The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. Masks are highly encouraged where 6-foot distancing cannot be maintained.
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 Monday, Jan. 29.
On the agenda is the approval of a supplemental agreement and contract change order with Square Signs LLC dba Front Signs for the HSIP Sign Repair and Replacement Project. The new contract amount is $46,514.
The council also will approve the plans, specifications and working details and award a construction contract to Wylatti Resource Management Inc. for the GSL Pavement Rehabilitation Project and authorize the City Manager to execute the construction contract for the bid amount of $444,113.35.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science and Center for Regional Change invite educators working with youth to contribute their skills and experience in developing environmental education materials for the Clear Lake region.
These materials will support ongoing local efforts dedicated to enhancing the health of Clear Lake, its watershed, and its communities.
This project was recommended by the Blue Ribbon Committee for the Rehabilitation of Clear Lake and funded by the California Natural Resources Agency.
Over the past year and a half, the project team spoke to over 50 community members, presented at organizational meetings, attended outreach events, and organized a Tribal Environmental Education Advisory Committee.
These efforts were undertaken to gather Tribal and community priorities and needs for environmental education in the region.
Community perspectives helped inform the environmental education materials, and a draft is now ready for further feedback and pilot testing.
They are drafted for use by non-formal educators working with third through fifth grade youth in non-formal expanded learning settings.
Opportunities for community involvement:
• Review and provide feedback: Community members are encouraged to review the drafted materials and share their feedback. The drafted materials are available for public review, and feedback can be submitted through February, 2024. • Training, piloting and feedback (compensation available): Formal and non-formal educators interested in a more hands-on experience can receive training on the materials, pilot the materials with youth, and then provide feedback on the pilot experience to the project team. Compensation is available for this time commitment and participation.
How to get involved:
• Interested community members can fill out the involvement form available on our project page. Alternatively, you can contact Sarah Angulo (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) directly to be added to our interest list.
Important 2024 dates:
• Public review of drafted materials: January through February. • Training for educators: March. • Piloting of materials with youth in Lake County: April and May. • Feedback on the pilot experience: May and June.
Join in this collaborative effort to empower the youth of Lake County with environmental education and participatory science. Your involvement can make an impact on the future health of Clear Lake and its surrounding watershed.
For further information, please contact Sarah Angulo at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The Center for Community and Citizen Science, or CCSS, helps scientists, communities, and individuals collaborate on science to address environmental issues as a part of civic life. We research ways to improve scientific learning using citizen science, and broaden and improve participation in science by diverse communities.
Through our programming, we develop resources and tools to build successful citizen science programs. The CCSS is housed within the School of Education at UC Davis.
The Center for Regional Change, or CRC, is a catalyst for collaborative and action-oriented research that centers social and environmental justice.
The CRC brings together multi-disciplinary campus partners and multi-sector community partners to explore topics that transcend jurisdictional boundaries.
The CRC collaborates with partners, including youth, toward healthy, equitable, prosperous, and sustainable regions in California and beyond. The CRC is housed within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis.
Lawmakers and tribal and law enforcement users of the year-old Feather Alert, found use of the notification system delivered positive results in locating Native American persons who have gone missing but some wrinkles need to be addressed for a more effective use of the program.
The assessment came at a Wednesday hearing of the Assembly Select Committee on Native American Affairs.
“This alert is a great tool for Native Americans trying to bring attention to loved ones who are missing and possibly at great risk of physical or even fatal harm. New programs should be assessed to ensure that they are working effectively,” said Assemblymember James C. Ramos, who authored legislation creating the notification system.
He added, “One thing we do know about the Feather Alert is that when there is no alert, there is a much greater chance that we’ll be grieving and not celebrating.”
Ramos said the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, or MMIP, has been an issue since his election in 2018 when he became the first California Native American elected to the state legislature.
