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Lakeport City Council to consider updated solid waste contract, CALPERS obligations
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Lakeport City Council will consider approval of an updated contract with Lakeport Disposal for universal waste disposal services for the city and consider the necessary steps to bring back a final restructuring plan for the city's CALPERS obligations.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
Under council business, council members will consider approving the memorandum of understanding with Bicoastal Media LLC for the Summer Concert Series and provide direction to staff regarding dogs in the parks during the concerts.
Council members also are expected to approve the contract with Pyro Spectaculars North Inc., and authorize City Manager Margaret Silveira to execute the contract for the annual July 4 fireworks display.
Public Works Director Mark Brannigan will take to the council a resolution adding no parking zones on Bevins Street to prohibited parking zones in the city.
Brannigan also will present the proposed updated solid waste agreement with Lakeport Disposal, which has been under negotiation between the city and the company for some months.
Staff is seeking authorization from the council for Silveira to sign the agreement and to authorize the beginning of the process required by Proposition 218 to notify customers of the changes, since the city has mandatory service and will be doing the billing services, according to Brannigan's report.
Finance Director Dan Buffalo will take to the council a request for authorization to work with a financing team as necessary to bring to the council a final restructuring plan for the unfunded accrued actuarial liability obligations of the city to CALPERS.
As part of the item, Buffalo will seek authorization to have Silveira sign all related documents, including a professional service agreement with Weist Law Firm for bond counsel services not to exceed $55,000; an amendment to the professional service agreement with NHA Advisors for financial advisory services related to the restructuring to include an additional $20,000; a professional service agreement with Southwest Securities Inc. for placement agent services not to exceed $15,000; and adoption of the proposed resolution.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; warrant registers from May 17; minutes of the regular council meeting on May 5; receipt and filing of the Illegal Fireworks Police Operation Plan; and approval of Application No. 2015-009 with staff comments for the Lakeport Main Street Association to hold its annual Shipwreck Days event on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Clearlake City Council repeals marijuana ordinance, directs staff to rework existing city rules
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday night voted to repeal an ordinance banning marijuana growing in the face of a referendum that qualified for the ballot.
While making that decision unanimously, the council also gave city staff clear direction to bring back strong language to add to the city's current marijuana regulations in order to address rampant outdoor grows and what city officials have said are the resulting public safety concerns.
In February the council passed Ordinance No. 173-2015, which was written by City Attorney Ryan Jones.
The ordinance banned all marijuana cultivation – both indoor and outdoor – in the city.
A referendum effort was launched and the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office confirmed earlier this month that the effort qualified with just enough signatures to challenge the ordinance on the ballot.
Faced with the need to either pay up to an estimated $30,000 for a special election or place the ordinance before voters on the next municipal election ballot in November 2016, the council instead withdrew it.
At the conclusion of the hour-and-a-half-long discussion of the matter – which also had included extensive public comment – the council asked staff to come back to its next meeting with retooled language to insert into the city's existing marijuana cultivation ordinance, enacted in January 2014.
That 2014 ordinance prohibits grows on vacant lots and commercial grows, limits grows to six plants on parcels smaller than a half acre and as many as 48 plants on properties 40 acres or larger.
At a February council meeting, when the newer ordinance was under consideration, Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen explained that the 2014 ordinance was civil in nature, which had prevented police from enforcing it.
The council's new approach will be to strengthen the current ordinance's enforcement measures and, on advice of the city attorney, to limit plant counts to six across the board – regardless of parcel size – despite the assertion by some community members during public comment that plant counts should be higher.
Additionally, council members suggested the updated rules should include plant height limits and fines of up to $1,000 per plant for noncompliance.
The discussion also included the proposed formation of an ad hoc committee composed of members of the public, law enforcement, fire district and water district representatives to discuss future changes to the ordinance.
Councilmen Russell Perdock and Bruno Sabatier both offered to serve on that ad hoc committee.
The city also was sued over the ordinance by Jeri Spittler, the city's former mayor, her husband and another medical marijuana patient.
That litigation was the topic of discussion in closed session before the open portion of the meeting.
Jones said at the beginning of the public meeting that the council took no action in the closed session.
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May 18 Kelseyville town hall to discuss Dollar General application
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Kelseyville Business Association will host a town hall next week to discuss an application for a new Dollar General in the town.
