Sheriff Rod Mitchell took several items to the board on Tuesday, including items involving vehicle purchases, a helicopter contract and the receipt of the federal grant for the investigator.

The first of those items on the agenda was Mitchell's request to waive the formal bidding process and purchase nine 2010 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors from Holder Ford in Lakeport for $201,017.79. The board approved the item 5-0.

The next item was an updated version of an agreement that the board recently had approved with Sierra Air Helicopters Inc. for marijuana reconnaissance and eradication on public and private lands, which is paid for by a federal Drug Enforcement Administration grant.

The previous contract had approved the company's services at a rate of $525 per hour, not to exceed $10,000. However, the hourly rate in the new contract had risen to $550, which Mitchell said was because the company claimed that its insurance costs had gone up.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said the county and the company had approved contracts with slightly different language.

If that was the case, Supervisor Rob Brown suggested the county go back to the lower per-hour contract cost.

“I think it's a situation where you take it or leave it,” said Cox, and Brown suggested minimizing the company's usage.

“I feel a little bait and switched,” said Supervisor Denise Rushing. “I'm not inclined to say yes to this.”

Mitchell said he had no problem going back to the company to discuss the pricing change.

“They should know this program is under enough scrutiny as it it by people who want it to fail,” said Brown.

The board ended by approving the contract at the lower dollar amount. “And now they can take it or leave it,” said Cox.

Mitchell, joined by Det. Mike Curran, then presented to the board information about a new $111,130 grant from the US Department of Justice's Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program for a “special victims” investigator to work on crimes affecting children, the elderly and those with disabilities.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office investigates hundreds of cases annually involving such victims, Mitchell said. Last year, the department looked specifically at between 38 and 50 elder abuse allegations alone.

Mitchell said anyone suggesting the sheriff's office isn't pursuing such investigations is wrong.

He said he wanted Curran to be recognized for his remarkable tenure as one of Northern California's longest-running investigators of such special victims-related crimes.

When Curran puts together a case, the person responsible goes to prison, Mitchell said. Curran – recognized this past February for 30 years of service to the county – also trains investigators both in the sheriff's office and other agencies.

Mitchell said the sheriff's office wants to increase the number of people who do specialized investigations, and they've been continuing to apply for every grant possible.

Board Chair Anthony Farrington congratulated Mitchell on procuring the grant. “It's an excellent step in the right direction.”

Brown said there have been allegations that the program was disbanded, but he said that isn't true. The funding is for an ongoing program.

Naming off a list of active department investigators, Mitchell said, “The senior citizens and children in this county have not gone unattended to.”

“Those real people have been responsible for arresting real dirt bags, a lot of 'em,” said Brown.

Rushing asked if this was the first year they've received the grant. Noting that the sheriff's office has used different funding sources for different positions, Mitchell said this was the first time they had received the Byrne Memorial funding for this purpose. However, the fund – named for a New York policeman murdered while on duty, and meant to put more offers into investigation and patrol positions – has provided money for other purposes in the department, he explained.

The funds will allow investigators to spend more time on cases in particular areas, Mitchell said.

He explained that the board and the public needed to know that when there is a major crime like a homicide, “our entire detective bureau rolls on that.”

Curran participates in every homicide investigation, said Mitchell. With the first 48 hours in an investigation being critical, “you get multiple investigators doing followup.”

Mitchell said Curran also was waiting to go back to court that day, with work in court being a major part of his job.

Brown asked Curran how the multidisciplinary interview center – built to interview children victims of crime – was working out for investigators.

Curran said it was working very well, estimating that local agencies have conducted between 200 and 400 interviews in the facility, which is located next to the Victim-Witness Division of the District Attorney's Office in Lakeport.

Mitchell explained that the facility allows for young victims to be interviewed in a comfortable setting by just one person. Other investigators can remain outside of the room and monitor the interviews through cameras.

Mitchell said children used to be put through as many as five interviews, and it was likely they would make at least one mistake in their testimony, which opened them to attack in court. He credited an “awesome partnership” of community members who built the facility.

County Counsel Anita Grant said the agenda item was merely a notification, so the board didn't need to take any action.

