LAKEPORT, Calif. – City staff updated the Lakeport City Council at its last meeting about operational changes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The staff gave the overview to the council at its April 21 meeting.
At that meeting, Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace had been due to give the council an update, but City Manager Margaret Silveira said he was unable to attend due to a time conflict.
Silveira said the city needs to do everything it can to sustain businesses. “We will survive.”
She said the state has extended the time period up to a year for businesses to pay sales tax. “We just wish them all well.”
Silveria invited businesses to contact the staff and the city to ask about what help is available. Lake County Economic Development Corp. also is a repository for a lot of information.
Finance Director said he’s been trying to figure out what the future is going to look like for the city on the financial side, and that day he met with a sales tax consultant.
To get a picture, they are considering broad assumptions, and Walker said everything is still really uncertain. The plan is to get a budget in front of the council by June, as is normal. He said staff will bring forward an operating budget with some projections on revenues going forward.
Walker recommended suspending discretionary spending in the 2020 budget. As time passes, they will get a better idea of what the revenue is doing.
Regarding the sales tax issue, “Anything that’s going to help the local business is going to help the city,” he said, adding, “It’s simply a cash flow impact.”
Public Works Director Doug Grider said there has been a lot of talk about the COVID-19 testing of raw sewage that Lake County Special Districts has been involved in doing.
He said that testing isn’t yet going on in the city sewer system. Grider said the city initially didn’t have the necessary equipment to do the sampling. However, they have now acquired and installed it.
The issue now, he said, is, “The laboratory that does that test is overwhelmed.” Grider said the city is on a waiting list while the laboratory expands its testing capacity.
At that point, Grider said the new Library Park seawall was nearly complete, but the project had been impacted by supply chain issues. He said a few issues were left to finish the railing.
He said that the sidewalk project is moving along with new concrete scheduled to be poured this week.
Grider said that to reduce the potential for virus exposure, staff has been split. They are doing minor maintenance and addressing other work as needed.
Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said his department has had to implement a major change in operations, implementing restrictions on travel and training, and community policing as they currently know it.
He said they are adapting on a regular basis to protect the community. That includes rolling out a new online reporting system built by Lt. Dale Stoebe.
They’re also conducting all outreach online. “That seems to be working well because all of our social media was so well established before this happened,” Rasmussen said.
As of that date, Rasmussen said the police department had 376 contacts – either educational or enforcement – regarding the shelter in place order, had checked the security of 590 businesses and completed 37 hours of foot patrol.
He said the department had, at that point, had only 28 criminal investigations since the shelter in place order went into effect on March 19, a 55-percent reduction, and had only eight arrests, a 70-percent reduction. Officer-involved contacts were up by 18 percent.
In mid-March, new policies restricted police from being able to book certain crimes into the Lake County Jail. Then, on April 9, the Judicial Council of California instituted a no-bail policy which Rasmussen said created other safety concerns.
As examples, he cited a high intoxicated drunk driver that they can’t book but have to babysit and a wanted parolee at large with felony violations of failing to register as a sex offender. In the latter case, the parolee had an ankle monitor placed on him before he was released.
Rasmussen said the no bail changes will be in effect for 90 days after the governor’s declared state of emergency is over.
“Although crime in Lakeport is currently down, it’s not going to stay that way,” said Rasmussen, noting there will be many individuals they won’t be able to book into the jail.
He said they had a parolee from another county earlier that day who was in violation of a felony domestic violence restraining order. His county of origin didn’t want to deal with him.
As far as the homeless, they are being directed to the Hope Harbor warming shelter at the former Record-Bee building, 2150 S. Main St., Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said the shelter is having good success helping some people, but others are being ejected for serious rule violations, assaults on staff, and possession of heroin or other drug violations, and are back on the streets.
He said 32 individuals have been banned from the shelter, the only one operating for the homeless in the county right now. “There’s a strain with that,” said Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said many community members don’t understand that police can’t force the homeless to move from one public place to another unless it’s a place like Library Park, which has restrictions.
He also noted the additional police training demands due to COVID-19. All of the training is being done online, with 150 hours overall completed by that time.
Rasmussen said they’re staying very connected with all local, state and federal agencies.
He said the situation has introduced change “like we’ve never seen.”
Rasmussen added, “Law enforcement doesn’t necessarily like change, but they are good at it,” nothing they can almost turn on a dime and keep going.
The chief also thanked the community for its support.
Kelly Buendia, the city’s human resources director and city clerk, said the primary concern has been employee safety and administering personal protective equipment for staff.
She has been working to help department heads with staffing schedules, and they are implementing social distancing measures, telecommuting where possible.
Buendia said she also worked with staff to launch virtual and telephonic meetings for the council and committees.
Assistant City Manager Kevin Ingram said the city’s emergency operations center phone line remains available at 707-263-5683, with call volume.
He said the business assistance environment is changing rapidly, and the best strategy is to put businesses in contact with the Lake County Economic Development Corp.
Ingram said he, Silveira and Walker are following up with the Community Development Block Grant program, which may offer the city $70,000 in relation to the pandemic.
He said work also is still moving forward on two key projects, including the second phase of the Martin Street affordable housing development and the request for proposals for the lakefront park project which is being funded by the state.
“We’re doing our best to keep those things moving despite short staff and a little bit of uncertainty,” said Ingram.
Councilman Kenny Parlet said at the meeting that it looks like some really good things could come out of the pandemic in the long run.
He pointed to developments with telecommuting and said it looks like the economy could emerge in good shape – and that they could be better off in a different way. He said he was very encouraged – and even excited – and believed others should be as well.
In other business, at the April 21 meeting, Mayor George Spurr presented a proclamation declaring April 19 to 25 as National Volunteer Week in the city, and the council delayed approving a resolution adopting the Eleventh Street Corridor Multimodal Engineered Feasibility Study.
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Lakeport City Council hears from staff about COVID-19 response
- Elizabeth Larson
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