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

At 9:45 a.m., the board will continue a discussion begun during its Dec. 6 meeting regarding the appeal by Middletown residents Justin Milne and Amanda Glover of vicious animal abatement orders on their dogs.

In an untimed item, the board will consider a proposed resolution declaring the intent to adopt a resolution of public use and necessity relating to the Clearlake Sewer Force Main Improvement Project.

The board also will hold a closed session to discuss labor negotiations with the Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Lake County Correctional Officer's Association and Lake County Deputy District Attorney's Association. Also in closed session, a conference with legal counsel will take place regarding a case of existing litigation, Friends of Rattlesnake Island v. County of Lake, et al.

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.: Public hearing, consideration of proposed ordinance establishing a fee for digitized record maps on disc prepared by the Department of Public Works.

9:30 a.m.: Hearing, nuisance abatement of 6488 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville (APN 044-034-07 – Ron Rose).

9:45 a.m.: Continued from Dec. 6, hearing on appeal of vicious animal abatement orders located at 22430 East Road, Middletown, CA (Justin Milne and Amanda Glover).

10 a.m.: Closed session, meeting with the Lake County Grand Jury pursuant to Government Code Section 54953.1.

10:15 a.m.: (a) Discussion/consideration of request to waive the formal bidding process and make a determination that competitive bidding would produce no economic benefit to the county; (b) consideration of proposed resolution canceling a portion of the LCAQMD Air Monitoring Equipment Reserve and appropriating funds to FY 2011-12 Budget #8799, Object Code 62.74 Equipment–Other; and (c) consideration of request to authorize the Air Pollution Control officer/purchasing agent to issue a purchase order to Lakeport Trailer, in the amount of $30,500, for the purchase of one air monitoring trailer.

10:30 a.m.: Employee grievance hearing (EGH 2011-01).

NONTIMED ITEMS

– Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports.

– Consideration of appointments to the following boards: Glenbrook Cemetery District, Lower Lake Cemetery District, Lower Lake County Waterworks District, Mental Health Board and Vector Control District.

– Consideration of request to award Bid No. 12-09 to Jim Jonas Inc. for the provision of diesel and unleaded gasoline.

– Consideration of proposed agreement between the county of Lake and the California Office of Administrative Hearings.

– Discussion/consideration of proposed resolution declaring intent to adopt a resolution of public use and necessity (Clearlake Sewer Force Main Improvement Project).

CLOSED SESSION

– 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.

– Conference with legal counsel existing Litigation pursuant to Gov. Code Sec. 54956.9 (a): Friends of Rattlesnake Island v. County of Lake, et al.

CONSENT AGENDA

– Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meeting held on Dec. 13 and 20.

– Approve the 2012 California State Fair Counties Exhibit Entry Form and authorize the chair to sign.

– Approve Amendment No. 1 to Lease Agreement by and between Bruno & Associates and the County of Lake for office facility at 6302 13th Avenue, Lucerne, CA (modifying language in section 3.3 providing for a late penalty for a delay in possession of the facility), and

authorize the chair to sign.

– Adopt Resolution amending Resolution No. 2011-125 establishing position allocations for Fiscal Year 2011-2012, Budget Unit No. 5011, Department of Social Services (deleting five senior staff services analyst allocations and establishing one staff services analyst I/II

allocation, two supervising staff services analyst allocations, one account clerk supervisor and one staff services specialist allocation).

– Approve request to waive 900 hour limit for one extra-help Mental Health Specialist Allison Hillix.

– Approve memorandum of understanding between the county of Lake and the Lake County Office of Education for FY 2011-12, provision of Educationally Related Mental Health Services (ERMHS), in the amount of $71,300, and authorize the Mental Health director to sign.

– Approve facility space license agreement between the county of Lake and Digital Path Inc. on Buckingham Peak, and authorize the chair to sign.

– Approve request to waive 900 hour limit for one extra-help Public Works Worker I William Nelson.

– Approve request to waive 900 hour limit for one extra-help Public Works Worker I Felipe Lopez.

