How to resolve AdBlock issue? Supervisors continue drought emergency declaration
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday morning to extend a local emergency declaration due to the drought conditions.
It was the fifth time the emergency has been extended since it was first passed March 4. By law, the board is required to revisit the declaration every 30 days.
During the discussion, Lake County Emergency Services Manager Marisa Chilafoe gave the board a report on the Aug. 7 meeting of the county's newly formed Drought Task Force.
Chilafoe, who chairs the task force, told the board that more than 30 local water agencies and purveyors had members in attendance at the meeting.
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Hajik gave the group a report on the situation for agriculture, she said.
“We ask the board to continue the proclamation of emergency,” said Chilafoe, adding, “Conditions have not changed.”
“They've gotten worse,” said Board Chair Denise Rushing.
Chilafoe's written report to the board noted that, despite the county receiving some rainfall this spring, “annual rainfall levels remain well below average and the severity of drought conditions will continue to worsen in the summer and fall months.”
She said Tuesday that the declaration is needed by the county as it pursues grant funding to address the drought.
Following a brief discussion, Supervisor Jim Comstock moved to approve continuing the local emergency, with the board voting 5-0.
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Fields forming in city council races; deadline to file is Wednesday afternoon
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Several candidates have so far come forward to file for seats on the city councils for Clearlake and Lakeport.
The filing period ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13.
The filing deadlines for both councils were extended from last Friday due to one incumbent on each of the councils not filing to seek reelection.
Two seats are up for election on each of the councils this Nov. 4.
In Clearlake, Councilwoman Jeri Spittler did not file for a second term, City Clerk Melissa Swanson confirmed to Lake County News.
Spittler is in a fall runoff with incumbent Supervisor Jeff Smith for the District 2 seat on the Lake County Board of Supervisors. She came in second to Smith in the June primary.
In Lakeport, Councilman Tom Engstrom had announced earlier this year that he would not seek a second term, and City Clerk Janel Chapman confirmed he did not file to run again.
Swanson told Lake County News that she has received filings from four candidates: Quincy Jackson, Russell Perdock, Michael Pesonen and Bruno Sabatier.
Councilman Joey Luiz also reported that he has signed up to seek a second term.
The last update from Chapman was that three candidates had qualified for the Lakeport City Council.
They are incumbent Stacey Mattina, seeking a second term; Robert Balentine; and Mireya Gehring Turner.
For those still wanting to enter the races, the deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesday, but several steps must be completed before that deadline, including picking up the filing packet and getting at least 20 – but no more than 30 – nominating signatures from registered voters.
For information or appointments, call Swanson at 707-994-8201, Extension 106, or email her at
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Supervisors, county staff hold budget workshop
LAKEPORT, Calif. – In preparation for the final budget hearings set to happen early next month, the Board of Supervisors held a Tuesday morning budget workshop to see how the county's finances are looking for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
County Administrative Officer Matt Perry said the board had asked for the workshop prior to the hearings, scheduled for Sept. 3.
In his presentation, Perry began by covering budget priorities: having a structurally balanced budget, preserving general reserves, avoiding reduction in service levels, and avoiding layoffs, furloughs and benefit reductions. Perry said it can be a struggle to balance those priorities.
The county's budgeting process is a lengthy one that Perry said begins in February and ends with the budget hearings and adoption of the budget in the fall.
The final budget includes property tax revenues at just over $14 million and sales tax hovering at around the $2 million mark, having almost returned to the pre-recession levels of $2.1 million.
Perry said the good news is that he and his staff believe they can present to the board a structurally balanced budget without significant staffing reductions.
Total revenues for the coming year are estimated at $157.6 million, of which $47.4 million – or 30.1 percent – is in the general fund, with the remaining $110.2 million, or 69.9 percent, is in special funds.
Total appropriations are estimated at $179.7 million. Of that total, 30.7 percent, or $55.2 million, in in the general fund and $124.5 million, or 69.3 percent, is from special funds.
The majority of the general fund – 63 percent – goes to salaries and benefits, with services and supplies accounting for 24 percent.
The largest sources of revenue for the general fund include taxes, 55 percent; state, 22 percent; other government, 5 percent; charges, 3 percent; and fines and penalties, and licenses and permits tie with 2 percent.
General fund services include administrative and legal, fiscal and accounting, law enforcement and the jail, district attorney and public defender, animal control, probation and juvenile detention, elections, information technology, planning and code enforcement, parks and facilities, agriculture and wildlife services, veterans' services, emergency services and human resources.
Special fund services include social services, housing authority, public guardian, behavioral health, child support, public and environmental health, water and sewer systems, lighting districts, library, roads, water and resource management, and air quality management.
Perry went over the costs of some of the departments to the county, using several examples.
The District Attorney's Office costs just over $3 million to fund, has income of $88,000 and a net county cost of $2,0935,181, Perry reported.
The Auditor-Controller's Office costs $975,735, and has income of $127,430 and reimbursements of $41,775, as well as other sources of funding totaling $428,000, with a net county cost of $383,525.
