At its last meeting in August, the council had approved a draft right-of-way ordinance that allow homeowners to make up to $45,000 worth of improvements over a five-year period without triggering the requirement to install curb, gutter and sidewalk.
Right-of-way improvements can be prohibitively expensive for some home and business owners depending on the amount of street frontage. City Engineer Scott Harter estimated during the meeting that 60 feet of curb, sidewalk and gutter can cost $8,000 to $10,000.
When they held the ordinance's first reading last month, the council removed an exemption for costs relating to "greening" a home – including the addition of solar power, new windows or other energy saving measures.
Citing the discussion from that last meeting, Lakeport resident Suzanne Lyons referred to Councilman Buzz Bruns' comments at that time about solar being extremely expensive -- $98,000 in one case he quoted.
Lyons said in her block two of four homes have added solar panels in the last year, and she herself also has added solar, at a cost of $16,000, not the price Bruns quoted.
She questioned the council's consistency in wanting to make Lakeport a better place to live but not encouraging energy-saving measures such as solar.
The council, she said, doesn't appear to feel becoming more green is important, yet it has repeatedly brought up the desire to add sidewalks. Lyons contended that having people take better care of their property also is important.
"I just really wonder at the priorities," said said, and asked the city to reconsider adding back the solar exemptions.
The only comment that would come from any councilmembers about the solar exemptions came from Ron Bertsch, who said he also had an estimate for solar for his own home, and was surprised that it was only about $20,000.
Bertsch said that, but raising the right-of-way improvement limit to $45,000, the city was making it possible for homeowners to add solar power without getting close to the point where curb, gutter and sidewalks would be required.
Lyons countered that costs can quickly build up. The city doesn't want residents using portable carports, she pointed out; if a resident were to add a stick-built carport and solar power, it could quickly add up to $45,000.
Business owner Cheri Holden asked the council and staff what other incentives the city offers to residents to make their homes energy efficient.
With Community Development Director Richard Knoll absent from the meeting, the council said they couldn't answer, but Harter said he wasn't aware of any city incentives, only those provided by Pacific Gas and Electric.
Holden said the city should offer inducements to make homes energy efficient. Using solar, which feeds energy back into infrastructure, "seems like something we want to support," she added.
Holden added that the city would make a mistake by allowing the opportunity to encourage people to improve their homes in an energy efficient manner to pass.
Apparently, the councilmembers' minds were made up. They held no discussion in response to the arguments made by Lyons and Holden.
Instead, Bruns moved to approve the ordinance, which passed unanimously.
Leave policy will help seriously ill staff
City Attorney Steve Brookes brought back to the council a fine-tuned version of a catastrophic leave policy the council first discussed last month.
The policy allows city employees to donate leave time – sick time, vacation or other compensatory time – to colleagues facing lengthy time away from work due to their own catastrophic illness or that of a child or spouse. The employee receiving the donation also must have exhausted all paid leave.
In new the policy requires that a department head first receive proof that an employee or their family member have a serious disease before other staffers make leave donations. Employee donations can range between the minimum eight hours, with a maximum of 40 hours of leave an annual basis. Those who wish to donate time must retain at least 40 hours of vacation and 80 hours of sick time for their own use.
If the critically ill staffer died or retired, the donated leave would return to the employee who originally donated it, Brookes explained.
Donations will not exceed three months, according to the policy, but the city manager can approve up to one year's worth of leave credits.
The council unanimously passed the policy, which will have an initial two-year period.
Council puts off right-of-way decision
Not long after updating its right-of-way ordinance, the council was asked to consider a request to defer right-of-way improvements by South High Street resident Carol Scarbrough.
Scarbrough, who is wheelchair-bound, took a housing loan from the city to make accessibility improvements in her home, Harter explained.
The improvements she planned to make, and already had begun making, totaled $45,000, Harter said. Her deferral, he said, met all of the hardship criteria included in the city's current ordinance.
Bertsch and Councilman Jim Irwin both questioned the deferral on the basis that Scarbrough knew of the right-of-way improvements before she began the work.
Brookes said low-income and deferred home improvement loans like that Scarbrough received are for people who often can't afford to pay them back.
Irwin said he found it "ridiculous" for the city to fund the loan, only to have her ask for a deferral, knowing about the requirements.
"At least in the future we need to watch out for these things," said Irwin.
Mayor Roy Parmentier asked why the loan didn't have the sidewalk expense included in it.
Brookes said should the property be sold or transferred to different ownership, the city could require the right-of-way improvements to be triggered.
Irwin said Scarbrough's request for a deferral was based on the "same ol' financial excuse" that they've heard before.
In particular, he referred to the council's meeting two weeks ago, when a young woman starting a daycare asked for, and received, a one-year deferral from installing curb, gutter and sidewalk. Both Bertsch and Irwin voted against the young woman's request, but were outvoted by the other three councilmembers.
Harter said there are unique or unusual conditions under which they could justify the deferral.
Bruns and Rumfelt both suggested postponing the matter until the new right-of-way ordinance goes into effect in 30 days. Bruns moved to do so, with Rumfelt seconding and the council voting to approve waiting for the new ordinance.
The council also approved a $298,564.70 bid for a cape seal project that will resurface multiple city streets, including Second, Third, Brush, 16th, Forest and Armstrong.
City improvements of more than $45,000 don't trigger a requirement for the city to install curb, gutter and sidewalks on city-owned property, as is the case for private residences and businesses.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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