State Controller Betty T. Yee has published the 2021 self-reported payroll data for state departments, superior courts, and California State University, or CSU, institutions on the Government Compensation in California website.
The data cover more than 384,000 positions and approximately $25.92 billion in total wages.
The newly published data were reported by 24 CSU institutions (106,203 employees), 55 superior courts (19,458 employees), and 157 state departments (258,483 employees).
Three superior courts — Alameda, Del Norte and Glenn — did not file a report.
The Lake County Superior Court’s report shows that it has 41 employees, paid $2,771,228 in total wages in 2021 and $482,524 in retirement.
The highest paid staff in the Lake County Superior Court are the judges, with their pay ranging between $210,000 and $218,653 annually. The court executive officer receives an annual salary of $201,246 and the commissioner/attorney is paid $126,321.
California law requires cities, counties, and special districts to annually report compensation data to the State Controller’s Office.
The state controller also maintains and publishes state and CSU salary data.
No such statutory requirement exists for the University of California, California community colleges, superior courts, fairs and expositions, First 5 commissions, or K-12 education providers; their reporting is voluntary.
Users of the site can view compensation levels on maps and search by region; narrow results by name of the entity or by job title; and export raw data or custom reports.
Since the website launched in 2010, it has registered more than 14 million pageviews. The site contains pay and benefit information on more than two million government jobs in California, as reported annually by each entity.
As the chief fiscal officer of California, Controller Yee is responsible for accountability and disbursement of the state’s financial resources. The controller has independent auditing authority over government agencies that spend state funds.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4.
Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the mayor or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the beginning of the meeting will not be included in the record.
There are no action items on the council’s agenda.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are considered routine in nature and usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants; minutes of the June and July council meetings; approval of the purchase of an equipment trailer from Felling Trailers in the amount of $49,778.16; authorization for payment of expansion fees for a water tie-in related to the Austin Park Splash Pad Project in the amount of $31,675; hold a second reading of Ordinance No. 265-2022, an ordinance amending the section of the Clearlake Municipal Code related to appeal of abatement orders to the City Council, read it by title only, waive further reading, and adopt ordinance; continuation of a declaration of local emergency issued on Aug. 23, 2021, and ratified by council action on Sept. 16, 2021, and set next review in 60 days; continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Aug. 18, 2021, and ratified by council action on Aug. 19, 2021, and set next review in 60 days; continuation of authorization to implement and utilize teleconference accessibility to conduct public meetings pursuant to Assembly Bill 361.
The council will meet in closed session after the public portion of the meeting to discuss an ongoing lawsuit against the county of Lake and Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen and an anticipated case of litigation.
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 county of Lake said a new assistant county administrative officer has been named.
Stephen L. Carter Jr., was appointed to the job effective Monday, July 25, according to the County Administrative Office.
Susan Parker, who was hired as county administrative officer out of a pool of six candidates in May following a brief recruitment, appointed Carter to fill her former position.
If county hiring practices so far are any indication, this development puts Carter in line to eventually succeed Parker as county administrative officer.
Both Parker and Carter were hires of former County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, who retired at the end of April.
In a written statement the county released on Monday afternoon. Parker said that in his new role Carter “will bring even broader leadership, particularly to our economic development efforts.”
Parker’s statement continued, “His understanding of county finance and our organizational history and norms make Stephen ideally suited to identifying areas where the county can help accelerate economic growth. He will also continue to be an important figure in ensuring responsible stewardship of public funds in Lake County. I could not be more excited to see what comes next, and continue to support Mr. Carter’s growth.”
“I look forward to serving Lake County’s communities in new ways,” Carter said in the county’s statement. “This is my home, and I have always had a strong desire to help ensure our county is a great place for people to work and raise a family. County government can be an effective partner to local businesses, by ensuring a level playing field, effectively planning and communicating investments in infrastructure and identifying opportunities to bring in state and federal monies. I am humbled by this opportunity, and looking forward to digging in and contributing as much as possible.”
Carter’s LinkedIn page said he has been with the county since June 2010.
