LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a variety of dogs of various breeds available for adoption this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Akbash, border collie, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, husky, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Shar Pei and St. Bernard.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
This male St. Bernard-Akbash mix has a multicolored coat.
He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 14164.
Shar Pei-Rhodesian Ridgeback
This male Shar Pei-Rhodesian Ridgeback has a short brown and black coat.
He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14132.
Yellow Labrador Retriever
This male yellow Labrador Retriever has a short coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 14156.
Male Chihuahua
This male Chihuahua has a short black and brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 21, ID No. 13638.
Male border collie
This male border collie has a long black and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14150.
Male German Shepherd-Siberian Husky
This Male German Shepherd-Siberian Husky has a medium-length black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 14135.
Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier has a short gray and brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 14138.
‘Baby’
“Baby” is a young male Chihuahua with a medium-length cream-colored coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 13590.
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.
As COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the country, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued travel advisories on Friday urging visitors entering their states or returning home from travel outside these states to self-quarantine to slow the spread of the virus.
The travel advisories urge against nonessential out-of-state travel, ask people to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving from another state or country and encourage residents to stay local.
“California just surpassed a sobering threshold – one million COVID-19 cases – with no signs of the virus slowing down,” said Gov. Newsom. “Increased cases are adding pressure on our hospital systems and threatening the lives of seniors, essential workers and vulnerable Californians. Travel increases the risk of spreading COVID-19, and we must all collectively increase our efforts at this time to keep the virus at bay and save lives.”
In addition to urging individuals arriving from other states or countries to self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival, the states’ travel advisories recommend individuals limit their interactions to their immediate household.
The advisories define essential travel as travel for work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health, immediate medical care and safety and security.
“COVID-19 does not stop at state lines. As hospitals across the West are stretched to capacity, we must take steps to ensure travelers are not bringing this disease home with them,” said Gov. Brown. “If you do not need to travel, you shouldn’t. This will be hard, especially with Thanksgiving around the corner. But the best way to keep your family safe is to stay close to home.”
“COVID cases have doubled in Washington over the past two weeks. This puts our state in as dangerous a position today as we were in March,” said Gov. Inslee. “Limiting and reducing travel is one way to reduce the further spread of the disease. I am happy to partner with California and Oregon in this effort to help protect lives up and down the West Coast.”
To learn more about the risk that travel itself poses for COVID-19 exposure, please visit the CDC page on travel risks.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation this week issued new projections for COVID-19 deaths in the United States, anticipating another 200,000 fatalities by March unless mask-wearing increases substantially.
The institute, an independent global health research center at the University of Washington, has issued key forecasts of how the virus will impact the nation and the world throughout the pandemic.
In its latest report issued on Thursday, the institute reported that daily cases are increasing at an accelerating rate with deaths also increasing but at a slower rate.
“Given the experience in Europe, we expect that the increase in deaths will soon begin to match the increase in cases,” the institute’s latest briefing notes.
That’s because the fall/winter surge is evident in nearly all 50 states at this time, the institute reported.
The updated forecast issued this week takes into account evidence from hospital studies showing that the infection-fatality rate has declined 30-percent since April due to improved treatment.
“Despite this, we expect 439,000 cumulative deaths by March 1 and a peak of daily deaths in mid January at 2,200 a day. Although mask use has increased to 67 percent, further increases to 95 percent could save a further 68,000 lives by March 1,” the institute reported.
The projection puts California’s deaths by March 1 at 27,073. Currently, the state has reported more than 18,100 deaths due to the virus.
The institute also estimated that, as of Nov. 9, 12 percent of the people in the United States have been infected with COVID-19. That ranges from 1 percent in Vermont to 24 percent in New Jersey. California’s infection rate is reported as between 7.5 and 9.9 percent.
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.
The universe would be a pretty boring place without stars. Without them, the universe would remain a diffuse plasma of mostly hydrogen and helium from the big bang.
As the basic building blocks of the cosmos, stellar nuclear fusion furnaces forge new heavy elements, enriching their parent galaxy. The radiant energy from stars potentially nurtures the emergence of life on the most favorably located planets, as it did on Earth.
