LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council this week will honor the city’s retiring Public Works director, discuss scenarios produced by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, and consider a mutual aid agreement with the Lakeport Fire Protection District and a COVID-19 testing program for staff.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The agenda can be found here.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. In accordance with updated guidelines from the state of California and revised Cal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards, persons who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 are required to wear a face covering at this meeting.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the City Clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that are read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council before the meeting.
At the start of the meeting, the council will present a proclamation to Public Works Director Doug Grider, who is retiring after 17 years of service to the city.
Under council business, City Manager Kevin Ingram will ask the council to consider giving direction to staff to prepare a response to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission either supporting or opposing proposed changes to Congressional, State Senate and State Assembly visualization maps.
The commission released the visualizations last week, and concerns over how Lake County could potentially be grouped with several other North Coast counties caused the Board of Supervisors to send a letter to the commission asking it to reconsider.
Also on Tuesday, in one of the last items Grider will take to the council as Public Works director, he will ask the council to approve an agreement for mutual aid between the city of Lakeport and the Lakeport Fire Protection District.
Grider’s report explains that the fire district and the city have been operating without a formal mutual aid agreement since the city fire department was annexed by the Lakeport Fire Protection District in 1999.
“Since 2000 the City of Lakeport and Lakeport Fire Protection District have worked together in times of natural disasters, fires, environmental emergencies and other times of need,” Grider wrote in his report. “In current times the need for small agencies to assist each other is paramount as budgets decrease, resources decrease and cost increase.”
By having a formal mutual aid agreement, both the city and the fire district will have met the current protocols for external agency assistance, Grider said.
In other business on Tuesday, Ingram and Administrative Services Director Kelly Buendia will present an item for the council to consider implementing a mandate for weekly COVID-19 testing for city employees.
A majority of council members at the Oct. 19 directed staff to bring the matter back for consideration.
Ingram and Buendia note in their report that testing isn’t currently mandated for the city’s employees by any federal, state or local authority, that the city hasn’t had any outbreaks among its staff and most city employees are vaccinated.
If council members want to mandate vaccinations, Ingram and Buendia are urging them to consider the cost of testing, availability of tests, ease of administration and overall staff morale. “If mandated, staff recommends that all employees receive testing since both vaccinated and unvaccinated alike can carry and spread the virus,” they wrote.
On the consent agenda — items usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances; minutes of the council’s regular meeting on Oct. 19 and the special meeting on Oct. 26; adoption of a resolution authorizing continued remote teleconference meetings of the Lakeport City Council and its legislative bodies pursuant to Government Code section 54953(e); and receipt and filing of the draft minutes from the Oct. 20 Measure Z Advisory Committee meeting.
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 City Council to honor retiring Public Works director, consider mutual aid agreement, COVID-19 testing for staff
- Elizabeth Larson
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