CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Police said they have arrested a Clearlake man for sexual crimes against two victims under age 13.

On Monday, members of the Clearlake Police Department Investigations Bureau arrested Bert Tino Besio, 69, on an arrest warrant, the department said.

Authorities said Besio’s arrest was the result of a month-long investigation regarding child molestation of two victims under 13 years of age.

Based on the investigation, police believe that Besio sexually assaulted the victims on multiple occasions and falsely made a claim to a victim that he used to be a police officer.

The arrest warrant was issued for two counts each of the following: aggravated sexual assault of a child – rape, 269(a)(1) PC; aggravated sexual assault of a child, 269(a)(5) PC; and lewd and lascivious acts with a victim under age 14, 288(b) PC.

Besio remains in custody, with bail set at $300,000.

He’s tentatively scheduled to appear in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday.

If anyone has information that would aid in this investigation, please contact Det. Steve Hobb at 707-994-8251, Extension 321.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Clearlake man arrested three years ago for setting the Clayton fire and numerous other fires around Lake County during a yearlong period has reached a plea agreement and will be sentenced this fall.

The Lake County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that it has reached the agreement with Damin Anthony Pashilk, 43, after ongoing discussions and “the assessment of the risks associated with proceeding to trial.”

The agreement calls for him to be sentenced to just over 15 years in state prison. He also will have to face a restitution process for the victims of the fires he set.

Pashilk was arrested on Aug. 15, 2016, two days after the Clayton fire began, and has remained in custody since then. For much of that time, he has been held in an out-of-county facility.

Following a lengthy investigation, authorities concluded the Clayton fire was the last of a series of fires he had set in the Clearlake, Lower Lake and Middletown areas from the summer of 2015 to 2016.

He initially was charged with intentionally setting 15 fires and one attempted fire between July 2, 2015, and Aug. 13, 2016. Authorities said most of the fires were small wildland fires that were quickly extinguished by Cal Fire and burned only vegetation.

The two most serious fires were the Seigler Canyon fire and the Clayton fire. The Seigler Canyon fire on Aug. 9, 2016, burned 15 acres of vegetation and a mobile home, authorities said.

The Clayton fire started on Aug. 13, 2016, on Clayton Creek Road in dry grass, burning nearly 4,000 acres and destroying 300 structures, including many in historic downtown Lower Lake.

Pashilk’s preliminary hearing took place from Feb. 14 to March 12. He was charged with 23 counts associated with the fires he was believed to have set. Judge Andrew ordered Pashilk to stand trial for all but one of the fires, for which the charge was dropped, as Lake County News has reported.

After the preliminary hearing concluded, District Attorney Susan Krones, Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff – who has handled the prosecution so far, including the preliminary hearing – along with the District Attorney’s Office investigator assigned to the case, and the primary Cal Fire investigators who conducted the serial arsonist investigation and origin and cause investigations for each fire, met to discuss the case and potential dispositions.

During the meetings, the District Attorney’s Office said discussions included assessment of the testimony and evidence at the preliminary hearing, the strengths and weaknesses of the investigation and evidence, potential defenses, risks of not getting convictions on some or all charges if the case proceeded to trial, potential sentencing outcomes if the case went to trial, potential disposition options, and the impact on success at trial in the probable event that a change of venue was granted and the trial had to be held outside of Lake County.

Also discussed was the potential costs to Lake County if trial was held in another county and resources required if the case proceeded to trial, officials said.

A change of venue was a real concern, as defense attorney Mitchell Hauptman had indicated it was a possibility at the time of the preliminary hearing due to his concerns that Pashilk couldn’t get a fair trial in Lake County.

Hauptman couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Based on the discussions and those risk assessments, the District Attorney’s Office entered into a plea agreement with Pashilk to plead to certain fires and to be sentenced to a stipulated sentence of 15 years, four months.

The District Attorney’s Office said Pashilk will legally be entitled to 15 percent credits before he gets to prison and 20 percent credits after being remanded to prison.