To better understand stars and stellar evolution, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, has launched an ambitious new initiative with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, called UV Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards, or ULLYSES.
ULLYSES is Hubble's largest observing program ever in terms of the amount of time Hubble will dedicate to it. More than 300 stars will be included. Ultraviolet (UV) light from the target stars is being used to produce a library of the spectral "templates" of young, low-mass stars from eight star-forming regions in the Milky Way, as well as fully mature high-mass stars in several nearby dwarf galaxies including the Magellanic Clouds.
"One of the key goals of ULLYSES is to form a complete reference sample that can be used to create spectral libraries capturing the diversity of stars, ensuring a legacy dataset for a wide range of astrophysical topics. ULLYSES is expected to have a lasting impact on future research by astronomers around the world," said program lead Julia Roman-Duval of STScI.
STScI is now releasing the first set of ULLYSES observations to the astronomical community. These early targets are hot, massive, blue stars in several nearby dwarf galaxies.
Hubble is located above Earth's atmosphere, which filters out most UV radiation from space before it reaches ground-based telescopes. Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity makes it the only observatory up to the task because young stars radiate a lot of their energy in the UV as they grow chaotically in fits and starts while feeding on infalling gas and dust.
The program's goal is to give astronomers a much better understanding of the birth of stars and how this relates to everything from planets to the formation and evolution of galaxies.
Astronomers want to learn how young low-mass stars affect the evolution and composition of planets forming around them.
Intense UV radiation pulls apart molecules and penetrates circumstellar disks, where planets form, influencing their chemistry and affecting how long the disks survive. This has a direct bearing on planet habitability, atmospheric escape, and chemistry.
"This unique collection is enabling diverse and exciting astrophysical research across many fields," Roman-Duval said.
This is a ground-based telescopic photo of the Small Magellanic Cloud, or SMC, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
In addition, the torrential outflows of hot gas from fully mature stars that are much more massive than our Sun shape their environments in dramatic ways. By targeting massive stars in nearby galaxies with low abundances in heavy elements, similar to the primitive composition of early galaxies, astronomers can gain insights into how their outflows may have influenced early galaxy evolution billions of years ago.
The design and targets of these observations were selected in partnership with the astronomical community, allowing researchers from around the world to help develop the final program as well as have the opportunity to organize coordinated observations by other space- and ground-based telescopes at different wavelengths of light.
STScI scientific and technical staff are designing software specifically related to the development of databases and web interfaces to ensure wide access to the library by the astronomical community. Tools for high-level science products and spectroscopic analysis are being developed. All of the data are stored in STScI's Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.
The ULLYSES program is building a legacy for the future, creating a comprehensive database that astronomers will use for research for decades to come. The archive also complements the portions of the star-formation story that will soon be obtained with infrared-light observations from NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. Working together, both Hubble and Webb will provide a holistic view of stars and the star-formation history of the universe.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As the number of older drivers continues to grow, the California Highway Patrol is determined to help them maintain their driving independence for as long as they can safely drive.
Through the support of a yearlong federal grant, Keeping Everyone Safe, or KEYS, XII, the CHP will continue its traffic safety program that places an emphasis on roadway safety and mobility for California’s seniors.
The overall goal of the grant-funded Age Well, Drive Smart program is to reduce the number of fatal and injury crashes caused by drivers aged 65 and older. The program focuses on safe driving practices and current California driving laws.
The curriculum also addresses the physical and mental changes associated with aging that can affect a person’s driving skills, while offering possible corrective options.
“As we get older, we gain valuable experience including driving skills. However, age can also introduce new challenges,” said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley. “The Age Well, Drive Smart program is intended to assist California’s most experienced drivers in evaluating their own abilities and improving on them.”
To attend a free, two-hour Age Well, Drive Smart class, contact the nearest CHP Area office. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, online courses may be available.
The CHP’s Clear Lake Area office can be reached at 707-279-0103.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of safety, service and security.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service is forecasting cloudy skies, rain and cooler temperatures over the coming week.
