LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – All branches of the Lake County Library system will be closed Jan. 17 to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Normal hours at all branches will resume on Jan. 20. Call your local branch if you have any questions.

Lakeport Library, located at 1425 N. High St., is normally open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The phone number is 707-263-8817.

Redbud Library, 14785 Burns Valley Road, Clearlake, is normally open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday, noon to 7 p.m. The phone number is 707-994-5115.

Middletown Library, 21256 Washington St., is normally open Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The phone number is 707-987-3674.

Upper Lake Library, 310 Second St., is normally open Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The phone number is 707-275-2049.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Effective immediately, Soda Bay Road between Westlake Drive and Marina View Drive – the Horseshoe Bend area – has been reopened to all traffic, with no restrictions in place.

The roadway had been closed Dec. 29 to perform emergency storm drainage repairs.

The Lake County Department of Public Works originally had estimated that the closure would remain in place until Jan. 16, but repairs were completed about a week earlier than expected.

The agency thanked its contractor and road personnel, who it said “went above and beyond to get this road reopened a week ahead of schedule.”

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Lake County PEG TV 8 Board will next meet on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

The meeting will take place beginning at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Business items at the meeting include election of officers for 2015, approval of the Nov. 12 meeting minutes, continuing consideration of fundraising event possibilities, report on the Clearlake Christmas Light Parade broadcast, presentation of the updated members manual, and reports from the programmers and chairman.

LCPTV is Lake County's public, education and government Channel 8 on MediaCom.

Board members include Chair Ed Robey and Vice Chair Martin Scheel, and board members Denise Loustalot, Vince Metzger and Eric Hoefler.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The U.C. Master Gardeners of Lake County will offer a series of public workshops in the coming weeks.

The workshops are as follows.

– Saturday, Jan. 17, 10 a.m. to noon: “Training and Pruning Fruit Trees – Why, How and When.” Agricultural Center, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport.

– Wednesday, Jan. 21, 10 a.m. to noon: Fruit tree pruning demonstration by Master Gardener Jim Harrell. Reeves Lane, Lakeport.

– Saturday, Jan. 24, 9 to 11 a.m.: Rose pruning demonstration by Master Gardener Richard Willard. Austin Park, 14077 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.

– Wednesday, Feb. 11, 10 a.m. to noon: Rose pruning demonstration by Master Gardener Jim Harrell. Upper Lake.

A $5 per person donation is requested for each workshop.

Call 707-263-6838 to RSVP and obtain further location information.

SACRAMENTO - State Treasurer John Chiang on Thursday announced several major appointments to his executive staff.

Chiang, who previously served two terms as state controller, was sworn into his new office on Jan. 5.

Collin Wong-Martinusen, 44, will serve as chief of staff. Most recently, he served as Chiang’s chief of staff at the State Controller’s Office. During his tenure, the office set productivity records in nearly all major lines of business, including optimizing the use of its auditing authority to root-out $9.5 billion in government waste and inefficiency.  

Previously, he ran the Attorney General’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, where he improved the agency’s health care fraud prosecutions by 116 percent and elder abuse prosecutions by 797 percent.

Under his leadership, the bureau was twice recognized as the top performing health care fraud prosecutorial agency in the nation.

He also held several positions in the State Senate, including as policy advisor to the president pro tempore.

In this capacity, he was lead staff in drafting and negotiating a seminal 1997 tax relief package – commonly referred to as “Mega-Deal” – that provided nearly $1 billion in tax relief to middle-class Californians. It was the largest tax cut for personal income taxpayers since World War II.

Wong-Martinusen is a Democrat and a graduate of the University of Southern California.

Tim Schaefer, 67, will serve as deputy treasurer for public finance. Schaefer previously served as senior financial advisor to the state controller. He also founded and operated an Orange County-based public finance advisory firm after serving as president at a similar firm in Southern California and a regional vice president with a national financial advisory practice. 

As a consultant, Schaefer was called upon several times during the worst cash crises of the past three decades to assist the state with the structuring and sale of complex cash flow borrowings.

The largest of these borrowings exceeded $10 billion; another involved one of the largest sales of medium term notes ever attempted in the national markets. 

He began his 40-year career as a municipal bond salesman, syndicate manager, and secondary market trader.

Later, he managed the national municipal trading desk at Chemical Bank and the Public Finance Division of Bank of America. Schaefer is a Democrat.

Vince Brown, 62, will serve as deputy treasurer for administration and fiscal policy.

Brown has nearly 40 years of experience in public finance and budgeting. He currently serves as chief executive officer of the Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association Board of Retirement, which holds an investment portfolio of more than $6.9 billion.

