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Lakeport Police logs: Saturday, Jan. 10
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026
00:00 EXTRA PATROL 2601100001
Occurred at Lake County Law Library on 3D....
Clearlake City Council to consider police equipment purchase and honor employees
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will take up a request for much-needed police equipment, and honor new and existing employees.
The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 10, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The meeting will begin with a presentation by Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli of the agency's annual report, new officers, the new traffic enforcement officer, and the employees and volunteer of the year.
The council also will present a proclamation honoring the Lower Lake High School cheerleading team for its first place national championship win in Varsity Co-Ed Division 1 at the Jamz National Cheerleading and Dance Competition in Las Vegas on Feb. 29.
One of the main items of business on Thursday will be a request from the Clearlake Police Department to approve a contract for a new communications radio processor, hardware and installation.
Det. Sgt. Martin Snyder's report to the council included an estimate from Advanced Communication Systems of Lakeport for the equipment totaling $46,897.32.
At its midyear budget review during the Feb. 4 meeting, the city council approved funding to replace a dispatch/communication panel and accompanying hardware that is well past its 20-year lifespan.
Snyder's report explains that the equipment is “a vital function of the inner workings of the Clearlake Police Department,” allowing dispatchers and officers to communicate, and also allowing dispatchers to open various locations in the department and complete other functions from a central location.
If the equipment were to fail, it would create an emergency situation for the department, according to the report.
Staff is requesting the council exempt the purchase from the competitive bidding process due to the immediacy of the need.
Also on Thursday, the council will honor city employees who have served five, 10, 15 and 20 years.
In other business, the council will hold a public hearing to confirm assessments totaling $90,000 in administrative penalties for failure to abate public nuisances, and will consider adopting a policy for appointing boards, commissions and committee members.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers; minutes of the regular Feb. 25 Clearlake City Council meeting; minutes of the Feb. 16 Lake County Vector Control District meeting; and consideration of the second reading and adoption of Ordinance No. 184-2016 amending Chapter V, Section 10.9 “Skate Park Rules and Regulations” of the “Police Code” of the Clearlake Municipal Code.
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MATH to get update on wellness project, park status
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall is set to get the latest news on a countywide wellness project and hear about the condition of a south county park damaged in the Valley fire.
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at the Middletown Community Center, 21256 Washington St.
Meetings are open to the community.
On the Thursday agenda is an update on the Lake County Wellness Roadmap from Susan Jen.
Also on Thursday, Lars Ewing, interim director of Lake County Public services, and Greg Giusti, the University of California Cooperative Extension's wildland and forestry advisor for Lake and Mendocino counties, will give an update on the status of the county's Trailside Park.
The 107-acre park was the only county park facility burned in the Valley fire, but it sustained extensive fire damage, according to county officials.
The MATH Board includes Chair Fletcher Thornton, Vice Chair Claude Brown, Secretary Margaret Greenley, and members Linda Diehl-Darms and Gregg Van Oss.
MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
Meetings are subject to videotaping.
For more information email
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Council honors retiring planning commissioner; approves rezone, general plan amendments
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday honored a longtime city planning commissioner on his retirement, approved zoning changes and general plan amendment requests, and gave the OK to an updated environmental document for the Downtown Improvement Project.
Mayor Marc Spillman presented Ross Kauper with a proclamation thanking him for his 13 years of service on the Lakeport Planning Commission. Kauper announced his retirement late last year, and last month the council appointed George Spurr to succeed him.
Kauper said he expects to stay involved in the community and bring forward a number of his own projects.
He said he appreciated the time he had spent with city staff and the council, as well as other planning commissioners.
“It's just time for me to move on,” he said, adding that he is planning some vacation time.
One of the meeting's main discussions was part of a public hearing to approve Ray Somberg's request for a general plan amendment and zone changes for properties at 1930 S. Main St. and 10 Queen Ann Way, which previously were part of the “Victorian Village” development.
In 2003 the city had approved a 95-lost condominium development there, but only the first 14-lot phase was developed, according to city documents.
Somberg acquired the property early last year through a bank foreclosure action, and does not have a desire to finish the development as originally proposed, according to city Community Development Director Kevin Ingram.
