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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....
Verizon continues looking at Lakeport cell phone tower sites; city grants time extension
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Faced with a potential legal challenge on one side and angry neighbors on the other, the Lakeport City Council last week chose to offer Verizon Wireless more time to explore alternate locations for a cell tower the company says is needed to meet coverage needs.
Last Tuesday the Lakeport City Council voted 4-1, with Councilman Marc Spillman the lone dissenting vote, to give Verizon Wireless 90 days to further explore other locations for the tower.
The company has proposed to locate the tower at 1875 N. High St., a site that the council has said it does not support after hearing outcry from neighbors.
But with the possibility that Verizon could file a lawsuit over a denial of its application, the council gave the company another extension – it previously had granted a 60-day delay on the project application – to explore new potential locations.
Those sites include one on the top of the Lake County Courthouse at 255 N. Forbes St. and another on top of the District Attorney's Office, located directly behind the courthouse, although the council did not limit Verizon to looking at those locations alone.
While Verizon officials have stated that they previously explored the courthouse location and found it not feasible, information that came forward after the council meeting from a county official contradicted those statements.
Deputy Public Services Director Jeff Rein told Lake County News that there is no structural issue with the courthouse – the company had stated that as a reason why the building wasn’t an option – and that in his talks with the company, the real issue was one of money, namely, the lease cost for the courthouse location.
The council granted the extension over the strenuous objections of businesswoman Nancy Ruzicka – who owns the High Street Village shopping center next door to the proposed North High Street cell tower location – as well as residents of the nearby neighborhoods.
Ruzicka filed an appeal of the Lakeport Planning Commission's unanimous May decision to grant Complete Wireless Consulting Inc. – acting on behalf of Verizon Wireless – a use permit for the 72-foot “monopine,” which is a tower designed to look like a pine tree.
Verizon has identified a 3.8-square-mile coverage gap in the area which the tower is meant to fill. The company has looked at numerous locations – between 14 and 16, according to company officials – but settled on the North High Street location as the least intrusive, which they said requires the city under federal law to approve it. The site also meets all of the Federal Communications Commission guidelines, the company said.
Ruzicka rallied neighbors in the area who spoke to the council against the project in June. The following month, Complete Wireless Consulting sought a 60-day extension to explore other sites and designs.
When the company returned to the council last week, the North High Street site was again put forth as the best alternative, with the alternate design being a water tower. Neighbors faulted the design and city staff was concerned that it had not been vetted enough.
Verizon also presented in its argument for the site responses to a text message it had sent out in August to hundreds Verizon users in the 95453 zip code concerning the project, giving its location and and a description of its design – calling the monopine a “stealth treepole” – and asking if they were in support, were opposed or wanted more information.
Approximately 281 responses came in supporting the project, with 10 opposed. Several of the responses said, in effect, that they supported the “stealth tree” design and wanted better cell coverage.
Community and council concerns
At last Tuesday's meeting Community Development Director Kevin Ingram took the council findings that he had been directed to prepare in order to grant Ruzicka's appeal, with the key issues being aesthetics.
In his report to the council, Ingram recounted the planning commission's May approval, the June council meeting at which Ruzicka and project neighbors spoke and the July meeting in which the city granted Verizon a 60-day extension.
Ingram said community members had asked about why Verizon wasn't looking at placing a tower on top of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Verizon had previously cited a March 2014 discussion with county officials in which the company came away with a conclusion that there was a structural issue.
Last Monday, Ingram spoke to Rein, who said the structural issue had been overcome, and that since that time another wireless carrier has located a facility there.
While there isn't much room up there, Rein told Ingram at that point that the old jail building which now houses the District Attorney's Office is available as a site. That location hadn't previously been offered to Verizon, according to the discussion Ingram and Rein had.
Jenny Blocker of Wireless Consulting appeared before the council along with attorney Paul Albritton and Verizon radio frequency design engineer Benjamin Santa Maria, who made the case for the North High Street location.
In all, 14 locations were evaluated. “We have conducted an exhaustive analysis of alternative locations,” said Blocker.
Albritton told the council that Verizon was attempting to address the coverage gap as well as capacity issues in its wireless service, explaining that the amount of data being used is overtaxing the system.
He said Verizon had asked for additional time to see if there was another way to address the coverage gap. The undulating topography of the area, he said, made it necessary to put up a tower.
Based on federal law, Albritton said the city was limited in what it could do in denying the application. The city, he explained, had to have substantial evidence to deny the site, which he argued it hadn't done.
If a coverage gap exists and a company comes up with the least intrusive alternative, Albritton said that two-prong test supersedes local findings of substantial evidence. To deny the project, he added, would constitute a prohibition of services under federal law.
