- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Lakeport City Council to discuss bond for water system improvements, school resource officer agreement
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The agenda can be found here.
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 Tuesday, May 3.
On Tuesday, the council will meet new Community Development Department employees Victor Fernandez and Bethany Moss, and present proclamations designating May as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month, May 1 to 7 as National Small Business Week and May 9 to 13 as Economic Development Week.
Under council business, Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Nick Walker will ask the council to consider options for financing $5.845 million in proposed water system capital improvement projects.
“The Water Fund has a great need for capital improvement projects,” Walker explained in his written report. “The most recent rate study, approved in August 2021, included the identification of priority projects totaling $5.8 million to be completed over the next 10 years. While the City’s 5 -year water rate study included new debt service expenditure for $2 million in capital projects, the need for funding additional projects is imminent. Staff has been investigating various options to best leverage existing resources and risks for the benefit of the customer.”
Walker said the research has shown “that additional projects can be accelerated and included in a financing plan. Staff believes that the window is increasingly short for attractive interest rates and completing projects sooner could also be beneficial to hedge against rising inflation.”
He said city staffers have been working with the firm NHA Advisors on analyses of various financing plan options.
NHA Advisors is the same company that has assisted the city of Clearlake with the creation of a roadwork financing plan, which the Clearlake City Council approved late in April, as Lake County News has reported.
Walker said additional detail and a presentation will be reviewed at Tuesday’s meeting.
If the council is interested in moving forward, Walker said staff will ask direction to bring back the final financing plan for approval at the June 7 council meeting.
In other business, Police Chief Brad Rasmussen will ask for the council’s approval of a memorandum of understanding between the Lakeport Police Department and the Lakeport Unified School District for a school resource officer for fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Rasmussen’s written report to the council explained that the city and Lakeport Unified have been operating under similar agreements since the start of the 2016-17 fiscal year, and that both the department and the district have found the school resource officer position “to be very beneficial to all parties.”
He said this year he and Superintendent Matt Bullard are recommending a two-year agreement. The district’s board of trustees gave its approval to the agreement at its April 13 meeting and Bullard has signed it.
The agreement costs the city $25,000 a year, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen also will present to the council a determination that public convenience or necessity would be served by the issuance a Type-42 Off Sales Beer and Wine Liquor sales license to Andre’s Jazz & Blues Lounge, located at 150 N. Main St., along with adoption of a proposed
resolution.
On the consent agenda — items usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on April 19; adoption of a resolution authorizing continued remote teleconference meetings of the Lakeport City Council and its legislative bodies pursuant to Government Code section 54953(e); approval of event application 2022-016, with staff recommendations, for the 2022 Old Time Machines Show; receipt and filing of the draft minutes of the regular Measure Z Advisory Committee meeting of April 20, 2022; conducting a second reading and adoption of an ordinance amending Title 17 of the Lakeport Municipal Code for language referring to Objective Design Standards for Multifamily Housing and Accessory Dwelling Units; receipt and filing of a quarterly community development activity report.
The counsel also will hold a closed session discussion with legal counsel regarding existing litigation, City of Lakeport et al. v. AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation et al.
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.