– Adopt resolution authorizing the director, Public Works Department, to sign a notice of completion for work performed under agreement dated April 26, 2011 (hot mix asphalt overlay to facilitate ice and snow removal on Bottle Rock Road from Harrington Flat Road to 1.0 miles north of Harrington Flat Road, Federal Project No. HSIPL-5914 (056) Bid No. 10-22).

– Resolution authorizing the director, Public Works Department, to sign a notice of completion for work performed under agreement dated Nov. 23, 2011 (Elk Mountain Road PM 4.14 Embankment Repair Bid No. PW 11-03).

– Adopt resolution authorizing the director, Public Works Department, to sign a notice of completion for work performed under agreement dated Sept. 20, 2011 (Countywide Culvert Replacement Bid No. PW 11-02).

– Adopt resolution approving final parcel map and the signing of the final parcel map (Humble PM 07-11).

– Adopt resolution approving final parcel map and the signing of the final parcel map (Sutter West Bay Hospitals PM 10-05).

– Adopt resolution approving final parcel map and the signing of the final parcel map (Allen PM 10-04).

– (a) Adopt resolution approving final parcel map and the signing of the final parcel map (Kelley PM 09-01); and (b) approve deferred improvement agreement between the county of Lake and Mary Kelley, and authorize the chair to sign.

– Approve request to waive 900 hour limit for one extra-help Staff Services Analyst II Janice Hubbell and Social Services Aide Malissa Linz.

– Approve funding agreement between the Lake County Air Quality Management District and Epidendio Construction for a replacement diesel engine, Contract #CMP 2011-01, 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. . 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 begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Documents for the meeting can be downloaded at www.cityoflakeport.com/departments/docs.aspx?deptID=88&catID=102.

Utilities Director Mark Brannigan will take to the council a proposed resolution for a consumer price index increase of 2.4 percent for residential solid waste service, including garbage, green waste and recycling.

Lakeport Disposal Inc., which entered into a solid waste contract with the Lakeport City Council on Jan. 1, 2004, requested the increase on Aug. 16, according to Brannigan’s report to the council.

The contract between the city and the company calls for a rate increase each Jan. 1, with the rate to equal 75 percent of the previous year’s US Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose areas, Brannigan reported.

The council will hold a public hearing on the rates, which are proposed to increase as follows:

• One 20-gallon toter: current rate – $13.34, new rate – $13.66;

• One 32-gallon toter, current rate – $20.01, new rate – $20.49;

• Two 32-gallon toters, current rate – $40.02, new rate – $40.98;

• One 95-gallon toter, current rate – $60.02, new rate – $61.46.

Under council business, the council will discuss appointments of its members to various commissions, boards and committees; and make appointments of community members to the Lakeport Parks and Recreation Commission and the Lakeport Economic Development Committee, effective Jan. 1, 2012 and expiring at the end of 2013.

The meeting will include the presentation of a proclamation declaring the summer of 2012 the “Summer of Peace” and the announcement of the winners of the city’s annual holiday decorating contest.

The council also will hold a closed session to discuss a case of pending litigation, Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3 and Lakeport Police Officers Association v. City of Lakeport, Lakeport City Council.

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 .

122011 Lakeport City Council - Council Business

On Tuesday, acting Chief Probation Officer Steve Buchholz gave a report to the Board of Supervisors on realignment, which includes supervising new probationers and housing in the county jail prisoners who formerly would have served their time in state prison.

The state’s correctional realignment, which went into effect Oct. 1, is meant to reduce the state’s prison overcrowding, as well as to save the cash-strapped state money.

Buchholz was accompanied by staff from BI Incorporated, the company hired by the county to help monitor the new probationers and run a day reporting center at 1375 Hoyt Ave. in Lakeport.

That center will require offenders to comply with ongoing reporting, intensive treatment and training, testing for drug and alcohol use, and classes to change criminal thinking, according to a report from the company.

So far, 23 people have been released under Lake County Probation’s supervision, said Buchholz.

The state sent Buchholz’s office 51 information packets on probationers – including the 23 already released – with his staff completing assessments on 40 of those individuals, he said.

Buchholz shared his concern with the board that offenders being released were incorrectly categorized by the state as “nonviolent.”