Ingram said the condominium development was approved “under a completely different economic reality,” and in the current economic climate a development at that density and location no longer makes sense.
He said the location also lacks access and services, and its proximity to a flood plain also doesn't work for the proposed high density. City staff worked with Somberg to reconfigure the properties for better access.
Somberg's plans call for creating four separate parcels at the location, three of them for single-family homes and the one parcel on S. Main Street being changed from resort residential to major retail.
He told the council that he intends to build a home for himself and his brother on the parcels at the back of the property.
When he purchased the property in 2015 – including five lots in the homeowners association – he said there were problems in the subdivision, including that the city was about to shut off the water service for lack of payment and the association hadn't collected dues in seven years.
Since then, he hired attorney Mike Ewing to help put the homeowners association back together and John Tomkins to take over the accounting. The association is now back up and running, has collected dues and has $9,000 in reserve, Somberg said.
One home was built in the development last year, and three more are expected to be built this year, he said.
Somberg said he's been building projects for 42 years and hasn't yet built himself a home. His projects have included more than one million square feet of commercial space in the Bay Area.
He said he was excited about becoming a part of the Lakeport community, and added that city planning staff has been very helpful.
“This is a great use of the property,” said Mayor Pro Tem Stacey Mattina.
Mattina said the city was lucky that Somberg came in and cleaned up the mess with the subdivisions. Ingram said it was one of the best situations the city could have hoped for.
Mitigations for the project require that the city develop an agreement with local tribes that includes a tribal monitor who will be on site during excavation for new utility connections that will involve the disturbance of areas not previously excavated as part of past development activities.
Somberg said he was concerned that tribes could hold up development on the property.
He said that AutoZone, which is proposing to build a new store on Industrial Avenue, wouldn't sign a 150-page agreement submitted by the tribe, adding that the document is one-sided and didn't represent cooperation between the tribe and the developer.
Ingram noted during the discussion that he didn't feel the tribe was intending to stop development in its proposed agreement.
The council unanimously approved Somberg's requests.
In other business, the council unanimously approved an amended mitigated negative declaration for the city of Lakeport's Downtown Improvement Project. The updated environmental documents were necessary, in part, because of the proposal to have work take place at night.
The nighttime construction schedule is a way to avoid shutdowns of Main Street businesses and help the project move forward quickly, Ingram said.
“We feel very comfortable moving forward. We feel this is a great solution,” he said.
Bids for the project are due March 24, with staff expecting to have the proposal for the contract award before the council on April 5, Ingram said.
The council also approved a professional services agreement with Polestar Computers IT services.
The Lakeport Main Street Association's proposal for a St. Patrick's Day parade on March 12 was pulled from the agenda, as it has been canceled.
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Former Clearlake mayor seriously injured in motorcycle crash
This story has been updated with a condition status.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The former mayor of Clearlake was injured Sunday in a motorcycle wreck on Highway 16.
Jeri Spittler, 61, of Hidden Valley Lake sustained major injuries in the solo motorcycle crash, which occurred at 3:40 p.m. Sunday on Highway 16, just over a mile west of the Colusa/Yolo County line, according to the California Highway Patrol's Williams Area office.
Spittler was driving a 2005 Harley Davidson Fatboy motorcycle westbound on Highway 16 at approximately 60 miles per hour, and slowed to 45 miles per hour as she entered a curve in the roadway, the CHP said.
The CHP said Spittler failed to negotiate the roadway curve and the motorcycle went onto the highway's shoulder, where it overturned.
Spittler was thrown from the bike, and both she and the bike came to rest on the shoulder, according to the CHP report.
She suffered a broken right arm and nose, a laceration to her head and a concussion, the CHP said.
The CHP said Enloe Flight Care transported Spittler to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where she was reported to be in the intensive care unit.
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Vanessa deGier told Lake County News that Spittler was listed in fair condition.
Spittler's daughter Marilyn Thomas has set up a GoFundMe account to help the family at https://www.gofundme.com/p5rutkrj . As of late Tuesday night, the account had raised $1,990 of its $20,000 goal.
Spittler served on the Clearlake City Council from 2010 to 2014, and also made a 2014 bid for the District 2 supervisorial seat against incumbent Jeff Smith, who won reelection.
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