The Assessor-Recorder's Office costs $962,743 to fund, has income of $15,200 and reimbursements of $61,106, and other funding sources of $205,000, for a total net county cost of $742,743.
Planning costs $1,120,515 to run, has income of $523,050 and reimbursement of $60,000, with a net county cost of $597,465.
Public Works administration costs $713,480 and has the same amount of income, meaning it has no net county cost, Perry said.
Perry told the board that all of the county's departments are now so lean that there is no longer any place to cut.
He said the county has reduced salaries and benefits by a total of 4.5 percent since fiscal year 2008-09. At the same time, workers compensation and retirement costs have gone up. Perry said the hiring freeze hasn't been lifted and he can tell people are under more stress than normal.
The board also heard from county department heads who brought forward concerns about the county failing to raise fees for several years, so that fees needed to fund services never catch up.
Supervisor Jim Comstock said he wasn't comfortable with automatic yearly increases and wanted to review the matter annually. Staff agreed.
Community Development Director Rick Coel suggested increases for services can be tied to the Consumer Price Index.
Perry said staff has identified departments where it's becoming a struggle to maintain service levels – Animal Care and Control, the Lake County Library and the museums.
He asked board members if they were interested in using one-time funds to help maintain staffing levels and hours for the public at Animal Care and Control until inmate worker issues can be sorted out.
“It may be premature but I would like to try it,” said Comstock.
Supervisor Anthony Farrington said the county should study the Animal Care and Control situation to see how it affects the public. He wanted to discuss the libraries and revisit how part-time positions are recruited.
As for Lake County's overall economic health, “We have some good indicators that things are improving,” Perry said.
Those indicators include the fact that the county's home prices have increased by 21.4 percent over last year, the seventh-highest increase in California.
The recovery has been tempered by high negative equity, high foreclosures and the third-longest length of listing in the state, according to Perry's report.
Perry's report showed that taxable sales and permit values are up, and job growth in the year's first quarter was 5.3 percent, the fifth highest in California. Jobs are back at pre-recession levels and the unemployment rate is dropping quickly, although it's still high, placing Lake County at No. 41 in the state.
Supervisor Jeff Smith noted during the discussion that the county has worked hard not to lay off people, and that supervisors agonize over it.
“It's in our mind all the time,” he said.
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Medical examiner finds that man who died in jail committed suicide; family pursues lawsuit
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Authorities said that a man who died in jail in May committed suicide, while at the same time the man's family is preparing to file suit, alleging that he was not properly cared for while in custody.
Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said a forensic pathologist concluded that 37-year-old James Ellis Smith of Santa Rosa died from asphyxia due to hanging.
Smith's body was found in his cell on the morning of May 10 during a routine cell check, as Lake County News has reported.
Jail staff and Lakeport Fire personnel worked for half an hour to revive him before he was declared dead, the sheriff's office reported.
At the time of his death, Smith had been in jail for approximately four months for an attempted burglary at a Lakeport business that led to a high speed chase.
At the end of the chase Smith was shot by a sheriff's deputy after Smith rammed his pickup into a Lakeport Police car.
Lakeport Police Officer Joe Eastham responded to an alarm call at Hilltop Honda early on the morning of Jan. 3, finding Smith attempting to break into the building.
Smith fled in a pickup and Eastham gave chase. Deputy Jay Vanoven joined the pursuit, which led out of the city at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, officials reported.
It was on Riggs Road in the north Lakeport area that Smith ran off the pavement, then put the pickup into reverse and rammed into Eastham's patrol vehicle.
Eastham got out of the vehicle and when Smith prepared to back up the pickup again, Vanoven shot at Smith six times, hitting him in the elbow and body, and grazing him in the head, according to District Attorney Don Anderson's investigation of the shooting.
In late May, Anderson issued a finding that Vanoven was justified in the shooting, firing his weapon “as a result of what he believed to be a credible threat to the life and safety” of Eastham.
Two days before Smith died, the District Attorney's Office made a plea offer to Smith requiring him to plead to burglary and felony evasion, with a maximum prison sentence expected to be three years, eight months, Anderson said.
Anderson said his office didn't charge Smith with assaulting Eastham with the pickup because it was going to be extremely hard to prove.
Since his death, Smith's family has filed tort claims against the county and the city of Lakeport.
In June attorney Michael Green of the Santa Rosa law firm Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery filed claims on behalf of Smith's minor daughter, parents and estate against both the city and county, seeking unlimited damages and alleging use of excessive force, civil rights violations and failure to provide Smith necessary medical treatment – both mental and physical.
The claims assert that the county of Lake knew Smith was suicidal and mentally disturbed, that he was mentally and physically disabled within the definitions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Unruh Civil Rights Act, and that he required mental health and psychiatric care.
However, “instead of providing said necessary care, the County of Lake was deliberately indifferent to James Ellis Smith's serious medical, physical, and mental health needs,” the claims state.