County and state records show that Carter previously worked in the county’s Social Services Department as a staff services analyst before being brought over to the County Administrative Office in 2016, the year Huchingson moved in the county administrative officer role.
The county statement said Carter has served in fiscal leadership positions with the county for seven years.
Since August of 2016, the county’s statement said Carter has prepared financial forecasts to support countywide fiscal planning and management activities, and served as a “trusted authority” on the Board of Supervisors’ purchasing policies and practices.
“County staff in financially-focused roles know him to be an effective trainer and highly creative problem solver, informed by years of experience and a strong theoretical foundation in business administration,” the county’s statement said.
The statement didn’t explain in what capacity Carter developed the economic development experience Parker referenced.
The county also did not outline any of Carter's formal educational background. The assistant county administrative officer position requires a bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in public administration, business administration, political science, communications or a closely related field.
With both the Department of Social Services and county administration, the county said Carter has “successfully administered” tens of millions in critical grant funding, including work with the County’s Community Development Block Grant efforts.
The county credited Carter with having a significant role in developing the annual budget.
The recommended 2022-23 fiscal year budget, which the board accepted in June, totals $337 million. Final budget hearings are scheduled for September.
During the county’s June budget hearings, Carter warned the Board of Supervisors that changes to the county’s cannabis revenues are resulting in the use of the funds not being sustainable in the long term.
He estimated that if the county hires all of its positions, it’s going to get to a point within three years where it will not have enough ongoing revenue from cannabis, which casts doubt on the overall sustainability of the county’s annual budget.
That’s important because Huchingson and her staff, who pushed through $21 million in raises for staff in just over a year during the pandemic, largely tied those raises to cannabis revenues.
Transparent California, a website that tracks public employee pay and benefits, shows the impact those raises had on Carter’s pay, raising him from $92,220 annually as chief deputy county administrative officer in 2020 to $124,048 for the same job title in 2021.
In his new position, the pay range is from $137,988 to $167,736 annually. The county did not report at which step Carter will begin his new job.
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.
Launching the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) and the heat.gov site on July 26, 2022, the Biden administration cited heat waves and the warming climate as serious health threats. As the new initiative promises a “science informed response” to hotter conditions, five stories from The Conversation’s archive explain what researchers know about heat and health.
“Heat waves can kill via the dehydration caused by heavy sweating; the altered sodium and potassium concentrations in the blood confuse both heart and nerve cells, and so breathing or heartbeat may suddenly stop,” he wrote.
Calvin explained that human bodies have not evolved to handle extreme heat with humidity. “Normally, sweat evaporates off your skin and you cool down. But with high humidity, the air is already saturated with water vapor, and so evaporative cooling stops. However, you keep sweating anyway, threatening dehydration.”
2. Lower tolerance for higher temps
“That combination of temperature and humidity whereby the person’s core temperature starts to rise is called the ‘critical environmental limit,’” wrote a group of Penn State University scholars researching the health effects of heat: W. Larry Kenney, Daniel Vecellio, Rachel Cottle and S. Tony Wolf.
In a rare lab test of the human body’s heat tolerance, the researchers found that the limit is lower than previously thought. When the air temperature is around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), people can begin to feel ill effects at just 60% humidity – a higher temperature and lower humidity than researchers determined in 2010.
“Above those limits, core temperature rises continuously and risk of heat-related illnesses with prolonged exposures is increased,” they wrote. “The results of these tests show an even greater cause for concern.”
3. Age matters
Extremely hot whether is particularly dangerous for those over 70, according to family physician Dr. Gabriel Neal, who teaches at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.
In his article on avoiding heat stroke, Neal described factors making older adults vulnerable to heat-related illnesses.
“As people age, our bodies’ ability to cool declines, and the elderly often take medication that further impairs this ability,” Neal wrote. “In addition, the elderly may not be aware of the dangerous heat wave and may not have working air conditioning in their home, nor have anyone to check on them.”
“Hot desert climates are stressful due to extreme temperatures, while humid subtropical climates are stressful because the body has trouble removing heat when sweat doesn’t evaporate readily,” he wrote.
