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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....
Lakeport City Council hears about groundwater rules, honors Boy Scout troop
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Last week the Lakeport City Council heard a presentation on what's ahead for groundwater management, honored a local Boy Scout troop, and considered changes to a parks grant and city code.
The meeting took place on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at Lakeport City Hall.
Councilwoman Mireya Turner was absent from the meeting, as she was busy working in the county's Emergency Operations Center, which is activated due to the Valley fire.
The meeting began with honors for Boy Scout Troop No. 42, founded in November 1953, which has taken on the responsibility of placing flags throughout the city during important holidays.
Mayor Martin Scheel presented the troop – which in its history has produced 54 Eagle Scouts – with a certificate of achievement to thank members.
Scheel said troop members place the flags on federal holidays – President's Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day – on Main Street.
Brent Hinchcliff, the troop's senior patrol leader and one of its Eagle Scouts, came forward to receive the proclamation along with the rest of the troop.
“Our Boy Scout troop, as you can see, has had a wonderful time in Lake County, and it's all thanks to all of the adults that make it possible,” Hinchcliff said, adding that the adults donate their time to take them on outings, and help them with finances.
He also thanked his fellow Scouts “for their dedication to the community and each other.”
The meeting featured a presentation from Lake County Department of Public Works Director Scott De Leon on the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which requires the creation of a groundwater sustainability plan.
The act requires local management of groundwater to sustainable levels without causing “undesirable results,” De Leon said. He said the county is prepared to be the lead agency on the effort.
Lake County has 13 recognized groundwater basins, De Leon said, two of which are considered “medium priority” based on population and projected growth; water use; degree of groundwater reliance as the primary source of water; and any documented impacts.
He showed well monitoring information from the Big Valley basin, where the county Department of Water Resources monitors 46 of the wells on a monthly basis, and the rest of them twice annually.
De Leon shows a hydrograph of water elevations in Big Valley going back to 1966. The graphs showed that the highs and lows in the basin have become less pronounced over the last several decades.
“We have trended using less water out of this particular well,” he said.
Though the data he showed was from just one well, he said it reflected the basin's trends. “We're seeing less water being used in the basin,” he said, which largely is due to changes in agriculture. In particular, that region has lost most of its pears, which were flood irrigated.
The basin tends to recharge; it even did so after the severe drought in the late 1970s. “The basin is recharging and it's sustainable. It's not declining,” De Leon said.
In the Scotts Valley basin, De Leon said there are fewer wells and more pronounced highs and lows. “They use a lot more water in that basin.”
Important dates for fulfilling the state law include adopting regulations for basin boundary adjustments by Jan. 31, 2016; adopting regulations for evaluating the adequacy of groundwater sustainability agencies and plans by June 1, 2016; formation by a local agency of a groundwater sustainability agency by June 30, 2017; development of a groundwater sustainability plan for basins in critical overdraft by Jan. 31, 2020; and development of such a plan for basins not in critical overdraft by Jan. 31, 2022.
He said Lakeport is in the Scotts Valley basin designation, and so the city will have a seat at the table in that groundwater sustainability agency, the structure and governance of which has yet to be determined.
De Leon said the state will provide assistance through consultation to facilitate the formation of the groundwater sustainability agencies, with funding available for creating the plans.
The county is participating in a working group through the California State Association of Counties and Rural County Representatives of California to create draft guidelines and regulations, he said.
“That's where we are. We've got a little bit of time. We're waiting to see what the rules and regulations are,” De Leon said, adding they're waiting to see the first agency throw out a plan to find out how many people sue them.
Councilman Kenny Parlet said it seemed like tackling the groundwater issue was long overdue. He said it was brought on by several continuous years of drought, and asked if De Leon thought it was something that everyone should have been thinking of years ago.
“For as progressive as California is in many other realms, we're one of the last states in the nation that actually has a program like this,” De Leon said. “We're way behind the eight ball on this.”
Due to the new rules and requirements for dealing with water rights, he raised the issue again of litigation. “It's probably going to get messy.”
