Lakeport City Council candidates’ spotlight: Mary Nolan

Personal information:

Name: Mary Nolan

Age: 59

Family: Single with two cats. Brothers and sister live in Wisconsin.

Career/current job: I started working as a social worker for In-Home Supportive Services Oct. 1. I have spent half of the last 20 years living overseas and teaching English. I have also taught film at Florida State University, English at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin and English classes at the Developing Virtue Schools in Talmage, Calif. I have been a legal secretary for 12 years and a librarian for two years in other job incarnations.

Education: I have a bachelor of arts from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, and a master of arts from the University of Oregon, Eugene, both in English. I am three credits short of a masters in special education from San Francisco State University; I am all but doctorate in the humanities from Florida State University, Tallahassee).

Length of residence in Lake County and your particular city: I moved to Lakeport four years ago. Before that I lived in Ukiah a year. I have lived all over the United States, including nine years in San Francisco, three years in Washington, DC, and three years in the Florida panhandle. I lived in Poland for two years, where I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I lived in Ecuador three years. Additionally, I have taught and lived in Saipan, Korea, Palau and the Marshall Islands.

Web site or email address where community members can contact you: My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  and my phone is 707-263-1360.

Questions:

1. Please outline your experience serving the local community. Include all community or volunteer service.

Since I moved here I have been an AmeriCorps volunteer in an after-school program in Kelseyville, I served on the Lake County Grand Jury during 2010 to 2011, I have been a Hospice volunteer, I have worked at a group home with developmentally delayed kids, and I am now working with low income Lake County residents as an IHSS social worker.

2. Why did you decide to run for public office?
   
I decided to run when I read about the proposed water/sewer increases in the Record-Bee. It seemed to me that if our city council was considering a 100-percent increase over the next five years in our current economic climate, it demonstrated a lack of sensitivity and understanding of our community. I decided to run as an average citizen – a kind of Mr. Smith goes to Washington.

3. What are the important qualities you would bring to public service?
   
I would bring intelligence and analytical abilities and the ability to research and understand problems – all of my academic training has prepared me for that. I have traveled and lived all over the world, so I would bring intercultural sensitivity and global vision. I’d like to think of myself as a local candidate with global vision. I have lived on several islands, and I realize we ALL have “island pyschology.” Some islands are just bigger than others. Lake County is a kind of an island. Lakeport is a kind of an island. We have separated ourselves from other communities in our county – most specifically Clearlake, which we treat as our ugly stepsister, and we view our city as superior to and separate from Clearlake. However, to the outside world, when people read of crime in Clearlake, they don’t separate Lakeport from the rest of Lake County and think, “Oh, I’d like to visit Lake County.” Instead, they make a mental note to stay away from a place often associated with drugs and crime. One of the things Frank Rivero said when he was running for sheriff was that, “We can’t fix Lake County without fixing Clearlake.”

I think our city council must look beyond our city boundaries and forge better relationships with Clearlake and with our county Board of Supervisors. Lakeport is in this with the rest of the county, and the current spate of downtown businesses closing will bring us demographically closer to Clearlake.  By that, I mean that Lakeport’s mean income of around $32,000 has always placed our average citizen about $10,000 above the mean income of Clearlakians. All that will change unless city residents can find other ways to bring jobs, businesses, and money into Lakeport.

4. What are the primary functions of a city council member? What are the important skill sets a council member should possess?
   
A city council member should be compassionate, able to listen to constituents, and able to separate their personal views, needs and desires from what “the public” they represent wants. City councilors should be able to plan for the future, prioritize and envision the way things should be. They should be proactive, not reactive. A city council member should possess above average intelligence and the ability to dig to find the information s/he needs, not merely accepting the testimony of city employees and calling that “working well with city employees.” Frankly, at times the council will have to stand AGAINST city employees. Any politician needs a thick skin, the ability to take criticism, and the ability to be unpopular.

5. What is your city’s single greatest challenge? How would you address it?
   
Our greatest challenge is filling the storefronts on Main Street. We need a vibrant city again.  I attended the council meeting the week Molly Brennan’s and two other businesses closed and it wasn’t even mentioned at the meeting. We need to draw new businesses through traffic slowing on Main Street.  First and Second streets should be four-way stops.

