The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3, 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 9 a.m. the supervisors will elect the new chair and vice chair for 2012 for the Board of Supervisors, as well as the Lake County Local Board of Equalization and the Lake County In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority Board of Directors.

In a discussion timed for 10:15 a.m., Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley will take to the board an elections official’s certificate on the referendum petition protesting the adoption of Ordinance No. 2960, which the board passed in October. The ordinance regulates the cultivation of medicinal marijuana.

Fridley’s report to the board said the supervisors must determine whether to repeal Ordinance No. 2960, or submit the ordinance to voters on the ballot for the June 5 presidential primary election or in a special election before the June primary.

The Lake County Citizens for Responsible Regulations and Lake County Green Farmers Association submitted the signature petitions in November.

Fridley’s report to the board confirms that they have the necessary signatures for the referendum to appear on the June ballot.

The number of signatures required was 2,115; Fridley’s report said 3,605 signatures were submitted, of which 3,085 were checked. Out of that group, 2,132 signatures were found to be sufficient.

The two groups also are seeking to put a separate medical marijuana cultivation initiative on the June ballot, having submitted signatures for that effort late last month.

The Registrar of Voters office has until later this month to determine if that proposed initiative – titled the “Lake County Medical Marijuana Cultivation Act of 2012” – has the 2,115 signatures needed to qualify for the June primary.

A referendum petition submitted last fall by another group, which targeted the medical marijuana dispensaries ordinance the board approved in August, resulted in the board rescinding its ordinance and moving forward with code enforcement actions on the dispensaries, which the board ordered to be shut down.

A full agenda for Tuesday’s follows.

TIMED ITEMS

9 a.m.: (a) Election of chair of the Board of Supervisors and vice chair of the Board of Supervisors for 2012; (b) election of chair and vice chair of the Lake County Local Board of Equalization for 2012; and (c) election of chair and vice chair of the Lake County In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority Board of Directors for 2012.

9:05 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.

9:10 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).

9:30 a.m.: Consideration of proposed 2012 Clear Lake Advisory Committee Work

Committee Plan.

10 a.m.: Public hearing, 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.

10:15 a.m.: Consideration of Elections Official’s Certificate, referendum petition protesting the adoption of Ordinance No. 2960, regarding regulations for the cultivation of medicinal marijuana.

1:30 p.m.: Public hearing, consideration of proposed resolution vacating a portion of a roadway, Malpas Way, in the county of Lake (Blue Lakes Resort Subdivision).

NONTIMED ITEMS

– Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports.

– Consideration of chairman’s recommended 2012 committee assignments for members of the Board of Supervisors.

– Consideration of appointment to the Child Care Planning Council.

– Consideration of proposed ordinance establishing a fee for digitized record maps on disc prepared by the Department of Public Works. Second reading; advanced from Dec. 20, 2011.

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: County Librarian Susan Clayton.

CONSENT AGENDA

– Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meeting held on Dec. 20, 2011.

– Approve request for extended leave of absence for Jail Food Services Supervisor Michelle Paterson, from May 24, 2012, to Aug. 1, 2012.

– (a) Approve the proposed decision in the matter of the grievance of Thomas Blavet (EGH 2011-01), and authorized the chair to sign; and (b) deny the grievance as set forth in the decision.

– Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Redwood Children’s Services for fiscal year 2011-12 specialty mental health services for foster youth enrolled in Intensive Treatment Foster Care, for a maximum amount of $140,000, and authorize the chair to sign.

– Adopt resolution approving the application and certification statement for the state Department of Health Services, CMS Branch’s Child Health and Disability Prevention Program and Health Care Program for Children in Foster Care Renewal Grant for fiscal year 2011-12 and authorize the board chair to sign said certification statement.

– Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Kerry Shearer for development of video training material relating to radio message handling for government-run radios, in the amount of $4,990, and authorize the Health Services director to sign.

– Approve request to waive 900 hour limit for one extra-help courthouse janitor Marvin Hasty.

– Adopt resolution of intention to name a certain existing unnamed road in the county of Lake (Cascio Way), and set public hearing for Feb. 14, 2012, at 9:15 a.m.

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 .

Stephen Elias died at Sutter Lakeside Hospital on Thursday night after he collapsed from a heart attack at his Lakeport home, according to friends. He was 70 years old.

On Friday friends posted farewell messages to Elias on his Facebook page, thanking him for his contributions, his friendship and compassion.

“He was a proponent of everything that is good and right. And against everything that is wrong. Lake is a bit emptier this day,” wrote Ann White.

Herb Gura, a paralegal who worked with Elias on bankruptcy filings and was a fellow radio host at Lake County Community Radio, KPFZ 88.1 FM, said Elias believed in justice.

“He believed that the system had to work for people,” said Gura, noting that Elias lived according to his ideals.

