Letters
- Details
- Written by: Jessica F. Spencer
He stated in the interview that he sent out a "white paper" to local real estate agents to dispel a notion that his office remained closed on Fridays, and that he opened up the Assessor-Recorder's Office for twice a day recordings "as soon as the COVID restrictions were lifted.” He did not.
I received a memo from Mr. Ford's office circulated by our local escrow companies containing a few sentences that he had restored the twice a day recordings [for escrow companies to close real estate transactions], but this was not a white paper. It was just a few sentences and was only sent to the title companies, not to all of the agents or even the brokerages.
Please note that he took this action on March 25, 2022, a full four months after the county had lifted the COVID restrictions. For him to imply that he took immediate action is simply not true.
There was no misunderstanding by the real estate community that his office remained closed on Fridays after that practice was halted. But there was vigorous objection by the real estate community that he refused to allow escrow companies to record real estate closings on Fridays when the county opted to shut down.
Environmental Health opened up for half days on Fridays; our assessor-recorder certainly could have done that but chose not to.
The Friday closures have affected hundreds of people in our community. I personally have had to help my clients find somewhere to stay until Monday for the closing/recording of their new home, all the while paying interest on a loan for a home they are not able to move into because the office was closed to the "public" for recordings.
I understand the need to be closed to the "public" in order to catch up, but when our courier at the title companies (there are only two title companies) arrives with that day's recordings it's simply one person and they wait for them to be recorded then they go back to each title company to confirm.
It was argued by many of us agents, brokers and the title companies that we wouldn't slow the staff down by allowing us to keep recording on Fridays and not to mention the revenue from supplemental taxes that would have added up over time.
Mr. Ford is attempting to rewrite history after the fact. His long record of poor public service is why I am voting for Hannah Lee on June 7 to be the next Lake County assessor-recorder.
Jessica F. Spencer lives in Kelseyville, California.
- Details
- Written by: Mary Benson
Among the information I requested was a copy of annual reports required by the Board of Equalization (BOE) that were to be submitted to the BOE and the Board of Supervisors until the 11 items identified on their 2014 audit were all addressed.
The BOE had told me they had no record of these reports, and the Board of Supervisors responded that they also had no reports.
The incumbent indicated in his response to my request that he had submitted no further reports on those audit issues, though in a recent public forum in Clearlake he mentioned discovering that reports were not done and he had immediately submitted a report to the Board of Supervisors, but I never did receive that report despite requesting it.
I also asked for progress reports relating to the pending number of property tax appeals, the current backlog in reassessments to improved property, the number of months of delay in mailing out recorded documents, the number of pending property tax appeals, and information regarding staffing vacancies.
The Board of Supervisors responded that they had no data at all on any of these issues, and the incumbent’s response to the request neither provided the data nor specified that he had no data.
Because Richard Ford did not respond to those parts of my Public Records Act request, I concluded that he must not have any data tracking these backlogs. I expected more from an accountant, but was willing to accept his lack of data at face value.
I was astonished to read Elizabeth Larson’s interview with Richard Ford in Friday’s LakeCoNews.com in which he quoted very detailed statistics on the very items I had asked about.
It is apparent that either he did have these statistics and deliberately ignored those parts of my Public Records Act request, or he did not have these statistics and has scrambled to put them together now. Neither of these explanations speaks well of the incumbent.
Please join me in voting for Hannah Lee for assessor-recorder on June 7.
Mary Benson lives in Lower Lake, California.
- Details
- Written by: Nancy Bradford
In articles coming out of her office she often bends the truth and blames our former DA, Don Anderson, for her mistakes.
As only one example, she twice sought a probation deal for a convicted human trafficker. Even though a judge rejected her deal she tried it again, this time with the new judge who accepted the deal.
Now confronted with her leniency, she blames the former DA for the deal, when in fact, Don Anderson did more for prosecuting human trafficking than any other person ever has in this county. It is obvious she brokered the deal and only she pushed it through.
Once in office Susan Krones eliminated a lot of Don Anderson’s programs like a perjury unit, educational diversion and a program that made criminals give hundreds of thousands of dollars to Lake County charities.
She has lowered the DA’s high conviction rate to barely over 60%.
I have heard her justify her actions by lying that our former district attorney was “unethical” and only she has brought ethics back to the DA’s office. But she has never said one thing he did that was unethical.
In fact, Don Anderson twice was elected as California’s Prosecutor of the Year by the California Narcotic Officers’ Association, law enforcement’s largest training organization.
This is the only prosecutor to ever receive this award twice and the only Lake County prosecutor to ever even be nominated for the award. This is a far cry from someone who is “unethical.”
I know that Don Anderson has endorsed Anthony Farrington as the new DA. Maybe the voters should listen to what he has to say and why.
Nancy Bradford lives in Lakeport, California.
- Details
- Written by: Heidi Johnson
He stated "he believed he'd had a good relationship with real estate agents and has tried to keep them as abreast of the information as possible.” I was a committee member for a task force that was formed to represent local real estate brokers/agents in 2019 to try to get some answers that we needed. We wanted to know 1) How much longer they were going to be closed on Fridays; and 2) Can they implement electronic recording?
We were intending to inform the real estate community with updates which were desperately needed. We truly were trying to advocate for new homeowners. When the issue of "Friday closure" was on the agenda, we required answers from a public official. We asked those questions at a Board of Supervisors meeting. The answers never came. A later meeting was scheduled and then canceled the day before by Mr. Ford. It's not wrong to ask questions. It's wrong to not answer those questions.
When you've moved out and have your family and whole life packed up, patiently waiting for the official recording to move into your new home, the last thing you want to hear is we can't record until Monday due to the Lake County Recorder's Office being closed. This was not only detrimental to our industry, but to every new homeowner and family that had to bear the extra financial burden of not being able to close on Friday.
I understand that this is an old issue, but it speaks volumes as to the lack of communication.
I am voting for Hannah Lee on June 7 to be the next Lake County assessor-recorder, with the belief that she is the change we need for our community.
Heidi Johnson lives in Kelseyville, California.
How to resolve AdBlock issue?