In the future I would like to see Main Street as a kind of walking mall. I would invite Pomo tribal elders to work with us to bring a Pomo Cultural Center to Main Street. That center could teach traditional healing, drumming and Pomo boat building skills.

I would talk to some of the spiritual communities that are moving into the county – there is a new Tibetan Buddhist leader in Upper Lake, there are monasteries and meditation centers on Cobb, there is a new ashram which has been given permission to build in Lower Lake. I think we could build Lakeport into a kind of “New Age” community that has store fronts filled with alternative healers, crafts people and representatives from these groups.

I would also like to see more wine bars and a brew pub in Lakeport. Kelseyville and Upper Lake are opening new tasting rooms – why aren’t we? Kelseyville just opened a new brew pub. Why didn’t we get that business?

I would also like to see more upscale antique stores and stores that offer unique crafts from all over the world. We could make ourselves into a kind of Nevada City – a hip, yet historical place with fun shops, fun stuff to do and unique Western architecture.

6. If you are elected, what will your top issue be? What other issues are of particular interest to you?
   
Bringing new businesses to Main Street and making Main Street into a fun place to walk around and window shop. We also have a score of local musicians and artists who could have their own art store/café. We DO have a local arts council, but I would like to see it be an after-hours hip place to gather. We need places people can go in the evenings to gather and hear good music. And it needs to happen regularly and dependably so that we know we have a place to gather and form community.
   
We need to increase our feeling of community and to draw people to our community. I believe KPFZ is a great community resource and it is one of the reasons I feel lucky to live in Lakeport. I would like to have the city support the station with underwriting for the city. That would also mean the station could increase its wattage and reach more areas. I would like to see us get more articles about the city in the San Francisco Chronicle. We need a better publicist for the city, so perhaps that is a function I could perform as a person who likes to write.

7. Is there a matter that you’ve seen the council handle that you believe should have been approached differently? If so, how would you have handled it?
   
YES. I was very disappointed with the way the council handled the water/sewer issue. The way they played the issue in the media, they ONLY got 650 letters of protest. I believe 650 protests is a substantial protest, especially in a city like Lakeport in which so many homes are vacation homes, vacant most of the year, and whose owners probably didn’t take the time to protest. People came forward to protest for six hours of testimony – some of it heart wrenching. I really feel like it was all an empty charade to satisfy the legal requirements of Proposition 218, and once the city council could say the rate hike had been handled in a legal matter they had CYA’d. In this case, following the letter of the law did not make the rate hike morally acceptable, it just made it legal.

8. What ways, if any, would you encourage public and media interaction with you and the city council should you be elected? How would you approach public interaction, especially on controversial issues?
   
I would be 100 percent transparent, give out my home phone, ask for input and be honest about what I think. I would open more city council meetings to the public. Too much is being done behind closed doors.
   
I was already approached by one of the candidate’s wives after our candidate forum about something I had said about her husband, and I expect my response in any public interaction would be the same as it was to her: “That’s why they call it a democracy.” We all have the constitutional right of free speech, and I would expect people to exercise it.

9. When you think of your city in 20 years, what do you hope it will look like? When considering that future vision of your city, what would you want your legacy to be in improving your community?
   
I would love to have Lakeport be famous as a healing center so that people from all over the US flock here the way they go to Sedona, Ariz. I would like to see us close off our shopping area and create a downtown mall like St. Augustine, Fla., has done. We are a historical city. We can build on that historicity by REALLY making Lakeport a port on the lake. Let’s establish a water taxi service so that we can visit other Lake County cities by boat. Let’s have wine tasting boat tours so that those of us without boats can still get on the lake regularly. I see all of us walking on a cobbled Main Street, window shopping in our shops that sell the work of local artists and trinkets from all over the world. I would love to be able to walk into a brew pub and drink a cold beer with a civilized, cultured, group of people. I would like to hear the sounds of jazz, blues, and classical music wafting from doorways and be able to walk in on outdoor concerts. I would like to see more inviting outdoor cafes and see table lined streets of prosperous bars, bistros, and restaurants so that walking down our Main Street would feed my aesthetic sense, my soul and my love of life.

