LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCo, has scheduled a protest hearing next week for the city of Lakeport’s proposed South Main Street annexation.

The meeting will take place from 11 to 11:15 a.m. Friday, May 6, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

The hearing’s purpose is to receive written protests about the annexation. They will not take testimony about the substance of the city’s application.

The annexation covers nearly 137 acres, made up of 50 parcels, in the area south of the existing Lakeport city limits, adjacent to South Main Street and Soda Bay Road and east of Highway 29.

The city of Lakeport formally began the annexation process in 2019.

LAFCo approved the annexation proposal at a special March 30 meeting subject to a protest proceeding after receiving a small number of written protests from property owners.

LAFCo reported that property owners and voters residing within the annexation area may now file written protests against this proposal.

To be counted, protests must be in writing and submitted before the close of the hearing, and they must be made by owners of land within the area and/or by registered voters residing within the subject detachment territory.

Download a protest form here.

Protests may be mailed to Lake LAFCo, P.O. Box 2694, Granite Bay, CA 95746 or delivered to LAFCo Executive Officer John Benoit or his designee at the protest hearing.

Each protest must clearly state whether it is made by a landowner or a registered voter or submitted for both and must include the name and address of the person submitting it with an original signature.

Landowner protests must also include a street address or assessor’s parcel number identifying the location of the property in question. A registered voter’s protest must show the voter’s name and residence address as it appears on the affidavit of registration.

LAFCo said the value of protests received and not withdrawn before the hearing concludes will be determined within 30 days following the hearing in accordance with Government Code Section 57075.

This annexation may be effective upon recordation of the certificate of completion, LAFCo reported.

For more information, call the LAFCo office at 707-592-7528.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport Police Department said it is continuing its investigation into the discovery of what it called a homemade explosive device located in the Grocery Outlet parking lot on Tuesday.

The agency reported that at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Lakeport Police officers and Lakeport Fire Protection District firefighters were dispatched to Grocery Outlet in response to a report of an improvised explosive device that had been located in the parking lot.

Officers determined that a customer located the device under their vehicle in the parking lot.

Circumstances of when and how the device was placed are currently under investigation, officials said.

A Lakeport Police sergeant trained in explosive recognition determined that the device was constructed with a cardboard tube and contained powder, shrapnel and a fuse.

Police said the sergeant found that the device would not explode on its own and could be safely packaged for transport to a remote area where we could render it safe.

Officers transported the device to the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District Property west of the city and took measures to render it safe and further examine for evidence purposes.

The investigation is currently ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact us at 707-263-5491, by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by sending us an anonymous message by testing the words TIP LAKEPORT followed by the message to the number 888777 To protect the integrity of the investigation not further details will be released at this time.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — Middletown Area Town Hall, or MATH, will host a candidates forum on Thursday, May 12, in lieu of its monthly meeting.

The forum will take place from 7 to 9 p.m.at the Community Meeting Room, located at 21256 Washington St. in Middletown.

A Zoom meeting option will be available. However, questions will not be taken from Zoom participants during the meeting. Zoom participants should submit questions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The full meeting agenda and Zoom link for the May 12 MATH Candidates Forum will be available at minimum 72 hours before the meeting date.

The forum will begin with the two candidates running for the Middletown Unified School District Governing Board, Bryan Pullman and Charise Reynolds.

Other participating candidates and the office they are seeking to be reelected or elected to include:

• Assessor-recorder: Rich Ford (incumbent) and Hannah Faith Lee.
• Treasurer-tax collector: Paul Flores and Patrick Sullivan.
• District attorney: Anthony Farrington and Susan Krones (incumbent).

All community members are invited to attend. You do not have to be an active MATH member to participate. Please submit questions in advance to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. A limited number of questions will be taken from the floor.

MATH is a municipal advisory council established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors.

Its purpose is to increase the participation of the Middletown area residents in the decision-making processes that affect their community. MATH is also tasked with providing grassroots input on a variety of issues and matters impacting the area.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday held a discussion about its members’ pay level but took no immediate action to change them ahead of the coming new fiscal year budget.

