Local Government

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The filing deadline arrived this afternoon for county offices, with the races for the June 5 primary now set.

The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office said that there will be contested races for the Lake County Superior Court seat for Department 1, and Board of Supervisors seats for Districts 1, 4 and 5.

With Superior Court Judge David Herrick not seeking reelection, a field of four has formed to pursue the seat.

Names that will be appearing on the ballot in that judge’s race include local attorneys Judy Conard, Michael Friel, Susan Krones and Michael Lunas, according to the Registrar of Voters.

Running unopposed for reelection this year are Lake County Superior Court Judges Richard Martin, Andrew Blum and Stephen Hedstrom, who sit on the benches of Departments 2, 3 and 4, respectively.

Because their offices are uncontested, Martin, Blum and Hedstrom will not appear on either the June or November ballots, but will be declared elected by Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley on the day of the general election on Nov. 6.

In the District 1 supervisorial race, incumbent Jim Comstock of Middletown will be challenged in his pursuit of a second term by Lower Lake resident Victoria Brandon.

For District 4, Supervisor Anthony Farrington of Lakeport will be challenged by businessman Fred Langston, also of Lakeport.

In District 5, Supervisor Rob Brown of Kelseyville will be challenged by Joan Moss of Cobb.

For any of the candidates to win outright in the June 5 primary, they must receive 50 percent of the vote plus one additional vote, the Registrar of Voters Office reported.

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


View Larger Map

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Fire chiefs around Lake County and beyond are concerned about the impacts of a new fire fee the state will start collecting this July.

Last summer the state Legislature approved – and the governor signed – ABX1 29, which allowed the implementation of an annual fee of $150 for each “habitable” structure within the State Responsibility Area, or SRA, which is covered principally by Cal Fire.

In the event such structures are in areas also covered by local responsibility areas, there will be a $35 reduction, for a total bill of $115, according to Cal Fire information officer Daniel Berlant.

Berlant said the fee is expected to bring in about $84.4 million annually.

At some point in the future a fee also could be applied to acreage, Berlant said.

“I’m afraid that we’re going to get a lot of calls,” said Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief Ken Wells, adding that local districts had nothing to do with the fee, nor will they benefit from it.

“This is a state tax that we have absolutely no control over,” said Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Jay Beristianos.

Beristianos said there will be a lot of people in his district who will receive a bill for the fee. “It just results from people expanding out into the woods more.”

Beristianos said Cal Fire also has responsibility for watershed areas.

The State Responsibility Area covers 51 million acres in 56 counties, and includes between 1.1 million and 1.5 million individual parcels, and 800,000 habitable structures, Cal Fire reported.

Berlant said the state has loaned Cal Fire $24 million while it implements the new fee. The first $24 million to be collected will then go to the state.

The SRA map above shows the SRA and local responsibility area boundaries around California.

Fee imposed, budget cut

At the same time as ABX1 29 was passed, the state cut $50 million from the Forestry and Fire Protection’s General Fund budget allocation for the 2011-2012 fiscal years. It’s anticipated another $15 million will be cut.

“The implication of the SRA Fee legislation and budget cut taken together was that the Department would be compelled to restore its operating budget loss for fire prevention through collection of SRA Fees,” according to Cal Fire documents. “Despite the Governor’s express expectation that further revision of the enacted legislation would be necessary to reconcile General Fund cuts with fees for prevention services, no such revisions to the statute have been made.”

Without that statutory clarification, the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection had to come up with its own “reasonable interpretation” of how to apply the statutes.

An analysis of the SRA fee by Chief James Little of the Long Vally Fire Protection District in Laytonville questioned Cal Fire emergency response statistics – which he pointed out were lower for actual fires but high for incidents like medical aids – and also worried that the fee will continue to go up.

Berlant said that the fee wasn’t devised based on statistics. While responses like medical aids are high, “It’s not where we spend the money and it’s not where we spend the time.”

Cal Fire spends the majority of its time and money on wildland and vegetation fires, Berlant said.

Officials concerned about costs

On Tuesday, Wells and Tim Streblow, chief of Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, gave the Board of Supervisors an update on the fee.

Officials at the meeting reported that approximately 36,461 parcels in Lake County fall within the SRA, and 13,825 of those have improvements of more than $10,000 each.

Streblow said the funds will mostly be used to cover the costs for grants to firesafe councils and nonprofits, not restoring cut firefighter positions. He also suggested there is a strong likelihood of legal protest.

A quick calculation by Supervisor Jeff Smith concluded that Lake County residents would pay a total of $2 million because of the new fee.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said the fee was clearly a tax.

“It’s just a way the state has found to raise revenue. It’s a tax. They can call it anything they want,” Cox said.

