Government
Paper Trails: The Bureaucratic Glow-Up of Tecopa’s Community Center
“It gets very dark here in the winter,” wrote Aaron Holmberg, Inyo County’s Assistant Director of Risk Management, in his 2024 safety report on the Tecopa Community Center. “The exit signs are needed, especially if the power goes out earlier or later in the day for staff.” If you’ve ever wondered how slow progress looks…
Tecopa Town Hall Unites Residents to Tackle Food Insecurity After Federal Cuts
“You guys are tough people out there,” said Jessica from the Inyo-Mono Advocates for Community Action (IMACA), nodding from her Zoom screen toward the handful of desert residents gathered inside the Tecopa Community Center on a cool October evening. “And we’re hungry,” a local resident replied. The exchange captured the tone of a town hall…
Flippin-Hamrick Crew Officially Takes Keys to Tecopa Hot Springs & Campground
A new era has officially begun at the Tecopa Hot Springs Campground. On Wednesday, the Flippin-Hamrick crew announced they have “received the keys” to the county-owned facility, marking the formal start of their tenure as concessionaire under a new ten-year agreement with Inyo County. The announcement was shared with the community through a public statement…
County Orders Airbnb Operator to Cease Unpermitted Rentals at Lake Tecopa
The Inyo County Planning Department has issued a formal notice ordering the operator of the Lake Tecopa Airbnb to stop all short-term rental activity, citing violations of county code that prohibit unpermitted vacation rentals in unincorporated communities such as Tecopa. In a letter dated June 23, 2025, Planning Director Cathreen Richards informed Adrian Wilton, owner…
Inyo County Rewrites the Rules at Tecopa Hot Springs
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors is set to approve a new ten-year agreement at their October 21 meeting, granting Flippin Happy Campers & Lance Hamrick LLC the right to operate and maintain the Tecopa Hot Springs Campground and Pools, one of the Amargosa Basin’s most enduring public amenities. The contract marks the third public–private…
Optimism Grows as Tecopa Hot Springs Concession Contract Nears Finalization
After months of uncertainty, momentum is building toward a finalized agreement for the Tecopa Hot Springs Campground & Pools concession. Both county officials and the incoming operators say they’re close to sealing the deal, with hopes of reopening by early November. At the September 23 Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Will Wadelton noted…
Rep. Kevin Kiley Urges House to Return to Session, Breaks with Speaker Over Shutdown Strategy
As the federal government shutdown entered its twelfth day, Tecopa’s elected congressman, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R), said Sunday on CNN that the House should return to work instead of remaining closed under Speaker Mike Johnson’s direction. “There are a lot of reasons for the House to be in session,” Kiley said. “We were supposed to be in session the…
New Concessionaire Recommended for Tecopa Hot Springs Campground and Pools
Inyo County has recommended awarding the concession agreement for the Tecopa Hot Springs Campground and Pools to Flippin Happy Campers & Lance Hamrick LLC, opening the door to the next chapter in the stewardship of one of the Mojave Desert’s crown jewels. The County, which issued a request for proposals earlier this year following the…
Tecopa’s Community Plan Explained
The unincorporated community of Tecopa, in collaboration with Inyo County, laid out its vision for the future after a series of public meetings starting in 2015, preparing a draft document called the Tecopa Community Plan and releasing it in 2018. We thought it might be helpful to refresh our collective memory of what is even…
SIFPD Names New Volunteer EMT Trainee, Faces Questions Over Recruitment Practices
The Southern Inyo Fire Protection District (SIFPD) has confirmed that Daniel Leseberg has been hired as a volunteer firefighter/EMT and will attend Unitek’s “boot camp” EMT training in Arizona this September, a program funded by district resources at a cost of approximately $8,500 per student. The decision, confirmed in correspondence from Chief Bill Lutze, follows…
SIFPD Fire Station Plans Spark Progress — and Debate — as County Awaits Key Details
The Southern Inyo Fire Protection District (SIFPD) has taken a significant step toward building long-awaited fire stations in Tecopa and Charleston View, but key details remain unfinished before the project can move from concept to construction bids — and the process of finalizing them has been anything but straightforward. A draft document prepared by local…
Three Decades Later, Unofficial Water Test Used in Official County Process
A water quality report from 1995 is being used by Inyo County officials in 2025 as supporting documentation in their search for a new operator for Tecopa Hot Springs County Park — even though the report was never commissioned by the county. The decades-old analysis was conducted by J. Edward Guilmette, an environmental consultant who…