In her last meeting as county administrative officer, Carol Huchingson, along with Human Resources Director Pam Samac, whose department is part of Huchingson’s, gave the supervisors a report on how their salaries compared with their colleagues in 12 other comparison counties around the state.

Those 12 counties were used for the county’s classification and compensation study, which resulted in the board approving a total of $21 million in raises in separate actions taken in the fall of 2020, when $5 million was approved, and the fall of 2021, when they gave the OK to another $16 million, as Lake County News has reported.

When the first round of raises were approved in October 2020, the board did not approve raises for its members. Their salaries have remained frozen at $63,714 per year, with the chair getting an additional $2,400.

Huchingson said she wanted to put the board members’ current pay into perspective, explaining that the vast majority of management employees earn more than the supervisors’ base salary.

Samac said she reviewed the county code for each of the 12 comparison counties to look at how they paid their supervisors, and checked that by the state controller’s report on their salaries.

She and Huchingson suggested that if the board returned to a methodology it had before the salary freeze for its members, at which time the board was paid 60% of the average salary for elected department heads, the supervisors’ base salary rate would be $85,855 per year. That’s a nearly 35% increase.

In reviewing the other dozen counties, “The salaries are all over the place,” said Huchingson, with not a lot of consistency.

Some of those counties base salary expectations on board members only working on Tuesdays, or meeting days, but Huchingson added that she knows the long hours Lake County’s board members work.

Another option is basing supervisorial salaries on a percentage of the salaries set by the state for Superior Court judges, which are now at $225,074 annually.

Huchingson’s written report noted that in neighboring Colusa County, the supervisorial salary level is 33% of the judicial salaries, or $74,274 annually. In Sonoma County, it’s as high as 75%, or $168,805 per year.

Samac said some of the comparison counties also have an auto allowance, either in the form of a stipend or mileage.

Mileage has been available to Lake County’s board but Huchingson said no one had claimed it in years.

The board members also have had stipends for the use of their cellphones. Earlier in the meeting, the board had discussed taking action to rescind the county’s 15-year-old wireless communications devices policy and replaced it with a new policy addressing smartphones.

Like the old policy, the new smartphone policy pays specific county employees — including the supervisors, elected officials, department heads and county management employees who have demonstrated a need — for use of their phones. That matter is being brought back at the first meeting in May.

Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said Huchingson and Samac sent him a document from Los Angeles County that lays out the supervisors’ responsibilities. He said he wanted Lake County to have a similar document that shows what’s expected of those who hold those roles.

Sabatier said he felt the chair’s additional $2,400 in pay was not enough, and that it should possibly be doubled.

“It requires more hours of the day to be able to deal with some of the things that come up,” he said, adding that the chair is involved in a lot more strategic conversation.

Board Chair EJ Crandell said he liked the idea of attaching supervisorial salaries to the judges’ salaries. He said the matter is controversial and attracts negative attention when it comes to the board members deciding their own salaries.

Supervisor Jessica Pyska said she also wanted to see the document on responsibilities from Los Angeles County. She said she feels there has been a lot of growth in what the board members do and she wants people to understand that it’s a full-time job and what responsibilities it entails.

Crandell suggested that if the board didn’t want to entertain raises, they should get staff members to assist them with their work.

Supervisor Tina Scott said that the workload is different now than it was five years ago, and that it has turned from part-time to full-time, in particular due to committee assignments.

Scott, who is leaving her seat in July to take a job with Lakeport Unified School District, said she would like to see raises. She said she’s been trying to find someone willing to step into her position and the qualified people she has found are unwilling to do it because of the pay.

Pyska pointed out that two board members — referring to Crandell and Sabatier — are running for reelection unopposed this year. She said qualified people have better jobs.

Supervisor Moke Simon said he also wanted board salaries to be tied to those of judges.

“At this point I’m not pushing for a raise,” just the conversation, Simon said.

Sabatier also agreed with connecting supervisorial and judicial salaries. However, like Simon, he also wasn’t wanting to push for a change immediately.

Rather, Sabatier said he didn’t want to do anything until the county had a balanced budget.

He pointed out that during the board’s midyear budget review, staff reported that the county has had to borrow a lot of cannabis money to make sure the budget was balanced in order to cover the millions in salary increases.

