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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 amends 2015-16 budget, approves equipment reserve proposal
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council approved the city finance director's proposal to amend key areas of the 2015-16 budget and set aside funds to plan for needed equipment replacement – from police cars to Public Works equipment.
Finance Director Chris Becnel took the midyear budget review to the council at a special meeting Thursday night at Clearlake City Hall.
Becnel's presentation took up the second half of a meeting that began with City Manager Greg Folsom's progress report on a list of 36 city council goals that his staff has been working on over the past six months.
A rundown of the first half of the meeting and those goals can be found here: www.bit.ly/1Rcvn6b .
In explaining the budget's composition, Becnel noted that 72 percent of the city's budget – not including capital projects – is spent on personnel.
“A lot of the way that you accomplish your goals is through the proper application of the work that the personnel do in the city,” he said, explaining that the personnel positions should reflect the city's goals.
“I would also like to remind you that the staffing is extremely tight and at or very near capacity,” he said.
Becnel said the tendency is to assume there is an unlimited ability of ability of staff to do things, but there isn't. He urged the council to keep in mind that there are only so many people there to do the work. Many of the staffers also have multiple tasks and allowing them to spread into other areas can allow inefficiencies.
The budget includes about 50 employees, plus the five council members, said Becnel.
The Clearlake Police Department is the city's largest department, with 30.5 positions, of which 22.5 are sworn officers, five dispatch and three nonsworn. The department is in the process of hiring an additional officer now, he said.
According to Folsom's report earlier in the meeting, the police department had 21,508 incidents, 3,543 reports, 2,288 traffic enforcement stops, 1,989 arrests and 1,311 citations in a year's time.
Becnel said Code Enforcement staff is down by one person and Public Works is fully staffed. In administration, one of the requests from staff was to add a full-time engineer, as the city has been contracting for that position, and it creates inefficiencies.
Referring back to Folsom's presentation and the impressive number of tasks the staff has completed or has in process, Becnel said, “That ain't many people to do all of that work.”
Becnel said his staff tabulation didn't include the part-time state drought workers that the state is paying to help the city. They began with seven in Public Works – and are now at five – with two in the administration.
“They are making a significant impact in the workload of the city,” said Becnel, noting that additional help ends in May.
Folsom said the city was allowed a six-month allocation for the state drought workers.
Becnel then went over the city's cash flow, noting total revenues are up about $51,000, with expenses up about $48,000, through Dec. 31.
He said they had about $95,000 in unbudgeted revenues, and transient occupancy tax – or bed tax – now exceeds all of the budgeted year plus $6,000.
Building permit fees also are up $10,000, with more construction now occurring in Clearlake, he said. Senior center rental fees also are up.
Altogether, that nets out to another $77,000, in addition to the $95,000 unanticipated revenue he previously mentioned.
He went over the spending side and the significant budget adjustments staff requested in five specific areas: animal control, $34,268; community development, $102,000; legal fees, $83,075; engineering, $39,067; and the Clearlake Police Department Nixle service, $6,500.
Regarding animal control, he said the city had to incur some short-term costs while developing long-term solutions including making modifications to the temporary facility at the Public Works yard to accommodate the animals.
Improvements included spending $13,000 for kennels – which they needed to buy for the new facility anyway – from bond funds and hiring a temporary kennel technician, he said.
Becnel said the city administration also wanted a full-time office assistant job, at about $20,000 for the last six months, in order to allow the city's animal control officer to spend more time on the streets and less time doing paperwork, licensing and other responsibilities.
He said the costs were temporary, and based on estimates, that the cost to the city for animal control in the future is estimated to be “significantly higher.”
In community development, the city wanted to add $30,000 to cover planning assistance from consultant Gary Price, plus $72,000 for Price's work on the general plan, with those funds to come from bond money. Becnel said that $102,000 is to be added to the $75,000 the city originally budgeted.
Becnel said the additional $83,075 in legal fees includes a $9,075 adjustment to the city's contract with the Jones & Mayer law firm, for whom City Attorney Ryan Jones works, along with $15,000 in miscellaneous litigation costs.
He also added a litigation reserve of $59,000 – not with Jones & Mayer – that pertains to a case discussed in closed session. Becnel said that $59,000 may not be spent at all, but he wanted to have it ready in case it proves necessary.
The city's adopted budget for engineering services was $65,329. Of that amount, $12,280 had not been spent. Becnel said the city wants to make a net adjustment of $39,067 – for a total adjusted budget of $104,396 – to add a city engineer/superintendent position.
