The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Lakeport Community Development and Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll will take to the council a discussion on redevelopment and a proposed resolution for the council to become the Lakeport Redevelopment Agency’s successor agency.

Action has to be taken in the wake of last month’s decision by the California Supreme Court upholding legislation abolishing redevelopment.

At the same time, the court struck down companion legislation that would have allowed agencies to continue operating if they made annual payments to the state, as Lake County News has reported.

AB1X 26, which abolished redevelopment, provides that the city will be the “successor agency” to the agency and responsible for the wind down of the agency’s affairs, according to Knoll’s report to the council.

His report explains that the activities of the city, as successor agency, will be managed by an oversight board, comprised primarily of representatives of other affected taxing agencies, until such time as the debts of the agency are paid off, all agency assets liquidated and all property taxes are redirected to local taxing agencies.

If the city chooses not to serve as the successor agency, it would need to file a resolution with the Lake County Auditor-Controller’s Office by Jan. 13, according to Knoll. The city automatically becomes the successor agency unless it elects not to by resolution.

He said if the city doesn’t act as successor agency, another local agency – such as the county or a school district – would oversee the agency’s wind down process, which he said “likely to be time consuming and complex.”

“There is risk that there will be disputes over the proper implementation of the wind down process,” he noted in his memo. “However, if the City chooses not to serve as the successor agency, it will have little or no control over the manner in which the existing obligations and agreements of the Agency are handled during the wind-down process.”

Knoll also warns of risks in becoming the successor agency.

Those include not receiving reimbursement for administrative costs that exceed the city’s budget, not receiving reimbursement if there are insufficient tax increment funds to cover higher priority costs and defending lawsuits brought against the city, acting as successor agency, at its own cost.

Those risks, he added, are subject to a statutory limitation on successor agency liability set forth in AB1X 26.

Following the redevelopment discussion, staff will hold a training with the council on using new iPads for the paperless agenda process.

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 .

011012 Lakeport City Council - Resolution for Successor Agency Report

LAKEPORT, Calif. – His budget acumen has been credited with making Lake one of the few counties in the state to have no deficit, and his knowledge of the county and his advice on how to guide it through good times and bad have been sought by numerous supervisors and other officials.

But after 32 years in county government, Lake County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox has concluded that it’s time to retire.

Cox, 56, has been hinting at retirement for the last few years, but has so far not given a concrete date for putting down his ever-sharp budgeting pencil.

However, in a memorandum penned to the Board of Supervisors for an untimed discussion during its Tuesday meeting, Cox officially announces he’s retiring, and gives the date as the close of business on Friday, March 16.

“I selected this date because it should provide me with sufficient time to assist in preparing our department’s FY 2012-13 budget proposals while also providing my successor with the opportunity to prepare the actual FY 2012-13 Recommended County Budget for your Board’s consideration in June,” Cox wrote.

He notes in the memo that he has mixed emotions about retiring. While he wants to be able to pursue other interests, including travel, he said it will be difficult for him to leave his colleagues, friends and staff.

“My genuine love of Lake County and respect for public service makes me want to continue working indefinitely, but I know that sooner or later everyone has to retire and all things considered I believe now is the time for me to do so and I ask that the Board accept and support this decision,” he wrote.

Cox pursued a double major in political science and business management from Sonoma State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree. He then earned a master’s degree in public administration and, just a few months later, at the age of 24 was hired to work in the County Administrative Office.

Just a year later, at age 25, he found himself taking on the county administrative officer’s duties after the then-administrative officer left. He’s been doing the job ever since, with his duties evolving and expanding “along with the rest of our County government.”

By his count he’s worked with 23 different members of the Board of Supervisors, more than 100 county department head, thousands of employees and at different times done double duty as director of personnel, data processing, buildings and grounds, marketing, risk management, the county museum and at one time even served as department head for the public defender’s office.

“As challenging as it has been, one of the responsibilities I have actually enjoyed the most and where I believe I have been the most successful is my work on the County’s annual budget,” Cox said in his memo to the board.

He said he’s prepared 31 county budgets, the largest just over $200 million a few years ago.

Cox said the county budget he inherited had general fund debt, which included service bonds for the 1968 construction of the county courthouse.

“Since my philosophy has been to avoid general fund debt, I was pleased to be able to provide budget recommendations to the Board of Supervisors that resulted in an early pay-off of the courthouse bonds and I successfully recommended subsequent budgets that did not require the issuance of any general fund debt,” according to Cox.

This year’s budget, he noted, has a structurally balanced general fund with no debt, significant appropriations for contingencies and “very substantial” reserve funds. “I believe this approach has benefited the County and the County’s taxpayers and I hope it will be continued in the future.”

During his tenure, county government has had numerous economic challenges, from Proposition 13 to “the great recession” of recent years. “My approach has always been to consider these challenges as opportunities to improve efficiency within county government, which sometimes forced very difficult decisions to be made.”

He’s overseen the construction of many county projects – health, corrections, library and others – and took an active hand in saving the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum, the Ely Stage Stop and the Lucerne Hotel.