Smith added that how heat and humidity affect people depends on factors like the weather that’s typical where they are, and the cooling systems in local homes and buildings.
5. Warming up food
Tufts University epidemiologist Elena Naumova warns that keeping food safe to eat is becoming more challenging in a warming climate. “That’s because warm, wet weather conditions stimulate bacterial growth,” she wrote.
Naumova named several climate-related factors in spreading foodborne illnesses. “One growing problem is that heat waves, wildfires and severe storms are increasingly triggering power outages, which in turn affect food storage and food handling practices in stores, production and distribution sites and homes,” she wrote.
Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The East Region Town Hall, or ERTH, will meet on Wednesday, Aug. 3.
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Moose Lodge, located at 15900 Moose Lodge Lane in Clearlake Oaks.
The meeting can be attended in person or via Zoom; the meeting ID is 935 8339 6020, the pass code is 448228.
The group will hear from Scott DeLeon, Lake County director of Public Works, on the county’s road improvement plan.
Agenda items also include updates on commercial cannabis cultivation, the consolidated lighting district in Clearlake Oaks and street lighting in Spring Valley, the Lake County geothermal project watchlist, the EPA’s superfund site at the mercury mine and Spring Valley.
There also will be an update from Northshore Fire Protection DistrictChief Mike Ciancio, a discussion on the John T. Klaus 1994 Trust’s land donation for a new Clearlake Oaks park,a report from Supervisor EJ Crandell, new business and announcements.
ERTH will next meet on Wednesday, Sept. 7.
ERTH’s members are Denise Loustalot, Jim Burton, Tony Morris and Pamela Kicenski.
For more information visit the group’s Facebook page.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College is hosting “Super Saturday” on Aug. 6 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
If you’ve been thinking of taking college classes or completing your high school diploma or equivalency this is your opportunity.
They will provide application assistance, financial aid support and drop-in counseling during this event. All participants will receive Lake County Campus swag.
In conjunction with Super Saturday, the culinary department is hosting their open house enrollment event, Culinary Round-Up, for anyone interested in pursuing a career in the culinary industry.
Participants in Culinary Round-Up will be offered in-person tours of the college’s state-of-the-art teaching kitchen lab. Chef instructors will be available to answer questions and food samplings will be available.
This is a historical time for the hospitality, culinary and tourism industries. There has never been such a great demand for the staff in this field. Great opportunities abound in this industry sector, ranging from hospitality to kitchen management.
The Lake County Campus offers more than 50 degrees and certificate programs.
Woodland Community College is ranked among the top 40 community colleges in the U.S., according to WalletHub.
The college offers a variety of instructional and student support services that help students to succeed.
Graduates can find employment in a variety of regional industries or transfer to bachelor’s programs.
The Lake County Campus also provides adult basic education classes to improve your skills and confidence necessary to be successful in college.
The college’s adult education program can assist you in completing your high school diploma or getting ready to take the HiSET or GED high school equivalency tests.
Anyone interested in this event is encouraged to attend.
For more information call the campus at 707-995-7900.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is asking the governor to fill the District 4 supervisorial seat that’s been vacated by Tina Scott.
Scott, whose last meeting was last Tuesday, announced her resignation in April to take a job as a culinary arts teacher at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport. Her resignation was effective on July 31.
First elected in 2016, she served one full term and half of a second.
She’s the first county supervisor in four decades to resign before completing a term.
The board held a discussion July 12 — after it had been put off or rescheduled since her resignation announcement — to discuss whether to go to a special election or seek a gubernatorial appointment.
The supervisors ultimately decided to take no action at that time; Scott said they should wait until after she was gone to make a decision.
By Scott not stepping down earlier or allowing the county to begin a process to pursue an election, it left the board with no other option than to seek a gubernatorial appointment, county officials said Tuesday.
The Governor’s Office previously told Lake County News that it would make the appointment.
Only three members of the board were present for the Tuesday discussion. In addition to Scott’s vacant seat, Supervisor Jessica Pyska was absent.
In her brief report to the board during Tuesday’s meeting, County Administrative Officer Susan Parker said that on July 12, the board directed staff to draft a letter to the governor to ask him to fill Scott’s vacancy.
