How to resolve AdBlock issue? Lakeport City Council discusses goals, budget; approves liquor license
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council had a chance to review city staff's progress on goals and the budget process at a special Tuesday night meeting.
The council's hourlong workshop, held on the 125th anniversary of the city's incorporation, also included approval of a Type-48 liquor license that Buckhorn Club owner Logan Weiper requested as a result of his move to a new location at 150 N. Main St..
The council unanimously approved the license at the suggestion of Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said the council was required to give its approval on the license by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control because the agency considered the downtown Lakeport area to have a high concentration of similar licenses.
Weiper said his goal was to offer a clean, comfortable new venue for the bar.
Mayor Tom Engstrom, a retired Lakeport Police chief, said he didn't consider Lakeport to have a high concentration of the licenses. In the city of Guadalupe, where he also had been chief of police, he said there had been 27 liquor licenses within a two-block area. Rasmussen agreed with Engstrom that the city didn’t have a high concentration of the licenses.
The main part of the meeting was a budget workshop led by Finance Director Dan Buffalo.
“We're feverishly working on the budget for next fiscal year,” said Buffalo, and staff wanted to bring council in on the process.
Buffalo's presentation focused on three things – a new component to the budget covering capital improvement projects, as well as citywide goals the council had developed during a February strategic planning session and the council's own budget. He said staff wanted the council's feedback on the work so far.
Staff began doing the groundwork for budget planning in February, but March was the real starting point, Buffalo explained. Staff received workbooks in April, with Buffalo explaining, “May is really when the rubber hits the road.”
The city's first official capital improvement project budget folds into the city's operation budget, Buffalo explained. It's meant to give the city a five-year snapshot of capital projects; the goal is to eventually have such budgets with 10- and 20-year overviews.
The capital improvement project budget identifies 84 projects at a total of $15.9 million, Buffalo said.
In addition to $3.9 million in water projects and $4.2 million in sewer projects – which the city has received some federal funding to help cover – and $800,000 in dock replacements, projects range between $1,500 and $2.2 million, with average costs around $30,000. He said 61 of the projects were under $100,000. Not all are financially feasible for the city.
Among the proposed purchases are vehicles, which Utilities and Public Works Director Mark Brannigan said will include used vehicles when possible, although in some instances state air quality requirements are difficult to meet unless new vehicles are purchased.
The project list also included purchases like new water meters, which will be funded through the recently approved US Department of Agricultural Rural Development funds.
Councilman Marc Spillman questioned the need to purchase the meters. City Manager Margaret Silveira said the meters definitely were needed.
Brannigan said staff was proposing the purchase of electronic meters that can be read simply by driving by them. Spillman questioned what Brannigan acknowledged was a 70-percent higher expense for the electronic meters over manual meters.
However, Brannigan said it the extra cost would save significant amounts of labor. He said staff spends 80 hours a month reading meters.
Councilman Kenny Parlet penciled out the annual hours spent on meter reading, estimating between 9,600 and 10,000 hours. “Seems to me it's almost like a no-brainer,” he said, with the ability to recoup the meters' expense by being able to have staff focus on maintenance and other work.
Brannigan said the staff hours could be reduced to eight per month with the new meters.
Because the meters were approved in the project list submitted to the USDA, Silveira said she didn't think the city could change its projects, but she said she would check into it.
The status of city goals
The meeting then turned to citywide goals, which Buffalo said council and staff members worked on together in February.
They arrived at five general citywide goals, and as departments are developing their budgets, they are instructed to tailor their budgets to focus on those goals, he said.
Silveira went over the goals with the council.
The first goal is maintaining strong council and staff relations, and encouraging leadership development. That includes developing a succession plan for executive management members, promoting and fostering leadership development throughout all management ranks, continuing to promote and invest in training programs for staff, and maintaining the highest possible standards for the recruitment, selection and retention of staff.
Goal No. 2 is to strengthen community and regional involvement, which involves enhancing promotion and readership of the community newsletter, enhancing marketing outreach, strengthening the relationship with the county and regional groups toward the promotion of engaging in regional projects that benefit the community as a whole.
