LAKEPORT, Calif. – In a meeting that ran just under a half hour on Tuesday the Lakeport City Council approved minor changes to rules governing prohibited parking areas in the city and awarded a proclamation for service to a police volunteer.
City Engineer Scott Harter took the prohibited parking zone changes to the council, with an updated resolution to rescind and replace a 2009 resolution.
Harter’s report to the council said city staff had communicated with Lake Transit Authority regarding the bus zone on the west side of Main Street directly south of Third Street, where over recent months buses parking at that bus stop have extended north into the crosswalk and beyond the southern curb of Third Street.
He said staff recommended that prohibited parking zone be extended an additional 23 feet – or one space – to the south.
Harter said staff also was proposing that a prohibited parking zone be designated adjacent to a redwood tree on Armstrong Street. A nearby city sidewalk project resulted in the sidewalk extending into the parking lane in order to preserve the tree, which Harter said created a need for the curb to be painted.
Councilman Bob Rumfelt moved to adopt the resolution, with Councilman Tom Engstrom seconding. The vote was 4-0, with Councilman Roy Parmentier absent from the meeting.
In other news, Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen offered his department's thanks and a proclamation to longtime city resident Robert “Bob” Marks, who over the past 20 months has been a volunteer with Lakeport Police.
Marks wasn't present for the acknowledgment, or the reading of the proclamation by Mayor Stacey Mattina, as he and his wife were leaving on Tuesday for Paso Robles, where they were moving to be closer to their grandchildren.
Rasmussen said Marks was outstanding, regularly working 20 to 40 hours a week. Marks was “one of the most reliable people I've ever encountered and worked with,” said Rasmussen, explaining that Marks did everything from parking enforcement and subpoena service to vehicle maintenance and working at events.
“We're sad to see him go,” Rasmussen said.
“What are we going to do without him? Are you going to make me go write parking tickets?” asked Mattina.
Rasmussen said Marks helped train other volunteers, and there is a plan to hold another volunteer recruitment.
Also on Tuesday, Community Development Director Richard Knoll said there will be special meeting from 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, to discuss the creation of a city brand.
He said the meeting will be led by Gloria Flaherty, executive director of Lake Family Resource Center, who is working with the city's economic development committee. The community is invited to attend.
City Attorney Steve Brookes said some language that had been holding up the city's memorandum of understanding with the Lakeport Police Officers Association had been worked out and should be on the council's next agenda, bringing to a close a matter that has been ongoing for two years.
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