The agreement led to Pashilk pleading no contest on July 9 to starting the following four fires:

– The Western fire on July 23, 2016, on Western Mine Road south of Middletown; it burned less than an acre of dry grass.

– The North Branch fire on July 29, 2016, on Ogulin Canyon Road north of the city of Clearlake; it burned 25 acres of vegetation.

– The Canyon fire on Aug. 9, 2016, on Seigler Canyon Road west of Lower Lake; it burned 15 acres and one mobile home.

– The Clayton fire that started on Clayton Creek road on Aug. 13, 2016, and burned into Lower Lake.

Pashilk’s sentencing will take place on Sept. 23, the District Attorney’s Office said.

A restitution hearing will be subsequently set for a later date to obtain restitution orders for fire victims making a claim for restitution.

Any fire victim’s seeking a restitution order can contact the District Attorney’s Office Victim-Witness Division at 707-262-4282 to make a claim.

Victims who have already made a claim with the District Attorney’s Office do not need to recontact Victim-Witness, officials said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A logging truck driver was injured and flown out of county following a late Tuesday afternoon rollover crash near Upper Lake.

The solo-vehicle wreck was first reported just before 5 p.m., according to radio reports.

Larry Henry, a nearby resident, said the crash occurred on a private road approximately half a mile south of the Middle Creek Campground, about 300 feet from intersecting with Elk Mountain Road. The truck was just a short distance off the edge of the private road.

Fire units arriving at the scene found the truck had rolled off the road, coming to rest on its roof with the driver trapped inside the cab, according to radio reports.

Reports from the scene indicated that the response included Northshore Fire – with units coming from as far away as Clearlake Oaks, which sent a heavy rescue rig – along with the US Forest Service and the California Highway Patrol.

Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio, the incident commander, requested an air ambulance and reported that the driver was conscious. On the advice of his battalion chief, he ordered a heavy duty tow truck, as none of the fire equipment was reported to be strong enough to move the truck.

It took nearly an hour and a half to extricate the driver, who was taken to a landing zone at the nearby Conservation Camp and from there flown by air ambulance to an out-of-county trauma center.

Correction: The original story state that Cal Fire responded. The US Forest Service said it was their units, not Cal Fire, who responded along with Northshore Fire.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday honored a longtime police department member who is departing for a job in Sonoma County, and welcomed several new employees.

Mayor Tim Barnes presented a proclamation to Jason Ferguson, whose last day with the city as a police lieutenant was Friday.

Ferguson has been hired as the new police chief for the city of Cloverdale, as Lake County News has reported. His first day is Aug. 5.

He spent 21 years before the Lakeport Police Department, and has served as lieutenant since 2012.

Barnes ribbed Ferguson, who had been set to get the proclamation at the start of the meeting but appeared later, noting that in 21 years, he’d never been late – until he’d been unemployed for three days.

The proclamation noted that Ferguson was one of the first officers the department paid to put through the academy.

In his time of service to the city, he received 25 written commendations for his performance, secured more than $100,000 in state and federal grants, orchestrated the complex move to the department’s new headquarters on S. Main Street, and completed more than 2,500 hours of formal Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training-certified training.

Barnes said Ferguson is a dedicated, committed and respected member of the community.

Police Chief Brad Rasmussen then presented Ferguson with a plaque, recognizing him for his service and noting his important role as the department’s second-in-command for the past seven years.

Ferguson thanked everyone for the honors. He said the city had treated him well.

“I will surely miss everybody here,” Ferguson said.

Earlier in the meeting, the council approved a resolution on the consent agenda appointing Gerardo Gonzalez as interim police lieutenant while the recruitment for Ferguson’s successor takes place. Gonzalez is the retired Willits Police chief who has worked as a part-time level one reserve officer with the city since 2018.

City department heads also introduced new staff to the council on Tuesday.

