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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....
Lake County Office of Education report says 2014 a year of challenges, opportunities
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The year 2014 is a big one for education, as schools prepare to implement new standards, tests and funding mechanisms.
That's the message in the Lake County Office of Education's new annual report.
The full report can be seen on the County Office of Education's Web site at http://issuu.com/smascari/docs/annual_report_12-13_3 .
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook and his staff have been presenting the 28-page annual report to local school boards and the Board of Supervisors following the document's Jan. 14 release.
The supervisors received the report on Jan. 14, with the Upper Lake High School District Board hearing the update on Jan. 15.
Lake County Office of Education Educational Specialist Stephanie Wayment told Lake County News that they also made the presentation to the Kelseyville board Jan. 21, with presentations to the Konocti and Lakeport boards following on Feb. 5 and 12, respectively. No date has yet been set for the Middletown board.
“As we move forward we will see that this year is filled with hope, challenges and especially opportunity. We will be experiencing some of the most significant changes in education funding and practice in the past three decades,” said Holbrook.
Those changes include the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula and the Local Control Accountability Plan, and additional funding to schools as a result of the passage of Proposition 30, he said.
This year there also will be the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, as well as the new California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, which is meant to provide feedback to students, parents and staff “to ensure our students are learning and growing to meet the ever-increasing expectations and changing world,” according to Holbrook.
“These changes are significant, and they'll be significant to every school in California,” Holbrook told the Board of Supervisors.
He said he and his staff used the annual report this year to explain the significant changes ahead.
Holbrook told the supervisors that over the last five years California schools have experienced a 25-percent cut in per-student funding. “We think that we've hit the bottom of that and are starting to move up again,” said Holbrook, noting that while it's not a perfect situation, things are definitely looking better.
In the report's introduction, Holbrook writes that the document offers an opportunity to look back at previous years' challenges, opportunities and successes.
It includes snapshots of student achievements, demographics, enrollment, finance, events and educational programs.
There also are areas of focus including the Literacy Task Force, parent engagement and “The Hub,” a community school pilot program in Upper Lake which seeks to make schools the hub “around which the community gathers its resources to help attain better outcomes for students, their families and surrounding neighborhoods,” the report explained.
The report concludes with vignettes of examples of how Lake County Office of Education programs and services impact students, educators and families in very practical and important ways.
Shelly Mascari, Lake County Office of Education director of communications, pointed out that the report shows Lake County's student graduation rate is above the state average.
Declining enrollment remains a challenge for county schools, Mascari said, with the report's figures showing a drop of nearly 1,000 students since the 2001-02 school year. That drop, according to the report, affects funding at every district.
Mascari also referred to figures in the report that show that 90 percent of the Lake County Office of Education's $9.78 million in annual revenue goes directly into education support services, with administrative expenses comprising 5 percent of the agency's annual budget.
Michelle Buell, the Lake County Office of Education's business services director, explained the new Local Control Funding Formula, which state legislation enacted beginning in the 2013-14 school year.
Buell said it's intended to restore funding to education after several years of cuts. She said the formula is expected to increase funding by 10.9 percent or $751 per student, with a $4.5 billion increase statewide projected for next year, about double this year's amount.
She said the Local Control Funding Formula is meant to remove the red tape attached to funding that has been a challenge for educators.
Historically there have been 32 pots of “categorical” funding, which Buell said can only be spent in certain ways, with many regulations governing the funds.
“These funding sources don't always meet the needs of the district” or what the student population requires, Buell said.
The state has lifted many of the requirements attached to the funding and placed it in one big pot of money, although she said some new rules have been added.
That's created an opportunity to allow educators to look at how they want to spend the money to make students more successful academically, Buell said.
“This really does push the decisions to the local level, and that's something that I think we've all wanted for quite some time,” Holbrook told the Board of Supervisors.
The challenge, he said, is to make good decisions to maintain that local control. In implementing the new fiscal rules, Holbrook said, “We need to show results,” which will show up in the Local Control Accountability Plan.