The discussion ended with the board giving no direction to staff on pursuing raises at this time.

Correction: The article has been updated to show that the new smartphone policy is due for adoption at the first meeting in May.

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.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — The Lake County Wine Alliance is kicking off its plans for the 2022 Wine Auction to be held Sept. 17 at The Mercantile by Shannon Family of Wines located in Kelseyville.

Wine Alliance Director and Committee Chair Beth Havrilla, working alongside Vice President Marie Beery, are leading the discussion for the format, layout and execution of the grand event at its April meeting.

The Wine Auction is the largest annual fundraising event, raising more funds for local charities from a single event than any other local nonprofit organization in Lake County.

The first year of the Wine Auction, the Wine Alliance gave $31,202 to various organizations.

Twenty-one years later, in 2021, the Lake County Wine Auction raised $250,000 for education and community needs with one third of the money raised directed to the five Lake County High Schools and the balance to community needs.

Since its inception, the Lake County Wine Alliance has awarded a total of $2,327,752 to assist the efforts of 57 local organizations.

“This year we will continue to raise the bar to enrich the life of people in our communities,” said Havrilla. “Our goal is to produce an event that is exciting to attend, exceeds fundraising expectations and continues the community ‘giving’ model the Wine Alliance established more than 20 years ago.”

New this year will be Auctioneer Brian Martin, Lake County’s sheriff; the emcee will be Jennifer Strong, local businesswoman and community volunteer; and special guest will be Congressman Mike Thompson.

“We’d like to recognize and thank Shaun Hornby, for his many years of service with the Wine Alliance,” said Beery. “For the past 13 years, he has done an incredible job as the Lake County Wine Auction auctioneer.”

The annual event is produced by the Lake County Wine Alliance, a nonprofit cooperative serving as the charitable arm of the Lake County wine industry. It is composed of Lake County wineries, winegrape growers, vineyards owners, related businesses and community supporters.

The organization is operated under the guidance of a six-member volunteer board of directors and numerous volunteer committee members.

The purpose is to support charitable organizations and other local programs to secure Lake County’s future with targeted giving in the areas of education, art, health and community services.

May 1 is the deadline for local organizations and charities to submit applications to the Lake County Wine Alliance to be considered as a 2022 beneficiary of the Lake County Wine Auction.

An application can be found on the Wine Alliance website at www.winealliance.org. 

The one-page application can be completed online or printed and mailed to Lake County Wine Alliance, P.O. Box 530, Kelseyville, CA 95451.

For more information, go to www.winealliance.org, visit Lake County Wine Alliance on facebook, or email Marie Beery, Wine Alliance vice president, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. — The East Region Town Hall, or ERTH, will host a candidates’ forum for the two candidates in the district attorney’s race next week.

The forum will be held as part of ERTH's monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 4, from 4:40 to to 5:30 p.m. It is open to the public.

Candidates Susan Krones (incumbent) and Anthony Farrington will be Answering the public’s questions. Elizabeth Larson of LakeCoNews will be moderating.

The position of district attorney functions as the chief law enforcement officer in the county. The DA's most essential duty is investigating and prosecuting criminal offenses on behalf of the people.

The meeting will be held at the Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge, 15900 Moose Lodge Lane at the intersection of Hwys 20 and 53.

A Zoom meeting option is available at 935 8339 6020 passcode 448228. All members of the public are encouraged to attend/watch this event.

ERTH is a Municipal Advisory Council for District 3 Lake County. The purpose of this group is to increase the participation of the residents of the East Region of District 3 in decisions affecting the community.

Meetings are held at the Moose Lodge in Clearlake Oaks every first Wednesday of the month from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

For more details and upcoming information, visit/join the ERTH Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ERTHD3LC.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After two years of online productions, Shakespeare at the Lake will once again return to the stage with a live performance this summer and it’s looking for performers.

Performance dates are scheduled for July 30 and 31 at Library Park in Lakeport, and August 5 to 7 at Austin Park in Clearlake.

Auditions will be held on Thursday, May 19, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 21, at 2 p.m. at the Mendocino College Lake Center. No experience is necessary.