Kelly Buendia, administrative services director and city clerk, introduced Dawn Miller, the new administrative specialist who will focus on human resources and benefits enrollment. Miller, who started work with the city on Monday, formerly worked for Bicoastal Media.

Rasmussen also introduced three new Lakeport Police Department personnel – records assistant Kerry Lopez, Officer Ryan Cooley and Officer Jonathon Reynolds.

Lopez, who worked as a teacher at Terrace Middle School for 16 years before retiring, has had a longtime interest in law enforcement. She saw the city’s advertisement for a part-time records assistant, tested and was an outstanding candidate, Rasmussen said. She’s been on the job for four weeks.

Rasmussen said Cooley came to the Lakeport Police Department from the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office. He and his wife Elisha are from Trinity County and were looking to make a change. Cooley started July 8 as a lateral candidate and so will have a shorter training time.

Reynolds, born and raised in Lake County, tested for the agency in March and started in mid-May. Rasmussen said he has about seven to eight weeks of field training left.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave unanimous support for a contract to carry out an asphalt improvement project for the Lampson Field airport runway.

Lake County Public Works Director Scott De Leon asked the board to award the project for the airport runway asphalt slurry seal rehabilitation project to Maxwell Asphalt Inc. of Salt Lake City.

The contract totals approximately $1,005,710. De Leon said the project is fully funded, with 90 percent of the funding coming from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program funds, a 5 percent contribution from Caltrans and a 5 percent local contribution.

“The scope of the project is to make minor repairs to the existing asphalt, including crack repairs, place a slurry seal for pavement preservation over the runway and taxiway, and apply new pavement stripes and markings,” De Leon’s written report to the board explained.

He told the board on Tuesday morning, “This project’s been a long time coming. We had hoped to build this last year but the Mendocino Complex fires resulted in a closure of the airport and we just really felt that that was going to be too much of a burden on the businesses, to close the airport again later in the summer.”

De Leon said his department put the project off at this point, and bid it out a couple of times, initially receiving no bids on the first found.

Then Maxwell Asphalt Inc. submitted the only bid. De Leon said his staff did some research on the company, which he said has gotten really good reviews on the quality of its work. He said he was excited that the company had decided to come to Lake County to do the project.

“This is a top priority project for us in our capital improvement plan and we’re excited to deliver it,” he said.

De Leon said the project will result in some intermittent closures and then a closure for about a week and a half. He said they are working with operators at the airport so they can be ready for those interruptions.

“Once it’s done, we’ll be good for another seven years with our pavement,” he said.

De Leon noted that the bids came in higher than what he had budgeted with the FAA Airport Improvement Funds.

However, the FAA agreed to fund the balance, for an additional $300,000.

Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he was glad the FAA stepped in, noting the project cost also had come in just under the engineer’s estimate.

He added that the project is one of the top three priorities for economic development.

Supervisor Moke Simon said the project has been a long time coming, adding that there also is a pilots’ lounge project under way at the airport.

Board Chair Tina Scott said De Leon is staying very busy at the airport.

Simon, who added that last year’s fire really slowed down the project, moved to approve it, with Sabatier seconding and the board approving the motion 5-0.

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On Tuesday, the Department of Water Resources released the Final 2018 Update to the California Water Plan.

Update 2018 presents a vision for greater collaboration and alignment among water sectors and institutions, sound strategies, and long-term investments needed for the sustainable management of the California’s water supply.

As directed by California Water Code, DWR publishes an update to the California Water Plan every five years that incorporates the latest information and science, serving as the comprehensive strategic plan for how water is managed throughout the state.

From a devastating drought, widespread flooding, sea level rise, and historic wildfires, California has experienced varying impacts of a changing climate since the previous Water Plan Update in 2013.

In recognizing the need to adapt to these challenges, collaborative and coordinated statewide water management has grown more critical for all regions of the state.

“We are now living in a new climate reality and we know we must respond,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “Our goals are clear – to face our critical, institutional, and systemic challenges head-on and build a more sustainable future.”