“We have prepared a draft for your review and consideration,” said Parker, who thanked County Counsel Anita Grant for her help in drafting the letter.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said that he wanted to clarify that, because of the date of Scott’s resignation, it was not possible to do an election in November.
“There does not appear to be a clear statutory path to allow that,” said Grant.
Board Chair EJ Crandell said Registrar of Voter Maria Valadez had reported in July that it would be difficult to conduct the special election.
The only public comment on the matter was submitted through eComment on the county’s website.
That comment came from Michael Green, a Lakeport City Council member who has shown particular interest in the seat and how it is filled.
“The appropriate board action at the appropriate time,” wrote Green, who had insisted in a July letter to the board that the seat needed to be appointed by the governor and not filled through a special election.
Supervisor Moke Simon moved to approve the letter, with Sabatier seconding and the board voting 3-0.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported that its crews in Lake County are pruning and removing trees that could impact overhead power lines.
This final phase of work will be focused on preventing wildfires in the highest fire-risk areas and conducted along approximately 94 miles of overhead power lines through the end of the year.
Customers in the areas of Cobb and Cobb Mountain, Clearlake Oaks, Glenview, Kelseyville, Lower Lake, Loch Lomond, and Morgan Valley may see crews and contractors inspecting power lines, marking trees, preparing for necessary tree maintenance, or trimming trees.
Before performing tree work, PG&E will share plans with customers and communities through phone calls, postcards, door knocks and door hangers.
“The speed at which we’re seeing tree die-off is unprecedented. Whether it be due to the Growing up and working in the North Bay, I know how important trees are to these communities, whether in a forested or urban area,” said Ron Richardson, regional vice president for PG&E’s North Coast Region. “We feel the same way. Our team of qualified professionals carefully assess trees that could pose a risk and work closely with customers as we keep our communities safe by reducing the risk of wildfire.”
PG&E said it will work individually with any customers as needed to review necessary safety work on their property.
For example, Gloria Novak, a Nevada City resident, and chair of the Lake Vera Round Mountain Firewise Community, acknowledged that she “didn’t really understand why they needed to cut down a few more of my oak trees.”
PG&E Vegetation Program Manager Joanne Drummond arranged to meet with Novak and review the health of each of the trees identified for work on her property, including one oak tree that was rotting inside.
“At that point I knew that [the tree] could fall at any time,” said Novak, who has shared her experience with her community. "Fire season is upon us, and the work completed by PG&E is making it safer by reducing the chances of trees falling on their power lines.”
All tree work is conducted in coordination with trained arborists, biologists and cultural resource specialists to limit environmental impacts and comply with regulation.
PG&E also conducts follow-up quality inspections to ensure all necessary safety work has been completed.
PG&E’s said its Enhanced Vegetation Management, or EVM, work exceeds state standards for minimum clearances and evaluates the condition of all trees and branches that are tall enough to strike power lines.
As of June, PG&E has completed more than 7,000 miles of EVM work.
PG&E plans to continue these efforts in 2022 by performing at least 1,800 miles of EVM work.
The work is part of the company’s 2022 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which also includes efforts to underground power line and strengthen the electric system against wildfire risk.
If customers have questions about work on their property, PG&E encourages them to call (800) 564-5080 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and visit www.pge.com/evm.
The impact of climate change on extreme water-related events like this is becoming increasingly evident. The storms in the U.S. followed extreme flooding this summer in India and Australia and last year in Western Europe.
Studies by scientists around the world show that the water cycle has been intensifying and will continue to intensify as the planet warms. An international climate assessment I coauthored in 2021 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lays out the details.
It documented an increase in both wet extremes, including more intense rainfall over most regions, and dry extremes, including drying in the Mediterranean, southwestern Australia, southwestern South America, South Africa and western North America. It also shows that both wet and dry extremes will continue to increase with future warming.
Why is the water cycle intensifying?