As the city sees more development, a city engineer will be critical, he said.
Moving to the $6,500 police department adjustment for the Nixle public notification service, Becnel said the city has no comprehensive way of notifying the public about public safety issues, and Nixle – also used by the sheriff's office and the Lakeport Police Department – is meant to address that issue.
Becnel then looked at the police department's spending rate, noting that the agency's overall budget for this fiscal year is about $3.6 million.
He said that in the last budget year, when the department still had numerous vacancies, a large amount of overtime was incurred. When creating the current fiscal year budget, the department's overtime budget was similarly planned to be high because administrative staff didn't know if those positions were going to be filled or not.
However, with that overtime now down, in the first half of the current fiscal year the police department underspent its budget by about $175,000, Becnel said. If they continue at that rate, there could be an end-of-year savings of $350,000.
Going over the net adjustment reconciliation – which includes the unbudgeted revenue and unspent funds, Becnel said at the year's end the city budget would be underspent in approved revenues $523,501.
Less the $264,910 budget adjustments requested for the five key budget areas, that leaves $258,591 in net unallocated funds, he said.
Becnel said that as he looked at the budget over the last few years, “It became painfully obvious to me that the way the city goes about funding equipment purchases is on a very ad hoc basis.”
He sat down with city administrative staff to plan for how much money to set aside on an annual basis to be able to acquire the equipment that they need consistently without creating havoc with the budget.
The council has set up a number of reserves, he said. For the last few years, the city has been funding the revenue reserve – also called the “reserve for economic uncertainty” – and with the audit finished for last year and the $50,000 he plans to put into it this year, at the end of this year the city will have a $307,000 balance in that fund, according to Becnel.
“You all were hoping to get to 5 percent. Well, that's 6.77 percent,” he said.
He said he then looked at other ways to stabilize the city's financial situation, so he began to look at the economic replacement reserve.
He recommended putting aside $212,000 aside to cover the police department equipment expense.
Becnel said he sat down with acting Chief Tim Celli and his sergeants to look at the police department's needs over a 10-year time period. Key equipment includes 22 police vehicles, Tasers, body cameras, a dispatch communication panel and computers.
He said that it would require putting aside about $212,000 annually – or about 5 percent of the department budget – to cover the needed equipment on an ongoing basis.
One of the police department's critical issues currently is the need for upgraded communications panels, which is the interface between the calls from the community and the officers on the street, Becnel said.
He said one of the department's two panels is dead, and they are now using a panel that Celli said is at least 20 years old.
“I suspect it's way beyond its useful life,” said Becnel, adding the police department would be in trouble if it failed.
The panels can be replaced for $47,000, Becnel said.
If the council chose to do nothing else, he urged its members to approve the purchase of the new panels. “The consequence of the failure is extremely serious,” he said.
The next department with expensive equipment requirements is Public Works. Becnel said he worked with Public Works Director Doug Herren on what he would need over the next 10 years. That number comes to about $65,000 annually.
He said Public Works needs a few trucks and a utility dump trailer this year, at a cost of $30,000 each for the trucks and $10,000 for the trailer. “The trucks we have are fairly old,” Herren said.
The city's road tax funds – which now total about $580,000 – will help cover those purchases, Becnel said. He said those road funds are accumulated to help cover road projects, which are expensive and can quickly exhaust that money.
Becnel recommended an estimated annual equipment reserve of $293,100 to cover all departments. That total number includes the $212,000 recommended for police reserves along with $65,500 for Public Works, $5,000 for administration and $10,000 for code enforcement.
“We will spend some of that this year,” he said, with about $146,000 of the $212,000 to be spent this year for the new police communications panels, two new patrol cars and some Tasers. The carryover would be added to next year's reserve.
“The benefit is, we can plan out the expenditures, we know when they're coming,” he said.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton agreed that Public Works needed new vehicles, but wanted to see the allocation increased, as she was concerned it wasn't enough.
In the discussion with the council regarding his equipment, Herren said, “The last equipment we bought new was in 2002.”
The older vehicles were surplus from Pacific Gas and Electric and other local agencies. Herren said he's tired of spending money to fix them.
Herren agreed with Overton to ask for $10,000 additionally for each truck, bringing the total cost to $40,000 each. When asked about the purchasing process, Herren said he started looking at vehicles in November and was waiting for bids.
“I appreciate that this document and this process gets easier every year,” said Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson.
