Every year somewhere between 25 million and 30 million Christmas trees are sold in the United States. If you’re one of the people who decorate for the holiday with a freshly cut Christmas tree, you might be wondering how to keep it looking good all the way through Santa’s visit – and maybe even a little beyond.
Curtis VanderSchaaf is a forestry specialist at the Mississippi State University Extension Service who knows a thing or two about conifers. The Conversation U.S. asked him for guidance on how to keep a fresh green Christmas tree from becoming a giant pile of brown needles, for as long as possible. Whether you end up with a Douglas fir, a Scotch pine, a Leyland cypress, a piñon or any other evergreen, he says the quality of care you provide is a major factor in the prolonged freshness of your tree.
What to consider when choosing a tree
Select a treethat looks fresh and whose needles are not brittle. You want one that has a strong fragrance and a dark natural green color. Avoid bored holes in the wood, signs of bugs – like spider egg sacs – and other marks of pest damage. This advice holds whether you’re chopping down your own tree or buying it from a retailer.
Different species of trees have various colors, shapes, branching habits, needle types, scent and even bark type. Depending on what’s available to you, this comes down to personal preference.
If you can, pick a tree that’s been harvested as recently as possible and been watered and kept cool. Often a tree’s freshness is directly related to the moisture content of its needles. If the stump – where the tree’s trunk was cut – is sticky with sap, that’s a good sign.
Give the tree a good shake, even a hard pound on the ground. That will dislodge any animal stowaways. If a ton of dead needles or dry limbs fall out, keep looking.
Tree farms and retail lots will net your tree. It’s a lot easier to transport with the branches tucked in. If you’re going to bring it home on top of your car, consider using a tarp to keep scratches and sap off your vehicle. Make sure the tree is securely tied down, with the trunk facing forward to reduce wind damage to the branches. Take it easy on the road.
If you’re not bringing your tree indoors right away, store it in a cool, damp area that is blocked from wind and out of the sun.
Make a fresh, straight-across cut on the butt of the tree about a half-inch to 1 inch (1 to 3 centimeters) above the original cut. After any cut, a tree tries immediately to seal off, or compartmentalize, the injury, which makes it hard for the tree to take up water. So as soon as you make the new cut, place the tree in a bucket of warm water. Make sure it stays full as the tree drinks.
If you have allergies, you may want to spray the tree with a garden hose to remove residual pollen or dust – as long as the weather’s not freezing.
To keep a cut tree fresh you need to provide adequate water. Use a tree stand with a built-in reservoir, and make sure it’s always filled. A rule of thumb is 1 quart of water per inch of stem diameter. A freshly cut tree may use one-half to 2 gallons of water the first day, but this amount will taper as the tree acclimates to its indoor environment.
You don’t need to worry about adding anything to the water. It seems to just be an old wives’ tale that anything – including corn syrup, aspirin, vodka, soda pop, sugar or any specialized preservatives or gels – beyond H₂0 helps prolong the freshness of the tree. No special temperature is necessary either, just not freezing cold or boiling hot.
Do not drill a hole in the bottom of the tree trunk thinking it will improve water uptake – it doesn’t.
If you have to whittle down the sides of the trunk to fit, the tree is too large for your stand. It’s the outer layers of wood that take up most of the water, so if you shave them off your tree will be in trouble.
Secure the tree in its stand, ensuring the freshly cut stump is submerged. If it’s ever out of the water for more than about a quarter-hour or so, the cut starts the healing and sealing process and you should think about making a new cut.
Once your tree is all set up, your goal is to keep it from drying out. Remember, you want your tree to be fresh, but more importantly you don’t want to create a fire hazard.
Keep the tree at least 3 feet (1 meter) from any heat source and minimize direct sun exposure. Lowering the temperature in the room may also help to maintain freshness.
Make sure any lights and their cords are in good condition and turn them off when you aren’t present. Unplug completely if you are leaving the house or going to bed. Occasional breaks from using the lights may help slow the tree’s drying-out process. And make sure your smoke detectors work and you have a fire extinguisher on hand just in case.
If properly cared for, a fresh tree will last for three to four weeks, often even five. If it starts to get dry at any point, the safest move is to get rid of it. Chipping it for compost is the most environmentally sustainable option when it’s time for the tree to go.
Then you can start enjoying the lengthening days and look forward to the next holiday on your calendar.
his artist's illustration shows the location and size of a hypothetical cloud of dust surrounding our solar system. Astronomers searched through 200,000 images and made tens of thousands of measurements from Hubble Space Telescope to discover a residual background glow in the sky. Because the glow is so smoothy distributed, the likely source is innumerable comets – free-flying dusty snowballs of ice. They fall in toward the Sun from all different directions, spewing out an exhaust of dust as the ices sublimate due to heat from the Sun. If real, this would be a newly discovered architectural element of the solar system. Credits: NASA, ESA, and Andi James (STScI). Aside from a tapestry of glittering stars, and the glow of the waxing and waning Moon, the nighttime sky looks inky black to the casual observer. But how dark is dark?
To find out, astronomers decided to sort through 200,000 images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and made tens of thousands of measurements on these images to look for any residual background glow in the sky, in an ambitious project called SKYSURF.
This would be any leftover light after subtracting the glow from planets, stars, galaxies, and from dust in the plane of our solar system (called zodiacal light).
When researchers completed this inventory, they found an exceedingly tiny excess of light, equivalent to the steady glow of 10 fireflies spread across the entire sky. That's like turning out all the lights in a shuttered room and still finding an eerie glow coming from the walls, ceiling, and floor.
The researchers say that one possible explanation for this residual glow is that our inner solar system contains a tenuous sphere of dust from comets that are falling into the solar system from all directions, and that the glow is sunlight reflecting off this dust. If real, this dust shell could be a new addition to the known architecture of the solar system.
This idea is bolstered by the fact that in 2021 another team of astronomers used data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to also measure the sky background. New Horizons flew by Pluto in 2015, and a small Kuiper belt object in 2018, and is now heading into interstellar space. The New Horizons measurements were done at a distance of 4 billion to 5 billion miles from the Sun. This is well outside the realm of the planets and asteroids where there is no contamination from interplanetary dust.
New Horizons detected something a bit fainter that is apparently from a more distant source than Hubble detected. The source of the background light seen by New Horizons also remains unexplained. There are numerous theories ranging from the decay of dark matter to a huge unseen population of remote galaxies.
"If our analysis is correct there's another dust component between us and the distance where New Horizons made measurements. That means this is some kind of extra light coming from inside our solar system," said Tim Carleton, of Arizona State University (ASU).
"Because our measurement of residual light is higher than New Horizons we think it is a local phenomenon that is not from far outside the solar system. It may be a new element to the contents of the solar system that has been hypothesized but not quantitatively measured until now," said Carleton.
Hubble veteran astronomer Rogier Windhorst, also of ASU, first got the idea to assemble Hubble data to go looking for any "ghost light."
"More than 95% of the photons in the images from Hubble's archive come from distances less than 3 billion miles from Earth. Since Hubble's very early days, most Hubble users have discarded these sky-photons, as they are interested in the faint discrete objects in Hubble's images such as stars and galaxies," said Windhorst. "But these sky-photons contain important information which can be extracted thanks to Hubble's unique ability to measure faint brightness levels to high precision over its three decades of lifetime."
A number of graduate and undergraduate students contributed to project SKYSURF, including Rosalia O'Brien, Delondrae Carter and Darby Kramer at ASU, Scott Tompkins at the University of Western Australia, Sarah Caddy at Macquarie University in Australia, and many others.
The team's research papers are published in The Astronomical Journal and The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble and Webb science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.