“California has the greatest number of Native Americans within its borders than any other state, but we’re also in the top five in the nation with the highest number of unsolved missing and murdered cases for Native people, especially for women and girls. They are victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and murder. One study by the Sovereign Bodies Institute reports 18 new cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people each year in California,” Ramos said.
Ramos noted that one challenge is making tribes and the general public aware of the Feather Alert and another is bridging communication gaps among various law enforcement agencies and the tribes.
Over the past year Ramos said he has conducted summits with tribes, the California Highway Patrol and local law enforcement to foster awareness and understanding of the program, but also to foster better communication among Indian Country and city police departments, sheriffs and the CHP.
Ramos said he has held summits in the counties of Fresno, San Bernardino, Mendocino and Los Angeles and added that he hopes to hold more summits.
Scott Jasechko, University of California, Santa Barbara; Debra Perrone, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Richard Taylor, UCL
If you stand at practically any point on Earth, there is water moving through the ground beneath your feet. Groundwater provides about half of the world’s population with drinking water and nearly half of all water used to irrigate crops. It sustains rivers, lakes and wetlands during droughts.
Groundwater is a renewable resource, but it can take decades or even centuries for some aquifers to recover after they are depleted. Current understanding of this challenge is based mainly on where and how frequently people record measurements of water levels in wells.
In a newly published study, our team of data scientists, water specialists and policy experts compiled the first global-scale dataset of these levels. We analyzed millions of groundwater level measurements in 170,000 wells located in over 40 countries and mapped how groundwater levels have changed over time.
Our study has two main findings. First, we show that rapid groundwater depletion is widespread around the world and that rates of decline have accelerated in recent decades, with levels falling by 20 inches or more yearly in some locations. Second, however, our research also reveals many cases where deliberate actions halted groundwater depletion. These results show that societies are not inevitably doomed to drain their groundwater supplies, and that with timely interventions, this important resource can recover.
Portrait of a thirsty planet
Many factors determine groundwater levels, including geology, climate and land use. But groundwater levels that are dropping deeper and deeper in a particular location often signal that people are pumping it out faster than nature can replenish it.
Some of the 300 million measurements we compiled were recorded by automated measuring devices. Many others were made in the field by people around the globe. And these measurements paint a worrying picture.
They show that groundwater levels have declined since the year 2000 in far more places than they rose. In many locations, especially arid zones that are heavily farmed and irrigated, groundwater levels are falling by more than 20 inches (0.5 meters) per year. Examples include Afghanistan, Chile, China, Peninsular India, Iran, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the U.S. Southwest.
Our second and more concerning finding is that in about one-third of the areas where we compiled measurements, the rate of groundwater decline is accelerating. Accelerated groundwater decline is common in dry climates where large swaths of land are used for agriculture. This suggests a potential link between groundwater-fed irrigation and intensifying groundwater depletion.
What happens when groundwater is overused?
Rapid and accelerating groundwater-level declines have many harmful effects.
Drinking-water supplies from wells and springs can run dry when groundwater levels decline. People and communities who rely on those wells can lose access to what may be their sole source of accessible fresh water for drinking.
Farther from the coast, land subsidence can damage infrastructure. It poses a critical challenge in areas where groundwater levels have declined, including Tehran and Mexico City. In many cases, the main culprit is excessive groundwater pumping.
Finally, falling groundwater can cause seawater to move inland underground and contaminate coastal groundwater systems – a process known as seawater intrusion. When seawater intrudes, coastal aquifers can become too saline to use for drinking water without energy-intensive desalination.
How to replenish groundwater supplies
We also found places where groundwater levels are recovering. The strategies that communities used to replenish their groundwater sources included developing new alternative water supplies, such as local rivers; adopting policies to reduce demand for groundwater; and intentionally replenishing aquifers with surface water.
The town of El Dorado, Arkansas, saw its groundwater levels drop by roughly 200 feet (60 meters) from 1940 through 2000 as local industries pumped water from the aquifer. In 1999, a new policy established a pumping fee structure, giving businesses an incentive to find a new water supply. By 2005, a pipeline had been built to divert water from the Ouachita River to El Dorado. This new source reduced demand for groundwater, and groundwater levels have risen in the area since 2005.