In fact, 90 percent of those slated for release into the community are “high risk” offenders, Buchholz said. Only one is low risk, and three are moderate risk.

One of those slated for release has two contagious diseases and a history of violence against law enforcement. Buchholz said that individual was of such concern that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation actually called Lake County Probation to warn them about him.

Buchholz said state officials told his staff, “When this guy gets off the bus he's going to be looking for victims.”

That subject is now sitting in another county’s jail after an existing warrant on him was found. However, Buchholz said the man could still be dropped off in Lake County.

Another individual brought to the county under realignment came from a secure housing unit at the state prison level. Within 48 hours of arriving in the county, he was using drugs and causing problems. Buchholz said he’s since been moved into residential treatment.

These so-called “nonviolent offenders,” said Buchholz, “are in fact, for the most part, a serious risk to our community.”

In addition to those probationers now under monitoring, Buchholz said here are 14 people who have been sentenced to county jail who formerly would have gone to state prison.

All 14 have been sentenced to straight jail time – not a split sentence where part is spent on supervision, he said. A 15th case currently is in court where the judge and attorneys have agreed it will be a split sentence, with four years in county jail and four years of supervision.

Regarding parolees who violated their release terms, Buchholz said 54 such individuals have been booked into the Lake County Jail since Oct. 1.

Formerly, they would have been sent back to state prison for a time, but now they will serve their sentence for parole violation in the county jail, he said.

Among the new responsibilities being handled by Lake County Probation, Buchholz said his staff now is expected to help with transporting prisoners from the prison system, a task that he said can be very time consuming.

He said some of those coming from prison have severe mental and physical health issues, and will impact the county’s mental health and public health resources.

Buchholz said eight of the 23 individuals released into the county so far are transient and homeless.

“That’s another issue that we’re fighting,” he said.

Concerns about needs exceeding resources

He said 18 of those released have been in enrolled in BI Incorporated’s day reporting center, which has a total of 50 slots.

Buchholz said he is very concerned about those numbers. He predicted that the day reporting center’s 50 slots, as well as the 50 slots in the Jail Employment Education Program that BI Inc. will oversee at the Lake County Jail, could quickly fill up and be exceeded by the need resulting from the realignment.

“Virtually every day something new comes up,” he said of the time-consuming experience in adjusting to realignment. “This is a learning experience for everyone, even those at the state level.”

BI Incorporated officials told the board they had hired six of eight new staff members locally, would begin seeing clients on Thursday and planned to hire two additional staffers for a satellite office to be opened in Clearlake in January.

They reported seeing a high number of individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues, and in response to a large number of American Indian clients have hired Pomo tribal member Thomas Brown to work with them.

Buchholz predicted the county would have 71 parolees under its supervision by the end of the fiscal year, which occurs June 30. Another 80 to 90 individuals who would have gone to prison likely will end up serving their time in the Lake County Jail.

“As time goes on it's the proverbial snowball,” he said.

Supervisor Anthony Farrington asked why BI Incorporated’s facilities were located in Lakeport and not in Clearlake. Buchholz said they couldn’t find a suitable place in Clearlake, and saved money by having them locate in a county building in Lakeport.

Farrington said he guessed their caseload would be higher in the Northshore and Clearlake areas. Buchholz replied that 57 percent of the caseload of those under supervision live in the area from Middletown to Clearlake Oaks, with the rest of the county home to the other 43 percent.

He also reported that two people who were to be released in the county did not report to Lake County Probation as required. Buchholz said they were “in the wind.”

Supervisor Rob Brown pointed to a recent case where a parolee in another county was released as part of the realignment, only to kill someone shortly afterward.

Buchholz acknowledged that there are some extremely dangerous and violent people being released. He said he doesn’t expect some of those people to respond to the local programs in place to deal with them, but he said some will make positive changes.

Supervisor Denise Rushing asked BI Incorporated about measures that work, and they offered a brief overview of using evidence-based risk needs assessments to do targeted interventions.

Brown was unconvinced. “I don’t want to belabor this, because I think we all know what a disaster this is.”

