“Location. Location. Location,” goes the old real estate adage.
And the Mariposa Visitor Center, nestled below the intersection of Highways 49 and 140, on the road to Yosemite National Park, seems ideally positioned.
So much so, it is inspiring envy and covetousness on the part of at least two Mariposa County supervisors, who have suggested twice now that the county should obtain the lease.
The building is owned by the VFW and leased to the Mariposa Chamber of Commerce for $2,018 a month. The chamber has operated the visitor center at that location for some 36 years.
Supervisor Shannon Poe floated the idea once again in a board meeting last week, saying he was intrigued by the concept of the county leasing, or obtaining the rental contract for the space and subletting to whomever is ultimately awarded the contract to operate the visitor center
“And I love that idea,” he said.
“Because it establishes that 15, 20, 50 years from now, if whoever runs the visitor center changes, then you still have the prime facility, the prime location and parking,” Poe said.
The Mariposa Chamber of Commerce is unsettled by the county’s interest in its building during on-going contract discussions.
“Unfortunately, it has become increasingly obvious that certain members of the board of supervisors no longer want the Chamber operating the visitor center,” said Trevor Dixon, the chamber’s president, in a statement to the Mariposa Gazette.
“Rather than working collaboratively or transparently, what many residents are seeing looks more like a deliberate effort to undermine the Chamber’s lawful lease agreement with the VFW,” Dixon wrote.
The idea was first suggested publicly by Supervisor Miles Menetrey during a tense debate May 12, as the board of supervisors considered giving the contract to Yosemite Foothills, an Oakhurst based content and marketing company run by Juliette Vuillaume.
Staff had recommended a new direction with Vuillaume’s company, because of its strong social media plan, something the request for proposal (RFP) specifically emphasized when issued in January.
Vuillaume also had the low bid at $180,000. The chamber’s bid was $208,000. A third bid from Jessica Chaney’s Adventure Mariposa LLC was $249,000.
Ultimately, Vuillaume’s proposal lacked a physical presence when the downtown gift shop Mariposa Marketplace backed out at the last minute as the location for a visitor kiosk.
So, the supervisors decided to extend the chamber’s contract for the visitor center to January 1 as they gather more community feedback and look toward reissuing the RFP sometime in August.
To that end, two town halls will be held to discuss the future of the visitor center, Saturday June 6, from 10 a.m. to noon, and Tuesday, June 9, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Mariposa Board of Supervisors hearing room at 5100 Bullion St.
‘It’s our lease?’
County supervisors got plenty of feedback at their May 12 meeting, when more than 30 speakers defended the chamber’s management of the center, even as several of them praised Vuillaume.
During the meeting, Menetrey asked Dixon, the chamber president, if the chamber would be willing to give up its lease to whomever was awarded the county contract.
Dixon was almost apoplectic in his response. He wondered why the chamber should give up its lease when it believes its the best candidate to operate the visitor center.
“It’s our lease, and I think we are doing a fantastic job,” Dixon said, somewhat exasperated, while also clarifying any official position would be up to the chamber’s board.
Menetrey said he was disappointed to hear that, “Given what was said about the community, you would stonewall them going into the building?”
Poe echoed the sentiment.
“I’m pretty shocked that if chamber lost the contract they wouldn’t allow another visitor center to come in. Seems like if they liked the county that wouldn’t be the case,” Poe said.
The question left several chamber members reeling by what they interpreted as an insult compounding an audacious request.
“To many people watching this unfold, the situation no longer appears to be about what is best for the county. It looks personal. It looks political. And it increasingly feels like old grudges and egos are being allowed to drive decisions that affect the entire community,” Dixon of the chamber said in a statement.
A wonderful idea?
When Poe brought up the idea again last week, he thanked an unnamed email writer for suggesting it.
“I’m a big supporter of that. I think that is a wonderful idea and wanted to let folks know we received that email,” Poe said.
Through a public records request, the Mariposa Gazette learned the email was from Tennille Holt, signing “District 5 – resident.”
She is also an executive assistant in the Mariposa County Department of Public Works.
“If the chamber keeps the contract they need to have a separate sub lease that is with the county not the individual (chamber) when it is awarded the bid. That way the space can not be held hostage,” she writes.
Holt compares the situation to when Yosemite National Park switched vendors and it temporarily lost rights to many of its iconic names.
“The fact that the social media is tied to the Chamber (facebook = Mariposa County Chamber & Visitor Center) needs to be rectified. It means that all the money we have paid them in the past is lost if they lose the contract because it was combined with the chamber,” Holt writes.
Holt then suggests the county’s public information officer could “add this to her plate” with some extra help.
“If we could, I feel this would save the county a bundle and we wouldn’t have to worry about who runs it,” she wrote.
A representative of the VFW told the supervisors he believes the chamber is in the middle of a five year lease and has a right to renewal.
The chamber also sublets some of its space at 5158 CA-140 to Mother Lode Job Training Services and Yosemite E-Biking.
A spokesperson from the VFW said the county has not contacted the group about the lease.
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