The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Police Chief Kevin Burke, who these days also is doubling both as chief and as interim city manager, is asking the council to approve an exemption to the city's recently instituted hiring freeze, which would allow him to hire a school resource officer.

The current budget, Burke notes in his report to the council, appropriates $27,000 for the position, which is assigned to the Lakeport Unified School District's campuses. Burke said the appropriation is offset by a $20,000 contribution from the school district.

That leaves a net cost of $7,000 to the city, which Sheriff Rod Mitchell has indicated he may be able to help cover a portion of through a contribution of discretionary funds near the end of the fiscal year, according to Burke's report.

Burke said there is no impact to the adopted budget if the school resource officer position is hired; not hiring the position will save the city $7,000.

The officer, he added, "significantly enhances the safety of students and staff and provides our local kids with a positive role model and positive law enforcement interaction."

Lakeport Police has a qualified candidate for the paid, part-time position, which offers no benefits, Burke reported.

Burke, wearing his interim city manager hat, also will take to the council the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce's request for reimbursement in the amount of $13,132.27 for the July 4 fireworks show.

When the show took place, Burke's report to the council explains, the chamber was under the assumption that the city would provide funding to help cover the cost of the show, as it has done in previous years.

Burke said the budget's general fund contains no appropriation for chamber events. The Redevelopment Agency's portion of the budget sets aside $50,000 for reimbursing the chamber for events consistent with the city's redevelopment plan that also benefit the project area; however, the agency's counsel recommends reimbursement not exceed $5,000 per event.

Not paying the chamber will pose a financial burden for the group, Burke's report states; funding the request will result in a challenge to the city in terms of finding a budget source to pay it.

A letter from Melissa Fulton, the chamber's chief executive officer, said the total cost of the fireworks event this year was $18,198, nearly $5,100 of which was raised by the chamber in its annual Add-A-Dollar campaign.

The council also will hold a closed session for negotiations with the Lakeport Employees Association and the Lakeport Police Officers Association.

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

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The California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA) border stations will inspect watercraft at six border stations along the Nevada and Arizona borders: Truckee, Needles, Winterhaven, Blythe, Yermo and Vidal.

“This is a good beginning to a more complete program of boat inspections within the state,” said Sen. Pat Wiggins, who chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, which deals with invasive species as well as other issues. “Until every boater knows the serious, potential threat of quagga mussels invading our precious lakes, waterways and pipelines, inspections are a necessary inconvenience.”

Funding for the inspections was granted to CDFA after quagga mussels were discovered in the Colorado River last year, the agency reported.

Since early 2007, CDFA has intercepted 200 mussel-infested watercraft from among the 150,000 watercraft it has inspected. In addition, 14,000 watercraft were cleaned and/or drained of all water that could harbor the mussels.

This weekend an estimated 4,000 watercraft will enter California, some of which CDFA estimates will have quaggas and zebras along as hitchhikers.

The mussels have infested several Southern California lakes and waterways, but so far have not been found in Northern California or in Clear Lake, as Lake County News has reported.

The quaggas are particularly invasive in lakes with low acidity, such as Clear Lake, Wiggins noted.

“Entry of even a few quaggas into Clear Lake, the largest body of water in the Coast Range, could permanently upset the lake’s benefits that so many people enjoy,” Wiggins added.

The mussels attach themselves to boat hulls or may be free-swimming larvae in trapped water in boat bilges, live wells, and other places capable of harboring water while boats are in transit, CDFA reported.

CDFA reported that when its inspectors find the exotic mussels on watercraft, the vessels are cleaned and the owners issued a quarantine notice prohibiting the craft from entering California waters until a final inspection is conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game.

The dangerous pests can alter habitat and water chemistry, making waterways uninhabitable to native species, officials reported.

They've caused serious environmental and economic impacts for infested areas such as the Great Lakes. In a July Chicago Tribune report, it was noted that the quagga mussel – which invaded Lake Michigan 20 years ago – has had a population explosion in recent years and now is popping up across the lake's floor. That is part of an ecological domino effect that is rapidly changing the lake's ecosystem.

In an effort to protect the county's water bodies from the mussels, earlier this year the Board of Supervisors adopted and ordinance that made Lake County's one of the first governments in the state to set up an invasive species inspection program.

All boats entering the county's lakes must have an inspection sticker after completing a screening and, if necessary, a full inspection to certify they are mussel-free, as Lake County News has reported. Any vessels that don't pass inspection will not be allowed to launch until after they've been decontaminated and reinspected.

The quagga and zebra mussels are believed to have traveled from their native Ukraine to the United States through means such as the ballast water in oceangoing ships.

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that a bill to set federal cleanup standards for such ships is deadlocked in Congress, because Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

Part of the disagreement centers on Boxer's concern that the federal law could preempt California's stronger standards, according to the Associated Press. She also wants the Clean Water Act to be partially responsible for governing the program, while the Coast Guard would remain in charge of the program according to Inouye's legislation.

In order to keep quagga and zebra mussels from spreading to Clear Lake and other bodies of water where they've not been detected, state and local officials advise following these steps.