This photo shows the zodiacal light as it appeared on March 1, 2021, in Skull Valley, Utah. The Pleiades star cluster is visible near the top of the light column. Mars is just below that. Credits: NASA/Bill Dunford.
Jonathan C. Portney, second from right, with the Lake County Board of Supervisors following his hire as the new Lake County Health Services director on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, in Lakeport, California. Photo courtesy of the county of Lake. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Several key employees in the Lake County Health Services Department have written to the Board of Supervisors to state that they have no confidence in the performance of the agency’s director.
The letter, dated Dec. 5, faulted the performance of Jonathan Portney, hired a year ago to head the department that’s been tasked with leading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Over the past several months, we have been disheartened by the actions of Director Portney. He has tested our willpower and confidence in his skill and ability to adequately lead this department. Under his leadership, morale has plummeted to depths never before seen at this Agency,” the three-page letter from the Health Services employees said.
The letter noted that during Portney’s “short, one-year tenure, the examples of poor leadership are almost too numerous to recall. He has alienated several of our community partners by being too arrogant to learn of our community ‘ecosystem’ and our unique qualities,” referring to those community partners as fire departments, the sheriff’s office, Social Services and Behavioral Health.
County Administrative Office staff confirmed to Lake County News that they are aware of the letter, which was circulated to the Board of Supervisors earlier this week.
“As you will appreciate, any Board response would be expected to encompass confidential personnel matters. As such, it is not appropriate to comment further at this time,” the county said in reply to Lake County News’ inquiry on the matter.
Asked to respond to the letter by Lake County News, Portney on Thursday noted that nine staffers out of more than 70 had signed the letter and that he is committed to understanding their concerns.
The county’s action against Pomeroy outraged Health Services staff, some of whom contacted Lake County News to raise concerns about it and its negative impacts on the department as a whole.
Then-County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, who appeared to have been responsible for forcing Pomeroy out and was subsequently named interim Health Services director, pumped her fist in the air at the Nov. 30, 2021, meeting after the board took the unanimous vote to hire Portney.
The board highlighted Portney’s experience with pandemic response as executive director of Daly City Health Center, and prior to that his work as director of the Community Health Ambassador Program for San Francisco’s Urban Services YMCA, director of the Hospital Family Resource Center and Rural Mobile Clinic for Waterloo Adventist Hospital in Sierra Leone.
Portney began the job as Lake County’s Health Services director on Jan. 10.
Portney sends out email about letter
On Thursday morning, Portney himself sent out the no confidence letter attached to an email to Health Services Department staff, along with what he termed as “community” and “partners.” Of the approximately 64 emails to which he sent the message, only three were not county of Lake government email addresses.
Recipients included the five members of the Board of Supervisors, County Administrative Officer Susan Parker and interim Public Health Officer Dr. Karl Sporer.
In it, Portney said Cal Fire Chief Paul Duncan — who was among those who received the email — submitted the letter on behalf of Lake County Health Department staff to the Board of Supervisors.
The staffers who signed the letter are Charlene Ellis, Eileen “Chris” McSorley, Amanda Frazell, Lynn Brookes, Carol Morgan, Danielle Woodford, Cindy Silva-Brackett, Liberty Perry and Celia Pulido. Portney also named them in his email.
“I want to share this with you because I believe in transparency. My continued goal will be to support all Lake County Health Department employees, partners, and the community,” Portney wrote.
“My open-door policy will remain in place. Please feel confident in reaching out to talk about any questions, comments, or future concerns you may have. I will work with the Lake County Health Department team to ensure that the necessary support is provided to continue the needed work for Lake County residents,” his email concluded.
Duncan had no comment when contacted by Lake County News and referred questions to Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta, who also had no comment.
On Thursday night, Portney responded to an email from Lake County News earlier in the day to ask for his response to the Health Services’ employees concerns about his leadership.
“The Lake County Health Department (LCHD) has approximately 73 positions, and of these positions, 9 staff members have signed a Letter of No Confidence,” Portney said.
“My purpose is to ensure that all staff members at the LCHD are supported. Furthermore, my mission is to ensure that all community residents receive quality care and services in partnership with essential stakeholders,” Portney continued. “I am eager to seek further understanding from concerned staff and/or community members. To highlight my commitment in addressing their concerns, discussions are already underway to secure the necessary resources.”
The letter against Portney comes as he is facing potential prosecution for a driving under the influence case in Sonoma County.
On July 11, he was arrested by the California Highway Patrol’s Santa Rosa office on three charges — driving under the influence of alcohol, driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content level of .08 or above and excessive blood alcohol.
The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office told Lake County News on Thursday that the case has not yet formally been charged.
Rather, it’s in review status and set to go back to court on Dec. 14, the agency said.
Because the case is still under review and pending a decision on whether it will be charged, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office would not discuss the circumstances of the case.
The agency also said that every single case is reviewed in this manner.
Lake County News’ email to Portney asked about the DUI case, but in his Thursday night response email, beyond his statement about the no confidence letter, he said, “I have no further comments,” and he directed inquiries to the Lake County Counsel’s Office.
Earlier in the day, Lake County News did email Lake County Counsel Anita Grant as well as the County Administrative Office to ask questions about the DUI case.
July 11 was a Monday, so Lake County News has submitted information requests to the County Administrative Office and Grant to ascertain whether Portney was on county business and driving a county vehicle at the time of the arrest.
As of Thursday night, the county had not responded to those questions.
Staff outlines concerns
The letter criticizing Portney said his door is not as open to staff as his Thursday email claimed.
“He has never walked the halls to acknowledge Staff in the morning or to check in. He rarely has his door open, and the whiteboard on the closed door rarely indicates that he is available to ‘Deal with us.’,” the letter said.
Staff said Portney also moved his office to a corner of the building where he can enter and exit without being seen by employees.
The staff emphasized in their letter that “we are not troublemakers, malcontents, or disgruntled employees. We are the members of the County of Lake Department of Health Services and Community Partners who have given our hearts and souls to the residents of Lake County.”
The letter faulted Portney’s remote work practices, constant changes in command and department supervisors, his leadership style, his targeting of staff, and a lack of understanding of funding streams or the programs his department is running.
“He has not taken the initiative to learn,” the letter said.
Perhaps most concerning is what the letter alleged about Portney’s impact on key partnerships with emergency responders.
“This department has a long history of cooperation with law enforcement and fire departments. Our County's State of Emergencies with Destructive Wildland Fires, COVID, PSPS etc, over the last 5-6 years, had built a team of cooperation, respect, and ‘Doing the Right Thing’ for the safety of all county residents. Director Portney has all but destroyed these relationships,” the letter said.
It also referred to his action earlier this year regarding jail medical services which led to a clash with Sheriff Brian Martin.
The letter said Portney “did not feel that it was Health Services' responsibility to assist with the ‘Jail Medical’ Program. He didn't think he needed to be part of that and refused to sign. When it comes to Public Health, isn't a group of incarcerated individuals one of our most needy populations?”
The letter said Portney has alienated the county’s fire departments, most of which do not trust him and have agreed that a vote of no confidence “is relevant and necessary.”
Then there are issues with state licensure that the letter raised.
“Most recently, he has ordered nurses with a certain level of licensure to report to a supervisor that does not currently carry the credentials to supervise them. These nurses are licensed by the state of California, and following Director Portney's directive is not in alignment with state regulations and could jeopardize their licenses. This is the picture of clear mismanagement and lack of knowledge regarding governmental agencies,” the letter explained.
The staffers who signed the letter said they also fear retaliation if the Board of Supervisors takes no action to address the situation.