Water cycles through the environment, moving between the atmosphere, ocean, land and reservoirs of frozen water. It might fall as rain or snow, seep into the ground, run into a waterway, join the ocean, freeze or evaporate back into the atmosphere. Plants also take up water from the ground and release it through transpiration from their leaves. In recent decades, there has been an overall increase in the rates of precipitation and evaporation.
A number of factors are intensifying the water cycle, but one of the most important is that warming temperatures raise the upper limit on the amount of moisture in the air. That increases the potential for more rain.
This aspect of climate change is confirmed across all of our lines of evidence discussed in the IPCC report. It is expected from basic physics, projected by computer models, and it already shows up in the observational data as a general increase of rainfall intensity with warming temperatures.
Understanding this and other changes in the water cycle is important for more than preparing for disasters. Water is an essential resource for all ecosystems and human societies, and particularly agriculture.
What does this mean for the future?
An intensifying water cycle means that both wet and dry extremes and the general variability of the water cycle will increase, although not uniformly around the globe.
Rainfall intensity is expected to increase for most land areas, but the largest increases in dryness are expected in the Mediterranean, southwestern South America and western North America.
Globally, daily extreme precipitation events will likely intensify by about 7% for every 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) that global temperatures rise.
Many other important aspects of the water cycle will also change in addition to extremes as global temperatures increase, the report shows, including reductions in mountain glaciers, decreasing duration of seasonal snow cover, earlier snowmelt and contrasting changes in monsoon rains across different regions, which will impact the water resources of billions of people.
The IPCC does not make policy recommendations. Instead, it provides the scientific information needed to carefully evaluate policy choices. The results show what the implications of different choices are likely to be.
One thing the scientific evidence in the report clearly tells world leaders is that limiting global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 C (2.7 F) will require immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Regardless of any specific target, it is clear that the severity of climate change impacts are closely linked to greenhouse gas emissions: Reducing emissions will reduce impacts. Every fraction of a degree matters.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration on Monday of a state of emergency to bolster the state’s vaccination efforts against monkeypox, Lake County health officials offered more information about the illness and how to protect against it.
Lake County Public Health said no cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Lake County, and the risk to the general public is currently very low.
Public Health officials noted, however, the situation in California is, “rapidly evolving,” and so it is essential that at-risk individuals take this outbreak seriously.
Newsom’s proclamation enables emergency medical services personnel to administer monkeypox vaccines that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, similar to the statutory authorization recently enacted for pharmacists to administer vaccines.
The state’s response to monkeypox builds on the infrastructure developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to deploy vaccine clinics and ensure inclusive and targeted outreach in partnership with local and community-based organizations.
“California is working urgently across all levels of government to slow the spread of monkeypox, leveraging our robust testing, contact tracing and community partnerships strengthened during the pandemic to ensure that those most at risk are our focus for vaccines, treatment and outreach,” said Gov. Newsom. “We’ll continue to work with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risk, and stand with the LGBTQ community fighting stigmatization.”
To date, the state has received more than 61,000 vaccine doses and distributed more than 25,000 doses.
The state is also supporting overall vaccination efforts in collaboration with locals, including helping provide staffing and mobile clinics. The state allocates doses to local health departments based on a number of factors, including the number of reported monkeypox cases in an area and estimate of at-risk populations.
As of July 28, the state had expanded its testing capacity to process more than 1,000 tests a week. The state's public health laboratory leaders have been working with local public health, academic, and commercial laboratories to ensure testing capacity is increasingly available and coordinated with the public health response.
CDPH is also expanding treatment options. Access to the antiviral prescription drug tecovirimat, or TPOXX, used to treat monkeypox is limited, but the treatment can now be administered at more than 30 facilities and providers across the state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, has found, “Monkeypox does not spread easily between people; however, anyone in close contact with a person with monkeypox can get it and should take steps to protect themselves.”
Further, the California Department of Public Health, or CDPH, notes, “While monkeypox can infect anyone, many of the recent cases in 2022 have occurred among persons self-identifying as men who have sex with men,” or MSM.
Limiting the spread of monkeypox demands a coordinated effort. Lake County Health Services staff is working with local health care providers and other California local health jurisdictions. This work includes preparing to investigate, conduct contact tracing and offer postexposure prevention for close contacts of those who test positive.