In a valley near Tucson, Arizona, groundwater levels declined by 100 feet (30 meters) as withdrawals for irrigation increased after the 1940s. To help replenish the depleted groundwater, leaky ponds were constructed. These ponds are filled with water from the Colorado River that is moved hundreds of miles to the area via canals. As these ponds leak, they refill the depleted aquifer. Because of these leaky ponds, groundwater levels in the valley have risen by about 200 feet (60 meters) in places.
Our analysis shows how important it is to monitor groundwater levels in many locations. With groundwater levels declining in many places, communities and businesses that depend on it need accurate information about their water supplies so they can act in time to protect them.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has an additional set of dogs waiting to be adopted this week.
The Clearlake Animal Control website lists 49 adoptable dogs.
The adoptable dogs include “Flounder,” a male chihuahua-dachshund mix with a black coat.
There also is “Daisy,” a four-month-old female pit bull terrier mix with a short tan coat.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
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.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday was joined by local leaders in Sacramento for a roundtable discussion to address gun violence.
The roundtable is the first in a series of meetings led by Attorney General Bonta across the state to bring together leaders of nonprofits, churches and community groups to discuss best practices in preventing gun violence.
The primary objective of the roundtables is to formulate effective approaches for addressing gun violence in communities, fostering knowledge about accessible resources for the public, and enhancing partnerships statewide to avert gun violence occurrences more effectively.
Attorney General Bonta stressed the importance of preventing gun violence at the roundtable, which falls a year after the shooting in Half Moon Bay killing seven victims and injuring one on January 23, 2023; and just after another shooting in Monterey Park, California, where 10 people were gunned down and nine injured on January 21, 2023.
“California continues to collectively mourn those lost to gun violence, including those we lost due to the horrific shootings in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park. We continue to heal together, and we look for ongoing solutions to prevent America’s disease and its effect on our communities. Preventing gun violence must begin in our communities by strengthening relationships and fostering an environment of support and collaboration,” Bonta said.
“I’m proud to stand with our local partners to identify best practices, foster community involvement, and work toward community-driven solutions to eliminate gun violence. As California Attorney General, I am doubling down on California’s gun safety efforts by defending our common sense gun safety laws in court, cracking down on enforcing those laws, and working in collaboration with local community violence intervention and prevention experts to disrupt cycles of gun violence,” Bonta said.
“For too long gun violence has caused tremendous trauma for so many families,” said Kim Williams, Hub Manager at Sacramento Building Healthy Communities. “Preventing gun violence requires a collective effort so we must come together as community organizations, system leaders and residents, allocate more resources, and work tirelessly towards a common goal. By joining forces, we can build safer communities where our loved ones can thrive without the fear of gun violence.”
“Mutual Assistance Network is an essential part of an intentional continuum of violence prevention that seeks community led and racial equity centered solutions to gun violence,” said Danielle Lawrence, Executive Director of Mutual Assistance Network. “As we collectively and collaboratively strive for a safer future, we call on all individuals, organizations, institutions, and policymakers to join hands in addressing the multifaceted challenges and impacts of gun violence to our communities in Sacramento County.”
“We’ve all seen and experienced the impact of gun violence across our state,” said Senior Pastor Les Simmons of South Sacramento Christian Center. “Can you imagine a world without Violence? It is my hope that the Office of Gun Violence Prevention has that very imagination and action towards a collaborative solution, creating space for a deeper understanding between community lead organizations and other public safety entities for a shared vision of ending gun violence.”
In September of 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the launch of the California Department of Justice’s first-in-the-nation Office of Gun Violence Prevention, or OGVP, dedicated to developing strategies and working with stakeholders statewide to address the gun violence epidemic.
