LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week will get another update on a north Lakeport subdivision where a landslide has damaged homes and displaced residents, and consider options for future action.

The meeting will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 7, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. It will be broadcast live on TV8.

At 9:15 a.m., the the board will get another status update on the Lakeside Heights subdivision, where a landslide has damaged numerous homes and the situations continues to worsen.

Last month, the board declared a local emergency because of the subdivision, and is attempting to get state and federal assistance for dealing with the damaged infrastructure there.

By the end of last week, seven homes have been mandatorily evacuated and six others had been served with voluntary evacuation notices at the subdivision, located off of Hill Road.

The board also will consider post-incident monitoring and future actions. Residents of the subdivision had requested such a discussion at a special meeting held last week.

Also on Tuesday, at 9:10 a.m. the board will present several proclamations for designating May as Military Appreciation Month, Watershed Awareness Month and Perinatal Depression Awareness Month, and a fourth designating May 5-11, 2013, as Correctional Officers Week.

At 9:30 a.m. the board will receive the Clear Lake Advisory Committee Quarterly Report.

The full agenda follows. Some items are out of order due to an addendum to the agenda being posted.

TIMED ITEMS

9 a.m. A-1 to A-4: Approval of consent agenda, which includes items that are expected to be routine and noncontroversial, and will be acted upon by the board at one time without discussion; presentation of animals available for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control; consideration of items not appearing on the posted agenda, and contract change orders for current construction projects.

9:05 a.m.: Citizen’s input. Any person may speak for three minutes about any subject of concern, provided that it is within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors and is not already on the agenda. Prior to this time, speakers must fill out a slip giving name, address and subject (available in the clerk of the board’s office, first floor, courthouse).

9:10 a.m., A-5: (a) Presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2013 as Military Appreciation Month; (b) presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2013 as Watershed Awareness Month; (c) presentation of proclamation designating the month of May
2013 as Perinatal Depression Awareness Month; and (d) presentation of proclamation designating May 5-11, 2013, as Correctional Officers Week.

9:15 a.m., A-6: (a) Presentation of status report on landslide at Lakeside Heights subdivision; and (b) consideration of post-incident monitoring and future actions.

9:30 a.m., A-7: Presentation of Clear Lake Advisory Committee Quarterly Report.

9:45 a.m., A-8: Public hearing, (a) consideration of proposed ordinance amending Article I of Chapter 6 of the Lake County Code relating to emergency organization and functions; (b) consideration of proposed resolution amending Resolution No. 2012-106 to amend FY 2012-13 Adopted Budget for BU 2704 - Emergency Services ; and (c) consideration of proposed resolution amending Resolution No. 2012-107 establishing position allocations for Fiscal Year 2012-13, Budget Units 2704, Emergency Services and 2201, Sheriff-Coroner.

10 a.m., A-18: Consideration of request for letter of opposition to Assembly Bill AB 711 (Rendon) requiring the use of nonlead ammunition for the taking of wildlife in California.

NONTIMED ITEMS

A-9: Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports.

A-10: Carried over from April 23, consideration of proposed Resolution authorizing the Chair to sign a Notice of Completion for the Middletown Library/Senior Center.

A-11: Consideration of proposed recommendation of the Reclassification and Compensation Committee to re-establish the position of Deputy Building Official at Grade A29.

A-12: Consideration of proposed standard agreement between the county of Lake and the California Department of Health Care Services for the period of May 1, 2013 through April 30, 2018.

A-13: (a) Consideration of request to waive formal bidding process; and (b) consideration of request to authorize the purchase of five vehicles (two for Probation, two for general fleet and one for Environmental Health) through the statewide bid contract.

A-14: Consideration of proposed agreement between the county of Lake and BI Inc. for evidence based program for in-custody inmates services.

A-15: Consideration of request to authorize all supervisors to represent the county of Lake on the Area Agency of Aging (AAA) Governing Board, as needed.

A-16: Consideration of proposed resolution authorizing cancellation of Spring Valley Campground O & M Reserve designation in the amount of $3,000 to repair the back wall of community center.

CLOSED SESSION

A-17: 1.Conference with Labor Negotiator: (a) County Negotiators: A. Grant, L. Guintivano, S. Harry, M. Perry, and A. Flora; and (b) employee organization: Deputy District Attorney's Association, Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Lake County Correctional Officers Association, Lake County Employees Association and Lake County Safety Employees Association.

A-17: 2. Public employee performance evaluation of Community Development Director Rick Coel.

A-17: 3. Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code Sec. 54956.9(d)(1): Cerda v. County of Lake, et al.

CONSENT AGENDA

C-1: Approve Minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings held on April 23 and 26, 2013.

