CLEARLAKE, Calif. – During a special Tuesday night meeting, the Clearlake City Council seated its newest member and approved several contracts for city road rehabilitation and parks projects.

Russ Cremer was sworn in at the start of the meeting.

The council appointed him last week to fulfill the remaining eight months of the term left vacant when Russ Perdock stepped down on Feb. 1 to pursue the city’s police chief job, as Lake County News has reported.

Cremer, who had been serving as the vice chair of the Clearlake Planning Commission, has volunteered for multiple organizations over the last 15 years, including the Lake County Fire Protection District Board, the Clearlake Rotary Club and the Lake Area Rotary Club Association, among others.

“It is an exciting time to be a part of the city council,” said Cremer. “I am proud to represent the citizens of Clearlake on the City Council and I’m looking forward to helping guide future policy and improvements in the city.”

According to City Manager Greg Folsom, “Russ Cremer is going to be a great addition to the city council. He brings a wealth of experience in Clearlake and is a very common-sense person who is very well-respected in the community. I’m looking forward to working with Councilmember Cremer and the rest of the city council as we continue to implement our strategic plan to make Clearlake a cleaner, safer, better city.”

The city will be accepting applications for the open position on the planning commission now that Cremer has been appointed to the city council.

The Clearlake Planning Commission meets on the first and third Tuesdays. Applicants must be a resident in the city of Clearlake in order to be appointed to the commission. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, and the council will consider appointing an applicant at the April 26 council meeting.

In other business at the Tuesday night meeting, the council approved several road rehabilitation design contracts, a design contract for frontage improvements and off-street parking improvements for Highlands Park, and a design contract for Austin Park.

The road projects include pavement rehabilitation of Country Club and Kings Lane between Lakeshore Drive and Arrowhead, pavement rehabilitation of Pine Street between Olympic Drive and Division Avenue, and the pavement rehabilitation of Harbor Lane and Highlands Harbor Drive.

All of these projects are Measure V projects and construction is anticipated to begin this year.

“These road projects are directly related to the trusted votes we received for Measure V and this is only the beginning,” said Mayor Bruno Sabatier.

“Approving these design contracts is a critical step forward to improving our city,” said Folsom. “Once the construction drawings are complete, we can put these projects out to bid and start making the improvements that our residents have been asking for. It’s going to be a very exciting construction season this year.”