Lakeport COULD be a Moveable Feast. (I’m a Hemingway scholar, so I HAD to get in at least one reference to “my dude.”)  I would like my friends who visit me here to return because there is so much to do and they had so much fun they bring others back with them.
   
Everyone keeps talking about the way Clearlake used to be and how Lake County used to be and they keep talking about bringing back that vision of the good old days. My vision sees a different Lake County altogether. I would like Lakeport to proclaim itself gay friendly, as Clearlake’s mayor has done in Clearlake. I would like Lake County to proclaim itself gay friendly. I would like for us to get more people from San Francisco building weekend vacation homes here so that we would become more like Healdsburg, which is attracting a lot of San Franciscans with its restaurants, antique stores, upscale furniture stores and wine boutiques.

I would want my legacy to be part of a city council that made those things happen – that changed the face of Lakeport. I would NOT like my legacy to be the council member who raised water/sewer rates for the next 40 years, who increased the police presence in the community, or who bankrupted our city through PERS increases to city employees so that now the city must struggle to meet its legal requirements for promises made in more prosperous times. If that were my legacy, I would feel I had failed.
   
“Some people see things as they are and ask ‘Why?’; I see things that never were and ask ‘Why not?’” – Maybe we need a visionary even more today than we did in the 1960s.

Financial information: See Form 470 below.

Lakeport City Council Candidates - Mary Nolan - Form 470

Details

Written by: MARY NOLAN

Published: 16 October 2012

Lakeport City Council candidates’ spotlight: Suzanne Lyons

Personal information:

Name: Suzanne Lyons

Age: 68

Family: Husband, Bill Graham; daughter, Amanda.

Career/current job: Retired teacher, own small business in Lakeport, current Lakeport City Councilwoman

Length of residence in Lake County and your particular city: Lived in Lake County in the city of Lakeport for 23 years.

Web site or email address where community members can contact you: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Questions:

1. Please outline your experience serving the local community. Include all community or volunteer service.

I have been on the Lakeport City Council for four years. I was a member of the Clear Lake Advisory Committee for six years, the Invasive Species Council for four years, the Parks and Recreation Commission for the city of Lakeport for four years, the Public Information and Outreach Workgroup for the Storm Water Commission for three years, the Local Area Formation Commission for three years and am next year’s vice chairwoman for that commission, and attended meetings of the Chamber of Commerce for another council member who could not make his meetings for one year.  I am a member of the Lakeport Main Street Association and a member of the promotion committee for the association.  

2. Why did you decide to run for public office?

Originally I ran for Lakeport City Council because of specific issues having to do with the Lakeport General Plan and an agreement with a developer to purchase the city’s water/sewer facility and some city-owned lakefront property for a subdivision.

I am running for a second term because I have a lot of information and an understanding of the issues that face the city of Lakeport in the future. One of the longtime council members is not running for reelection and the second longest-serving candidate may or may not win. I am the only other candidate with any history on the council.

Some of the policies, like the council policy to hire local vendors and contractors when possible, are policies that would not be known by new council members or by the members who are now sitting as these policies were set before the present members were elected.

3. What are the important qualities you would bring to public service?

One of the most important qualities I bring to the council is I do the work. Being a council member does not just consist of going to two monthly meetings and reading the staff reports. There are many committees and other meetings that council members are expected to work on and participate in.

At one point a couple of years ago I was attending eight different committees even though each council member was assigned to two to three committees. But since one of the council members had work commitments that precluded him from attending his committees someone had to take on the work.

I do wonder, since most of the candidates have attended zero to three council meetings in the past year, whether they realize the work expectations that they are committing to. Committee work is what keeps the council as a whole informed about what is happening with the lake, the roads, other jurisdictions within the county and trends in other areas that affect the city such as storm water issues, tourism and economic development, to name just a few.

I have a good imagination. Having worked as an artist for much of my life, I have learned to look at problems and programs from a different perspective, or many perspectives. This is not a quality that is necessarily one that is fostered in government service, and I believe it is a quality that government needs more of.

