News

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The process to redesign the former National Guard Armory in Lakeport in order to turn it into the future sheriff’s office headquarters is expected to start soon following the approval of a contract on Tuesday.

In an unanimous vote, the Board of Supervisors approved a professional services agreement in the amount of $247,926 with Dewberry Architects Inc. for architectural/engineering services for the remodel of the former California Army National Guard Armory, located at 1431 Hoyt Ave. next to the Lake County Jail.

The county completed the acquisition of the armory last year as part of a land swap with the state.

In exchange for the armory, the state received a vacant 15.5-acre property at 15837 18th Ave. in Clearlake which will be developed for affordable housing.

The plan is to remodel the armory in order to become the new headquarters for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Once the project is complete, the agency will move from its headquarters at 1220 Martin St. in Lakeport to the remodeled armory, which sits next to the Lake County Jail.

Public Services Director Lars Ewing presented the agreement with Dewberry for preliminary design services to the board on Tuesday morning.

Ewing explained that last year Public Services and the sheriff’s office solicited for design services for the former armory.

He said it will be what’s called “adaptive reuse” and renovated to reuse by the sheriff's office.

The original plan was to solicit for services from “cradle to grave,” all the way through construction administration, Ewing said.

However, due to a lack of preliminary awareness of what the vision is for the facility, Ewing said it was challenging for the consultants to scope out the future design.

As a result, Ewing said the county rolled back the scope to just include the preliminary design phase, which also will include a feasibility assessment and schematic design level work.

Once that work is done, Ewing said they fully anticipate moving ahead with design development and construction documents, which is what he said most people think about when considering design for a building.

He said the county received seven proposals for the work, with a consultant selection board ranking Dewberry the highest of those that responded.

Ewing, who recommended the board approve the agreement, said the scope of work is expected to be completed in four to five months.

As long as Dewberry is performing satisfactorily, Ewing said he anticipates getting from the firm a cost proposal for the next phase of work. He added that funding for the project is included in a couple of different budget units.

“Happy we’re here,” said Supervisor Bruno Sabatier.

There was no public comment before Supervisor EJ Crandell moved to approve the agreement and the board approved it unanimously.

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 Clearlake City Council will discuss two construction contracts this week, as well as a city property sale, and will also issue several proclamations for April.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

The meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEGTV YouTube Channel. Community members also can participate via Zoom or can attend in person.

The agenda can be found here.

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, April 6.

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.

The council on Thursday will offer proclamations declaring April 2023 as Child Abuse Prevention Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month, and April 9 to 15, 2023, as Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

They also will host a presentation by the Lakeshore Lions Club to the Highlands Senior Service Center.

Under the agenda’s business items, the council will consider awarding the contract for the 18th Avenue Improvement Project to Argonaut Constructors in the amount of $4,632,295, along with authorization for City Manager Alan Flora to approve up to 10% for additional unforeseen contract amendments.

The council also will consider awarding another contract to Argonaut Constructors, for the Dam Road Extension/South Center Drive Improvement Project, in the amount of $989,009.85, also with approval or the potential for contract amendments up to 10% of the contract cost.

In other business, staff will present a proposal for the sale of a vacant, city-owned lot at 16178 35th Ave. to an adjacent property owner for $6,950.

The council also will consider appointing an alternate member to the Lake County Recreation Agency JPA Board of Directors.

On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are considered routine in nature and usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants; authorization of an amendment of contract with California Engineering for the Clearlake Park Road Improvement Project in the amount of $54,175.33; authorization of an amendment of on-call contract with LACO Associates for the MIT Storm Drain Plan in the amount of $74,400; award of a contract for the Old Highway 53 Drainage Project in the amount of $174,590 and authorization for the city manager to approve up to 10% for additional unforeseen contract amendments; and minutes of the February Lake County Vector Control District Board meetings.

Following the open portion of the meeting, the council will meet in closed session to discuss labor negotiations and hold a performance review of the city manager.

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. — What would you like to see in our local parks, recreation and trails?

The county of Lake invites you to attend a visioning workshop to learn about ongoing development of a parks, recreation and trails master plan, and contribute your thoughts and experiences to this important planning process.

The parks, recreation, and trails master plan will inventory our parks, facilities and trails; develop an understanding of community priorities and needs; and create actionable strategies to ensure quality facilities are accessible to all county residents.

Master planning efforts will include many opportunities for the public to get involved and share their unique, local experiences.

The county is hosting a parks, recreation and trails-focused visioning workshop on Tuesday, April 11, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Board of Supervisors chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

There will be a brief presentation, followed by a visioning exercise. All ages are welcome.

Additionally, the county will be holding pop-ups where residents can stop by to share their input toward County parks, trails, and recreation master planning.