The Board of Supervisors typically conducts performance evaluations once a year, sometimes more often during the first year of employment. More frequent evaluations usually precede a department head’s departure.
So far this year, the board has scheduled several closed session performance evaluations of Portney, based on a review of county records. They included evaluations that were scheduled or took place on March 8, Nov. 22 and this past Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein said no reportable action was taken from Tuesday’s closed session performance evaluation of Portney.
That evaluation took place on Dec. 6, the day after the no confidence letter was dated.
“Tuesday’s item was an evaluation based on standard practices, and not responsive to any specific event. It had been rescheduled from a previous week,” Rothstein said on Thursday.
On Thursday afternoon, the Board of Supervisors’ agenda for the Dec. 13 meeting was released. It includes another closed session performance evaluation of Portney.
The full no confidence letter is published below.
Dear Chairman of Lake County BOS Supervisor Crandell, and Supervisors Green, Pyska, Sabatier & Simon;
We, the undersigned, proudly serve the residents of Lake County; we respectfully submit this letter as our official notice regarding a Vote of No Confidence in County of Lake Health Services Director Jonathan Portney.
We, the County of Lake Health Services employees, write this letter in great hesitation and only after much discussion and contemplation. We hesitate because we consider ourselves a team of dedicated, educated individuals, and it goes against our nature to break the chain of command. We also hesitate because we fully believe that if this letter does not have the desired result and we continue to work under the current administration, there will most certainly be retaliation, be it overt or subtle. We will ultimately pay a high price for doing what we know in our hearts is the right thing for the County of Lake, its residents, and its employees. We have already experienced bits and pieces of this feared behavior throughout our day-to-day interactions with Director Portney.
Over the past several months, we have been disheartened by the actions of Director Portney. He has tested our willpower and confidence in his skill and ability to adequately lead this department. Under his leadership, morale has plummeted to depths never before seen at this agency.
We call into question the leadership qualities of Director Portney. During his short, one-year tenure, the examples of poor leadership are almost too numerous to recall. He has alienated several of our community partners by being too arrogant to learn of our community "ecosystem" and our unique qualities. (Fire Depts. /Sheriff's Dept/Social Services/Behavioral Health to start) He moved his office to a corner of the building where he can enter & exit without being seen by employees. He has never walked the halls to acknowledge Staff in the morning or to check in. He rarely has his door open, and the whiteboard on the closed door rarely indicates that he is available to "Deal with us". Mostly scribbled "DND" or 'Off-Site". He does not share when in the office, off or remote. By employees and other management not knowing his schedule, he is not held responsible for using accruals during time off.
His "Remote" work style is not conducive to a smooth running department especially when he has not issued an updated Org chart and claims "he has a plan" but won't elaborate even after many verbal and written requests. Many of the Staff do not know who they are responsible to report to as well as supervisors not knowing who reports to them. He haphazardly jumps in and out of the "Chain of Command," Directing Staff who are assigned to other Supervisors oftentimes resulting in confusion regarding tasks assigned or in wasted time by duplicating tasks, mostly without the supervisors knowledge.
When dealing with the state on many levels, he has shown his lack of proper leadership. He was in an email thread with general questions regarding Monkey Pox from the state; Deputy Director Jen Baker responded to the email with a "Respond All" and Director Portney in that thread. Nevertheless, Director Portney responded to the email a day later, saying almost exactly what Deputy Director Baker had said … it made us look inept and showed that this man gets lost in details.
Another instance of lack of attention to detail is the fact that he sent an email to advise Staff that the Deputy Director was no longer on Staff and then continued that "thread" while congratulating another employee on a promotion. The "Fired" staff member remains on his list of recipients for these "happy announcements" and even a "Happy Holiday/Thanksgiving Greeting". The fact that the majority of his emails have the "disclaimer" of "sent from my iPhone" speaks to the problem of him not being FULLY ENGAGED in his important duties. Let it also be noted that after the "firing" of Deputy Baker he was heard whistling a happy tune in his office.
This last week Director Portney targeted certain Staff. He issued an order for all employees working at the "858" building to come to the Bevins building for a group meeting regarding "transition from 858 back to Bevins". The group meeting was actually 2:1s with HR Director Pam Samac at his side. He did not stick to his "Proposed Agenda" and even called in another employee to address "Complaints" he had allegedly received of said employee being "unfriendly, not a team player and not open to communication" but wouldn't provide any instances of such said behavior. Please note that none of these employees are his "direct reports," and he chose to do this meeting when these employees' supervisors were all at out-of-town trainings and had no idea that he was doing this or that there were even performance issues with said employee. One staff member was feeling so targeted that she requested that the meeting be stopped and she have a union representative with her for a continuation of the meeting. During the second meeting, the focus again changed; it was not about "transitioning" all employees, just this one individual. Her job is handling the largest sum of money that has been granted to our department, and she is being moved from a quiet and secure office to a cubical right outside of his office with the most foot traffic. This cubical is open to the main hallway, restroom and exit. He even discarded the option that several other workstations are available, including one with other fiscal Staff.
Director Portney does not understand our funding streams or the programs that this department is running. He has not taken the initiative to learn. He has claimed that payments are ours when in fact, they are not and belong to other county agencies.
This department has a long history of cooperation with law enforcement and fire departments. Our County's State of Emergencies with Destructive Wildland Fires, COVID, PSPS etc, over the last 5-6 years, had built a team of cooperation, respect, and "Doing the Right Thing" for the safety of all county residents. Director Portney has all but destroyed these relationships. He said that he did not feel that it was Health Services' responsibility to assist with the "Jail Medical" Program. He didn't think he needed to be part of that and refused to sign. When it comes to Public Health, isn't a group of incarcerated individuals one of our most needy populations? Conjugal living having the highest risk of spread of communicable diseases.
He incorrectly handled the RFP process for LEMSA. He has alienated the EMS/Fire & ambulance departments. Most of the fire departments do not TRUST Director Portney and have agreed that a vote of No Confidence is relevant and necessary.
On many occasions, he has given Staff verbal directives but when it comes time for approving the action, there become extreme issues, and approval can't be given, so much time and effort is wasted.
Most recently, he has ordered nurses with a certain level of licensure to report to a supervisor that does not currently carry the credentials to supervise them. These nurses are licensed by the state of California, and following Director Portney's directive is not in alignment with state regulations and could jeopardize their licenses. This is the picture of clear mismanagement and lack of knowledge regarding governmental agencies.
In closing, we would like to remind you that we are not troublemakers, malcontents, or disgruntled employees. We are the members of the County of Lake Department of Health Services and Community Partners who have given our hearts and souls to the residents of Lake County. Our dedication to the residents of Lake County and to our members of the department gives us the courage to write this very difficult letter. Our agenda is strictly based in the wellbeing of our County so that we may provide the greatest level of service to all of the much deserving members of this community.
Signed:
Charlene Ellis Chris McSorley Amanda Frazell Lynn Brookes Carol Morgan Danielle Woodford Cindy Silva-Brackett Liberty Perry Celia Pulido
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council held its final meeting of the year on Thursday evening, with business that included accepting the November election results and selecting its new leadership for 2023.
At the start of the meeting, Councilwoman Joyce Overton presented Mayor Dirk Slooten with a plaque for his service as mayor over the past two years.
Slooten said he was honored to have served the city as mayor.
Later in the meeting, City Clerk/Administrative Services Director Melissa Swanson presented Resolution No. 2022-75, which accepts the results of the Nov. 8 municipal election, which was consolidated as part of the general election.
“This afternoon we received the certification from the Registrar of Voters, which you have before you,” Swanson said.