Brown also served as the first CEO of Santa Barbara County Employees’ Retirement System, and as a global director at Grant Thornton LLP. 

He worked as chief deputy director at the department of finance, where he managed the state’s budget process. He also served as chief operating officer for the state controller, along with numerous positions in both the California and New York state legislatures. He also served as co-chair for the Sacramento Unified School District's first Bond Oversight Committee. 

Brown has a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science from LeMoyne College, as well as a master’s degree in public administration from the State University of New York at Albany.

Brown is a registered as decline to state. His appointment becomes effective on March 16.

Grant Boyken, 45, will serve as deputy treasurer for retirement security and healthcare. Boyken previously served as the treasurer’s pension and benefits officer.

In that capacity, he was the treasurer’s lead representative on the CalPERS and CalSTRS governing boards where he helped shape governance and compensation policy reforms, including one increasing oversight and transparency of corporate political spending.

Boyken also served as the first executive director of the Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board, a groundbreaking program that will provide retirement security to California workers in the private sector. 

In 2007, Boyken staffed the Governor’s Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission, where he authored reports on retiree health benefits, actuarial methods used to determine pension and retiree health benefit funding, and a report on the funded status of all public pension systems in California. 

Many of the provisions of the seminal 2012 Public Employee Pension Reform Act were rooted in the Commission’s final recommendations. 

He holds a master of arts degree in sociology from the University of California, Davis, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Boyken is a Democrat.

Alan Gordon, 59, will serve as deputy treasurer for legislation and infrastructure financing. He previously served as deputy state controller for environmental policy.

Gordon has spent a significant portion of his career in the State Capitol in the roles of principle consultant to the Senate Committee on Delta Conveyance and Conservation, counsel to the Senate Environmental Quality and Insurance committees, and a senior staffer to two senators. He also served as deputy director of the department of toxic substances.

Gordon has a bachelor of arts degree in history, a master of arts degree in political science from Emory University, and graduated from Golden Gate University’s Law School. He is registered as decline to state.

Jan Ross, 56, will serve as chief of information technology.

Previously, she worked as the chief information officer at the State Controller’s Office, where she oversaw the successful implementation of more than twenty-four independent IT initiatives, including the acclaimed government transparency Web sites, www.PublicPay.ca.gov , www.TrackProp30.ca.gov and www.ByTheNumbers.sco.ca.gov .

Ross joined the Controller’s Office after 11 years with the Franchise Tax Board, where she supported a variety of technology initiatives.

Her public service career was preceded by 16 years in private industry supporting technology systems predominantly in the financial industry.

Ross holds a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in management information systems, and bachelor’s degree in French, both from California State University, Sacramento. She is a Republican.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Caltrans reports that the following road projects will be taking place around the North Coast during the coming week.

Included are Mendocino County projects that may impact Lake County commuters.

LAKE COUNTY
 
Highway 20

– Caltrans will perform routine maintenance from Gravel Plant Road to the North Fork Cache Creek Bridge through Monday, Jan. 12. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., weekdays. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.
 
Highway 175

– AT&T has been granted a Caltrans encroachment permit for utility repairs just south of Estates Drive through Friday, January 9. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays.
 
MENDOCINO COUNTY
 
Highway 20

– Caltrans will perform routine maintenance from Wildwood Campground to Forestry Station Road through Friday, Jan. 9. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays. LC#S20AA
 
Highway 101

– Caltrans will perform slide repairs near the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge (near Frog Woman Rock). Northbound traffic will be restricted to one lane 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Motorists may experience minor traffic slowdowns.
 
– Emergency roadway repairs just south of Ridgewood Ranch Road will continue. Traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction of travel 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Motorists may experience minor traffic slowdowns.
 
– Emergency slide debris removal from .5 to .3 miles south of the Haehl Overhead Bridge will continue. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 15 minute delays.
 
– Pavement repairs from the Bear Pen Undercrossing to Piercy will continue through Friday, Jan. 9. Traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction of travel from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays. Motorists may experience minor traffic slowdowns.
 
– Pavement repairs near Piercy will continue. Southbound traffic will be restricted to one lane from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., weekdays. Motorists may experience minor traffic slowdowns.

Caltrans wishes to advise motorists to drive with caution when approaching work areas and to be prepared to stop at traffic control stations.
 
The Caltrans Traffic Operations Office has reviewed each project and determined that individual project delays are expected to be less than the statewide policy maximum of 30 minutes, unless noted otherwise above. (Bold type denotes a change from the previous bulletin.)