How to resolve AdBlock issue? City of Clearlake receives $945,000 state grant for boat launch improvements
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake has received a substantial state grant to upgrade boating facilities at Redbud Park.
The California Boating and Waterways Commission approved a $945,000 boat launching facility grant for Clearlake at its Wednesday meeting in Sacramento.
Clearlake City Manager Joan Phillipe gave the Clearlake City Council the good news about the grant at the council's Thursday night meeting.
Phillipe credited Clearlake Public Works Director Doug Herren for his efforts to get the grant, and also acknowledged the work of city staffer Adeline Brown.
The grant will be used to lengthen one existing boarding float to Redbud Park’s Thompson Harbor boat launching facility, the commission reported.
The funds also will be used for a number of other improvements, including two new boarding floats, dredging, parking lot improvements and security lighting for a portion of the parking area and courtesy dock entrance, according to a commission statement.
Phillipe said the Thompson Harbor project is slated to be done in May 2014, which she said is actually a pretty fast schedule for the work.
The Department of Boating and Waterways accepts grant and loan requests for projects, with the funding coming from taxes paid by boaters on the purchase of vessel gasoline and the repayment of principal and interest on department-made loans, according to an agency statement.
The Boating and Waterways Commission must approve loan and grants the Department of Boating and Waterways provides to counties, cities, districts or other public agencies for constructing small craft boating launching facilities. It also funds requests from local agencies for the construction of small craft harbors.
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Supervisorial candidate throws punch at newspaper editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A meeting earlier this week between a supervisorial candidate and a local newspaper editor allegedly resulted in an attempted assault.
Joan Moss, 67, of Cobb, who is running for the District 5 seat on the Lake County Board of Supervisors, allegedly attempted to punch Lake County Record-Bee Managing Editor Mandy Feder during a behind-closed-doors meeting on Tuesday morning.
Moss did not respond to numerous messages requesting comment left on her home and cellular phone, and sent to her via email throughout the day and into the evening Thursday.
Feder, 46, told Lake County News that Moss' punch missed her.
As a result of the attempted assault, Feder said she called the Lakeport Police Department as a precautionary measure and based on policy relating to when violence occurs.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen confirmed that his agency received a call from Feder about the incident. He said she initially spoke with Sgt. Kevin Odom at around 11 a.m. Tuesday.
“Sgt. Odom provided her with the options and she advised him that she did not want an investigation or for us to spend any time on this,” Rasmussen said.
Based on Feder’s wishes, Rasmussen said Odom did not take a report on the incident.
“This is not unusual in this type of incident where the crime is a minor misdemeanor with no mandated reporting or investigative requirement – we could complete a police report but are not required to and often do not when the victim does not want to pursue anything,” Rasmussen said.
Feder said she's fine, despite the attempted attack from the taller, heavier and older Moss.
Although she was the alleged target of a physical attack from a candidate for public office Feder declined to press charges because, she said, “I'm trying to maintain a fair election process.”
Feder did, however, have Moss – who previously had written columns for the newspaper – banned from the Record-Bee Building, located at 2150 S. Main St. in Lakeport.
“If there were contact it would be different,” Feder said of her decision not to press charges. “I would just like to say she acted inappropriately and was asked to leave and not come back.”
Feder would not explain what precipitated the confrontation with Moss, who recently has been placing attack ads with inaccurate information in the newspaper targeting her opponent in the race, incumbent District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown.
The Record-Bee has officially endorsed Brown in the District 5 supervisorial race.
In an email exchange between Brown and Moss on Thursday – which Brown shared with Lake County News, the Record-Bee and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat – Moss told Brown that “my attorney said no comment regarding allegations of any kind.”
“While I understand as well as anyone the pressures of campaigning, it would seem that there really is no excuse for the kind of behavior that my opponent is being accused of,” Brown told Lake County News Thursday.
Calls and emails to Record-Bee Publisher Kevin McConnell and the Denver parent corporation of the Record-Bee, MediaNews Group, were not returned or were disconnected.
A call to the MediaNews Group Human Resources Department to determine what policy might exist for workplace assaults was transferred to Ethics Director Tim McGuire and promptly disconnected. Subsequent calls to McGuire's extension were answered by voice mail and not returned.
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Clearlake City Council directs staff to craft panhandling ordinance
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – At its Thursday night meeting the Clearlake City Council directed city staff to begin work on an ordinance to address a growing panhandling problem in the city.
City Manager Joan Phillipe told the council that Clearlake Police officers have been proactive in dealing with an increase in panhandling complaints.
Phillipe said police staff members also have studied how others cities have addressed the issue.
Police Chief Craig Clausen told the council that his agency has received an increase in panhandling complaints relating to city shopping centers, in particular the centers where Ray's Food Place, Safeway and Foods, Etc. are located.
Clausen said current laws on panhandling are fairly limited, and require the property owner to warn pandhandlers. In shopping centers where there are multiple owners, the admonition only serves to move the panhandlers to different areas.
“What we're trying to do is address a problem that is increasing and get on the front side of it,” Clausen said.
He said many cities have ordinances banning aggressive panhandling, and he said police wanted a tool to use so property owners don't have to resort to a citizens' arrest.
Clausen said he received a call from a woman on Wednesday about the problem, and said there are reports of panhandlers moving around, using props and animals, and getting aggressive.
