The grand jury's 2008-09 report was issued to the public earlier this month. The 271-page document includes annual oversight of some government agencies, including both cities and the Board of Supervisors.
Unlike last year's report, this year the grand jury didn't just conduct oversight of the city's finances, it also examined a citizen complaint alleging “inappropriate sale of City property including the City's sewer treatment plant, illegal first right of refusal on the City property, lack of transparency on the part of the City Council, and violations of the Brown Act.”
Interim City Manager Kevin Burke said it's obvious that the grand jury worked very hard on the report, and said once the city's budgeting process is over the city will turn its full attention to responding to the findings and recommendations.
“The city of Lakeport is going to take each and every recommendation seriously,” Burke said, noting he'll work with the council on its formal responses.
The complaint specifically relates to the 780-acre City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District (CLMSD) property, south of the city's limits. The council has expressed interest in putting a golf course and housing development on a 400-acre portion of the property, as Lake County News has reported.
During a March 24 meeting, the council discussed accepting the Lakeport General Plan – which it did the following month – and the golf course development was mentioned because it is part of the expanded sphere of influence added to the plan.
The land currently is under “specific area plan” designation, and its zoning range could allow for between 600 and 1,200 new homes.
During the discussion, Council member Suzanne Lyons suggested not including the sphere of influence changes, while Councilman Roy Parmentier said a golf course will bring tourists and money, and that the city needed to plan for its future. He added that a plan isn't yet on the table.
The council eventually decided to included the CLMSD property in its sphere of influence, which Burke said the city wanted under its control “regardless of whether it's ever developed into a golf course or not.”
Developer agreement still in force
The grand jury report looks closely at the developer agreement relating to the CLSMD land which the city signed on Nov. 7, 2006, with Boeger Land Development LLC, which also is involved in the proposed Cristallago golf course and housing development north of Lakeport.
That following February, the council approved proposed amendments to the then-draft general plan crafted by a committee proposed to negotiate the CLMSD development. Committee members included consultant Dale Neiman, hired about that time to be Clearlake's city administrator; City Attorney Steve Brookes; Jim Burns, representing Boeger Land Development; then-Mayor Roy Parmentier; and Buzz Bruns, then a councilman.
One of the grand jury's findings is that minutes should be taken for all committees. The golf course committee meetings were not recorded, although Councilman Bob Rumfelt told Lake County News that minutes weren't required, so the city did nothing wrong.
The grand jury found the agreement the city crafted with Boeger Land Development is still in effect, a conclusion shared by the city, according to Burke and Brookes.
Brookes said the council wanted him to look into it, and when he spoke to Matt Boeger a few months ago Boeger expressed the believe that the agreement was still valid.
“As far as we're concerned the project is alive and well,” Burns told Lake County News.
Burke noted, “There has been no forward movement on the terms of the agreement.”
He added, “We're in the process of reevaluating what our priorities are with that agreement and where we want to go with it.”
The agreement has taken a back seat to the city's annual budgeting process, which Burke said “is consuming an awful lot of time.”
Both Burke and Brookes stated they believed certain performance deadlines hadn't been met by Boeger.
However, that opinion isn't shared by Burns, who said Boeger Land Development is waiting on the city to perform what it needs to accomplish several land use approvals.
The agreement – a copy of which Lake County News received from the city – outlines those as including the addition of the property to its sphere of influence through a general plan amendment; annexing the property to the city and prezoning for uses and intensities consistent with the agreement; approval of a specific plan or other zoning, and required permits and entitlements; approval of the development agreement; approval of a specific plan or tentative map; environmental clearances pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act; and obtaining approvals for annexation by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).
Burke noted that the agreement doesn't have a sunset and, indeed, the terms seem to indicate that the agreement could be in force indefinitely.
The agreement calls for a developer option on the property that terminates one year from the date that the city approves all of those land use approvals. The option term is to be extended by the time necessary to obtain land use approvals beyond the control of the parties, “including, without limitation, LAFCO decisions on annexation and approvals, if any, from federal agencies.”
The agreement also allows for the option to be further extended. In cases where the city denies the developer's land use application, the developer gets 18 months from notification of the denial to resubmit. If another application is denied, the developer gets another 18-month period to resubmit, with the option term to be extended “until one year after the time necessary for Developer to resubmit and the City to reconsider the application.”
Because the city purchased the land with federal grants, including money from the Environmental Protection Agency, they have to get clearances for the land sale, determine the price for the land and enter into a purchase agreement, said Burns.
Burns said there also is the issue of what to do with the site's wastewater if a project is built there. He said the developer has spent about $100,000 to look at various alternatives.