She said there were 6,981 registered Clearlake voters for this election with 2,784 ballots cast, for a 39.88% turnout.
In the city council election, Slooten and Councilman Russ Cremer ran unopposed for reelection.
Swanson said Cremer received 1,604 votes and Slooten, received 1,515 votes.
There were no qualified city treasurer candidates, she said. The council is expected to appoint City Manager Alan Flora to fill that post once again.
Swanson said it was appropriate for the council to adopt the resolution seating Cremer and Slooten, after which she would administer the oath of office.
Councilman David Claffey moved to approve the resolution, Overton seconded and the council voted 5-0.
Swanson then administered the oath of office to both men.
After they were sworn in and returned to the dais, the council selected its leadership for the coming year.
Overton moved to select Vice Mayor Russell Perdock as the next mayor, which Cremer seconded and the council approved unanimously.
Slooten followed up by nominating Claffey, who is in his first term, as vice mayor. Cremer also seconded that motion, which received another unanimous council vote.
“I want to thank everybody. I think we’ve had a very successful year this year,” said Slooten. “We’ve gotten all kinds of projects going,” and appointed several new department heads.
Cremer thanked Slooten for his efforts, including many that took place behind the scenes to push forward projects. Those include the commercial development at the former airport, which Cremer said he believes is further along than it’s ever been.
In other business, the council authorized an amendment to the Clearlake Police Officers Association memorandum of understanding to modify the salary amounts, adopted Resolution 2022-74 to approve and implement the Cannabis Equity Program and approved Resolution No. 2022-73 to provide grant funds to Chelsea Investment Corp. for its affordable housing development at 15837 18th Ave.
With Thursday night’s meeting being the last council meeting of the year, as well as the last meeting for Police Chief Andrew White before he leaves for his new job in Martinez in January, the council thanked him for his service.
Overton praised him for his leadership of the police department and the training he introduced, which she said was “above and beyond anything we’ve ever done.”
“You’ve shown us what a great leader looks like,” said Claffey.
Cremer said he’s still in denial that White is leaving, and thanked him for his work, including also filling the finance director job and bringing the city’s technology into the 21st century.
Perdock thanked him and wished him well in his future endeavors.
Slooten said white made both the city and the police department better.
Flora said there will be a farewell reception for White on Monday, Dec. 19, at City Hall.
Slooten wished the community a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year before adjourning the meeting, which ran just under and hour and a half.
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The cast of Lower Lake High School’s winter production, “The Descendants.” Photo courtesy of Tracy Lahr. LOWER LAKE, Calif. — This weekend, Lower Lake High School is presenting its winter production, “The Descendants.”
The play will be happening Friday, Dec. 9; Saturday, Dec. 10; and Sunday, Dec. 11.
“We have many fan favorite actors returning in this production and lots of new faces to look forward to,” said drama teacher and director Tracy Lahr.
“Hard work and dedication are the main characteristics of our drama members, come see for yourself in a live performance fun for the whole family!” she said.
The cast includes Riley Watson, Evelyn Campbell, Damien Bryant, Shane Bishop, Ariana Covarrubius, Cami Yapelli, Ryn Hare, Pierce Edwards, Kaycie Meckfessel, Adam Viramontes, Erick Cruz Perez, Marissa Roberts, Madison Hershwitsky, Aubrey Weese, Victor Silva, Giulia Ragone, Noah Fortanel, Bridget Ruhle, Opal Patton, Gabe Arpia, Izeah Patterson, Arabella Guillermo Rubio, Lena Guillory and Johnnie Lindsey.
“It’s a wonderful cast,” said Lahr. “I can’t wait for the audience to watch them shine!”
Lahr gave a special shout out to alumni Abby Tucker for the choreography.
Ticket prices are $8 for students, $9 for adults, and $10 for senior citizens which can be purchased at the door.
Friday and Saturday night showings are at 7 p.m. and Sunday's matinee is at 2 p.m. at Lower Lake High School in the multipurpose room.
The cast of Lower Lake High School’s winter production, “The Descendants.” Photo courtesy of Tracy Lahr.
Northern California has some of the strongest offshore winds in the U.S., with immense potential to produce clean energy. But it also has a problem. Its continental shelf drops off quickly, making building traditional wind turbines directly on the seafloor costly if not impossible.
Once water gets more than about 200 feet deep – roughly the height of an 18-story building – these “monopile” structures are pretty much out of the question.
A solution has emerged that’s being tested in several locations around the world: wind turbines that float.
In California, where drought has put pressure on the hydropower supply, the state is moving forward on a plan to develop the nation’s first floating offshore wind farms. On Dec. 7, 2022, the federal government auctioned off five lease areas about 20 miles off the California coast to companies with plans to develop floating wind farms. The bids were lower than recent leases off the Atlantic coast, where wind farms can be anchored to the seafloor, but still significant, together exceeding US$757 million.
So, how do floating wind farms work?
Three main ways to float a turbine
A floating wind turbine works just like other wind turbines – wind pushes on the blades, causing the rotor to turn, which drives a generator that creates electricity. But instead of having its tower embedded directly into the ground or the seafloor, a floating wind turbine sits on a platform with mooring lines, such as chains or ropes, that connect to anchors in the seabed below.
These mooring lines hold the turbine in place against the wind and keep it connected to the cable that sends its electricity back to shore.
Most of the stability is provided by the floating platform itself. The trick is to design the platform so the turbine doesn’t tip too far in strong winds or storms.
Three of the common types of floating wind turbine platform.Josh Bauer/NREL
There are three main types of platforms:
A spar buoy platform is a long hollow cylinder that extends downward from the turbine tower. It floats vertically in deep water, weighted with ballast in the bottom of the cylinder to lower its center of gravity. It’s then anchored in place, but with slack lines that allow it to move with the water to avoid damage. Spar buoys have been used by the oil and gas industry for years for offshore operations.
Semisubmersible platforms have large floating hulls that spread out from the tower, also anchored to prevent drifting. Designers have been experimenting with multiple turbines on some of these hulls.
Tension leg platforms have smaller platforms with taut lines running straight to the floor below. These are lighter but more vulnerable to earthquakes or tsunamis because they rely more on the mooring lines and anchors for stability.
Each platform must support the weight of the turbine and remain stable while the turbine operates. It can do this in part because the hollow platform, often made of large steel or concrete structures, provides buoyancy to support the turbine. Since some can be fully assembled in port and towed out for installation, they might be far cheaper than fixed-bottom structures, which require specialty vessels for installation on site.
The University of Maine has been experimenting with a small floating wind turbine, about one-eighth scale, on a semisubmersible platform with RWE, one of the winning bidders.AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
Floating platforms can support wind turbines that can produce 10 megawatts or more of power – that’s similar in size to other offshore wind turbines and several times larger than the capacity of a typical onshore wind turbine you might see in a field.
Why do we need floating turbines?
Some of the strongest wind resources are away from shore in locations with hundreds of feet of water below, such as off the U.S. West Coast, the Great Lakes, the Mediterranean Sea and the coast of Japan.
Some of the strongest offshore wind power potential in the U.S. is in areas where the water is too deep for fixed turbines, including off the West Coast.NREL
The U.S. lease areas auctioned off in early December cover about 583 square miles in two regions – one off central California’s Morro Bay and the other near the Oregon state line. The water off California gets deep quickly, so any wind farm that is even a few miles from shore will require floating turbines.
Once built, wind farms in those five areas could provide about 4.6 gigawatts of clean electricity, enough to power 1.5 million homes, according to government estimates. The winning companies suggested they could produce even more power.