“We're stuck, we can't find another alternative,” he said.
If the city denied the project, Albritton said Verizon would have 30 days to file a lawsuit, “and we would rather not,” noting that Verizon hasn't had to sue a jurisdiction in 10 years in order to place a cell tower facility.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina asked if they would consider the courthouse location. Albritton said it would make sense to do so “if in fact it's fully available.”
Mayor Martin Scheel asked about the testing that was done to establish that a coverage gap existed. Santa Maria said they did a drive test, which involves having a truck driven through select streets to analyze service in the area. They did not do a continuous wave test, which Scheel suggested they do.
“A constant wave test is quite an undertaking,” said Albritton, noting it takes months to set up and requires Verizon to work with an outside contractor. Such tests aren't regularly done for such facility siting, he said, explaining that drive tests have been used in federal court cases to determine if sites are valid.
Councilman Kenny Parlet wanted Verizon to explore other sites. “Otherwise, we'll see you in court.”
Albritton said another property that had been considered on 11th Street doesn't work because it would interfere with another tower in Scotts Valley.
In addition to Ruzicka, 14 community members spoke to the council, 11 of them expressing opposition to the plan as proposed, one urging approval of the tower, one just asking questions about the planning commission's decision and another man offering his property for a project.
During public comment, Bob Bridges, a retired county counsel, said he's been involved in hundreds of land use applications where developers who are sincere will try hard to find alternatives.
“They never really tried anything,” Bridges said of Verizon, noting that with some of the locations Verizon only sent out letters seeking interest and didn't follow up.
“They didn't really make a sincere effort,” he said, adding that the city shouldn't give Verizon more time.
George Linn, who said he's been a longtime cell phone user, explained he doesn't have coverage problems with Verizon in Lakeport.
He questioned if there was independent testing, and said he would like to see Verizon investigate the courthouse and other areas nearby. “Let's get it out of residential and really into commercial.”
Albritton told the council that Verizon was willing to look at the courthouse, and wasn't afraid of a third-party review of its proposal. “We think a third-party review will confirm our analysis.”
When Scheel asked how long it would take to review the courthouse facility, Albritton said Verizon staff told him it would take 90 days to check if it was workable and viable.
Ingram suggested to the council that if Verizon chose a different location, that a new application – with a separate design review – should be put forward. Albritton said Verizon would anticipate taking any new site back to the planning commission for design review.
Albritton said federal law requires that jurisdictions make decisions about such facilities within 150 days, but Verizon has asked for extensions to work with the city.
He wanted to keep the application in play until the courthouse site is examined. If that site doesn't work out, he anticipated Verizon coming back with the North High Street location. Keeping the application active also doesn't trigger the 30-day period to file a lawsuit – at least not yet.
Councilwoman Mireya Turner felt the planning commission did its due diligence and its decision was sound, but she said Ruzicka's appeal opened up the chance to discuss the aesthetics issue. “I do find the aesthetics of high value as far as a position goes.”
She said increased service is needed, and local law enforcement needs a more complete network. “This is so vital. This is such an important decision that I fully support a continuance of the 90 days,” she said.
Mattina agreed, adding she was concerned that Verizon didn't look further at the courthouse earlier. Scheel said Verizon hasn't proven to him that the North High Street location is the least intrusive site, and that he didn't fear a lawsuit.
Mattina asked if the extension of time was the least confrontational way to approach the situation. Parlet said, from his perspective, it was.
Scheel said he wanted to see everyone move forward in a partnership, but added, “At some point, a line in the sand is going to get drawn.”
Ruzicka said she lost a major retailer as a potential client in her shopping center because she had signs up opposing the cell tower, there are other tenant contracts waiting and she is losing thousands of dollars. “What are my rights?”
When that question was posed to City Attorney David Ruderman, he responded, “She had the right to appeal, and that's what she's done.”
Scheel told Ruzicka that the council was not going to support placing the tower at North High Street, but that they supported giving Verizon more time to explore the courthouse, as it offered an opportunity to find a solution without litigation.
Ultimately, Parlet made the motion to grant the continuance to investigate alternate locations – not limited to the courthouse or District Attorney's Office – with the council voting 4-1.
Further developments
In a followup interview after the council meeting, Ingram told Lake County News that Rein also had mentioned the issue of the lease cost as having been a factor for Verizon to him in their discussion last week.
Ingram said he didn't have a cost estimate for how much it would cost Verizon to build the monopine tower, explaining that the city generally would get that information at the building permit phase.
He said that the standard monopole design is less expensive, with anything decorative going up substantially in cost.
