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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport has opportunities for the general public to become involved in local government by serving on local commissions and committees.

The city invites applications for three upcoming vacancies on the Measure Z Advisory Committee, or MZAC.

These appointments would be effective as of Jan. 1, 2021.

Membership to this committee is open to residents of the city of Lakeport residing within the city Limits.

If you are interested in serving on the MZAC, applications are available on the city website under the Community News Topic, “Now Recruiting: Commission/Committee Openings,” or under the “Government” tab (Committees & Commissions).

The MZAC consists of five members appointed by the Lakeport City Council who serve four-year terms.

These are voluntary positions. This committee meets quarterly.

The role of MZAC is to review all revenues and expenditures of the Measure Z transactions and use tax, and make recommendations to the city council regarding those expenditures.

Applications will be accepted until Nov. 24 at 5 p.m.

For additional information, please contact Deputy City Clerk Hilary Britton at 707-263-5615, Extension 102, or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – At his seventh annual Women of the Year event, Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) honored 37 women from the Third Congressional District of California who are leaders and visionaries in their communities.

The women have all made significant contributions to society through public service, business, education, and local advocacy.

This year’s ceremony was conducted virtually and included a conversation on the women’s suffrage movement to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that was led by Dr. Ellen Hartigan-O'Connor of UC Davis.

“Every year I have the honor of recognizing the achievements and service of these distinguished women, Garamendi said. “These leaders come from a variety of backgrounds, but every one of them has made a real difference to their communities and the people around them. It’s a privilege to be able to honor them.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic has rippled through our nation, each of these women have worked tirelessly to serve their communities and help vulnerable populations weather this storm. Their service is deserving of recognition, and by receiving this award, their work will be commemorated and chronicled at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC,” Garamendi continued.

“This year’s Women of the Year ceremony also recognized the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. I thank Dr. Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor of the UC Davis History Department for her passionate and informative presentation on the topic, and for every participant in this event who reaffirmed their commitment to achieving a truly equitable and just society,” Garamendi concluded

This year’s Women of the Year Event also included a posthumous tribute and recognition of Neena Gill of Yuba City, who passed away in March of this year.

Gill will be remembered as a tireless community leader whose constant smile and ceaseless gratitude brought joy to all around her.

A Punjabi immigrant, Gill was an integral part of the Yuba-Sutter community. She and her beloved husband Kash are known in the community for farming peaches, prunes, walnuts and almonds.

“While battling her own battle with breast cancer, Neena continued her lifelong work of advancing women’s health by raising over $75,000 to procure a 3D Toma Imaging Machine for the local health center. Neena’s relentless dedication will ensure access to early screenings for breast cancer, so that future patients can have an earlier diagnosis and a better chance of beating this deadly disease,” Garamendi said.

“Neena’s legacy will continue to reverberate within the campus of Yuba Community College and the greater Yuba-Sutter area. It is my distinct honor to award posthumously the 2020 Woman of the Year Award to Neena Gill,” he added.

The video of event can be viewed above.

The list of 2020 Women of the Year Honorees is included below:

Lake County:

Yvonne Cox (Lucerne)

Glenn County:

Janet Lacy (Orland)
Barbara Mann (Willows)

Colusa County:

Denise Conrado (Colusa)
Stacey Costello (Colusa)
Janita Smith (Colusa)

Solano County:

Susan Rotchy (Dixon)
Lois Cross (Dixon)
Andrea Garcia (Fairfield)
Nicole Howell (Fairfield)
Judi Booe (Suisun City)
Kathlan Latimer (Suisun City)
Wendy Breckon (Vacaville)
Dawn La Bar (Vacaville)
Alice McBride (Vacaville)
Mary Vasquez (Vacaville)
Jeanette Wylie (Vacaville)

Yolo County:

Aimee Brewer (Davis)
Brenda Cameron (Davis)
Rachel Davidson (Davis)
Ann Marie Flynn (Davis)
Sara Johnson (Davis)
Julie Martin (Davis)
Leticia Quirarte (Winters)
Corkey Mapalo (Woodland)

Yuba/ Sutter counties:

Dr. Phuong Luu (Marysville)
Adrian Carpenter-McKinney (Plumas Lake)
Jeanette Oschner (Sutter)
Julie Shepherd (Sutter)
Gina Tarke (Sutter)
Marie Teria (Sutter)
Robin Ziegenmeyer (Sutter)
Kristine Cassidy (Yuba City)
Narinder Dhaliwal (Yuba City)
Janie Nall (Yuba City)
Betty Nelson (Yuba City)
Raji Tumber (Yuba City)
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday voted to create two new ad hoc advisory committees to work on special projects, approved two general plan amendment and zoning change requests, and made a finding to allow a new beer and wine bar to open across from Library Park.

