LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Recent rains and cooler temperatures across the region have lowered the threat of wildfires, allowing Cal Fire’s Sonoma Lake Napa Unit to transition out of peak fire season.
The transition takes effect at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 10, in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Colusa, Yolo and Solano counties.
Due to drought like conditions that persisted throughout 2018 in California, Cal Fire continues to maintain staffing to meet any future threat, as well as having the ability to strategically move resources to areas that remain at a higher wildfire threat level.
Cal Fire officials said the agency will also continue to monitor weather conditions closely and will maintain the ability to increase staffing should the weather conditions change or if there is a need to support wildfires and or any other emergencies in other areas of the state.
During the cooler winter months, Cal Fire will continue to actively focus efforts on fire prevention and fuels treatment activities as guided by the State’s Strategic Fire Plan and localized Unit fire plans. These will be done through public education, prescribed burns and various types of fuel reduction. These activities are aimed at reducing the impacts of large, damaging wildfires and improving overall forest health.
Cal Fire said 2018 has been an extremely active fire year, even more so than in 2017. This year California has seen the deadliest, the most destructive, the largest wildfire and most acres burned throughout the state in California’s recorded history. The Mendocino Complex, which burned mostly in Lake County, charred more than 450,000 acres to make it the largest wildland fire in state history.
Statewide, Cal Fire and firefighters from many local agencies battled more than 6,228 wildfires within the State Responsibility Area that burned over 876,225 acres. This is over 650 more wildfires this year than normal.
In the Sonoma Lake Napa Unit, Cal Fire responded to 463 wildfires that charred 111,995 acres. Cal Fire said that does not count acreage that burned on federal lands; a large portion of the Mendocino Complex acreage was in the Mendocino National Forest.
Residents are urged to still take precautions outdoors in order to prevent sparking a wildfire. A leading cause of wildfires this time of year is from escaped debris burning.
Before you burn, ensure it’s a permissive burn day by contacting your local air quality district and then make sure you have any and all required burn permits.
During burning make sure that piles of debris are no larger than four feet in diameter, provide a 10-foot clearance down to bare mineral soil around the burn pile and that a responsible adult is in attendance at all times with a water source and a shovel.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – This week, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) and several of her Assembly colleagues introduced ACA 1, a constitutional amendment which would give local governments improved options for funding critical infrastructure projects, including broadband expansion, local roads, and affordable housing projects.
This bill is important, because it will empower local communities to address local priorities without needing to rely on state and federal funding initiatives.
ACA 1 would reduce the local vote threshold for approval of bond and special tax measures from a two-thirds vote to a 55 percent majority.
This is the same vote threshold that currently applies to all local school district measures. By making this change, ACA 1 puts housing and infrastructure projects on par with school proposals, so that cities, counties, and special districts have a practical financing tool to address community needs.
“As a former mayor of Winters and board member of regional water, housing, and transportation agencies, I have seen first-hand the deterioration of our once world-class infrastructure,” said Aguiar-Curry. “That is why I introduced ACA 1 on the first day of the legislative session. This proposal will empower California communities to take action at the local level to improve their economies, neighborhoods, and residents’ quality of life. Plus, with discussions underway in Washington D.C. about a federal infrastructure initiative, ACA 1 will give California’s local governments another tool to provide matching-dollars for federal grants to fully take advantage of new funding streams.”
In practice, local officials propose a local bond or special tax, and then the voters in that community decide whether they support the idea or not.
The voters would still need to overwhelmingly – with 55 percent of the vote – support a bond or special tax in order for it to be approved. Local officials will still control which priorities they recommend to voters, and local voters will still control how and where their infrastructure bond or tax dollars would be spent.
“Local communities deserve a fair chance at making sure that their residents can afford to pay the rent or buy a home,” said Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco), coauthor of ACA 1 and Chair of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. “California’s housing affordability crisis requires real investment across the entire state, and I applaud Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry for helping us get there.”
“Local voices are central to the conversation about what investments are necessary to support local businesses and improve residents’ quality of life,” said Aguiar-Curry. “Our city councilmembers, county supervisors, and special district representatives are elected to advance our cities, counties, towns, and neighborhoods. There’s no greater impact they can have than targeting public investments to where people need them most. It’s time our constitution allowed them greater ability to do that.”
For every dollar spent on infrastructure, there is a return benefit of several dollars back to our economy from the related construction jobs and activities.