As the situation continues to develop, Lake County-focused resources will be accessible at http://health.lakecountyca.gov/Diseases/Monkeypox.htm.
Monkeypox: A fact sheet for Lake County Residents
Monkeypox is a viral infection which often begins within two to three weeks after exposure, with flu-like symptoms followed by a rash that goes through different stages and often resolves in two to four weeks without intervention.
Symptoms of monkeypox typically include:
• Fever; • Headache; • Muscle aches and backache; • Swollen lymph nodes; • Chills; • Exhaustion. • A rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appears on the face, inside the mouth and on other parts of the body, like the hands, feet, chest, genitals or anus.
People with monkeypox are infectious, and should isolate until the rash resolves. People who have symptoms should call their health care provider or local hospital, who will determine the need for testing.
People who have symptoms of monkeypox or have had contact with a confirmed or suspected monkeypox case, should take the following steps:
• Visit a medical provider for an evaluation; • Cover the area of the rash with clothing; • Wear a properly fitting mask; • Avoid skin-to-skin, or close contact with others.
There are steps people can take to protect themselves from monkeypox, including asking intimate and other sexual partners about symptoms, avoiding skin-to-skin or prolonged face-to-face contact with anyone who has symptoms, practicing safer sex (such as reducing the number of sexual partners), keeping hands clean and maintaining respiratory etiquette.
Monkeypox can spread through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, or shared items (such as clothing and bedding) that have been contaminated with fluids from sores of a person with monkeypox.
Monkeypox virus can also spread between people through saliva or respiratory droplets, typically between people in a close setting.
Although monkeypox is not generally considered a sexually transmitted infection, the current outbreak is being transmitted during sex through skin-to-skin and other intimate contact, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Most people with monkeypox have a mild illness that improves over two to four weeks. Monkeypox is contagious and can spread to others until scabs have fallen off and a new layer of skin has formed.
Comparisons of this outbreak to HIV are disingenuous and stigmatize vulnerable populations as there are no similarities other than MSM. Monkeypox is similar to smallpox not HIV and is survivable.
Unlike the early days of the ongoing and tiring COVID-19 pandemic, safe and effective vaccines, antiviral drugs and tests for monkeypox have already been developed and proven safe. The equitable distribution of these resources is now underway.
TPOXX is an antiviral medication that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of smallpox in adults and children. Clinical trials in people showed the drug was safe and had only minor side effects.
The CDC holds an expanded access (sometimes called “compassionate use”) protocol that allows for the use of stockpiled tecovirimat to treat monkeypox during an outbreak. Tecovirimat is available as a pill or an injection. For more information and the facts about TPOXX (Tecovirimat) please visit www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/clinicians/Tecovirimat.html.
If you are an immunocompromised individual or are pursuing monkeypox treatment or postexposure prevention options for someone who is, please contact your health care provider or local hospital to speak about accessibility of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine. Please be aware that supplies of Jynneos are experiencing immense scarcity and this vaccine will be allocated on a case-by-case basis.
To learn more about monkeypox and the 2022 Monkeypox Outbreak, please visit the following websites:
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council has agreed to explore a proposal to annex 300 acres to the city’s boundary at the request of the property owners.
At its July 21 meeting, the council heard a presentation from Brian Pensack, a partner in Lake Vista Farms — which owns two parcels totaling 302 acres at 2050 and 2122 Ogulin Canyon Road — and the group’s planning consultant, Richard Knoll.
Pensack and his partners are asking to be added to the city’s boundaries.
Lake Vista’s property, which is zoned industrial, is located to the east of the current city limits. It’s not in the city’s sphere of influence, which at present is the same as the boundaries of Clearlake.
If the city ultimately pursued the annexation proposal, it would be the first one since Clearlake incorporated in 1980. It’s also more than twice the size of the South Main Street annexation the city of Lakeport is pursuing.
The process of investigating the annexation also will include determining the cost and who will bear it.
Knoll said the group submitted a cannabis project application to the county of Lake, which the Lake County Planning Commission approved. However, an appeal by neighbors resulted in the Board of Supervisors denying the project on appeal.
