LAKEPORT – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to hold off on selling four quagga mussel decontamination stations due to the city of Lakeport's interest in obtaining at least one of them.

Quagga mussels and their cousin, the zebra mussel, are an invasive species that can cost millions – if not billions – of dollars in damage to water facilities, tourism and communities because of their impacts on the ecosystem, as Lake County News has reported.

County Deputy Administrative Officer Jeff Rein said county staff was asking for board direction on the units, which the county has been actively trying to sell.

It wasn't until last week that an interested buyer – Los Angeles County – finally came forward, said Rein.

However, the city of Lakeport also came forward last week to express interest in at least one of the stations, he said.

At its June 2 meeting, the Lakeport City Council decided to seek one of the units, with members expressing the belief that the county shouldn't charge the city the $16,000 asking fee.

Lakeport City Council member Suzanne Lyons, who also sits on the county's quagga mussel task force and co-chairs the Clear Lake Advisory Subcommittee, went before the board to ask them to keep aside at least one unit for the city.

Lyons said the city has contacted the owner of a newly opened car wash on High Street, and that individual is willing to extend their hours and offer the decontamination services when needed.

She said the city was trying to step up and follow guidelines from Fish and Game officials, one of whom recently had told her that decontamination is a necessary part of any viable program to keep quagga mussels out of Clear Lake.

A white paper released earlier this year by Greg Giusti, county director for the University of California Cooperative Extension, also including monitoring and decontamination as necessary aspects of a prevention program, she said.

Supervisor Jeff Smith said one of the reasons the county was getting rid of the stations is they were told they wouldn't do an effective job on boats suspected of carrying the mussels.

Lyons, however, said Jason Roberts of Fish and Game told her he believed the stations would work. What would happen, she asked, if the county got rid of the stations and then was told by state officials that they needed decontamination units?

County Administrative Office Kelly Cox said the board had declared the stations surplus, but noted they can change their minds.

Smith said the county's deputy water resources director, Pam Francis, had made a presentation to the board, telling them the stations aren't effective. He wondered if they could be effective for Lakeport.

Board Chair Denise Rushing said the information given to the board was being questioned and the county needed to hold off on taking action.

Lyons pointed out there are other invasive species out there, such as a mud snail now found in the Russian River. “You're going to have to wash boats one way or the other.”

Supervisor Rob Brown said he was puzzled by Lakeport City Councilman Roy Parmentier's comments at the June 2 council meeting that those in charge of the county's quagga mussel program didn't know what was going on.

Brown said that while Parmentier is dealing with issues like whether or not to have sparklers in Library Park, the county is trying to address the quagga mussel issue. He added that – to the best of his knowledge – Parmentier hasn't been to any of the mussel task force meetings.

Supervisor Anthony Farrington said there has been conflicting information about the stations' effectiveness since they were purchased.

He said he had understood that the county would adopt a policy that would include screening and inspection, and a trigger for quarantine. But that policy isn't in place. He agreed the board should hold off.

Clearlake City Councilman Roy Simons told the board that prevention is easier than a cure and urged the county not to give up. “The cost of this mussel if it comes into this lake is far too great and it has to be borne by every citizen int his county.”

South county resident Mike Dunlap questioned the quagga mussel sticker system, and also asked the board to wait on making a decision about the stations.

The board reached consensus to hold off on selling the stations at this point.

Smith said the next quagga mussel task force will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday in conference room B at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

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