TV8, Lake County's Public, Education and Government – or PEG – channel has asked the county and the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport to support a 1-percent pass-through fee that Mediacom is willing to place on customers' bills to raise funds for the station.
Earlier this year the Board of Supervisors indicated it would only support the measure if both cities did.
The Clearlake City Council has voted for the fee but the city of Lakeport still needed to come on board. Previous Lakeport councils have not supported giving the station financial support, citing the city's tight finances.
During a presentation last month, Joyce Overton – mayor of Clearlake and a member of PEG's governing board – told the Lakeport City Council that the cost on the average customer's bill would be less than $1 a month, and that most people wouldn't notice the fee.
At that time the council had supported bringing the matter back for a public hearing, but on Tuesday the council didn't embrace the measure, which City Manager Margaret Silveira told council members is expected to raise about $55,000 a year for the station.
Councilman Bob Rumfelt said he left Mediacom because it seemed like the company was raising its fees every other month due to things in which he had no say, and he didn't support doing something similar to Lakeport residents.
Councilman Roy Parmentier also took issue with the fee, and said the city should send out a letter with water bills to city residents to gauge their opinion.
“Personally I have no desire to vote for it,” said Parmentier.
There was some discussion about whether or not there was time to bring the matter back, as City Clerk Janel Chapman said the station had wanted the pass-through fee in place by the start of the year.
Both Rumfelt and Parmentier remained firmly against it, and no one made a motion. With Councilman Tom Engstrom gone there were only four council members, and with two against it Parmentier pointed out the votes weren't there to move the measure forward.
Silveira asked if the council wanted her to send out a letter to residents with the water bill. The indication was yes; Rumfelt added that he wanted to know what people think about the station generally.
In other council business, a planned public hearing on the annexation of 197 acres along South Main Street and Soda Bay Road was put off until December.
Community Development/Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll said that due to research and comments from County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox – who made clear in communications to the city that the county wanted to see an environmental impact report conducted on the plan – city staff realized there was a procedural error in the process. He said a new public notice would be put out and the matter would be brought back.
Based on feedback received from the council during a Sept. 20 workshop, Knoll also took to the council on Tuesday an adjusted scope for the Lakeport Downtown Improvement Project.
The city will continue with plans to widen sidewalks on both sides of the street by two feet, and install grates and patterned concrete, plant street trees and relocate lamp posts, but will cut out some other improvements, like bulbouts, bulbout landscaping and corner monuments to save money.
“The project is essentially on hold” at this time, Knoll told the council.
He said the city's redevelopment agency only has available $1.8 million out of the $3.5 million it thought it had for the project, the total cost of which is $5 million.
The council also approved updating some city speed zones and awarded a bid for the Parallel Drive water main project to Preston Pipelines for $471,909.
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