City Manager Kevin Ingram presented resolutions for the council to establish ad hoc advisory committees for design and construction review of the new Lakefront Park and to revise the city’s existing right-of-way ordinance.

At its Oct. 6 meeting, the council had approved Ingram’s proposal to freeze the activities of the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Committee and instead create the new ad hoc advisory committees.

Ingram’s reasoning was that there has been difficulty in recruiting, low public turnout and a general lack of items for the committees when they have met.

On Tuesday, Ingram said the first of the two new committees will focus on the new Lakefront Park that’s being developed.

The second will look at the city’s right-of-way ordinance, which has been seen as a barrier to development because, as it currently stands, about $60,000 in property upgrades triggers a requirement for landowners to make expensive curb, gutter and sidewalk improvements.

He called addressing the right-of-way ordinance “not an easy item but a worthy item” that has been among the council’s goals for a few years.

If the new committees don’t work out, Ingram said they can return next year to the previous approach and restart the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Committee.

Mayor George Spurr asked how membership will be determined. Ingram said at the first meeting of each committee, which will include two appointed council members, they will discuss asking specific people to join.

Spurr suggested waiting until after the election to select members for the right-of-way ordinance ad hoc advisory committee.

Councilman Kenny Parlet moved to approve the resolution forming the right-of-way ad hoc advisory committee, with members to be chosen in January, which the council approved 4-0, with Councilman Tim Barnes absent.

Councilwoman Mireya Turner moved to approve the formation of the Lakefront Park ad hoc advisory committee, on which she and Parlet will serve. The council approved the motion 3-0, with Councilwoman Stacey Mattina abstaining due to owning property close to the park.

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, new Community Development Director Jenni Byers presented general plan amendment and zone changes for two projects during two public hearings.

The council approved both requests, one for Bridges Construction that will allow the company to build a mini storage facility on 6.6 acres at 1296 and 1320 Craig Ave., which by the action changed the zoning to major retail, and the second for Cory Poso, who sought to change his property at 1339 and 1343 Broten Court to low residential zoning so he can build a home there.

In other business, the council approved granting a Type-42 liquor license to Barbara Flynn for the new wine bar, Wine in the Willows at 125 Park St.

Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said that due to state Alcoholic Beverage Control rules, when there is an overconcentration of certain liquor licenses in an area, ABC won’t issue a license without the governing body making a decision and determination that public convenience or necessity would be served by the issuance.

“These don’t come up really often,” he said.

Under ABC rules, 10 licenses are allowed without question, but over that threshold, the determination has to be made. Rasmussen said it’s based on census tract, and in this case, census tract 0004 – which takes in the entire city of Lakeport south to its sphere of influence and north to Park Way – has 21 licenses.

He said there are no other Type-42 licenses, which are for wine and beer bars, in the tract.

Rasmussen said his assessment of the location and the new business is that it wouldn’t cause any crime issues for the city or the police department.

“I think it’s a very nice looking establishment and would be a good business in that location,” he said.

Council members agreed, noting they were glad to see a new business opening up in such a challenging time.

Rasmussen also noted during the discussion that while there are a lot of liquor licenses for various establishments, “In reality, we don’t have a lot of bars.”

Flynn told the council she’s excited about the new project and thinks it will be an asset to the county.

Michael Green, a city planning commissioner, said he wasn’t against the project but raised
Issues about its close proximity to Library Park.

He said if a cannabis-based establishment was proposing to be in the same location, it would get a “hard no.” He said he wanted to have an enhanced ability to review projects before ringing the park with bars.

Rasmussen pointed out that the city already has the ability to allow alcohol consumption in the park near the playground.

Turner moved to make the determination, which the council approved 4-0.

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.
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Two days after touching down on asteroid Bennu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission team received on Thursday, Oct. 22, images that confirm the spacecraft has collected more than enough material to meet one of its main mission requirements – acquiring at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of the asteroid’s surface material.

The spacecraft captured images of the sample collector head as it moved through several different positions.