The city's third goal is to establish and promote effective public outreach efforts. The city's action items for that goal are developing social media presence and promoting civic engagement, assembling a master list of community development partners and engaging those entities on specific objectives, increasing community outreach through community policing and crime reduction initiatives, and completing development of marijuana ordinance through increased community involvement.
Fourth on the city's goals list is enhancing activities and programs to support local and regional economic development. That includes promoting, marketing and branding the city; looking for alternatives to replace the economic development efforts of the former redevelopment agency; revisiting the storefront ordinance; focusing resources and attention to improving the physical appearance of Main Street; refocusing efforts on event promotion and the development of recreation sites.
The last of the five goals is focusing efforts on infrastructure improvements, including ensuring a safe and sustainable Lakeport; developing and implementing a capital improvement program; capitalizing on efficiencies provided through technology, including updating software and the city’s Web site; and increasing focus on developing the lakefront and improving the quality of the Lake during the summer months.
Silveira asked the council members if the goals still were relevant to them, and if they believed the implementation was working.
“They all sounded so foreign when we talked about them three months ago,” but the staff already is working on them, said Engstrom.
Parlet said it was the kind of list he would like to keep on a card in his wallet or posted on a wall at work. The rest of the council agreed that they liked the list.
City staff also briefly went over the council's own $91,000 budget for the year, with Silveira explaining that they have spent about $50,000 so far.
The council's budget includes salaries and benefits, special projects, special legal counsel, travel and training and fireworks. It also covers the Lakeport Planning Commission, primarily the stipend and payroll taxes.
The city's July 4 fireworks display is budgeted at $16,500, the same as last year, said Silveira.
“It brings a lot of people to town,” said Engstrom, who added that last year was a great show.
The award of the fireworks contract will be on the next council agenda, said City Clerk Janel Chapman.
Because the Lake County Chamber of Commerce is no longer doing a campaign letter to raise funds for the event, it was suggested that the city do more outreach to local businesses to help defray the costs.
Silveira told the council that in June there will be two meetings focusing on the final budget.
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043013 Lakeport City Council Preliminary Budget Workshop
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Manhole replacement under way at Lakeside Heights; goal is to avoid sewage spill, evacuation
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Concerned that further ground movement at a north Lakeport subdivision could damage sewer infrastructure to the point of a sewage spill, the county had a contractor working on Tuesday to replace a manhole that has been made vulnerable by the situation.
The work at Lakeside Heights continued a day after a special meeting in which county officials told residents that the manhole on Lancaster Road needed to be replaced immediately if a sewage spill – and a temporary evacuation of the entire subdivision – was to be avoided.
Since late March homeowners in the subdivision of 29 Tudor-style homes just off of Hill Road have watched as the earth has moved under their homes, with a total of seven being red-tagged, according to the county. Three are destroyed, having either broken in half or fallen into fissures that have opened on the hillside.
A contractor hired by Lake County Special Districts dug a large hole on Tuesday morning as part of the effort to reroute the county sewer line that runs along Lancaster Road.
Neighborhood residents Garey Hurn and Randall Fitzgerald estimated the hole measured 9 feet by 10 feet and was 6 feet deep. They said the work was delayed by the intrusion of groundwater at a depth of 58 inches, below the road surface.
Hurn reported that the water volume was “quite significant” and required pumping from the hole to a temporary sewage bypass system Special Districts has put in place. Existing sewer line also was being patched.
In an email sent to county officials, Fitzgerald observed that the water was flowing west to east through the gravel that surrounds the sewer pipe in two large and steady streams.
He said the pipes appeared to be acting as a French drain, with the hole needing to be pumped numerous times. He and Hurn calculated that the water rose 5 inches every 15 minutes.
Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger told Lake County News that the pipe trench was being dewatered and the water sent downstream into the county’s sewer collection system.
“The contractor has to have the trench dewatered so they can install the new manhole and connect it to existing pipes,” he told Lake County News in a Tuesday email.
For Fitzgerald, the appearance of so much water confirms the suspicions that he and other residents have had, namely, that one of the forces behind the landslide is a “natural flow” of water in the hillside.
That raises the concern that the county’s infrastructure is acting as a French drain and channeling water beneath all of the remaining houses along Lancaster Road via their home connections, which Fitzgerald suggested would explain why the hillside along Downing Street is constantly wet.