C-2: (a) Adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2013, as Military Appreciation Month; (b) adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2013 as Watershed Awareness Month; (c) adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2013 as Perinatal Depression Awareness Month; (d) adopt proclamation designating May 5-11, 2013, as Correctional Officers Week.

C-3: Approve first amendment to agreement between the county of Lake and Edgewood Center for Children & Families for FY 2012-13 specialty mental health services, a decrease of $20,000, and authorize the chair to sign.

C-4: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and California Forensic Medical Group for FY 2013-14 for inmate medical services at the Adult Facility Jail and Juvenile Hall, and authorize the chair to sign.

C-5: Carried over from April 23 approve advanced step hiring of Accounting Technician Pat McLean, due to applicant’s extraordinary qualifications (fifth step salary range).

C-6: Waive 900 hour limit for extra help mussel decontamination worker Mark Miller.

C-7: Authorize Public Works director/asst. purchasing agent to issue purchase orders to SnoQuip for two steel hopper spreaders (not to exceed $51,402) and to Dietz Equipment to remove the dump beds, refurbish and attach them to the cab/chassis purchased from Opperman & Sons (not to exceed $36,626) for a reduction of $9342 from the amount approved on April 23, 2013.

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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will honor talented young student performers who took part in a recent school production and discuss measures to improve safety at the intersection of 20th and High streets.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, in the council chamber at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

During public presentations, the council will present a certificate of achievement to the cast and staff of Clear Lake High School’s production of “The Sound of Music.”

Council members also will present proclamations to City Clerk Janel Chapman and Deputy City Clerk Kelly Buendia in recognition of Municipal Clerks Week.

The Lakeport Police Department and Public Works will introduce to the council their newest employees.

Under council business, City Engineer Scott Harter will ask the council to consider options for increasing pedestrian safety at the crosswalk at the intersection of 20th and High streets.

Harter’s report for the meeting noted that the council has expressed expressed a desire to enhance pedestrian safety in that area and, as a result, staff has researched options, which he will present.

Among the options, according to Harter, are a “yield to pedestrian” crosswalk sign similar to one used on Forbes Street; use of a blinking warning sign which is push-button activated; a steady flashing beacon strip atop the existing crosswalk signs; or placement of advanced warning signs prior to the crosswalk signs. He reported that the options range from $1,000 to $7,000 in cost.

In other business, Public Works Director Mark Brannigan will ask the council to approve the expenditure of $9,500 from the General Fund Reserve to replace the broken dump body hoist and cover required parts and labor.

Items on the council’s consent agenda – usually accepted as a slate on one vote – include ordinances; warrants; minutes of the regular April 16 meet and the special April 30 meeting; the Lake County Chamber of Commerce’s application for the May 25 Memorial Day Parade, July 4 fireworks display, Oct. 5 Oktoberfest and the Holiday Lighted Parade and Hospice Light Up a Life Tree Lighting Ceremony on Nov. 30; the contract with Pyro Spectaculars for the July 4 fireworks; the proposed 2013-14 budget for the Lake Local Agency Formation Commission; and a memorandum of understanding between Bicoastal Media, LLC, and the City of Lakeport for Summer Concert Series.

The council also will hold a closed session to discuss two cases of anticipated litigation.

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.

050713 Lakeport City Council agenda packet

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A week after the county’s sheriff’s cut Lakeport Police’s access to shared law enforcement records, the Lakeport City Council decided to take the county to court.

Emerging from closed session following a special Tuesday evening meeting and budget workshop, the council voted to retain the law office of Colantuono & Levin to take action against the county, according to City Manager Margaret Silveira.

City Attorney Steve Brookes said the goal was to get back to the previous level of services Lakeport Police had in the Records Information Management System, or RIMS, “prior to Sheriff Rivero’s wholly uncalled for unilateral actions.”

Both Brookes and Silveira said the city intends to enforce Lakeport Police’s rights under the present dispatch agreement it has with the county.

“We are in the process of assembling information and drafting legal documents that will set forth our position in Superior Court,” Brookes said.

County Counsel Anita Grant told Lake County News on Wednesday that she was notified that the outside law firm had been retained.

Without warning, Sheriff Frank Rivero cut off Lakeport Police’s RIMS access last week, initially telling Police Chief Brad Rasmussen that it was due to an audit issue and that no wrongdoing had occurred, but the following day – after Rasmussen went public with his concerns – Rivero leveled new allegations of inappropriate access to the system and then cut off temporary access he had given to the agency’s command staff.

Rivero also cut off Lake County Probation’s access, but didn’t give a specific reason, according to Probation Chief Rob Howe.