Although the project isn't currently a priority due to the state of the real estate market, “We've met everything and we're just waiting,” he said. “When they move we'll move.”
Burns said he would like to see Lake County have “one decent public golf course.”
As part of the CLMSD developer agreement, the city also gave Boeger Land Development first right of refusal on the Dutch Harbor property, located on the lakeshore next to Natural High School on N. Main Street. The now-vacant land once was the site of a resort property formerly owned by the family of Mayor Ron Bertsch.
In January, city Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll proposed to the City Council that the city sell to the agency several properties – including Dutch Harbor – in an effort to raise funds to support the city's Business Stabilization Loan Program, as Lake County News has reported.
The city gave approval to start the process of looking into it, which would require giving Boeger the first option. Burns said the city hasn't approached Boeger about the land sale. The first right of refusal allows Boeger 30 days to respond to any potential sale of the land.
Rumfelt said the agreement “is in force until it isn't.”
He added, “There's nothing wrong with that. We're not bound by that contract to do anything.”
After the bottom fell out of the market, the agreement was placed on the back burner, said Rumfelt.
“It's not a priority for me,” he said. “It's the developer that wanted to do something.”
He said the city was interested in looking at it, and talking about a possible development there doesn't cost the city anything.
Grand jury probes relationships, behavior
The grand jury report points to a friendship between Parmentier and Burns and its relationship to the CLMSD proposal.
“There is no conflict,” said Burns. “It appears that way and it will always appear that way.”
Burns acknowledged that he and Parmentier have known each other since 1988, when Burns was first working on a redevelopment plan with the county.
According to Burns, Parmentier approached him several years ago about getting the CLMSD project off the ground, since another developer the city had been working with hadn't worked out. Burns brought in Boeger and they negotiated the agreement.
Parmentier and Burns frequently go fishing together in Fort Bragg, where Burns lives. Those fishing trips were raised as an issue under Fair Political Practices Commission reporting requirements, since they didn't appear on Parmentier's disclosure forms, as Lake County News reported in 2007.
Burns said he contacted the commission to make sure Parmentier is adhering to reporting and reimbursement rules, which kick in if amounts are above $50. He said Parmentier is taking care to follow the rules.
In crafting responses to the grand jury, Burke said the issues about the relationship between Parmentier and Burns will be discussed with the council.
Concerns about professionalism
The grand jury also faulted Parmentier and Rumfelt for their behavior toward members of the public who questioned the sphere of influence changes at the March 24 meeting, which several grand jurors attended.
Upper Lake resident Betsy Cawn questioned who would pay for recirculating the plan to account for language changes.
“The people of Upper Lake,” quipped Rumfelt.
“This isn't funny,” Cawn shot back.
The grand jury report also noted that Rumfelt and Parmentier “sat back in their seats and looked away” when Cawn addressed the council.
Nothing that Rumfelt is serving his fourth consecutive term on the council and Parmentier is serving a sixth, the grand jury recommended implementing term limits to prevent council members from serving more than two terms. The grand jury also recommended conducting ethics training for council members and developing a policy and procedures manual for them.
“Any time there's a perception that the city or a representative of the city hasn't been entirely professional, that's obviously a concern,” said Burke.
He said city staff and the council will discuss internally any grand jury findings that pertain to a perception of a lack of professional on anyone's part.
For his part, Rumfelt said of the report and its findings, “The first thing everybody should understand, and I certainly do, is they're recommendations only.”
Rumfelt added, “It seems like they want us to pay rapt attention to everything everyone says,” even if they've heard it numerous times before. Rumfelt said he does pay attention to speakers, and he doesn't need to stare at them to prove it.
He called the recommendation for term limits “ridiculous” and said many of the grand jury's findings are wrong anyway – such as one that states the city has no new hookup capacity in its sewer system. Term limits have never been an issue for the council previously, he added.
If their findings aren't true, Rumfelt suggested, “the recommendations aren't based on solid information.”
Rumfelt said Lakeport has a citywide policy and procedures manual, so he doesn't believe the city will follow the grand jury's recommendation and create a policy and procedures manual for the council.
He said council members already take an ethics course by computer, so he saw no need for the grand jury's recommendation of a noncomputer ethics course.
Another suggestion by the grand jury related to televising meetings, with the council currently doesn't do. The council decided not to broadcast its meetings live because “it was an expense that we didn't want to incur,” said Rumfelt. Specifically, the council chose not to enter into an agreement with TV Channel 8.
Rumfelt said he told Burke he's interested in helping craft the response to the grand jury since he's indirectly mentioned.
“My main response to people who have asked about report is 'everybody's entitled to their opinion,' and they certainly are,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