This innovative new office — the first Office of Gun Violence Prevention under the leadership of a state attorney general — provides centralized support from DOJ for partners to implement strategic and innovative programs to reduce gun violence.
The Office of Gun Violence Prevention’s mission is to reduce and prevent gun violence, firearm injury, and related trauma. OGVP supports DOJ’s ongoing gun violence reduction efforts led by the Bureau of Firearms and DOJ's litigation sections — including the DOJ’s seizure of firearms from dangerous individuals using the Armed and Prohibited Persons System, prosecution of firearms trafficking cases, and defense of California’s commonsense gun laws. OGVP examines a broad range of factors — from firearm availability to effective resources for crisis prevention — to reduce the harm caused by firearms and make Californians healthier and safer.
OGVP aims to reduce gun violence by promoting research and data collection, increasing awareness about effective legal and policy strategies, and collaborating with federal, state, and local partners.
In 2023, the office released its first data report to provide a robust review of gun violence data in California and throughout the U.S. to help guide policy and strategy discussions related to reducing gun violence. The report highlighted California’s successes in preventing gun violence, and it shined a light on successful strategies and further areas for improvements.
For example, over the last 30 years, California has reduced its gun violence rate compared to the rest of the United States; once 50% above average, California’s firearm homicide rate is now 33% below the rest of the United States.
Additionally, if the firearm mortality rate in the rest of the United States had matched California’s between 2013-2022, there would have been nearly 140,000 fewer firearm-related deaths nationwide in that decade alone.
Also In 2023, the office released the second data report that provided an in-depth look at the ties between domestic violence and firearms. The report examined data illustrating the impact of firearms-related domestic violence, including both family and intimate partner-related violence with firearms.
The report documented California’s long-term progress in reducing domestic violence involving firearms, and highlighted California’s efforts to empower and protect survivors by providing a range of support services, offering crisis intervention and safety planning options, providing for domestic violence restraining orders and enforcing laws to protect against gun violence.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapor has been detected in its atmosphere.
At only approximately twice Earth’s diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy.
“This would be the first time that we can directly show through an atmospheric detection that these planets with water-rich atmospheres can actually exist around other stars,” said team member Björn Benneke of the Université de Montréal. “This is an important step toward determining the prevalence and diversity of atmospheres on rocky planets."
However, it remains too early to tell whether Hubble spectroscopically measured a small amount of water vapor in a puffy hydrogen-rich atmosphere, or if the planet’s atmosphere is mostly made of water, left behind after a primeval hydrogen/helium atmosphere evaporated under stellar radiation.
“Our observing programme was designed specifically with the goal of not only detecting the molecules in the planet’s atmosphere, but of actually looking specifically for water vapor. Either result would be exciting, whether water vapor is dominant or just a tiny species in a hydrogen-dominant atmosphere,” said the science paper’s lead author, Pierre-Alexis Roy of the Université de Montréal.
“Until now, we had not been able to directly detect the atmosphere of such a small planet. And we’re slowly getting into this regime now,” added Benneke. “At some point, as we study smaller planets, there must be a transition where there’s no more hydrogen on these small worlds, and they have atmospheres more like Venus (which is dominated by carbon dioxide)."
Because the planet is as hot as Venus at roughly 425 degrees Celcius, it definitely would be an inhospitable, steamy world if the atmosphere were predominantly water vapor.
At present the team is left with two possibilities. The planet is still clinging to a hydrogen-rich envelope laced with water, making it a mini-Neptune. Alternatively, it could be a warmer version of Jupiter’s moon Europa, which has twice as much water as Earth beneath its crust. “The planet GJ 9827d could be half water, half rock. And there would be a lot of water vapor on top of some smaller rocky body,” said Benneke.
If the planet has a residual water-rich atmosphere, then it must have formed farther away from its host star, where the temperature is cold and water is available in the form of ice, than its present location.
In this scenario, the planet would have then migrated closer to the star and received more radiation.