Update 2018 recommends 19 priority actions to improve integrated watershed management; strengthen infrastructure resiliency; restore ecosystem functions; empower under-represented communities; improve inter-agency alignment; address regulatory challenges; and support decision-making, adaptive management, and long-term planning.

Update 2018’s recommended actions fall in line with the Newsom Administration’s broader effort to develop a suite of priorities and actions to build a climate-resilient water system that prioritizes multi-benefit and watershed-scale approaches, utilizes natural infrastructure such as floodplains and aquifers, and strengthens partnerships.

“Update 2018 plays an important role in informing our work in the Newsom Administration to build this water resilience strategy,” said Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot.

The update is based on a collection of supporting documents that describe the plan’s findings and recommended actions in greater details.

DWR will host a webinar on Monday, July 29 to provide an overview of Update 2018 and the changes that were incorporated following the public comment period in December 2018.

To receive updates on current and future Water Plan activities and related news, subscribe to Water Plan eNews.

One of Lake County’s two members of the House of Representatives paid a visit to a border detention center this weekend, touring the facility, documenting conditions and offering recommendations to improve the situation.

Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-5) was among a delegation of about 20 Democrats who went to the facility in Brownsville, Texas, on Saturday.

“It’s a real mess down there,” Thompson, who was back in Washington, DC, on Monday, told Lake County News. “There’s nobody that you or I know who would be anywhere at all interested in spending a minute, let alone a day, in those areas.”

For Thompson, the weekend trip to the center wasn’t the first time he’s visited such a facility. “I’ve been to border detention centers before, as far back as when I was in the State Senate.”

He’s previously traveled to the detention center in Pharr, Texas, a large port of entry in the Rio Grande Valley. He’s also visited the port of entry in Brownsville, but Saturday was the first time he’d been to the detention facility there.

On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence made a visit to the McAllen, Texas, detention facility.

On Friday night, when Thompson and his colleagues flew in, Border Patrol had apprehended 2,000 people, he said.

While Thompson was at the Brownsville facility on Saturday, he said authorities detected someone trying to smuggle in drugs.

He said the facility is very large and is over capacity. The other detention facilities he’s seen have never been that full.

Conditions are very poor, said Thompson, describing overcrowding, with 25 to 30 people in a closed cell with an exposed toilet, and not all of them able to lie down.

“It’s safe to say, we treat our criminals on death row better than some of these folks are being treated in these facilities,” he said.

Thompson said he believes the United States is seeing a larger number of asylum seekers – certainly a larger number of detainees.

He said the delegation visited with representatives of Catholic Charities and about 50 individuals who had come into the detention center, and not one was from Mexico – all were from Central America. “That’s a significant change.”

The main reason so many people are coming is because of conditions in their home countries, he said.

For people to take the risks to come to this country with their small children – or to send their children alone – in order to seek asylum shows how fearful they are for their lives, he said.

Most of the asylum seekers he and the delegation saw this weekend are from the “Northern Triangle” area of Central America – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

“Conditions there are just terrible,” he said.

There are, however, solutions, according to Thompson.

“Any way we can help these countries with their internal problems that they’re experiencing, we’re going to benefit here,” he said.

He said he’s on a NAFTA negotiating team, and noted that the changes they’re seeing in Mexico – such as increased worker rights – are enhancing people’s opportunities there and minimizing the likelihood that they will come to the United States.

On Monday night, with bipartisan support, the House of Representatives passed legislation to deal with conditions in the Northern Triangle.

The bill, H.R. 2615: United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act, was introduced in May by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York).

It authorizes $577 million for an overall Central American strategy that includes minimizing corruption, enhancing enhance democracy, economic development and addressing the refugee crisis.

That vote on Monday followed an announcement earlier in the day by the Trump Administration about plans to end asylum protections for migrants – including children – who have passed through another country before reaching the southern border and attempting to enter the United States. The new rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday.

Right before the July 4 holiday, Congress passed and the president signed legislation that Thompson said is meant to deal with the immediate problem on the border.