“Subsequent to that action, we started discussions with the city of Clearlake,” Knoll said.
Initially, they talked about water supply and availability of water before progressing to a discussion about annexation, Knoll explained.
Knoll said they’ve submitted a letter to the city. They’ve also spoken to John Benoit, the executive director of the Lake Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, which is tasked with overseeing annexations.
Benoit, Knoll said, would prefer the city be the applicant for annexation projects. “It’s actually been that way for a number of years.”
Knoll said there are two ways to conduct an annexation, one through a city applying through a resolution for annexation, and one where a property owner can apply.
The process would require the city to amend its sphere of influence, designating the property under the general plan and prezoning the property.
If the city didn’t support pursuing the annexation itself, Knoll asked that it would send a strongly worded letter of support for LAFCo to consider it.
Knoll said the city has a mixed use zoning district that might be appropriate for the site.
He said Lake Vista Farms was in the planning process with the county for more than three years. “It's a very expensive process. That did not pan out. This opportunity has presented itself.”
Knoll added, “We respectfully ask that you take a serious look at this.”
Pensack told the council that their project “didn’t turn out as we had hoped,” but they were trying to turn lemons into lemonade and had met with both Mayor Dirk Slooten and City Manager Alan Flora.
He said the property is beautiful land and lots of things can be done with it, and he noted the city has a desire for light industrial in the Ogulin Canyon area.
When he met with Slooten at the property a few weeks before the meeting Pensack said Slooten suggested one use could be a 100,000 square foot facility for wine storage, which Pensack found to be an interesting idea. There also is a proposal for housing.
Councilman Russ Cremer asked if they were going to come back with a cannabis plan. Pensack said they had been beaten up over cannabis, and Cremer responded by saying he did that to himself in how the project was handled.
Knoll said if the owners do sell the land, the zoning permits cannabis. Cremer said not all of the city’s industrial zoning allows cannabis.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton asked about the potential cost and noted that the annexation process “takes some time.”
“It’s not something that’s super easy,” Flora acknowledged. “I haven’t been through this specific process before.”
Overton asked Pensack if they had gone to the county to discuss doing something different with the property.
“There’s really no options at the county for us,” Pensack said.
Overton asked how long it could take to update the sphere of influence. Flora said it’s estimated to take six months.
Knoll noted that the property owners are “in a hurry” to move forward.
Slooten said the city doesn't have enough industrial zoning and industrial zoning creates jobs, which was his interest.
During public comment, City Clerk Melissa Swanson read an email from Vicki Crystal opposing the proposal and raising concerns about water availability. She said Pensack started his own problems by allowing a cannabis grow on his property before it was permitted by the county.
Dave Hughes, one of the neighbors who had opposed the Lake Vista Farms cannabis project, said there are 135 vacant acres of industrial property in the city now.
While he said he would love to see a wine storage facility. “We need to be careful what we're doing.”
Erin McCarrick, a city planning commissioner and a member of the local cannabis industry, said she didn’t necessarily have an opinion on the annexation proposal but she urged the city to put conditions into its requirements for transparency.
“Cannabis has silver linings. It’s controversial but it also has silver linings,” she said.
Cremer said he is OK with adding the property to the sphere of influence so the city had more control. He was glad to hear Pensack wanted to be out of the cannabis business and added that he liked the ideas proposed.
Overton also said she was OK with moving forward. She loved the idea of industrial uses as she said it’s very profitable and a lot less headaches for landowners.
By consensus, the council agreed to have staff move forward on exploring the proposal further.
Flora said they can do a workshop before a future council meeting to discuss it.
“We have a lot to get our arms around right now,” he said.
“Expanding too much of our boundary I think is something we should be careful about,” said Flora. “We have a very odd city boundary.”
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. — With the District 4 supervisor having stepped down, the Board of Supervisors is set to formally ask the governor this week to appoint her successor.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 991 0651 9632, pass code 109541. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16694449171,,99106519632#,,,,*109541#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
In an untimed item, the board will consider a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom asking him to fill the vacancy resulting from Tina Scott’s resignation.