Two and a half years ago, Rivero locked the District Attorney’s Office out of the system, and still has not allowed access despite signing a memorandum of understanding with District Attorney Don Anderson in October 2011.

Rasmussen and city officials say that Rivero’s unilateral action has endangered officers and the safety of the community, a sentiment with which Lakeport Mayor Tom Engstrom, who retired as the city’s police chief in 2005, agrees.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 40-plus years in public service,” said Engstrom.

The city of Lakeport asked the Board of Supervisors to remedy the situation, and last Friday the board held a special meeting to try to get to the bottom of the matter, with law enforcement heads from around the county and four Lakeport City Council members – Engstrom among them – in attendance.

At the Friday meeting, Rivero claimed that the Lakeport Police Department had made hundreds of inappropriate accesses to the RIMS system, alleging that Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen had assured him that they only wanted access to Computer Aided Dispatch – or CAD – records.

He even alleged that Rasmussen himself had made questionable accesses, although when pressed about whether a crime occurred, he acknowledged he could not tell if all of the agency’s accesses were legitimate or not.

Rasmussen said Rivero twisted his words and that his staff has always accessed RIMS in addition to CAD. The records Rivero questioned included Rasmussen’s access to related to a registered sex offender making contact with children, according to Rasmussen.

The Board of Supervisors asked Rivero to restore access to Lakeport Police and Probation, assemble a task force of local law enforcement agencies to work on protocols for accessing the system and ask the California Attorney General’s Office for an independent audit.

While he agreed to most of those requests, Rivero flatly refused to allow Lakeport Police to resume access to RIMS, which law enforcement chiefs said has always been meant to be a system of shared information to benefit investigations and operations.

On Wednesday Rasmussen told Lake County News that his agency remained locked out.

The only information they are getting are sheets on individual calls, which were supposed to have been sent electronically but, because that isn’t working, have been faxed. He said one of his sergeants had been working with dispatch to try to get electronic access to those dispatch reports.

“It’s very limited information,” Rasmussen said.

The city has had a dispatch contract with the county for years. The county purchased the new RIMS system in 2002, and information on Lakeport calls and cases that go through county dispatch are put into that system, which is separate from a RIMS system maintained at Lakeport Police, according to Rasmussen.

Silveira said Lakeport Police is now unable to access about 10 years of information about its own cases stored in the county’s RIMS system.

As for Rivero’s accusations of wrongful access, Rasmussen said an investigation is under way into those allegations. He suspects that most of them are related to investigations his agency has conducted, but couldn’t offer more details due to the inquiry’s ongoing nature.

Rasmussen said that since last week he’s had no further communications with the sheriff’s office.

He’s also heard nothing about the formation of the task force the Board of Supervisors requested be set up, nor any follow through regarding a request for the Attorney General’s Office to conduct the RIMS audit.

Engstrom, who spent 25 years as a police chief in four different counties – Stanislaus, Santa Barbara, Monterey and then Lake – said that in all of those places the small police departments where he worked contracted with local sheriff’s offices for dispatch services, just like Lakeport Police does.

He said previously the Lake County Sheriff’s Office has always bent over backward to help local law enforcement.

With resources slim for all of the local agencies, “We have to work together,” said Engstrom.

He added, “I’m just hoping that it can be resolved.”

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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Wednesday, county officials said that five more homes in the Lakeside Heights subdivision in north Lakeport – where a landslide has damaged homes since late March – have been given voluntary evacuation notices.

At the same time, a presentation on the status on the Lakeside Heights slide incident and
consideration of post-incident monitoring and future actions has been placed on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda for next Tuesday, May 7, at 9:15 a.m.

The county said Lakeside Heights subdivision residents have been advised of the meeting and are encouraged to attend.

Since late March, the hilltop cluster of homes, located just off of Hill Road, has been plagued by a landslide that has split homes and damaged infrastructure.

Seven homes have been red-tagged in the subdivision so far, as the fissures have continued to develop and deeper along Lancaster Road, as Lake County News has reported.

On Wednesday afternoon the five additional homes – primarily located within the southwestern portion of the subdivision along Lancaster Road – were issued voluntary evacuation notices by the Lake
County Community Development Department.

The voluntary evacuations are purely precautionary at this time, but were issued due the unpredictable nature of the slide, according to the county.

The Office of Emergency Services requested that the Community Development Department issue these notices in light of additional observed movement of the slide along Hill Road and Downing Drive over the past couple of days.

As of the Wednesday afternoon, the county said a total of seven homes haven been mandatorily
evacuated and six other homes have been posted with voluntary evacuation notices.

