LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — In its last regular meeting of the year, the Lakeport City Council elected a new mayor and mayor pro tem, approved a radio purchase for the police department and a grant application to support a navigation center to address homelessness, and got an update from a youth council.
The council’s leadership reorganization came toward the end of its nearly two-hour-long meeting on Tuesday evening.
City Manager Kevin Ingram said the new mayor and mayor pro tem usually are elected at the start of the second regular meeting in December.
However, at the Nov. 16 meeting the council had voted to cancel the second meeting in December due to its proximity to Christmas.
Over the past year, Kenny Parlet served for the second time as mayor in his three terms and Stacey Mattina was mayor pro tem for the fifth time.
Councilwoman Mireya Turner nominated Mattina to be mayor, while Councilman Michael Froio nominated Councilman Michael Green for the mayor’s slot. Both Mattina and Green accepted the nominations.
Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Kelly Buendia called for a roll-call vote of Turner’s motion for Mattina to be mayor, which the council approved 4-1, with Froio voting no.
Mattina then nominated Turner for mayor pro tem, a motion the council approved 5-0.
Mattina thanked Parlet, who was the only council member not in the chambers during the meeting. He continues to attend via Zoom in protest of the city’s COVID-19 masking requirements in the council chambers.
“It’s been a great year, even with all of the challenges,” Mattina said.
Now in her third term, Mattina has previously held the mayor’s job twice, in 2012 and 2017.
Turner, now in her second term, served as Mattina’s mayor pro tem in 2017 and also served as mayor in 2018.
Mattina asked if Parlet would like to close out the meeting and he agreed.
Tuesday’s meeting is not the last for the council for this year. Buendia said a special meeting is scheduled for Dec. 14 to interview several candidates for the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Council.
Other business conducted earlier in the meeting included an update from the All Children Thrive Youth Governance Council, which council members lauded for its activities.
The council also decided to bring back a discussion of new state-required landscape regulations after Green asked for them to be pulled from the consent agenda.
In other business, the council approved applying for $206,007 in Permanent Local Housing Allocation funding, which is intended to assist in addressing the unmet housing needs of communities, according to Community Development Director Jenni Byers’ written report.
Byers and Police Chief Brad Rasmussen discussed using the funds for a navigation center to address the city’s growing problem with homelessness.
Rasmussen also received the council’s approval of a purchase order for police radios from L3Harris in the amount of $163,972.82. He’s upgrading the equipment to meet state requirements for radio encryption in order to protect sensitive information from the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.
Also on Tuesday, Buendia asked for and received the council’s approval to reinstate the chief building official job, which the city hasn’t filled since July 2020, when Tom Carlton retired.
While they’ve used a company to perform some duties for the building division, Buendia said they’ve had issues with covering the department’s needs and so asked for the council to allocate the funds to hire a new chief building official. Nick Walker, the city’s finance director and assistant city manager, said there is sufficient funding to cover the cost.
Byers explained that when Carlton retired, the city didn’t know what would happen with COVID and its impact on the budget. She called not filling the position the result of “a COVID fear.”
Green moved to approve the request, which the council approved 5-0.
At the meeting’s end, before adjourning, Parlet said he couldn’t be more proud of what the city had achieved in 2021.
“Under the circumstances, it’s even more incredible what we’ve accomplished,” Parlet said.
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Lakeport City Council appoints leadership for the new year
- Elizabeth Larson
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