In reviewing these images, the OSIRIS-REx team noticed both that the head appeared to be full of asteroid particles, and that some of these particles appeared to be escaping slowly from the sample collector, called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head.

They suspect bits of material are passing through small gaps where a mylar flap – the collector’s “lid” – is slightly wedged open by larger rocks.

“Bennu continues to surprise us with great science and also throwing a few curveballs,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “And although we may have to move more quickly to stow the sample, it’s not a bad problem to have. We are so excited to see what appears to be an abundant sample that will inspire science for decades beyond this historic moment.”

The team believes it has collected a sufficient sample and is on a path to stow the sample as quickly as possible. They came to this conclusion after comparing images of the empty collector head with Oct. 22 images of the TAGSAM head after the sample collection event.

The images also show that any movement to the spacecraft and the TAGSAM instrument may lead to further sample loss. To preserve the remaining material, the mission team decided to forego the Sample Mass Measurement activity originally scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, and canceled a braking burn scheduled for Friday to minimize any acceleration to the spacecraft.

From here, the OSIRIS-Rex team will focus on stowing the sample in the Sample Return Capsule, or SRC, where any loose material will be kept safe during the spacecraft’s journey back to Earth.

“We are working to keep up with our own success here, and my job is to safely return as large a sample of Bennu as possible,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson, who leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing. “The loss of mass is of concern to me, so I’m strongly encouraging the team to stow this precious sample as quickly as possible.”

The TAGSAM head performed the sampling event in optimal conditions. Newly available analyses show that the collector head was flush with Bennu’s surface when it made contact and when the nitrogen gas bottle was fired to stir surface material. It also penetrated several centimeters into the asteroid’s surface material. All data so far suggest that the collector head is holding much more than 2 ounces of regolith.

OSIRIS-REx remains in good health, and the mission team is finalizing a timeline for sample storage. An update will be provided once a decision is made on the sample storage timing and procedures.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace of Tempe, Arizona, are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.


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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said it’s had another case of COVID-19 confirmed this week in the Lake County Jail.

A number of inmates at the Lake County Jail who are all housed in a single unit are undergoing an isolation period after they were exposed to an inmate who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, as Lake County News has reported.

“We continue to test the inmates to determine if the virus has spread,” said Lt. Corey Paulich.

On Thursday, Paulich said the sheriff’s office learned that a second inmate in that same housing unit has tested positive.

There are now two inmates with active cases of COVID-19 in the Lake County Jail, Paulich said.

Including the two current cases, Paulich said there have been five total cases of COVID-19 at the Lake County Jail.

Paulich said medical staff will be closely monitoring the isolated inmates and conducting the testing protocols recommended by Public Health. This includes the testing of staff and inmates as jail management works to contain the virus.

The sheriff's office continues to provide masks to inmates, employ comprehensive regular cleaning and to disinfect common areas in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the jail, Paulich said.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport is seeking community members interested in serving on the Lakeport Planning Commission.

The city invites applications for two upcoming vacancies on the commission, with the appointments to be effective as of Jan. 1, 2021.

One of the two open seats may be filled by an applicant who lives outside of the city limits but within the Lakeport zip code area, the other open seat may only be filled by an applicant that is a resident of the city of Lakeport, residing in the city limits.

If you are interested in serving on the Planning Commission, applications are available on the city’s website under the Community News Topic, “Now Recruiting: Commission/Committee Openings” or under the “Government” tab (Committees & Commissions).

Applications will be accepted until Nov. 24 at 5 p.m.

The Lakeport Planning Commission consists of five members who serve four-year terms. The commission currently meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers.

The planning commission reviews matters related to planning and development and is the city council’s advisor on land use planning matters.

The commission considers such things as the general plan, rezoning, use permits, subdivisions, architectural and design reviews, planning policy matters and interpretations.

For additional information, please contact Deputy City Clerk Hilary Britton at 707-263‑5615, Extension 102, or by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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A map of Lake County, California, center, with areas marked in yellow that would be impacted by a public safety power shutoff that may occur beginning on Sunday, October 25, 2020. Map courtesy of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric began issuing alerts to customers on Friday evening alerting them to another proactive power shutoff that could begin on Sunday afternoon across portions of 38 counties, including Lake.

This latest power shutoff is being triggered due to a large wind event forecast to move over the region beginning this weekend, the company said.

