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CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council on Thursday selected two new members and reappointed the current chair to the city’s Planning Commission.
Following interviews with several candidates during the Thursday night meeting, the council voted to appoint Derek Counts and Ray Silva to the commission for the first time, and reappoint Fawn Williams, who is completing her first four-year term.
City Clerk/Administrative Services Director Melissa Swanson said Commissioner Terry Stewart did not plan to seek another term.
Williams and another incumbent, Robert Coker, both asked to be reappointed, Swanson said.
Swanson said that, based on the City Council Norms and Procedures, if a planning commissioner has served only one term and wishes to serve a second term,
that commissioner may submit a letter of interest no later than 30 days before the end of their term for consideration of reappointment. The meeting packet included a Jan. 11 email from Williams seeking reappointment.
Along with Coker, Counts, Silva and Williams, business owner Carlos Ramos also was seeking an appointment to the commission.
With the exception of Williams — who was attending a Cal Cities conference with Commissioner Christopher Inglis — all of the candidates were in attendance at the meeting in order to answer questions from the council.
Following the interviews, the council members submitted their rankings of the four candidates — not including Williams.
Counts was the top vote getter, followed by Silva, Ramos and Coker.
Counts is a 2009 Lower Lake High School graduate who lived in Las Vegas for a time before returning to Clearlake.
“I was quick to move away from here,” he said, but noted he wanted to go to school and found out the city had offered support programs to attend college, an apparent reference to the Clearlake College Promise program the council approved in December 2021.
He attended Woodland Community College and earned an associate’s degree in social and behavioral science. Counts also earned a degree in radiology in 2021 and works as an x-ray technician at Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
“I did all of my schooling here based off of opportunities that the community provided me. And so, in turn, I want to be a part of the change here,” he said.
Counts added, “I grew up in a lot of different places and this is the one place that actually saw the potential in me and gave me opportunity to achieve that potential.”
Silva, a resident of the Highlands Harbor area, has been a general contractor for over 40 years, working on hundreds of projects in the county and city. He’s been a member of the Measure V Oversight Committee for eight years and served four years on the Lake County Building Board of Appeals, among other committee service.
He said he wants to see the city thrive and succeed and maintain the small town atmosphere. Silva supports commercial growth and wants to see anyone who wants to work have a job available.
Council member Tara Downey moved to approve Counts and Silva, along with the reappointment of Williams, with Jessica Hooten seconding and the council approving the motion 5-0.
Mayor Russell Cremer told them they will be seated at the next commission meeting. City Manager Alan Flora said there were no items of business for the meeting originally scheduled to have taken place this week, so he was uncertain of when the next meeting would be scheduled.
In other business, the council also made appointments to the city’s Measure V Citizens Oversight Committee, which monitors the city’s one-cent road sales tax.
Councilmember Mary Wilson appointed Ramos, who was the only applicant present, while Hooten appointed Dave Hughes and Downey appointed Brett Freeman.
The council voted 5-0 to approve that slate, and also voted unanimously to appoint Supervisor Bruno Sabatier as the oversight committee chair.
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