Fitzgerald and other residents in the subdivision are asking the county to expand its studies beyond just protecting the county’s infrastructure.
They want the source of the water found, with Fitzgerald proposing exploratory borings and the installation of multiple trench dams at the top of the hill where Downing and Lancaster meet.
County Counsel Anita Grant told a group of close to 40 subdivision residents at the special Monday night meeting that their concerns could be scheduled to go to the Board of Supervisors on the next available agenda.
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Lakeside Heights homeowners seek answers during meeting with county, state officials
LAKEPORT, Calif. – County and state officials met with residents of the Lakeside Heights subdivision at a special Monday night meeting, offering updates on the effort to study and identify the forces that created a landslide that has destroyed several homes and damaged sewer infrastructure.
About 40 of the residents who live in the 29-home subdivision attended the hour-and-45-minute long meeting at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Seven homes have been red-tagged, efforts are under way to reroute electricity and sewer services, county road crews are prepared to respond should the landslide impact Hill Road, and emergency road access to both the subdivision and Sutter Lakeside Hospital, located across Hill Road, have been worked out in the event that the slide worsens and cuts off the main roadways.
County Public Works Director Scott De Leon, the county’s incident commander for Lakeside Heights, told the residents who had lost their homes, “We’re heartbroken. It’s a terrible situation, one that obviously none of us would have predicted.”
While residents said they appreciated the information offered at the meeting, they still questioned who, ultimately, would be responsible for the situation and who had caused it.
Along with De Leon, on hand for the meeting were County Administrative Officer Matt Perry, County Counsel Anita Grant, county public information officer Kevin Ingram, Deputy Special Districts Administrator Jan Coppinger, Community Development Director Rick Coel, sheriff’s Capt. Chris Macedo, Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells, county Office of Emergency Services Assistant Coordinator Willie Sapeta and Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait, along with David Longstreth of the California Geological Survey and Roger Sigtermans of the California Emergency Management Agency.
De Leon said the county last week elevated the level of response to the situation at Lakeside Heights, bringing in additional county departments.
Previously, Lake County Special Districts has been the main agency responding to the crisis, which began to visibly manifest in late March, when ground fissures opened up along Lancaster Road and damaged homes.
On April 16, the Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency, with a view to getting state and federal funding and support for infrastructure repairs and, hopefully, for the homeowners as well.
Despite efforts to reduce water in the hillside – believed to be a main contributor to the ground instability – the ground has continued to move, according to Coppinger.
She said the landslide now is threatening a manhole which collects sewage for the subdivision. If the manhole can’t be replaced in time, there is the possibility of a raw sewage spill, which could require a subdivision evacuation.
At the same time, they are trying not to act too soon and disrupt the lives of residents, Coppinger said.
At the earliest, the manhole can be replaced by later this week or early next. The problem, said Coppinger, is unpredictability. They’ve seen 48 hours without movement, and then several feet of movement in just a day.
“If we do err, we need to err on the side of caution,” she said.
Coel said his department’s role has more to do with safety and the condition of the homes.
So far, he said they have red-tagged a total of seven structures, three of which have been destroyed by the ground movement. He said Community Development’s role probably will expand as they move into the cleanup phase.
Wells said officials have secured a way in and out of the subdivision through a secondary access in case the main road in is damaged. He said Kelseyville Fire and Northshore Fire have agreed to assist Lakeport Fire with responding in such a situation.
The county also has arranged a secondary access to Sutter Lakeside Hospital through an old clinic if Hill Road were to be affected by the slide, Wells said.
De Leon said county road crews are on standby around the clock should any debris generated from the landslide fall onto Hill Road, and a contingency plan also is in effect should a slide occur.
Longstreth said he was working to assist CalEMA with understanding the geology of what’s happening. He said the investigation is being handled by the county’s geotechnical contractor, RGH Consultants, which is sharing information with him.
Homeowners seeks answers about who can help
Dr. Frederick Johnson said drainage and irrigation problems had been known issues at the subdivision for years. He wanted to know where homeowners could go for help.
Grant offered to get contact information for various state and federal agencies and forward them to homeowners on Tuesday.