The Local Control Accountability Plan focuses on state priority areas, said Wayment, with local boards deciding how to do that within the context of their own districts.
She said the Lake County Office of Education is supporting districts in creating their Local Control Accountability Plans, which emphasize the local stories of the educational agencies and how they address the eight state priority areas.
Wayment said the eight state priorities are basic services, implementation of state standards, parent involvement, student achievement, student engagement, school climate, course access and other student outcomes.
She said for county offices of education, there are two additional priorities: services to expelled students and services to foster youth.
Holbrook said the requirement for the Local Control Accountability Plans will necessitate districts having a different timeline for budget development.
He said his office must certify the districts' plans, which will provide the basis for their budgets. “That will be a little bit different timeline for you,” he told the Upper Lake High School Board.
Holbrook suggested that the districts and the Lake County Office of Education work closely to develop the Local Control Accountability Plans. “We're really able and willing, both, to help you develop that plan so it does achieve what you want it to do.”
Wayment said the criteria for the plans is still under development by the state. “It's also a process in the works,” she noted, adding that the rubric is not scheduled to come out until the fall at the latest.
In addition to the Local Control Funding Formula changes, this year schools are preparing for the rollout of the Common Core State Standards, Wayment said.
The standards, approved by 44 states including California, replace standards implemented in 1997, she said.
The great opportunity that the Common Core State Standards offer to schools is that they integrate technology and put the focus back on teaching in the classrooms, said Wayment. At the same time, they have a new accountability and monitoring system.
She told the Board of Supervisors that the new testing will require students to use their critical thinking skills, with the hope being that educators can get back to a quality level of teaching that is teacher-created and teacher-supported, as well as curriculum-supported.
This is the third year the Lake County Office of Education's annual report has been designed for digital distribution and viewing, according to Mascari.
“A digital report just makes sense,” she said. “It is more environmentally and fiscally responsible. It allows us to focus more on content and the important information we want to share with our communities, and focus less on minimizing printing costs.”
Limited printed copies of the report are available. For more information, contact Shelly Mascari at
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Lake tax, Gard Street School lease, levee district on supervisors' agenda
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Board of Supervisors will consider calling an election for a half-percent sales tax to benefit Clear Lake, and also will discuss a lease for the Gard Street School and a proposal to dissolve a local reclamation district.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. TV8 will broadcast the meeting live.
At 9:15 a.m., the board will consider a proposed request to the Lake County Local Agency Formation Commission to initiate proceedings to dissolve Levee District No. 2070, which the State Controller's Office said is delinquent in required financial reporting, as Lake County News has reported.
At 9:45 a.m., the board will hold a public hearing to consider a proposed resolution calling an election for the proposed half-percent “Healthy Lake Tax,” which will go on the June primary ballot if approved by the board.
The funds raised would go to water quality, aquatic invasive species, and nuisance aquatic weed and algae programs.
At 10 a.m. the board will consider a proposed lease agreement with the Kelseyville Unified School District for the Gard Street School property, located at 3980 Gard St.
The full agenda follows.
TIMED ITEMS
9 a.m., A-1 to A-4: Approval of consent agenda, which includes items that are expected to be routine and noncontroversial, and will be acted upon by the board at one time without discussion; presentation of animals available for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control; consideration of items not appearing on the posted agenda, and contract change orders for current construction projects.
9:05 a.m.: Citizen's input. Any person may speak for three minutes about any subject of concern, provided that it is within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors and is not already on the agenda. Prior to this time, speakers must fill out a slip giving name, address and subject (available in the clerk of the board’s office, first floor, courthouse).
9:15 a.m., A-5: Consideration of proposed request to the Lake County Local Agency Formation Commission to initiate proceedings to dissolve Levee District No. 2070.