Elias was well known on local airwaves thanks to his longtime involvement with KPFZ.

He and wife, Catherine, aided in founding the station, helping to nurture it from its days as a low power enterprise in station manager Andy Weiss’ home in Lucerne to a full power station now headquartered in Lakeport.

At one point the station shared space with his law office on Lakeport Boulevard before it moved to its current location on Main Street in Lakeport, Gura said.

Gura said Elias had been “the backbone of the station in a lot of ways,” and was a member of its board.

“He really believed in the radio station,” said Gura. “He really believed in the whole concept of radio.”

He also had a “purist, free speech approach” to radio, and felt that there needed to be room for everybody on community radio, said Gura.

The Eliases hosted numerous shows on the KPFZ, everything from local news and issues, to a weekly veterans hour. Gura said Steve Elias was on the air almost every day, and also gladly filled in for other hosts when they needed to miss a show.

It was because of one of those shows that Lower Lake resident Victoria Brandon first met Elias in 2004.

She had gone to a Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss an issue, and afterward he asked her to come on his radio show.

“That made me feel like I’d really arrived around here,” said Brandon, who would later make numerous appearances on shows Elias’ produced.

She said he always hosted a profession and “very reasoned discussion,” even at times when he didn’t agree with her perspectives.

“He cared deeply about local issues,” she said, noting he wanted to give all different sides when looking at community concerns.

Brandon said she worked with Elias in 2005 on an effort by the Coalition for Responsible Agriculture to convince the Lake County Board of Supervisors to pass a three-year moratorium on genetically engineered alfalfa, an effort that ultimately failed in October of that year.

The group returned in 2008 with a proposal to regulate all genetically engineered crops, with Elias helping draft the proposed ordinance, as Lake County News has reported.

Elias told Lake County News in a 2008 interview that he believed building a GE-free brand for the county would give local farmers a competitive advantage.

“We're just unlike any other county around,” he said at the time.

That effort also failed, and Brandon said Elias later stepped back from the activist role, wanting to focus more on contributing as a commentator on the radio station.

Brandon recalled last seeing him at the Old Time Bluegrass Festival at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park in Lower Lake in September. He and his wife were in the KPFZ booth, doing their program.

A noted legal expert

Elias’ online biographies recount that he studied Chinese and Asian studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1959 to 1963, and received his law degree from UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1970.

He would practice law not just in California but in New York and Vermont as well.

He shared with this reporter that he had at one point worked for the state of Vermont as a public defender; specifically, he worked in what he joked was the grandly named Northeast Kingdom, the name for the three Northeastern-most Vermont counties.

However, it was the area of law relating to bankruptcy for which he may have been best known, and became a nationally recognized expert.

In 1980 he joined Nolo press, where he at one time was an associate publisher. The company published numerous books written by Elias on the topic of bankruptcy, foreclosure, trusts and legal research. He even helped coauthor a popular software to help people draw up wills.

“It’s an amazing, revolutionary thing, the whole concept of empowering people to represent themselves” and help them make their way through the courts without lawyers, said Gura, who credited Elias with starting a movement in the country that inspired independent paralegals like himself.

Elias and his work was featured on 20/20 and Good Morning America, in the New York Times, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, according to Nolo’s Web page.

In 1989 he founded The Bankruptcy Law Project Inc., which he and wife Catherine operated to assist people with self-help law materials, bankruptcy petition preparers and legal advice via telephone as an alternative to full lawyer representation, the project’s Web site stated.

In recent years, as the country’s financial problems progressed and foreclosure numbers grew dramatically, Elias would offer legal perspective on foreclosure and how bankruptcy could help those facing the loss of their homes.

“He had a lot of accomplishments and I think most people didn't even know,” Gura said.

Before he met Elias Gura had read his books on bankruptcy. The two began working together on a process for bankruptcy filings for people who couldn’t afford to pay attorneys thousands of dollars to file the paperwork. Gura would do the paperwork and Elias would give the clients the legal advice for a fraction of what it would have cost to hire an attorney.

“He and I did thousands of cases together,” said Gura. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it without him.”

Elias would sometimes go with the clients down to the bankruptcy court in Santa Rosa, which Gura said wasn’t exactly welcoming to their work. “They put a lot of obstacles in our way.”

Gura said Elias stood up to one particular bankruptcy court judge, known for intimidating other attorneys, during an encounter in the courtroom.

Although considered an authority on bankruptcy, Elias had broad legal interests. He had worked both in criminal and civil law, and wrote blogs and commentaries about everything from privacy to the place of detector tests in court.

Elias also often did pro bono work on cases that were of interest to him, said Gura. He didn’t like to work in criminal law, but if he felt someone needed help, he would step in if it felt right to him.

“Sometimes he just really felt like he had to do it,” Gura said.

Even so, Gura said Elias told him he was trying to cut back on such cases, as he didn’t have it in him to go to court daily any more.

