CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – The manager of a Clearlake Oaks shopping center said he is retracting his offer to give the Lake County Sheriff’s Office a $1 a month lease for a substation location after he said the sheriff mischaracterized and attacked his offer.
Milt Pereira, who manages the Big Oak Shopping Center at at 13340 E. Highway 20, contacted Lake County News this week to say he was no longer willing to rent to the sheriff’s office in the wake of statements Sheriff Frank Rivero made about his offer at the Board of Supervisors Oct. 16 meeting. A full account of that meeting's discussion on the substation can be found here: http://bit.ly/RApSfV .
Pereira, who watched the meeting on television, said Rivero acted “like a juvenile” and because Rivero was against the proposal, Pereira believes the sheriff won’t staff the facility.
“I’m not going to deal with that clown,” said Pereira. “I really don’t need the 12 bucks.”
County Deputy Administrative Officer Alan Flora said he spoke to Pereira to ask him to reconsider, but he refused.
“We’re just very disappointed that the offer is no longer on the table,” said Flora.
When asked if he wanted to respond to the news of Pereira retracting his offer, Rivero called this reporter a liar and blacklisted Lake County News. Rivero is refusing to release further information to this publication or to respond to requests about public safety matters except through the lengthy Public Records Act process, which he previously has used to block Lake County News’ information requests.
Pereira said community members approached him and asked if he would be willing to offer a space to the sheriff’s office, and he agreed, believing it would help the community to have a substation presence there.
The shopping center is owned by Whistler Management of Ukiah. The owners also own the Whistler ski resorts, Pereira said.
While the space normally goes for $1,200 to $1,500 a month – and he had other offers – Pereira said he initially offered the county the space for $100, then dropped it to $1 a month for the first year and no more than $200 a month for each subsequent year.
Rivero wants to purchase a property at 12539 Shady Lane in Clearlake Oaks for a new substation. The property price is $325,000, with an additional $93,000 in renovations required.
At the Oct. 16 meeting, the Board of Supervisors heard a report from the County Space Committee – which includes Flora, Supervisor Jeff Smith and Public Services Director Caroline Chavez – on the Shady Lane property and three others, including two on Acorn Street, one of them county owned, and the Big Oak Shopping Center.
The shopping center at that time was offered for a lease price of $1 a month for the first year, with an estimated $3,500 in renovations to fully outfit the space for the sheriff’s office.
Flora reported that Rivero, members of his staff and county staff toured all of the sites on Sept. 6.
Board members indicated their support for the shopping center location, at least on a temporary basis, as an economical way for setting up a new substation. In the future, the county could consider a larger purchase.
But the meeting became contentious, with Rivero adamant that he didn’t want to locate his staff in the shopping center. At one point Supervisor Anthony Farrington told Rivero that he was being “hostile.”
Rivero faulted the low lease price. “You get what you pay for,” he said, also calling the offer “alarming.”
Rivero also complained about the presence of a local bar and a “thrift shop” that he said was surrounded by too much debris.
Pereira said Rivero also suggested that no one wanted the space.
Wrong on all counts, Pereira said.
He told Lake County News that the space he offered is the anchor spot in the 12-space center, with the space he offered once used by Tri Counties Bank. “I thought it would be very visible.”
Pereira, who has run the shopping center for two years, said the bar that Rivero complained about has been gone for two years, and the “thrift shop” he mentioned is actually an antique shop without debris issues, but which does set out furniture for display.
In addition, Pereira said the location has plenty of parking for deputies, which was one of the reasons he chose that space to offer. It has direct line of vision to the county’s communications tower space on Mt. Konocti and is the largest of the shopping center’s spaces.
And as for no one wanting the space, Pereira said he had put three other interested parties on hold while he worked with the county.
“As a shopping center lessor it's my responsibility to bring tenants in that enhance the other businesses," but an empty sheriff’s substation won’t do it, said Pereira.
He said his first obligation is to his current tenants, whose support he had when he originally made the offer. However, Pereira said in the wake of Rivero’s comments, the tenants also have withdrawn their support.
“I think it needs to be known that I’m retracting it because Frank’s a jerk,” said Pereira.
Flora said county staff will go back to the Board of Supervisors to see how its members want to proceed.
“We’re trying to work together and help provide service to the citizens of Clearlake Oaks and neighboring areas, and it’s going to make it more difficult for us to pull it off,” Flora said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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