Mitchell told the board that the new position is being allocated in the preliminary 2010-11 budget.

No public comment was offered on the topic.

In other board business Tuesday, following a lengthy discussion on weed-related issues with the new Water Resources Director Scott DeLeon, the board directed DeLeon to reissue a request for proposals for mechanical weed harvesting, awarded a weed spraying contract to Clean Lakes and gave DeLeon the go-ahead to purchase new buoys. The board also wanted to get an estimate on repairs to a barge and repair the fire boat the county purchased last year.

The board also presented proclamations for California Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week, and National Safe Boating Week; approved a rezone for the Spring Valley Lakes, Clearlake Keys and Orchard Shores subdivisions located in Clearlake Oaks; and voted for a rezone of a property at 10931 Lakeshore Drive.

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The county Public Services Department will host the meeting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 13, in the Board of Supervisors chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

Last year, the county completed the purchase of more than 1,500 acres on top of Mt. Konocti, an effort that began in late 2007, as Lake County News has reported.

Public Services Director Kim Clymire said one of goals of the meeting is to discuss if they should form a “Friends of Mt. Konocti” group to support activities on the mountain.

He said many such as “friends” groups are used to raise funds. However, the county generates more than $100,000 annually off of agreements with companies that have lease agreements on the telecommunications towers on Buckingham Peak, a 176-acre parcel that was part of the purchase.

The county also has grant applications in to support the proposed park, he said.

What may be needed more is a core group of supporters to be trail watchers and docents, supervise access to the Cal Fire lookout tower, and assist with trail maintenance and construction projects, Clymire said. A standing advisory committee also could evolve out of such a group.

If a group forms and wants to raise money, a nonprofit will need to be created, Clymire said. Those steps will be discussed at the Thursday meeting.

Other agenda items will include fundraiser ideas, creating a Web site, input for county operations – such as fire management, and creating policies and procedures – and a review of examples of successful “friends” organizations elsewhere.

He said groups support other local nature areas like Boggs Mountain, Anderson Marsh and the Black Forest.

Clymire said that the meeting also will include an overview and update on the progress the Master Management Plan Committee has made toward developing the park's management plan.

When the park opens this June or July – it was slated to open in May but an easement issue has caused a delay – only hikers will be allowed initially, he explained.

The master plan committee is only on its fourth meeting, said Clymire, but within the next year or two he wants to have a plan to circulate to the community.

“It's going to be an evolving plan,” he said.

Clymire said the effort is being driven by preservation, resource and cultural conservation of the site.

“We want to preserve it and conserve it,” he said.

As such, he said he wants to take it slow in determining what potential uses to allow, such as horses, dogs on leash and mountain bikes.

“Once you allow something it's really hard to change behavior,” Clymire said.

At upcoming committee meetings they'll hear from local equestrians and representatives of those other potential uses, he said.

For more information about the meeting, call the Lake County Public Services Department at 707-262-1618.

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A special closed session will begin at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, May 13, at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive. During that session the council will discuss the Sierra Club lawsuit against the city and developer KK Raphel Properties LLC over the city's Lowe's project.

The open portion of the meeting will begin at 6 p.m.

The main agenda item is the proposed budget reductions in response to the city's difficult financial situation.

City Administrator Dale Neiman's proposal includes cutting 9.5 full-time equivalent positions, including one police lieutenant, a sergeant position, three police officers, a maintenance worker, office assistant and assistant planner. One full-time sergeant would be replaced with a half-time officer.

In addition, both Neiman's position and the financial director job would be reduced to half-time, according to his report.

The measures are necessary, according to Neiman, because of deficits in key city funds that will total close to half a million dollars by the end of the fiscal year.

Neiman stated in his report that the city's staff positions have been reduced by 43 percent since 2007.

If the recommendation to eliminate the 5.5 police jobs is approved, Neiman said that would total 9.5 positions that, since 2007, have disappeared from Clearlake Police Department.

Included in the recommendation is the elimination of both code enforcement and planning.

“In 2008 and 2009 we handled 2,471 code enforcement cases,” Neiman's report said. “The recommendation to eliminate the code enforcement program will result in serious environmental contamination, depreciation of property values, and more people living in unsafe buildings.”