4. What are the primary functions of a city council member? What are the important skill sets a council member should possess?

The city council is responsible for setting policies that affect the citizens of the city and surrounding county. We need to be informed in order to make sound decisions and also in order to inform our citizens of the implications of how those decisions will affect them.  

It is the duty of the council to make sure that all of the important options are presented by staff and all of the important questions are answered.

A council member must be able to work with staff and other council members even if the members do not agree on specific details or even the final outcome on an issue.

5. What is your city’s single greatest challenge? How would you address it?

Right now economic issues are a big driver challenging most city governments. How do we move forward with less money to work with? We have unique features: one of the oldest lakes in the world and a county that has no easy access. We have wine (who doesn’t); we have high elevation wine (that’s different). We have the opportunity to make Lake County the kind of place we want it to be in the future, and the city of Lakeport can be a leader here.

We need to work within the entire county to make this a place where people come year round. Those of us who live here know that August isn’t our best time of year. We have beautiful weather year round.  We have amazing birds and one of the oldest most interesting Native American cultures in the United States.

We can do it right, using good planning to assure that we preserve the unique features that made us decide to live here in the first place. Or we can try (unsuccessfully) to be just like someplace else and loose our identity in the process.  

The city of Lakeport had a two-day workshop on economic development in 2011. We were given some very specific advice on how to approach our economic development. We are following some of that advice; some of it we are ignoring. We need to take a good look at the recommendations and re evaluate them.

One of those recommendations was to give the citizens of Lakeport a rallying point to bring us together. We started that at a citizens meeting to “brand Lakeport” earlier this month. Now we are taking about bringing in an outside consultant. We don’t need someone else to define us. When we do that we end up with someone trying to change us to “Konocti Hills.”

We have a lot of local talent. If we use more of that talent, we will be giving work to local citizens and at the same time preserving our unique identity.  

6. If you are elected, what will your top issue be? What other issues are of particular interest to you?

I have spent the last four years concentrating on water issues. While those will always be first in my heart, I believe that in order to preserve our watershed and our lake we need to concentrate more on how we will pay for that preservation. Therefore, I would like to spend the next four years working on ways to develop a healthier local economy.

One of the recommendations that came out of the economic development workshop was to connect our lakefront with our downtown. Last month with the Lakeport Main Street Association I put on a pirate event in downtown Lakeport. We learned a lot through this event and I could see this becoming a major draw to this town in the next few years. Our town is blessed with a viable waterfront. We have the ability to put on water cannon battles with pirate ships and sell amazing “booty.” People who were mildly interested have already volunteered to help with this event next year. This event could be one of those “rallying points” for local citizens.

We may lose some downtown commerce if the courthouse moves. But we have a new college opening this winter out on Parallel Drive. The manager of the transit company was telling me at a recent meeting that so many people are riding bicycles to the bus that there are more bikes than the buses can carry. He reported that in other cities shared bike programs are providing bikes at destinations for bus riders.

If we started a pilot program in Lakeport that partnered the transit company with Mendocino College and the city of Lakeport in getting a shared bicycle program at the college we could connect the college, which is located on the edge of the city limits, with the downtown and recoup some of that custom that might be lost to the city if the courthouse moves.

I like working on projects like this; it’s what I would like to concentrate on in the next four years.

7. Is there a matter that you’ve seen the council handle that you believe should have been approached differently? If so, how would you have handled it?

I believe that the Main Street Redevelopment Project could have been handled differently. The project was originally one that did rally the local citizenry. Fifty people attended the first meeting and were interested in a “hands on” approach.

Local engineering firms bid for the design work and were confidant they could bring us a project that could be delivered for the amount we were able to pay. But the city council was swayed by assertions from an out-of-county design firm that we needed to have a fancier project than we could afford. As a result, we got a set of fancy plans to put on our “shelf,” a paved parking lot and alley and no trees downtown to cool us off in a July heat wave.

The city council has to be able to stand up for our policies, and one of those policies says that we will try, whenever possible, to hire local talent.