Lake County Special Districts reported that continued progress is being made towards the relocation of a sewer manhole which is in danger of collapse.

Two new manholes are currently being installed to allow the sewer service to be temporarily re-routed to continue to serve residents of the subdivision and to avoid a possible sewer spill if the current manhole were to succumb to the slide.

At a Monday evening meeting, county officials had said they were concerned about a potential sewage spill due to the ground movement, with the manhole replacements meant to address that concern.

The Department of Public Works continues to be ready to remove debris from Hill Road and Downing Drive if the slide should reach those points. The county said contingency plans are in place to ensure
that access to Sutter Lakeside Hospital remains uninterrupted.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council had a chance to review city staff's progress on goals and the budget process at a special Tuesday night meeting.

The council's hourlong workshop, held on the 125th anniversary of the city's incorporation, also included approval of a Type-48 liquor license that Buckhorn Club owner Logan Weiper requested as a result of his move to a new location at 150 N. Main St..

The council unanimously approved the license at the suggestion of Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said the council was required to give its approval on the license by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control because the agency considered the downtown Lakeport area to have a high concentration of similar licenses.

Weiper said his goal was to offer a clean, comfortable new venue for the bar.

Mayor Tom Engstrom, a retired Lakeport Police chief, said he didn't consider Lakeport to have a high concentration of the licenses. In the city of Guadalupe, where he also had been chief of police, he said there had been 27 liquor licenses within a two-block area. Rasmussen agreed with Engstrom that the city didn’t have a high concentration of the licenses.

The main part of the meeting was a budget workshop led by Finance Director Dan Buffalo.

“We're feverishly working on the budget for next fiscal year,” said Buffalo, and staff wanted to bring council in on the process.

Buffalo's presentation focused on three things – a new component to the budget covering capital improvement projects, as well as citywide goals the council had developed during a February strategic planning session and the council's own budget. He said staff wanted the council's feedback on the work so far.

Staff began doing the groundwork for budget planning in February, but March was the real starting point, Buffalo explained. Staff received workbooks in April, with Buffalo explaining, “May is really when the rubber hits the road.”

The city's first official capital improvement project budget folds into the city's operation budget, Buffalo explained. It's meant to give the city a five-year snapshot of capital projects; the goal is to eventually have such budgets with 10- and 20-year overviews.

The capital improvement project budget identifies 84 projects at a total of $15.9 million, Buffalo said.

In addition to $3.9 million in water projects and $4.2 million in sewer projects – which the city has received some federal funding to help cover – and $800,000 in dock replacements, projects range between $1,500 and $2.2 million, with average costs around $30,000. He said 61 of the projects were under $100,000. Not all are financially feasible for the city.

Among the proposed purchases are vehicles, which Utilities and Public Works Director Mark Brannigan said will include used vehicles when possible, although in some instances state air quality requirements are difficult to meet unless new vehicles are purchased.

The project list also included purchases like new water meters, which will be funded through the recently approved US Department of Agricultural Rural Development funds.

Councilman Marc Spillman questioned the need to purchase the meters. City Manager Margaret Silveira said the meters definitely were needed.

Brannigan said staff was proposing the purchase of electronic meters that can be read simply by driving by them. Spillman questioned what Brannigan acknowledged was a 70-percent higher expense for the electronic meters over manual meters.

However, Brannigan said it the extra cost would save significant amounts of labor. He said staff spends 80 hours a month reading meters.

Councilman Kenny Parlet penciled out the annual hours spent on meter reading, estimating between 9,600 and 10,000 hours. “Seems to me it's almost like a no-brainer,” he said, with the ability to recoup the meters' expense by being able to have staff focus on maintenance and other work.

Brannigan said the staff hours could be reduced to eight per month with the new meters.

Because the meters were approved in the project list submitted to the USDA, Silveira said she didn't think the city could change its projects, but she said she would check into it.

The status of city goals

The meeting then turned to citywide goals, which Buffalo said council and staff members worked on together in February.

They arrived at five general citywide goals, and as departments are developing their budgets, they are instructed to tailor their budgets to focus on those goals, he said.

Silveira went over the goals with the council.

The first goal is maintaining strong council and staff relations, and encouraging leadership development. That includes developing a succession plan for executive management members, promoting and fostering leadership development throughout all management ranks, continuing to promote and invest in training programs for staff, and maintaining the highest possible standards for the recruitment, selection and retention of staff.

Goal No. 2 is to strengthen community and regional involvement, which involves enhancing promotion and readership of the community newsletter, enhancing marketing outreach, strengthening the relationship with the county and regional groups toward the promotion of engaging in regional projects that benefit the community as a whole.