Set on another habitable planet, the 2022 production of “Twelfth Night, Or What You Will,” transports you back in time with a classical comedy, and forward into the future of interplanetary colonization.

“Twelfth Night” is an engaging comedy with heartfelt love, trickery and deceit, and, of course, mistaken identity.

The production will also include original Shakespeare songs, with musical accompaniment performed live alongside the action.

Everyone (high school age and up) with an interest in performing is encouraged to attend auditions. Audition materials can be accessed at www.laketheatre.org.

Those cast will be required to register for THE 220 at Mendocino College. Scholarships are available.

Rehearsals will take place two-four evenings during the week — depending on the role — from late May through the performance dates.

Shakespeare at the Lake is a co-production of Mendocino College and Lake County Theatre Co., partnering with Lake County Friends of Mendocino College, and the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake.

Questions about auditions or the play can be sent to Director John Tomlinson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call him at 707-355-2211.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Plans for a new resort on the lakeshore in Lucerne have received the Lake County Planning Commission’s approval.

At its meeting on April 14, the commission unanimously approved Nicole Farb’s application for a design review permit for the Nikki Island resort project.

The resort is planned for a 1.5-acre property at 5835 and 5825 State Highway 20.

Planner Eric Porter said that while it’s not a large property, it’s large enough for the proposed resort development, with the land appropriate for the project’s size and development.

He said it’s also in accordance with the general plan, shorelines plan and zoning ordinance, and is compatible with existing development.

The resort will include nine overnight lodging units or one story “casitas.” Porter said that hotels and motels are a use by right when they don’t exceed 15 units.

The property also includes a one-story house that was the longtime residence of well-known Pearl Harbor survivor, Jim Harris, who died in 2011.

The plans include converting that house to a social gathering room, lobby, kitchen and dining room.

Several large and significant trees on the property will be maintained as part of the resort, with more trees and shrubbery to be planted, Porter said.

New amenities also will include an outdoor kitchen, in-ground pool and hot tub, new landscaping, parking and pedestrian paths. An existing driveway and some asphalt will be removed, which Porter said received support from Caltrans.

Porter said the county received no adverse comments on the proposal from the state clearinghouse.

However, an adjacent neighbor, Dr. Doug Reams, submitted a letter for a March hearing on the project — which was continued to the April meeting — over his concerns about noise, traffic, lighting and a host of other issues. Porter told the commission that mitigation measures will be put in place.

Staff recommended the commission approve the design review, Porter said.

Commissioner John Hess asked about whether the property has a boat dock. Farb, who attended via Zoom, said they do and that they are working with a local boat rental company to encourage use of the lake.

Commissioner Batsulwin Brown asked about when the last cultural resource study was completed. He said there is a known historical village site from the precontact era in the area and he was concerned about cultural resources being protected.

Noting that the site was previously developed, Farb said a cultural resource study was completed in 2020.

Commissioner Everardo Chavez Perez asked Farb how her idea for the resort came about and what she hopes to bring to Lake County.

“That question makes me so happy,” said Farb, a mother of two who owns the property with her husband.

She said that when she was a child, her family, which is from San Francisco, used to camp at Yosemite Park.

Farb wanted to have a resort but areas like Napa and Tahoe have priced them out. She said she’d been looking at Clear Lake for about seven years to find the perfect destination for the resort she wanted to build.

Brown offered both motions for the project, one to approve the initial study and the second for design review approval, with Chavez Perez seconding both motions.

The commission unanimously approved both motions.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is inviting residents in Lake, Colusa and Napa counties to a regional wildfire safety webinar to discuss the company’s wildfire prevention efforts.

PG&E said it is continuing to evolve its wildfire safety program to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

As part of these efforts, PG&E is hosting the wildfire safety webinar for Napa, Lake and Colusa County residents on Wednesday, April 27, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. to share its wildfire prevention plans for 2022 and listen to customer feedback.

PG&E experts will provide a brief presentation, after which participants will have the opportunity to ask questions.

The event can be accessed through the link or dial-in below or through PG&E’s website, pge.com/firesafetywebinars.

Click this link to join: bit.ly/362LL9X.

Attendee dial-in is 800-369-2098; the conference ID is 1371852.