8. What ways, if any, would you encourage public and media interaction with you and the city council should you be elected? How would you approach public interaction, especially on controversial issues?

I have advocated for transparency in government ever since I was elected. I was on the radio for three-plus years weekly, speaking with Steve and Katherine Elias about government issues.

I believe for citizens to be actively involved in their government they need to feel they have a voice. They also need to be informed or else that voice just becomes ranting. I advocated for the PEG channel because I believe they have been successful in getting both the city of Clearlake and the county of Lake Board of Supervisors’ information out to the community. Joyce Overton, Clearlake City Council member, assured us that televising the council meetings would provide us with much more public input.

I think it’s important for citizens to know what jurisdiction they live in and who represents them in that jurisdiction. Public television and radio can provide that information. Web streaming is another venue, however many people complain that they don’t want to watch meetings on their computers, they don’t have computers and they would like to record and watch meetings at their own convenience. However it works best, we need to have an informed citizenry.

9. When you think of your city in 20 years, what do you hope it will look like? When considering that future vision of your city, what would you want your legacy to be in improving your community?

Picture this … a charming town with beautiful street trees, shady walkways in the summer heat open to the sky for natural light in the winter. The natural lakefront would continue from Willow Point, with its convention center set back from the lake but capturing those magnificent lake and mountain views, to Dutch Harbor with its tiny boutique hotel serving cocktails to us as we sit on the terrace watching the moon come up over Mount Konocti.

We could rent a sailboat, kayak or wind surfboard or take a solar water taxi over to Ceago Vine Garden.  We could order delicious specialty foods from the kiosk in Library Park using our cell phones and getting delivery from one of the Main Street restaurants or catering establishments. If we wanted to entertain guests in Library Park we could dial 262-park and have a sun structure, drinks cooler, table and chairs, food and inner tubes or a sunfish sailboat or fishing poles for the kids.

It’s all possible; and much of what is described here could be available next year not 20 years from now.

So, let’s get started. My legacy could be clean public restrooms with showers, so we could go straight from the lake to the dance at the convention center or dinner at the hotel without having to go home and change.

Financial information: See Form 470 and Form 470 Supplement below.

Lakeport City Council Candidates - Suzanne Lyons - Form 470Lakeport City Council Candidates - Suzanne Lyons - Form 470 Supplement

Details

Written by: SUZANNE LYONS

Published: 16 October 2012

Lakeport City Council candidates’ spotlight: Kenneth Parlet

Personal information:

Name: Kenneth Parlet II  (aka Kenny Parlet)

Age: 58

Family: I have four children, Ariana, Michael, Aaron, and Jamie. My Mom, Lotte, lives in Scotts Valley. My sister, Linda, and her husband Danny live in Kelseyville with my two nieces, Dannielle and Lindsey, and their two grandchildren.

Career/current job: Owner and manager of Lakeview Supermarket and Deli. Commissioner of the Coastal Mountain Officials Association and a sports official.

Education: Attended elementary school and freshman and sophomore years in the Bay Area. Finished high school at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport. Finished my formal education at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Length of residence in Lake County and your particular city: I have lived in Lakeport since 1970.

Web site or email address where community members can contact you: My email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Questions:

1. Please outline your experience serving the local community. Include all community or volunteer service.

I was a board member and vice president of the Lake County Rodeo Association for 19 years.

I joined the Lakeport Rotary Club in 1977 and have been a member for 35 years. I have served as board member for a number years and as president (1989-1990).

I have been the commissioner of the Coastal Mountain Officials Association for the last 20 years and have served as a sports official for 28 years or so.

I was on the faculty of Mendocino College for over four years as a part-time instructor and taught over 12 semesters here in the county.

I was on the steering comity and on the board of the local economic development group known as Mt. Konocti Facilitation since its inception.

I served two terms on the Sutter Lakeside Wellness Foundation Board.

I was a member of the Clear Lake High School Booster club for over 12 years.

I was on the board and served three terms as president of the Northshore Business Association.

I served over 10 years on the board of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce and served two terms as president.

I was part of the marketing committee of the Lake County Chamber that started the shop-local campaign, known as “Shop, Stay and Play.”