These critical projects include fixing streets and roads, constructing public safety facilities for police and fire departments, upgrading water and flood control systems, deploying broadband for internet connectivity, and maintaining parks.
Not only do these construction and maintenance efforts improve communities and residents’ quality of life, they also create new local jobs.
“We need a renewed effort at every level of government to support our economy with modern, safe infrastructure. ACA 1 will empower local officials to ask their voters to approve their vision for how and when to invest in these projects,” said Aguiar-Curry. “Local communities know their priorities best. This constitutional amendment will offer an improved tool for local leaders to prioritize projects and determine how to best pay for them.”
Since 2001, over 2,200 local revenue measures have been placed before voters. Nearly 80 percent of all two-thirds supermajority measures garnered more than 55 percent “yes” votes, but ultimately failed passage because they fell slightly short of the current two-thirds vote threshold.
If this amendment became law, those measures would have passed. Because this measure would change the Constitution, the proposal would need to be placed on the ballot for approval in the next statewide election, should the Legislature pass it.
ACA 1 is coauthored by Assemblymembers Chiu, Eggman, Eduardo Garcia, Gloria, McCarty, Mullin, Santiago, and Ting. The bill will be heard in its first policy committee hearing in early 2019.
Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake and Napa Counties, all of Yolo County except West Sacramento, and parts of Colusa County, Solano County and Sonoma County. Visit her Web site at www.asm.ca.gov/aguiar-curry.
What's up for December? High rates for the Geminid meteor shower and a visible comet.
This month’s Geminid meteors peak on the morning of Dec. 14 at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time or 4:30 a.m. Pacific and are active from Dec. 4 through the 17. The peak lasts for a full 24 hours, meaning meteor watchers around the globe will get to see this spectacle.
If you can see the familiar winter constellations Orion and Gemini in the sky, you'll see some Geminids. Expect to see up to 120 meteors per hour from a dark sky location but only after the first quarter moon sets around midnight your local time. From the Southern Hemisphere, observers should see fewer but still plenty of medium-speed meteors once Gemini rises above the horizon after midnight local time.
The best observing equipment for meteor watching is a comfortable chair and your eyes.
Comet 46P/Wirtanen started to brighten last month but it will be easier to see in December. It's a short-period comet with an orbital period of only 5.4 years. It's diameter is estimated to be three quarters of a mile or 1.2 kilometers across.
On Dec. 16, 46P will be only 7.2 million miles or 11.7 million kilometers from Earth and will reach an estimated naked-eye magnitude of 3 to 7.5.
Catch your last view of Saturn for several months when it's near the Moon at sunset Dec. 8 through 10. Then Mars meets up with the Moon Dec. 13 through 15.
From Dec. 24 to 26, catch the Moon above, near, and below Leo's bright white star Regulus. Year-end brings the Moon near Virgo's pretty white star Spica from Dec. 29 through 31.
Remember, you can catch up on all of NASA's current and future missions at: www.nasa.gov .
Jane Houston Jones works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said it is working to finalize the identification of a body found this week in the Eel River.
Lt. Shannon Barney said that just before 12:45 p.m. Wednesday the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received a call related to found human remains in the South Fork of the Eel River, just south of the Humboldt/Mendocino County line in Piercy.
The body was first observed by a wildlife photographer around 9 a.m. that day but the photographer did not recognize it as human remains at first, thinking it might have been a deceased animal, Barney said.
Barney said the photographer later examined the photographs and showed them to a friend, and they decided to contact a member of the Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue Team, or SHTRT, about their concern.
SHTRT notified the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and then responded to the location with a swift water team to assist in confirming if there was a human body and if so, to assist in body recovery, Barney said.
Team members entered the river with a raft and navigated to a closer vantage point where it was confirmed to be a human body entangled in branches of a downed tree laying partially in the water of the Eel River, according to Barney.
The SHTRT was able to free the body from the tree branches and then navigate back to the shoreline. The body appeared to be that of a white male adult, over 6 feet tall, with a heavy build. Barney said the decedent appeared to have been in the water for a week or more and did not have any identification on him.
On Thursday, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was contacted by a family member of a missing adult male from Santa Rosa. Barney said the family member advised they heard of the story of the body’s discovery on a local news outlet.
This family member indicated her brother had visited her in Eureka and was last seen leaving to go back to his home in Santa Rosa. This was in mid-November and her brother had not been seen or heard from since then, Barney said.
