LAKEPORT, Calif. – Steps necessary for the county to implement federal health care legislation will be one of the topics on the Board of Supervisors' agenda this week.

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. TV8 will broadcast the meeting live.

In an untimed discussion, the County Administrative Office will ask the board to appoint a task force to formulate policy recommendations to address compliance to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Chief Deputy County Administrative Officer Matt Perry's report to the board on federal health care reform – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – said the county needs to be aware of the law's requirements in order to avoid expensive penalties.

Among the issues, Perry said the county will be required to provide health care insurance to all extra help employees who work more than 130 hours per month, effect Jan. 1, 2014, but a determination period will begin three months to a year ahead of that point.

Therefore, effective Jan. 1, 2013, “each County department needs to be in full compliance with any practices established to comply with this requirement,” he said.

Perry continued, “To provide an adjustment and trial period, staff recommends setting a target date of July 1, 2012 to implement any new policies and restrictions on the use of extra help.”

He said it's critical for the county to begin planning to comply with that requirement. Failure to comply could result in a $2,000 annual penalty per employee, which he estimated is about $1.8 million annually.

Perry's report requests the board appoint a task force to report back with policy recommendations addressing the county's future use of extra help employees.

In other business, in an untimed item the board will discuss terminating a lease between the county of Lake Community Development Department and the county of Lake Probation Department for office space at 16195 Main St., Lower Lake.

Due to a negative response from the Lower Lake community, Lake County Probation is moving out of the office – which it had only recently started to use as a satellite office and check-in center – and is moving to a facility in Clearlake.

At 9:50 a.m. the board also will consider appointing George Speake to work on a volunteer basis as project manager of the Middle Creek Restoration Project.

The full agenda follows.

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: Carried over from March 13, presentation of proclamation recognizing and thanking the California Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Forest Service, the city of Lakeport Police Department and community volunteers for service to Lake County in connection with the National Forest Grow-Site Reclamation Project.

9:15 a.m., A-6: Hearing, nuisance abatement of 4420 Lakeshore Blvd., Lakeport, CA (APN 029-141-18 – Dan Garrison and Louise Garrison).

9:30 a.m., A-7: Presentation of proclamation designating March 20, 2012, as National Agriculture Day and March 18-24, 2012, as National Agriculture Week.

9:40 a.m., A-8: Presentation of proclamation designating the week of March 18-24, 2012, as National Surveyors Week.

9:50 a.m., A-9: Consideration of the appointment of George Speake on a volunteer basis, to function as Project Manager of the Middle Creek Restoration Project.

10:30 a.m., A-10: Consideration of proposed agreement in principle between the Kelseyville County Water Works District No. 3 and Bottle Rock Power Co. for the Kelseyville Wastewater Effluent Pipeline & Injection Project.

1:30 p.m., A-11: Closed session, interviews of applicants for county administrative officer.

NONTIMED ITEMS

A-12: Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports.

A-13: Consideration of the following appointments: Child Care Planning Council and Lower Lake County Waterworks District No. 1.

A-14: Consideration of staff request to appoint a task force to formulate policy recommendations to address compliance to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

A-15: Consideration of termination of lease agreement between the county of Lake Community Development Department and the county of Lake Probation Department for office space, located at 16195 Main St., Lower Lake.

CLOSED SESSION

A-16: 1.Conference with Labor Negotiator: (a) County Negotiators: A. Grant, S. Harry, L. Guintivano, M. Perry and J. Hammond; and (b) Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Lake County Correctional Officer's Association and Lake County Deputy District Attorney's Association.

2. Conference with legal counsel: Decision whether to initiate litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9, subdivision (c).

CONSENT AGENDA

C-1: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings held on March 6, 2012 (carried over from March 13, 2012), and March 13, 2012.

C-2: Adopt proclamation designating March 20, 2012, as National Agriculture Day and March 18-24, 2012 as National Agriculture Week.

C-3: Adopt proclamation designating the week of March 18-24, 2012, as National Surveyors Week.

C-4: Adopt resolution authorizing grant project, Lake County Domestic Violence Response Team Project.