The hydrogen was then heated and escaped, or is still in the process of escaping, the planet’s weak gravity. The alternative theory is that the planet formed close to the hot star, with a trace of water in its atmosphere.
The Hubble programme observed the planet during 11 transits — events in which the planet crossed in front of its star — that were spaced out over three years. During transits, starlight is filtered through the planet’s atmosphere and carries the spectral fingerprint of water molecules.
If there are clouds on the planet, they are low enough in the atmosphere that they don’t completely hide Hubble’s view of the atmosphere, and Hubble is able to probe water vapour above the clouds.
Hubble’s discovery opens the door to studying the planet in more detail. It’s a good target for the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to do infrared spectroscopy to look for other atmospheric molecules.
GJ 9827d was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in 2017. It completes an orbit around a red dwarf star every 6.2 days. The star, GJ 9827, lies 97 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pisces.
One of the most robust measures of Earth’s changing climate is that winter is warming more quickly than other seasons. The cascade of changes it brings, including ice storms and rain in regions that were once reliably below freezing, are symptoms of what I call “warming winter syndrome.”
Wintertime warming represents the global accumulation of heat. During winter, direct heat from the Sun is weak, but storms and shifts in the jet stream bring warm air up from more southern latitudes into the northern U.S. and Canada. As global temperatures and the oceans warm, that stored heat has an influence on both temperature and precipitation.
The warming is evident in changes to growing seasons, reflected in recent updates to plant hardiness zones printed on the back of seed packages. These maps show the northward and, sometimes, westward movement of freezing temperatures in eastern North America.
The shift of this freezing line between snow and rain can mean ice storms in places and at times when communities aren’t prepared to handle them, as several parts of the U.S. saw in early 2024.
On average, freezing temperatures are moving northward and, along the Atlantic coast, toward the interior of the continent. For individual storms, the transition to freezing temperatures even in the dead of winter can now be as far north as Lake Superior and southern Canada in places where, 50 years ago, it was reliably below freezing from early December through February.
When temperatures are close to the freezing point, water can be rain, snow or ice. Regions on the colder side, which historically would have been below freezing and snowy, are seeing an increase in ice storms.
The character of snow also changes near the freezing line. When the temperature is well below freezing, the snow is dry and fluffy. Near freezing, snow has big, wet, heavy flakes that turn roads into slush and stick on tree branches and bring down power lines.
Because the climate in which snowstorms are forming is warmer due to global accumulation of heat, and wetter because of more evaporation and warmer air that can hold more moisture, individual snowstorms can also result in more intense snowfalls. However, as temperatures get warmer in the future, the scales will tilt toward rain, and the total amount of snow will decrease.
For communities, planning for water supplies and extreme weather gets more complicated in a rapidly changing climate. Planners can’t count on the weather 30 years in the future being the same as weather today. It’s changing too quickly.
In many places, snow will not persist as late into spring. In regions like California and the Rockies that rely on the snowpack for water through the year, those supplies will become less reliable.
For road planners, the rate of freeze-thaw cycles that can damage roads will increase during winters in many regions unaccustomed to such quick shifts.
An especially interesting effect happens in the Great Lakes. Already, the Great Lakes do not freeze as early or as completely as in the past. This has large effects on the famous lake-effect precipitation zones.
With the lakes not frozen, more water evaporates into the atmosphere. In places where the wintertime air temperature is still below freezing, lake-effect snow is increasing. The Buffalo, New York, region saw 6 feet of snow from one lake-effect storm in 2022. As the air temperature flirts with the freezing line, these events are more likely to be rain and ice than snow.
What we are experiencing in warming winter syndrome is a consistent and robust set of symptoms on a fevered planet.
Novembers and Decembers will be milder; Februarys and Marches will be more like spring. Wintry weather will become more concentrated around January. There will be unfamiliar variability with snow, ice and rain. Some people may say these changes are great; there is less snow to shovel and heating bills are down.