The agency reported that a strong storm system is forecast to move across Northern California on Friday, with the potential for “widespread beneficial rainfall,” along with gusty south winds and mountain snow.
Rainfall is expected to take place in Lake County between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, according to the forecast.
The National Weather Service said a quarter of an inch to three-quarters of an inch are expected in Lake County.
The forecast calls for chances of rain through Friday night, with a break on Saturday before the possibility of more rain on Saturday night.
Mostly cloudy conditions are anticipated on Sunday and Monday, with slight chances of rain from Tuesday through Thursday.
In the south county, winds of up to 17 miles per hour and gusts of up to 22 miles per hour are forecast on Friday. Lighter winds of up to 7 miles per hour are forecast across the entire county through Sunday.
Temperatures over the coming week will range from the low 50s to high 60s during the day, and drop into the high 30s at night, based on the forecast.
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. – Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace is urging Lake County residents to take special precautions during the upcoming holiday season – including staying home – to stop the transmission of COVID-19.
While COVID-19 activity in Lake County has remained relatively stable, new cases around the state and the country are rapidly climbing, Pace said.
Cooler weather is pushing people indoors more now, and Pace said that increases the risk for transmission of the virus.
As of Friday, Lake County had 776 COVID-19 cases, with 709 of them recovered and three hospitalized. There have been 17 deaths related to the virus.
Statewide, county public health departments reported a total of 18,220 deaths due to the virus as of Friday night, with positive cases now numbering more than 1,015,600.
Pace said holiday travel can be especially risky, since it brings people together from different locations, indoors, to eat and drink with their masks off.
Since there are currently record levels of infection at many places around the country, the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays carry greater than usual risk, Pace said.
“We encourage people to stay home this Thanksgiving,” said Pace. “Traveling out of the area, or having out-of-area family and friends come to visit you, is not a good idea this year. Many people travel to other parts of the state, or out of the country, to see family. Some people travel to other areas for work. We strongly encourage people to think twice before doing so.”
If you do end up traveling, Pace said the following precautions should be emphasized:
– Masking while indoors; – Staying away from others when ill; – Social distancing; – Proper disinfection.
In addition to the state’s advisory, many regional health leaders, including the Association of Bay Area Health Officials, are recommending self-quarantine for 14 days after travel.
That means to stay home from work or other out-of-home activities for 14 days after traveling to other areas. Pace said testing during that time would also be a good idea.
“Remember, simple precautions and avoiding gatherings can slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep local businesses open,” Pace said.
Daniel Apai, University of Arizona and Jeremy Dietrich, University of Arizona
Only 12 light years from Earth, Tau Ceti is the closest single star similar to the Sun and an all-time favorite in sci-fi stories. Habitable worlds orbiting Tau Ceti were destinations of fictional starships like “The Expanse”‘s Nauvoo and “Barbarella”’s vessel. “Star Trek”’s Captain Picard also frequented an exotic bar in the system. Now, thanks to a new approach to analyzing nearby planetary systems, we have a deeper understanding of the actual worlds that orbit Tau Ceti and many other nearby stars.
Exoplanets – worlds around other stars – have long been staples of science fiction but remained mostly inaccessible to scientific investigations. This all changed over the past decade, when NASA’s Kepler and TESS exoplanet hunter space telescopes added thousands of new planets to the previously short tally of alien worlds.
We have now developed a novel way to figure out whether there are yet-undiscovered planets in these systems. We realized that by combining what is known about a given planetary system with simple statistical rules, we can predict where yet-undetected planets may reside and how large they may be – just like guessing what pieces are missing from a partially completed puzzle. The new analysis can guide discoveries of new planets, help complete maps of planetary systems in the solar neighborhood and inform future searches for life.
Building up systems with Dynamite
Our model, nicknamed Dynamite, combines four ingredients to predict hidden worlds. First, Dynamite considers the locations and sizes of all currently known planets in a given system. In general, the more planets that are known in the system, the easier it is to predict whether any are missing. The second consideration is knowing that planets are more likely to be closer to the star than farther out. Dynamite uses a mathematical description – built up through statistical studies of thousands of known exoplanets – of how far from their host star planets are likely to be.