He said convicts have chosen to be where they are. “We're wasting resources on something that will be a miserable failure at the end of the day,” he said.

Supervisor Jeff Smith said he appreciated what Lake County Probation was trying to do, and he hopes it works.

Buchholz said he thinks there will be some successes as well as failures, adding that the money the state has allocated to the county for realignment – which he said in a previous interview with Lake County News was about $840,000 – won’t be even close to what is needed.

Brown condemned the realignment, which he predicted the public will tire of quickly.

“The public is much less safe as a result of it,” 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 .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An effort to collect signatures in order place an initiative on next June’s ballot that would ban medical marijuana in Lake County is under way, while an effort behind a cultivation referendum gained the signatures it needs to go before voters.

Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said she delivered the ballot title and summary written by County Counsel Anita Grant for the “Lake County Act to Adopt Federal Marijuana Laws” to the group backing it on Dec. 9.

With the required affidavit of publication for the petition having been published in the Lake County Record-Bee on Tuesday, the group now can collect signatures, said Fridley.

However, they have a tight timeframe to qualify for the June 2012 ballot. Fridley said they must submit 2,015 valid signatures belonging to registered Lake County voters by Thursday, Dec. 22.

“We’re moving forward,” said Upper Lake resident Nancy Brier, one of the organizers of the effort to put the initiative on the ballot.

Community members, not paid signature gatherers, are circulating the petitions, Brier said.

Petitions also can be signed at BitSculptor, 901 S. Main St., Lakeport; Polestar Computers, 3930 Main St., Kelseyville; and the office of attorney Ed Riddle, 9439 Main St., Upper Lake.

In other initiative-related news, Fridley said her office verified that a referendum petition against the county’s medical marijuana cultivation ordinance, circulated by the Lake County Citizens for Responsible Regulations and sponsored by the Lake County Green Farmers Association, had enough signatures to qualify for the June 2012 ballot.

That proposed referendum is scheduled to go to the Board of Supervisors for discussion on Tuesday, Jan. 3, Fridley said.

At that time the board could choose to overturn its own cultivation ordinance, approved Oct. 11, or let it stand while voters decide on the initiative, according to Fridley.

Not headed for next June’s ballot is a proposed initiative to support medical marijuana dispensaries.

Weston Mickey, a professional signature gatherer who is working on that initiative, said he plans to begin the process after the holidays, meaning it would appear on the November 2012 ballot.

Mickey collected enough signatures this fall to place a referendum on the June ballot against the county’s dispensaries ordinance, passed in August.

However, rather than allow the referendum to go to the voters, the Board of Supervisors rescinded the county’s dispensaries ordinance in October.

This week the board ordered the Community Development Department to move forward with closing the county’s remaining dispensaries, now estimated at about six, after they were served with notices of violation last month.

Without a dispensaries ordinance in effect, the county’s position is that dispensaries are not allowed under county zoning law.

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 .

On Tuesday the US Postal Service’s headquarters in Washington, DC issued a statement announcing that, in response to a request made by multiple U.S. senators, it agreed to delay the closing or consolidation of any of the proposed 3,700 post offices or 252 mail processing facilities until May 15, 2012.

In the mean time, the review process – including public input meetings – will continue, according to the statement.

“The Postal Service hopes this period will help facilitate the enactment of comprehensive postal legislation,” the agency said. “Given the Postal Service’s financial situation and the loss of mail volume, the Postal Service must continue to take all steps necessary to reduce costs and increase revenue.”

The US Postal Service’s announcement “shows that more input is needed before decisions are made,” Congressman Mike Thompson said Wednesday.

In September the US Postal Service had announced it would begin the process of studying the possible closures of 252 of its 487 processing facilities nationwide in an effort to address dropping mail volumes and a $5.1 billion loss last year, as Lake County News has reported.

Among the facilities being studied was the North Bay Processing and Distribution Center in Petaluma, which serves areas including Lake County.

That facility’s operations were proposed to be folded into those of the Oakland Processing and Distribution Center, which would delay local deliveries. A consolidation study suggested the action could save $2.5 million annually.