9:45 a.m., A-6: Public hearing, consideration of proposed resolution calling an election to submit to the electors a measure to adopt an ordinance adding Article VI to Chapter 18 of the Lake County Code imposing a transaction and use tax pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code Section 7285.5 of one-half of one percent for the Lake County Water Quality, Aquatic Invasive Species, and Nuisance Aquatic Weed and Algae Programs and establishing an expenditure plan for the revenues generated.
10 a.m., A-7: Consideration of proposed Lease Agreement with the Kelseyville Unified School District for property located at 3980 Gard St., Kelseyville (APN 024-081-01).
10:15 a.m., A-8: (a) Consideration of resolution affirming the county’s intent to provide water service to South Main Street/Soda Bay Road; and (b) consideration of first amendment to the engineering services agreement with Ruzicka Associates to design a community water system in the South Main/Soda Bay Road Corridor.
11 a.m., A-9: Hearing, nuisance abatement of 10546 East Road, Witter Springs, CA (APN 003-015-10 - Norman Valdez).
11:30 a.m., A-10: (a) Consideration of compliance review pursuant to minor use permit (MUP 06-63); and (b) consideration of staff request for board direction regarding land use conflicts and amendments to MUP 06-63.
11:35 a.m., A-11: Consideration of proposed lease agreement with Duane Mahan and Connie Mahan for commercial property located at 14585 “B” Olympic Drive, Clearlake (APN 039-164-41).
NONTIMED ITEMS
A-12: Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports.
A-13: Consideration of appointments to the following: Lower Lake Waterworks District No. 1 Board of Directors, Mental Health Board.
A-14: Consideration of proposed ordinance amending and revising Article VIII of Chapter 9 of the county of Lake Code of Ordinances for regulation wells and preservation of groundwater (second
reading).
CLOSED SESSION
A-15: 1. Conference with labor negotiator: (a) county negotiators: A. Grant, L. Guintivano, S. Harry, M. Perry, A. Flora and C. Shaver; and (b) employee organization: DDAA, DSA, LCCOA, LCEA and LCSEA.
A-15: 2. Conference with real property negotiator: (a) Property located at: 3980 Gard St., Kelseyville (APN 024-081-01); (b) negotiating parties: for county, Supervisor Rob Brown, Child Support Services Director Gail Woodworth, County Administrative Officer Matt Perry and Deputy County Administrative Officer Alan Flora For seller: Kelseyville Unified School District representatives (c) Under Negotiation: Lease terms.
A-15: 3. Conference with Legal Counsel: Anticipated litigation pursuant to Gov. Code Sec. 54956.9(d)(2),(e)(3): Claim of Gamino/Cruz.
CONSENT AGENDA
C-1: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings held on Jan. 14, 2014.
C-2: (a) Waive competitive selection process; and (b) approve agreement between the county of Lake and Karen MacDougall for research and grant application services, through December 2014, total amount not to exceed $50,000, and authorize the chair to sign.
C-3: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2013-96 establishing position allocations for Fiscal Year 2013-14, Budget Unit No. 1122, Treasurer-Tax Collector (delete one chief deputy treasurer-tax collector allocation and add one chief deputy treasurer-tax collector I/II flex allocation) as recommended by Classification and Compensation Committee in staff memorandum dated Jan. 21,
2014.
C-4: Approve advanced step hiring of staff psychiatrist Dr. Lydia DiTirro, due to applicant’s extraordinary qualifications (fifth step salary range).
C-5: Approve advanced step hiring of Assistant Veterans Services Officer Saul Sanabria, due to applicant’s extraordinary qualifications (fifth step salary range).
C-6: Adopt resolution approving submission of Anti-Drug Abuse grant application to the California Board of State and Community Corrections for Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funds, to be split between the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office.
C-7: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Lake Family Resource Center for the “Be Fresh” Project, through Sept. 30, 2015, total amount $98,499.96, and authorize the chair to sign.
C-8: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and the California Franchise Tax Board for court ordered debt collection services, at a rate in accordance with governing Revenue & Tax Code Section 19280-19283 (effective through Jan. 31, 2017), and authorize the treasurer-tax collector to sign.
