The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 12, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive. TV8 will broadcast the meeting live.
The council will convene for a closed session at 5 p.m. to discuss the lawsuit against the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency and KK Raphel Properties LLC as well as the selection of a new city administrator.
Interim City Administrator Steve Albright told Lake County News on Tuesday that he expects the council to announce at the end of the closed session a settlement regarding the lawsuit, filed last year in the wake of the council's and agency's approval of the project on the now-closed Pearce Field property on Highway 53.
The Sierra Club Lake Group alleged that the city erred in not conducting a full environmental impact report on the project. The council and agency board had approved it based on an extensive mitigated negative declaration.
Mike Raphel of KK Raphel Properties told Lake County News in a previous interview that the firm was willing to conduct an EIR if that was what it took to move forward on a project that would still receive redevelopment agency assistance for infrastructure development.
Albright couldn't divulge many details ahead of the discussion, but noted that it's “all positive.”
“We're there, it's just that they have to agree to it,” he said of the council.
Albright had previously anticipated there would be another announcement at this week's meeting – regarding a new permanent city administrator.
However, he said that won't happen this week, but will require at least a few weeks more.
He said the city was “getting closer” to making its final pick.
“Unfortunately, these things go slow when you get to the end,” he said.
Albright added, “We're still doing background checks on more than one person.”
In other council business for Thursday, the council will consider a proposal from Bruno Sabatier regarding a request for the city to cosponsor, along with the Lake Community Pride Foundation, the “Power to the Youth” event, which will be held June 11 in Austin Park.
The foundation is asking that insurance and other special requirements be waived, which interim Albright cautioned in his report to the council could set a precedent, as many other community groups do pay the costs, which normally cost a minimum of $100, plus staff time for related requests.
Also on Thursday, Interim Police Chief Craig Clausen is scheduled to give the council an update on Clearlake Police Department programs – patrol, investigations, Volunteers In Policing, community oriented policing and graffiti removal – and calls for service.
On the consent agenda, the council is expected to approve a continuation of a public hearing it had originally anticipated holding this week on the draft ordinance that would allow for a 1-percent pass through on Mediacom subscribers' bills to pay for TV8, the county's public access station.
However, a report to the council from City Clerk Melissa Swanson said that the ordinance was contingent on similar approvals by both the county and Lakeport. The latter hasn't yet agendized a discussion on the proposal, and Swanson said staff was requesting the item be continued until May 26, after all three government entities have had a chance to endorse the concept.
Also on the consent agenda is an item to transfer the city's youth center lease from the Lake County Community Action Agency, which is in serious financial trouble and has ceased operation of most of its services, to the Lake Community Pride Foundation.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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