Local Government

LAKEPORT – Support for a local state park proposed for closure and a discussion about quagga mussel decontamination stations are on the Board of Supervisors' Tuesday agenda.


The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St. TV Channel 8 will broadcast the meeting live.


At 9:15 a.m., the board will consider sending a letter to state officials opposing the closure of Anderson Marsh State Historic Park.


Anderson Marsh is among 220 state parks Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to close in order to deal with the state's budget crisis, as Lake County News has reported.


Early last year, Anderson Marsh and Clear Lake State Park – spared in this latest round of proposed closures because its gets gas and boating tax to support it – were on a list of 48 state parks the governor had proposed closing.


The board also will receive an update on the sale of four decontamination washing stations the county purchased in March of 2008 for its quagga mussel prevention program, and consider a request from the city of Lakeport for one of the units. The discussion is untimed.


Originally, the county had planned to place a station at the county's main entry points and make them available for private enterprise, to be in place by last July, according to county reports.


But the plan never took off, and the result has been that the county declared them surplus and offered them for sale. The county of Los Angeles has offered to purchase each of them for $16,000, down from the $21,646 each paid last year.


Last Tuesday, Lakeport City Council member Suzanne Lyons had the council add an emergency item to its agenda to discuss purchasing at least on of the stations for use in the city.


During the discussion, Councilman Bob Rumfelt suggested the county shouldn't charge the city for a station. “It seems like they should just give it to us. We've already paid for it in the past.”


Councilman Roy Parmentier said once the quaggas arrive in Lake County “it's all over.”


Lyons agreed that the invasive mussels' arrival is “potentially catastrophic.”


“You won't get rid of them,” she said. “They won't go away. There is no cure.”


In the Great Lakes region, where the mussels have been for many years, Lyons reported that the power industry spent $3 billion from 1993 to 1999 due to the mussels clogging intake pipes.


During the discussion Parmentier accused the county officials in charge of the mussel prevention program with not knowing “what the hell is going on.”


County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said late last week that interim City Manager Kevin Burke had called county Deputy Administrative Officer Jeff Rein about the stations, indicating that the council was interested in “one or two” of them.


As a result, Cox said he placed the issue on the board agenda to obtain the board's direction.


Other items on the agenda include the following.


Timed items:


9:30 a.m.: Consideration of amendment four to the agreement between the county of Lake and Quincy Engineering, Inc. for engineering services for South Main Street/Soda Bay Road Corridor Improvement Project in the amount of $1,082,603. Continued from June 2.


Non-timed items:


– Approval of findings of fact: Terry Hopkins' appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision to deny a minor modification of a use permit to allow the establishment of home occupation with an oversized detached accessory structure that was approved as a collector’s garage in 2003; project located at 1519 McMahon Road, Lakeport.


– Proposed amendment six to the agreement between the county of Lake and Pavement Engineering Inc. for engineering services for the design of rehabilitation improvements in downtown Upper Lake (an increase of $15,387, bringing the total amount of contract to $224,050).


– Discussion/consideration of request for authorization for Public Works Director Brent Siemer to negotiate an agreement with PG&E to assure that the county will assume PG&E and AT&T costs for undergrounding utilities in the event that there be a material change or cancellation prior to the completion of the Soda Bay/South Main Street Corridor Improvement Project.


– Consideration of request to purchase 25 Glock Model 17 rough textured finish duty weapons ($429 per duty weapon), from L.C. Action and 25 Glock Model 17 rough textured finish duty weapons ($429 per duty weapon), from ProForce ($23,326.88 total cost for the 50 duty weapons).


– Request for waiver of purchasing policy, Section 2-40.3(a) and find that the low bidder is not in conformity with the needs of the county and award bid to a vendor other than the lowest bidder; consideration of Budget Transfer No. 288 in the amount of $590 for purchase of a washer and dryer

for the Lake County Jail - Budget Unit No. 2301 – Sheriff/Jail; consideration of award of bid to Taylor Houseman for the purchase of a Maytag/Unimac washer and dryer for the Lake County Jail/Hill Road facility in the amount of $22,589.17.


The board also will hold a closed session to discuss labor negotiations, a potential case of litigation against the county and whether to initiate two other legal suits.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKE COUNTY – A bill the Board of Supervisors came out against last week has passed the state Assembly.