Decisions on such closures were expected early next year, according to US Postal Service spokesman James Wigdel.

There has been significant public outcry over the proposed closures. Regionally, a Facebook page and a campaign by the Petaluma center’s workers arose in response.

Concerned about the impact on rural customers, on Tuesday the Lake County Board of Supervisors approved a letter to the service’s San Francisco District manager opposing the North Bay center’s closure.

The letter said the action “will negatively impact mail delivery to residents and businesses in Lake County,” resulting in two- to three-day First-Class mail service rather than one- to three-day service.

Thompson said Wednesday that closing the thousands of post offices would slow service, forcing seniors to wait longer for prescription drugs and Social Security checks, while isolating rural communities that would no longer have complete access to postal services

“Consolidating processing facilities would put the jobs of hundreds of hard working men, women and their families on the chopping block, and in this economy losing those jobs in our community is something we can’t afford,” he said.

While it’s delaying the decisions on the closure and consolidations, the US Postal Service is moving forward to change service standards.

Last week the agency announced that due to the need to reduce operating costs by $20 billion by 2015, it was proposing through the rulemaking process to move First-Class Mail to a two- to three-day standard for contiguous U.S. destinations.

The US Postal Service will send to the Postal Regulatory Commission a request for an advisory opinion regarding service standard changes associated with a significant rationalization of its mail processing network, according to the Dec. 5 announcement.

After it sends that request, the US Postal Service said it will publish a notice in the Federal Register soliciting public comment on the specific proposed changes.

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 board voted 4-1, with Supervisor Denise Rushing casting the lone no vote, to take the action.

The discussion, held over from last week, ran just minutes under two and a half hours during the supervisors’ afternoon session.

Like so many discussions about medical marijuana that have taken place in the board chambers previously, Tuesday’s meeting was witness to impassioned debate and deep disagreements among community members.

The county spent two years crafting a dispensaries ordinance that the board passed Aug. 16 on a 3-2 vote, with Rushing and Supervisor Jeff Smith voting no.

However, after a signature gathering effort gained enough support to put a referendum against the ordinance on the June 2012 ballot, the board rescinded its ordinance Oct. 18.

That led to the Community Development Department issuing notices of violation to 10 dispensaries in the unincorporated county on Nov. 4, warning them to be shut down by Dec. 6. If they don’t comply with the order, they will enter an administrative process that could take some months to conclude.

Since the ordinance was first passed in August, the legal landscape has changed, with the federal government stepping up its efforts against what it considers to be an illegal drug trade, a move announced by the state’s four US Attorneys in October.

Supervisor Jeff Smith said Tuesday that he personally received a letter from the federal government warning him of personal liability if he took action to regulate marijuana in opposition to federal law.

But it was Supervisor Anthony Farrington, holding his comments until after fellow supervisors and members of the public had spoken, who ultimately offered the most in-depth explanation of his personal concerns and sharpest criticisms of the proponents of the dispensaries referendum.

Bomb threats, threats to the public and threats of violence to him personally, confrontations and general hostility had left Farrington with “a bad taste in my mouth,” he said.

“What I struggle with is a process that has been very tainted,” he said, including the petition for the referendum to overturn the board’s dispensary ordinance.

Farrington said he had information that signature gatherers misled people about the actions the board took. He said they claimed the board shut down all county dispensaries while neglecting to point out that board action didn’t impact the three dispensaries in the Clearlake city limits.

Farrington ultimately would make the motion to move forward with the continued effort to close the remaining dispensaries, which it was stated during the meeting now number about six, down from 10 after the county issued notice of violation November.

Trying to avoid a Pandora’s box

At last week’s meeting, Community Development Director Rick Coel had explained the process taken so far, including a “courtesy” notice of violation mailed to property owners and delivered to dispensary operators on Nov. 4.

On Tuesday, the board had a short discussion before opening public comment, in which more than a dozen people spoke.

First up was Clearlake Vice Mayor Jeri Spittler, who urged the board to take the issue up again in a “new spirit of fairness.”

Pointing to how medical marijuana has helped her husband with his fight against cancer, Spittler asked the board to create a panel of people from both sides of the issue. “Let’s sit down and be realistic.”