I have been part of the Wine Alliance community fundraiser every year since its inception nearly a decade or so ago.

I worked the last nine years as a committee member of the Stars of Lake County Community Awards Program.

The Lake County Chamber and I started and sponsored a series of seminars for Lake County Businesses called “59 minutes to a Better Business.” I personally prepared and delivered many of these presentations.

2. Why did you decide to run for public office?
    
As a businessman and a longtime resident of Lakeport, and with my connections with the community at so many levels, I felt that I would be a great candidate to serve as a city councilman

3. What are the important qualities you would bring to public service?

I have excellent leadership skills and have the education and training to serve. My experience as a president and commissioner of four esteemed organizations gives me the tools to lead well in the role of a city councilman. In addition, I feel that I have a unique ability to be innovative, and see the opportunities that others fail to see. Furthermore as a very successful business owner and marketing expert, I have skills that involve every facet of business from energy conservation, to cash flow and inventory management as well as excellent negotiating and people skills.

4. What are the primary functions of a city council member? What are the important skill sets a council member should possess?

A city councilman is entrusted with the responsibility of representing the members of the community, and making decisions regarding the welfare of the city both long- and short-term. The ultimate goal would be to promote the economic viability of the city while making available the most public services at a minimum cost to the businesses and citizens. The partnership between the city, the business community and the citizens should be balanced so that a mutually beneficial co-existence can be sustained over the long-term. Taxes and expenses should be managed so that while services are made available, the cost of living in the community and doing business in the city would be just and affordable to all concerned.

To make the best decisions regarding tough issues takes a great deal of experience. Having led many organizations as the president, I know what it takes to make judicious, effective and sympathetic decisions. As president of the chamber, several hundred business owners expect their leader to represent the decisions that best support economic vitality. As a business owner, my future as a business man requires that I be innovative and agile in response to changing business climates and trends. As a business owner, it is also essential to manage all resources and staff to achieve maximum efficiency and to remain profitable. Managing cash flow in a business and intelligent management of inventories and essential supplies are also essential skills, I possess.

As a club leader in a service organization, diplomacy and discretion is required when dealing with scores of business peers.

As an experienced leader and successful local businessman for over four decades I feel that I am uniquely qualified to bring a large list of essential skills from my many experiences.

5. What is your city’s single greatest challenge? How would you address it?

In the city of Lakeport, doing more with less revenue will be a serious problem for the foreseeable future. The business climate currently is as challenging as it can be. With fewer businesses, and declining tax revenues, the city will be faced with a declining budget, yet expected to still provide a high level of services. While it is difficult enough to maintain the same level of quality services on a fixed budget year to year due to increased costs, it is even more difficult, or rather impossible to maintain a level of quality service with an ever decreasing budget.  

I believe that improving the economic climate in the city, thereby increasing sales and tax revenues could help. This is a difficult problem. I have always been a big advocate of shopping local. Perhaps more education, more public outreach, more focus and a better understanding of the benefits might yet yield some benefit to our local business community and eventually to the city’s tax revenues.

6. If you are elected, what will your top issue be? What other issues are of particular interest to you?

It has come to point where everyone in Lake County needs to focus on the health and well being of the Lake. In my opinion, at no time has the lake had as many problems with odors and access as in the last year. I have nearly always spoken of the eutrophic dynamics of the lake, and how a little algae and lake weeds are part of our living ever-changing ecosystem. But now we are seeing businesses suffer greatly with the pervasive algae blooms, explosive growth and choking lake weeds and horrendous smells of some types of lake algae. A united effort must be made to intensify any and all solutions to make striking changes in the appearance, accessibility and reputation of Clear Lake. Due diligence must be given not just to traditional solutions but we all must investigate innovative solutions to our challenges in both the physical and financial realms. We all need to foster a buy-in of individuals, businesses, organizations, the city and county to work together in a concerted effort to rebuild the perception and reputation of our lake.

Though little progress and little success have been made toward the acceptance of a shop local campaign, I still believe we all should work towards a better understanding of what it means to support local businesses at all levels. Few understand the huge benefits that will accrue to all when we start to better dedicate ourselves to a more focused effort to shop with local stores, vendors, suppliers and use more local services.