Solid waste rates to rise 1 percent, city code updated
In other business, the council held a public hearing for a 1-percent rate increase in solid waste costs to cover the city taking over the commercial billing services in its universal garbage collection contract with Lakeport Disposal. The city received only three written protests and would have needed 1,215 to stop the increase.
The council also approved City Manager Margaret Silveira's proposal to change a housing-related parks grant from an irrigation pipeline project for Westside Community Park to a new bathroom at the Fifth Street boat ramp.
Silveira said Lakeport was awarded the $80,820 by the California Department of Housing and Community Development based on the city's amount of affordable house.
In studying the pipeline project, she said city staff discovered “substantial issues” with the existing pipeline they had hoped to use. “There's quite a bit of pipeline that is missing.”
The city's water plant also would have to be turned off when using the irrigation line. “It's just much more complicated than we anticipated,” Silveira said.
She said the state is willing to let the city change the project, thus the move to the new bathroom. She said the city has received numerous complaints from the public over the current bathroom facility there.
Community Development Director Kevin Ingram received the council's unanimous approval on some “general cleanup” matters in the Lakeport Municipal Code relating to expedited permitting procedures for small residential rooftop solar systems, imposing additional licensing fees on fortunetellers, and allowing for the issuance of special parking permits for residential units in the central business district that don't have access to on-site parking.
The matter regarding additional license fees for fortunetellers came up, Ingram said, because the city was approached by a man who wanted to open a fortunetelling business.
The city code from 1959 put a punitive restriction on fortunetelling, which Ingram said constitutes protected speech and therefore can't incur extra costs. His proposed changes were a “quick fix” to the code, he said.
Regarding the special parking permits in the business district, Ingram said the city wants to encourage a mixed use of residential and commercial to promote a healthier downtown. He said the permits are mostly sought in the 100 block of Main Street.
He said he, Silveira and Police Chief Brad Rasmussen reviewed the request, and concluded that less than five permits likely were to be offered in that area. The code changes would allow Rasmussen to give qualifying residents such permits on an annual basis. They would be prevented from parking in front of commercial buildings or establishments.
Of the fortuneteller code change, Scheel quipped, “I wonder if they saw this coming in 1959.”
Each of the code changes were approved unanimously.
In other news, as part of meeting the technical requirements for US Department of Agriculture funding for the city's new police station on Main Street, Finance Director Dan Buffalo took to the council the first reading of a proposed ordinance to create a Lakeport industrial authority. A public hearing on the item will be held on Oct. 6.
Buffalo also received the council's approval on a resolution authorizing him and Silveira to work with a financing team to pursue an option to collateralize certain city assets – including Lakeport City Hall – in order to seek a loan to restructure the city's unfunded pension liabilities through CalPERS.
He said they are seeking a $3.1 million bond issue to pay down half of the liabilities, which came from CalPERS' losses in the market over the last several years.
“The numbers we see are encouraging,” he said, noting they are still negotiating options.
In addition to City Hall, Buffalo said administrative staffers are looking at the remaining asset pool to see what other properties would be appropriate to use for the plan.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Clearlake City Council decides on policy resolutions for state conference
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Councilman Russ Perdock will represent the city of Clearlake at the League of California Cities' annual conference, to be held Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in San Jose.
Perdock gained the consensus of the council as to how the city will vote in regard to four policy resolutions to be considered during the business meeting, the result of which will determine the league's stance on the issues in the coming year.
The resolutions relate to issues of statewide importance that have a direct bearing on municipal affairs and are of broad municipal interest, according to City Clerk Melissa Swanson.
The city will support three of the four proposed resolutions, including:
– A resolution recommended by the Housing, Community and Economic Development Policy Committee calling for the governor and legislature to work with the League of California Cities and others to explore options to address over concentration of alcohol and drug abuse recovery and treatment facilities in residential neighborhoods.
The resolution also calls for efforts to avoid the creation of institutional settings when multiple facilities are concentrated in a single location, while also reducing noise, congestion and other concerns often raised by residents in residential neighborhoods and to determine the appropriate balance between not-for-profit (including county) facilities and for-profit facilities in residential neighborhoods.
