and other activities we can do without destroying the environment,” he said.
He also said that he would like to see the Second District move in a greener direction and, like the southern part of the county, begin looking at solar power to help reduce costs for the county.
For a full story on the questions and responses of the candidates running for Inyo County Superior Court Judge, see Saturday’s edition of The Inyo Register.