Barney said the Santa Rosa Police Department does have an active missing persons investigation on the caller's brother. The missing person matches the description of the male who was recovered.
The missing person’s vehicle was later located near Confusion Hill, approximately 6 miles upstream from where the body was found, Barney said.
Barney said the cause of death is not yet know and an autopsy is schedule for Tuesday, Dec. 11.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is not releasing any further information about the recovered body or the missing person's identify until the remains are positively identified, Barney said.
Joseph Rollin, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Jenna E. Gallegos, Colorado State University
What do your car, phone, soda bottle and shoes have in common? They’re all largely made from petroleum. This nonrenewable resource gets processed into a versatile set of chemicals called polymers – or more commonly, plastics. Over 5 billion gallons of oil each year are converted into plastics alone.
Polymers are behind many important inventions of the past several decades, like 3D printing. So-called “engineering plastics,” used in applications ranging from automotive to construction to furniture, have superior properties and can even help solve environmental problems. For instance, thanks to engineering plastics, vehicles are now lighter weight, so they get better fuel mileage. But as the number of uses rises, so does the demand for plastics. The world already produces over 300 million tons of plastic every year. The number could be six times that by 2050.
Petro-plastics aren’t fundamentally all that bad, but they’re a missed opportunity. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Switching from petroleum-based polymers to polymers that are biologically based could decrease carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons every year. Bio-based polymers are not only renewable and more environmentally friendly to produce, but they can actually have a net beneficial effect on climate change by acting as a carbon sink. But not all bio-polymers are created equal.
Bioplastics don’t depend on drilling for oil since they get their carbon from CO₂ already in the atmosphere.QiuJu Song/Shutterstock.com
Degradable bio-polymers
You may have encountered “bioplastics” before, as disposable utensils in particular – these plastics are derived from plants instead of oil. Such bio-polymers are made by feeding sugars, most often from sugar cane, sugar beets, or corn, to microorganisms that produce precursor molecules that can be purified and chemically linked together to form polymers with various properties.
Plant-derived plastics are better for the environment for two reasons. First, there is a dramatic reduction in the energy required to manufacture plant-based plastics – by as much as 80 percent. While each ton of petroleum-derived plastic generates 2 to 3 tons of CO₂, this can be reduced to about 0.5 tons of CO₂ per ton of bio-polymer, and the processes are only getting better.
Second, plant-based plastics can be biodegradable, so they don’t accumulate in landfills.
While it’s great for disposables like plastic forks to biodegrade, sometimes a longer lifetime is important – you probably wouldn’t want the dashboard of your car to slowly turn into a pile of mushrooms over time. Many other applications require the same type of resilience, such as construction materials, medical devices and home appliances. Biodegradable bio-polymers are also not recyclable, meaning more plants need to be grown and processed continually to meet demand.
Bio-polymers as carbon storage
Plastics, no matter the source, are mainly made of carbon – about 80 percent by weight. While petroleum-derived plastics don’t release CO₂ in the same way that burning fossil fuels does, they also don’t help sequester any of the excess of this gaseous pollutant – the carbon from liquid oil is simply converted into solid plastics.
Bio-polymers, on the other hand, are derived from plants, which use photosynthesis to convert CO₂, water and sunlight to sugars. When these sugar molecules are converted into bio-polymers, the carbon is effectively locked away from the atmosphere – as long as they’re not biodegraded or incinerated. Even if bio-polymers end up in a landfill, they will still serve this carbon storage role.
CO₂ is only about 28 percent carbon by weight, so polymers comprise an enormous reservoir in which to store this greenhouse gas. If the current world annual supply of around 300 million tons of polymers were all non-biodegradable and bio-based, this would equate to a gigaton — a billion tons — of sequestered CO₂, about 2.8 percent of current global emissions. In a recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlined capturing, storing and reusing carbon as a key strategy for mitigating climate change; bio-based polymers could make a key contribution, up to 20 percent of the CO₂ removal required to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The non-degradable biopolymer market
Current carbon sequestration strategies, including geological storage that pumps CO₂ exhaust underground or regenerative agriculture that stores more carbon in the soil, lean heavily on policy to drive the desired outcomes.
While these are critical mechanisms for climate change mitigation, the sequestration of carbon in the form of bio-polymers has the potential to harness a different driver: money.