Supervisor Rob Brown asked her about what kind of panel the city of Clearlake used in establishing its dispensary rules. She said they didn’t use one, but they also didn’t “just shut the doors.”

Neither did the county, Brown countered. “We reached a compromise, the same way the city of Clearlake did,” he said, pointing out that Clearlake has a limit of three. Spittler said she had wanted more.

Brown told Spittler that dispensaries are illegal in the county now due to the actions of the group that collected the signatures to overturn the ordinance, not a result of the board’s efforts.

Rushing said she thought a majority of the board wanted safe access for medical marijuana patients. She asked County Counsel Anita Grant if it was possible to put in place another temporary moratorium on dispensaries.

“What would be the next step? Can we get there from here?” she asked.

Grant replied, “The law is in a considerable state of flux,” with new court decisions coming out that don’t necessarily make the issue clearer. “It makes the board’s position very precarious.”

Based on recent legal decisions, Grant advised the board that it could not regulate dispensaries – specifically, it can’t authorize or license them because federal law doesn’t allow them.

She suggested they could consider the matter from the standpoint of land use. Further, the board could consider an ordinance where they don’t allow dispensaries yet take no action against those that exist at a particular point in time, while specifically avoiding a process that “grandfathers” them in.

“You don’t want to open Pandora’s box for unintended consequences,” Grant warned, urging the board to tread carefully. “You want to strategize your prohibition of dispensaries.”

As for a temporary moratorium, much as the board had in place for two years – from 2009 until earlier this year – Grant said the board would have to have a new set of facts and circumstances, as the law doesn’t allow them to continue such moratoriums indefinitely.

Brown said he didn’t think another moratorium was in the county’s favor. He also addressed a perception that Coel had gone out on his own and taken the initial action against the dispensaries, when in fact the board had directed him to do it.

“The board needs to own what our staff has done,” said Brown. “It’s not Rick working in a vacuum on his own.”

Likewise, Brown said Grant had been beaten up by some community members, when her work on the issue has been a result of her doing what the board asked of her.

The board’s dispensaries ordinance had been the result of compromise, said Brown. He wanted to know from fellow board members if they wanted more dispensaries in their districts.

Rushing, noting that Brown deserved an answer, said she originally thought they should have allowed up to eight dispensaries. While she voted against the ordinance, if it came up again she said she would vote for it, because five is better than none.

Board Chair Jim Comstock said he had agreed with five, which he said seemed fair and reasonable. But with the ordinance now rescinded, “Code enforcement has a job to do.”

Smith said he voted against the ordinance because he thought the existing dispensaries should have been allowed to continue operating, with the number reduced by attrition as they closed of their own accord over time.

Then he received the letter from the federal government, which he said other supervisors hadn’t received. “It puts a whole new light on things for me,” he said.

Citing the lengthy process that had gone into the ordinance, “To tell you the truth, I don’t want to go through it all again,” Smith said. “We have beat this thing to death.”

Coel explained to the board that when he sent out the courtesy notifications, he sent them both to the dispensary owners and operators, as well as the property landlords, which is required by county code.

“It was not intended to be some sort of strong arm attempt,” he said.

Board urged to ignore federal threats, start a new process

Daniel Chadwick, who runs H2C Collective in Middletown, told the board to dismiss the federal threats, stating that they should be following state and not federal law.

He said he was upset about what was happening with dispensaries, noting that his clientèle – who are mostly older people – are afraid to come into his club.

Finley resident Phil Murphy told the board that the less access they allowed the more they would encourage people to grow themselves or to purchase marijuana from criminals.

He said there are legitimate complaints about people growing marijuana in neighborhoods, creating an attractive nuisance with a smell that disturbs neighbors. He said if it was up to him it would be grown on agricultural land, with a maximum of six plants allowed in residential areas.

While he said he understood how frightening it could be to get the type of letter Smith received from the government, Murphy said the board was there to serve the needs of the local community, not to pander to the federal government. He then suggested they should not have limited the number of dispensaries, but should have capped their annual gross sales.