– Boaters should inspect all exposed surfaces, wash boat hulls thoroughly, remove all plants from boat and trailer, drain all water, including lower outboard units, clean and dry livewells and bait buckets and dispose of baitfish in the trash.

– Watercraft should be dried for at least five days between launches in different fresh bodies of water.

– Have boats and other watercraft inspected as part of the Lake County Invasive Species Inspection Program. For information or to find the nearest inspection location, visit the Lake County Mussel Web site at www.co.lake.ca.us/mussels, or call the Lake County Mussel Hotline at 707-263-2556.

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

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Retiring Chief Probation Officer Steve Buchholz went before the board to ask them to consider giving the go ahead on an application with the Corrections Standards Authority for funding to construct a new juvenile correctional facility.

He said the new facility is expected to cost $20 million, with the county expected to provide a $5 million match.

Lake County's current juvenile hall opened in 1982, Buchholz said. In recent years, the 16-room facility has consistently maintained a population of 40 or more juveniles, with two to three sharing a room and four to five juveniles in lockdown at any one time.

The facility's linear design has resulted in a lack of space for rehabilitation and other programs, and is considered among the state's worst juvenile halls among south counties, he added.

Like all aging buildings, the juvenile hall also has more than its fair share of maintenance issues. Since January there have been 63 repair and maintenance requests submitted, Buchholz.

The main issue is room for juvenile inmates, said Buchholz. "We are in desperate need of additional bed space."

For the last two years, juvenile hall has regularly released children early because there isn't enough room to hold them. Being over capacity is a big issue with both the state and legal advocacy groups, said Buchholz. As a result, local law enforcement has been very selective as to which juveniles to book into the facility.

A needs assessment being conducted on juvenile hall said it cannot be fixed but must be replaced, Buchholz said.

Buchholz asked the board to apply for the grant, which he said was "incredibly important" for many reasons.

For one, said Buchholz, "There's more kids out there that need to be detained than we can accommodate."

Further, another grant offering likely won't be available for several years, and this particular grant – which focuses on programming and rehabilitation – is particularly well suited to Lake County, he said.

Buchholz said he's looked at buying bed space in other counties, but those bed spaces are hard to come by, and when beds can be found they tend to be expensive. Sacramento County, for example, charges $202 per day per juvenile.

To apply for the grant, Buchholz said the county need a "hard match" of 25 percent, or $5 million. However, the consultant doing the needs assessment thinks the county may be able to get a match as low as $3 million.

The grant will take time to put together, said Buchholz, with a 52-page request for proposal to fill out.

Planning on a 20-year horizon, Buchholz estimated the county will need 90 beds, but the state will only allow them to plan through 2013.

If the county applies for the grant, the county will need to pay out about $1 million per year over the next three fiscal years.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said it was difficult to make a decision on the grant without seeing the final needs assessment. Cox said the original facility had an expansion option, which was never used and was still possible.

He said he was concerned about staffing the new facility; when the county built the jail it ended up costing more to staff it than to build it.

The juvenile hall grant originally had the possibility of a $9 million match, so the cost is going down, said Cox. However, he suggested Buchholz bring back the assessment so the board can make a decision.

Buchholz responded to Cox, reiterating that the state said the county can't add on to the facility.

Cox had mentioned that a grant writer hadn't been scheduled into this year's budget; Buchholz said the probation budget can cover the grant writer, though it will be tight.

Supervisor Denise Rushing said she also wanted to see the needs assessment report.

"We do need to do something," added Supervisor Rob Brown, although he was worried about the costs of consultants to get through the process.

Supervisor Jeff Smith said this was the first opportunity in years that the county had to receive grant funding for a new Juvenile Hall. "I wish we didn't have to have it at all, but that's not reality."

Board Chair Ed Robey suggested the issue return to the board on Oct. 7, when the needs assessment will be available. Buchholz said the new chief probation officer will bring it to the board at that time.

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

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Discussion of the budget will be the main topic at the Clearlake City Council's meeting Thursday at 6 p.m. The council meets at City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive. Meetings are broadcast live on TV Channel 8.

Although the city of Lakeport and the county have accepted their own budgets, Clearlake City Administrator Dale Neiman's report on the budget for Thursday's meeting says Clearlake has a number of mitigating factors that make accepting a budget without the state's in place first a problem.

The largest issue facing the city is that it may suffer the loss of $575,841 through fee increases and take aways under the state budget as it's currently proposed, said Neiman.

Those increases and take aways include a $212,760 property tax loan to the state, $130,081 for a Proposition 42 (street maintenance) loan to the state, $75,000 in book fee reimbursements for police, $58,000 in increased fees to the Department of Justice and loss of a $100,000 COPs grant, according to Neiman.

The possible loss of $150,000 to the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency brings to $725,841 the city's total possible negative impact from the current budget proposal, Neiman reported.

Neiman said that, based on current figures, the city would start the new budget year with $420,000 in cash and end with a negative $4,000 balance if it lost $575,841 to the state.