7. Is there a matter that you’ve seen the council handle that you believe should have been approached differently? If so, how would you have handled it?

In a time of economic difficulties for many, the thought of having one’s water bill double in a few years is not good. Surely some drastic measures need to be taken to insure the quality and cost of our city’s water supply. However, perhaps the solution could have been made more palatable by making smaller increases over a longer period. I am not too sure that this particular council was to blame. Perhaps this was a problem that should have been handled many, many years ago, and was dumped in the lap of the current council.

I believe the best approach would have been to start with a “front page” news media blitz explaining in detail the current crisis and problems, the expected financial implications and especially the punitive fines that would and could be levied. Once the citizens grasp the gravity and serious financial implications, it would then be easier to understand such a sudden and heavy burden that would require a doubling of rates. They might not like the concept but they would at least see a justification for such a serious increase.

8. What ways, if any, would you encourage public and media interaction with you and the city council should you be elected? How would you approach public interaction, especially on controversial issues?    
    
As in the example with the water rate increase, the city council, engineers and the city manager could use the media to foretell any serious crisis that was on the horizon before it really became front page news. When you educate people to the reality of a problem and the future implications many will see the light and respond in a more positive manner. A good public relations campaign involving all branches of the media, that is well designed to educate the public, could go a very long way in softening the blow of an upcoming catastrophe. Partnering with the media is essential, in my opinion, to shape and reframe problems so that the public and the business community can help buy into the possible solutions, thereby helping to eliminate much of the opposition and contempt.

Public input can be a healthy catharsis, although no simple solution may be available. It is often enough to let people vent their frustrations and concerns even when there cannot be any simple solution that will please the majority. When a series of public hearings are held, it is a learning process for both the citizens and the members of the city management team. In the end, at least everyone can say they had an opportunity to participate in the process of local government, whether they were pleased with the outcome or not!

9. When you think of your city in 20 years, what do you hope it will look like? When considering that future vision of your city, what would you want your legacy to be in improving your community?

In 20 years I would like to drive down Main Street with every store front boasting a thriving business with every resort and bed and breakfast full on the weekends and most weekdays. Cars parked everywhere, so that there was hardly a place to park.  

The “new” docks all along the lakeshore would be full of boats coming and going, with people both locals and tourists climbing in and out to visit the city’s businesses and restaurants.

The lake would be full of racing jet skis, boats and sail boats all being trailed by a glistening white wake free of algae and lake weeds.  

The people of Lake County are still talking about the lake, and the algae and how it used to be, but now they are talking about Clear Lake, the gem of Northern California, where everybody wants to be, and where everybody wants to vacation again! (Even the locals!!)

Financial information: See Form 470 below. Parlet said that to date the only money he has spent is on the mailing fee for the ballot. The amount he has invested is somewhere around $325.

Lakeport City Council Candidates - Kenneth Parlet - Form 470

Details

Written by: KENNETH PARLET

Published: 16 October 2012

Animal Care and Control adoption event takes place Oct. 15-21

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week Lake County Animal Care and Control is holding its second adoption event of the year.

The event will take place from Monday, Oct. 15, through Sunday, Oct. 21, at Lake County Animal Care and Control, located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport.

Animals will be available for adoption during kennel hours, from 10:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The county’s $30 adoption fee will be waived.

The cost to adopt a male cat will be $76, which includes altering, vaccines (including rabies) and a microchip. Adopting a female cat will cost $86, with the same services included.

Male dogs will be available for $116, which covers surgery, vaccines (including rabies), heartworm test, license and microchip. Female dogs weighing 60 pounds and under will cost $126, and it will cost $141 for those weighing more than 60 pounds.

Dogs under 4 months of age will be reduced by another $16 since rabies and licensing wouldn’t apply.

The adoption events were made possible after the Board of Supervisors in February approved an amnesty program that allows Animal Care and Control to hold up to four such events a year in which the county adoption fees are waived. The first adoption event was held in May.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Details

Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 15 October 2012