He also used his legal acumen to help the Lucerne Community Water Organization and Lucerne FLOW, which relied on his help in fighting a proposed increase of well over 200 percent being sought by California Water Service in 2005. By the time Elias was done, the actual rate increase was far lower.

Elias, who turned 70 in July, seemed as busy as ever in 2011.

Gura said KPFZ recently had started streaming its shows online, and Elias donated a computer for that purpose. He also was paying the monthly streaming costs, doing the necessary reports and training other station volunteers in the reporting process.

Earlier this year he was working with the newly formed Time Bank of Lake County, for which he was a co-coordinator. The organization helps people bank skills and services in trade for the skills and services provided by others.

Just last week, Elias had gotten home from a trip to Mexico that he had taken with his son, Rubin, who works with him in his bankruptcy assistance efforts, Gura said.

The father and son had toured Mayan ruins, visiting places Gura also had visited previously.

Gura said Elias had enjoyed the trip, and it had appeared to revive the traveling bug. They even spoke about taking future trips to those areas of Mexico together, since both shared an interest in them.

KPFZ and its volunteers now must consider how to carry on without one of their staunchest champions.

“We’re all thinking about it. We haven’t really started to talk about it yet,” said Gura.

He added, “I know that the station will survive. I’m not worried about that.”

Gura anticipated that Catherine Elias would continue to do the shows. He said she had called in during a show he did on Friday morning, which surprised everyone.

Unless someone else incredibly dynamic comes along, Gura anticipated that all of the volunteers will have to do more. He anticipates more duties also will fall on Weiss.

In good attorney fashion, Elias wrote a simple and straightforward summation of his life, which he posted on his Facebook page.

“I enjoy life and I feel fortunate to have the optimist gene, whatever it is,” he wrote. “This really is the best of all possible worlds. I like people in small doses but crave more alone time than I can ever manage to get. I work harder than I should, but I enjoy my work, which is essentially educational in nature. I write self-help law books and I provide legal advice and counsel to people who are doing their own bankruptcies. I love our radio shows. Enough.”

For a poignant farewell commentary written by Elias’ friend, Phil Murphy, see Murphy: Remembering a local legend.

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 .

In a 5-0 vote on Tuesday, Dec. 20, the Board of Supervisors approved the resolution declaring the intent to adopt a resolution of public use and necessity, which Lake County Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger presented to them.

The resolution relates to a lift station and force main project in the Southeast Regional Wastewater Collection and Treatment System, which serves the city of Clearlake but is under the county’s jurisdiction.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox told Lake County News that the board didn’t actually decide to use eminent domain at the Dec. 20 meeting.

“There’s a process they go through and this is the first step in the process,” he explained.

The affirmative vote clears the way for what Cox said is the next step -- the board holding a hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 17, at which it will consider a resolution to declare a public use and necessity.

That would allow them to move forward with acquiring easements on two Clearlake properties by eminent domain if agreements can’t be reached with the owners, Dellinger told Lake County News this week.

“Hopefully it will be worked out before that happens and it won’t even be necessary,” Cox said of the eminent domain process.

The $5 million project is needed to improve the Southeast Regional system’s capacity -- including allowing for more hookups for residential and commercial development. It also will alleviate releases of wastewater, as Lake County News has reported.

“We’re under a regulatory enforcement action by the regional (water) board,” Dellinger said in a Wednesday interview.

He added that he believes that having a wastewater collection system that has growth capacity and can avoid spills “is very important for the future of the city of Clearlake.”

Along with the work on the pipeline, Dellinger said that two pump stations are being upgraded.

Dellinger told Lake County News that project contractor Preston Pipeline Inc. has completed close to 30 percent of the pipeline installation, which stretches over 4.9 miles.

He said Preston Pipeline will continue to work on the project as long as the dry weather holds out. If storms arrive and the ground becomes saturated, he anticipated they will have to shut down for a time.

Project could stall over easement issue

Dellinger told the supervisors the project is facing a hurdle in that Special Districts needs to acquire the right-of-way for the pipeline in an “expeditious” manner, and hasn’t been able to complete that process.

The issue, Dellinger told the board on Dec. 20, is that while Special Districts has been trying to contact property owners and, in some cases, communicating with them for many months, the owners either haven’t been responsive or are asking for too much money for the easements.

Dellinger said the compensation offered is based on a fair market appraisal by an independent licensed contractor.

“We can’t afford to delay the contractor’s schedule any longer,” he said.

He therefore recommended beginning the process of pursuing eminent domain, which will take several months to complete.

Dellinger’s report to the board explained that the project can be stopped immediately if Special Districts reaches agreement with the property owners.

Supervisor Jeff Smith pointed out that one of the properties is very large, and it’s proposed that the right-of-way run along the property line.