Fortino Dickson noted that the fiscal situation is improving every year, and she appreciated the staff focus and forward thinking, which is helping the council make both micro and macro decisions as it looks to the future.
She said the budget document also helps the council to strategize for the future and get the most out of its money.
Overton moved to approve the resolution for the budget adjustments – with the increase she proposed for vehicle purchases – with Councilman Bruno Sabatier seconding and the council approving it 5-0.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Ordinances for marijuana cultivation, animal control, camping go to Clearlake City Council
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will consider the final reading of an updated marijuana cultivation ordinance, and updated rules for animal control and camping.
The council will convene at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, following a closed session to discuss an existing case of litigation and a performance evaluation of City Manager Greg Folsom.
On the agenda is the second and final reading of an updated medical marijuana cultivation ordinance.
Key items in the proposed ordinance include a six-plant limit on parcels of all sizes; prohibitions on areas in the city where the plant can be grown – with limits with regard to distance from parks, schools, daycare centers, water bodies, and certain scenic and beautification zones; and the establishment of a permitting system.
The council held a second reading at its Jan. 28 meeting, but due to revisions, including the need to correct the setback distance – it was 10 feet but had been mistakenly changed by staff to 5 feet – and an added requirement to have all outstanding fines paid before issuance of new cultivation permits, City Attorney Ryan Jones said the updated version of the document would need to undergo a second reading.
In other business on Thursday, Folsom will present to the council an ordinance prohibiting camping on private property, which is meant to address the problem of homeless encampments on private properties throughout the city.
The proposed ordinance would only make it legal to camp on private property in certain circumstances, including in a yard with the property owner's consent; on a private property that is properly zoned and permitted as a campground and has adequate restroom facilities and garbage removal; and with a temporary permit in connection with a special event permit, Folsom reported.
Folsom also will take to the council an ordinance regarding animal control. With the city resuming control of full animal control services, Folsom said the city's existing animal control ordinance lacks the ability to adopt out animals to either individuals or rescue operations.
“Now that the City of Clearlake has resumed full control of the Animal Control function, the ability to adopt out as many animals as possible is paramount,” said Folsom in his report.
“This ordinance clarifies and updates the regulations regarding impounds, redemptions, and adoptions,” he said.
The meeting also will include consideration of a new sign that names the softball field at Redbud Park in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Dale Valentine, a presentation marking Black History Month, and consideration of an ad hoc committee to review and recommend a committee and commission appointment policy.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers; minutes of the Jan. 28 council meeting; minutes of the Dec. 9 Lake County Vector Control District meeting; and consideration of Resolution No. 2016-07 authorizing submittal of application for payment programs and related authorizations.
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Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee to look at city economic strategic plan
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet this week for a working session on the city's economic strategic plan.
The meeting will take place from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
Chair Wilda Shock said LEDAC will continue the working review of the numerous studies and reports identified by the Lakeport Community Development Department as being relevant to setting the economic development strategy and priorities for the city of Lakeport.
In particular, LEDAC will have a working session on the Lakeport Economic Development Strategic Plan, according to the agenda.
There also will be time for citizen input.
LEDAC advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members do not have to be Lakeport residents.
In addition to Shock, the membership includes Vice Chair Christine Hutt, Secretary Rebecca Southwick, and members Bill Eaton, Melissa Fulton, Pam Harpster, Chris King, George Linn, Paula Pepper-Duggan, Taira St. John and Panette Talia.
Lakeport City Community Development Director Kevin Ingram and City Manager Margaret Silveira serve as ex-officio committee members.
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Clearlake City Council reviews staff progress on city goals
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council received an update this week on the progress being made on an extensive set of goals meant to improve city operations and quality of life for residents.
City Manager Greg Folsom presented the council with the midyear progress report on the goals during a special meeting held Thursday evening.
“It's my opportunity to brag about what my staff has been doing for the last six months,” he said.
Folsom reviewed with the council and staff a list of 36 goals in key areas such as economic development, finance, code enforcement and public safety, plus other priority projects.
The goals in the economic development category include the Lakeshore Drive plan implementation; the Highway 53 corridor/shopping center; the complete general plan update and environmental impact report; master plans for Highlands, Austin and Redbud parks; development of impact fees; establishing planning/economic development staff; and continuing to support health city programs and projects.
Those items are largely in process or completed, with the exception of the zoning code and design guidelines and the zoning map, and development of impact fees, which Folsom said are contingent upon the completion of the general plan update.