But getting actual wind turbines on the water will take time. The winners of the lease auction will undergo a Justice Department anti-trust review and then a long planning, permitting and environmental review process that typically takes several years.
Globally, several full-scale demonstration projects with floating wind turbines are already operating in Europe and Asia. The Hywind Scotland project became the first commercial-scale offshore floating wind farm in 2017, with five 6-megawatt turbines supported by spar buoys designed by the Norwegian energy company Equinor.
While floating offshore wind farms are becoming a commercial technology, there are still technical challenges that need to be solved. The platform motion may cause higher forces on the blades and tower, and more complicated and unsteady aerodynamics. Also, as water depths get very deep, the cost of the mooring lines, anchors and electrical cabling may become very high, so cheaper but still reliable technologies will be needed.
But we can expect to see more offshore turbines supported by floating structures in the near future.
This article was updated with the first lease sale.
The Clear Lake hitch. Photo by Richard Macedo/California Department of Fish and Game. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — This week several local tribes and an environmental group that has advocated for protections for the Clear Lake hitch asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide emergency protections to the fish.
The Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians, Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians and the Center for Biological Diversity are seeking the help for the hitch, a native minnow found only in Clear Lake.
Separately, the tribes are holding a summit with state and federal agencies on Thursday to discuss immediate protections with the state, said Sarah Ryan, the environmental director and emergency management director for the Big Valley Pomo.
This week’s request under the Endangered Species Act notes that the imperiled California fish’s numbers have plummeted in recent years. Extinction is now a distinct possibility if swift action isn’t taken.
The hitch has great cultural significance and has been a primary food source that has sustained the Tribes for generations.
“Our tribe expects and relies on the state and federal agencies to carry out their responsibilities for managing land, water, and all the fish and wildlife,” said Philip Gomez, chairman of the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians. “We have come to a point where we know that the agencies must try harder, and they must welcome the Tribes to co-manage our land and waters. We call out to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to authorize emergency listing of the chi/Clear Lake hitch immediately, so they can be protected for their spawning a few months from now. None of us want this fish to go extinct on our watch, as tribal leaders.”
“We are talking about extinction,” said Meg Townsend, senior freshwater attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The hitch can’t withstand one more year of failed spawning. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to protect this severely imperiled fish for more than a decade is shocking and unacceptable. Only emergency protections can correct this grievous error and give the hitch a fighting chance.”
The last successful spawning of Clear Lake hitch was observed in 2017. The following year, extremely few juvenile hitch were collected. Almost no juvenile hitch have been observed since. Adult hitch are now also in steep decline. With an estimated six-year lifespan, the hitch can’t survive many more years of failed spawning without disappearing forever.
The primary threat to Clear Lake hitch is a lack of spring flows in lake tributaries used for spawning. This is caused by water over-withdrawal, both legal and illegal, that is being worsened by climate change-driven drought. The hitch is also threatened by fish-passage barriers, habitat degradation, pollution, and predation and competition from invasive, stocked fish, including carp and bass.
The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Service in 2012 to protect the hitch under the Endangered Species Act. After eight years of delay and a lawsuit by the center, the agency finally issued a decision, but, in a bizarre move, denied the fish protections.
The center challenged this decision in federal court, leading the agency to reconsider listing the hitch, but no new decision will be made until 2025.
“As President Biden highlighted this week at the White House Tribal Nations Summit, Indigenous Knowledge is to be considered in policy and agency decision making,” said Sherry Treppa, chairperson of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake. “The service needs to respect not only Tribal Nations but the president and take immediate action otherwise years of research, preservation and repopulation efforts by local tribal nations and county will be for naught.”
“The Clear Lake hitch — the chi — is an important part of our tribe’s culture that sustained our families for generations,” said Jesse Gonzalez, vice chair of Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians. “We as Indian people have lost so much of our ways and our culture at the hands of others, and now we’re trying so hard to hold on to what’s left, for ourselves, for our families, and for our future. I remember catching chi as a young boy and now can only hope that my children will one day have that same experience. If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t give the chi emergency endangered species protections, we fear that our future generations will never have that opportunity.”
The hitch needs immediate action, including captive rearing, enforcement action against illegal water withdrawals by cannabis growers and others, control of invasive predatory fish in the lake, and work with legal water rights holders to maintain instream flows. Emergency protection under the Endangered Species Act would help ensure these things happen.
On Nov. 3, the California Fish and Game Commission took the unprecedented step of writing to the Service to request emergency listing of the hitch under the act.
The service has only given emergency listings to two species in the past two decades. Such listings take effect immediately upon publication in the Federal Register and last for 240 days. Simultaneously, the service must publish a proposed rule to extend the listing beyond the initial period.
“The Clear Lake hitch is on the verge of extinction unless action is taken now,” said Michael Y. Marcks, vice-chairperson of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake. “Tribes are united in seeking protection of the hitch, which is culturally significant to The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake. Our tribe has strong connections and traditions to our land, and we constantly strive to conserve, preserve, and protect all our natural resources. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must use its emergency authority to protect and preserve the hitch for future generations.”
“In 2004, Robinson Rancheria started the efforts for the first petition to U.S Fish and Wildlife for the hitch to be listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act,” said Irenia Quitiquit, secretary treasurer of the Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians Citizens Business Council. “Because of Robinson Rancheria’s peoples’ strong ties to the hitch, culturally and for subsistence, an emergency listing would be a great victory toward saving the hitch from extinction. Robinson Rancheria’s Tribal efforts over the past 18 years has been documented through many federal grants and tribal support efforts to continue studying the hitch. Research has proven to be effective in this hopeful goal — having the hitch listed as a federally endangered species. All Lake County California Tribes look forward to continuing the meaningful work to save the hitch.”
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s interim Public Health officer on Tuesday updated the Board of Supervisors on seasonal illnesses and the winter outlook.
The California Department of Public Health said this week that statewide flu activity has reached high levels across the state.
Dr. Karl Sporer told the supervisors that flu activity also is rising in Lake County, along with COVID-19.
He noted that he had last visited the board two months ago to say how nice everything was. “Now, it’s not so nice.”
Sporer said health officials are seeing a “triple epidemic” involving flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
“We’re holding our own at the two hospitals,” he said.
RSV is causing a lot of pediatric hospitalizations nationwide. However, Sporer — who noted county health officials meet with the two hospitals every two weeks — said there have only been two RSV patient cases that needed to be transferred out and they were able to find rooms for them.
“It hasn’t impacted our community at this point,” Sporer said.
Sporer said he thinks RSV will peak in the next couple of weeks and then it will go down.
At the same time, Sporer said probably one of the worst flu seasons in 15 years is now taking place, and he’s recommending people get vaccinations.
The flu is causing a 25% increase across admissions in hospitals, Sporer said. “We’re going to see some strain here as we get into the new year.”
At the same time, he is starting to see a 10 to 15% increase in COVID-19 and coronavirus across the country, and more people are being admitted to hospitals with the illness.
He said he’s concerned about the flu and COVID together, causing hospitalizations to go up.
Sporer doesn’t expect the situation to get as bad as it was in New York City three years ago, “But I think it’ll be a tough winter to get through.”
He said the county will work with the local hospitals to get through the situation.
The county also is working with the state, with Sporer noting that the state’s COVID state of emergency will end at the end of February.
During the discussion, Supervisor Jessica Pyska said that Adventist Health is opening an urgent care clinic the second week in January. It will be the only such clinic in Lake County.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier asked about capacity at Lake County’s hospitals.
Sporer said they are seeing a little bit of an increase in interfacility transports out of the county.
There are eight intensive care unit beds in Lake County, two of which were empty as of Tuesday, he said.
