CLEARLAKE – Clearlake's city administrator is proposing deep and drastic cuts to the city's services and to its police department as part of a set of proposals he'll present to the Clearlake City Council at its meeting Thursday evening.

The council will convene for a closed session at 5:15 p.m. to discuss appointing a finance director before public portion of the meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

At its last meeting on April 8, the council directed City Administrator Dale Neiman to come back with suggestions on how to address the city's fiscal crisis.

Neiman's eight-page report contains both severe cut proposals and a suggestion that the city obtain short-term financing from its redevelopment agency.

The proposed Lowe's home improvement project and regional shopping center on Highway 53 had been a part of the city's plan to keep going, according to Neiman's written report to the council.

“We believed it would be possible to avoid the most damaging reductions in expenditures by borrowing bond proceeds for a year until Lowe's opened,” he said.

Those proceeds, in turn, would be paid off by using sales tax revenues generated from Lowe's that would normally go into the general fund and the Proposition P fund, the latter used for police services.

Neiman's report explains that he doesn't believe the city can stay solvent unless it modifies its retirement benefits. He also added that a full analysis shows that bankruptcy for the city is not an option.

Even if the city's redevelopment plan is amended, Neiman is suggesting closing Austin and Redbud Parks, hiring only a half-time finance director, eliminating the planning and code enforcement departments, reducing the engineering department and cutting his own job to half-time – which would save about $72,000 from the general fund.

Possibly the most serious cuts would come in the area of the city's police department.

Neiman is suggesting eliminating five police officer positions – which would save a total of nearly $483,000 annually – and replacing a full-time sergeant with a half-time officer.

If the city's redevelopment plan isn't amended, Neiman suggests eliminating another police officer position to save an additional $70,250.

Other business on the Thursday night agenda includes a request from Charlene Goodrich to waive administrative penalties for failure to abate a public nuisance. The fees were recorded against her property at 3287 Lilac Ave.

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