Mayor Joey Luiz asked Clausen if the panhandlers appearing in the city were mostly transients. Clausen said yes.
With the right rules in place, such individuals are likely to move on if they can't make a living in Clearlake, Clausen said.
Councilmember Joyce Overton said she thought signage was important, and wanted to know if property owners could order signs through the Clearlake Police Department.
Clausen said there must be other places to order such signs as some already are in place. Luiz said the best sign to move on are police officers themselves.
Luiz described watching Clearlake Police officers check panhandlers who were collecting money. Many of them had out-of-area identification, and they had been raising money not to buy food but “nice, big refreshing beers.”
At a recent event Luiz said he spoke to a number of leaders from around the region – Eureka, Willits, Lakeport and other areas – and they said they all have panhandler ordinances.
“They've all pushed them out and now they've found their way here,” said Luiz, adding, “That's what I see we're here to deal with tonight.”
No public comment was offered during the discussion, and Luiz, Overton and Vice Mayor Jeri Spittler reached consensus to direct staff to begin work on a panhandler ordinance. Councilmembers Judy Thein and Curt Giambruno were absent from the meeting.
Luiz recounted going to pick up someone from a fast food restaurant and having a man come up to knock on his window twice, first to ask for money and then for cigarettes.
He said he's concerned that such things are happening to the city's tourists.
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Panhandling, dogs in parks on Clearlake council agenda
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the Clearlake City Council will consider how to address a growing panhandling problem in the city of Clearlake and have a new discussion on whether to allow dogs in city parks.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 24, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
In a report to the council, City Manager Joan Phillipe recommends that staff prepare an ordinance to deal with panhandling.
“Several officers in the police department have taken the initiative to be proactive in addressing a growing panhandling problem in the city before there is a serious consequence,” she wrote.
She said officers have received increased complaints from citizens and businesses about panhandling, a practice which the city code doesn't address, which leaves the police department “without a full set of tools to address the problem.”
It's also significant to note, said Phillipe, that state law doesn't specifically address panhandling.
City staff has researched how other cities have addressed the problem, and that information can be used for a draft ordinance, she suggested.
She said panhandling can bring with it a number of safety concerns, can sometimes be confrontational or harassing, and also can affect businesses and the community at large.
In other business, the council will take up a matter it discussed last September involving whether city municipal code should be amended to allow dogs in city parks.
It was a majority of the council's conclusion at the September meeting that the city code be left as it was for the time being. Council members who opposed the change were concerned about safety and hygiene.
In her report to the council on the item, Phillipe – who arrived in the city last October – said that she researched the September meeting and also previous staff efforts on the topic, and found a draft ordinance from 2009 that addresses many of the concerns the council had last fall.
Phillipe's report includes a copy of that two-page 2009 draft ordinance, which previously has not been presented to the council.
Considering that draft ordinance is one of three options she suggests to the council, along with leaving the municipal code as it is or providing a dog park on an as-yet undetermined property.
Also on Thursday, the council will designate voting delegates and alternates for the League of California Cities' annual conference in September.
In addition, three presentations will take place honoring the Clearlake Police Officer of the Year, 2012 Stars of Lake County Award winners Bill stone, Alvaro Valencia and Eli Wade; and Lake County Office of Education Workability Crew.
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Supervisors show support for new youth recreation program
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to give a financial contribution to a new summer recreation program for at-risk youth in Clearlake.
The board – which has supported the Westshore Pool in Lakeport – agreed to give $5,000 to help kickstart the new Clearlake Summer Recreation Program, which will be launched this summer.
Dr. Bill MacDougall, who retires June 30 as superintendent of the Konocti Unified School District, has created the program, and is partnering with the Lake Community Pride Foundation – the group which now runs the Clearlake Youth Center – to make it happen.
“There’s a dearth of recreation programs for young people in Lake County,” MacDougall told the board.
Ultimately, MacDougall hopes to provide recreation programs for students throughout Lake County, but he plans to begin with a six-week program for 40 of Clearlake’s neediest students.
“What we're going to provide them with is the best summer of their life,” he said.
Next year there will be “The Sky’s the Limit” hot air balloon festival, which will be a fundraiser for the recreation program, said MacDougall.
“If you prime the pump we'll take it from here,” he said.
Supervisor Jim Comstock – who along with Supervisor Jeff Smith had taken the funding request to the board – said he had discussed the idea with MacDougall over the course of several months.
“Bill’s enthusiasm for everything he does is infectious,” MacDougall said.
Comstock said MacDougall isn’t retiring, he’s opening another chapter.
“I’m paying it forward,” MacDougall replied.
Smith said MacDougall’s “get it done” attitude reminded him of County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, and he thought it would be great to see them as a team at some point.
Supervisor Denise Rushing said it was exciting to see this kind of organizing energy around the youth program.
Cox said he would find money somewhere in the budget, noting there is now a salary savings in the County Administrative Office. That’s because Cox – who officially retired in March – is working now in a volunteer capacity, and is not being paid a salary.
“There are many nonprofits we’ve turned away this year,” said Rushing, but none have come forward with a “prime the pump” strategy, just asking for help getting started.
Cox said making the contribution was appropriate, since the county has given $5,000 to support the Westshore Pool.
“This is transformational,” said Rushing.
Comstock moved to approve the funding, which the board voted 5-0 to support.
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