Competition based on price alone has been challenging for bio-polymers, but early successes show a path toward greater penetration. One exciting aspect is the ability to access new chemistries not currently found in petroleum-derived polymers.
Petro-plastic bottles can only be recycled a couple times max.hans/pixabay, CC BY
Consider recyclability. Few traditional polymers are truly recyclable. These materials actually are most often downcycled, meaning they’re suitable only for low-value applications, such as construction materials. Thanks to the tools of genetic and enzyme engineering, however, properties like complete recyclability – which allows the material to be used repeatedly for the same application – can be designed into bio-polymers from the beginning.
Bio-polymers today are based largely on natural fermentation products of certain species of bacteria, such as the production by Lactobacillus of lactic acid – the same product that provides the tartness in sour beers. While these constitute a good first step, emerging research suggests the true versatility of bio-polymers is set to be unleashed in the coming years. Thanks to the modern ability to engineer proteins and modify DNA, custom design of bio-polymer precursors is now in reach. With it, a world of new polymers become possible – materials in which today’s CO₂ will reside in a more useful, more valuable form.
For this dream to be realized, more research is needed. While early examples are here today – like the partially bio-based Coca-Cola PlantBottle – the bioengineering required to achieve many of the most promising new bio-polymers is still in the research stage – like a renewable alternative to carbon fiber that could be used in everything from bicycles to wind turbine blades.
Government policies supporting carbon sequestration would also help drive adoption. With this kind of support in place, significant use of bio-polymers as carbon storage is possible as soon as the next five years – a timeline with the potential to make a significant contribution to helping solve the climate crisis.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The final results are in for the Nov 6. statewide general election, with the updated count showing that a south county fire tax passed and the placement in two school board races changed.
Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley released the results of the official canvass on Thursday night.
Fridley, who retires Dec. 28, wrapped up her final official canvass on the day of the deadline. Election officials have 30 days to complete the canvass and certify the election results.
One of the notable findings in the official canvass is that voter turnout was a strong 65.7 percent. That’s just 7 percentage points below the November 2016 presidential election.
Absentee, or vote-by-mail, voters remain in the majority in Lake County, casting 47.2 percent of the total ballots, while precinct voters accounted for 18.5 percent.
In local races, key changes in the results included Measure L – the South Lake County Fire special benefit tax – getting a small boost in support that pushed it over the two-thirds supermajority it needed.
In preliminary results, Measure L had 66.2 percent, and needed 66.7 percent to pass. The final results showed that the measure received a yes vote of 67.9 percent versus a no vote of 32.1 percent, giving it the margin needed to go into effect. Fire officials have said it is necessary to maintain service levels across the south county.
Another notable change is that the result in the race for Lake County Board of Education’s Trustee Area No. 5 flipped.
Incumbent Madelene Lyon had led by a slim 0.6 percent in the preliminary count over challenger Anna Rose Ravenwoode. In the final count, Ravenwood edged Lyon out, 51 to 48.5 percent, respectively.
The other change in standings was in the race for three seats on the Konocti Unified School District Board of Trustees. The preliminary results showed Joan Mingori leading the field, followed by Bill Diener and Pamela Bening-Hale. In the final results all three were still elected, with Mingori maintaining the top spot but Bening-Hale’s vote count just edging out Diener’s.
In what was the year’s most notable race, for Superior Court judge, Shanda Harry strengthened her commanding lead over Don Anderson to win the seat.
Harry, a deputy county counsel for the county of Lake, won with 59.1 percent of the vote to 40.5 percent for Anderson, the sitting district attorney.
With her election, Harry becomes the second woman to sit on the bench in Lake County’s 157-year history.
Lake County Superior Court officials said Harry’s swearing-in ceremony will be held Jan. 7.
In the race for Clearlake City Council, Dirk Slooten remained the top vote-getter with 40.5 percent. Elected along with Slooten is Russell Cremer, with 35.6 percent. Russell Perdock finished out of the running with 23.4 percent of the vote.
The final vote count also showed across-the-board strengthening of support for school bonds, all of which passed.
Measure H, which will raise $28 million for Middletown Unified’s schools, received a 60.8 percent yes vote in the final count, up nearly 3 percent from the preliminary count.
Upper Lake Unified School District placed two measures on the Nov. 6 ballot: Measure I, a $10 million bond for high school improvements, and Measure J, a $12 million bond for elementary and middle school renovations and upgrades.