“So we’re handling it at this point,” Sporer said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A driver was arrested for driving under the influence early Sunday after he crashed his pickup near Clearlake Oaks, resulting in injuries to him and his two passengers.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office reported that the crash occurred at 4:25 a.m. Sunday during rainy conditions.
The CHP said the driver, Ryan T. Grivette, 21, of Nice was placed under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Grivette was driving a 2006 Ford F-250 pickup northbound on New Long Valley Road south of Pomo Trail with Jarrett D. Schoenahl and Makala M. Mcmullen, both age 21 of Clearlake Oaks, riding as his passengers.
Grivette, who was driving at an unknown speed, was approximately 1,850 feet south of Pomo Trail when, due to his intoxication, he lost control of the pickup and drove off the east road edge of New Long Valley Road, the CHP said.
The CHP said the front right of the pickup crashed into a tree.
As a result of the crash, Grivette sustained minor injuries and his passengers suffered major injuries and were transported to Adventist Health Clear Lake Hospital, the CHP report said.
The report said Grivette was wearing his seat belt, but his passengers were not.
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The Feather Alert, a public notification tool to combat the deadly epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, is soon to go into effect.
The new alert was authorized by AB 1314, authored by Assemblyman James C. Ramos (D-Highland), was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, as Lake County News has reported.
The Feather Alert will be available in January to help law enforcement quickly notify the public about the disproportionate number of missing Native Americans and enlist their aid for timely leads to locate victims and prosecute suspects.
“The passage of Assembly Bill 1314 provides law enforcement with additional resources to ensure the safe return of missing indigenous persons, and most importantly, improves collaboration and strategic partnerships across local, state, and tribal communities,” said California Highway Patrol Commissioner Amanda Ray.
“It was incredibly rewarding to see the Feather Alert bill passed. We look forward to the work ahead to ensure successful implementation. We have the deepest gratitude for the commitment of Commissioner Amanda Ray and the men and women of the California Highway Patrol who are tasked with making certain that the tribal voice is heard,” said Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Chairwoman Regina Cuellar.
A report by the Sovereign Bodies Institute indicated only 9% of murders of Indigenous women in California have ever been solved.
At a May 4 hearing of the Select Committee on Native American Affairs, which Ramos chaired, tribal leaders urged legislators to take more urgent action to stem the tide of unsolved cases and provide more immediate support when suspected abductions or other acts of violence occur against California Indian people who suffer a disproportionate number of those crimes.
Among other recommendations, witnesses at the hearing called for more immediate notification to the public and enlisting the aid of news outlets to help locate possible victims.
“California Assembly Bill 1314, establishing the Feather Alert for missing Native Americans, is the direct result of Indian Country’s call to action and our partnership with state legislators to begin to address the nationwide epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. We as tribal people do not want to be known solely as another statistic but as the human beings we are — who deserve to be found, to be safe, and to be protected by our public safety systems,” said Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians Chairperson Janet K. Bill.
This year, California joined Washington State and Colorado in enacting similar notification systems.
On Wednesday, tribal leaders and others gathered to learn how the system will work and provide their input for effective implementation.
Ramos, along with Assembly colleagues Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) and Esmeralda Soria (D-Fresno) and representatives from the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Justice and local and tribal law enforcement participated in the almost day-long roundtable discussion on Wednesday to learn and ask questions about the new alert.
The California Highway Patrol will activate the alert at the request of local law enforcement, and it will work much like an Amber Alert for missing children.
“I am gratified that the governor approved this bill to help stop the violence afflicting California’s Native American communities,” Ramos said. “The Feather Alert will aid law enforcement and families in getting the word out quickly when a Native individual is missing or endangered by alerting the public in a broad and effective manner. Creating an alert or advisory system was a top recommendation from tribal leaders in May to highlight this issue.”
Ramos also noted that California, the state with the greatest population of Native Americans in the nation, is also among the states with the highest rates of reported cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.
“I sincerely thank Assembly Member Ramos for taking action to address the MMIP crisis in California. I am grateful for the opportunity to provide input on the implementation of the new Feather Alert system. Throughout the state, the new system will significantly improve outcomes in cases involving missing indigenous people,” said Chairman Joe James of the Yurok Tribe.
Feather Alert criteria
To activate the Feather Alert, the following criteria that must be met:
• Missing person is an indigenous woman or an indigenous person.
• Investigating law enforcement agency has utilized available local and tribal resources.
• A local law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstance.
• A local law enforcement agency believes that the person is in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, or environment or weather conditions, that the person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person, or that there are other factors indicating that the person may be in peril.
• Information is available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person.
In California, the Feather Alert joins these other special notifications overseen by the CHP:
• The AMBER Alert, which stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response is used when children age 17 or younger have been abducted. It has been in use since 2002.
• The Blue Alert, approved in 2011, notifies the public when a suspect in the assault or killing of a police officer remains at large and the search is active.
• The Silver Alert, used when elderly, developmentally or cognitively-impaired persons are missing and are determined to be at-risk. Adopted as the top priority of the California Senior Legislature in October 2011, it was enacted through SB 1047, legislation introduced by state Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) and Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana). The bill was approved in 2012 and went into effect in 2013.
• The general endangered missing advisory is used when an individual is missing under unexplained or suspicious, and is believed to be in danger due to issues with age, physical and mental health issues, weather, being with a potentially dangerous person or other circumstances.
Dennis Darling at the California Grocers Association meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. During the California Grocers Association annual meeting on Nov. 30, outgoing board chair Renee Amen passed the gavel to Dennis Darling, who will serve as the next CGA board chair for 2023.
Darling and his wife, Ruth, have owned and operated Foods Etc. in Clearlake and Susanville for 25 years.
At the end of 2024 the couple is retiring, and their daughter and son-in-law will take over the business.
In the meantime, Darling is going to step back from the day-to-day operations and take on a more strategic role while he serves as CGA board chair.
“The industry has been really good for me and my family, and this is an opportunity for me to give back,” Darling told CGA. “And you know what, I just love the idea of being able to communicate with all these different grocers and vendors, too. There are so many outstanding people who are involved in CGA and I’m just really proud to be a part of that group.”
As a longtime owner of an independent grocery store, Darling is especially familiar with the grocery industry from the perspective of an independent business. He has experienced many challenges over the years, most recently with the challenges of COVID compliance and labor issues.
But Darling also believes wholeheartedly in the benefits of running his own business, noting that it’s been a rewarding experience that allowed his family to be an integral part of the communities they serve.
Prior to his membership and work with CGA, Darling was active in the California Independent Grocers Association, or CIGA, which represented the voice of independent grocers for many years.
In 2013, Darling and another and Bob Parriott began working with CGA to discuss a merger. CIGA was struggling with leadership but had funds to contribute, and CGA was eager to add more independents to its membership.
Thanks to the work of Darling and a handful of others, the two organizations officially merged in mid-2014. The move strengthened the grocery industry in California, boosting advocacy efforts and creating a more diverse member pool. Since then, CGA has been a strong voice for independent grocers in addition to larger chains and companies.
“In the eight years since that merger, funds from CIGA have been used for education in helping independent grocers with training and compliance,” Darling said.
CGA also established the Independent Operators Committee, which Darling said has been integral to ensuring small independents are well-represented within CGA. The committee meets twice a year and supports independent grocers with issues like compliance, hazardous waste disposal, workers’ comp and labor and employment issues.
“It’s been a great merger. I think it’s been really good for both entities and frankly I don’t even really think about it much anymore, we’re just one family,” Darling said. “Ron is excellent to represent everybody. Not just the small chains but the independents.”