Rein told Lake County News that last Wednesday, the day after the council approved the 90-time extension, he was contacted by a project manager from Complete Wireless Consulting on behalf of Verizon, expressing interest in locating the tower on top of the courthouse.
The same representative had begun discussions with Rein early in February 2014 regarding the courthouse location, according to emails Rein shared with Lake County News.
As Rein indicated in his interview with Lake County News, the company was interested in the location up until early in March 2014, after Rein informed them that the rental cost was going to be $52.70 per square foot with a 4-percent cost of living increase.
At that point, when the talks broke off, the building's structure was not a key issue. “The primary issue was money. They didn’t want to pay what we were asking,” said Rein.
Rein's emails to Wireless Consulting Services didn't raise any issues with the structural integrity issue of the courthouse roof, and he told Lake County News that no such issues exist. He believes that Verizon's raising of that issue is based on a miscommunication.
Rather, he said the issue was whether the building's roof pan – the metal deck that serves as the top of the building – provided sufficient structural support for Verizon’s equipment.
He said T-Mobile found that the roof pan provided sufficient support for their equipment but AT&T did not believe that to be true, so that company engineered a solution that involved opening up a section of the roof and welding support posts to the building’s structural beams. AT&T then attached its equipment to those posts.
“We tend to think that AT&T’s approach is significantly over-engineered and unnecessary as evidenced by the success of T-Mobile’s approach,” said Rein.
“We can’t help but think that some engineer sold AT&T on an unnecessarily complex approach but that is just our conjecture,” he said. “It only fair to give AT&T the benefit of the doubt as there may be some technical reason they thought they needed to provide enough reinforcement to support a rocket ship.”
While there is only one small remaining space on top of the courthouse, Rein said, “We've got a solution,” pointing to what he called a football field-sized space on top of the District Attorney's Office.
Rein said he responded to Verizon's latest inquiries last week, explaining that no structural issue exists and there is availability on county facilities for the tower. He'd not heard back from the company as of Tuesday.
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City of Clearlake receives reports of code enforcement officer impersonator
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake is urging residents to be on the lookout for an individual who this week was reported to be impersonating a city code enforcement officer.
On Wednesday the city received the report of a male subject impersonating a code enforcement officer, officials said.
The reporting party stated that the male subject was in his mid 40s and driving a black 2000 or newer Chevy half-ton pickup. The subject was last seen in the Clearlake Park area.
City officials advised residents that city of Clearlake code enforcement officers drive a marked city vehicle and can be identified by their clearly marked uniform shirts and vests, as well as an ID card they carry.
The city of Clearlake asks that if you are approached by anyone not driving a marked city vehicle and if they cannot be clearly identified as a code enforcement officer, that you deny them access to your property and contact the Clearlake Police Department immediately at 707-994-8251.
Supervisors finalize $203 million 2015-16 budget
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors held the county's annual budget hearing on Wednesday, ending with the formal acceptance of the final recommended budget for the 2015-16 year.
In a speedy four hours – past hearings have gone a full day – the board gave its unanimous approval to a final budget with appropriations totaling approximately $203,884,537, according to the final resolution adopting the new fiscal year budget that the board passed unanimously.
That final appropriations total is up from last year's total of $184,767,583 because of a number of capital expenditures and wildfire recovery funds the state has awarded to the county, according to County Administrative Officer Matt Perry.
In addition to the final budget resolution, the board approved a resolution that sets the 2015-16 position allocations in conformance with the adopted budget and continued a general hiring freeze, which Perry has the authority to waive at his discretion.
The board heard brief budget summaries from department heads and County Administrative Office staff, and unanimously approved the funds for each department as presented.
Perry said that in preparing the budget he and his staff have continued to follow principles identified by his predecessor, Kelly Cox, in keeping a sound budget.
Those principles include being structurally balanced, preserving general reserves, avoiding reductions in service levels and avoiding layoffs, furloughs or benefit reductions, he said.
Perry said the budget process began in April, when departments submitted their requests. Those were reviewed in May, with an initial budget document presented to the board in June and work continuing on it through the summer.
Due to the county's response to the wildland fires, staffing and other shortages, Perry said all of the information his office normally has in hand for preparing the budget wasn't available. He anticipates returning to the board later this month to propose some budget amendments, well ahead of the normal mid-year budget review in January.
While the board wrapped its approval up on Wednesday, Perry noted that the budget work is far from over.
“The budget is almost a year-round process,” he told the board during his opening statement on the budget document.
In analyzing the county's revenues, Perry said there has been some recovery since the recession for transient occupancy tax, or bed tax, but he said it's premature to estimate an increase.