– A resolution recommended by the Housing, Community and Economic Development Policy Committee and Revenue and Taxation Policy Committee in support of State Bill 593 (Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg), which would bolster local efforts to regulate and collect transient occupancy taxes from the temporary rental of residential houses, condominiums, rooms and apartments for tourist and transient use.
The resolution states the League of California Cities supports the bill because it recognizes and preserves local flexibility to address the temporary rental of residential units in a manner that best fits with the unique issues and conditions found in each local jurisdiction.
– A resolution recommended by the Environmental Quality Policy Committee calling upon the governor and the legislature to work with the League of California Cities to enact legislation or otherwise compel Southern California Edison to create a program to automatically provide direct compensation to its customers affected by a prolonged electrical power outage under specified circumstances, as there is no mechanism in place at this time for Southern California Edison to do so.
Swanson said while this issue does not affect the city of Clearlake directly, voting in favor of the resolution will show solidarity with League colleagues to enact legislation to assist constituents.
The city will not be support a resolution recommended by the Administrative Services Policy Committee proposing an amendment to League bylaws concerning presidential board appointments.
It seeks to allow the immediate past president to fill an unexpected vacancy in the office of president for the remainder of the vacating president's term.
It was the position of the council that the current bylaws calling for the placement of the first and second vice presidents, in succession, better serves the structure of the organization.
Email reporter Denise Rockenstein at
Board of Equalization Member Fiona Ma tours wildfire damage in Lake County
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Monday California State Board of Equalization Member Fiona Ma visited the massive destruction left behind in the wake of the Valley fire.
Accompanied by Supervisor Rob Brown, Ma visited the areas of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake.
In the midst of the devastation, she said she was heartened to see state agencies, nonprofit organizations, companies, law enforcement, elected leaders and volunteers throughout California joining together to grant relief and assistance to victims of wildfires.
"It is devastating to see the loss endured by so many families affected by the Valley fire," Ma said. "It is heartbreaking to know that entire communities have been reduced to ashes and though the people affected may rebuild, many personal items and memories are now completely lost."
The State Board of Equalization is participating in the Local Assistance Center located in Middletown, and staff will be on hand to offer assistance including: tax extension to file returns, relief from penalties and/ or interest from some taxes and fees, and replacing copies of records lost to damage for business owners and fee-payers.
“As a locally elected member of the Board of Supervisors, it is very important for me and my community to know that we have the support of state representatives like Board Member Ma,” stated Supervisor Rob Brown. “It is encouraging to have people like her come and show us support during this very difficult time.”
Also, seeking to give relief for taxpayers, the Franchise Tax Board will be offering a disaster loss deduction where victims can claim a disaster loss in either the year the disaster occurred or in the prior tax year.
A new law automatically allows California disaster loss treatment for losses sustained in areas the governor declares a “state of emergency.”
Gov. Brown made these state of emergency declarations on Sept. 11 for Amador and Calaveras counties, and Sept. 13 for Lake and Napa counties.
The Valley Fire/Lake County Local Assistance Center is located at the Middletown Senior Center, 21256 Washington St. It's open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. until further notice.
State agencies participating at the LAC:
· Department of Motor Vehicles;
· Department of Insurance;
· Vital Records;
· Employment Development Department;
· Contractor’s State License Board;
· Social Security;
· Board of Equalization;
· Franchise Tax Board.
To donate and directly assist victims who lost their homes in Lake County, visit http://www.lakecountylac.com/donate-now.html .
To view a list of donation centers in Lake County, please visit: http://www.lovelakecounty.org/ .
To sign up to volunteer and aid victims of the Valley fire, you can register online with North Coast Opportunities at www.ncoinc.org . Click on “Lake County Valley Fire Volunteer” under “Most Recent Opportunities” and then hit “Apply.” You will be contacted when a volunteer need arises that meets your availability and skillset.
Supervisors to discuss agreement for housing juvenile wards, continuation of health emergency
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Board of Supervisors will discuss an agreement with Mendocino County for housing juvenile wards who are in custody, and consider continuing a health emergency and responding to the latest grand jury report.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8 and online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Boards/Board_of_Supervisors/calendar.htm . Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.
