During the 18-minute meeting, which Councilman Jim Irwin did not attend, the council unanimously gave its approval to the Konocti Challenge bicycle event in October and the Lake County Fair Parade on Sept. 3.
Meeting jointly as the redevelopment agency, the council also approved an owner participation agreement between the agency and Peggy Campbell, the trustee for the building at 401 N. Main St., as part of the façade improvement program.
Campbell is planning to build a tile entry, install new railing, repair stucco and paint the building, according to a staff report from Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll, who did not attend the meeting. The agency proposes to fund 50 percent of the work to a maximum of $25,000.
Councilman Bob Rumfelt, looking at the nearly 40-page agreement with Campbell, suggested there is an “inordinate amount” of paperwork in the process.
“Some of this paperwork should be unnecessary,” he said, adding it's “crazy making,” with city files bulging with paper, which is a tremendous waste of resources – in the form of both time and energy.
Rumfelt suggested making one copy available for the entire council. “I don't read these things.”
City Clerk Janel Chapman noted the entire council packets now are available online at the city's Web site, www.cityoflakeport.com .
Rumfelt moved to approve the agreement with Campbell, which passed in a 4-0 vote.
Richard Persons, chief executive officer of the Lake County Fair, was on hand to speak to his request that the fair be able to continue using redevelopment property at 902 Bevins Court for auxiliary parking during the fair, as it's been doing for the past four years.
However, the council had no issues with the request and unanimously approved it, without Persons having to speak a word.
Under City Council communications, Councilman Roy Parmentier asked if his fellow council members had heard about the state Assembly giving out raises to staffers. He wanted to see the city write a letter of complaint to North Coast Assemblyman Wes Chesbro, who also had reportedly given out the raises.
“If we did something like that we'd get tarred and feathered,” said Parmentier, who noted he also planned to write a letter to legislators as a private citizen.
“You've got to calm down before you write it though,” said Mayor Ron Bertsch.
During staff reports, Kevin Burke, the city's police chief and interim city manager, noted that the police department's air conditioner went out, with an initial estimate of $11,000 to repair it. However, after shopping around, they found a deal for $4,000, which will come out of the contractual services budget fund.
“That's obviously an unexpected expense,” said Burke.
He said it's not a terrible blow considering the budget has just been accepted, but he'll have to keep a close eye on expenses to make up for it.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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