He added that the unintended consequences of the board’s action was to make problems worse, which Brown challenged, pointing out they still had illegal grows everywhere when all the dispensaries were operating.

“It couldn’t get any worse,” said Brown.

Kelseyville attorney Peter Windrem, who had worked with the Lake County Chamber of Commerce earlier this year in making suggestions on the dispensaries regulation process, said they had been under the impression that the federal government had taken a benevolent view.

“We were mistaken,” he said.

Since then, large dispensaries in places like Marin County have been shut down, and an appeals court struck down a city of Long Beach dispensaries ordinance that Windrem said was “strikingly similar” to the one Lake County had adopted.

He pointed out that the talk of dispensaries as businesses reflected a complete lack of understanding relating to California law, which authorizes dispensaries as nonprofits, not businesses.

“They’re flat illegal. They’re criminal enterprises if they’re operated as businesses,” he said.

With dispensaries prohibited under the county’s zoning ordinance and federal law, Windrem told the supervisors they essentially had no choice in the matter. He instead suggested they adopt a resolution petitioning Congressman Mike Thompson to introduce legislation changing marijuana from being a schedule one drug to another schedule so it can be dispensed like other medication.

Lower Lake attorney Ron Green, who had spoken at length last week against closing the dispensaries, disagreed with Windrem that the board had no choice.

“The buck stops with the five of you,” he said. “You can do whatever you want.”

He disagreed that dispensaries are not businesses, and argued they were allowed under the zoning ordinance, specifically in C2 commercial zoning, where drug sales are allowed.

Lake County Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Melissa Fulton told the board that the chamber was not against businesses, as some dispensary supporters had suggested. She said the chamber had supported access for legitimate patients.

“We worked many, many hours on this whole ordinance and the process,” she said.

She said the chamber had come to the table, originally not wanting any dispensaries. She said its members then educated themselves, agreed to two in the county, and then compromised to accept the cap on five.

“We thought it was good to go,” she said, adding the guilt on denying access belongs elsewhere. “The ordinance would have served the community.”

A slippery slope

On the question of the conflict between state and federal law, Grant said the courts have decided federal law doesn’t preempt Proposition 215, which decriminalized medical marijuana in California in 1996.

Because dispensaries aren’t specifically permitted in the county’s land use law, Grant told the board it was on a slippery slope, as there are a number of other uses that it may not be able to conceive of now but which could, in the future, use the same argument to operate as dispensaries.

She said it was her legal opinion that dispensaries are not a legal use under the county’s zoning ordinance. She said they could try to make new findings of fact for a new moratorium, but if they didn’t do that, they needed to give Coel direction.

Rushing said she didn’t want to give up on the effort.

“I know this has been a long road,” she said, with two years of work that resulted in the county having nothing.

“I think it’s our job to keep at this,” and represent all of the county’s citizens, including those needing safe medical access, she said.

Rushing recommended pursuing a simpler ordinance that removed similarities to Long Beach’s overturned ordinance while also putting in place another temporary moratorium while they worked it out.

Farrington said sooner or later the government needed to figure out legalization, which he predicted is years out.

Recalling his unpleasant interactions with signature gatherer Weston Mickey, who wouldn’t disclose who hired him, Farrington said Mickey said unflattering things about the county before threatening him with recall.

He said he’d had a different and more positive interaction with Cynara Kidwell, who met with him to discuss the cultivation initiative being pursued for next June’s ballot by Lake County Citizens for Responsible Regulations and the Lake County Green Farmers Association.

Detailing what he called a tainted process, Farrington said he always had struggled with what appeared to be a lack of supporting language in state law regarding a retail or storefront aspect to medical marijuana.

“I don’t think we need people brokering the sale of drugs,” said Farrington, suggesting that patients should go directly to the farmers.

“The future of Lake County is to embrace the cultivation ordinance,” he said, whether it’s the county’s or the proposed ballot initiative.

Farrington moved to direct staff to move forward with the abatement process on all existing dispensaries, which Brown seconded, leading to the 4-1 vote.

As people filtered out, Murphy shouted at the board, “Nice work, guys,” adding that they could expect more backyard grows and more crime.

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