Regarding any escalation of the emergency, Macedo said the Office of Emergency Services’ care and shelter component would be able to offer accommodations for residents. He also reported that deputies have been asked to conduct extra patrol in the area.
Randall Fitzgerald, who bought his brick Colonial home in the subdivision 14 months ago, asked about best and worst case scenarios.
Longstreth explained that, based on RGH’s testing, the ground movement appears to be at a depth of around 20 to 25 feet; he said the slippage is taking place in the terrace deposits. That is below the fill layer that runs from a cut at Oxford Drive, where the fill is shallowest, out to the edge of Lancaster Road, where the fill is deepest, at around 15 feet.
As for Fitzgerald’s question about the worst case scenario, Longstreth said he’s not sure they have the information to make that determination yet, adding that water has been found below the rupture zone. “It’s not like there's one well-defined wet area,” he said.
Longstreth said he didn’t believe the movement would go beyond the fill area that ends at Oxford Drive.
Coppinger said Special Districts plans on installing emergency manholes and new lift stations, but none of that can be done until they know they have stable ground.
Fitzgerald asked if the board’s original geotechnical report mentioned water. Coppinger said it referenced shallow surface water.
Longstreth said the subdivision originally was proposed to be much larger, with the current development in the middle of that area. The initial geotechnical investigation in 1979 didn’t find groundwater in the developed area, however, groundwater was found in the northern and southern areas of the original development footprint, where it was relatively shallow, at about 10 feet.
Ultimately, he said deeper ground borings need to be done to understand the geometry of the landslide plane.
During the discussion, one woman asked why the county didn’t take action about the subdivision earlier.
De Leon said the county had required the developer to fulfill certain requirements. “Unfortunately we’re not the agency to go in and fix the previous developer’s problem.”
Ellen Chapralis asked how the developer had gotten a permit. “It really is a puzzle.”
“I wish I could answer that question,” said De Leon, adding that he understood her frustration.
He explained that every time a developer wants to build something and Coel asks them to do a geotechnical report, they complain about the cost to their project. He said such developers are constantly pushing back when Coel asks them to take those kinds of actions to protect homeowners. De Leon added that he can’t speak to what happened 30 years ago.
Coel said the requirements of the subdivision ordinances have been in place since 1971, and Longstreth added that the geotechnical report from 1979 seemed “pretty adequate.”
De Leon suggested that if the Lakeside Heights Homeowners Association is not able to fund additional studies, the homeowners could ask the Board of Supervisors to expand the studies the county is undertaking for the purposes of planning and being prepared for any future ground movement. But he warned that one supervisor already had raised concerns about the amount of money being spent.
Johnson said the homeowners are the losers in the situation. He said more needs to be done to delineate what has happened at the subdivision and what needs to happen to remedy the situation, a suggestion De Leon said made perfect sense. De Leon said that, up until now, the Board of Supervisors has directed that the focus be placed on protecting sewer and water infrastructure.
Grant suggested that the request for an expanded discussion on how to address the situation can be put on the next available Board of Supervisors agenda. She said the county also needed to make vigorous efforts, along with CalEMA, to discover what can be done.
Longstreth explained that the subdivision is impacted by water moving through the ground. “We don’t know what the rate of movement is.”
In response to questions about how the problems came to the attention of Special Districts, Coppinger explained that late last year, a minor “offset” in a Special Districts-managed pipe was discovered. Such offsets can happen when a pipe is moved by a root or some other object.
“It was a minor repair, we thought nothing of it,” said Coppinger, explaining that a point repair was made and checked. Then, in March, they checked the area again and saw it had moved. “Something happened.”
When asked about why red-tagged homes weren’t immediately being removed, Coel said that they don’t want to put heavy equipment out on a road that may fail, as they consider it unsafe.
A resident asked who would fix the roads that have cracked or been dug up. De Leon said the roads were the least of their concerns, but said the county would patch the road if it was still there in the future.
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Office of Emergency Services plans April 29 meeting on Lakeside Heights situation
LAKEPORT, Calif. – County officials are planning a special meeting this Monday regarding the worsening situation at a north Lakeport subdivision, where a landslide continues to damage homes and could necessitate a temporary evacuation of all of the homes if infrastructure incurs any further damage.