That bill appropriated $4.6 billion in emergency funding, and will also cover more immigration judges – which Thompson said are badly needed – and offers funding for nongovernment organizations, or NGOs, to assist.

“It’s not something the government can do by itself. The NGOs are a very critical part of this,” he said.

“That money was critically needed to help the situation down there,” he said. “That’s step one.”

Another recent development in the effort to improve the process is that DNA swabs are now being used to help confirm the family connections between children and adults who were traveling together and have come into the facilities, Thompson said.

Now, Thompson said he has other ideas about what can be done.

“I’m convinced that after seeing it firsthand, we really need to figure out how to get the appropriate agency running things on the border,” he said.

Thompson said he doesn’t think Border Patrol should be running the health and human services portions of the detention centers. While he said the agency does a great job of patrolling the border, its specialty is law enforcement.

He said he wants to figure out how to put the right people in charge.

“We saw people in these cells who hadn’t had a shower in 20 days,” he said, explaining that Border Patrol staff said they had ordered portable showers but they aren’t expected to come for up to three weeks.

Thompson said he couldn’t help but think back to the wildland fires in Lake County, in particular those in 2015, such as the Valley fire, which displaced thousands of local residents, some of them seeking refuge at the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga.

As soon as the Napa County Board of Supervisors saw that people weren’t going to go home in a few days, they saw that the fairgrounds shower facilities weren’t sufficient and had portable showers on site and ready for use within 48 hours.

As for what’s next to address the nation’s border and immigration issues, Thompson said, “We need to continue our efforts that we’ve begun.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Police are investigating a Monday night incident that included an officer-involved shooting.

The Clearlake Police Department said late Monday that officers were on scene investigating a stabbing on Mullen Avenue.

“An officer discharged their firearm during the incident,” the department said.

The agency said one person was airlifted to an out-of-county hospital, a second was taken to Adventist Health Clear Lake and the officer also was taken to the local hospital for precautionary measures and released.

Details of what occurred, leading to the shooting, have so far not been released.

Shortly before 8:50 p.m. Lake County Fire Protection District firefighters were dispatched to a medical aid with violence involved at Mullen and Valley avenues, according to radio reports.

Arriving firefighters found one gunshot wound victim and another person with a stab wound. Two air ambulances initially were requested – with one later canceled – and additional manpower requested from district stations, based on scanner reports.

A REACH air ambulance responded to Adventist Health Clear Lake and picked up one of the patients, with radio traffic indicating they transported the individual to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital at around 9:30 p.m.

The Clearlake Police Department said the Lake County District Attorney’s Office has responded with investigators. The District Attorney’s Office investigates officer-involved shootings as part of the county’s critical incident protocol.

Police said the roadway between Alvita and Valley will be closed for an extended period of time while the investigation is conducted.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – A month after he went missing while boating with his father on Lake Mendocino, the body of a Laytonville man was found on Monday.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the body of 40-year-old Vincent Soto was located at about noon.

Searches have been under way for Soto since June 11, as Lake County News has reported.

It was on that day that Vincent Soto’s father, 62-year-old Carlos Soto, also of Laytonville, was found floating in the southeast end of Lake Mendocino, about 50 yards from an unoccupied boat.

In the boat investigators found Carlos Soto’s identification, and also found a wallet and cell phone belonging to his son.

Family members told authorities that the two men had gone fishing together that day. Deputies later found Vincent Soto’s vehicle with a boat trailer at the North Boat Ramp of Lake Mendocino.

Since then, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team, with the help of numerous allied agencies, has been conducting searches by boat, with divers and side scan sonar system, along with searches of the shoreline.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office Marine Patrol team, Marin County Sheriff's Office Dive Team, Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office Dive Team, the California Rescue Dog Association, Lyon County Search and Rescue, Hopland Fire Protection District and Rescue Solutions, a private company affiliated with several in-county swift water dive teams, were involved with the effort. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Dive Team also had been scheduled for later this week.