Because they were discussing eminent domain, Smith said it was important to make clear that the county wasn’t talking about taking anyone’s house to help the project move forward.

There was no public comment offered on the resolution, which the board then voted unanimously to approve.

The resolution the board approved said the county must now mail notices to the property owners to notify them of the county’s intent to being the process of using eminent domain.

Dellinger’s report indicated that the county needs to acquire right-of-way from two couples, one in Reno, the other in San Francisco.

On one of the properties, the county is seeking 350 lineal feet that runs behind a supermarket and adjacent to existing easements for other infrastructure, where the goal was to minimize the impact on the property, Dellinger told Lake County News.

On the second property, Dellinger said the county is seeking to acquire 1,300 lineal feet, the largest acquisition in terms of pipe length, which runs along the property line.

One of the San Francisco property owners indicated in a discussion with a Special Districts staffer that the amount of money offered for the easement was low, Dellinger said.

The county so far has not disclosed the amounts offered for the easements.

Dellinger said the county follows the process laid down in law for such acquisitions, and has local appraisers do the valuations.

That same property owner from San Francisco indicated he would be at the Jan. 17 hearing, Dellinger said.

Dellinger said Special Districts has done eminent domain easement acquisitions in the past.

“Sometimes you’re forced to do those kinds of actions,” he said, explaining that usually it’s a matter of the owner disagreeing with the amount of money offered for the property, and other times property could be tied up due to a death.

Cox said the county has used eminent domain so infrequently that he can’t remember the last time it was used, and that it’s never been employed by the Lake County Redevelopment Agency.

“We don’t want to do it for obvious reasons,” 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 .

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Board of Supervisors, County of Lake, State of California, has set TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012, AT 9:15 A.M., Board Chambers, Courthouse, Lakeport, as time and place to hear the request for (a) a Rezone (RZ 10-02) from “RR” Rural Residential and “RR-SOS” Rural Residential-Substandard Older Subdivision to “PDC-DR” Planned Development Commercial-Design Review; and (b) a General Plan of Development (GPD 10-01) for the establishment of a health and hospitality resort with uses including a guest lodge, 24 villas, 25 cabins, 100 suites together with medical, health and spa related amenities; Project applicant is Dr. Robert Gardner; located at 5440, 5460, 5490 & 5610 E. State Highway 20; 5130 Foothill Drive; 5163, 5169 & 5173 Dunstan Road; 5563 & 5573 Dunstan Drive; 5637, 5647, 5667, 5687 & 5697 Fennel Road; 5707 Fennel Drive and 5069 Windsor Drive, Lucerne, CA (APNs 004-035-03; 033-351-17, 18, 47, 50 & 62; and 033-361-04, 29, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 & 45). The Board of Supervisors will consider adoption of a Mitigated Negative Declaration for this project based on Initial Study IS 10-02.

The proposed general plan amendment, rezone, initial study and all documents referenced in the proposed mitigated negative declaration are available for review at the Community Development Department, Lake County Courthouse, 255 North Forbes Street, Lakeport, CA, and the staff report will be available ten (10) days before the hearing.

The Planner processing this application is Kevin Ingram, 707-263-2221, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that at said place and time, any interested persons may appear and be heard.

If you challenge the action of the Board of Supervisors on any of the above stated items in court, it may be limited to only those issues raised at the public hearing described in this notice or in written correspondence delivered to the Clerk to the Board at, or prior to, the public hearing.

KELLY F. COX

Clerk of the Board

By: Mireya G. Turner

Assistant Clerk to the Board

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

COUNTY OF LAKE

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Board of Supervisors has set TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2012, AT 10:30 A.M. as time and place to consider a 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.

This ordinance will establish fees for the services to be provided by the in-house medical program, including the spay and neuter of felines and canines, rabies vaccinations and vet services (for stray animals receiving services, who are later collected by their owners). This ordinance will also reduce the microchip fee.

A certified copy of the full text of the proposed ordinance is posted for public review on the First Floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 North Forbes Street, Lakeport, California.

For further information, contact the Office of the Clerk of the Board, at 707-263-2371.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that at said time and place any interested person may appear and be heard.

If you challenge the action of the Board of Supervisors on any of the above stated items in court, it may be limited to only those issues raised at the public hearing described in this notice or in written correspondence delivered to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors at, or prior to, the public hearing.

KELLY F. COX

Clerk of the Board

By: Mireya G. Turner

All are invited, including children. It will be a worship service with Christmas songs, and coffee and goodies afterwards.

City Gate Church is a nondenominational, Bible teaching church. They welcome everyone to come just as you are to celebrate Jesus Christ.

They meet every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. There will be no service on Christmas Day.

If you are a musician, they would love to have you join them as part of their worship team.

Call Pastor Bert Galli at 707-972-1789 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The church is located on the corner of Morgan Valley Road and Mill Street in Lower Lake across from the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum.