CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will appoint the members of the committee that will oversee how the proceeds from the recently approved Measure V transaction and use tax are spent.

The council will meet in closed session at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, to discuss the liability claim of Gage Thayer before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

On Thursday, the council will appoint the Measure V Oversight Committee.

Each council member can choose their own representative to the committee, which will oversee how the proceeds of the tax – meant for road repairs and improvements – are spent in order to ensure accountability to the taxpayers.

Measure V, passed in November, is expected to bring in up to $1.7 million annually, according to the latest estimate from city Finance Director Chris Becnel.

Also on Tuesday, the council will consider authorizing City Manager Greg Folsom to accept the Abandoned Vehicle Abatement fees the Board of Supervisors voted earlier this month to release.

In other business, the council will hold a public hearing to confirm assessments totaling $35,000 for administrative penalties for failure to abate public nuisances at 3380 Amber Ave., $2,500; 3556 Madrone St., $2,500; 15345 Mason St., $2,500; 3619 Sycamore St.; $7,500; 15210 Cass Ave., $2,500; 4397 Old Highway 53, $5,000; 3604 Harrison St., $7,500; 14845 Highlands Way, $2,500; 15100 Lakeview Ave., $2,500.

The council also will present a plaque to former Planning Commissioner Cheryl Hutchinson and accept the annual audit report for fiscal year 2016, including the report to those charged with governance and the appropriations limit report.

On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers; minutes of the Jan. 12 council meeting; minutes of the Dec. 14 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting; review and consider submittal of the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule for fiscal year 2017-18; and award of contract for construction management services for the Phillips and 18th Avenue Class II bicycle lanes and roadway reconstruction.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With Clear Lake above its full mark and still rising, the two cities and the county are taking safety measures due to the possibility of the lake reaching flood stage.

Clear Lake passed 7.56 feet Rumsey, the level at which it is considered full, on Friday, as Lake County News has reported.

The lake is at flood stage when it reaches 9 feet Rumsey. Late Monday night, Clear Lake's depth reached 8.56 feet Rumsey, the highest lake level for a January since 1995, according to US Geological Survey records.

The releases from the Cache Creek Dam also have reached near-record levels, with US Geological Survey records showing it peaking at nearly 4,600 cubic feet per second on Sunday, dropping to just over 3,600 cubic feet per second by Monday night.

In Clearlake, city Public Works Director Doug Herren said Monday that the situation was stable, with no flooding occurring.

“So far, so good,” he said.

He credited work his staff did during the summer to clear storm drains and drainage ditches for the good outlook so far, adding this was the first time in his tenure that there haven't been significant issues during the winter due to high water.

Herren also gave substantial credit for the better situation to the volunteer group Citizens Caring For Clearlake, which cleans up illegal dump sites.

“They've actually been working in some of the creeks as well,” on private property, Herren said,

At this time of year, the city's drainage ditches often fill up and get clogged with things like mattresses and clothing. However, the work for Citizens Caring For Clearlake has headed off those issues, he said.

On Monday afternoon, Herren estimated that the city's creeks – Burns Valley, Miller and Molesworth – were at 50 percent of capacity.

With the rain forecast to clear by the middle of this week, Herren noted, “This weather break is going to help us out a lot.

The Cache Creek Dam was releasing about 3,200 cubic feet per second on Monday afternoon, Herren said. He said he's been staying in touch with Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, the agency that owns the water rights to Clear Lake, and it has been very cooperative in letting out more water when he asks.

Herren said the city's boat ramps remained open on Monday, at which the lake level was hovering around 8.5 feet Rumsey. He said if the lake's level continues to rise, and gets closer to 9 feet Rumsey, the docks will get to a height at which they are not safe and he would close them.

A possible closure is a concern for the area's diehard fishermen, who Herren said are finding the lake's depth good for the fish bite. He said they were at the ramps first thing on Monday morning, ready to set out.

In Lakeport, city officials have been working to protect infrastructure, clear debris from drainage areas and watch areas where flooding usually happens, according to City Manager Margaret Silveira.

City Community Development Director Kevin Ingram said that during the height of the storms, city Public Works crews reported clearing logs, reeds and other debris three to four times a day from the city's boat ramps.

Public Works crews have now placed a 600-foot aqua dam along the walkway at Library Park, between the lake and the Carnegie Library. The last time the aqua dam was placed was in the spring of 2011, when the lake was at flood stage.
 
Ingram said the dam won't stop the water from coming into the park, but will act as a breakwater against wave action so as to protect the park and city infrastructure. “That's its primary purpose.”

He said the creeks are continuing to push water into the lake, and the wave action becomes a problem. “Wind is our biggest enemy at this point.”

Ingram added, “The other problem we run into is our drainage,” noting that Forbes Creek is not moving because it has nowhere to go, as it's pushing against a full lake. Crews also are working to keep debris clear from the creeks.

He said so far there haven't been other major problems, with crews continuing to monitor the situation along the lakeshore, and clearing debris from the lake and in the creeks.

“So far today has been pretty calm,” he said.

Ingram noted that the recent rains have made a good dent in the drought situation, adding that it's still only January.