These changes, which affect outdoor sports and recreation, commercial fisheries and agriculture, have enormous consequences not only to the ecosystems but also to our relationship to them. In some instances, traditions will be lost, such as ice fishing. Overall, people just about everywhere will have to adapt.
Forests are an essential part of Earth’s operating system. They reduce the buildup of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and land degradation by 30% each year. This slows global temperature increases and the resulting changes to the climate. In the U.S., forests take up 12% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions annually and store the carbon long term in trees and soils.
Most forests in the continental U.S. have been harvested multiple times. Today, just 3.9% of timberlands across the U.S., in public and private hands, are over 100 years old, and most of these areas hold relatively little carbon compared with their potential.
The Biden administration is moving to improve protection for old-growth and mature forests on federal land, which we see as a welcome step. But this involves regulatory changes that will likely take several years to complete. Meanwhile, existing forest management plans that allow logging of these important old, large trees remain in place.
As scientists who have spent decades studying forest ecosystems and the effects of climate change, we believe that it is essential to start protecting carbon storage in these forests. In our view, there is ample scientific evidence to justify an immediate moratorium on logging mature and old-growth forests on federal lands.
Federal action to protect mature and old-growth forests
A week after his inauguration in 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that set a goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 to address what the order called “a profound climate crisis.” In 2022, Biden recognized the climate importance of mature and old-growth forests for a healthy climate and called for conserving them on federal lands.
Most recently, in December 2023, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it was evaluating the effects of amending management plans for 128 U.S. national forests to better protect mature and old-growth stands – the first time any administration has taken this kind of action.
These actions seek to make existing old-growth forests more resilient; preserve ecological benefits that they provide, such as habitat for threatened and endangered species; establish new areas where old-growth conditions can develop; and monitor the forests’ condition over time. The amended national forest management plans also would prohibit logging old-growth trees for mainly economic purposes – that is, producing timber. Harvesting trees would be permitted for other reasons, such as thinning to reduce fire severity in hot, dry regions where fires occur more frequently.
Remarkably, however, logging is hardly considered in the Forest Service’s initial analysis, although studies show that it causes greater carbon losses than wildfires and pest infestations.
In one analysis across 11 western U.S. states, researchers calculated total aboveground tree carbon loss from logging, beetle infestations and fire between 2003 and 2012 and found that logging accounted for half of it. Across the states of California, Oregon and Washington, harvest-related carbon emissions between 2001 and 2016 averaged five times the emissions from wildfires.
A 2016 study found that nationwide, between 2006 and 2010, total carbon emissions from logging were comparable to emissions from all U.S. coal plants, or to direct emissions from the entire building sector.
Logging pressure
Federal lands are used for multiple purposes, including biodiversity and water quality protection, recreation, mining, grazing and timber production. Sometimes, these uses can conflict with one another – for example, conservation and logging..
Multiple large logging projects on public land clearly qualify as major federal actions, but many thousands of acres have been legally exempted from such analysis.
An analysis of 152 national forests across North America found that five forests in the Pacific Northwest had the highest carbon densities, but just 10% to 20% of these lands were protected at the highest levels. The majority of national forest area that is mature and old growth is not protected from logging, and current management plans include logging of some of the largest trees still standing.
Letting old trees grow
Conserving forests is one of the most effective and lowest-cost options for managing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and mature and old-growth forests do this job most effectively. Protecting and expanding them does not require expensive or complex energy-consuming technologies, unlike some other proposed climate solutions.
Allowing mature and old-growth forests to continue growing will remove from the air and store the largest amount of atmospheric carbon in the critical decades ahead. The sooner logging of these forests ceases, the more climate protection they can provide.
Richard Birdsey, a former U.S. Forest Service carbon and climate scientist and current senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, contributed to this article.
This is an update of an article originally published on March 2, 2023.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors kicked off the year by approving a contract for a new solar installation to serve the Lake County Courthouse campus.