The measures passed with 65.9 and 64.3 percent yes votes, respectively, with Measure I gaining 3.3 percent approval and Measure J another 2.1 percent when the final results came in.
A rundown of the final official results is published below.
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.
Students Tillie Grant and Cassidy McAuley of Lucerne Elementary School in Lucerne, Calif., presented State Sen. Mike McGuire with an Eagle lapel pin and named him an honorary "Lucerne Eagle” during a student assembly on Wednesday, December 5, 2018. Photo courtesy of Lucerne Elementary. LUCERNE, Calif. – Lucerne Elementary School students had the chance to learn about government directly from Lake County’s state senator, Mike McGuire, during a special Wednesday visit.
McGuire made an appearance at an assembly that was held for the seventh and eighth grade students.
He spoke to the students about leadership and government, which supports the curriculum for the eighth grade students on the U.S. Constitution.
Sen. McGuire engaged students with questions about what changes they would make in our country to make it a better place.
At one point in the assembly, McGuire had students and staff up on their feet doing the sprinkler dance and having a great time. Even Principal/Superintendent Mike Brown and District 3 Supervisor-elect Eddie Crandell, also a parent of a student, got in on the action.
Students Tillie Grant and Cassidy McAuley presented Sen. McGuire with an Eagle lapel pin and named him an honorary "Lucerne Eagle.”
Staff said the event was a special treat for the students and made a huge impact on them.
Sen. Mike McGuire speaks to students during a student assembly on Wednesday, December 5, 2018, in Lucerne, Calif. Photo courtesy of Lucerne Elementary.
Students Bianca Saldana and Jovanni Marcial were the grand marshals for the Clearlake Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 1, 2018. Photo courtesy of the city of Clearlake. CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Saturday, Dec. 1, the city of Clearlake and the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce sponsored the annual Christmas Parade along Lakeshore Drive and tree lighting ceremony at Austin Park.
There were a number of outstanding participants in the parade, but the judges chose the Lower Lake High School Marching Band as the first place winner, with Clearlake Bass Master in second and Action Sanitation in third.
“I would like to thank all the participants in this year’s parade,” said Clear Lake Chamber Manager Patrick Prather.
This year’s grand marshals for the parade were two students, Bianca Saldana and Jovanni Marcial.
Bianca was selected by Pomo School staff members and Jovanni was selected by other students at Burns Valley School. Both were chosen based on outstanding personal qualities that make them stand out as positive examples by students and staff alike.
City Manager Greg Folsom, added “This is one of my favorite events of the year. I love the participation of the community in braving the elements to participate in the festivities. The city of Clearlake has added more lights in Austin Park this year, as well as on City Hall.”
The 87th annual Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday, December 6, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Photo by Joe McHugh, California Highway Patrol. SACRAMENTO – Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and First Lady Anne Gust Brown hosted the 87th annual Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony Thursday evening on the West Steps of the State Capitol.
“During this very special and holy season, we remember our friends and our blessings but we also take into account those who have suffered losses, particularly those who have lost so many loved ones in the fires in California, our firefighters and the other first responders,” said Gov. Brown.
This year, the governor and first lady lit the Capitol Christmas tree with 7-year-old Kiran Dong of Valencia, who was born with Prader-Willi Syndrome and receives services from the North Los Angeles County Regional Center.
The tree is illuminated by approximately 10,000 ultra-low wattage LED lights and is decorated with more than 900 hand-crafted ornaments made by children and adults with developmental disabilities who receive services and support from the state’s developmental centers and 21 nonprofit regional centers.
Gov. Jerry Brown and First Lady Anne Gust Brown with Kiran Dong at the Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday, December 6, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Photo by Joe McHugh, California Highway Patrol. This year’s tree is a 65-foot-tall white fir from the Latour Demonstration State Forest located near Redding in Shasta County, the seventh Capitol Christmas tree to come from a state forest managed by Cal Fire.
Kitty O’Neal of KFBK Radio emceed the ceremony, which included feature performances by the California Army National Guard’s DET 1, 40th Infantry Division Band, Brass Quintet, the Governor’s Own; students from the Oakland Military Institute and Oakland School for the Arts; Harley White Jr. Trio; and St. Paul’s Baptist Church Choir.
More information about Kiran Dong can be found here.
