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City of Clearlake demolishes former Austin Resort
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The former Austin Resort building, owned by the city of Clearlake, will soon be a thing of the past.
On Tuesday, crews from Walberg Inc. began the demolition of the dilapidated building, located at 14061 Lakeshore Drive in downtown Clearlake, across from City Hall.
The demolition should be completed within two days, according to City Manager Greg Folsom.
Folsom reported that this is the fourth building the city has torn down in the Lakeshore Drive corridor in the last few months as part of an enhanced effort to clean up key areas of Clearlake.
Previously, the city has torn down the former Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce building on Golf Avenue and two other abandoned buildings located next to Howard’s Grotto that had been taken over by the homeless and drug users, Folsom said.
Folsom said the city was able to utilize a combination of grant funding from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, and existing bond funds to pay for the demolitions.
“I can’t tell you how happy and excited I was to drive by this morning and see the demolition of this eyesore building finally happening,” said Mayor Russ Perdock. “It’s going to be a major improvement to the Lakeshore Drive corridor.”
In addition to the demolitions in the Lakeshore Drive corridor, Folsom said the city is currently in the process of getting approval from CalRecycle to demo burned out residential properties throughout the city limits where the owners of the properties have not taken responsibility to clean up the properties themselves.
Once those burnouts are demolished, the city will place a lien on the properties so that the owners will ultimately be held responsible for the cost of cleaning up their property, Folsom said.
“The City Council has placed a priority on improving the city and demolishing these blighted buildings is part of that plan,” Folsom said. “The challenge for us is finding funding for these projects and, fortunately, CalRecycle has a program that is helping us tremendously.”
Lakeport City Council approves agreement for Carnegie Library upgrade design work, meets new staff
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday approved an agreement for design documents for upgrades to the Carnegie Library, met a new police officer and staff interns, approved issuing bonds to refinance obligations of the former city redevelopment agency and got an update on the county's mussel prevention program.
The council started off the meeting with introductions to the new interns and officer.
Kelly Buendia, the Administrative Services director and city clerk, introduced intern Savannah Rasmussen, who will start her second year at California State University, East Bay in the fall.
Rasmussen, a 2015 graduate of Clear Lake High School, is the daughter of Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Lt. Jason Ferguson introduced new Lakeport Police Officer Joe Medici, who was sworn in as the agency's newest officer late last month.
Medici moved from Orange County to take the Lakeport Police job, his first as a police officer. He started his new position just in time to be out on the streets with fellow officers for the annual July 4 celebration.
Ferguson also introduced police intern Natalie Sylar, a 2011 Clear Lake High School graduate who is majoring in criminal justice at California State University, Chico.
He said Sylar has been doing ride-alongs as well as helping with property and evidence. “We can't get her to go home,” he said.
City Manager Margaret Silveira also introduced interim Finance Director Ginny Feth-Michel, who will help oversee that department while the city completes its recruitment for the successor to Finance Director Dan Buffalo, who is leaving shortly for a new post with the city of Ukiah. Feth-Michel retired last year as Fort Bragg's assistant city manager.
In another presentation, the council heard an update from Carolyn Ruttan of Lake County Water Resources on the county's mussel prevention program and plans for expanded efforts to keep quagga and zebra mussels out of Clear Lake.
Ruttan has managed to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding over the last few years to improve the program, which now includes several ramp monitors and supervisors who help ensure that boats have been inspected and cleared before launching onto Clear Lake.
One of the meeting's main items of business was the council's approval of the proposed professional services agreement between the city and San Francisco-based Garavaglia Architecture.
The agreement covers the development of design and construction documents for Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant accessibility upgrades to the Carnegie Library, across the street from city hall.
Community Development Director Kevin Ingram presented the item to the council.
“This isn't for construction but this is for the architectural design of our ADA improvements,” Ingram said.
Ingram's written report to the council said the design work is estimated to cost $34,900. Altogether, the city has $140,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for the project's design and construction, along with the contingency cost.
Ingram said the library – which was built in 1918 – can't currently be opened to the public due to accessibility issues, mainly the lack of access to the second floor, which now can only be reached by stairs.
He said the city will need to install a lift for wheelchairs to reach the second floor and improve the bathrooms to make them ADA-compliant, along with some other unspecified improvements.
The city issued a request for proposals in May and received two, which were vetted by a committee of staff and local professionals. Committee members concluded Garavaglia Architecture is the most qualified firm, Ingram said.
He pointed out that the firm has worked previously with the city on the library's reuse feasibility study.
“They have a long record of similar projects on historical structures,” Ingram said of the firm.
Garavaglia's proposal to the city said its previous projects involving historic buildings include the Patterson House/Ardenwood Farm rehabilitation and Niles Plaza, both in Fremont; the Moraga Hacienda accessibility study; the Marconi Conference Center in Marshall; the Monterey Custom House; a historic structure report created for Chico's Bidwell Mansion, owned by the California State Parks Department; the Presidio Post Chapel feasibility study in San Francisco; the Palo Alto History Museum rehabilitation; the Angel Island Immigration Station Hospital Museum and Interpretive Center project; the Guest House Museum master plan in Fort Bragg; accessibility improvements and seismic stabilization at the William Hood Mansion in Santa Rosa; and the Toscano Hotel Complex in Sonoma.