Public Services Director Lars Ewing presented a resolution and a contract with Staten Solar Corp., totaling $2,284,131, for design, installation and commissioning of the new solar installation to the board at its Jan. 9 meeting.
The planned solar array will serve the courthouse, District Attorney’s Office and the courthouse museum, which Ewing said are all served through the same meter.
Ewing’s report explained that, over the last few years, his staff — working along with the county’s Space Use Committee and Capital Improvement Committee — has worked on a photovoltaic and electric vehicle charging station project at the courthouse campus “to implement a high-visibility clean energy project.”
He added, “The purpose of this item is to consider a resolution making findings that the project will result in energy cost savings greater than the cost of the project, as well as a contract with Staten Solar Corporation to design, build, and commission the project.
Ewing said that in September 2022 the board heard a presentation summarizing the findings of a preliminary energy audit report for county facilities.
The report identified the courthouse, as well as the District Attorney’s Office parking lot that sits behind it, as good sites for solar photovoltaic panels and electric vehicle charging stations.
Ewing said the board approved funding for the project in its fiscal year 2022-23 budget, and in October of 2022 hired Optony Inc. “to provide procurement and selection assistance as well as third-party financial and design analysis for the project.”
Optony was tasked with soliciting requests for proposals to design and construct the project. Six companies submitted proposals and San Jose-based Staten Solar Corp. was selected.
The project the board approved is a 444 kilowatt solar photovoltaic carport array at the main parking lot situated west of the District Attorney’s Office building.
Ewing said both the courthouse and District Attorney’s Office buildings are currently powered by Pacific Gas and Electric, with typical annual energy consumption and PG&E charges of approximately 870,000 kilowatt-hour and $210,000 at the courthouse, and 290,000 kilowatt-hour and $70,000 at the district attorney’s building.
The proposed solar array will produce an estimated 670,000 kilowatt-hours for the two buildings.
Ewing told the board during the Jan. 9 meeting that funding for the project was allocated in this year’s budget.
It was decided that the best project was a carport parking lot array just west of the District Attorney’s Office. “Typically you might consider a roof project,” Ewing said, but both the courthouse and DA’s Office are heavily in use and generating revenue for the county through facility space leases with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon for telecommunications equipment.
Having a rooftop array would make future roof repairs and general roof access very challenging, while Ewing explained in his written report that a carport array will provide an additional benefit to employees and visitors alike.
The financial analysis completed by Optony assumes a 3% assumed annual PG&E rate escalation, a 0.5% annual panel degradation rate, the county paying for operations and maintenance costs after the 10th year and the county’s receipt of a 30% investment tax credit, Ewing’s written report explained.
That analysis anticipates that the array the county is planning will offset 58% of facility use at both buildings and provide a payback period of approximately 10 years, resulting in total savings of approximately $3.27 million over the 25-year system life. “The modules are power warranted for 30 years, so the cost savings may very well exceed these figures,” Ewing’s report explained.
“Ultimately this project is intended to save us money in the long term,” Ewing told the board.
In addition, the project includes three dual-port electronic vehicle charging stations. “These stations were included in the project with the vision that the County would soon add electric vehicles to its fleet. Whether or not that occurs, the charging stations will be available on a pay-for-use basis for non-County EV’s (this potential revenue was not included in Optony’s financial analysis),” Ewing’s report explained.
The county worked with the city of Lakeport’s Community Development Department staff to evaluate the project under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. Ewing reported that the city of Lakeport has confirmed it is ministerially exempt from CEQA.
Board Chair Bruno Sabatier said he thought he would see more than three connections for electric vehicles and he wanted to be prepared for future growth. He asked if it’s easy to add more connections. Jonathan Whelan of Optony, who attended the meeting virtually, said the answer was yes, with some additional costs.
“I’m thinking 25 years from now, our parking lot will look drastically different in the vehicles that we have,” said Sabatier, adding that he would love to see them being able to prepare for expansion of charging stations.