Gov. Jerry Brown delivers remarks at Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday, December 6, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Photo by Joe McHugh, California Highway Patrol.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is now using the WeTip program to fight crime in Mendocino County.
WeTip provides a hotline number which anyone can call if they have information about any crime or potentially hazardous condition in our communities, according to Lt. Greg Stefani.
Stefani said all callers to WeTip remain anonymous. The program also offers rewards of up to $1,000.00 for tips that ultimately result in a conviction.
If you have information that could help law enforcement agencies bring criminals to justice, please call WeTip at 1-800-732-7463.
Additionally, tips can be submitted online at http://www.wetip.com .
WeTip hotlines are answered by bilingual tip operators 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All calls are anonymous, not just confidential. No one will ever know who made the call. The operator will then ask a series of questions, designed by law enforcement, to obtain the maximum amount of information about the reported crime.
After the information is taken, a code name and number are assigned to the informant. The caller always remains absolutely anonymous.
The WeTip operator will take the information and pass it on to appropriate law officers who then conduct their own investigation. Only calls made directly to WeTip will be eligible for reward.
If your information results in an arrest and conviction, you will be given up to $1,000 cash, depending upon the importance of the crime solved. Your identity will never be known to anyone.
The reward drop is made at a secret postal location, using the assigned code names and case numbers. No personal contact is ever made with the informant.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week gave the go-ahead to city staff to apply for a federal grant that would fund most of a revamped and reestablished police K-9 program and accepted a new protocol for seating Lake County Fire Protection District Board members.
On Tuesday, the council held a public hearing to consider adopting a resolution supporting an application to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Communities Facilities Loan and Grant Program for the Lakeport Police K-9 program.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said his department wants to reestablish its police dog program, which has been inactive since its last dog, Max, retired in 2009.
In August, Rasmussen had gone to the council to ask for a council member to be appointed, at the appropriate time, to the board of directors of a newly forming nonprofit, “Friends of Lakeport PD,” which David Brown, owner of Susie Q’s Donuts in Lakeport, is founding to support the department’s K-9 program, as Lake County News has reported.
At about the same time as the Lakeport Police Department began working with Brown, they were contacted by a representative from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who advised them about a new opportunity for funds for a police K-9 program.
“As you’re aware, we've been working on this for several months now,” Rasmussen said.
He said all the work has been done to submit the grant to the USDA. What remained to be done on Tuesday was to get the council's approval to direct the city manager to sign off on getting the final submission done.
Rasmussen said the department could receive about $68,500, which he said would be “a very good start” to getting the program under way. He said the funds can be used for any part of the program, including vehicles, which can be very expensive, as well as the costs of the dog and its training, and training and lodging for the handler.
“We do have plenty of time if it gets approved to make sure that our nonprofit is also able to provide some of the other needed funding for the program,” Rasmussen said.
Councilman George Spurr asked if Rasmussen was going to have an existing car retrofitted or if they would get a new one.
Rasmussen said the plan is to get a specially outfitted Chevy Tahoe for the K-9. The department has been in the process of getting new vehicles.
All told, Rasmussen said the grant funding would cover about 75 percent of the program, with the nonprofit to supply the rest.
“So we’re looking really good if this goes through,” said Councilman Kenny Parlet.
Spurr followed up by asking if the program has to be kept in existence for a specific number of years. Not necessarily, said Rasmussen, but the department couldn’t simply stop the program and sell the K-9.
He said he has up to five years to use the money. “I don't expect it to take that long.”
There was no public comment and Councilwoman Stacey Mattina moved the resolution, which the council approved unanimously.
New protocol for filling fire district board seats
The evening’s other main item of action was the consideration of a resolution to establish a protocol for appointing directors to the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board.
The document that City Attorney David Ruderman presented to the council mirrored a resolution accepted by the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 20.
Ruderman, County Counsel Anita Grant and the general counsel for the fire district had worked together to craft the protocol, which Ruderman said is meant to allow them to move forward in logical way to make sure the district has the representation it needs.
He explained that the fire district board is appointed, not elected, and that to become elected the fire district board would have to decide to make that change.
Absent that, he said the Fire Protection District Act – which formed the basis of the resolution – allows for appointment of board members from cities and counties based on proportionate share of population.
Looking at the current fire district population, Ruderman said there is a slight majority residing in the unincorporated county.
Ruderman said that, previously, in the agreement the city had with the district when it was annexed, the city council was to recommend two fire district board members and the county approved them.
He said that doesn’t quite jive with what the Fire Protection Board Act says, and so in the resolution that was specifically amended.
The result, said Ruderman, is that the city will have two appointees and the county will have three.
He said they also decided that the best way to move forward was to slightly stagger the seats, so the resolution has a provision that says two vacancies are coming up for 2019 and the rest in 2020.
So for the coming year, the county and the city would each have one appointment, and for 2020 the county will have two more appointments and the city one, Ruderman said.
The original agreement called for the county and city to appoint four of the board members and for those four to appoint the fifth. That’s changed now in the new protocol, but Ruderman said the board can always make recommendations.
He said fire district board appointees must live in the district. He said the city can appoint members who don’t live within city limits, but it also can limit itself to only appointing city residents.
If the 2020 Census or other data shows that the population apportionment has changed, the city and county can revisit how many members they would appoint, he said.
Ruderman noted that the supervisors had already approved a resolution that’s similar to the city’s, and that the fire district board is set to consider its own version of the resolution in the next week or so.
Spurr asked if anyone has shown interest in the seats yet. City Manager Margaret Silveira said at least two people have submitted applications. The application period is open through 5 p.m. Dec. 12.
John Whitehead, chair of the fire district board, said he had reviewed the draft resolution. “It all looked fine to me. I didn't see any issues with it.”
He said he would like to see a two-year stagger, with the next appointments in 2021, not 2020.
He said they have another vacancy, in addition to the seat that Gerry Mills retired from in September; Bill Whipple, the fire district board’s vice chair, has just turned in his resignation.
Ruderman said that it had been the county’s position that all of the fire board trustee seats were coming available in 2018. There had been interest from the fire district counsel in having two-year staggered terms, and the compromise was the one-year stagger. He said either was fine from his perspective.
“I would recommend that we be consistent with the county, because that’s the entire purpose of this,” said Ruderman, noting that a two-year stagger between the seats is “certainly rational.”
He said one option was for the council to adopt the resolution as is and then reopen it later. They also could amend the year for the next appointments, moving it from 2020 to 2021, but that would lead to a conflict with the county’s rules.
The other option, and the one the council ultimately accepted, was to adopt the resolution and direct Ruderman and Silveira to reopen the discussion about a two-year stagger with the county’s representatives.
“That makes more sense, keep it moving forward that way,” said Mattina.
Dan Kane, president of the Lakeport Professional Firefighters Association, thanked the council for it hard work on the resolution, saying he understands the challenges.
Kane asked if there be a protocol for an interview and testing process for prospective board members. Silveira said there will be an interview process.
Mayor Mireya Turner, who formerly worked in the Board of Supervisors office, said that based on her experience it’s best to have commissions and boards standardized and agreed with the two-year stagger, noting it’s better for the public.
Councilman Tim Barnes moved to approve the resolution, which Spurr seconded and the council approved 5-0.
The council also reached unanimous consensus to direct staff to look into extending appointments from 2020 to 2021 in order to have the two-year stagger.
Turner then offered a heartfelt thank you to the fire board members for their work.
In other business on Tuesday, Turner presented the Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Finance Director Nick Walker.
An introduction of new employees was rescheduled to the next meeting.
When the council emerged from closed session, Mayor Mireya Turner said the council voted 5-0 in closed session to extend for six months – or until July 1, 2019 – an agreement with Verizon Wireless that would lengthen the window in which the company could file suit over the denial of its appeal for a wireless tower.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – As Lake County’s registrar of voters prepared to retire at month’s end, the Board of Supervisors has appointed her longtime deputy to fill the job on an interim basis.
The Board of Supervisors emerged from closed session on Tuesday to announce that it had appointed Maria Valadez as interim registrar of voters, upon the retirement of Registrar Diane Fridley.
Valadez’s appointment is effective on Dec. 29.
Fridley, whose retirement becomes official on Dec. 28, has worked for the Registrar of Voters Office since December 1977, serving as registrar since 2002, when the office became its own separate department.
During an October discussion, the Board of Supervisors considered how to fill the registrar’s job permanently going forward, with options including changing the job’s requirements and possibly consolidating it with another department, as it had been previously.
At that time, the supervisors directed staff to interview interim candidates while they decide what path to take moving forward.
Interviews and discussions about the job were conducted in closed sessions beginning last month, leading up to Valadez’s selection on Tuesday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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