CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council has selected a new city administrator.

Tully Clifford, the current chief administrative officer of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada, was approved following a closed session discussion at a special Tuesday night council meeting.

Mayor Joyce Overton, Vice Mayor Joey Luiz and Council member Jeri Spittler voted to hire Clifford.

Council members Judy Thein and Curt Giambruno, who had missed part of the selection process, abstained, Luiz said.

The council will hold a discussion on June 9 to finalize the contract and take public input, Luiz said.

Luiz said Clifford was the No. 1 choice from the beginning in a process that included a total of about 18 applicants, with four candidates who were especially strong.

“I think we made a really good decision,” said Luiz following the Tuesday night meeting.

He said Clifford “seemed to be the best fit.”

In addition to his administrative experience, Clifford offers the city another benefit – he has a civil engineering degree, said Luiz.

When City Engineer Bob Galusha retires later this year, Luiz said Clifford will take on the city engineer's role in addition to his city administrator's duties. That will allow the city to bring back a planner position.

Clifford's three-year contract includes an annual salary of $120,000 the first year, with 3- and 5-percent raises in the second and third years, respectively, Luiz said.

The contract also will give Clifford a $10,000 relocation allowance and a 12-week severance package, according to Luiz.

“I think it's a responsible contract,” Luiz said.

On May 19 Clifford gave his notice – citing “personal reasons” – to officials at Crowsnest Pass. His resignation is effective June 15, according to a report from the Crowsnest Pass Herald.

He'd returned to his native Canada last November, when he left his job as public works director of the city of Solvang, the Santa Ynez Valley Journal reported.

Clifford's other jobs have included transportation engineer positions at the city of Santa Barbara and the city of Calgary, Alberta, director of traffic engineering for the city of Scottsdale, Ariz., and consulting work in Europe and North America, according to various media reports.

He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada, and a master's in civil engineering and a master's of business administration from the University of Calgary.

In addition to his work experience, Clifford also is a fused glass artist whose work is found in collections around the world, according to the Web site for The Artistic Pony Studio, a Solvang art shop where he work was featured.

Steve Albright has held the city administrator job on an interim basis since February, and was appointed by the council to serve as interim redevelopment agency executive director through year's end.

The city's last full-time, permanent city administrator, Dale Neiman, left last November at the end of his contract and following the election in which Spittler and Luiz won seats on the council.

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The Clearlake City Council and Clearlake Redevelopment Agency will hold a special joint meeting Tuesday, May 31, to discuss appointing a new city administrator.

The council will convene in closed session at 5:30 p.m. at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

During that closed session they will consider appointing a new city administrator before coming into open session to discuss the appointment and an at-will employment agreement.

Dale Neiman resigned last November following the election. Since his departure, the job has been held on an interim basis by several people, including now-retired Clearlake Police Chief Allan McClain, who left the city at the end of December, to be followed by City Engineer Bob Galusha.

Steve Albright took over as interim city administrator at the start of February, following his retirement as city manager from the Humboldt County city of Trinidad.

At its May 12 meeting, the council announced that it was appointing Albright as the interim Clearlake Redevelopment Agency executive director effective June 13 and lasting through Dec. 31, as Lake County News has reported.

As part of the special Tuesday meeting, the council also will hold a study session on the draft 2011-12 budgets for the city of Clearlake and the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency.

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At the meeting, held on Thursday, May 26, two council members – Mayor Joyce Overton and Council member Judy Thein – were absent due to illness, leaving a bare quorum of council members to consider some of the outstanding issues.

Interim City Administrator Steve Albright summarized the council's previous discussion, held during a special council meeting May 17, and outlined some of the changes in the ordinance draft.

The document included a revised definition of a dispensary, which is now described as a “location that provides consumer related products and services primarily found within the City's C-2 and C-3 zoned districts which distributes, transmits, gives or otherwise provides medical marijuana to qualified caregivers” in accordance with state law instituted under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

He said it was his interpretation of the council's direction that they had agreed to allow four dispensaries, up from the three proposed in the original draft. That was a compromise between three and an unlimited number, which some council members had proposed.