However, it was a kayaker who discovered Soto’s body, authorities said.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call at about noon on Monday from the kayaker, who reported finding a body floating on Lake Mendocino near the Coyote Valley Dam control tower, at the south end of the lake.

The sheriff’s office was assisted by the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in recovering the body, which was identified as that of Soto.

Soto’s family was notified and was waiting for him at the dock, where they said a prayer over him, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities have scheduled an autopsy of Soto for Tuesday.

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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The new state budget includes millions of dollars that will pay for the building of new facilities in the Yuba Community College District.

The Yuba Community College District announced that on June 27, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a State Budget Act which includes $535.3 million in capital outlay funding from Proposition 51, approved by voters in 2016.

The funding will support 20 continuing projects and 39 new projects including the district’s performing arts/culinary capital project at Woodland Community College.

Focused advocacy by the Yuba Community College District Governing Board was conducted during the 2019 Legislative Session, requesting the governor consider including the Woodland Community College performing arts/culinary capital project in the 2019-2020 State Budget to fulfill a long-awaited promise to the local voters of the Yuba Community College District.

The project will provide for a new facility to consolidate and expand space for Woodland Community College’s Performing, Fine Arts and Speech programs while creating space for the new Culinary Arts program.

The proposed new building will consist of 29,118 area square feet with a variety of classrooms, laboratories, office space, and a new performing arts theater. The facility is estimated to cost a total of $42 million with the state matching $18,872,000 of the total cost of the building.

“On behalf of the YCCD Governing Board, I want to express my appreciation to the governor and the California Legislature for approving the state matching funds so that we can construct this critical WCC facility,” said Chancellor Dr. Douglas B. Houston stated. “This construction project enables us to keep a commitment to voters and will serve the students of Yolo, Colusa and Lake counties for future generations."

The Woodland Community College performing arts/culinary capital project was included in the Measure J General Obligation Bond project list approved by voters in 2006 and has been included on the California Community College Board of Governors approved project list since it was submitted in 2009.

“These are exciting times for our college,” said WCC President Dr. Art Pimentel added. “The new facility will allow us to optimize our students’ academic experience. The new building will enable us to offer additional programs in culinary arts as well as increase the variety of courses we offer in the visual and performing arts. We are grateful to the voters for continuing to support the long term vision of a comprehensive community college that provides exciting and dynamic academic programs for our student body.”

The Yuba Community College District spans eight counties and nearly 4,192 square miles. Yuba College and Woodland Community College offer degrees, certificates and transfer curricula at college campuses in Marysville and Woodland, educational centers in Clearlake and Yuba City, and through outreach operations in Williams and on Beale Air Force Base.

The two colleges in Yolo County and Yuba County and the campuses in Clearlake, Colusa and Sutter counties, serve 13,000 students.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A small wildland fire in the Clear Lake Riviera threatened homes on Sunday but firefighters were able to stop it before it did any damage.

The fire in the 5000 block of Caddo Court at Fairway Drive was dispatched just before 5:45 p.m. Sunday, according to radio reports.

The first engine to arrive on scene, from Kelseyville Fire, found a 30-foot by 30-foot spot burning in brush, based on scanner traffic.

A few minutes later, another fire unit arriving on scene found the fire to be about 100 feet by 100 feet, burning amidst structures, reports from the scene stated.

“There were multiple residences that were immediately threatened,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Wink told Lake County News.

Wink said a combination of several factors – including quick action by residents, 911 activation, and the close proximity of firefighters at the nearby Kelseyville Fire and Cal Fire Kelsey Cobb stations “definitely averted a very critical condition.”

Conditions were hot, dry and windy, as is normal for that time of day in the Riviera. Wink said there was a west wind on the fire, but it was on the backside of a little hill.

“A lot of things were in our favor which averted it from becoming much more devastating,” Wink said.