LAKE COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICT DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
C-9: (a) Approve grant deed and direct clerk to certify for recordation (a portion of APN 040-330-37 - Raymond Choy and Lorraine Choy, Trustees of the Raymond G. Choy and Lorraine J. Choy Revocable Trust dated August 6, 2007), and approve purchase agreement between the county of Lake and Raymond Choy and Lorraine Choy, trustees of the Raymond G. Choy and Lorraine J. Choy Revocable Trust dated Aug. 6, 2007, for the Southeast System lift station and force main, and authorize the chair to sign agreement.
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Lake County officials concerned about Lake Piru quagga mussel discovery
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The discovery last month of invasive quagga mussels in another of California's water bodies has county officials concerned.
“It doesn’t bode well for Clear Lake or any other water body in California for that matter,” said Lake County Water Resource Director Scott De Leon in response to the discovery of quagga mussels in Lake Piru in Ventura County on Dec. 18, 2013.
This is the first time quagga or zebra mussels have been found in a Southern California water body that does not receive water from the Colorado River, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“This is evidence that the mussels are going to continue to move to other bodies of water through boat movement, yet the State Department of Fish and Wildlife neither acknowledges Lake Piru was infested by a boat nor do they pursue a statewide effort to control boat movement from infested areas,” said De Leon.
An invasive mussel infestation in Clear Lake could be devastating, according to county officials.
The ecosystem and tourism industry would be negatively impacted, but the higher financial cost could come about from the mussel-clogged water intakes, pumps, pipelines, and irrigation lines that use water from the lake, the county reported.
An infestation in Clear Lake and its surrounding lakes could have a huge impact on Northern California as well, local officials said.
Clear Lake empties into Cache Creek whose water is used for agricultural irrigation in Yolo County; Lake Pillsbury empties into the Eel River which could introduce invasive mussels into the Russian River; and Hidden Valley Lake empties into Putah Creek which runs through Lake Berryessa into Vacaville, Fairfield and the Suisan Marshes.
Both Putah and Cache Creek waters flow into the Bay Delta and so an infestation in these creeks could ultimately infest the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.
Although the downstream flow of water from Lake County could affect several other counties, it is the state of California’s stance that each individual water body is responsible for their own protection.
In 2008, the Lake County Department of Water Resources brought the quagga mussel to the attention of the Lake County Board of Supervisors. Four decontamination units were purchased almost immediately and a mussel sticker program was created.
Lake County currently has about 30 retailers who participate in the sticker program and approximately 20 state-certified inspectors.
Mark Miller, a member of the Lake County Invasive Species Prevention team is available 24/7 to perform inspections. His attitude is to get people on the lake as quickly as possible.
“My goal is to make friends with the boaters, while keeping Clear Lake clear of mussels,” said Miller.
The Lake County Invasive Mussel Program is funded through fees collected from the sale of mussel stickers, which totals approximately $45,000 a year, according to De Leon.
“This barely covers the cost of the supplies to print the stickers and our part-time extra help employee who is currently coordinating the program,” said De Leon.
A Lake County resident pays $10 a year for their annual sticker, and a visitor will spend $10 per month on a sticker. The retailer retains $7 of that fee, and the county receives $3 of the fee.
In 2013, Lake County performed 14,771 screenings, which are more than were performed at Lake Tahoe, with a fraction of the budget.
Miller also performs a monthly monitoring of the 20-plus “traps,” artificial substrates scattered throughout Lake County’s lakes, in order to identify an infestation as soon as possible.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife also performs a plankton tow of Clear Lake twice a year at the request of the County to check for veligers, the microscopic larvae of invasive mussels.
“The need for Lake County to secure an ongoing revenue source is of paramount importance in order to set up a comprehensive line of defense to prevent the infestation of the zebra and quagga mussels,” said Lake County District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, the Lake County Board of Supervisors will consider a resolution calling for the placement of the Healthy Lake Sales Tax ordinance on the June ballot. The ordinance calls for a one half-percent increase in sales tax to be used exclusively for the lake.