Folsom is also having Finance Director Chris Becnel – who has experience with the medical field – attend meetings related to healthy city programs in his stead due to time constraints.
Folsom said the city is working to get everything in order to demolish the building across from City Hall on the former Austin Resort property, noting that Public Works Director Doug Herren has secured permission to burn down the dilapidated building.
“I'm going to be very proud to have that thing out of there,” said Folsom.
“I think we have consensus on that,” replied Mayor Russell Perdock.
Regarding the former airport property on Highway 53 which the city has marketed as a shopping center location, Folsom said the city has a tentative purchase and sale agreement with a developer.
Because the property had been owned by the former redevelopment agency, the city has to follow a number of steps to finalize a sale, including taking it to the successor agency oversight board, which unanimously approved that tentative agreement, Folsom said.
Next, the city needs to meet with the boards of taxing entities – such as schools and fire districts – to secure their approval. Once that's done, Folsom said he will return to the council in open session to ask for approval of the agreement. The final step will be asking for confirming votes from the taxing entity boards in open sessions.
Folsom said consultant Gary Price is working on the general plan update and its environmental impact report, which has been reviewed during two planning commission meetings. It's on track to come before the council in August for a public hearing.
As to the park master plans, the Highlands plan is expected to come before the council in a few weeks for approval, the council just accepted the contract for the Austin Park plan and Folsom is holding off on the Redbud Park plan until he can get a better idea of the area of study.
Regarding increasing planning and community development staff, Folsom said Price has been hired to assist, but Folsom himself currently also has the responsibility to oversee community development, as the city has no money to hire a director for that function separately.
Under finance goals, the council wanted to continue to develop the budget format, review grant opportunities and foundation funding, have a 10-year capital improvement plan, update the fee schedule and determine cost recovery opportunities, and conduct an audit of the transient occupancy tax income, according to Folsom's report.
Folsom said the capital improvement program is awaiting the general plan completion, and the TOT audit plans is on hold until it can be justified, as it will cost several thousand dollars.
He said all priority goals under code enforcement are in process: health and safety, abandoned vehicles, animal control, weed abatement, refuse collection, park signage, and business and residential address visibility.
The city is working on the health and safety priority, with a focus on code enforcement. He said the city also has a small amount budgeted for significant problems with abandoned vehicles.
A key item in code enforcement is animal control. Folsom said the city has made improvements to its interim kennel facility, added additional staffing and is in negotiations to purchase property to build a new animal control facility.
He said staff is working with Clearlake Waste Solutions to craft a universal waste collection ordinance to bring to the council this spring.
Public safety's key priorities are an emergency preparedness plan update, law enforcement enhancement, phone system, citation authority and administrative penalties and road maintenance, all of which also are in process, Folsom said.
The city's law enforcement resources are actively being improved, with sworn officers nearly at full staff, community policing enacted, a dedicated traffic officer appointed, and appointments of a homeless liaison and marijuana specialist, according to Folsom. A dispatch console upgrade was included in the midyear budget amendment that the council would approve later in the meeting.
Public Works has been active in fulfilling the road maintenance goals under the public safety category, Folsom reported.
Projects completed included replacement of 60 feet of drain pipe in Lakeshore Drive and another 60 feet in Meadow Brook Road, replacement of a collapsed culvert in Ogulin Canyon Road, numerous other culverts being fixed and thousands of potholes patched with 93 tons of patch, he said.
Under the catchall “other priority projects” category, Folsom said city staff is working through the municipal code update and rewrite, has had the council chamber sound system replaced and is considering a video system upgrade, completed a shopping cart ordinance, has an ordinance related to noncamping in nondesignated areas to go before the council at its next meeting, is working on the dog park ordinance and reevaluating the ordinance that allows dogs in city parks, has new personnel rules in process, is working on issues related to maintenance districts and senior center operating costs, and will bring to the council later this month a discussion on whether the city treasurer and clerk jobs should be elected or appointed.
City staff likely will wait until the next fiscal year to take on the city strategic plan and needs more direction from the council regarding unfinished projects at the senior center, Folsom said.
Folsom also outlined other significant achievements citywide, including making it through the most devastating fire season in Lake County history with no direct impact on the city.
He said staff went “above and beyond,” working to help the county not just with the Rocky fire but also with the Valley fire, with police and Public Works staff assisting with evacuations and other needs.
“Our entire staff was helpful in one way or another in these fires,” he said.