The city's third goal is to establish and promote effective public outreach efforts. The city's action items for that goal are developing social media presence and promoting civic engagement, assembling a master list of community development partners and engaging those entities on specific objectives, increasing community outreach through community policing and crime reduction initiatives, and completing development of marijuana ordinance through increased community involvement.

Fourth on the city's goals list is enhancing activities and programs to support local and regional economic development. That includes promoting, marketing and branding the city; looking for alternatives to replace the economic development efforts of the former redevelopment agency; revisiting the storefront ordinance; focusing resources and attention to improving the physical appearance of Main Street; refocusing efforts on event promotion and the development of recreation sites.

The last of the five goals is focusing efforts on infrastructure improvements, including ensuring a safe and sustainable Lakeport; developing and implementing a capital improvement program; capitalizing on efficiencies provided through technology, including updating software and the city’s Web site; and increasing focus on developing the lakefront and improving the quality of the Lake during the summer months.

Silveira asked the council members if the goals still were relevant to them, and if they believed the implementation was working.

“They all sounded so foreign when we talked about them three months ago,” but the staff already is working on them, said Engstrom.

Parlet said it was the kind of list he would like to keep on a card in his wallet or posted on a wall at work. The rest of the council agreed that they liked the list.

City staff also briefly went over the council's own $91,000 budget for the year, with Silveira explaining that they have spent about $50,000 so far.

The council's budget includes salaries and benefits, special projects, special legal counsel, travel and training and fireworks. It also covers the Lakeport Planning Commission, primarily the stipend and payroll taxes.

The city's July 4 fireworks display is budgeted at $16,500, the same as last year, said Silveira.

“It brings a lot of people to town,” said Engstrom, who added that last year was a great show.

The award of the fireworks contract will be on the next council agenda, said City Clerk Janel Chapman.

Because the Lake County Chamber of Commerce is no longer doing a campaign letter to raise funds for the event, it was suggested that the city do more outreach to local businesses to help defray the costs.

Silveira told the council that in June there will be two meetings focusing on the final budget.

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.

043013 Lakeport City Council Preliminary Budget Workshop

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Concerned that further ground movement at a north Lakeport subdivision could damage sewer infrastructure to the point of a sewage spill, the county had a contractor working on Tuesday to replace a manhole that has been made vulnerable by the situation.

The work at Lakeside Heights continued a day after a special meeting in which county officials told residents that the manhole on Lancaster Road needed to be replaced immediately if a sewage spill – and a temporary evacuation of the entire subdivision – was to be avoided.

Since late March homeowners in the subdivision of 29 Tudor-style homes just off of Hill Road have watched as the earth has moved under their homes, with a total of seven being red-tagged, according to the county. Three are destroyed, having either broken in half or fallen into fissures that have opened on the hillside.

A contractor hired by Lake County Special Districts dug a large hole on Tuesday morning as part of the effort to reroute the county sewer line that runs along Lancaster Road.

Neighborhood residents Garey Hurn and Randall Fitzgerald estimated the hole measured 9 feet by 10 feet and was 6 feet deep. They said the work was delayed by the intrusion of groundwater at a depth of 58 inches, below the road surface.

Hurn reported that the water volume was “quite significant” and required pumping from the hole to a temporary sewage bypass system Special Districts has put in place. Existing sewer line also was being patched.

In an email sent to county officials, Fitzgerald observed that the water was flowing west to east through the gravel that surrounds the sewer pipe in two large and steady streams.

He said the pipes appeared to be acting as a French drain, with the hole needing to be pumped numerous times. He and Hurn calculated that the water rose 5 inches every 15 minutes.

Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger told Lake County News that the pipe trench was being dewatered and the water sent downstream into the county’s sewer collection system.

“The contractor has to have the trench dewatered so they can install the new manhole and connect it to existing pipes,” he told Lake County News in a Tuesday email.

For Fitzgerald, the appearance of so much water confirms the suspicions that he and other residents have had, namely, that one of the forces behind the landslide is a “natural flow” of water in the hillside.

That raises the concern that the county’s infrastructure is acting as a French drain and channeling water beneath all of the remaining houses along Lancaster Road via their home connections, which Fitzgerald suggested would explain why the hillside along Downing Street is constantly wet.

Fitzgerald and other residents in the subdivision are asking the county to expand its studies beyond just protecting the county’s infrastructure.

They want the source of the water found, with Fitzgerald proposing exploratory borings and the installation of multiple trench dams at the top of the hill where Downing and Lancaster meet.

County Counsel Anita Grant told a group of close to 40 subdivision residents at the special Monday night meeting that their concerns could be scheduled to go to the Board of Supervisors on the next available agenda.

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.