News Briefs from April 29 Board of Supervisors Meeting
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The Inyo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday were introduced to the following new employees, to whom they gave a warm welcome: Isaiah Lopez, an appraiser with the Assessor’s Office; Stacey Simon, an attorney for County Counsel’s Office; Joshua Vega, a program supervisor with Health and Human Services; Sheriff Deputy-Trainee Jorge Fierro Vazquez; and James Mills, a research specialist for the Water Department.
PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS
Public Works Director Mike Errante updated the Board on the status of several projects throughout the county, including the HVAC replacement at the Inyo County Courthouse, which he said is coming to a close, and the Whitney Portal Road emergency culvert repair, which he said was completed last week and with road now fully open.
Other roads now open for the season include Onion Valley, South Lake, and Rock Creek roads. Horseshoe Meadows Road should be open by the end of this week, while North Lake Road and White Mountain Road remain closed until sufficient snowmelt has occurred.
Errante also reported that the Walker Creek Bridge Road project should be completed in June.
In the wake of three hantavirus-related deaths in Mono County this spring, Environmental Health Director Jerry Oser on Tuesday again stressed the importance of awareness and prevention when it comes to the airborne illness.
He said while only 100 cases of hantavirus have been recorded since health officials started keeping track in the 1980s, 34 of those cases were fatal – making it quite dangerous. “It’s also preventable,” Oser said. “If you look at the case investigations for each of those hundred cases, the vast majority of the probable infections took place at the home or work.”
Oser delivered the same message Monday evening at Supervisor Trina Orrill’s quarterly community meeting in Bishop, where he reported that the best way to prevent the infection is avoiding exposure to rodents and their urine and feces.
On Tuesday, he encouraged anyone in need of assistance in taking preventative measures to reach out to his office.
“If anybody out there in the audience or online finds themself living or working with rodents and needs some consultation about how to seal up, to trap, and to clean up after, please reach out to Environmental Health and I’d be happy to talk you through it,” he said.
Environmental Health can be reached at (760) 878-0238. Specific prevention tips can be found at https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/HantavirusPulmonarySyndrome.aspx.
SERVING THE COMMUNITY
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors appointed or re-appointed several community members to boards and advisory committees.
Lynne Bunn was appointed to serve as an alternate for the Southern Inyo Airport Advisory Committee, to a term ending June 1, 2027. The alternate position was created in April of 2024 and had stayed vacant until now.
The Board also appointed Billy Eichenbaum to represent the Southern Inyo Fire Protection District on the Emergency Medical Care Committee. Reappointed at the same time were Jacinda Thomsen to represent Northern Inyo Healthcare District and Chief Carl Bursell to represent the Lone Pine Volunteer Fire Department. All three terms will expire on December 31, 2026.
Finally, Ally Few was tapped to serve out the remainder of a four-year term on the Tecopa Cemetery Board of Trustees that doesn’t expire until February 22, 2026. The seat, one of three, was left vacant earlier this year by a resignation.
Tecopa will be the site of next week’s special board meeting, being held Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Tecopa Community Center. The Southern Inyo Fire Protection District is scheduled to provide an update.
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