J. Viereck 10/6/04

Letter to Inyo Register, 10/6/04 from Jennifer O. Viereck

Dear Inyo Register:

Thank you for your ongoing coverage of issues important to Southeast Inyo . In the interest of accuracy, I believe the following context or corrections also need to be included in the public record.

On 9/16/04, an At A Glance item entitled “Tecopa Savings” stated that “The county will look for ways to work with CLM to cooperatively operate the Community Center and possibly share other tasks at the hot springs and in the community.” However, on October 1^st, Mr. Hamilton responded to me by email, “California Land Management has not offered, and County has not requested that the concessionaire be involved in the operation of the Community Center.”

Your article also stated that laid-off Parks staff would be considered for CLM jobs. However, CLM jobs are $7.02 an hour for maintenance and $8.45 an hour for site manager. Local applicants were also repeatedly ignored and on October 8^th, CLM staff stated in a meeting that “maybe someday, local people could be hired”, but for now it’s an inside job for CLM veterans and known RVers only.

On 9/25/04 reporter Jon Klusmire stated “The county, by contracting out the Tecopa Hot Springs operation to CLM, will save $134,000 a year in salaries and benefits…” However:

The county will also forgo over $104,000 in income.
$16,600 of those salaries had already been eliminated when seasonal Parks jobs were scrapped county-wide.
The entire 2002/03 ‘deficit’ was shown to be $21,624, which included electricity for the Fire Dept., Public Library and Health & Human Services office, as well as the only expense of providing activities and a park in 1250 square miles.
Our proposal listed a number of ways that individually would have easily eliminated that deficit without undue burden to anyone and collectively would have doubled Park income in the first year.

Mr. Klusmire has also repeated the myth that CLM will provide $50,000 a year in improvements. While the contract, in vague language, obligates CLM and Parks to review various lists once a year and plan improvements, no dollar amount or specific obligation is spelled out. While Parks estimates were $458,000 for the 2001 Improvement Plan, CLM staff has already stated publicly that they will repair existing toilets and doors, not replace bathrooms with $34,000 modular units. CLM’s contract obligates them, in the first year, to do “painting or staining of buildings, fences and barriers; replacing or repairing… lighting and plumbing fixtures; cosmetic improvements…fences, posts, benches, doors, windows, and landscaping; park signs… repainted or replaced.” Nowhere is the issue of disabled-access even discussed. Even allowing $2,000 for new light bulbs, paint and a post-hole digger, it would take the $7.02/hour maintenance person nearly 6,800 hours to use up the rest of that $50,000.

And lastly, Treaties are either broken, or they are not. Agreements are made, honor is at stake. Breaking a treaty certain hours of the day, or in one way but not another is like saying that adultery on Wednesdays does not threaten one’s marriage vows the rest of the week. Actually, under federal law, a fee can never be charged by anyone for using these waters, which were permanently withdrawn for public use in 1930 by President Hoover. What we are being ordered to pay for is the bath house that surrounds them.

In my personal opinion, public lands are one of the things that make our nation so wonderful. Managing the public’s access to the public’s property is a sacred trust, like managing the education of children. To make a fair living is reasonable. To become wealthy at public expense ought to be a crime.

Sincerely, Jennifer Olaranna Viereck

Back to TecopaCA.com Website by Blue Heronworks Revised: January 31, 2008.