Sales tax also appears fairly flat, and is at 93-percent of its prerecession levels, he said.
Overall, salary and benefits make up 60 percent of the general fund appropriations, Perry said.
Perry said the board had made staff a priority in this year's budget, recognizing the sacrifices they have made over the last several years, including receiving no cost of living increases.
He also lauded county staff for coming together to staff the Emergency Operations Center during the Rocky and Jerusalem fires.
Department highlights
Among the many highlights of individual department budgets, Social Services Director Carol Huchingson reported that her agency no longer has any general fund contributions in any of its funds thanks to the state and federal funding it receives for its programs.
She said that one of her department's loftiest goals for this year is opening a satellite office in Lucerne, at the site of the former county visitor center.
The plan had been for that office to be open on Sept. 1, but they have run into unforeseen problems with the structure that is delaying the opening, she said.
Sheriff Brian Martin's budget includes three school resource officer positions, one of which has been added this year thanks to the restoration of grant funding, Perry said.
Martin, in presenting his first budget as sheriff to the board, explained that his agency currently has a 20-percent job vacancy rate. “It's challenging sometimes to deliver services.”
Even so, he said he is grateful to his staff, and thanked other departments and community members for their cooperation. “I feel very privileged and blessed to be in this position.”
Martin said he and his staff are looking for ways to address staffing challenges, including reclassifying five entry level deputy positions to deputy sheriff trainees as a way of bringing in current county employees who already have demonstrated a commitment to the community. Once they go through the academy, they will be asked to commit to staying with his department for three years.
Central Dispatch has the highest percentage of vacant positions in the sheriff's office, Martin said. There are supposed to be three supervisors and nine dispatchers in addition to the manager; currently, there are four dispatchers, two supervisors and a manager. To fill the gap, they are assigning correctional officers and deputy sheriffs to answer calls and dispatch on a temporary basis.
Pension reform has made it more challenging to use retired annuitants as bailiffs or as Marine Patrol staff, Martin said. In addition, there also are vacancies at the jail, where realignment has resulted in more career criminals being housed.
Martin's budget this year includes purchase of new mobile audio video units that also incorporate body cameras for his deputies.
“Our deputies here are doing a professional job,” he said, but added that society is now at the point where law enforcement has to capture that job on camera and be able to prove things are being done right.
Ultimately, “My biggest concern is delivery of services,” he said.
District Attorney Don Anderson similarly reported difficulty in filling important vacancies.
He said two of his six investigator spots are vacant, and they were unable to find qualified candidates in recent testings.
“This is a serious problem we're having,” he said.
While his department is extending some of its positions to train new staff, that's a more expensive option that he said they would prefer not to pursue.
Chief Probation Officer Rob Howe has had two deputy probation officer positions unfilled for two years, with one of them now to be funded through a new agreement with the Lake County Superior Court for a veterans treatment court.
He's also continuing work with the Upper Lake schools, for which his office is providing a school resources officer, and partnering with the sheriff's office and Behavioral Health on a day reporting center. “We're progressing every day,” he said.
Supervisor Jim Steele said the school resources officer in Upper Lake has made a huge difference.
The board on Wednesday also heard about how County Counsel Anita Grant has helped reduce the county's workers compensation costs – to the tune of 10 months' of salary savings – by instituting special programs in departments that were experiencing certain type of injury claims.
Over at the Lake County Library, Director Christopher Veach has continued to face challenges such as a very low materials budget.
An expansion of the Lakeport Library also had been proposed, but Veach said it has seemed like a better option at this time to instead reorganize the existing space, replace carpet and move the circulation desk.
In Animal Care and Control, staffing issues also have been an ongoing problem, according to Director Bill Davidson.
Due to leaves, illness and vacation, they've averaged 2.5 officers being on duty on a regular basis. He said a fifth officer position has been added to help keep up the around-the-clock emergency service they offer.
They have been able to keep the community cat program and vet clinic going through a contract with a temporary veterinarian, who performs 55 spay-neuter surgeries over the course of two days a week, Davidson said.
In the Community Development Department, the Code Enforcement Division is once again being staffed up, and Director Rick Coel said there is a lot of work ahead.
“We have a backlog of four years' worth of cases when we didn't have Code Enforcement staff,” he said.
Coel said it's also a challenge to keep the department fully staffed, with several positions vacant.
In the Public Works Department, Director Scott De Leon plans to hire a deputy Water Resource manager with $130,000 in geothermal resource funds. That amount would cover both a salary of about $108,000 and benefits.