Cox also was concerned that many people don’t know they’re going to get the bill.

There are other concerns about how the fee will impact fire districts.

Beristianos told Lake County News that the SRA fee will make it tougher for local districts to get support for their own new fees.

“We’re already behind on the Northshore on what we charge for our fire tax,” Beristianos said.

The Board of Equalization told Lake County News on Thursday that it will be responsible for collecting the fees.

The agency will begin sending out bills between July and August, mailing them out to counties in alphabetical order, beginning with Alameda County.

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

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to change from a city administrator-led government to the council-manager form.

Council members agreed that it was the time to make the change in order to improve city operations.

The council-manager form is used by the city of Lakeport, which instituted it in by ordinance in 2000 and hired its first city manager in 2001.

In a council-manager government, council sets policy and the city manager carries it out, oversees city operations and is responsible for hiring department heads, with the exception of the city attorney position.

In the current administrator format, major hiring decisions are at the council’s discretion, and the administrator carries out city operations at the council’s direction.

Council member Judy Thein said Tuesday that Clearlake initially had a city manager but changed to city administrators because previous councils felt the city manager held too much power.

“Years have passed and the proof is in the pudding,” she said.

The council initially discussed the matter at its Feb. 23 meeting, but held over making a decision so city staff could review government code language about hiring responsibilities.

Specifically, interim City Administrator Joan Phillipe said Government Code Section 34856 explains that a city manager “may” be responsible for hiring department head positions such as the police chief, but that the council could retain those decisions if it chose to do so.

Phillipe said she believed that issue of hiring responsibility was the outstanding question from the Feb. 23 meeting.

“This is really kind of a housekeeping measure,” she said, noting that city code currently is not definitive in the hiring area.

Thein shared information about the city manager form of government, which she said combines strong political leadership in the form of elected officials with a strong manager. She quoted statistics that said the council-manager form is used by 3,000 governments representing 71 million Americans.

Since the early 1980s, Clearlake has had a city administrator form of government, but had a city manager at one time, she said.

Thein said times change, and maybe the city should, too.

“As with many things, old habits are hard to break,” Thein said.

She said the council can’t micromanage the city manager. “Our role is to provide policy for the city manager.”

The buck would stop with the city manager, and if the council wasn’t happy with its manager, then that is what evaluations and closed sessions are for, said Thein.

She warned that if the council wants to micromanage, it’s setting itself up for defeat.

“Personally, for me, I’m ready to make that change,” and allow Phillipe to take over the reins as city manager, Thein said.

Chuck Leonard, who retired from the council at the end of 2010, said it was his opinion that the hiring and firing of department heads belongs to the elected council members. He said the city has had some city administrators that he was glad weren’t city managers.

County Supervisor Jeff Smith also questioned the move to the council-manager form. He explained that the Board of Supervisors hires and fires every department head.

Smith was reluctant to see the council give up hiring control, as he worried that a future city manager could start dismissing people for no reason. Thein responded that the council could retain the power of hiring and firing decisions.

Vice Mayor Jeri Spittler said she had thought about the matter since the Feb. 23 meeting, during which the council hosted a heated discussion on offering interim Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen the job permanently. The majority of the council ultimately did so over Spittler’s objections.

Spittler said that she never wanted to put a council member through what she went through at that meeting two weeks ago.

“At this point I’m for management,” she said.

Mayor Joey Luiz also favored the conversion. “We’ve done a lot of hiring this year.”

Thein moved to direct city staff to draft the appropriate ordinance and bring it back at an upcoming meeting. The council approved the motion 5-0.

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Board of Supervisors will hold a joint public hearing with the Lake County Planning Commission on Tuesday, March 27, to consider adopting the Lake County Housing Element Update.

The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

The housing element is an assessment of housing needs and issues facing the unincorporated areas of the county.

The Lake County Community Development Department and Housing Element Advisory Committee have been working together for the past year to complete an update of the housing element previously adopted in 2004.

The update includes information on special housing needs and constraints, existing housing stock conditions, future housing needs, and an inventory of local, state and federal housing and financing programs.

The update also includes an inventory of lands suitable for residential development and detailed goals, policies and implementation measures aimed at improving housing in Lake County.

The public hearing will allow for interested members of the public to discuss new housing element goals, policies and implementation programs updated from the previously adopted housing element.

There also will be a discussion of recommended changes made in compliance with the California Department of Housing and Community Development 60-day review of the first draft of this proposed housing element revision.

Community members are encouraged to participate in this dialogue and assist in providing suggestions and comments on the proposed housing element update.

Upon adoption by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors the housing element will be forwarded to Housing and Community Development for certification in compliance with Government Code Section 65585(h).

For more information about this public hearing and the Housing Element update, please contact Kevin Ingram in the Lake County Community Development Department at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-263-2221.