Although planets are likely to be closer to their host stars, they cannot all be jammed together. Planets all attract each other via gravity, which is much stronger when the planets are closer. Thus, planets that are too close will distort each others orbits, often leading to chaotic interactions and even the ejection of one of the planets from their birth systems. This criterion for stability is the third important element that Dynamite uses to predict the architecture of the planetary system.
The fourth component is a mathematical pattern in the lengths of the orbits of adjacent planets (some configurations are more likely than others). Put together, Dynamite tries to build model planetary systems that are similar to actual planetary systems, with a compact and stable collection of planets orbiting their host stars.
We were not sure whether such a relatively simple recipe could be used to successfully predict missing planets. To test Dynamite, we gave it some known multi-planet systems with a twist: In each system we hid one or two of the known planets from the algorithm. In the cases tested, Dynamite successfully predicted whether one or two planets are missing and where those planets could be, and could even guess their sizes correctly.
Today, Dynamite can be tested only on systems with planetary orbits similar to that of Earth’s or smaller. That’s because we lack data on outer planetary systems, so we cannot yet detect far-flung planets – the equivalent of Neptune. More data will allow Dynamite’s four rules of building a planetary system to be refined and its predictions improved. Still, our predictions for over 50 partially explored planetary systems, discovered by NASA’s TESS space telescope, are already guiding the search for hidden worlds.
Searching for life in nearby systems
The most exciting planets to predict and hunt for will be the closest ones to us – the worlds we will likely target in future searches for signatures of extraterrestrial life.
Based on our model, we predict that three of the planet candidates are real planets. What’s more, we predict that another, yet unseen world exists. This new planet, which we call Tau Ceti PxP-4, is particularly exciting as it is within the temperate zone of Tau Ceti – the region around the star where a planet similar to Earth would be habitable. Our analysis shows that PxP-4 may be a gaseous planet, akin to our Neptune, but smaller and warmer. We find, however, that PxP-4 is more likely to be a rocky planet, although larger than Earth.
Such a world may be detectable in the coming years with the newest planet-hunting instruments and, if confirmed, would be a prime target for future searches for life. And, perhaps – one day in the distant future – Tau Ceti’s PxP-4 may even be home to an exotic bar popular among Starfleet officers.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Animal Control has a group of big dogs and a little one, too, needing homes.
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster.
‘Bella’
“Bella” is a female American Bully mix.
She has a short beige and tan coat.
She is dog No. 3537.
‘Cinderella’
“Cinderella” is a small female terrier mix.
She has a short wiry white coat.
She is dog No. 4346.
‘Inky’
“Inky” is a male German Shepherd mix.
He has a long smooth black coat.
He is dog No. 4324.
‘Jack’
“Jack” is a male Labrador Retriever mix with a short yellow coat.
He is dog No. 4155.
‘Smokey’
“Smokey” is a male American Staffordshire Terrier mix.
He has a short gray coat.
He is dog No. 4347.
The shelter is open by appointment only due to COVID-19.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
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. – It’s time to lower the city of Clearlake’s big American flag for the year.
Officials will be lowering the flag for the winter on Monday, Nov. 16, at 11 a.m. at Austin Park, 14077 Lakeshore Drive.
The flag, the largest in Lake County, is annually raised in May and typically flies for six months.
Monday’s flag-lowering event will include performances by members of the Lower Lake High School Show Choir, invocation by Navy veteran and Assistant Pastor Tim Miller of First Baptist Church, and the playing of “Retreat” by the Lake County Military Honors Team.
The flag will be lowered and folded according to the US flag code. The flag will be raised again in May 2021.
The Park Study Club sponsors the flag annually for the city. Masks are required and organizers ask that healthy distancing rules be followed.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After years of work and collaboration by local agencies and organizations, Lake County’s first permanent housing facility dedicated to addressing homelessness officially opened on Thursday.
Hope Center, a project of Hope Rising Lake County in partnership with numerous local agencies and the city of Clearlake, is located at 3400 Emerson St. in Clearlake.