At the county of Lake, new Water Resources Director Philip Moy said that all of the county park boat access points have been closed.

“In terms of Water Resources, that's the only closure we have right now,” he said.

He said he spoke with Sheriff Brian Martin, who is considering taking to the Board of Supervisors a special request to reduce boat speeds temporarily on the lake. That action would address concerns about boat wakes exacerbating the impacts on flooded properties along the shoreline.

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.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake is among 50 counties included in a state of emergency declared by Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday night as a result of this month's heavy winter storms as well as storms last month.

Brown's office said he issued two emergency proclamations on Monday “to secure funding to help communities respond to and recover from severe winter storms that have caused flooding, mudslides, erosion, debris flow and damage to roads and highways.”

The emergency proclamations issued for the December and January storms cover the counties of Alameda, Alpine, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo, Yuba and Del Norte.

The governor's proclamations separately reference storms that began on Dec. 9 and on Jan. 3.

The proclamation referencing the January events states that, beginning on Jan. 3, a storm system resulting from an atmospheric river swept across California, bringing high winds, substantial precipitation, and flooding, and impacting dozens of counties.

Both proclamations also note that the state's severe drought created conditions leading to flash flooding, erosion, and mud and debris flows.

Lake County was particularly impacted by a set of storms that began on Jan. 6.

Those storms caused a surge in Clear Lake's depth and closures of some roadways due to washouts and flooding.

The most serious impacts were seen in Hidden Valley Lake, where flooding occurred and an advisory evacuation notice was issued.

Supervisor Moke Simon, who represents the south county, reported that more than 50 homes in his district were impacted by the flooding, with between 10 and 15 of them having significant damage.

The storms led Sheriff Brian Martin to declare a local emergency on Jan. 13, which the Board of Supervisors ratified at its Jan. 17 meeting, as Lake County News has reported.

Brown's proclamation ordered Caltrans to formally request immediate assistance through the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief Program in order to obtain federal assistance for highway repairs or reconstruction.

It also stated that the Governor's Office of Emergency Services shall provide assistance to the counties, as appropriate and based on damage assessments received from local governments, under the authority of the California Disaster Assistance Act.

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 on Tuesday met new staff, approved a force main project and renovations to the former police station, and directed staff to move forward with creating a groundwater sustainability agency for the water basin that supplies water to the city.

At the beginning of the meeting, the council met three new city employees.

City Manager Margaret Silveira introduced Nick Walker, the city's new finance director who began work Jan. 9.

Walker, a father of two young children, was born and raised in Lake County and received his degree from Sonoma State University. His previous experience included working for the CPA accounting firm Robertson and Associates. He's waiting for the final steps of the CPA licensing process to be completed, Silveira said.

Silveira said Walker is catching on quickly, and that interim Finance Director Ginny Feth-Michel is staying on for a short time to help him.

Walker said he is looking forward to working with the council.

Walker helped introduce new Financial Services Specialist Shannon Delgado, whose duties will include cashiering and customer service, which means she will be the first person city residents see when they come to city hall to pay a bill. In her 20-year career she's gained experience in banking and finance.

Public Works Director Doug Grider introduced Chris Pion, a new water systems operator who began working with the city in November. Larry Meldrum, another water systems operator, couldn't attend to meet the council.

Grider also presented to the council a request to authorize a $523,683 contract with Allen Gill Construction for the completion of the USDA Highway 29 Force Main Project.

He said it's the last of the city's US Department of Agriculture-funded sewer and water projects.

Grider's written report said the project will install 600 feet of 18-inch fusible PVC casing and installation of approximately 600 feet of 12-inch fusible PVC force main within the casing, including tie-in at both ends to the existing sewer system.

Mayor Stacey Mattina asked Grider to explain what the project was going to do. He said it will run from Bevins Street under Highway 29 and come out on Parallel Drive.

There is an existing conduit in the area, which Grider said was determined to be in such a condition that it needed to be replaced. Engineers who worked on the plan concluded it was more affordable and quicker to put in the new force main than try to replace and remove the old one, said Grider.

In response to questions about possibly using the old conduit for other future utility projects, Grider said it will be there and available, but the cost-benefit ratio would have to change to make it beneficial for other uses.

In other news, Grider received the council's approval of a request for a budget amendment totaling $26,060 to pay for new flooring and interior paint at the former Lakeport Police station, located at 916 N. Forbes St.

The police department is moving this weekend to its new headquarters at 2025 Main St. Silveira said the city has a new tenant lined up and ready to move into the former police station on Feb. 15.

“They've been patiently waiting for about a year to move in,” Silveira said.

Because the lease for the building hadn't yet been signed as of Tuesday, city staff weren't prepared to name the new tenant.

The new tenant will pay about $2,550 to $2,600 a month, which Silveira said will offset about half of the monthly cost of the new police station, which the city purchased in 2015.

The other main item of business on Tuesday was City Attorney David Ruderman's presentation of an update on the new state rules governing groundwater and formation of groundwater sustainability agencies

He said the state passed legislation in 2014 to regulate groundwater. “We are the last state in the West to actually have comprehensive groundwater regulations,” said Ruderman.