Making ends meet would require making significant cuts, which is what the city had to do last year as well. Neiman said the city cut its general fund expenditures for the 2007-08 budget year by $960,000 or 17.4 percent.

More recently, general fund expenditures were under budget by $457,000, $417,000 of which was due to vacancies in the police department and Chief Allan McClain controlling expenditures, Neiman reported.

Neiman's report advises the council that the city needs a minimum cash reserve of $700,000 to weather downturns in the economy and respond to emergencies.

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

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

The 254-page grand jury report was released to the board and other department heads on July 9, two days before it was made public.

It offers basic overview of numerous county departments, as well as dealing with more pointed issues and complaints, the latter submitted by the public.

The board will submit a detailed response to the grand jury, including numerous responses by county department heads.

Among those responses will be one by District Attorney Jon Hopkins, who the grand jury criticized in its report for failing to file a set of juvenile court petitions in a timely manner in order to assist with an investigation into a Child Protective Service matter. The petitions were needed in order for the grand jury to access confidential records.

The report said the grand jury began requesting the petitions be filed in May 2007. After repeated requests, Bron Locke, the grand jury foreman, filed the petitions himself this past March in order for a hearing the following month.

The request for information was denied based on a technicality, according to the report, which found that Hopkins “must cooperate fully in the capacity of advisor and representative” to future grand juries.

Hopkins' response, which accompanies those of other department heads, states: “This is a complex area of the law requiring a degree of expertise, and due to shortages and other staffing issues, assignment of this matter would have meant not covering the criminal cases properly.”

The grand jury also investigated a complaint regarding low water pressure on Alterra Drive in Lakeport, which suffered two fires endangering property. One of them, which occurred last summer, endangered an entire subdivision, as Lake County News has reported.

The report found the water lines in the Alterra Drive area are not to code and recommended replacing the entire water system in the subdivision within one year.

In his response to those findings, Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger said the subdivision's water lines are made of a defective material. Further, he said $100,000 has been appropriated to replace as many service lines in the area as possible.

Other items on the Tuesday agenda include the following.

Timed:

– 9:10 a.m.: Consideration of proposed Resolution of Intention to establish proposed “Zone P” (Clear Lake Keys) of County Service Area No. 23, approve the engineer’s report, the form of ballot and balloting process for the assessment, and setting a public hearing for protests and balloting determination, and set public hearing to consider protest against the proposed assessment zone for Oct. 28 at 9:15 a.m.

– 9:15 a.m.: Hearing, notice of nuisance abatement, 16853 Big Bear Road, Lower Lake, owned by Christine Van Zandt.

– 9:45 a.m.: Consideration of request for board direction regarding application with the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) for funding to construct a new Juvenile Correctional Facility at an estimated cost of $20 million, of which $5 million would be required to be funded by the County General Fund.

– 10 a.m.: Consideration of request for modification of Capacity Expansion Fee Payments (to be paid in eight quarterly installments of $11,220, beginning at time of building occupancy) by Mohammed Hussain (Three Brothers Travel Plaza, Upper Lake).

– 1:15 p.m.: Consideration of proposed resolution of intention to establish proposed “Zone O” (Clearlake Riviera) of County Service Area No. 23, approve the engineer’s report, the form of ballot and balloting process for the assessment, and setting a public hearing for protests and balloting determination, and set public hearing to consider protest against the proposed assessment zone for Nov. 4 at 9:15 a.m.

– 1:30 p.m.: Discussion regarding the Countywide Transportation Impact Fee Program Draft Report.

Untimed:

– Consideration of proposed resolution approving the amendment to the standard agreement between the county of Lake and the State Department of Mental Health for Fiscal Years (FY) 06/07, 07/08 and 08/09, and authorizing the director of Mental Health to sign Agreement No. 06-76027-000.

– Consideration of proposed resolution approving the standard agreement between the county of Lake and the State Department of Mental Health for Fiscal Years (FY) 07/08, 08/09 and 09/10 (for specialty mental health services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Lake County) and authorize the director of Mental Health to sign Agreement No. 07-77179-000.

– Consideration of request to approve State Domestic Preparedness Grant Application in the Amount of $231,362 to be allocated to Budget Unit No. 2704 – Office of Emergency Services, for enhancement of the Office of Emergency Services capabilities to prevent, respond to, recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies.

The board also will hold a closed session for a performance evaluation of Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger and a conference with legal counsel regarding one potential case of litigation.

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

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The Lakeport Community Development Department has received an application for a use permit to allow the operation of a bed and breakfast inn without food service in an R-1 Low Density Residential Zoning District. The subject property is located at #2 Sixteenth Street and is further described as APN 26-181-22. The Planning Commission was unable to reach a decision on this matter, and the application will be considered by the Lakeport City Council.

APPLICANT:

Gregory Gill

#2 Sixteenth Street

Lakeport, CA 95453

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Lakeport City Council will hold a public hearing to consider this request on Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 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 707-263-5615 ext. 25.

Dated this 20th day of August 2008

_______________________________

RENÉE PEREZ

Community Development Department

Planning Division

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