During the webinar event, the PG&E team will discuss its wildfire prevention efforts; resources to help customers and communities before, during and after wildfire safety outages; and improvements and updates to PG&E’s safety technology and tools.

Closed captioning will be available in English, Spanish and Chinese and dial-in numbers will be available for those who aren’t able to join online.

For the full webinar events schedule, additional information on how to join, recordings and presentation materials from past events, and to learn more about PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program, visit www.pge.com/wildfiresafety.

More information and resources to help you and your family prepare for and stay safe in the event of an emergency can be found at https://www.safetyactioncenter.pge.com/.

On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom convened the coalition in support of CARE Court, which will provide individuals with severe mental health and substance use disorders the care and services they need to get healthy.

SB 1338, CARE Court legislation authored by Senator Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana) and Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), will be heard on Tuesday in its first committee, Senate Judiciary.

“Support for CARE Court is broad and diverse because Californians are tired of the status quo,” said Gov. Newsom. “We must act with urgency and accountability to address this crisis which currently leaves thousands of individuals living on our streets without the help they need.”

The coalition includes members of California’s Big City Mayors, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, California Professional Firefighters, the California Medical Association and the California Hospital Association, among others.

“As leaders at the local level, we are on the frontlines of this crisis, and we see CARE Court as a critical priority for the Big City Mayors of California. It’s time that our golden state stops walking by our greatest moral shame and faces it head on with clarity and compassion,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.

“Our members see people at their point of greatest need, responding to 911 calls for those in serious mental health crisis. This leads to using scarce fire and EMS resources to pick up the same folks over and over again. Governor Newsom knows we need a different approach, and CARE Court will help us break this cycle and truly get people the help they need,” said California Professional Firefighters President Brian K. Rice.

CARE Court would allow courts to order CARE plans, which would require counties to provide comprehensive treatment to the most severely impaired and untreated Californians and hold patients accountable to following their treatment plans.

It will provide an opportunity for a range of people, including family members, first responders, intervention teams, and mental health service providers, among others, to refer individuals suffering from schizophrenia spectrum or psychotic disorders, many of them unhoused, and get them into community-based services.

These include short-term stabilization medications, wellness and recovery supports, and connection to social services, including a housing plan.

The governor has called upon the Legislature to move quickly to enact CARE Court to allow local partners to begin implementation of this critical program.

CARE Court builds on Gov. Newsom’s $14 billion multi-year investment to provide new housing units and treatment slots and nearly $10 billion annually in community behavioral health services.

The governor’s approach focuses on quickly rehousing unsheltered individuals with behavioral health issues, all while new units come online, while also transforming Medi-Cal to provide more behavioral health services to people struggling the most.

For more information, visit https://www.chhs.ca.gov/care-court/.

 

America’s electric power system is undergoing radical change as it transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy. While the first decade of the 2000s saw huge growth in natural gas generation, and the 2010s were the decade of wind and solar, early signs suggest the innovation of the 2020s may be a boom in “hybrid” power plants.

A typical hybrid power plant combines electricity generation with battery storage at the same location. That often means a solar or wind farm paired with large-scale batteries. Working together, solar panels and battery storage can generate renewable power when solar energy is at its peak during the day and then release it as needed after the sun goes down.

A look at the power and storage projects in the development pipeline offers a glimpse of hybrid power’s future.

Our team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that a staggering 1,400 gigawatts of proposed generation and storage projects have applied to connect to the grid – more than all existing U.S. power plants combined. The largest group is now solar projects, and over a third of those projects involve hybrid solar plus battery storage.

While these power plants of the future offer many benefits, they also raise questions about how the electric grid should best be operated.

Why hybrids are hot

As wind and solar grow, they are starting to have big impacts on the grid.

Solar power already exceeds 25% of annual power generation in California and is spreading rapidly in other states such as Texas, Florida and Georgia. The “wind belt” states, from the Dakotas to Texas, have seen massive deployment of wind turbines, with Iowa now getting a majority of its power from the wind.

This high percentage of renewable power raises a question: How do we integrate renewable sources that produce large but varying amounts of power throughout the day?

That’s where storage comes in. Lithium-ion battery prices have rapidly fallen as production has scaled up for the electric vehicle market in recent years. While there are concerns about future supply chain challenges, battery design is also likely to evolve.