As the grocery industry faces ongoing challenges from inflation, labor and supply chain, Darling expects 2023 to be a busy year.
“If we had even one of those at a time it would be very challenging, but to try and deal with them all at the same time has really made the business much more difficult,” he said.
During his time as board chair, Darling also wants to focus more on advocacy at the local level for both chains and independent stores — in addition to CGA’s already active efforts at the state and national levels.
“The independents are really well-positioned to advocate on behalf of the industry at the local level,” he said. “They know who their local elected officials are, they know the sheriffs, they know who the local regulatory people are, and so I think they'll be a big help in that.”
With the support of CGA, Darling is confident all CGA member companies are in good hands. Darling notes the outstanding CGA staff and their efforts in government relations and communicating with members, as well as a successful lineup of training and events that are always “first-class.”
While there’s a full calendar ahead of Darling as CGA chair next year, there will also be some fun. Darling notes that CGA’s training symposium will take place in Hawaii in January, an event that was carried over from CIGA and that CGA happily embraced.
“Again, I’m just really proud to be part of that and be able to give back to the industry that’s been so good to us,” he said.
Jessica Love works for the California Grocers Association.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday afternoon gave staff direction on the process to pursue the appointment of a temporary sheriff as Sheriff Brian Martin prepares to retire.
Martin, now at the end of his second term, will retire as of Dec. 30.
He told the board that under the state Government Code, the highest-ranking officer may temporarily discharge the duties of sheriff-coroner until the vacancy is filled “in the manner provided by law,” which in this case will be the appointment by the Board of Supervisors.
With there being no undersheriff, Martin said Capt. Chris Chwialkowski is the highest ranking and senior deputy next in line of authority. He was promoted to the rank of captain in April 2015.
Martin proposed that Chwialkowski temporarily act as sheriff beginning on Dec. 31 and continuing until the board has interviewed candidates and formally appointed a permanent sheriff-coroner to serve until Jan. 2, 2025.
“I’m certainly not here to influence your decision on who that might be,” Martin said of that board appointment.
However, he recommended they move through the process as quickly as possible, explaining that there is a special training to be held by the California State Sheriff’s Association on Jan. 6.
It’s held every four years and Martin said he has reserved a seat for the acting sheriff. “The sheriff will benefit greatly from attending that training.”
He also asked for the board to move quickly so the appointed sheriff could spend time with him to facilitate a smooth transition, noting there are pending personnel matters and contracts.
Martin said there are a number of people in the sheriff’s office and other county agencies who would meet the legal qualifications.
The recommendation to the board included that the sheriff-coroner vacancy be offered as a promotional opportunity and open for five days to county employees only.
A public interview process for the candidates is scheduled for the board on Dec. 20.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier had suggested increasing the open period for the internal recruitment to be 10 days, but the board decided to stay with the five-day period.
Martin said anyone eligible has probably given it enough thought at this point, since his retirement announcement occurred in late October.
Supervisor Michael Green said the matter is complicated, and he suggested that the sheriff’s department has been under duress. As a result, he didn’t agree that a short promotional period is in the best interest of the county. He said they should take time to conduct due diligence.
Martin took issue with Green’s statement about his agency being under duress. “I’m pretty proud of how the department’s been running for the last eight years and I think I’m leaving it in a lot better shape than it was, so I’ll disagree with that comment,” he said.
Later in the discussion, Green said he wanted to clarify his comment about the sheriff’s office being under duress, explaining that all agencies are under some form of stress. He said he believed the county would short circuit its due diligence but just looking internally.
Martin replied that the board has the ability not to select anybody on the first go-round.
Supervisor Moke Simon said the candidate the board will choose will go through a “two year interview” process.
“We’re selecting someone to just keep us moving in the right direction hopefully. The voters will choose in two years who the sheriff of Lake County is,” said Simon, adding that the person the board appoints may not be the person elected in the 2028 election.
“We’re just doing our government duty to get us to that point,” Simon said.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the person appointed on a short-term basis before Martin retires will have the sheriff’s duties under “temporary discharge.” The process won’t confer the auspices of the sheriff, just the function.
The board’s longer-term appointment will confer those responsibilities. When the board makes the appointment for the two-year period, Grant said it will be an elected position for all intents and purposes.
She said the interviews in public will give the public “the opportunity to see along with you who’s interviewing.”
Sabatier said he’s glad they’re deciding on a two-year term instead of a six-year term.
That was a reference to Assembly Bill 759, passed in this year’s state legislative session, which will temporarily extend the terms of the DAs and sheriffs who have been elected in 2022 to 2028 in order to align with the 2028 presidential election cycle. That law does not, however, apply to appointees.
Martin said it may be known in 15 or 16 months who the next sheriff might be.
There was no public comment on the matter before the board gave staff direction to open up the internal applications for five days and bring candidates back for interviews on Dec. 20.
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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LEFTJOIN `lcnews_content_frontpage` AS `fp` ON `fp`.`content_id` = `a`.`id`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_content_rating` AS `v` ON `a`.`id` = `v`.`content_id`
WHERE `a`.`access` IN (:preparedArray1) AND `c`.`access` IN (:preparedArray2) AND `c`.`published` =1AND `a`.`state` = :conditionAND `a`.`catid` = :categoryId AND (`a`.`publish_up` ISNULLOR `a`.`publish_up` <= :publishUp) AND (`a`.`publish_down` ISNULLOR `a`.`publish_down` >= :publishDown)
ORDERBY c.lft, CASEWHEN a.publish_up ISNULLTHEN a.created ELSE a.publish_up ENDDESC , a.created LIMIT 3828, 124.05s181KBParams/libraries/src/MVC/Model/BaseDatabaseModel.php:166Copy
SELECTCOUNT(*)