Counties that PG&E said would be impacted if the shutoff occurs are Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba.

Altogether, 466,093 customers could be impacted, PG&E said.

In Lake County, early estimates are that 31,590 customers – who account for most of the county’s residents – will have their power shut off between 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday. Of those customers, 2,613 are in the medical baseline program, according to PG&E.

PG&E said customers are expected to have their power restored by 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Information about the public safety power shutoff is available at the PG&E website.

The company’s mapping of shutoff sites is here.

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.
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The August Complex in Northern California as mapped on Wednesday, October 21, 2020. Map courtesy of the US Forest Service.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – US Forest Service officials said firefighters have gained more containment on the August Complex while holding the massive incident to no new growth for several days, and are watching red flag weather conditions in the fire area.

The August Complex is estimated at 1,032,264 acres and 92 percent containment. The estimated acreage has not changed since Sunday.

The complex started Aug. 16 and 17 by lightning.

Officials said the Southwest Area Incident Management Team transferred the management of the August Complex South Zone back to the Mendocino National Forest on Thursday.

The South Zone includes areas in northern Lake County, primarily Mendocino National Forest lands.

The complex also is burning in the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.

There are 286 personnel assigned to the South Zone and 991 on the incident overall, the Forest Service said.

“We are committed to maintaining and monitoring the South Zone of the August Complex to ensure no fire breaches the existing containment lines,” said Incident Commander Curtis Coots.
“With the red flag warning in effect through Friday, fire crews will be extra vigilant around dead standing trees (or snags) as windy conditions continue.”

The red flag is in effect through noon on Friday. The wind will be out of the north, northeast at 12 to 15 miles per hour with gusts to 25 miles per hour on the ridges and the temperature will be in the 80s to 90s.

On Wednesday, the Gravelly spike camp was dismantled, and repair began. The Forest Service said crews continued to reinforce containment lines in the Hellhole area.

On Thursday, crews monitored and patrolled the South Zone and reinforced containment lines in the Hellhole Canyon area. Officials said active fire in this area will continue to smolder and creep for some time.

Scattered heat sources remain in the southwest corner of the zone, however, these areas remain well within the interior of existing containment lines, the Forest Service reported.
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California women, including women in the northern region of the state, face persistent barriers to accessing economic security, physical and mental health care, and representation in elected positions that greatly improve their lives, the well-being of their families and communities, and the state’s economy, according to a new resource from the California Budget & Policy Center.

The Budget Center released its updated California Women’s Well-Being Index, an interactive tool that provides a multifaceted statewide look and breakdown by all 58 California counties of how women are doing in their communities.

The index pulls together an array of measures for women and shares data by race and ethnicity, including health, personal safety, employment and earnings, economic security and political empowerment data.

Women living in the northern region of California face significant barriers to physical and mental health resources and are less safe compared to women in other regions of California.

Women in counties in the far north and North Coast are far less likely to have health care coverage, access to health care and prenatal care, and have lower life expectancy than women in all other parts of California.

Women in far north counties are more likely to experience serious psychological distress.

Women in counties in the far north and North Coast regions have a lower level of well-being in the Safety Dimension.

In Del Norte County, the rates of interpersonal violence far outpace rates in other counties in California.

The suicide rate for women is high in counties in the far north.

“Gender and racial discrimination are hurting California women — even with statewide policy advances in recent years such as expanded paid family leave and funding for child care that are particularly important for women,” said Kristin Schumacher, creator of the California Women’s Well-Being Index and Senior Policy Analyst with the California Budget & Policy Center. “The data and information in the Budget Center’s new Index by race, ethnicity, region, and our own stories show that lacking access to quality health care and child care, not having financial resources to turn to in crisis, and still being kept out of decision-making at many levels of government – women are not receiving the support and investment we need to thrive in California.”

A snapshot of statewide data and findings that can be found in the Index:

California women lack access to health care.

1 in 10 women in California do not have health insurance.

17 percent of Latinx women do not have health insurance compared to just 5.6 percent of white women.

California women are blocked from earning a living wage or affording the cost of living.

Nearly 4 in 10 women in California earn low wages.

More than half of Latinx women earn low wages (52.6%) – nearly double the rate for white women in California (27.5%).

The median earnings for Latinx women working full-time, year-round were just 42 cents for every dollar earned by white men in California.

California women are kept out of decisions about their lives.