The city also has passed new ordinances relating to shopping carts, responsible dog ownership, wireless towers and conduct in public parks, with an updated medical marijuana cultivation ordinance to return for a final vote next week, he said.
Folsom said the city is now posting all council agenda and reports on its Web site, www.clearlake.ca.us ; has implemented paperless agenda distribution; installed a projector screen in the council chambers and increased the number of PowerPoint presentations; has updated the council norms and procedures policy; and expanded the employee safety and training program, including identifying and correcting a very serious building exiting issue.
Rental rates at the senior center have been reduced, the SmartGov software update has been implemented, the midyear budget review presented one month earlier than last year and the financial audit came in two months earlier, the city made three first-time homebuyer loans for $40,000 each and one home rehabilitation loan for $5,187, done out-of-area travel advertising and procured additional staffing through grant sources, Folsom said.
Code enforcement has been busy, opening 1,191 new cases and closing 718, he said, with administrative penalties totaling $105,000 and 3,973 marijuana plants abated.
An illegal parking lot demolition at the former Silk's bar was abated, Citizens Caring For Clearlake worked with the city to abate an illegal dump site on 36th Avenue, the city worked with the Konocti Unified School District on the “Mapping the Aves” project and demolished the former chamber building on Golf Avenue, according to Folsom's report.
Folsom said the Clearlake Police Department has been very busy. In a one-year period the department had 21,508 incidents, 3,543 reports, 2,288 traffic enforcement stops, 1,989 arrests and 1,311 citations while starting the year short-staffed in sworn personnel and very short-staffed in dispatch.
The staffing picture has improved for the Clearlake Police Department, with the agency hiring six new officers, including two from Calistoga, Folsom said. In addition, the agency now has two new patrol cars, uses body cameras, and has received grants to fund officers and an evidence room upgrade.
Public Works received a $160,645 remediation grant from CalRecycle to be used to demolish various red-tagged properties, and also received a $5,000 CalRecycle grant that funded the purchase of trash pickers, bags and safety vests, he said.
Priorities going forward
Folsom said as the city looks at the priorities for the second half of 2016, they want to go back to basics.
“I would like to focus on us becoming known as a clean, safe and well-managed city,” he said.
As part of the “clean” aspect of that goal, staff is working on universal garbage ordinance, code enforcement, weed abatement, demolitions and also is going to bring forward on a rental inspection ordinance, he said.
In order to make Clearlake safe, Folsom said the city is finalizing its new marijuana cultivation ordinance, which includes a joint partnership between code enforcement and the police department. The police department is now nearly fully staffed with sworn officers, with an offer made to fill the remaining officer slot.
In order to create a well-managed city, Folsom said they are improving customer service, developing new revenues through franchise fees and marijuana cultivation permits, an updated fee schedule and grants.
Improving roads, building a new animal control facility and improving city parks and city-owned properties also are part of being well managed, he said.
Folsom added that with the city telling people that they need to improve the condition of their properties, it's hypocritical for the city not to do so as well. So it is moving forward on projects that include finishing the new visitor center and making improvements to City Hall.
In order to be more transparent for citizens, the city is going to implement the Nixle alert system, use its Web site and Facebook page more, and institute a city newsletter, Folsom said.
Folsom finished by lauding his staff for all of their work to accomplish the list of goals, with the council giving staff a round of applause.
“Holy cow, the things that you're capable of accomplishing with the minimal amount of resources that we have to allocate to you, it's amazing and I'm in awe of all of you,” Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson said of the review.
Folsom said he wants to do the reviews twice a year in order to let the council see what's being accomplished.
Councilman Bruno Sabatier said the city is doing a lot more with the resources it has been given. “Thank you for pushing and pushing and getting us what we need to make us move forward.”
Perdock challenged his colleagues on the council to come back with an even bigger vision for the city in the upcoming spring goal setting process.
County Supervisor Jeff Smith lauded the council for how it has worked together. “Everybody's done a great job this year,” he said, also thanking Folsom for his leadership and city staff for their efforts.
Chuck Leonard, a retired city councilman, shared those sentiments. “I know this is hard to believe but I'm actually going to agree with Jeff.”
Councilwoman Denise Loustalot thanked the community and noted how everyone is working together.
Perdock said that, moving forward, he wanted to continue the city's momentum.
The council then went on to approve a proposed amendment to the current fiscal year budget that included adjustments in a number of key areas including animal control, community development, legal fees, engineering and the Clearlake Police Department.
Email Elizabeth Larson at