The housing element update is available for review electronically at www.co.lake.ca.us/cdd ; it also can be seen below.

Copies of the draft Housing Element update are also available at the county libraries, and at the Community Development Department located on the third floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

Lake County General Plan Housing Element Update draft

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County’s longtime county administrative officer has agreed to stay on in an interim capacity after his retirement becomes official next week.

Kelly Cox, who has been with the county for 32 years, is officially retiring at the end of business on Friday, March 16. He made those plans public early in January.

However, on Tuesday in a discussion with the Board of Supervisors Cox agreed to stay on while the county continues the recruitment for his successor.

Cox told Lake County News on Wednesday that he was honored that the board asked him to help out, but he said he wouldn’t agree to delay his official retirement date.

Cox, who is credited with helping keep the county on a strong budgetary footing over the past three decades, is continuing to keep the county’s finances in mind as part of the arrangement.

Budget records show Cox was paid just over $143,000 in 2010. However, he’s agreed to carry on doing the job after March 16 as a volunteer.

In other words, he’ll do the work for free.

“I'm happy to be able to help out for awhile, on a volunteer basis,” Cox said.

“At this point we don't know if it will be for just a few days, a few weeks or for a longer period,” he said.

The Board of Supervisors hasn’t started interviewing candidates yet – around 50 people reportedly applied – but Cox said interviews are scheduled to start in a few weeks.

Cox said he hopes the board will be able to appoint a new county administrative officer from the current applicant pool.

“I'm happy to stay for whatever period of time is needed,” he said.

He said he’s also glad for the opportunity to stay on a little longer because he and his staff are in the middle of some “very crucial projects” that he can’t complete by his March 16 retirement date.

Cox said not being on the payroll may give him one benefit – he’s hoping to come in a little later on weekday mornings, rather than starting his day as early as he has all these years.

“That's something I've wanted to be able to do for over 32 years!” he said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com , on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday chose to reduce the Westshore Pool Summer Camp to half days while staff waits to find out if there will be funding assistance for lifeguards and other necessities.

Public Works Director Doug Grider had initially taken the discussion about the camp to the council at its last meeting in February.

This summer’s camp will be the third the city has hosted since renovating the Westshore Pool several years ago.

Grider was concerned that staffing and other associated costs – including water and healthy snacks for the children participating in the daylong camps – were going to result in a revenue loss for the city.

It was suggested at the last meeting that the city might be able to reduce costs by having the children take advantage of a free meals program offered by Lakeport Unified School District during the summer.

Grider said Tuesday that he had contacted the school district, which runs the food program for four weeks in July.

He suggested the pool’s summer camp could be tailored so that all but one of the days would coincide with the program, which offers breakfast and lunch to children.

In addition, Grider is working with the Lake One-Stop, which is applying for funds for a summer youth program. He said that program would help pay for lifeguard certifications and wages at the pool.

While the One-Stop can’t guarantee at this point that it will receive the grant, “I’m optimistic about it,” Grider told the council.

Grider had offered the council several options – keep the camps for full days, reduce them to half days, suspend or stop them altogether.

Staff proposed that if the camps were reduced to half days that children ages 9 to 11 would be given punch cards to participate in public swim in the afternoons.

Council member Suzanne Lyons raised concerns about children leaving the pool during the public swim.

Grider said children are checked in and out and carefully monitored. “We don’t let the little people out the gate.”

Mayor Stacey Mattina suggested the council approve the camp to continue with half days, and if the grants come through they can add more elements to it.

Grider said one of reasons he brought the issue to the council was a lack of staff resources to devote to the program.

If the additional funding elements came through, Grider suggested the city could enrich the program by hiring a pool manager.

He said he hopes the economy comes back so the city can continue supporting such programs.

“It’s not that I don't like the program or think it was a bad program,” he said. “I think it was an excellent program.”

Councilman Tom Engstrom moved to have the camps move to half-day sessions until additional resources are available, which the council approved 4-0. Councilman Roy Parmentier was absent from the meeting.

In other news, the council approved staff’s use of an environmental consultant to put together an application by month’s end for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Community Facilities financing program. The goal is to get federal funding for water and sewer rehabilitation and improvement projects.

City Manager Margaret Silveira said the city has received word that if they can have the application in by the end of March they have a good chance at getting funding, including a grant.

“Staff has been working on this a long time,” Silveira said.

Council members also approved a Cinco de Mayo event but required that two police officers be assigned to it due to security concerns that had arisen during past celebrations.

An audit that was scheduled to be presented on Tuesday night was postponed until the next meeting, as the auditor was unable to attend, Silveira said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com , on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

LCNews

Award winning journalism on the shores of Clear Lake. 

 

Search