Supervisor Moke Simon agreed, suggesting they could at least put conduit in the ground so the system is expandable.
Ewing noted during the discussion that the EV charging stations will eliminate some regular parking stalls in the DA’s Office parking lot. “I think the reward is better than the risk.”
Simon also asked about battery backup in the future. Whelan said the project originally was designed with battery storage as an alternative. While it added additional savings, it was not enough to cover the additional cost.
However, Whelan said that will change in the coming years, and the system can be retrofitted with a battery energy storage system.
Possible locations for battery storage included an equipment pad on the north side of the DA’s Office as well as inside the DA’s Office sally port.
The supervisors unanimously approved both the resolution to authorize the contract and the agreement.
Ewing’s report said that it’s expected that the project will be commissioned by the fall. Once the contract is in effect, there will be a detailed construction schedule and schematic design.
Lake County has been doing major solar projects since 2007, when it began work on a 3 megawatts array that was credited as being the largest solar-energy system on county property in California at the time.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Forecasters are predicting an atmospheric river headed toward California next week has Lake County and part of the North Coast region right in its bull's-eye.
The storm is expected to hit from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, according to the National Weather Service.
Lake County is forecast to receive heavy rain, along with the potential for heavy snow in the higher elevations. The forecast calls for the county to have an 80% chance of above-average precipitation.
More precipitation is expected through the middle of February, based on the extended forecast.
At the same time, temperatures are generally forecast to be above average.
In the run up to next week, rain is expected through Saturday night, with a break until early next week, as the new storms head in.
The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook shows that none of California currently is in drought or forecast to experience it.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Lakeport is moving forward with its first police chief recruitment in nearly 20 years.
At its Jan. 16 meeting, the council unanimously approved an agreement with Bob Hall and Associates to conduct an executive recruitment to find the successor for Chief Brad Rasmussen, who intends to retire later this year.
The $27,000 agreement was approved along with a budget amendment to allow for the expenditure.
Last spring, Rasmussen announced his plans to retire at the same time as he revealed his intention to run for District 4 supervisor. He’s now in the midst of a four-way race that also includes Scott Barnett, Laura McAndrews Sammel and Chris Read.
Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Kelly Buendia told the council that after Rasmussen’s announcement, staff discussed the recruitment and decided that it “quickly gets out of our scope,” and that “hiring an executive recruiting firm makes most sense in our opinion.”
Her written report explained that the firms were asked to “conduct a comprehensive outreach campaign aimed at producing the highest quality candidate pool; coordinate the interview selection process; assist in compensation negotiations and conduct a POST-level background investigation.”
Buendia reported that the city issued a request for quote and qualifications and received five proposals to do the work.
A selection committee that included Buendia, Rasmussen, City Manager Kevin Ingram and Assistant City Manager Nick Walker interviewed the top three firms and decided that Bob Hall and Associates was the best overall fit for the city, demonstrating the strongest law enforcement experience and credentials.
“They also exhibited experience in understanding and working with the challenges of small agencies,” Buendia’s report explained.
Buendia said Bob Hall and Associates’ bid was in the middle of the amounts proposed by the other firms.
Todd Freitas of the Lakeport Police Officer’s Association said he believed the city has a very good vision for how to move forward. He also noted that the contract amount will cover the background investigation cost.
Freitas lauded Rasmussen for doing “a very good job of running the ship over the years.”
He credited the police department’s strong staffing position to current police administration, adding, “We hope that this hiring firm will assist us in continuing that vision in the leadership.”
Councilwoman Kim Costa moved to approve the agreement, with Councilman Brandon Disney seconding and the council voting 5-0.
The contract commences on Feb. 1 and continues until Jan. 31, 2025. It will be overseen by Buendia.
Rasmussen has been chief since May of 2011, and was promoted to the position from within the police department’s ranks after the departure of Chief Kevin Burke, whose hire resulted after a recruitment begun in 2005 when Chief Tom Engstrom retired.
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.