C-5: Approve second amendment to the agreements between the county of Lake and Jones Mortuary, Jones and Lewis Mortuary and Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary (establishing transportation costs to UC Santa Cruz in the amount of $350 round trip), and authorize the chair to sign.

C-6: Approve Boating Safety and Enforcement Financial Aid Program contract between the county of Lake and the California Department of Boating and Waterways, for boating safety and enforcement
activities, in the amount of $315,312, for fiscal year 2012-13, and authorize the sheriff to sign.

C-7: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and the PSA 26 Area Agency on Aging (AAA) to provide matching funds to enable the AAA to continue to receive FY 2011/12 federal and state grant funds under the Older Americans Act in the amount of $52,553, and authorize the chair to sign.

C-8: Approve request to waive 900 hour limit for extra help eligibility workers Janice Devens and Marla Hartman.

C-9: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2011-125 establishing position allocations for Fiscal Year 2011-2012, Budget Unit No. 5011, Department of Social Services (deleting one vacant welfare fraud investigator/trainee position, and adding one (1) temporary secretary II position to meet needs for coverage during an approved leave of absence).

LAKE COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

C-10: (a) Approve easement deed and direct clerk to certify for recordation (APN 039-462-47 – Viola Jones), and approve right of way agreement between the county of Lake and Viola Jones for the
construction of the wastewater force main sanitary sewer line, and authorize the chair to sign.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will receive an audit report and consider whether or not to apply for state grants.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 20, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Council members will convene at 5 p.m. for a closed session to discuss negotiations with unrepresented employees and an anticipated case of litigation before the regular meeting begins in open session at 6 p.m.

During public presentations, the council will receive a report the auditor, a report that originally had been scheduled for the last meeting but was postponed because the auditor could not attend.

Mount Konocti Facilitation, a group which assists local businesses, also will make a presentation to the council.

The council will hold a public hearing to consider staff recommendations regarding the application for 2011-12 state Community Development Block Grant funding.

Specifically, city staff is recommending that the city not apply this year and apply next year when the chances are more favorable.

In redevelopment-related business, the council – serving as the successor agency to the dissolved Lakeport Redevelopment Agency – will consider adopting a resolution confirming Mayor Stacey Mattina's appointment of City Manager Margaret Silveira as the alternate to the redevelopment successor agency oversight board.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – In response to community concerns, the county is moving a recently opened probation office out of Lower Lake.

Supervisor Jim Comstock will ask the Board of Supervisors next Tuesday, March 20, to consider terminating the lease agreement between the county’s Community Development Department and Lake County Probation for the office space at 16195 Main St.

The office space previously was used jointly by the county’s building department and Environmental Health, according to County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox.

Acting Chief Probation Officer Steve Buchholz said Thursday that his staff is vacating the Lower Lake building.

“We were going to move in,” he said, adding, “There were some concerns by the citizens.”

Because of the state’s correctional realignment, which is shifting some convicted felons from state prison to county jails, and probationers from state supervision to “post release community supervision,” Lake County Probation needed to set up another office in the south county for its expanded caseload, Buchholz said.

Specifically, two probation staffers will work out of the south county satellite office, which also will serve as a check-in center, he said.

Probation had those two staffers conducting field services out of the Lower Lake location but Buchholz said they had not yet brought in any clients.

The business community didn’t welcome the probation office’s presence, he said.

“There was a belief that we would have high risk felons lining up out the door,” Buchholz said.

He added, “In my opinion there were some misconceptions on what was actually going to occur there but I do understand the concerns.”

Buchholz said his department has since found a privately owned location in Clearlake that better serves its needs.

He said the Board of Supervisors will consider approving a three-year lease for the Clearlake facility at its March 27 meeting.

Cox said the county has no other potential tenant lined up to take the county-owned office space in Lower Lake.

If building activity were to pick up again, there would be funding and justification to reopen a building department office there, Cox said. “We’re not seeing seeing a trend yet in construction activity that would justify that in the foreseeable future.”

Buchholz said the two probation officers who will work from the Clearlake satellite office primarily will handle the post release community supervision caseload, consisting of individuals coming out of state prison who will be under probation’s supervision rather than that of state parole.

Because of correctional realignment, Buchholz said probation’s caseload is increasing daily, “as we expected,” he said.