The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, May 18, at the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church Friendship Hall, Third and Church streets.
The association has called the meeting in order to facilitate a discussion about the anticipated impact of a Dollar General store on “the overall vision, infrastructure, character, and safety of the town of Kelseyville.”
Dollar General, a “small box” retailer based in Tennessee, earlier this year opened its first two stores in Lake County – in Nice and Clearlake Oaks – and is now applying for two more locations in Kelseyville and Middletown.
Cross Development, a Texas firm representing Dollar General, submitted the applications for major use permits and initial studies to the Lake County Community Development Department, as Lake County News has reported.
Dollar General is proposing to build the Kelseyville store at 4315 Douglas St. and 5505 Main St., directly across from Kelseyville High School. The land is owned by Bernard and Lynne Butcher, owners of the Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake.
At the Monday meeting, the association will gather comments from the community to present at the Lake County Planning Commission's meeting on Thursday, May 28, when the Kelseyville store application is set for discussion.
The meeting will take place in the Board of Supervisors chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The item is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. that day, according to Michalyn DelValle, a senior planner who is processing the Dollar General applications.
She said the Middletown store application will not be discussed at that time.
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City of Lakeport plans summer Westshore Pool opening
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Westshore Pool is set to reopen for public swims this summer.
The city of Lakeport said the pool's summer season will run from June 1 to Aug. 1. It will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays for the public swim.
Last summer, the pool didn't open to the public for the summer because the city was waiting for soils tests to determine the pool's stability, said City Manager Margaret Silveira.
That need came about due to issues about the pool's construction raised by the Division of the State Architect, which oversees school construction projects, as Lake County News has reported. The pool is located on the Lakeport Unified School District grounds.
“Last year we wanted to wait until soils test came back and deemed the ground safe for the pool. All came back that earth wasn’t going to give way, but it was too late to recruit lifeguards for the open swim times,” said Silveira.
“This year we are recruiting lifeguards right now and will have open swim as usual,” she said.
Silveira said the city is opening the pool under its existing agreement with the school district for public use of the pool during the summers.
Lakeport Unified Superintendent Erin Smith-Hagberg said that, while the city plans to reopen the pool for public use, the district still can’t have the students use the facility until the Division of the State Architect determines that it is compliant with the Field Act.
The Field Act was passed in 1933, a month after a 6.3-magnitude quake hit the Long Beach area, destroying or damaging more than 230 school buildings, according to a California Seismic Safety Commission report on the legislation.
That law requires that California school facilities be designed and constructed to be earthquake-resistant.
In November, voters in the Lakeport Unified School District approved the $17 million Measure T bond, the proceeds of which will be used to upgrade existing facilities and construct new ones.
“We are currently working with TLCD Architects on the District's Master Facility Plan process which will specify the timeline for addressing each of the projects in Measure T – including the Westshore Pool,” Smith-Hagberg said.
She said she anticipates that they will be presenting the master plan to the school district board at either the August or September meeting.
The Lake County Channel Cats also will be returning to the Westshore Pool this summer to offer swim lessons for children ages 3 to 18, said Jen Hanson, president of the organization.
Hanson said the high school swim team – composed of swimmers from Clear Lake and Kelseyville high schools – can't yet swim at the Westshore Pool because of the issues with the Division of the State Architect.
As a result, the team and the Channel Cats have been swimming at Quail Run Fitness Center in Lakeport.
She said the facility has limitations because it's not deep enough for swimmers to dive, it doesn't have lines in the bottom of the pool – which makes it hard for competitive swimmers to know when the end of the pool is approaching – and, because of those limitations, it can't be used for swim meets.
“We are hoping that the Westshore Pool will be refurbished by next spring so that the high school team can return to its home pool,” Hanson said.
Hanson said the team's annual Family Bingo Night on April 11 was a huge success, raising about $4,000 to heat the pool at Quail Run and pay coaching staff.
The Kelseyville Lions Club also hosted a pancake breakfast on Sunday for the team, which Hanson said will help pay rent at Westshore Pool during the summer months.
For information about pool entry fees, swim lessons and lifeguard recruitment see the following link: http://goo.gl/XWo4av .
For further information about the pool, contact Reana Hoaglen at the city of Lakeport, 707-263-3578,
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