The proposed ordinance calls for five dispensaries to be allowed once the city's population – now estimated by the US Census Bureau to be just over 15,000 – rises to 20,000 residents, Albright said.

“The other controversial thing had to do with zone districts,” he said.

Albright said it's proposed that the council allow the currently operating dispensaries to be grandfathered into their respective commercial zones, but new dispensaries would be required to be located in the C2 and C4 zones.

By changing some of the considerations about zoning and the number of dispensaries that would be allowed, Albright suggested the document needed to go back to the planning commission for additional input, which would mean the council couldn't adopt the ordinance that evening.

“It will delay us two or three weeks, we understand that,” he said.

Council member Jeri Spittler asked if people would be able to smoke marijuana at the dispensaries.

The answer was no. According to City Attorney Malathy Subramanian's interpretation of Proposition 215, smoking can't take place where you can't smoke according to existing state law. Smoking in a commercial setting like a dispensary would therefore be prohibited.

Councilman Curt Giambruno said the council needed to go through the document with a fine-toothed comb. “There's too many things in here. … a lot of it doesn't make any sense,” he said.

He also felt that, with Overton and Thein absent, a decision should wait until a full council was present.

Lower Lake Attorney Ron Green called the proposed ordinance a “good and reasonable” document, adding, “this ordinance is light years ahead of what the current county draft is.”

However, he questioned certain changes to the proposed ordinance, including the dispensary definition.

He also urged the council to raise the number of dispensaries to five. “The more the better. Competition is good,” said Green, suggesting the council should let the market place decide how many are needed.

Green urged the city to keep its options open, especially if the county approves a stricter ordinance. “The politics in the county are pretty funny right now,” he said.

He said the city might be able to attract dispensaries and patients to shop in the city if the county takes too strict an approach.

Giambruno said he didn't want more than three dispensaries in Clearlake.

“Well I would like to go on record as opposing that,” said Green.

He urged the council to get an ordinance passed before this fall, when a moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries expires. “All hell is going to break loose if you don't pass something,” he said.

Green also challenged the city attorney's interpretation of a ban on smoking at dispensaries. He said employees should be able to medicate during the day.

Smoking on the premises was allowed in the original ordinance, according to Green, and he said other places allow vaporizing and other methods of taking medical marijuana at the facilities.

The council agreed to send the ordinance back to the planning commission and extend the public hearing to June 9 at Albright's suggestion.

Vice Mayor Joey Luiz said he was against limiting the number of dispensaries. “We should allow the market to control itself,” but added, “I think we're really close” in arriving at a final ordinance.

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Mayor Joyce Overton and Council member Judy Thein both were absent from the Thursday meeting due to illness. Vice Mayor Joey Luiz ran the meeting, which started about 20 minutes late due to a closed session discussion on property negotiations and the city administrator selection process.

During a closed session that took place before the council's May 12 meeting, council members accepted a settlement agreement with the Sierra Club Lake Group, as Lake County News has reported.

The group had sued because the city had accepted a mitigated negative declaration rather than requiring a full environmental impact report be completed on the shopping center project, to be located on the now-closed Pearce Field airport property.

Interim City Administrator Steve Albright explained at Thursday's meeting that one of the conditions of the settlement agreement was that both the city and the redevelopment agency had to rescind approvals for the mitigated negative declaration and the disposition and development agreement with KK Raphel Properties LLC of Roseville.

“That's the actions before you tonight,” Albright told the council.

He said the primary settlement issue in the agreement is the completion of a full environmental impact report.

Councilman Curt Giambruno moved to rescind the disposition and development agreement, with Council member Jeri Spittler seconding. The vote was 3-0.

The motion and vote to rescind the mitigated negative declaration was the same.

Albright told the council later during his report that there would be several items relating to the project on the council agenda over the coming three months.

He said that if the city was able to enter into a contract with an appraiser on Friday an appraisal should be completed on the property by June 23.