It was celebrated during a small, socially-distanced ceremony on Thursday afternoon, witnessed by local officials, partners and the center’s eight new employees.
The building, which formerly housed medical offices, was purchased by Adventist Health. It’s now been remodeled into a 20-bed transitional housing facility, with a kitchen, conference and meeting rooms, and other amenities.
The project has been the work of years by a number of dedicated partners, but earlier this year it looked like it had stalled, as construction halted and grant funding “vaporized,” according to Hope Rising Executive Director Allison Panella.
But big ideas have a way of overcoming even the greatest of obstacles.
Shelly Trumbo, Adventist Health’s vice president of community integration who was Hope Rising’s interim executive director at its founding, suggested that central to the Hope Center is a “love ethic,” and quoting the definition of love in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13, Trumbo added, “Love never gives up.”
In January, Panella and Shannon Kimbell-Auth, Adventist Health’s manager for community integration who will now head up the staff at Hope Center, went to the Clearlake City Council to request financial assistance to get the center’s doors opened.
The council was open to the proposal and followed up in April by approving a memorandum of understanding with Adventist Health Clear Lake and Hope Rising Lake County in which the city contributed $500,000 in bond funds for the Hope Center.
Then, in September, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that Lake County had received funding as part of the third round of awards for Project Homekey, a program administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development that is making $600 million available to local public entities to provide long-term housing for people experiencing homelessness.
The Hope Center received $3.38 million from that Project Homekey funding round.
Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, on hand in person for the Thursday ceremony, said the Project Homekey grant was “significant,” and will fund Lake County’s first permanent housing center for the homeless.
Aguiar-Curry recognized the strong efforts of local officials and the resulting partnerships in creating the center.
Congressman Mike Thompson, in a video shown at the ceremony, also heralded the work of the public and private partners whose work has made the Hope Center a reality.
Trumbo noted during the ceremony that while love is the motivator for the work, “There’s nothing soft about standing alongside a human being and supporting them through their journey of transformation. That’s the work that’s going to be happening here, and that’s love, and it’s strong and it’s solid.”
She added, “Revolutions don’t just happen in big moments in public view, they happen in small ways of people coming together.”
One of the key partners in creating the Hope Center is Adventist Health Clear Lake.
The hospital’s president and CEO, David Santos, recalled arriving in Lake County in 2009 and seeing the county’s needs, which set him on a path to addressing addiction and mental illness. That, in turn, led to focusing on “high utilizers,” those who frequently use hospital and other services in the community. He said his goal was to instill hope in both patients and health care providers.
“Today, I declare, we’ve reached a tipping point,” said Santos, who believes that Lake County is creating a rural health model not just for California but for the rest of the nation.
Panella said the Hope Center is unique; it exists because of a network of agencies that worked together.
Those agencies include the city of Clearlake, Lake County Behavioral Health Services, Lake County Continuum of Care, Partnership HealthPlan, the Lake County Health Department, the Department of Social Services, North Coast Opportunities, Adventist Health and Redwood Community Services.
Panella recounted earlier this year meeting at the site with Kimbell-Auth, City Manager Alan Flora, City Councilman Russell Perdock, who also is an Adventist Health staffer. At that point, construction had stalled and grant funding – along with their dreams – had depleted.
At the same time, they found the Hope Center sign had been vandalized, with the “Hope” turned to “Nope.”
But the woman who vandalized the sign came to them that day, admitted what she did, then asked to make amends by cleaning the sign. She then asked to help weed the property, which Panella said she did.
Panella said everybody needs the opportunity to go from “nope to hope.”
Following a ribbon-cutting in front of the building, Kimbell-Auth and other staff led an in-person and virtual tour of the facility and invited people to plant flower seeds and bulbs in the flower beds around the building.
Kimbell-Auth said the people who will live at the center will be called “participants” rather than “clients.”
“They’re participating in their own housing navigation plan,” she explained.
As part of their responsibilities, participants will have access to Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and do daily chores like mopping floors, emptying trash and cleaning bathrooms.