Ruderman said the legislation was precipitated by the drought, which caused people to use more groundwater because of surface water supplies drying up.

“We're really coming up against some deadlines here soon,” he said, noting that city staff was interested in getting direction from the council on how to proceed.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, requires groundwater sustainability plans for 127 basins across the state as determined by the California Department of Water Resources. Ruderman said that some basins are exempted due to court adjudication.

He presented a map with basin priority, which showed that of Lake County's 11 recognized basins, only Scotts Valley – which provides water to Lakeport – and Big Valley are medium priority. None are high priority.

By June 30, Ruderman said the city must have a groundwater sustainability agency identified and filed with the state Department of Water Resources.

By Jan. 31, 2020, critically overdrafted basins must develop and file a groundwater sustainability plan, a requirement not applicable to Lakeport or anywhere else in the county, Ruderman said.

By Jan. 31, 2022, a groundwater sustainability plan must be developed and filed for basins not in critical overdraft, he said.

“If you don't meet these deadlines the state can take over” and prepare the plan, Ruderman said.

He said the groundwater sustainability agencies that form will have a lot of power, including well registration, fee authority, pumping allocations, spacing requirements of new wells, management of polluted water and groundwater, monitoring and enforcement (including fines), and appropriation and acquisition of surface water or groundwater, among other things.

He said one or more local agencies with water supply, water management or land use responsibilities that overlie a groundwater basin can form a groundwater sustainability agency. In areas where no  groundwater sustainability area is declared, the county by default becomes the responsible agency.

The process to form a groundwater sustainability agency includes establishing a list of interested people, holding a noticed public hearing, adopting a resolution, submitting it to the state Department of Water Resources and going through the state's completeness review, according to Ruderman.

If another agency elects to become the groundwater sustainability agency for that basin within 90 days, Ruderman said a coordination effort is to take place, and the new agency will become effective 90 days after the state finds the formation process to be complete.

Ruderman explained to the council that the city had drafted a proposed agreement to form a groundwater sustainability agency with the county for the Scotts Valley area.

However, before Jan. 1 the county submitted an alternative plan for managing the Scotts Valley and Big Valley basins that would appears to include them and all of the county water basins in one overarching plan, Ruderman said.

At the Board of Supervisors' Nov. 22 meeting, Lake County Public Works Director Scott De Leon asked for the board's approval of a contract with CDM-Smith to produce an alternative groundwater sustainability plan.

He said the county's groundwater basins – which he numbered at 12, not 11 as in Ruderman's report – are being managed under the Lake County Groundwater Management Plan, also produced by CDM-Smith and adopted by the board in 2006. 

“The SGMA legislation also allows groundwater basins to be sustainably managed using adopted Groundwater Management Plans such as the Lake County Groundwater Management Plan. SGMA allows such a Plan to be submitted as an Alternative to creating a Groundwater Sustainability Agency and writing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan for each basin, provided that the Plan can demonstrate the basin has and is operating within its sustainable yield, and has done so for the past ten years,” he said in his report.

De Leon also reported that since groundwater elevation monitoring performed in both basins has not indicated any decline, “an Alternative Plan appears to be the most cost-effective option for the District to comply with the SGMA regulations.”

Ruderman said it will take the state two years to determine if the county's plan is sufficient; meanwhile, the city's deadline to submit to create its own agency is coming up this summer.

The county's proposal would give the city only an advisory role with respect to the management of the Scotts Valley basin, he said.

Councilman George Spurr worried that, because the city's wells weren't within its sphere of influence, the county would end up with power over their management.

“It could happen that way. We don't know for sure yet,” said Silveira, adding that it hasn't yet been tested how much power the county might have in such a situation.

She said 100-percent of the city's water in the winter time comes from its wells in the Scotts Valley basin, so it's of “substantial concern” that the city be involved in managing that basin.

Ruderman said the city also has an agreement with Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, which owns the water rights to Clear Lake, for 750 acre feet of water. He said the city wants to make sure that allocation is protected.

Councilman Kenny Parlet said he attended a League of California Cities meeting during which the new groundwater law was discussed. He said he was “shocked and dismayed” to discover that no such rules had previously been in place, adding they were at least 50 years overdue.

He said one of the things that emerged from the presentation was that the state is still finding its way with the rules.

Mattina said it's going to be very controversial once property owners with wells start getting impacted. She added that the city needed to protect its water basin.

Community Development Director Kevin Ingram said that if the county's alternative plan to manage the basin is approved, the basin would no longer be considered medium priority. He said the city needed to make sure it was “at the table,” adding that the alarming thing was that the city would have no more than an advisory role – not a voting role – if the county's plan goes forward.

Councilman Tim Barnes asked staff if the county is moving ahead with forming a groundwater sustainability agency. Ruderman said the county has expressed its intent but hasn't actually filed the necessary paperwork.

Barnes moved to direct staff to initiate work to start a groundwater sustainability agency and bring back dates for a public hearing on a resolution to form the agency.

The council approved the motion 4-0. Councilwoman Mireya Turner, a county planner, was absent as she was in attendance at special evening meeting of the Board of Supervisors, during which they held a workshop on proposed cannabis-related rules.

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.