I attended the Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 12. The agenda included a discussion item on the Harbin Hot Springs rebuild effort. The following is my brief takeaway of the meeting and a personal snippet of my Harbin experience.

I moved to Harbin in 2000, and I am currently working there part-time. Prior to the Valley fire, I was employed as a cook in the restaurant. I held a few temporary jobs as well, but the restaurant was always my ”bread and butter.”

Over the course of those 15 years, by my estimation, I prepared upwards of 8,000 omelets of one type or another. It’s true. In hindsight, I suppose I was destined to be a breakfast cook given that my mom’s name is Over Easy and my dad’s is Over Hard: but a grain of truth.

Beyond the economic ties, I also found a home at Harbin.

Prior to moving to the area, I had lived a rootless existence. As an adult, I had bounced around the country, and the world (including four years in Germany), never living in the same community for more than two years. By age 40, finding a place to land represented a personal milestone or turning point.

Sept. 12, 2015, was a game changer for me and many others in south Lake County. I lost most of my possessions, my home and my Harbin community to fire. I decided to stay, but many others opted to relocate and start over.

The Harbin rebuild and successful reopening reman a county priority. This was clearly communicated by the supervisors during last month’s meeting.

In my opinion, having this discussion was both necessary and proved to be productive. A number of challenging issues were identified during the meeting:

– a complex mix of prevailing state regulations, county ordinances and Middletown Area Plan guidelines;

– diverging opinions in the interpretation and application of some of those parameters; and

– in small measure, the growing pains of building or establishing new professional working relationships.

The Harbin rebuild is a multi-phased project with many moving parts. Many have dedicated long hours to push this project forward.

My hope is that everyone who was present in that chamber will work together, and to paraphrase, “make Harbin great again.”

Mike Tabacchi lives in Middletown, Calif.