In an untimed item, the board will consider approving an agreement between the county of Lake and county of Mendocino to provide housing and associated services for juvenile wards.
Chief Probation Officer Rob Howe told the board in a previous meeting that the proposal would provide better services to the juveniles at a reduced cost to the county.
In other business, the board will consider continuing the proclamation of a local health emergency by the Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait and discuss the response to the 2014-15 Grand Jury report.
The board also will consider a resolution authorizing the sale of certain county owned properties located on Mt. Konocti to the Bureau of Land Management.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
7.1: Adopt proclamation designating the month of October 2015 as Big Read Month in Lake County.
7.2: Adopt proclamation designating the month of October 2015 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Lake County.
7.3: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Mendocino and Lake Counties, for FY 2015/16 support of services provided to Lake County residents, in the amount of $5,000, and authorize the chair to sign.
7.4: Adopt resolution approving an amendment to the county of Lake Flexible Benefits Plan Document, increasing the maximum Flexible Spending Account (FSA) annual contribution limit by $50 and authorizing a limited purpose FSA.
7.5: Approve memorandum of understanding between the county of Lake and the Upper Lake Union High School District for the period of July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016. Upper Lake Union High School will pay Lake County $51,500 per fiscal year.
7.6: Approval of amendment one to the agreement with Nacht & Lewis for architectural/engineering services for the Hill Road Correctional Facility Expansion Project, an increase of $13,148 for a contract maximum of $2,037,455 and authorization for the chair to sign.
7.7: Approval of an advanced step hiring for sheriff's applicant Cassandra Kennedy, at step 4, Communications Operator I.
7.8: Approve lease agreement between county of Lake and Albert Moretti and Theresa Moretti for premises located at 525 N. Main St., Lakeport, for the period from Aug. 1, 2015, ending Feb. 14, 2016, for the monthly amount of $8,122, and authorize the chair to sign.
TIMED ITEMS
8.2, 9:10 a.m.: Presentation of (a) proclamation designating the month of October 2015, as Big Read Month in Lake County; (b) proclamation designating the month of October 2015 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Lake County.
8.3, 9:15 a.m.: Consideration of proclamation in support of LakeCountyFilm.com.
8.4, 9:30 a.m.: (a) Update of Community Development Department activities, work volume and project priorities; and (b) request for board direction regarding code enforcement cost recovery options.
8.5, 10 a.m.: FY 2014/15 Annual Report from Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Mendocino and Lake Counties' Executive Director Sheryn Hildebrand.
UNTIMED ITEMS
9.2: Consideration of the following appointments: Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee.
9.3: Consideration of resolution authorizing the sale of certain county owned properties located on Mt. Konocti.
9.4: Consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and Community Development Services to prepare a grant application for a Community Development Block Grant over the counter application.
9.5: Consideration of response to FY 2014-15 Grand Jury report.
9.6: Consideration of resolution amending Resolution no. 2015-119 to amend the FY 2015-16 Adopted Budget by adjusting fund balance carry over and to establish Budget Unit 1920 in Fund 110 and estimate revenues and appropriate money in said fund.
9.7: Consideration of amendment No. 4 to the memorandum of understanding by and between the county of Lake and the Lake County Employees’ Association, Units 3, 4 and 5 for the period from July 1, 2014 through Dec. 31, 2016.
9.8: Consideration of resolution to adopt memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Deputy District Attorney's Association, and the county of Lake for the term of July 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2015.
9.9: Consideration of resolution establishing salaries and benefits for employees assigned to Confidential Unit "A" for the Period from July 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2016.
9.10: Consideration of resolution establishing salaries and benefits for employees assigned to Confidential Unit "B" for the period from July 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2016.
9.11: Consideration of resolution establishing salaries and benefits for employees assigned to the management unit for the period from July 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2016.
9.12: Consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and county of Mendocino to provide housing and associated services for juvenile wards.
9.13: Consideration of revisions to previously approved paid emergency leave during the Valley fire.
9.14: Consideration of continuing the proclamation of a local health emergency by the Lake County health officer.
Email Elizabeth Larson at