At the Tuesday meeting he’ll ask the board to begin the process of recruiting his successor.

“I have full confidence in your Board’s ability to appoint a qualified individual to serve as my successor,” Cox’s memo stated. “I believe it will ultimately be beneficial for Lake County to have new energy and new ideas to help guide the County though future challenges that will undoubtedly exist as the State transfers more responsibilities to counties and as the recession further impacts the County’s tax revenue base.”

Cox, who offered to help as a volunteer after he takes some time off to rest and travel, thanked his staff and the many supervisors.

“I have enjoyed my job more than words can express and will be eternally grateful for having had the opportunity to serve this great County for so many years,” he concluded.

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. – This week the Board of Supervisors will hold a discussion with state officials regarding the state’s response to the threat of quagga and zebra mussels, consider moving forward with a recruitment for a new county administrative officer and hold abatement hearings on two medical marijuana dispensaries.

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. TV8 will broadcast the meeting live.

At 1:30 p.m. the board will host a presentation and workshop regarding the state response to the threat of dreissenid mussels – better known as quagga and zebra mussels – in the waters of California.

For the last several years the board has been working to implement programs to keep the damaging invasive mussels out of Clear Lake and the county’s other water bodies.

On that same topic, during an untimed agenda item the board will consider the implementation of an educational program related to the mussels for county residents.

In another untimed item, the board will consider the pending retirement in March of County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox and give direction on moving forward with a recruitment.

Also on the Tuesday agenda are two nuisance abatement cases regarding medical marijuana dispensaries.

At 10 a.m. the board will hear the abatement case of Alternative Solutions, a dispensary located at 12867 E. Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks, and at 2:15 p.m. will consider the case relating to Triple C Collective, located at 9781 Point Lakeview Road, Kelseyville.

A full agenda follows.

TIMED ITEMS

9 a.m.: 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).

9:15 a.m.: Continued from Aug. 23 and Sept. 20, 2011, public hearing to consider appeal of the Planning Commission’s partial denial of a modified version of the following project: GPAP 11-01, RZ 11-01 and MMU 10-06 proposing a general plan amendment of 0.8 acres from Service Commercial to Community Commercial and 4.2 acres from Agriculture to Service Commercial; a rezone from “C3" Service Commercial to “CH” Highway Commercial and “A” Agriculture to “C3" Service Commercial; and a Minor Modification to existing permits (Res. 69-83, UP 88-42 and MUP 09-23) to allow a convenience store and construction of a 30,000 gallon propane tank; appellant is Westgate Petroleum; project located at 3740 Highland Springs Road, Lakeport (APN 008-002-31); and (b) public hearing to consider request for (a) a general plan amendment (GPAP 11-01) of approximately 30,000 square feet from Agriculture to Service Commercial; (b) a rezone (RZ 11-01) from “C3-DR-FF-AA”, Service Commercial-Design Review-Floodway Fringe-Airport Approach and “A-SC-AA” Agriculture-Scenic-Airport Approachto “PDC-DR-FF-AA”, Planned Development Commercial-DesignReview-Floodway Fringe-Airport Approach and “A-SC-AA”, Agriculture-Scenic-Airport Approach;(c) a General Plan of Development (GPD 11-01) and Use Permit (UP 11-12) for a specific plan of development for bulk and retail fuel sales, outdoor storage of vehicles and propane, and office and a convenience store; and (d) proposed adoption of a mitigated negative declaration for this project based on Initial Study IS 11-07; project applicant is Westgate Petroleum; project located at 3740 Highland Springs Road, Lakeport, CA (APN 008-022-31).

9:45 A.M.: Public hearing, consideration of proposed resolution approving resolutions and Capital Fire Facility and Equipment Plans submitted by Lake County Fire Agencies and updating the Lake County Capital Fire Facility and Equipment Plan (including a proposed adjustment in Lake County Fire Protection District’s Fire Mitigation Fees structure).

10 a.m.: Hearing, nuisance abatement of 12867 E. Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks, CA (APN 035-371-29 - David Moses).

1:30 p.m.: Presentation and workshop regarding the state response to the threat of dreissenid mussels in the waters of California.

2:15 p.m.: Hearing, nuisance abatement of 9781 Point Lakeview Road, Kelseyville, CA (APN 043-551-47 - Quincy Jackson (Triple C Collective), Robert Harvey and Linda Harvey).

NONTIMED ITEMS

– Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports.

– Carried over from Jan. 3: Consideration of chairman’s recommended 2012 committee assignments for members of the Board of Supervisors.

– Consideration of proposed ordinance amending Chapter 4 of the Lake County Code establishing fees for dog and cat licensing, redemptions and other services provided by Lake County Animal Care & Control. Second reading; advanced from Jan. 3.

– Consideration of the implementation of the local resident zebra/quagga mussel educational program.

– Consideration of pending retirement of the county administrative officer and Board direction relative to recruitment of candidates for the position.

CLOSED SESSION

– Conference with labor negotiator: (a) County Negotiators: A. Grant, S. Harry, L. Guintivano, M. Perry and J. Hammond; and (b) Employee Organization: Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Lake County Correctional Officer's Association and Lake County Deputy District Attorney's Association.