He called it “the proverbial snowball, it’s still moving,” noting, “it’s kind of hitting a lot of agencies from many different directions.

To help deal with the caseload, the county has reinstated the assistant chief probation officer job, which is the department’s second-in-command, Buchholz said.

Rob Howe, a former sheriff’s captain, has been selected for the job, according to Buchholz.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – March has been designated as the month to honor the commitment of Meals on Wheels volunteers to feeding seniors around Lake County.

On Tuesday Supervisor Anthony Farrington, on behalf of the Lake County Board of Supervisors, presented a proclamation to representatives from Lake County’s senior centers declaring March as Meals on Wheels month.

Lake County senior centers provide over 160,000 meals to seniors each year. More than 100,000 are delivered to homebound seniors.

This labor of love and compassion cannot be accomplished without the generous support of the hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours they contribute.

The proclamation by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday was to recognize the efforts of the senior centers, volunteers and the community that supports them.

Each year the senior centers use the month of March as a fundraising campaign called “March for Meals.”

Each center is reaching out to the community for financial support.

Senior centers with meals programs can be contacted at the following phone numbers, or by stopping by Middletown, 707-987-3113; Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake, 707-994-3051; Live Oak Senior Center in Clearlake Oaks, 707-998-1950; Lucerne, 707-274-8779; and Lakeport, 707-263-4218.

The proclamation is below.

Proclamation designating the month of March as Meals on Wheels Month in Lake County

WHEREAS, over 100,000 meals are delivered annually to homebound seniors in Lake County, so they may live independently in their homes for as long as possible; and

WHEREAS, the loyal volunteers who prepare and deliver Meals on Wheels provide consistent and dependable meal delivery and daily wellness checks for Lake County seniors in need; and

WHEREAS, the senior centers and their program partners bring together the community, local businesses and community organizations for the purpose of providing nutrition, hope and independence to homebound seniors and those in need

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Lake does hereby designate the month of March, 2012 as MEALS ON WHEELS MONTH IN LAKE COUNTY, and recognizes the vital role of senior centers and community volunteers in addressing the needs of seniors in Lake County.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A town hall meeting later this month will consider the issue of geothermal gas seepage in the city of Clearlake.

The meeting will take place beginning at 6 p.m. Monday, March 26, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Clearlake City Council member Joyce Overton and Beth-Katherine Kaiman will host the town hall meeting regarding the Cross Creek geothermal seep.

Guest speakers will include Joe Beale, Calpine's retired head geologist; county Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait; Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski; Lake County Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart; Konocti Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Bill MacDougall; and Dana Moore, Konocti Unified School District's director of maintenance and operations.

The forum will offer an update on the activities that have been being monitored around the park, Burns Valley School and extended areas.

Attendees will receive information on what to do if they think there is a problem on their property or their families have resulting health concerns.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport is seeking people to serve on the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee.

Residents, business persons and other interested individuals are invited to join the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee (LEDAC).

LEDAC is an advocate for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and a conduit between the city leadership and the community for communicating and implementing the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.

The committee consists of up to 12 members who either live, work, shop or do business in the city of Lakeport. This includes Lake County residents who live in unincorporated areas.

LEDAC meets every other month on the first Wednesday at 7 a.m. at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Ideal LEDAC applicants will possess the following:

• Strong interest in and commitment to the city’s economic development goals and objectives, as set forth in the Lakeport General Plan and the Lakeport Business Retention and Recruitment Strategy.
• Recognized leadership/participation in the community.
• Experience/expertise in at least one of the following areas: Real estate, business management and operations, finance, public relations, marketing/promotion, sales, government/public administration, related professions/industries.
• Ability and willingness to commit five to 10 hours per month to the success of the Lakeport’s economic development efforts.

LEDAC will work closely with the Lakeport’s community development director, city manager and the city council, and will coordinate with the Lake County Economic Development Program, the Lakeport Main Street Association and the Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

LEDAC positions are unpaid and will be appointed by the Lakeport City Council; candidates will be considered city volunteers. LEDAC is subject to the California Open Meeting Law (the Brown Act).

Applications to serve on LEDAC are available from Lakeport City Clerk Janel Chapman at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., telephone 707-263-5615, Extension 12.