Mayor Sauser and Councilmember Rea returned to the meeting at.5:15 p.m.
Town Manager Daniel C. Holler outlined the information in the staff report. There was discussion among members of Council and staff regarding Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) allocations.
Councilmember Stapp requested that the following statement be read into the record, " The Town retains 2% of the revenues collected to offset collection costs processing enforcement."
SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR:
Phil Moores, Executive Director of the Eastern Sierra Transit Authority (ESTA), thanked the Council for their support and discussed matching grants that ESTA was awarded for vehicle replacement purchases, and spoke about their current fleet and the cost to make necessary replacements. Mr. Moores said that they were entering driver contract negotiations to make the position more attractive as they have had trouble recruiting and spoke about potential solutions to keep drivers working all year, rather than seasonally.
Ron Cohen, President and Chief Operating Officer of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area (MMSA), spoke about the role MMSA played in the community with regard to TOT and TBID. He spoke about the history of the creation of the TBID and its success, and spoke about the improved Town structure and revenue streams. He said that political commitments were not written in stone and were open for discussion.
There was discussion among members of Council and staff.
Mr. Moores spoke about quantifying and measuring performance of the NGOs and said that he would provide the Town Manager with a vehicle replacement plan. He said that they would like to finalize their contract discussions by March. There was discussion among members of Council, staff, and Mr. Moores.
John Urdi, Mammoth Lakes Tourism (MLT) Executive Director, spoke about MLT's ability to track their expenditures and said he could provide ROI information to the Council.
There was discussion among members of Council and staff regarding the Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID).
There was discussion among members of Council and staff regarding short-term rentals (STRs).
Mr. Holler reviewed comments received by members of the Town Council.
Public comment from Jennifer Walker was received via email prior to the meeting that requested the Town implement incentive programs for homeowners to switch from STRs to long-term rentals and cited examples of such programs in South Lake Tahoe and Truckee.