FROM `lcnews_content` AS `a`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_categories` AS `c` ON `c`.`id` = `a`.`catid`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_users` AS `ua` ON `ua`.`id` = `a`.`created_by`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_users` AS `uam` ON `uam`.`id` = `a`.`modified_by`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_categories` AS `parent` ON `parent`.`id` = `c`.`parent_id`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_content_frontpage` AS `fp` ON `fp`.`content_id` = `a`.`id`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_content_rating` AS `v` ON `a`.`id` = `v`.`content_id`
WHERE `a`.`access` IN (:preparedArray1) AND `c`.`access` IN (:preparedArray2) AND `c`.`published` =1AND `a`.`state` = :conditionAND `a`.`catid` = :categoryId AND (`a`.`publish_up` ISNULLOR `a`.`publish_up` <= :publishUp) AND (`a`.`publish_down` ISNULLOR `a`.`publish_down` >= :publishDown)2.54s4.1KBParams/libraries/src/MVC/Model/BaseDatabaseModel.php:199Copy
SELECT `m`.`tag_id`,`t`.*FROM `lcnews_contentitem_tag_map` AS `m`
INNERJOIN `lcnews_tags` AS `t` ON `m`.`tag_id` = `t`.`id`
WHERE `m`.`type_alias` = :contentType AND `m`.`content_item_id` = :id AND `t`.`published` =1AND `t`.`access` IN (:preparedArray1)287μs5.2KBParams/libraries/src/Helper/TagsHelper.php:388Copy
SELECT `c`.`id`,`c`.`asset_id`,`c`.`access`,`c`.`alias`,`c`.`checked_out`,`c`.`checked_out_time`,`c`.`created_time`,`c`.`created_user_id`,`c`.`description`,`c`.`extension`,`c`.`hits`,`c`.`language`,`c`.`level`,`c`.`lft`,`c`.`metadata`,`c`.`metadesc`,`c`.`metakey`,`c`.`modified_time`,`c`.`note`,`c`.`params`,`c`.`parent_id`,`c`.`path`,`c`.`published`,`c`.`rgt`,`c`.`title`,`c`.`modified_user_id`,`c`.`version`, CASEWHENCHAR_LENGTH(`c`.`alias`) !=0THEN CONCAT_WS(':', `c`.`id`, `c`.`alias`) ELSE `c`.`id` ENDas `slug`
FROM `lcnews_categories` AS `s`
INNERJOIN `lcnews_categories` AS `c` ON (`s`.`lft` <= `c`.`lft` AND `c`.`lft` < `s`.`rgt`) OR (`c`.`lft` < `s`.`lft` AND `s`.`rgt` < `c`.`rgt`)
WHERE (`c`.`extension` = :extension OR `c`.`extension` ='system') AND `c`.`access` IN (:preparedArray1) AND `c`.`published` =1AND `s`.`id` = :id
ORDERBY `c`.`lft`249μs6.02KBParams/libraries/src/Categories/Categories.php:375Copy
SELECTDISTINCT a.id, a.title, a.name, a.checked_out, a.checked_out_time, a.note, a.state, a.access, a.created_time, a.created_user_id, a.ordering, a.language, a.fieldparams, a.params, a.type, a.default_value, a.context, a.group_id, a.label, a.description, a.required, a.only_use_in_subform,l.title AS language_title, l.image AS language_image,uc.name AS editor,ag.title AS access_level,ua.name AS author_name,g.title AS group_title, g.access as group_access, g.state AS group_state, g.note as group_note
FROM lcnews_fields AS a
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_languages` AS l ON l.lang_code = a.language
LEFTJOIN lcnews_users AS uc ON uc.id=a.checked_out
LEFTJOIN lcnews_viewlevels AS ag ON ag.id = a.access
LEFTJOIN lcnews_users AS ua ON ua.id = a.created_user_id
LEFTJOIN lcnews_fields_groups AS g ON g.id = a.group_id
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_fields_categories` AS fc ON fc.field_id = a.id
WHERE
(
(`a`.`context` = :context AND (`fc`.`category_id` ISNULLOR `fc`.`category_id` IN (:preparedArray1,:preparedArray2)) AND `a`.`access` IN (:preparedArray3)) AND
(`a`.`group_id` =0OR `g`.`access` IN (:preparedArray4)) AND `a`.`state` = :state) AND
(`a`.`group_id` =0OR `g`.`state` = :gstate) AND `a`.`only_use_in_subform` = :only_use_in_subform
ORDERBY a.ordering ASC370μs5.31KBParams/libraries/src/MVC/Model/BaseDatabaseModel.php:166Copy
SELECT `c`.`id`,`c`.`asset_id`,`c`.`access`,`c`.`alias`,`c`.`checked_out`,`c`.`checked_out_time`,`c`.`created_time`,`c`.`created_user_id`,`c`.`description`,`c`.`extension`,`c`.`hits`,`c`.`language`,`c`.`level`,`c`.`lft`,`c`.`metadata`,`c`.`metadesc`,`c`.`metakey`,`c`.`modified_time`,`c`.`note`,`c`.`params`,`c`.`parent_id`,`c`.`path`,`c`.`published`,`c`.`rgt`,`c`.`title`,`c`.`modified_user_id`,`c`.`version`, CASEWHENCHAR_LENGTH(`c`.`alias`) !=0THEN CONCAT_WS(':', `c`.`id`, `c`.`alias`) ELSE `c`.`id` ENDas `slug`
FROM `lcnews_categories` AS `s`
INNERJOIN `lcnews_categories` AS `c` ON (`s`.`lft` <= `c`.`lft` AND `c`.`lft` < `s`.`rgt`) OR (`c`.`lft` < `s`.`lft` AND `s`.`rgt` < `c`.`rgt`)
WHERE (`c`.`extension` = :extension OR `c`.`extension` ='system') AND `c`.`access` IN (:preparedArray1) AND `c`.`published` =1AND `s`.`id` = :id
ORDERBY `c`.`lft`745μs6.02KBParams/libraries/src/Categories/Categories.php:375Copy
SELECT*FROM `lcnews_banners`
WHERE
(`reset` <= :dateAND `reset` ISNOTNULL) AND
(`checked_out` ISNULLOR `checked_out` = :userId)1.36ms10.39KBParams/administrator/components/com_banners/src/Helper/BannersHelper.php:69Copy
SELECT `a`.`id`,`a`.`type`,`a`.`name`,`a`.`clickurl`,`a`.`sticky`,`a`.`cid`,`a`.`description`,`a`.`params`,`a`.`custombannercode`,`a`.`track_impressions`,`cl`.`track_impressions` AS `client_track_impressions`
FROM `lcnews_banners` AS `a`
LEFTJOIN `lcnews_banner_clients` AS `cl` ON `cl`.`id` = `a`.`cid`
WHERE
(
(
(`a`.`state` =1) AND
(`a`.`publish_up` ISNULLOR `a`.`publish_up` <= :nowDate1)) AND
(`a`.`publish_down` ISNULLOR `a`.`publish_down` >= :nowDate2)) AND
(`a`.`imptotal` =0OR `a`.`impmade` < `a`.`imptotal`) AND `a`.`cid` = :clientId AND `cl`.`state` =1AND `a`.`catid` IN (:preparedArray1)
ORDERBY `a`.`sticky` DESC, `a`.`ordering` LIMIT 51.74ms3.11KBParams/libraries/src/MVC/Model/BaseDatabaseModel.php:166Copy
UPDATE `lcnews_banners`
SET `impmade` = `impmade` +1WHERE `id` IN (:preparedArray1)1.1ms856BParams/components/com_banners/src/Model/BannersModel.php:315Copy
select `blacklist` from lcnews_ad_agency_settings979μs824B/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/helper.php:2043Copy
select `params` from lcnews_ad_agency_settings706μs872B/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/helper.php:74Copy
SELECT*FROM lcnews_ad_agency_zone WHERE zoneid=203 LIMIT 1160μs4.69KB/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/helper.php:104Copy
select `approved` from lcnews_ad_agency_banners where `id`=0124μs840B/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/helper.php:121Copy
select `approved` from lcnews_ad_agency_banners where `id`=0374μs0B/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/helper.php:122Copy
deletefrom lcnews_ad_agency_ips where `entry_date` <='2025-05-15'247μs0B/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/tmpl/default.php:16Copy
SELECT*FROM lcnews_ad_agency_zone WHERE zoneid=203 LIMIT 1151μs4.69KB/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/tmpl/default.php:20Copy
select `params` from lcnews_ad_agency_settings134μs872B/modules/mod_ijoomla_adagency_zone/tmpl/default.php:48Copy
SELECTSUM(CASEWHEN `a`.`next_execution` <= :now THEN1ELSE0END) AS due_count,SUM(CASEWHEN `a`.`locked` ISNULLTHEN0ELSE1END) AS locked_count
FROM `lcnews_scheduler_tasks` AS `a`
WHERE `a`.`state` =1442μs1.71KBParams/administrator/components/com_scheduler/src/Model/TasksModel.php:517Copy
SELECT `session_id`
FROM `lcnews_session`
WHERE `session_id` = ?661μs1.64KBParams/libraries/vendor/joomla/session/src/Handler/DatabaseHandler.php:291Copy
UPDATE `lcnews_session`
SET `data` = ?
, `time` = ?
WHERE `session_id` = ?1.23ms912BParams/libraries/vendor/joomla/session/src/Handler/DatabaseHandler.php:318Copy