Overall, women make up just 32% of the seats in the California Senate and Assembly.

In 22 counties, women are not represented by women in any of the state Assembly or Senate seats for the county.

The index is being released when local, state, and federal leaders must consider policy and budget investments for people and communities, and how to support millions of Californians who have lost jobs and income, cannot safely return to work, do not have access to child care, and are supporting children in distance learning.

A recent report by the Budget Center found at the worst point of the recession so far, 1 in 4 women were out of work and the unemployment rate reached 20 percent or more for Asian, Black, Latinx and other Californians of color.

Meanwhile, state leaders have yet to propose revenue or borrowing policy proposals to adequately address the ongoing needs of the state, local communities and Californians.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday began the process of approving more than $5 million in raises for county staff in a process that has been mostly conducted in closed-door negotiations, with little public dissemination.

During a sometimes confusing three-hour discussion, the majority of the board approved raises for management, confidential and District Attorney’s Office employee units but held off until next week, at the earliest, on agreements with numerous employee groups representing the rank and file, as those agreements were determined to not be ready.

The raises approved on Tuesday are set to go into effect immediately. If the other agreements aren’t approved on Tuesday or shortly thereafter, county officials indicated those employee groups may not see raises until March.

In a prepared video played during the meeting, Board Chair Moke Simon, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier and County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson spoke about the proposed raises.

Huchingson said an early 2018 county staff survey found that 34 percent had applied for a job outside of the county in the prior 12 months, 87 percent were seeking more money, 75 percent of employees believed they were underpaid and fewer than 50 percent reported they could afford to go to the doctor when they needed to.

At that time, staff vacancy rates were about 25 percent, Huchingson said. This week, her office told Lake County News that the vacancy rate is 20 percent.

While COVID-19 has hit many communities hard in the short term, “We now believe we are entering a period of uncommon opportunity in Lake County,” Sabatier said, citing a strong housing market, sales tax revenue and a thriving cannabis industry.

Despite the tone set in the video, later in the morning, Sabatier came out against going further on some of the employee agreements, which were not in the final form staff had indicated they were, raising his concerns that negotiations had now moved into the public domain.

Supervisor Rob Brown, who was clear in his support of giving employees raises, also raised concerns about moving forward on some of the agreements.

He also was concerned about discussing some of the matters with the employee groups in open session and had asked to move into closed session.

“We’re not ready. We’re not ready to act on a lot of these,” Brown said.

Sabatier, Brown and Supervisor Tina Scott said they were under the impression that all of the agreements had been ready to go when the developments at the meeting revealed they clearly weren’t.

Sabatier asked the board to wait until all of the agreements were signed and finalized.

Despite those concerns, Simon urged the board to move forward with approving the agreements, even in tentative form, saying it had been done in the past.

The meeting would only become more confusing as the board switched back and forth among the agreements, finally approving some and not others.

The study behind the raises

The raises are the result of a $100,000 classification and compensation study that the county hired CPS HR, a Joint Powers Agency based in Sacramento, in November 2018 to complete.

The study, the first of its kind since 2003, compared the county of Lake’s salaries and classifications to 12 other counties: Calaveras, Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo and Yuba.

The study proposed reducing the county’s 12-step pay range to a five-step range, which is the framework the proposed agreements adopted.

CPS HR was set to present its study to the board at its March 17 meeting. However, that presentation was canceled, and the board instead focused on COVID-19 related issues, including approving Sheriff Brian Martin’s emergency declaration due to the pandemic. Two days later, the county went under a shelter in place order.

In response to questions posed to the board and county administrative staff by Lake County News in an email sent the night before the meeting, Huchingson referred to the fact that the study originally had been scheduled to go to the board in March, but that it was canceled. She did not explain why the contractor was not asked to give the presentation at another time.

Huchingson has been a key proponent of getting the study completed. Based on the numbers provided to Lake County by her own office, she is set to get a nearly 30-percent raise thanks to the action the board took.

But that’s not the highest percent increase: That honor goes to the Public Works director position, now held by Scott De Leon, which is in line for a 42.63-percent increase.

Responding to questions from Lake County News, Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein said the most recent raises given to county employers were a 3-percent negotiated increase for the Lake County Safety Employees Association in January 2017 and 2 percent bargained by Lake County Correctional Officers’ Association in December 2017.