The city would then schedule a July 11 public hearing on selling the property to KK Raphel Properties, he said. Albright said he believes the Sierra Club is supportive of the sale.

The next steps after that will be related to the environmental documents, he said.

The city will select a contractor to complete the environmental impact report, hold a scoping meeting and file a notice of preparation, Albright said.

He said he hopes to have the environmental impact report under way by early September.

“That's a preview for you,” he said.

Giambruno asked Albright about the status of the expansion project Walmart had planned for its Clearlake store.

Albright said that project and its environmental impact report are on hold at Walmart's request.

While the company has indicated it's still planning the expansion, it has put similar plans on hold in other places, too, Albright said.

“We're all seeing the impact of the economic downtown,” said Albright.

However, he added, “They're not giving up at all.”

He said much of the work on the environmental impact report has been completed, and the city still has a substantial deposit from Walmart for the report work.

Albright said Walmart also was interested “in what's happening across the street” – referring to the shopping center project – and looking at the political situation. He said they would be remiss if they weren't looking at those issues.

He also reported to the council Thursday night that while the city didn't yet have an announcement on its new city administrator, a special meeting is planned for next Tuesday at which the decision will be on the agenda.

The council also voted 2-1 not to grant Rebecca Whitmire's appeal of the Clearlake Planning Commission's denial of a variance for property improvements that she had reportedly made without a permit, and approved the 2010-11 redevelopment agency budget.

The council also discussed a proposed medical marijuana dispensaries ordinance and agreed to send it back to the Clearlake Planning Commission for additional consideration. A story on that discussion will follow this weekend.

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 Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf , on Tumblr at http://lakeconews.tumblr.com/ and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

The council will meet in open session beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 26, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

A closed session will be held starting at 5 p.m. to discuss the appointment of a new city administrator, and property negotiations regarding 13981 Morgan Ave. and 14295 Lakeshore Drive.

On May 12, following a closed session, the council emerged to announce a settlement agreement with the Sierra Club Lake Group, which last year had sued both the city and KK Raphel Properties LLC of Roseville over the plans for the shopping center at the now closed Pearce Field airport property on Highway 53.

In its suit, the Sierra Club Lake Group had sought the completion of an environmental impact report on the proposal. The council had instead accepted a mitigated negative declaration.

As part of the settlement, the council must rescind the disposition and development agreement with KK Raphel Properties that it passed on Feb. 25, 2010. It also must rescind the mitigated negative declaration, passed on the same date, according to the staff report for the Thursday meeting.

Interim City Administrator Steve Albright told Lake County News that as soon as the city takes all of the required actions to fulfill the agreement, and once the Sierra Club subsequently accepts the document, it will be made public.

Albright also will take to the council a proposed 2010-11 redevelopment agency budget.

He told the council at its May 12 meeting that no redevelopment agency budget for the current fiscal year had yet been passed, but that a resolution had been passed to extend the previous fiscal year's budget.

“That' really not the right thing to do,” he told the council at that time.

In other action, the council will continue a public hearing on a proposed medical marijuana dispensaries ordinance and hold another public hearing to consider an appeal of the Clearlake Planning Commission's decision to deny a variance to Rebecca Whitmire at 14708 Palmer Ave.

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 Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

052611 Clearlake City Council Meeting Staff Reports

Public Services Director Kim Clymire and Deputy Director Caroline Chavez had presented those measures, and several others, to the board as a way of addressing a $500,000 annual shortfall in revenue over the last three years, with another $500,000 anticipated in the coming year if action wasn't taken.

Those shortfalls in revenue have eaten up much of the department's reserves, according to Clymire and Chavez.

The most debated of the department's revenue recovery steps, the waste stream importation with Solid Waste Systems – a Lake County Waste Solutions affiliate – was passed in a 3-2 vote Tuesday, with Board members Denise Rushing and Anthony Farrington voting no.

“It was one of the hardest decisions that I've faced as a board member,” Rushing said Wednesday.