To become a sponsor, volunteer or provide a meal for Hope Center participants, visit www.hoperisinglc.org.
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.l
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council has voted to shift more than $800,000 from city reserves to cover additional costs of developing the new Lakefront Park.
The council, in a 4-0 vote, approved the proposal from city staff at its Nov. 3 meeting. Councilwoman Stacey Mattina recused herself from the discussion because she owns property nearby.
The seven-acre Lakefront Park is located at 800 and 810 N. Main St.
The city received a $5.9 million state grant in April that included funds to cover the purchase of the two properties for the park, including an acre and a half the city purchased from the Hotaling family for $50,000 and a 5.3-acre parcel purchased for $660,000 from the Lakeport Unified School District in late spring.
City Manager Kevin Ingram went to the council on Nov. 3 to ask for its direction on next steps.
The city had approved the park site plan in August. Key amenities include a lakeside promenade, basketball court, ninja gym, amphitheater, splash pad, skate park, multiuse lawn area, large sheltered picnic area, bathroom/concession building, public art, parking lot, landscaping and lighting. It also sets aside an area that would eventually be the location of a boathouse for the Clear Lake Scullers.
Ingram explained in his written report that city staff, in working with SSA Landscape Architects – the firm the city hired to work on the park’s planning, design, engineering and project management – discovered that it was going to exceed the $4.5 million in the grant to cover construction.
Ingram’s report attributed the cost overruns to factors including “extremely high construction costs and unfavorable geotechnical issues.”
Staff and SSA reevaluated the plan and came up with ways of bringing the project back within its budget, but that would mean curtailing some amenities, such as the skatepark, which was set for a 35-percent cutback, a reduction of about $124,000.
Other park amenities also were slated for cutbacks totaling just over $585,000. The only items not slated for cuts, and which were proposed for increases, included landscaping and pathways, the amphitheater, basketball court, public art and the boat ramp renovation. Ingram said the fitness park was completely removed from those scaled-back plans.
However, Ingram offered another option – using general fund reserves of up to $805,570 to restore some of the amenities.
Ingram told the council at the Nov. 3 meeting that even with proposed cuts, it will still be a great park.
“This is a one-time project. It’s a very exciting project,” he said.
While using reserves is a sticky issue, Ingram said the city has a very healthy level of reserves – about $5 million – and the park is a special project that rises to the level of consideration for use of those funds.
“Parks are economic drivers. They do help us grow our revenues,” he said, noting that they act as anchors for the city’s downtown area.
He also pointed out that the council had been prepared to purchase the property for the park with general fund money before it knew that the grant would cover it.
Councilman Kenny Parlet noted during the discussion, as he has in previous matters relating to capital projects, that putting them off only costs the city more money in the long run.
“I believe that anything we don’t do now is lost forever,” Parlet said, adding that every time they wait even six months, the cost of construction often doubles.
Parlet said he’d spoken with city Finance Director Nick Walker who told him that the city has extremely healthy reserves.
“I believe that we should do everything that we can to put this thing together in its entirety,” even if it requires tapping into reserves, Parlet said.
Parlet said the economy overall is expected to be extremely robust for the coming decade and that the park will be good for the local economy.
Ingram also told the council during the meeting that timing was an issue, that they needed to be able to get the project bid out in time to meet the state grant’s deadline to be open to the public. That was the driving factor for bringing it forward this month for discussion.
Like Ingram, Parlet noted that the city hadn’t expected to get the money to cover the property purchase.
“We knew that this was a great investment,” Parlet said. “We were going to buy that property come hell or high water.”
Councilwoman Mireya Turner moved to approve spending $805,570 in reserves to cover the increased expenses and to amend the budget, which Parlet seconded and the council approved 4-0.
At the same meeting, the council also voted to rename the city’s downtown walking trail in honor of Ann Blue, who worked tirelessly to establish it; and voted to relocate the two 20-minute designated parking spaces adjacent to City Hall from Park Street to Second Street, along with adopting revisions to the Green Zones, or limited parking areas, and two-hour parking resolutions to reflect the changes.
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.