In the 2015-16 fiscal year, Rothstein said “essentially all” county employees received a 3-percent cost of living adjustment and a 7-percent salary adjustment. At the same time, due to pension reform, Rothstein said public employers were required to cease paying the employee’s share of retirement costs, equivalent to 7 percent, which meant most employees netted an increase of less than 3 percent.

Rothstein said that this past December, a one-time stipend of $1,500 was provided to all full-time permanent employees, as a gesture of good faith, while bargaining units awaited implementation of our classification and total compensation study.

Salary changes proposed in several actions

In a cluster of nine untimed items, the board on Tuesday was to consider approving raises for the Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association; Lake County Employees Association Units No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5; Lake County Safety Employees Association; Lake County Correctional Officers Association; Lake County Deputy District Attorney’s Association; Lake County Sheriff’s Management Association; employees assigned to Confidential Units, Section A and B; and management employees.

The agreements’ language states that they will be in effect from Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021, and will raise salaries to 85 percent of the market median, or the midpoint of the 12 counties included in the study.

The exceptions are the Lake County Sheriff’s Management Association and all other management employees, which will receive raises at 80 percent of the market median and for whom the agreements date from Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 31, 2021.

Huchingson said they’re doing a one-year agreement rather than a longer agreement in order to continue to assess the impacts of the pandemic.

Buried in the bottom of the MOU reports, in small print, was the total amounts to implement the raises: approximately $5,225,124 million, of which $1,919,285 comes from discretionary revenue in the general fund and $3,305,839 in state and federal funding sources that Huchingson’s office said is “readily available but historically underutilized.”

Only the agreement for the Lake County Deputy District Attorney’s Association had been signed. That morning, the Lake County Correctional Officers Association rejected the MOU offered to it, as did the Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association President Gary Frace, who joined the meeting virtually, said the association had no idea that the item was to be on the agenda until seeing it in a Lake County News story on Monday.

Frace said they had never had a tentative agreement with the county, not even up until that morning. Frace recently took over as president and county staff said they had been in negotiations with another individual.

Overall, the staff reports left out information that specifically explained how those figures were arrived at, overall impacts on county funds, how many employees were at what steps, an analysis of ongoing impacts and how the proposals fit with the county’s Fiscal Crisis Management Plan.

In response to the questions submitted by Lake County News to the board and the County Administrative Office on Monday night, Deputy County Administrative Officer Stephen Carter said they are using extra revenue in the general fund, which has totaled $2 million annually over the past five years, to help pay for the raises, along with the state and federal funding sources.

Carter said the raises, if all of them are approved, would constitute a 9-percent increase to the county’s payroll costs and a 9-percent increase to the general fund.

“It’s a significant increase overall but there is room within our current ongoing revenues to support it,” he said.

Among the questions Lake County News asked was one about how the county was able to give the raises without the sales tax it had pitched to voters two years ago, which it said was necessary to increase salaries.

In response to that question, Scott said that had they gotten the sales tax, they would have raised salaries more, possibly to 100-percent of market median, not just 85 percent.

In voting for the memorandum of understanding with the Lake County Sheriff's Management Association, Sabatier abstained due to the timing. “I’m uncomfortable with management moving forward and employees being left behind.”

The only specific action the supervisors took to not increase salaries was to approve the first reading of an ordinance that will keep their current pay rates unchanged, an action necessary because, otherwise, the increases in staff pay would have increased theirs as well. By ordinance, they receive 60 percent of the average annual salaries of the district attorney, sheriff, assessor, auditor/controller and treasurer/tax collector.

Supervisors will continue to make $63,714 annually, with the board chair receiving additional compensation of $2,400.

The board also voted to change the titles of 52 positions and to abolish 30 others in order to meet the salary scale.

Lake County News has submitted several followup questions with the County Administrative Office regarding the impacts of the raises and will report that information in upcoming articles.

Summary of the board’s actions

The board’s Tuesday actions are as follows.

7.3: Consideration of an ordinance amending Section 2-3A.1 of Article I, Chapter 2 of the Lake County Code, Compensation of the Board of Supervisors. The board chose to defer enforcing its ordinance so that its members don’t receive salary increases as a consequence of the actions taken to implement the classification and total compensation study. Action: Approved 5-0 on the first reading, with a second reading set for Oct. 27.

7.4: Consideration of job classification changes based on the October 2019 CPS-HR Classification and Compensation Study. Action: Approved 5-0.