Neiman said that eliminating the Planning Department will increase other employees' workload. That and reducing his job to half-time will slow response times to applications and public requests, he added.

Other proposed cuts include closing Austin and Redbud parks, and reductions to the engineering department.

In other council business Thursday, the council will present a proclamation declaring May 17-21 as Neuropathy Awareness Week and Supervisor Jeff Smith will present the city the final check for the senior center's community garden project.

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With the mail back participation period over at the end of April, census workers began visiting homes around the country on May 1, the US Census Bureau reported.

Lake County's mail back participation rate was 60 percent, up from 54 percent in 2000, when the county ranked third from the bottom of the state's 58 counties for its mail participation rate.

However, this year, census officials said Lake County was one of only a handful of California counties to improve its rate of participation.

Overall, California's mail back participation rate was 71 percent this year, down from 73 percent in 2000. The national mail participation rate was 72 percent, which tied the previous census, according to the US Census Bureau.

The agency reported that the constitutionally mandated count determines representation for an area in government, as well as how much federal money it will receive.

In April, Sylvia WynnLindeman, with the US Census' Partnership and Data Services division, made a presentation to the Clearlake City Council in which she explained that some populations in Lake County were seriously undercounted 10 years ago. That impacted such critical areas as the local education system, which she said took a big hit.

The results of the census are used to forecast transportation needs, establish eligibility for housing and rehabilitation funds and more. “It's everything that we depend upon in our communities to round out our lives,” she said.

Tom Szabla, assistant regional census manager for the Seattle Regional Census Center, told Lake County News that 90 percent of US residents are covered by the census mail out/mail back operation.

The mail back success rate “gives us an indication about how much work we're going to have in a particular area,” Szabla said.

Ultimately, the US Census will count 100 percent of the population. Szabla estimated that about 35 percent of US homes didn't return their forms. “We've got about 50 million housing units to visit,” he said.

That includes 74,000 housing units in the five-county Eureka coverage area, which includes Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity counties. Szabla said of those, there are 22,000 housing units or homes in Lake County that must be visited.

This year in Lake County, while many areas had their census forms delivered by mail or – in the case of areas served by post office boxes – census workers, some areas, such as Clearlake, had no forms delivered before April 1, which was Census Day, the day on which the US Census sought to get a snapshot of where America's population was situated.

Szabla said many small towns in the rural United States have post office boxes, which census forms aren't delivered to because it's hard to determine to what physical address they're tied. That requires census workers to deliver the forms in person.

WynnLindeman told the Clearlake City Council in April that Clearlake wasn't alone, and many other areas across the country didn't receive their forms earlier. “Except for that blip, most people got their forms in March,” she said.

Szabla said the US Census expects to close out its visits to homes in mid-July, slightly earlier in other areas.

“With an area like Clearlake, if 100 percent or 80 percent didn't get forms, that's going to be a pretty big workload for us,” he said, noting that they may send in numerous workers to “blitz” the area.

Another challenge for the 2010 Census was the fact that the US Postal Service no longer allowed census forms to be distributed from post offices, which Szabla attributed to postal service regulations.

“They pretty much said they didn't want any 'Be Counted' sites there,” he said, adding that he didn't see that changing in the future.

Recruitment this year was easy in some areas due to the economy, but it was more difficult in some rural areas, Szabla noted.

“It's much more complicated than it has been in the past,” he said.

WynnLindeman had previously reported a 74-percent recruitment rate for Lake County.

Lake County's census workers received lower compensation than some other areas. While Lake's workers received $11.50 an hour, the pay scale was much higher in Sonoma County, where they could receive $20 an hour. Szabla said the differences in pay were determined by a study of pay rates for similar jobs locally.

Followup at homes where there were no forms returned will include as many as six visits, WynnLindeman had told the council. If no one answers the door at such homes, census workers can then go to a neighbor to ask for information.

Szabla said that when census workers visit homes they will carry plastic identification cards and a black bag.

He said residents should feel free to ask for identification or for the local census office phone number if they want more information.

“We want our people to show the ID,” he said.