AB 479 passed the Assembly by a 41-32 vote on its third reading, according to the state's legislative information Web site, www.leginfo.ca.gov .


Assemblyman Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata) introduced AB 479 in January. It seeks to raise the waste stream diversion rate for cities and counties from the current 50 percent to 60 percent by Jan. 1, 2015, and then to 75 percent by 2020, as Lake County News has reported.


On May 26 the Board of Supervisors voted to send a letter to Chesbro and to state Sen. Patricia Wiggins opposing the bill.


Supervisors expressed concerns over the bill's impact on rural areas like Lake County, where the amount of garbage generated by each person per day already is well below state average.


They also were concerned about the bill's requirement to raise the mandatory quarterly landfill fee from $1.40 per ton to $3.90 per ton on or after Jan. 1, 2010.


Public Services Director Kim Clymire said that would raise the county's annual landfill fees from $70,000 to $290,000, which officials worried would require a major rate increase for county residents.


Chesbro said the bill is intended to create thousands of new green jobs across the state in the recycling industry.


“Recycling more of our waste rather than land-filling it has a double benefit,” Chesbro said in a statement. “It protects our environment while generating thousands of jobs that didn’t exist before. Recycling also saves natural resources and energy consumption by reducing the amount of water and electricity used in the manufacturing process.”


He said California already leads the nation in diverting waste from landfills with a rate above 50 percent.


AB 479 aims at “the next 50 percent,” said Chesbro, and would raise California recycling goals to 75 percent as the state moves toward the goal of becoming a waste-free society. That process, he said, would create quality jobs.


Chesbro's office reported that the recycling industry already accounts for more than 85,000 jobs. It generates $4 billion yearly in salaries and wages, and produces $10 billion worth of goods and services annually.


According to one estimate, the amount of energy saved in the United States last year from recycling beverage containers, newsprint and corrugated cardboard was equal to the annual electrical needs of nearly 18 million Americans, according to Chesbro's office.


In May, the California Chamber of Commerce included AB 479 on its list of “job killer” bills because it would expand the waste bureaucracy.


However, the bill has supporters in the recycling and waste industries.


“More diversion from the waste stream creates more jobs,” said Mark Loughmiller, executive director of the Arcata and Eureka Recycling Centers. “In 2001, we employed seven people. Today we employ 45 people. We’ve increased our workforce six, seven fold in eight years as the result of increased recycling.”


Loughmiller added that landfills are a big generator of greenhouse gases. “Recycling has a direct impact on the reduction of these gases.


It's unclear how or if the bill – if it becomes law – could be affected by a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wants to get rid of the state Integrated Waste Management Board, which oversees the state's garbage and recycling issues.


Addressing a joint legislative session on Tuesday, the governor called the waste management board “redundant.”


“We should not and I will not cut a dollar from education, a dollar from health care, a dollar from public safety, or a dollar from state parks without first cutting the Waste Management Board,” he said.


The governor and some local officials appear to hold that view in common. Supervisor Rob Brown and Clymire both leveled sharp criticism at the waste board at the May 26 board meeting, with Clymire calling it a “parking space” for high-priced appointments.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING


The City of Lakeport Community Development Department has received an appeal to the Planning Commission’s approval of an application for a Use Permit to allow a new wireless communication facility and ground based equipment cabinets within a fenced enclosure. The height of the “monopine”-style antenna structure is 85 feet. The subject property is located in a Professional Office Zoning District at 280 Third Street which is further described as APN 025-375-03.



APPLICANT: OmniPoint Communications (T-Mobile)

1855 Gateway Blvd., Ste. 900

Concord, CA 94520


NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Lakeport City Council will hold a Public Hearing to consider this appeal on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 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 1st day of June, 2009.



 


_______________________________

MARK BRANNIGAN, Director

LAKEPORT – Following a brief discussion, the Lakeport City Council on Tuesday took its final vote on an ordinance to ban state-approved fireworks in the city limits.


Before a packed council chamber, Ordinance No. 878 passed with a 3-2 vote. The council's division on the issue remained the same, with Council members Jim Irwin and Suzanne Lyons voting against the ordinance, which will go into effect July 3.