His family also believes the county failed to provide Smith with proper monitoring and did not respond to repeated notifications from Smith – as well as others – that he needed acute mental health treatment and was suicidal.
They also accuse jail staff of “actively” taunting and tormenting Smith, getting others to torment and provoke him, and encouraging him to commit suicide.
County Counsel Anita Grant told Lake County News that the county's third-party authorized agent that handles such claims, the George Hills Co., denied the Smith family's claims on July 14.
That same week, the Lakeport City Council denied the claims as part of the consent agenda for its regular July 15 meeting.
Green told Lake County News in an email that, with the claims now denied, a lawsuit is planned.
“We are investigating the claims and will be bringing suit,” he said.
However, in response to questions from Lake County News about the case, Green said he couldn't discuss further details immediately.
“Unfortunately I cannot at this juncture provide much beyond that regarding the exact nature of the claims and which parties will ultimately be defendants because our investigation is still under way. I will be in a better position to talk more openly once the action has been brought,” Green said.
Case involving previous jail suicide settled
Smith's case has similarities to another jail suicide that was the focus of a lawsuit settled earlier this year.
In January, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve the final part of a settlement regarding the May 17, 2010, suicide death of 38-year-old Jimmy Ray Hatfield of Clearlake.
Hatfield had been arrested two days before his death by Clearlake Police officers and charged with felonies including threatening a peace officer, resisting arrest, battery on a peace officer, and two other related misdemeanor charges, according to jail records.
He was found during the early morning inmate count in the maximum security unit, about 40 minutes after jail staff reported last seeing him in his cell, appearing to act normally.
Like Smith, Hatfield was found hanging in his cell. He was declared deceased in the Sutter Lakeside Hospital emergency room.
Hatfield's family subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against the county in the California Northern District court on May 16, 2011, a year after his death, court records showed.
Grant told Lake County News that the county's settlement with Hatfield's family totaled $645,000 and was paid out by two insurance carriers.
Late last year, CSAC-EIA paid $630,000 to cover county employees named as defendants and the county as those defendants' employers, she said.
In January, the board approved the final $15,000 portion, paid by insurance carrier Program Beta, which Grant said provides coverage for health and mental health workers and the county as the employer of health and mental health workers. That portion of the settlement covered a Lake County Behavioral Health employee.
In March, the board came out of a closed session and unanimously approved the consent to settle agreement in the case, according to county records.
Grant said the Hatfield case is now settled in full.
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Clearlake City Council awards contract for Walmart expansion environmental impact report
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake City Council recently awarded a contract to Raney Planning and Management Inc. to prepare an environmental impact report for an expansion project at Clearlake Walmart.
Total cost of preparing the environmental impact report, or EIR, is not to exceed $227,659, including two optional tasks in preparing a police services impact report and preparation of findings of fact. As project applicant, Walmart will pay all costs associated with the contract.
Walmart recently reactivated its use permit for an approximate 40,000-square-foot expansion of its Clearlake store, which is currently about 105,000 square feet.
The project has been put on hold several times since its original introduction in 2009 with the city previously contracting with Environmental Science Associates to conduct the EIR for the project.
“Walmart halted application processing in March 2013,” Gary Price, the city's contracted planning consultant on the project, said. “Recognizing the city is undergoing a comprehensive update to its general plan, the reactivated application establishes a new approach to addressing environmental impacts, so it is appropriate to take a fresh look at the project.”
Price said the contract with ESA was terminated and issuance of request for proposals for the services resulted in two qualified candidates.
He said an interview panel, which included himself, Planning Commissioner Cheryl Hutchinson and City Manager Joan Phillipe, unanimously rated RPM as the best qualified firm.
“(RPM) had really done their homework,” Price said.
Staff has collaborated with RPM to develop the detailed scope of work and budget for the EIR, which Price said will include the address of economic impacts and urban decay.
Costs associated with Price's consulting services also are paid for by Walmart. Combined consultant costs for the project are expected to be about $262,659.
“The applicant, Walmart, has indicated they wish to proceed with the project and will deposit sufficient funding with the city to pay the costs of processing the application and to begin preparing the EIR once the EIR consultant agreement has been executed,” Phillipe said during the council's discussion on the agreement, which took place at the July 24 meeting. “This and future deposits by the applicant are expected to fully defray all costs of processing and city review of the project.”
Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson said the city is obligated by law to process the application.
In providing what she referred to as clarification for the public, she said, “Walmart pays but the city employs,” meaning employees work in behalf of the city.
Walmart proposes its expansion on the north side of its existing building, which is adjacent to Yuba College's Clear Lake campus.
The project includes removal of an existing loading dock and demolition of the tire and lube center. The garden center will be enlarged by about 2,900 square feet.
Numerous changes to the inside of the building are planned as are parking lot improvements including additional lighting.
Truck lanes are to be added the east side of the building and additional entry ways are planned.
Facade and signage changes also are included in the project.
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