In November 2012, Measure E, a Sales Tax to Support Clear Lake, was narrowly defeated in the local polls.
De Leon said that invasive species prevention would be the top priority of funding received from that sales tax.
Algae, weed abatement, water quality programs and the Middle Creek Restoration Project also are priorities of the measure, he said.
No viable method of invasive mussel remediation has yet been developed for a body of water the size of Clear Lake if it should become infested.
For more information on Lake County’s Mussel Sticker program go to www.nomussels.com .
State controller orders enforcement action against delinquent reclamation district
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The State Controller's Office is seeking missing financial data from a number of special districts around the state that haven't submitted the information as required by law, with a local reclamation district that is being proposed for disbandment among them.
State Controller John Chiang said Thursday he was dispatching his audit and accounting staff to 20 special districts across the state to collect missing financial data that, by law, was required to be reported more than a year ago.
Among the districts that Chiang said haven't reported is Reclamation District No. 2070, based in Upper Lake.
Of those 20 public agencies delinquent in their reporting, the controller will audit at least three districts which have failed to comply with reporting requirements for two or more consecutive years, Chiang said.
Tom Smythe of Lake County Water Resources said Reclamation District No. 2070, which is an independent special district, was created in the mid 1920s to maintain levees and pumps in the Upper Lake Reclamation Area.
Maintenance of those levees was taken over by the state in the 1950s, Smythe said
Reclamation District No. 2070 has “become a nonfunctional entity at this point,” Smythe said.
The reclamation district was among 120 local governments that received letters from Chiang last October warning that their financial reports were overdue by more than a year and that action would be taken if the reports weren't submitted by Dec. 31.
Nine cities and 97 of the special districts that were warned subsequently filed their reports, according to Chiang's office.
Altogether, more than 5,200 local public agencies have complied with Government Code section 53891, which requires local governments to annually file with the State Controller's Office a report of financial transactions – which include figures on revenues, expenditures and long-term debt – within 90 to 110 days of the end of the fiscal year.
Chiang publishes financial reporting instructions annually on his Web site, http://www.sco.ca.gov/ .
In the case of Reclamation District No. 2070, the last report it made to the state was for the 2010-11 fiscal year, according to Jacob Roper, a spokesman for the State Controller's Office.
He said the data for 2012-13 was due last October, but the district didn't submit it.
At its Jan. 28 meeting, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider a request from Lake County Water Resources to ask the Lake County Local Agency Formation Commission to initiate proceedings to dissolve the reclamation district.
Smythe said the Lake County Watershed Protection District has been buying up property in Reclamation District No. 2070 for the Middle Creek Restoration Project area, which covers 1,650 acres of land that is meant to be restored to wetlands to improve the health of Clear Lake.
As that land purchasing process has moved forward, the reclamation district's officers have been bought out, Smythe said. As a result, the district hasn't functioned for about a year.
In one case in point, Smythe said last November escrow closed on the Watershed Protection District's purchase of property owned by John Irwin, who had been the reclamation district board president.
“So we're starting the disbandment process and it will come under the jurisdiction of the Watershed Protection District,” Smythe said.
At some point in the future, when the Middle Creek Restoration Project goes into effect, the reclamation district's remaining facilities – a flood water pumping station and diversion channel that it maintains – will no longer be needed, according to Smythe.
In the meantime, the State Controller's Office is still trying to locate the delinquent financial data from Reclamation District No. 2070, Roper said.
He said accounting staff will work to collect the data, and may be able to obtain it through the Lake County Auditor's Office, as local auditors offices often oversee funds for such districts, he said.
Roper didn't yet have a timeframe for when State Controller's staff plan to work on getting the district's records.
“We will be collecting it and making sure everyone has access to it,” Roper said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at