7.5: Consideration of memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association Units and the county of Lake for Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021. Action: Voted 5-0 to continue to the Oct. 27 meeting.

7.6: Consideration of memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Employees Association Units No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 and the county of Lake for Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021. Action: Voted 4-1 to continue to Oct. 27 meeting; Chair Moke Simon voted no because he wanted to act at the Oct. 20 meeting.

7.7: Consideration of memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Safety Employees Association and the county of Lake for Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021. Action: Approved 3-0; Supervisor Bruno Sabatier and Supervisor Tina Scott abstained.

7.8: Consideration of memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Correctional Officers Association Units and the county of Lake for Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021. Action: Voted 5-0 to continue to the Oct. 27 meeting.

7.9: Consideration of memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Deputy District Attorney’s Association and the county of Lake for Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021. Action: Approved in a 5-0 vote.

7.10: Consideration of memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Sheriff’s Management Association Units and the county of Lake for Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 31, 2021. Action: Approved in a 4-0 vote; Sabatier abstained, citing timing.

7.11: Consideration of resolution establishing salaries and benefits for employees assigned to the Confidential Unit, Section A, for Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021. Action: Approved in a 5-0 vote.

7.12: Consideration of resolution establishing salaries and benefits for employees assigned to the Confidential Unit, Section B, for Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021. Action: Approved in a 5-0 vote.

7.13: Consideration of resolution establishing salaries and benefits for management employees for the period of Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 31, 2021. Action: Approved in a 4-0 vote; Sabatier abstained.

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.
Posted On

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Officials said a new case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in the Lake County Jail.

Lt. Corey Paulich said that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office learned late last week that an inmate who had been confined at the Hill Road Correctional Facility in Lakeport tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

As a result, Paulich said a number of inmates were isolated while testing was conducted to determine if the virus had spread.

He said sheriff’s office representatives met with Lake County Public Health on Wednesday after one of the tests returned from the lab as positive.

Medical staff will be closely monitoring the isolated inmates and conducting the testing protocols recommended by Public Health. Paulich said that includes the testing of staff and inmates as they work to contain the virus.

He said the sheriff's office continues to provide masks to inmates, employ comprehensive regular cleaning and to disinfect common areas in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the jail.

Paulich told Lake County News that this is the fourth COVID-19 case that has been confirmed in the jail.

On Wednesday, Lake County’s COVID-19 cases totaled 678, of which 65 are active, one is hospitalized and 598 have recovered. There have been 15 deaths locally so far related to the virus.

Statewide, Public Health departments across California reported more than 887,000 cases and approximately 17,192 deaths as of Wednesday night.

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.
Posted On

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it’s going ahead with a public safety power shutoff set to begin on Wednesday evening due to a high wind event, but that it’s narrowed the shutoff’s scope and reduced the number of customers to be impacted.

The company said that changes in the weather forecast resulted in it reducing the number of customers expected to be impacted by 31 percent.

The PSPS event will now affect approximately 37,000 customers in targeted portions of 15 counties including Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Napa, Plumas, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity and Yolo.

Lassen, Solano, Stanislaus and Yuba counties were removed from the shutoff’s scope, PG&E said.

In Lake County, previously PG&E had estimated that nearly 1,000 customers would be impacted in the Cobb, Clearlake Oaks, Lower Lake and Middletown areas.

In its late Wednesday afternoon report, PG&E said 127 Lake County customers – including six Medical Baseline customers – would be impacted.

Mapping of the outage area in Lake County shows that it continues to include some customers in Cobb, Lower Lake and Middletown, with Clearlake Oaks removed from the scope.

The PG&E website indicates that the customers in Lake County to be included in this new shutoff will have their power turned off between 4 and 6 a.m. Thursday.

With the reduced scope for Lake County, a community resource center is not planned to be opened, based on the PG&E website.

Portions of nearly all of Lake’s neighboring counties will be included in the shutoff, including Colusa, with four impacted customers; Glenn, 162 customers; Napa, 3,296 customers; Sonoma, 135 customers; and Yolo, 10 customers.

Once the weather all-clear is called on Friday, PG&E will begin power equipment inspections to find possible damage from the winds before reenergizing lines.

The company is maintaining a goal of restoring power to all impacted customers within 12 daylight hours after severe weather has passed.

More information can be found at PG&E’s website.

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.

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