For more information, visit www.2010census.gov.

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The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 11, in the Board of Supervisors chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. TV8 will broadcast the meeting live.

At 9:35 a.m., the board will hold a public hearing to discuss and consider funding of a special victims/vulnerable persons investigator.

A report from Sheriff Rod Mitchell to the board explained that the sheriff's office has applied for and received $111,130 in unanticipated grant funding from the US Department of Justice's Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program.

The sheriff's office would use the position – which would not be allocated until July 1 – to combat victimization of “special victims” such as children, the elderly and the disabled, who are among society's most vulnerable members, Mitchell said in his report.

At 10 a.m., the board will discuss the request for a proposal for mechanical harvesting and herbicide spraying of aquatic plants in Clear Lake as summer nears.

In an untimed item, the board will consider a proposed agreement between the county of Lake and Sierra Air Helicopters Inc. for marijuana reconnaissance and eradication on public and private lands. The agreement calls for a rate of $550 per hour, not to exceed $10,000.

Last month, the sheriff's office took several helicopter contracts to the board, Sierra Air among them, though at that time the proposed contracts were for $525 an hour, not to exceed $10,000.

The board also is scheduled to have a closed session to discuss labor negotiations and a case of existing litigation, consider an employee disciplinary action and conduct a performance evaluation of Public Services Director Kim Clymire.

Other items on the agenda are as 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.

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.: Presentation of proclamation designating May 7 as California Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week of May 9-15 as National Police Week in Lake County.

9:20 a.m.: Public hearing – Planning Commission's recommendation for approval of a rezone proposed for the county of Lake for reestablishment of “RD” (Residential Design Combining District) for the Spring Valley Lakes, Clearlake Keys and Orchard Shores subdivisions located in Clearlake Oaks, and a rezone of approximately one acre from “CR-DR” (Commercial Resort-Design Review) to “R1” (Single-Family Residential), located at 10931 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake Park (APN 036-311-04); and reconsideration of an environmental impact report previously certified for the Shoreline Communities Area Plan.

9:30 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the week of May 22-26 as National Safe Boating Week in Lake County.

9:45 a.m.: Discussion/consideration of proposed resolution approving the county of Lake and the state of California Combined Negotiated Net (NNA) and Drug Medi-Cal multi-year contract to provide alcohol and/or other services for fiscal years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, and authorizing the Mental Health director to sign.

10:30 a.m.: Discussion/consideration of purchasing buoys for the purpose of making boat lanes to and from the shoreline at county parks, selected launching ramps, Rodman Slough and the city of Lakeport's Library Park; discussion/consideration of directing staff to relocate acquired barges and equipment barges in order to perform algae abatement activities; and discussion/consideration of directing staff to have the necessary repairs done on the algae abatement boat that was purchased from Kelseyville Fire District.

Nontimed items:

– Supervisors' weekly calendar, travel and reports.

– Consideration of proposed revision tot he county vehicle policy (amending criteria for vehicle replacement).

– 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 for the purchase of nine vehicles; and consideration of request to authorize the sheriff/coroner/assistant purchasing agent to issues a purchase order to Holder Ford in the amount of $201,017.79 for the purchase of nine 2010 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors.

– Discussion/consideration of request to award Bid No. 10-15 in the amount of $53,668 to Holder Ford for the purchase of one 2010-11 full-size, four-wheel-drive, extended cab/super cab, dual rear wheel, flatbed truck (with snow plow).

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N O T I C E

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Planning Commission of the City of Lakeport will hold a public hearing to consider amendments to the City of Lakeport Zoning Ordinance related to the implementation of the 2009-2014 Housing Element. The proposed amendments address the establishment of regulations for emergency shelters in the C-3 Service Commercial zoning district and other modifications related to supportive and transitional housing.

This public hearing will be held Wednesday the 12th of May, 2010, at 6:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers of City Hall, located at 225 Park Street, at which time and place all interested persons may appear and be heard. If you have questions or comments, please call the Lakeport Community Development Department at 707-263-5613 ext. 25.

Dated this 30th day of April, 2010.

_______________________________

ANDREW BRITTON

Planning Services Manager