Scott’s last meeting was July 26 and her departure became official on July 31.
The board previously had considered also holding a special election in November but the letter does not reference that option, instead asking Newsom’s “timely action to fill this vacancy by appointment for the period of Supervisor Scott’s remaining term, which will expire in January 2025.”
Also on Tuesday, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier will ask the board to consider appealing a July 28 decision by the Lake County Planning Commission to approve the Bottle Rock Farm FJA Trust Cannabis Project. That item also is untimed.
Sabatier’s report to the board explained that he is suggesting the action because the commission approved the project despite the fact that there are several violations on the project property, which contradicts the county’s zoning ordinance.
He said there were cannabis plants in the ground prior to obtaining an appropriate county permit, along with unresolved issues about grading and unpermitted buildings.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Adopt proclamation recognizing Lake County AmeriCorps CivicSpark Fellows.
5.2: Approve use of geothermal funds for the purpose of loan repayment for the Anderson Springs Community Service District and authorize the county administrative officer to sign a purchase order in the amount of $218,399.45.
5.3: Approve Amendment No. 1 to Physician consultation services contract to provide public health services between the county of Lake and Dr. Gary Pace and authorize chairs to sign.
5.4: Adopt resolution approving Agreement No.22-0116-000-SA with the state of California, Department of Food and Agriculture and Authorize the execution of the Fuels, Lubricants, and Automotive Products Program agreement in the amount of $2,475 for period July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.
5.5: Adopt resolution approving Agreement # 21-0517-029-SF with California Department of Food Agriculture for Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter Program in the amount of $56,515.76 for July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2024.
5.6: Adopt resolution approving Agreement No. 21-0595-011-SF with California Department of Food and Agriculture for compliance with the European Grapevine Moth Detection Program in the amount of $15,405 for period Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022.
5.7: Sitting as Lake County Air Quality Management District Board of Directors: Authorize the air pollution control officer to sign and submit the grant agreement between the district and ARB for AB617 Implementation Funds for the Community Air Protection Program, and sign all other program documents.
5.8: Adopt resolution authorizing Lake County Behavioral Health Services to increase the rates for Driving-Under-the-Influence Program services effective fiscal year 2022-23.
5.9: Approve agreement between county of Lake and Ever Well Health Systems for adult residential support services and specialty mental health services for fiscal years 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 in the amount of $360,000.00 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.10: Approve Board of Supervisors minutes for July 19, 2022.
5.11: Approve Task Order No.3 for on-call construction management services for various HBP-Funded Bridge Projects in Lake County.
5.12: a) Approve first amendment to the commercial lease agreement between county of Lake and OMarshall Inc., formerly Penna Realty Property Management, for the property located at 16170 Main St. Units C, D, & G, Lower Lake, CA 95457, and authorize the chair to sign; b) approve first amendment to the commercial lease agreement between county of Lake and OMarshall, Inc., formerly Penna Realty Property Management, for the property located at 16170 Main St. Units E & F, Lower Lake, CA 95457, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.13: Adopt resolution authorizing entering into a funding agreement with the State Department of Water Resources and authorizing and designating Lake County Special Districts administrator to sign on the behalf of CSA-21, North Lakeport Water, all grant related documents for the North Lakeport CSA #21 Water Supply Improvement Project.
TIMED ITEMS
6.3, 9:10 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation recognizing Lake County AmeriCorps CivicSpark Fellows.
6.4, 9:20 a.m.: Presentation by RCRC and GSFA on “Assist-to-Own” program available to county employees.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of a letter requesting action by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill Lake County’s District 4 supervisorial vacancy and authorize chair to sign.
7.3: Consideration of public review and approval of the county of Lake Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Round 3 application for $569,940, including a local homelessness action plan. not available not available
7.4: Consideration of the following advisory board appointments: Resource Conservation District.
7.5: ADDENDUM, consideration of appealing Planning Commission decision Re: Bottle Rock Farm FJA Trust Cannabis Project.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with legal counsel: Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9 (d)(2), (e)(5): One potential case.
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.