The waste stream, which will begin coming into the county in January 2012, is estimated to total 22,500 tons annually, bring in $850,000 yearly in revenue and allow for lower gate fee increases, according to Public Services.

The waste importation discussion had been held over and continued from the May 10 board meeting, at which time the board had expressed reservations about the plan and asked Public Services staff to return with more options.

Chavez said Wednesday that Public Services staff returned to the board this week with an added commitment from Solid Waste Solutions to look at the feasibility of constructing what's called a “dirty MRF” in Lakeport.

A materials recovery facility, or MRF, separates trash from recyclables. Chavez said the agreement would require that two years from the contract's start date on Jan. 1, 2012, the waste company would need to return to the county and let them know if it's feasible to build such a facility.

At that point, the company and the Board of Supervisors would meet and confer, and the board would then decide whether or not to commit to a five-year extension of the waste importation agreement, Chavez said.

Chavez said the facility would handle both the Ukiah and Lake County waste streams, which could potentially further reduce the waste going into the Eastlake Landfill by about 30 percent.

She said the company believes that both waste streams could potentially support the facility in terms of flow and the dollars that could be recovered.

Rushing said that everything in solid waste management involves capital investment, and pointed out that it isn't yet known what it will take to get the proposed MRF facility open in the county.

Rushing, who along with Supervisor Jeff Smith sits on the Solid Waste Task Force, said she was concerned that the board received more information about the plan at the last minute. As a result she was concerned about making a decision of such significance without the information or understanding she would have liked to have had.

She said she and Farrington felt it was important to keep the existing landfill open as long as possible rather than changing the existing footprint, which brings with it monitoring challenges. That meant finding ways not to fill it up.

There are also many variables that need to be considered, she said, including the fact that the county's entire mobile home stock is reaching the end of its useful life, with many of those homes possibly headed for the landfill at some point.

In the end, if the MRF is eventually built and there is a reduction in the landfill waste stream, “It could be a very good decision,” said Rushing.

Besides the waste importation, department officials also had suggested a 39-percent gate fee increase to help offset the $500,000 annual deficit, although they explained that the increased gate fee wouldn't help the department address its rising compliance, reserve or expansion costs.

Chavez said that it would have required a 95-percent gate fee increase to match the revenue the waste import plan will provide.

The board on Tuesday accepted a smaller gate fee increase than originally proposed. In a 4-1 vote, with Farrington voting no, the supervisors approved a 16-percent gate fee increase at the landfill, which would be followed by a 6-percent annual increase over the following four years.

The supervisors also approved Amendment No. 5 to the agreement between the county of Lake and its franchise haulers – Lake County Waste Solutions Inc. and South Lake Refuse-Recycling LLC – to implement a quarterly variable fuel surcharge on curbside service rates. Farrington also voted no on that measure.

The surcharge, which will adjust every three months, will be a line item on bills so customers can track the changes, Chavez said.

Chavez said the fee will be passed through to customers, amount to about 2 to 3 percent more per month – or between 22 and 33 cents – on bills for Lake County Waste Solutions customers in the unincorporated area of the county. She didn't have calculations for customers in the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake.

On top of Public Services' revenue concerns, department officials reported that compliance requirements – such as a $3 million new full landfill gas system that will be required within the next few years under state legislation, AB 32 – are piling on.

“The compliance issues keep coming,” said Chavez.

“We're constantly getting new requirements and they cost money,” she added.

In addition to those growing costs, she said the department spends more than $100,000 annually on fuel, and more than $120,000 each year on equipment repair.

She said the department has been undertaking cost-saving measures. Two years ago, it closed the Lakeport transfer station to save $300,000 annually. The department also is proposing to eliminate an analyst's position in the department that recently was vacated.

Closing the landfill two days a week also was considered but abandoned. “It wouldn't be serving the public,” Chavez said.

Chavez said the ordinance will return to the board for a second reading on June 7, and will go into effect 30 days afterward.

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 Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

052411 BOS - Public Services Staff Report