In an effort to provide up to date information to all residents of the Lakeside Heights subdivision, the Lake County Office of Emergency Services will hold a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 29, in the Lake County Board of Supervisors chambers, located on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport.
This meeting is to inform residents of the ongoing slide situation, according to county public information officer Kevin Ingram.
Ingram said the Incident Command System has been put in place and multiple public agencies are actively monitoring conditions at the site and coordinating efforts daily. These agencies will be available to answer questions and provide information at this meeting.
To date, eight homes have been voluntarily or mandatorily evacuated, Ingram said.
The Community Development Department has initiated a summary abatement process for the home that has collapsed at 5396 Lancaster Road. However, at this time contractors have not been directed to begin demolition work due to potential safety concerns to workers and the possibility that the use of heavy equipment could possibly aggravate the slide area further, according to Ingram.
Three new additional residences along Lancaster Drive were notified of continued slide expansion and advised to voluntarily evacuate from their homes, he said.
The sewer system, which was damaged as part of the initial slide last month, continues to operate through the use of an emergency bypass system. Ingram said continued slide movement is now threatening the temporary system.
Ingram reported that Special Districts staff is diligently monitoring the situation and has implemented a plan to install a new temporary system within a week.
In the event the sewer system is compromised prior to the new installation, it will be necessary to cut off sewer and water service to the subdivision, resulting in a need for a temporary evacuation of all homes in the subdivision, Ingram said.
The Incident Command Team for the Lakeside Heights Slide is working with the Department of Social Services about the possible provision of temporary shelter for residents, Ingram said. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.
He said Special Districts hopes to avoid the interruption of water and sewer service to residences of the Lakeside Heights subdivision but is compelled to provide residents with some advance warning and an opportunity to have an emergency evacuation plan in place if it should be needed.
Flyers containing information about the scheduled community meeting and information on the threat to the sewer system were distributed to residences in person Saturday afternoon, Ingram said.
Due to unstable soil conditions, the general public is being asked to not visit the slide area. Ingram said that activity around the area can accelerate the slide and poses a safety risk to those in the area.
Downing Drive and the remainder of internal subdivision roads remain open to local residents and emergency personnel vehicles only. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is providing additional patrols to the affected area, he said.
As of Saturday afternoon, the slide does not appear to be presenting an immediate threat to Hill Road, Ingram said.
The Department of Public Works continues to be ready to remove debris from Hill Road and Downing Drive if the slide should reach those points. Contingency plans are in place to ensure that access to Sutter Lakeside Hospital remains uninterrupted, Ingram said.
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Lakeport City Council plans special April 30 meeting to discuss budget, liquor license
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council will hold a special meeting next week to discuss the 2013-14 budget and the granting of a liquor license to the relocated Buckhorn Club.
The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
As part of the meeting the council will conduct an initial workshop on its 2013-14 budget.
Also up for discussion is consideration of making a determination regarding public convenience or necessity being served with respect to Type-48 on sale general public premises liquor license. Logan Weiper, owner of the Buckhorn Club, has applied to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for the license.
A report to the council from Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen explains that Weiper closed the business temporarily order to relocate it from 357 N. Main St. to 150 N. Main St.
Since closing the original location, Rasmussen said Weiper was required to surrender his ABC liquor sales license pending a new ABC application and review process in order to have it transferred to the new address.
“The Lakeport Police Department worked with Mr. Weiper at his previous location and found that he had a great desire to enhance the business and run it in a safe and orderly manner,” Rasmussen wrote in his report.
“We do not believe that alcohol sales at the new location will create any increased crime,” he continued. “The new location is on the same street and only two blocks away from the previous location. The building owner at the previous location has communicated to city staff that they do not currently plan to re-open the previous location as a liquor sales establishment, but rather convert it to another type of business use.”
Based on a discussion with Weiper, and a review of his business plan and all of the facts surrounding the business, Rasmussen is recommending the council make the determination in favor of the license being issued to Weiper.
The council also will hold a closed session to discuss an anticipated case of litigation.
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043013 Lakeport City Council Special Meeting Packet
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