LAKEPORT – A few months after the Board of Supervisors voted to give qualified county employees a $700 one-time stipend from a health insurance benefit holiday, last Tuesday the supervisors themselves also accepted the payment, with all of them pledging to donate the funds to charity.

Last November and December, the county received a “premium holiday” from its insurance carriers, which the board voted late last year to give back to employees in the form of that one-time stipend.

Now it was up to the board to decide if it would accept the refund for its members, who also pay into the county's health insurance plan.

Supervisor Denise Rushing questioned how the board could vote on a matter that would benefit its members financially, but County Counsel Anita Grant said it was the same as them voting for a salary increase.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said only the board had the authority to decide the matter.

Supervisor Rob Brown said the board had the option of not accepting it, but he suggested they also could take it and put it to use for community groups.

He said he's sponsoring a wrestling team and that's where his funds would go; Rushing said some of hers was going to the Lucerne Community Garden.

Cox encouraged them to spend it and put it into the local economy.

Board Chair Anthony Farrington said that putting it into an ordinance “moves into my discomfort zone.”

He said the only way he would vote for it is if the ordinance can specifically state where he would donate the money. Grant said they needed the ordinance to get the matter approved, and his pledge for a donation could be separate.

Farrington asked staff if the county auditor-controller could write the check for him directly to Clear Lake High Sober Grad and Hospice Services of Lake County.

Cox said the auditor-controller wouldn't do that, and that he would have to write the checks himself, to which Farrington replied that he wouldn't then support the ordinance.

Supervisor Jeff Smith said he originally was against the stipend, however, “We all pay in just like everybody else pays in.”

He said it would be a shame if it didn't pass. “I think it's a good way to get some money out there in the community.”

Smith said he had some groups in mind to benefit, and Supervisor Jim Comstock said he also planned to make donations to south county organizations. Rushing pledged to give half to the Lucerne Community Garden and half to the Clark's Island Sustainability Initiative.

Brown moved to advance the ordinance to Feb. 23, with Comstock seconded. The ordinance passed 4-1 on its first reading, with Farrington voting no.

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