Councilman Martin Scheel said he was excited to be moving forward.
Wilda Shock, who chairs the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee, encouraged the council to approve the agreement. LEDAC has been involved in studying uses and needed upgrades for the library.
She said she worked with Mike Garavaglia and his team on the feasibility study, and found them to be competent, thorough and very knowledgeable about historical structures.
Shock also reminded everyone of the proper pronunciation of “Carnegie” – with the emphasis on the second syllable – as the Scottish steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who made available funds to build such libraries across the country, pronounced his name.
Scheel moved to approve the agreement, with the council supporting the motion unanimously.
In other business, Buffalo, at his last council meeting, presented a recommendation to issue refunding bonds, which are anticipated to give the city significant savings in the form of interest on outstanding bonds of the former redevelopment agency. He called it a simple refinance.
The council unanimously approved that proposal, and also approved a professional services agreement with JJACPA for independent auditing services and the second amendment to the professional services agreement with NHA Advisors for independent, registered municipal financial advisory services.
Also on Tuesday, Ferguson gave the council a recap of the police response during the city's July 4 holiday, which he said was surprisingly busy for a Monday.
He said there were more issues this year than last, with four missing children and one elderly adult, all of whom were quickly reunited with their families.
There also was a stabbing incident in Library Park which resulted in an arrest as well as a verbal altercation, Ferguson said.
There also was an overall heavy call volume. Ferguson said the Lakeport Police Department received 47 calls for service, which was very high for the day.
Among those were calls for illegal fireworks. Ferguson said there were quite a few issues with illegal fireworks in the city, which he wasn't expecting. He estimated it may have been the most illegal fireworks issues the department has encountered.
At one point five police units with lights and public address systems had to disperse about 200 people setting off fireworks in the Safeway area, where he said there were a lot of illegal fireworks.
“We stayed very busy,” he said.
Mayor Marc Spillman said he has received a lot of comments from community members about large explosions from fireworks that clearly weren't the safe and sane type the city allows around the July 4 holiday.
“We really struggled trying to track them all down,” Ferguson said.
In his last report to the council, Buffalo thanked Silveira, the council and the community for the opportunity to serve them, noting he won't be a stranger and will always consider Lakeport his home.
Buffalo has been with the city for eight years, six of those years as finance director. Silveira recalled him coming to her after the previous finance director left and saying he could do the job. At that point, he was working as the city's code compliance officer.
Council members praised Buffalo for his work, and noted how that he had exceeded their expectations when they gave him the chance to move into the position.
“It's bittersweet,” Buffalo said, adding, “This is a great organization to work for.”
Silveira said the city has been fortunate to have Buffalo as finance director, and that he will be missed as an employee, friend and team member.
After Buffalo announced his intended departure last month, the city quickly began a recruitment for a new finance director. Silveira told the council they have some good candidates and will hold interviews on Friday.
The council also held a closed session at 5:30 p.m., prior to the beginning of the regular meeting, to discuss labor and property negotiations. No reportable action was taken in that session, Spillman reported.
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City of Lakeport plans economic priorities town hall July 12
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council will hold a special town hall next week to discuss economic priorities.
The meeting will take place beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The theme of the meeting will be “Engaging Lakeport: Deciding Community Priorities in a Downsized Economy.”
Community members are encouraged to attend and share ideas on how to keep Lakeport an excellent place to live, work and shop.
Clearlake Planning Commission to hold hearing on development agreement, discuss signage and daycare expansion
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the Clearlake Planning Commission will hold a hearing on a proposed development project, discuss signage and consider a request from a daycare that wishes to expand.
The meeting of the commission – sitting jointly as the Parks and Recreation Committee – will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
On Tuesday the commission will hold a hearing to consider whether to recommend the Clearlake City Council adopt an ordinance approving a development agreement with Orosco Development No. 19, LLC for property located at 15885 Dam Road.
Documents available for the meeting do not give specifics about the project. City Manager Greg Folsom is expected to give a brief report on the project, input will be taken and, the discussion will be continued to the July 19 meeting.
In other business, the commission will discuss amendments to the city's municipal code relating to signage in response to a June 2015 United States Supreme Court decision that found an Arizona town's sign regulations violated the First Amendment's free speech provision.
Among the proposed changes are those relating to how election and political signage is regulated, limiting window signage size, clarifications on how signage size is calculated and adding a clause which prevents the city from favoring commercial messages over those that are noncommercial.
Also on Tuesday, the commission will consider a use permit request from Cherry McCracken of Rumsey Rascals, a daycare facility located on Rumsey Road.
McCracken is asking to enlarge the small in-home family daycare facility from a maximum of eight children to a large in-home family daycare facility that may care for up to 14 children.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