– Public employee performance evaluation: Human Resources Director Kathy Ferguson.

– Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Government Code Sec. 54956.9(a): 1. California Sportfishing Protection Alliance v. County of Lake, et al. 2. Reynolds v. County of Lake, et al.

CONSENT AGENDA

– Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meeting held on Jan. 3, 2012.

– Approve agreement between the county of Lake and city of Lakeport for county financial contribution toward the operation of Westshore Pool and authorize the chair to sign.

– Resolution approving the application and certification statement for the State Department of Health Care Services, CMS Branch’s California Children’s Services Administration Plan Renewal Grant for FY 2011-12 and authorize the board chair to sign said certification statement.

– Approve request to waive 900 hour limit for one extra-help Deputy Probation Officer Michael Lloyd.

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 .

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, in the district board room at 4410 Konocti Road.

Community members will be able to weigh in on whether the school campus should be closed, sold or leased, or if it should continue to remain in use by the district, which currently has a bus barn and continuation high school there, according to district Superintendent Dave McQueen.

McQueen emphasized that no decision will be made at the Jan. 12 meeting.

He said the meeting is to be devoted solely to discussing the property and no other topic.

Last March, as the district was crafting a financial plan to deal with its fiscal issues, the closure of Gard Street School was placed on a recovery list that included proposed layoffs, and service and facilities cuts.

The following month, Supervisor Rob Brown asked the Board of Supervisors to begin considering the purchase of the 7.44-acre school property for use as a campus for several county departments, which the board voted to do, as Lake County News has reported.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox put $995,000 aside in this year’s county budget for a possible purchase of the property.

Cox said Thursday that the county had the property appraised and a preliminary title report completed.

“There is some uncertainty about the actual ownership of some of that property,” he said.

He said the American Legion building and an athletic field on the property are among the areas where title isn’t clear.

“The county’s not going to buy anything that we can’t get a clean title to,” Cox said.

The school district was going to ask the appraiser to amend the appraisal to exclude some of the 7.44 acres, said Cox.

McQueen said the parcel the district will discuss Jan. 12 is 3.66 acres.

Cox said some county department heads have visited the property, and there have been discussions about leasing it instead of making a purchase. The county may be able to draw on state and federal revenues – not county general funds – for a lease.

“We’re just considering all options right now,” said Cox. “At this point we haven’t reached any conclusion.”

McQueen said that for the district to sell the property to the county or another buyer would take a lengthy process.

He said the discussion is not so much in response to the county’s interest but instead is about what the board concludes ultimately should be done with the land.

Once the district school board has community input to consider, it will come back at a future regular meeting to make a decision, McQueen said.

He said the district has formed a committee to make recommendations on the property. That group will take the input and use it in the process of creating a list of options to take to the district trustees.

The board could consider such options as early as next month, McQueen said.

While the school site currently is being used, McQueen said the district can consolidate its facilities to move the bus barn and continuation high school elsewhere should the school board decide the best option is to sell the property.

Gard Street School has been owned by the district for decades. McQueen couldn't say Wednesday just how many years the land had been in district control.

Cox said the county’s next steps depend on what the district wants to do. “And then we’ll determine whether that meets our needs.”

Community members who want more information about the meeting can contact Tami Barker at 707-279-1511 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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 .

The meeting will take place beginning at 5 p.m. in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

The council will get an update and hold a discussion on the status of redevelopment.

There also will be a training workshop for council members on the use of iPads for the paperless agenda process.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, COUNTY OF LAKE, STATE OF CALIFORNIA

ORDINANCE NO. 2966

AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A FEE FOR

DIGITIZED RECORD MAPS ON DISK PREPARED BY THE

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

WHEREAS, on occasion, members of the public request that the Lake County Department of Public Works provide them with digitized record maps on disk; and

WHEREAS, the Lake County Department of Public Works does not prepare and maintain such digitized recordings in the ordinary course of business; and

WHEREAS, the creation of digitized record maps on disk is made only on a per-request basis and requires the significant use of County resources and staff time, the costs of which should be reimbursed to the County.

NOW THEREFORE, THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF LAKE, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS;

Section 1: The amounts set forth below are hereby established as the fees for the issuance of disks containing digitized record maps prepared by the Lake County Department of Public Works. The fees set forth below shall be collected prior to disks being issued.

A. CDs (containing approximately 300 record maps each) . . . . . . . . . .$25.00/each

B. DVDs (containing approximately 2,000 record maps each) . . . . . . $50.00/each

Section 2: All ordinances or parts of ordinances, or resolutions or parts of resolutions, in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict and no other.

Section 3: This ordinance shall take effect on the 2nd day of February, 2012, and before the expiration of fifteen days after its passage it shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the County of Lake.

Section 4: The foregoing Ordinance was introduced before the Board of Supervisors on

December 20, 2011, and passed by the following vote on January 3, 2012.

AYES: Supervisors Comstock, Smith, Rushing, Farrington and Brown

NOES: None

ABSENT OR NOT VOTING:None