He said there was a countywide response, but Cal Fire and Kelseyville Fire ended up being the only to agencies on scene, as others were canceled before arrival. Copter 104 from the Boggs Mountain Helitack also participated in the firefighting effort.

Altogether, Wink said the fire burned less than half an acre.

He said it was being passed around in the community that the blaze was fireworks-related, but it wasn’t.

Wink said the cause so far is still under investigation, but it’s listed as accidental and the responsible party was on scene, fully cooperating with authorities.

The fire, “did start in a lot that had not had its weeds cut,” Wink noted.

“A lot of people are doing a lot of good things in the Riv,” he said of weed abatement efforts, adding, “This just happened to hit one of the ones that hadn’t gotten done yet.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week is set to consider approval of an application to the state for funding for a new lakeside park, will honor the city’s outgoing police lieutenant and get an update on art projects.

On Tuesday, the council will present a proclamation honoring Lakeport Police Lt. Jason Ferguson for his years of service to the community. His last day with the agency was Friday; he’s departing to take over as chief for the Cloverdale Police Department, as Lake County News has reported.

City Manager Margaret Silveira will ask for the council’s approval to submit an application for Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program Grant Funds, through Proposition 68, for the development of new parklands on property located at 800 and 810 N. Main St., the former Natural High property.

The city began holding public workshops and surveys in the spring in preparation for submitting the plan to the state.

Silveira’s report said the final proposal includes an amphitheater, multiuse lawn, picnic tables and barbecue grills, bathrooms, concession area, basketball court, ninja gym, splash pad, a large shelter area, an area for a potential future boathouse, a boat ramp and parking.

The property is owned by the Lakeport Unified School District, which the city has been negotiating with about the land for several months.

Silveira said the district will be supplying a letter to the city this month outlining its intent to support Lakeport’s grant application for the development of the new park on their property at Natural High subject to the completion of required Education Code regulations and procedures.

“This letter will indicate their intent to sell the property or provide other suitable agreement with
the City to allow the development of the proposed park lands at this site. Acquisition of the land is eligible for reimbursement through this grant program,” Silveira’s report said.

In other business, Silveira is asking the council to approve a proposal from The Retail Coach for a retail recruitment and development plan. She said the firm will “conduct an assessment of the downtown and provide targeted data sets and educational opportunities focused on sustaining and enhancing existing businesses as well as recruiting new ones.”

The council also will discuss artistic matters on Tuesday.

They’ll get an update from Lisa Kaplan of the Middletown Art Center about the RESTORE project and their contributions to art in public spaces.

Staff also will ask for approval of three murals proposed by the Lakeport Main Street Association and the Lake County Rural Arts Initiative.

Peggy Campbell has selected a local bird scene for her building, which will be painted between the panels on the south side of her building at Main and Fourth streets; staff is recommending a waterskiing mural for the north side of City Hall and a Native American mural for the south side of the Lakeport Community Center.

Also on Tuesday, Finance Director Nick Walker will ask the council to authorize a written report to be prepared and filed with the city clerk containing a description of property parcels within the city and the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District which have delinquent water and sewer user charges, fees for the period of July 1, 2017 through May 31, 2019.

In other business, the council will nominate voting delegates for the League of California Cities Annual Conference to be held Oct. 16 to 18 in Long Beach; meet new employees; hear a report from the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee on its Business Walks outreach program; and present a proclamation committing to join the Energy Upgrade California initiative’s efforts to take action to save energy, and to conserve and preserve natural resources.

On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on June 18; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the Mendocino Complex fire; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the February 2019 storms; adopt a resolution of the City Council of the city of Lakeport appointing Gerardo Gonzalez to the position of interim police lieutenant; approve the participation of the city of Lakeport in the National Night Out event, with street closures and the gazebo reserved for the event; event application 2019-020, with staff recommendations, for the 2019 Lake County Fair Parade event; approve event application 2019-021, with staff recommendations, for the 2019 Sponsoring Survivorship Fun Walk/Run event.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

071619 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd