LAKEPORT – In order to move forward with state-mandated improvements to its sewer system, the City of Lakeport and its redevelopment agency are loaning money to the city's sewer district.

At its Tuesday meeting, the Lakeport City Council – also sitting as the boards of the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District (CLMSD) and the Redevelopment Agency – decided to loan the CLMSD a maximum of $2.2 million through an inner-fund transfer in order to meet state-mandated deadlines.

The loan will allow the city to go forward with sewer system improvements needed to increase capacity and meet the demands of a cease and desist order issued by the Regional Water Quality Control Board in January, said Gillham. That order resulted from a controlled release of treated wastewater from the CLMSD site in April 2006.

The state issued a hookup ban with its January cease and desist order, but in March the regional board agreed to lift the ban if the city met a long list of requirements, chief among them a requirement to expand the sewer system's capacity.

At its June 19 meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to award a $2.1 million contract to TerraCon Pipeline Inc. of Healdsburg to add 90 acres to the CLMSD irrigation facilities. Irrigation is the chief way the district disposes of its treated wastewater.

The state requires the irrigation expansion project be completed by Nov. 1, according to city documents.

City Manager Jerry Gillham's staff report explained that the money will come from the following funds:

– $600,000 from Fund 212, Redevelopment Tax Increment Fund, which currently contains $1.4 million;

– $500,000 from Fund 501, Water Maintenance and Operation, which now has a total of $1.2 million;

– $1.1 million from a total of $1.2 million in Tax Allocation Bonds.

Gillham said the loan must be repaid on a payment schedule, with interest.

CLMSD is authorized to borrow money from the city for interim projects financing, Gillham explained. The city plans to participate in a governmental loan pool in order to pay back the loans, he added.

Gillham's report said that not acting now to borrow the funds for the project could expose the city to several consequences – including lost development, “political ramifications” and large fines from the state. Gillham did not elaborate on the nature of the “political ramifications.”

The city still has many other requirements to fulfill to satisfy the regional board. Attached to Gillham's report was a letter from the regional board's executive director, Pamela Creedon, which stated the city had not complied with the June 1 deadline to install a magnetic flow meter to measure flows entering the wastewater facility. Her letter said the city guaranteed it will install the meter by Oct. 15.

The city also was due to turn in a spill contingency plan and a quarterly compliance report to the state by July 1, Creedon's letter stated.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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