CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Thursday night the Clearlake City Council unanimously approved the appointment of members to the new committee to oversee the spending of proceeds from the city's new transactions and use tax.

City voters approved Measure V in November.

It is a specific tax, the proceeds of which – estimated by City Finance Director Chris Becnel to go as high as $1.7 million – are to be used for road repairs and improvements.

The tax will start to be collected April 1, with the first quarterly payment of about $400,000 expected in July, according to Becnel.

At Tuesday's meeting, City Manager Greg Folsom reported that Measure V requires the appointment of a citizens oversight committee.

He said each council member is to appoint one member of the five-member committee, with the committee members' terms coinciding with the terms of the council members who appointed them. The mayor then appoints the committee chair, with council approval.

At its Dec. 8 meeting, the council reached consensus to solicit applications for appointments, although council members are free to appoint any qualified individual, said Folsom. A main qualification is living in the city.

The city received applications from nine individuals wanting to sit on the committee, Folsom said. The applicants were Henry Bornstein, Mark Burkdoll, Curt Giambruno, James Honegger, Jim Scholz, William Shields, Ray Silva, Dirk Slooten and Mike Vandiver.

Mayor Russ Perdock noted that all of the council members had been provided the applicants' resumes and applications ahead of the meeting.

He then opened it up to public comment, but no one came forward to weigh in on the applicants.

The council members then made their appointments.

Joyce Overton appointed Mike Vandiver, a veteran and retiree who formerly served on the Clearlake Planning Commission and was president of the Clearlake Youth Center Board; Phil Harris appointed Ray Silva, a general engineering contractor; Nick Bennett appointed Curt Giambruno, a former city councilman who chairs the Lake County Vector Control Board; Bruno Sabatier appointed Henry Bornstein, an attorney and docent for Anderson Marsh State Historic Park who had attended meetings about the creation of Measure V to give input; and Perdock appointed Dirk Slooten, who also sits on the city's planning commission.

Perdock also appointed Giambruno as the committee's chair.

Sabatier moved to approve the appointment of the five men, which the council approved 5-0.

Perdock thanked everyone who submitted an application to be a committee member.

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