That deputy director position would be responsible for the day-to-day management of Water Resources staff and would take on additional programs including stormwater oversight and groundwater sustainability – the latter critical because a state law is requiring the formation of groundwater sustainability agencies, he said.
De Leon is looking to hire a limnologist or another scientist for the job, and was planning to begin recruitment as soon as his budget was approved.
“It's my belief our response and our program efforts will actually improve with that position,” he said, noting that there is a lot of emphasis on the lake right now at the state level. “This is the time to hit this.”
In Public Services, Director Caroline Chavez is working on a proposal to implement universal waste collection in Middletown – not including Hidden Valley Lake – as well as Kelseyville and possibly Upper Lake. Her agency also is concentrating on reducing illegal dumping.
She and her staff are looking at the future expansion of the landfill, and have completed the first feasibility study.
She said regulations and regulatory fees are having a big impact on her department. State law requires the county to pay sales tax on garbage – $1.39 per ton, or $90,000 a year to cover the 60,000 tons going into the county's landfill.
Chavez said the Legislature recently attempted to raise that garbage sales tax by another $2 a ton, which would have cost her department another $120,000 a year. There are concerns that the Legislature may yet attempt to raise that fee again.
While those costs usually are passed on to customers, if rates are raised too high, there will be more illegal dumping, she said.
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Supervisors continue emergency declarations, approve veterans treatment court agreement
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors continued emergency proclamations due to the drought and wildfire conditions, and approved an agreement for the establishment of a veterans treatment court.
County Administrative Officer Matt Perry took the extension of the emergency declaration for the drought – which first was made in March 2014, and has been continued monthly since then – and the more recent wildfire emergency declaration which the board first ratified last month.
Perry said the drought conditions are continuing, and while the wildland fires – the Rocky and Jerusalem specifically – have been fully contained, “The conditions still exist for fires in Lake County,” he said.
He added of the latter declaration related to the wildland fires, “The proclamation is essential to our recovery efforts.”
In separate motions, Supervisor Jim Comstock moved to continue both emergency declarations, with each receiving unanimous approval from the board.
In other wildfire-related news, this week, the supervisors were able to approve a resolution designating the county departments that will act as the agents for the California Disaster Assistance Act funding the county has received due to the Rocky and Jerusalem fires.
The Governor's Office of Emergency Services last week reported that Gov. Jerry Brown had issued an executive order to expedite funds to Lake County because of the fires, as Lake County News has reported.
Comstock offered the resolution, which the board approved unanimously.
In other business, county Chief Probation Officer Rob Howe took to the board a request to approve an agreement between the county of Lake, Lake County Probation Department and the Superior Court of California for the operation of a veterans treatment court.
The term of the agreement began April 1 of this year and will continue through April 30, 2017, with the Lake County Superior Court to pay the county of Lake a maximum of $176,000 under the agreement.
Howe said he, Judge Richard Martin and Court Executive Officer Krista LeVier attended a two-day conference in San Francisco a few years ago on collaborative courts, including veterans courts.
He said California Penal Code section 1170.9 allows judges to take issues like post traumatic stress disorder into account in cases involving veterans.
Howe said earlier that morning veterans court had convened with two participants.
“We hope to grow significantly,” he said.
Comstock, himself a Vietnam veteran, thanked Howe, noting the proposal was an important thing for veterans.
Howe said he thinks it will be a good program, and runs along with his department's day reporting center's offerings.
It also is similar to the drug court that has existed in the county for more than 20 years, Howe said.
Veterans participating in the court program must report to the judge every two weeks. “They've got a good motivation to keep up with it,” Howe said.
Howe said other agencies like Behavioral Health and the District Attorney's Office also are involved.
The funding term is for two years. Board Chair Anthony Farrington asked about future funding.
Howe said they're not yet sure of how the effort would be funded in the future, although some counties manage to continue them.
“A lot of it is a little unknown to us,” Howe said, adding they are looking at other counties' programs.
“A lot of it is how much participation we get,” he said, adding they are working to get the word out about the program.
Farrington noted the mental illness component in many crimes, and that people who served the country in the military and return home with mental illness and addiction issues should get help.
The board unanimously approved the agreement.
On Tuesday the board also read proclamations designating the month of September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and designating the week of Sept. 7 to 13, 2015, as Suicide Prevention Week; and voted to consolidate elections for school district seats, community services districts, fire protection district and water district elections on the November ballot.
An appeal that had been filed by the Middletown Rancheria of the Lake County Planning Commission's approval of minor modifications to use permits for Calpine to construct an above-ground pipeline to connect its West Ford Flat Steam Field to an existing pipeline serving the Calistoga Steam Field was withdrawn.
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