The combination of solar and batteries allows hybrid plant operators to provide power through the most valuable hours when demand is strongest, such as summer afternoons and evenings when air conditioners are running on high. Batteries also help smooth out production from wind and solar power, store excess power that would otherwise be curtailed, and reduce congestion on the grid.

Hybrids dominate the project pipeline

At the end of 2020, there were 73 solar and 16 wind hybrid projects operating in the U.S., amounting to 2.5 gigawatts of generation and 0.45 gigawatts of storage.

Today, solar and hybrids dominate the development pipeline. By the end of 2021, more than 675 gigawatts of proposed solar plants had applied for grid connection approval, with over a third of them paired with storage. Another 247 gigawatts of wind farms were in line, with 19 gigawatts, or about 8% of those, as hybrids.

Of course, applying for a connection is only one step in developing a power plant. A developer also needs land and community agreements, a sales contract, financing and permits. Only about one in four new plants proposed between 2010 and 2016 made it to commercial operation. But the depth of interest in hybrid plants portends strong growth.

In markets like California, batteries are essentially obligatory for new solar developers. Since solar often accounts for the majority of power in the daytime market, building more adds little value. Currently 95% of all proposed large-scale solar capacity in the California queue comes with batteries.

5 lessons on hybrids and questions for the future

The opportunity for growth in renewable hybrids is clearly large, but it raises some questions that our group at Berkeley Lab has been investigating.

Here are some of our top findings:

• The investment pays off in many regions. We found that while adding batteries to a solar power plant increases the price, it also increases the value of the power. Putting generation and storage in the same location can capture benefits from tax credits, construction cost savings and operational flexibility. Looking at the revenue potential over recent years, and with the help of federal tax credits, the added value appears to justify the higher price.

• Co-location also means tradeoffs. Wind and solar perform best where the wind and solar resources are strongest, but batteries provide the most value where they can deliver the greatest grid benefits, like relieving congestion. That means there are trade-offs when determining the best location with the highest value. Federal tax credits that can be earned only when batteries are co-located with solar may be encouraging suboptimal decisions in some cases.

• There is no one best combination. The value of a hybrid plant is determined in part by the configuration of the equipment. For example, the size of the battery relative to a solar generator can determine how late into the evening the plant can deliver power. But the value of nighttime power depends on local market conditions, which change throughout the year.

• Power market rules need to evolve. Hybrids can participate in the power market as a single unit or as separate entities, with the solar and storage bidding independently. Hybrids can also be either sellers or buyers of power, or both. That can get complicated. Market participation rules for hybrids are still evolving, leaving plant operators to experiment with how they sell their services.

• Small hybrids create new opportunities: Hybrid power plants can also be small, such as solar and batteries in a home or business. Such hybrids have become standard in Hawaii as solar power saturates the grid. In California, customers who are subject to power shutoffs to prevent wildfires are increasingly adding storage to their solar systems. These “behind-the-meter” hybrids raise questions about how they should be valued, and how they can contribute to grid operations.

Hybrids are just beginning, but a lot more are on the way. More research is needed on the technologies, market designs and regulations to ensure the grid and grid pricing evolve with them.

While questions remain, it’s clear that hybrids are redefining power plants. And they may remake the U.S. power system in the process.

Joachim Seel, Senior Scientific Engineering Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Bentham Paulos, Affiliate, Electricity Markets & Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Will Gorman, Graduate Student Researcher in Electricity Markets and Policy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is set to consider supervisorial salaries in other counties as an apparent prelude to giving its members significant raises, and will discuss a proposal to remove the Human Resources Department from the control of the County Administrative Office.

