George Speake gave the report to the board. Over the last month he and steering committee members Kathy Fowler, Melissa Fulton, Peggie King and Jim Fetzer reviewed a number of financial options in an effort to identify funding sources to dedicate to the lake's health.
“It is our intent that we share some information with you and get some feedback from you,” he told the supervisors.
Speake said his purpose in going before the board Tuesday was not to offer full recommendations – that will happen next month. Rather, he wanted to identify possible revenue sources as well as the scale of revenue available.
In discussing the lake's esthetics, he said, “The lake isn't about the boats,” but has broader benefits for the entire community.
He said any significant plan to effectively manage Clear Lake will have significant cost.
Speake also wanted to delineate the differences between long-term and short-term solutions. The Middle Creek Restoration Project – meant to return about 1,400 acres back to wetland in order to address nutrient loading – will be part of the lake's long-term solution, while harvesting weeds and algae offer temporary actions but may be critical, short-term mitigations.
He said it was important to remember that Lake isn't a wealthy county, and the last few years have been very difficult on a lot of people – critical things to keep in mind as they broached the topics of possibly introducing taxes and fees to fund the efforts.
Just how much is needed? “We don't have an absolute number,” said Speake.
A large amount of money – in the neighborhood of $5 million – “isn't in the cards,” he said, with a more realistic number around $500,000. That was the amount he used for the purpose of discussion, and it is enough, he suggested, to significantly reduce weeds and algae by paying for harvesting and other actions.
Speake said the steering committee reviewed nine county revenue sources to find revenue: property tax, sales tax, transient occupancy tax, business tax, benefit assessment zones, boat launch fees, boat registration fees, an expanded quagga mussel sticker program and reallocation of existing county resources.
Of the group, sales tax and expanding the quagga mussel sticker program seemed to offer the most promise, as would reallocating resources.
Speake said raising property tax may not be legal, or would at least require a huge effort. Raising boat registration fees also had legal issues attached. Transient occupancy tax would have to climb by too much, taxing businesses made no sense and would be expensive, and boat launch fees appeared to be prevented by the state constitution – which requires free access to “navigable” waters. Benefit assessment districts might work in specific communities, like the Clear Lake Keys.
Speake said he wanted board feedback to help shape the group's work in the weeks ahead.
Supervisor Jeff Smith believed a sales tax measure – which Speake said would require a tenth of 1 percent to raise $500,000 – “would be the easiest one to sell.”
Supervisor Denise Rushing said the county already has done a lot of funding reallocation, which usually is the result of one-time funding.
After hearing the proposals, County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said he had ideas about how to cover a “significant” amount of the needed funds from various sources.
“No one has ever identified how much we need, and that's the difficulty I've had,” he said.
Cox said he didn't think the county should seek to increase taxes until they had considered some other funding sources. “I can give you some suggestions I think you will likely approve,” he told the board, although he wasn't ready to offer those suggestions just yet.
He said his proposals would be based on the assumption that the county isn't hit by some drastic result of the state budget coming after the start of the year, and also would require no property tax drops.
Supervisor Rob Brown said the county was going to need to reprioritize, and figure out where the wanted to hurt the most or least. He suggested letting private enterprise come forward with solutions, and added that he's taking part in a meeting at Elem Colony on Wednesday in which millions in potential grant funding – which could help the lake – will be discussed.
He added that he doubted the sales tax measure would ever pass, based on past experience.
The board was impressed with what the steering committee had done in such a short time. Brown asked if they had ever thought about working on Lampson Airport, the subject of another lengthy discussion earlier in the day.
Speake told the board that the Middle Creek Restoration Project is a big part of what's needed to fix Clear Lake, and will have enduring effects. “We believe this is a really big deal,” which he said will require focused leadership to work through the federal process.
He further suggested creating a Clear Lake restoration program, similar to the effort in Lake Tahoe, which should be tightly coordinated with the Middle Creek effort.
Speake said there are other funding sources to consider, including nonprofits like Ducks Unlimited and the Sierra Club. He said the committee would return in a few weeks with additional ideas.
One suggestion that he put before the board was either reinvigorating or killing the Clear Lake Advisory Committee. He said he believed that Water Resources Director Scott De Leon, sitting beside him at the table, needed a technical advisory council.
“This is exciting times,” said Board Chair Anthony Farrington. “This is the way things should be done.”
Farrington added, “Sometimes government gets in the way of progress.”
During public comment, Sarah Ryan, the environmental director for Big Valley Rancheria, said the stresses that cause algae and weeds need to be dealt with, and that the solution goes beyond chopping up the weeds with the mechanical harvester.
She noted a change in the discussion from previous years, when mechanical harvesting wasn't even considered.
Paula Britton, environmental director for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, said they needed medium-term and long-term solutions, and pointed out there are many issues with the lake, from legacy pesticides like DDT to mercury.
She said she had asked to be included in a recent meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but wasn't invited, and said it was hard to maintain a good working relationship with the county when being ignored.
Recounting a conversation with a federal Environmental Protection Agency official about the county's problems, she said they included mercury as well as the political atmosphere, adding that communication wasn't playing an active role.
“I was disturbed, I was offended and I was disgusted” by not being included, she said.
De Leon told the board and the community members at the meeting that he has been charged with solving a problem – an increase in weeds and algae – that has been decades in the making, yet everyone expects immediate results.
Having been on the job for about five and a half months, De Leon said his department has been working hard over the past month to show people what they're doing and where they're going, as well as how to pay for it all.
He said the focus has been on short-term projects that produce immediate results. De Leon said he's also committed to the lake's long-term health, and to reviewing planning documents to make sure things are done right.
Weeds and algae, he said, have become a catalyst to review everything Water Resources has ever done. He said all of those efforts need to be brought under one umbrella.
“This is turning into an awfully big umbrella, an awfully big thing to try to solve,” he said.
To Britton, he said he also was an invitee to the meeting with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, and that he understands her frustration and wants to work with her.
Returning to the microphone, Britton suggested they move on, and asked them to consider taking the effort to improve the lake's health out of the county and political realm and look at forming a nonprofit, which she said she may do herself.
The core of the lake's issues, she said, is “much deeper than we all suspect.”
Melissa Fulton, chief executive officer of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, CLAC chair and a steering committee member, said CLAC had formed a task force last month to review report related to the lake.
She said there are short-term solutions and there are short-term actions, which eventually can lead to long-term solutions.
The goal, she said, isn't to completely eradicate weeds and algae, which would be to the lake's detriment. She suggested that resolutions and a call to action can be created to help let residents know that there are efforts under way.
The steering committee will return to the board at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, to share its full recommendations.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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