The ordinance puts Lakeport in line with the rest of the county and with Clearlake, where state-approved – or, as they're more commonly known, safe and sane – fireworks are against the law.


In the face of what appeared to be a foregone conclusion, opponents of the action put the council on notice of their intention to move forward with a ballot measure this fall.


Thomas Jordan, president of the Clear Lake High School Booster Club, was the only member of the public to speak to the council during the brief public hearing that accompanied the ordinance's second reading.


The booster club is one of four nonprofits – the others are the Miss Lake County Scholarship Organization, Terrace School Parent Teacher Organization and the Lake County Channel Cats – that for many years have sold fireworks in the city as an annual fundraiser.


Last year, based on the concerns of Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief Ken Wells, the groups suspended fireworks sales.


This year, Wells again voiced his concerns to the council and suggested denial of the groups' permit applications. In April the council did just that – which will prevent the groups from putting up booths again this year – and directed staff to come back with a draft ordinance.


The nonprofits, with the support of American Promotional Events and TNT Fireworks, gathered 693 signatures to put an initiative on the ballot, Jordan told the council.


Jordan said the signatures were collected in a week's time, a “remarkable accomplishment” that he suggested was a sign that the city's voters didn't agree with the council. He suggested the number of signatures amounted to more than the votes received by the council members who were up for election last November.


Jordan said the signatures were filed with City Clerk Janel Chapman on May 26.


By early August, however, the council will need to take action with regard to the initiative effort. Jordan said the council could adopt a modified ordinance proposed by the nonprofits, immediately order an election or request a study period. If the council didn't set it for election, a special election could be called on Dec. 1 or Dec. 9, he said.


Putting the initiative on the ballot will cost the city money, said Jordan.


Given the “overwhelming response” to the petitions, Jordan urged the council to adopt the groups' proposed ordinance, which would allow fireworks sales to continue with some additional time restrictions, and rescind their previous vote on Ordinance No. 878.


Chapman said she has an appointment on Monday with county Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley to begin verifying the signatures on the fireworks initiative petitions.


Councilman Bob Rumfelt moved to accept the ordinance, which Councilman Roy Parmentier seconded.


Lyons asked city staff for a ballpark figure on the election costs. “It seems to me that we're in kind of a mess here,” she said.


Chapman guessed that the election could cost $3,000. Just her time to verify the signatures – all of which must be checked – will be costly to the city, she said.


She added that at least 100 of the signatures belonged to people who live outside of the city limits.


Lyons suggested that the initiative would overturn the council vote if everyone who signed the petition votes.


“They want us to think that,” replied Rumfelt, adding that people who sign petitions don't always vote in favor of resulting initiatives.


Referring to the costly two days to verify the signatures, Rumfelt asked Wells how expensive a two-day fire in the city – with destroyed homes and vehicles – would cost.


That question received some jeers and comments from the audience. George Spurr, a candidate for the council last November, pointed to a report submitted by the fireworks supporters that found that there had only been 55 minutes of response time for several fires blamed on fireworks in Lakeport over the last several years.


Wells said it only takes one spark.


“You're speculating,” Spurr replied.


Wells told the council it's hard to estimate how much it would cost to fight a fire over two days.


He said he was accompanied by two of his district commissioners who were showing their support because the district has no money for a major incident. Wells, reiterating a comment he made in previous council meetings, said it was his job to advise the council on safety issues.


The council took the 3-2 vote, after which about half of the people in the chambers exited the meeting.


As a point of trivia, Jordan was off – but not by much – in his comparison between the signature numbers and last November's election results.


In that election, the three winning council members – Lyons, Rumfelt and Parmentier – received 783, 772 and 703 votes, respectively.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKEPORT – On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors settled the question about what to do with property that county officials have ruled isn't a feasible location for a college project.


The solution: Give back the land to the donors.


In 1998, Magoon Estate Limited – formerly the principal holder of the 22,000-acre Langtry Estate and Vineyard – donated 1,040 acres to the Business Outreach and Response Team (BORT), headed at that time by Executive Director Chuck Doty.


BORT, in turn, handed the land over to the county, which has acted as the property's trustee since then, as Lake County News has reported. The original agreement between BORT and Magoon Estate Limited contained no information about the tax write-off the donors received for offering up the land.