The‌ ‌board will meet beginning ‌at‌ ‌9‌ ‌a.m. ‌Tuesday, April 26, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

The‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌can‌ ‌be‌ ‌watched‌ ‌live‌ ‌on‌ ‌Channel‌ ‌8, ‌online‌ ‌at‌ ‌https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx‌‌ and‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌county’s‌ ‌Facebook‌ ‌page. ‌Accompanying‌ ‌board‌ ‌documents, ‌the‌ ‌agenda‌ ‌and‌ ‌archived‌ ‌board‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌videos‌ ‌also‌ ‌are‌ ‌available‌ ‌at‌ ‌that‌ ‌link. ‌ ‌

To‌ ‌participate‌ ‌in‌ ‌real-time, ‌join‌ ‌the‌ ‌Zoom‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌by‌ ‌clicking‌ ‌this‌ ‌link‌. ‌ ‌

The‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌ID‌ ‌is‌ 956 8784 9396, ‌pass code 132379.‌ ‌The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,95687849396#,,,,*132379#.

All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.

To‌ ‌submit‌ ‌a‌ ‌written‌ ‌comment‌ ‌on‌ ‌any‌ ‌agenda‌ ‌item‌ ‌visit‌ ‌https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and‌ ‌click‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌eComment‌ ‌feature‌ ‌linked‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌date. ‌If‌ ‌a‌ ‌comment‌ ‌is‌ ‌submitted‌ ‌after‌ ‌the‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌begins, ‌‌it‌ ‌may‌ ‌not‌ ‌be‌ ‌read‌ ‌during‌ ‌the‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌but‌ ‌will‌ ‌become‌ ‌a‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌record.

In an untimed item, the board will consider a report from County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson regarding supervisorial salaries in 12 comparison counties.

In 2020 and 2021, the board approved raises for county employees totaling $21 million, but at that time did not raise supervisorial salaries.

However, the Tuesday discussion to be presented by Huchingson — who is retiring as of April 29 — appears to be setting the stage for the board to get raises totaling nearly 35%.

Huchingson’s report said supervisorial salaries in Lake County had been set at 60% of the average of the elected department head salaries since 2001.

She said that the board’s actions in October 2020, when it gave out the first $5 million in raises, froze the supervisorial salaries at $63,714 per year, with the chair getting an additional $2,400.

Human Resources has gathered data from the original 12 comparison counties used in the classification and compensation the county used for giving the employee raises over the past two years. “Staff requests an opportunity to review the findings with your Board,” Huchingson wrote.

She said if the board reverted back to the 60% methodology, the new salary rate for supervisors would be $85,855 per year, plus the $2,400 for the chair.

Her report showed that among the comparison counties, some base supervisorial salaries on a percentage of the salaries paid for Superior Court judges, which currently are set at $225,074 annually. Those range from 33%, or $74,274 per year in Colusa County, to 47%, or $105,785 annually, in Napa County and 75%, or $168,805, in Sonoma County.

In another untimed item, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier is asking the board to consider reestablishing Human Resources as a stand-alone department.

In 2018, at Huchingson’s request, the board placed Human Resources under the County Administrative Officer’s control.

However, historically, over the past four decades, it had mostly been a stand-alone department, Sabatier said.

“In 2018, there were some needs to enhance Human Resources, especially in its goal to quickly fly positions for recruitment and to tackle the issue of pay and vacancy rates. These changes have been successful. Now, Human Resources is able to fly those positions fairly quickly upon request by a hiring department and salaries and benefits have received the scrutiny it required in order to pro-actively deal with our vacancy rates,” Sabatier wrote.

“Human Resources has grown a lot as well over the years. It develops policy on recruitment strategies to effectively recruit qualified personnel, ensure training opportunities for our employees, administers health and other work-related benefits, and appropriately responds to state and federal regulatory mandates,” he said.

Sabatier said it’s “absolutely important that the Board of Supervisors have a direct connection with the Human Resources Director as we continue the work to reduce our vacancy rates. It is also important, as the Board goes through the process of hiring a new County Administrative Officer, to ensure that they come into the position with the ability to seamlessly transition and to continue towards the Board’s goal and objectives. By re-establishing Human Resources as a stand-alone department, it will allow Board members to continue to oversee the work being accomplished by Human Resources while also alleviating some of the workload of the CAO to better focus on the Administrative Office’s role in taking our county into the future.”

Sabatier’s report does not directly address concerns about transparency and conflict of interest with Human Resources remaining under the County Administrative Office’s control, at least in the short-term.

Specifically, those issues are arising because Susan Parker, Huchingson’s assistant county administrative officer, has been tapped by the board to fill the position on an interim basis. Parker has acknowledged she intends to see the job on a permanent basis.

