CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will discuss filling the vacancy left by a council member's resignation, hold a public hearing on universal garbage collection, and discuss code enforcement and marketing matters.

The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Last month, Council member Denise Loustalot resigned her seat after she and her husband Pete purchased a home just outside of the city limits, as Lake County News has reported.

Loustalot's term is set to expire at the end of this year.

City Manager Greg Folsom is proposing that the council adopt a resolution directing City Clerk Melissa Swanson to prepare an application for qualified applicants and schedule interviews for the appointment of a new council member.

Alternatively, the council could elect to pay for a special election, but that election wouldn't be held until Nov. 8, which is when Loustalot's seat was to have gone on the ballot anyway, Folsom reported. That option also would mean that Loustalot's seat would remain unfilled until November.

Another major item of business on the Thursday agenda is a proposal to establish universal garbage collection in the city of Clearlake.

Folsom's report to the council explained the universal garbage collection service is the standard in most California jurisdictions.

“Businesses and residents are required to subscribe to recycling and waste services, just as they would be for other utilities, but that is not currently the case in Lake County or the City of Clearlake,” Folsom reported.

The city of Lakeport implemented such requirements more than a decade ago.

The council appointed an ad hoc committee that included Mayor Russ Perdock and Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson to work with city staff and staff from Clearlake Waste Solutions to consider if universal garbage collection is feasible in the city and, if so, to create an ordinance to take to the council.

“It is the opinion of staff and the Ad hoc committee that implementing a universal garbage collection service will cut down on the amount of hoarding and illegal dumping that takes place throughout the city,” Folsom wrote.

The proposed ordinance would require that all commercial and residential property owners subscribe to the garbage service. “There are only exceptions for properties that can prove they do not consume or produce food, do not create waste of any kind, or are not hooked up to any other utilities,” Folsom reported.

He said that Clearlake Waste Solutions would need “considerable lead time” to establish the program, which if approved wouldn't go into effect until next year.

In other business, the council will hold the first reading of an ordinance relating to code enforcement assessments and consider approving a city logo contest as a result of marketing ad hoc committee findings and recommendations.

Also on Thursday's agenda are presentations by Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli of officer commendations and new officers; a presentation by the Lake County Breastfeeding Coalition; a certificate of appreciation to Citizens Caring 4 Clearlake; and a proclamation declaring National Volunteer Week.

On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers; minutes of the March 10 and 24 meetings; authorization for the finance director to sign an engagement letter for city financial statements; and the second reading and adoption of Ordinance No. 186-2016 reinstating provisions of Chapter IX of the Clearlake Municipal Code.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.