CLEARLAKE – In one of its shorter meetings, the Clearlake City Council last Thursday approved a garbage rate increase and several abatements, made plans to further explore development of its Web site and hired additional planning support.

The hour-and-a-half-long meeting saw only three council members present – Vice Mayor Chuck Leonard and Council members Joyce Overton and Judy Thein. Roy Simons was ill and Mayor Curt Giambruno's wife is ailing.

The council's first order of business was to approve a rate increase for Clearlake Waste Solutions. As Lake County News reported last week, the increase – limited to 12.26 percent – was required because the company must upgrade its diesel trucks according to new state regulations.

Before the council Thursday were four property abatement cases: 14170 Woodland Drive (Ruth March), 3806 Pearl Ave. (David Canafax); 15889 25^th Ave. (Cecil and Raynette Hendricks); and 16075 and 16085 27^th Ave. (Nima Kazeroonian).

All but Canafax's were approved with little or no comment. City resident Alice Reece said she had seen the property and it appeared to have been cleaned up, although the city had received no receipts from the owner indicating cleanup had, indeed, taken place.

Council member Joyce Overton wanted to have a building inspector check out the property first, before moving forward with abatement. However, City Administrator Dale Neiman said it would take 30 days to line up abatement and voting for it would still allow a building inspector to see if it had, indeed, been cleaned up.

Council member Judy Thein argued that the property had serious health concerns and that she wanted to keep the process moving forward. She moved to abate the property, with Leonard seconding. The motion passed 2-1.

The council also asked its staff to further investigate plans for the city's new Web site.

The site, at www.clearlake.ca.us, recently was redesigned by Jack Barker, manager of the city's PEG TV channel. The site previously had been designed and maintained by a former building inspector who left the city last sumer.

Barker also is leaving the community, which places the city in the position of needing to decide how the site will be administrated.

City Finance Director Michael Vivrette's staff report had proposed several options, including having Barker continue to maintain the site, from a distance, for $20 per hour; hiring BitSculptor, which developed the city of Lakeport's site for about $6,000, to either maintain the site or redesign it; purchasing software and finding someone on the city staff to maintain the site; or taking up offers from several people, with different levels of experience, who had expressed interest in working on the site.

Neiman and Vivrette were in favor of hiring BitSculptor, and audience members also said the site should be minded by a professional company.

Thein pointed out that the city has spent a lot of money trying to develop its site, and after numerous efforts have, essentially, ended up back at the drawing board. She suggested that the city needed a plan for the site, and what the city wants it to be, before moving forward.

If considering a professional company, Thein said they should seek more than just one bid before making a decision. She suggested drafting a plan and then opening it up to the community for bids.

In addition, she argued that the city should look at other local sites – such as those built by the county and the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, the school district and local businesses – for ideas.

The suggestions received the support of the other council members present, who joined in directing staff to formalize a plan as a first step before going out to bid.

In other council news, council members received a staff report from Neiman on the city's midyear budget review, and agreed to contract with Melissa Floyd for planning services.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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