The donation's intent was that the property should be the site of a four-year liberal arts college, Guenoc Valley College.


But an additional 185 acres of flat land needed for the main part of the campus – which Orville Magoon and his company had said they would donate – wasn't made available, and Langtry's current majority owners, Malulani Investments of Honolulu, said they can't donate the property due to loan encumbrances on the land.


In an ironic twist, it was Doty – now president of Langtry Farms – who sent the county a letter saying the land wouldn't be donated.


That question of the additional 185 acres had required an answer when County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox took the issue to the board for the first time two and a half years ago.


Now, with it settled, Cox said Tuesday he was bringing the matter back, after board members had inquired about its status.


The land donation has a restriction that it can only be used for the college facility, but Cox – who said he has personally visited the property near Middletown – said he doesn't believe it's a feasible location.


He presented to the board a communication from Guenoc Valley College President Fran Peretti and her board of directors, who sent a resolution saying that the Board of Supervisors shouldn't take any action without their direct input.


Cox said Peretti and her board implied that the county is hurrying to make a decision on the land. “I don't think waiting over two years to put it back on the agenda is rushing things,” he said.


He said he wanted the board's direction on what action to take with regard to the property.


County Counsel Anita Grant said her office was suggesting the county seek declaratory relief in court regarding the limitations on the land's title. They've since received a letter from Langtry's attorney indicating that the company would be willing to allow for the deeds to revert back to them, and they also would be willing to consider paying the amount of back property tax that wasn't paid on the land during its 11 years off the tax rolls.


Supervisor Jim Comstock, in whose district the property is located, said he's quite familiar with the property, and that's he's walked all of it.


While it's beautiful, it's also steep. He said it isn't a good location and the current economic climate won't support building a college.


The very best solution, said Comstock, is to “unwind this clock,” which in this case meant giving the property back to its majority holder and receiving back property tax. That will put everyone back into the position they were before the donation was made, which Comstock said is in the county's best interest.


“We can move on,” he said.


Board Chair Denise Rushing was concerned about the memo from the college board. “There's sort of an implication that we have a liability,” she said.


The resolution stated that on Nov. 21, 2006, it was stated during a board meeting that “the county dropped the ball” with regard to the additional land donation.


It stated that Peretti has succeeded in fundraising and attaining “significant pledges” in 2006 “while attending to the total development of the college, much to her detriment.”


The college board's resolution further noted that the board intends to move forward with creating the college and will continue to support Peretti “so that she may be made whole for her past and future efforts as per her contract with the college and so that one day a four year liberal arts college will be a reality in Lake County.”


Signatures on the resolution include those of Eaton Magoon Jr.; John Carl Warnecke, an acclaimed architect and a friend of the Kennedy family who designed John F. Kennedy's memorial at Arlington National Cemetery; and Christy McCampbell, formerly a top United Nations diplomat to Pakistan and now director for International Narcotics Control.


An 'unusual situation'


During the Tuesday discussion, Comstock disclosed that he owns property bordering Langtry Farms but not the specific parcel in question, which he said is miles away from his land. Rushing said he would only have to recuse himself if his land was within about 700 feet of the college property.


Comstock said he and everyone else would have a greater financial interest in seeing a college built.


Cox told the board that the county wrote a letter to Magoon in 1999 asking for the additional acreage.


“Nobody from the county was in charge of this property or in charge of this project,” he said.


He and his administrative staff have been unable to find in their files any response from Magoon to that county letter. Magoon has since sold his interest in the company and retired to San Francisco.


“It's an unusual situation because the county didn't ask for this donation,” said Cox.


BORT, which had initiated the donation, asked the county to hold the property, Cox said, primarily for tax purposes. The county then became the land's trustee as it waited for the college to be developed.


“It seems like an elegant solution to unwind it” and get the back taxes, said Rushing.


She said Mendocino College is looking for property to expand its county education efforts. “If we were going to take on a mission we might start there,” she suggested.


Peretti did not attend the Tuesday meeting. Cox said he had not put the matter on the agenda all last month because she indicated she could not attend until this week, and then he found out late last week she was not coming.


“It seems like we've waited a long time,” said Rushing.


Supervisor Jeff Smith said of the college, “It has been a great dream for a while.”