That raises questions about what influence she may exert in the recruitment process for the job that she also is seeking.

A discussion the county had announced would take place on April 26 regarding how to fill Supervisor Tina Scott’s seat due to her resignation, effective in July, is not on the agenda.

The full agenda follows.

CONSENT AGENDA

5.1: Adopt proclamation commending County Administrative Officer Carol J. Huchingson for her 29 years of service to the county of Lake.

5.2: a) Rescind the wireless-communications devices policies; and b) approve the smartphone stipend policy.

5.3: Approve public defender contract amendment No. 7 between the county of Lake and Lake Indigent Defense LLP for the purpose of removing Mitchell Hauptman as partner and authorize chair to sign.

5.4: Approve Board of Supervisors meeting minutes April 5, 2022.

5.5: Adopt proclamation designating the week of April 24 to 30, 2022, as National Crime Victims' Rights Week.

5.6: Adopt resolution authorizing the Lake County Health Services Department to accept funding from the California Department of Public Health's Oral Health Program for fiscal years 2022 through 2027.

5.7: Approve the purchase of professional services from CivicPlus in the amount of $62,853.29 for website redesign, migration, and hosting, and authorize the board chair to sign the statement of work.

5.8: a) Approve agreement for Federal Apportionment Exchange Program and State Match Program for California Department of Transportation — Non MPO County, Agreement No. X22-5914(124); and b) adopt resolution authorizing and directing the chair of the Board of Supervisors to execute the agreements for Federal Apportionment Exchange Program and State Match Program for California Department of Transportation – Non MPO County, Agreement No. X22-5914(124), and authorize the chair to sign the resolution and agreement.

5.9: Approve the submission of an electronic grant application to the state of California Department of Boating and Waterways in the amount of $125,000 for the purchase of a new law enforcement patrol boat and trailer.

TIMED ITEMS

9:05 a.m.: Pet of the Week.

6.3, 9:07 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation commending County Administrative Officer Carol J. Huchingson for her 29 years of service to the county of Lake.

6.4, 9:08 a.m.: Presentation of Proclamation Designating the week of April 24-30, 2022 as National Crime Victims' Rights Week.

6.5, 9:30 a.m.: Public hearing on account and proposed assessment for 6329 10th Ave, Lucerne.

6.6, 10:15 a.m.: a) Consideration of presentation on the Organized Delivery System 1115 Demonstration and 1915(b) waiver for substance use disorder treatment services; and b) approve joining the Organized Delivery System.

6.7, 10:45 a.m.: a) Consideration of update by the Public Works director on the status of the 5-Year Pavement Rehabilitation Plan; and b) direction to staff for next steps in completing the plan.

6.8, 11:30 a.m.: Discussion of potential transient occupancy tax ordinance revision and voluntary collection agreements.

6.9, 12 p.m.: Consideration of a 5 year agreement by and between the county of Lake and ECS Imaging Inc. for document management software and scanning, indexing, conversion and destruction services, year one in the amount $191,950.50, year two in the amount of $67,500, year three in the amount of $67,500, year four in the amount of $67,500 and year five in the amount of $67,500.00 for a total of $461,950.50, and authorize the chair to sign.

UNTIMED ITEMS

7.2: Consideration of Board of Supervisor salaries in 12 comparison counties.

7.3: Consideration of the following advisory board appointments: Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, Lower Lake Waterworks District.

7.4: Consideration of Clearlake Oaks Road Map Task Force Community-Driven Revitalization Action Plan.

7.5: Consideration of use of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. settlement funds for various road projects and authorize the Public Works Department to include appropriations in the fiscal year 2022-23 budget.

7.6: a) Presentation and discussion on proposed routes to ensure compliance with Senate Bill 552; and b) identify and authorize the most-viable route as recommended for Lake County’s Compliance with Senate Bill 552.

7.7, ADDENDUM: Consideration of resolution re-establishing the human resources department as a stand-alone department.

CLOSED SESSION

8.1: Public employee evaluation: County Librarian Christopher Veach.

8.2: Public employee evaluation: Public Services Director Lars Ewing.

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.