However, with the additional 185 acres not forthcoming, Smith said he agreed with Comstock that it was best to give the 1,040 acres back. “I'm leaning that direction myself unless something compelling comes up to change my mind.”


Cox said, as of last year, the property tax that wasn't paid on the land totaled $28,135, a figure he said has risen to more than $30,000 as of this year.


“It's not a lot of money,” he said, noting that the land had been locked in at a lower tax rate under Proposition 13.


Comstock moved to direct county staff to pursue options for rescinding the property's conveyance to the county, give the property back to Langtry and recover the back property tax.


Grant said BORT also would need to be included in the process of giving the land back.


The board approved the motion 5-0.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LAKEPORT – Following a lengthy closed session Tuesday night, the Lakeport City Council chose not to hire a new interim city manager.


The decision was announced just after 10 p.m., after the council spent an hour and a half behind closed doors following its evening meeting.


City Clerk Janel Chapman said the council decided not to pursue hiring an new interim manager at this time. That leaves Kevin Burke, who has been doing double duty since last August as both police chief and interim city manager still in charge, at least for now.


Burke was appointed interim city manager last summer after City Manager Jerry Gillham was sent on his second deployment to Iraq with the Oregon National Guard, as Lake County News has reported.


But Gillham was sent back to the United States last November after suffering a transient ischemic attack, a kind of very minor stroke. He later fell and injured his back, which required surgery.


Although Gillham is still under doctors' care and on military leave according to military officials, he appeared at the council's March 24 meeting, seated himself at the staff table beside Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll and began thumbing through staff reports.


His April 2007 contract with the city calls for his employment to last until Sept. 30, 2010. If the council tries to terminate him before the end of his contract, they must either give him six months' notice or six-months' compensation. As Gillham's annual salary is $95,000, his severance requirement would equal about $47,500.


The behind-closed-doors discussions over the interim city manager position resulted in a number of city employees attending the Tuesday evening council meeting.


Dale Stoebe, a Lakeport Police officer and 14-year resident of the city, told the council that, while the city needs a manager, he was wary of a person being brought in to fill the slot on an interim basis, because he's worked for temporary bosses before.


“My biggest consideration is bang for your buck,” he said, and Stoebe said he doubted the city would get it with an interim city manager who is brought in.


He said the city's employees have agreed to take furloughs, and Stoebe was concerned over spending a large amount of money for a “place holder.”


“It comes to a point where enough is enough and I think we're getting pretty close to that,” Stoebe said.


Cheryl Smart, a city building department employee and president of the Lakeport Employees Association, similarly questioned the wisdom of hiring an interim city manager and criticized confining the discussion to closed sessions.


Citing the council's own statements about lack of money for extras or raises for employees, Smart said hiring a city manager for six to eight months would hugely impact the budget.


Referring to Burke, Smart said, “We have an interim city manager who has been doing an outstanding job.”


She added, “Does the City Council have a reason for not keeping Chief Burke in this position?”


Smart said the process has lacked “any transparency,” with both citizens and employees shut out of the process or the reasons behind it.


At the same time as the council has been considering an interim city manager, employees are facing more cuts.


Smart said city employees agreed to six furlough days last December. The city took that measure to save the money, as Lake County News has reported.


But the city is seeking more from its employees, said Smart. Employees are now being asked to take 12 more furlough days, forgo cost of living increases and pay part of their health insurance.


Yet, Smart said, the council was considering paying between $60,000 and $80,000 to a short-term employee. That amount, she said, is roughly equivalent to the amount the city saved with the previous furloughs. She also wondered if the city could end up paying for two city managers.


Smart asked the council to consider the money it was proposing to spend and where it was getting the funds, and make an effort to understand the coming year's budget better for committing to spend more money.


During Burke's 10 months as interim city manager, he's worked with city department heads to reduce spending in an effort to deal with a budget shortfall and avoid layoffs.


He's also successfully worked with county officials to settle a number of outstanding issues.


Among them were back payments the city owed Lake County Animal Care and Control department and negotiations for a new and less-expensive contract with the county in which Animal Care and Control will once again provide services to the city.


The city and county also have reached a new agreement in which the city receives annual payments of $4,500 for wear and tear on Bevins Street, the location of the county's garbage transfer station.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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