Tuesday, April 11, 1 to 4 p.m.
Lobby, Lake County Courthouse
255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport

Wednesday, April 12, 3:30 to 6 p.m.
Redbud Library
14785 Burns Valley Road, Clearlake

If you cannot attend the workshop or stop by a pop-up, there are other ways to get involved.

Visit the project website to access a virtual visioning activity.

For more information, call Lake County Public Services at 707-262-1618.

Research has shown that uninsured rates are lower for people with more education but an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows that racial and ethnic disparities in health insurance coverage persist even among the more educated.

A recent brief that uses data from the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) showed that the uninsured rate across race and Hispanic origin groups ranged from 5.7% for White, non-Hispanic people to 18.8% for those identifying as non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native.

The ACS 1-year estimates show that educational attainment varied widely by race and Hispanic origin (Figure 1). For example, about 60% of Asian, non-Hispanic adults ages 25 to 64 held a bachelor’s degree or higher compared with 16.5% of non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native adults in that age group.

Other race groups with high rates of people with at least a bachelor’s degree included: Some Other Race, non-Hispanic (42.3%), and White, non-Hispanic (41.5%).

Uninsured rates by educational attainment

In 2021, 11.9% of adults ages 25 to 64 years did not have health insurance coverage. However, the uninsured rate varied by educational attainment, ranging from 30.4% among those with less than a high school education to 4.7% among those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

The uninsured rate of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was lower than the national average of 11.9%.

There were also differences in the uninsured rate by educational attainment between and within race and Hispanic origin groups.

Those without a high school diploma had among the highest uninsured rates within each race and Hispanic origin group and those holding a bachelor’s degree had the lowest.

Among those with a bachelor’s degree, adults ages 25 to 64 years in most race and Hispanic origin groups — all except non-Hispanic White adults and non-Hispanic Asian adults — had uninsured rates that were higher than the national average for adults with this level of educational attainment (4.7%).

The uninsured rate for non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native adults with an undergraduate college degree (12.5%) was more than three times higher than that of non-Hispanic White adults (3.5%).

Regardless of educational attainment, some groups had high uninsured rates.

For example, those identifying as American Indian and Alaska Native, non-Hispanic or Hispanic, had the highest uninsured rates at all education levels.

This suggests that differences in insurance coverage by race and Hispanic origin stem partly from racial disparities, including inequities in educational attainment and unequal returns on the educational attainment achieved.

Breauna Branch is a survey statistician in the Census Bureau’s Health and Disability Statistics Branch.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors discussed major changes to the Lucerne Area Town Hall last week, a proposal the district supervisor said is meant to increase inclusivity but one he hasn’t taken to the community directly.

By the end of the discussion last Tuesday, Supervisor EJ Crandell and his supporters seemed to have convinced the board to move forward on the proposal after not clearly explaining who initiated the idea or, precisely, why, other than vague assertions of “inclusivity.”

Crandell hasn’t convened a meeting of the Lucerne Area Town Hall, or LATH, since late in 2022 to discuss any of the proposed changes.

He also made clear that he does not intend to bring the discussion to the community directly, that he would base his decision on the discussion with his fellow board members and community members who spoke at last Tuesday’s meeting.

Crandell’s proposal is to change the name of the group from the Lucerne Area Town Hall to the Central Region Town Hall, or CeRTH.

Under his proposal, it will no longer follow the community growth boundaries — which have been used as the delineation of the town hall’s area since the town hall was established in 2017 — but will now include the entire 95458 ZIP code, which also will include Paradise Valley, a wealthy enclave several miles to the east of the town that recently disconnected from the East Region Town Hall due to lack of involvement.

Crandell gave a brief explanation of the town hall’s formation by then-Supervisor Jim Steele, his mentor who he called “emeritus,” a title typically used in academia which the county doesn’t confer upon former supervisors. Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein told Lake County News that Crandell meant it as a term of respect.

Originally, the town hall had been called the “Middle Region Town Hall” before being changed to the Lucerne Area Town Hall in 2018.

When Board Chair Jessica Pyska asked if he had heard from constituents regarding the proposal, Crandell interjected to say “numerous.” Pyska asked if they had no representation with the town hall, Crandell replied, “Well, yeah,” and said those individuals want to be included.

Crandell claimed that his actions had nothing to do with the fact that LATH had defied him in holding a December meeting — which he had tried to cancel — and voted unanimously to approve a resolution to oppose a proposal by the Scotts Valley Pomo tribe to turn the historic Lucerne Hotel into a homeless housing facility, a project for which Crandell’s wife has publicly advocated.

In January, Crandell also took the unusual step of hosting a community information session about the hotel project, pulling in the proponents and county staff to explain it without an application being made.

While Crandell denies a link between the issues with LATH’s pushback on the hotel, the timing suggests otherwise, as in the weeks that followed Crandell made clear he was not going to allow further appointments to LATH, other than a reappointment of longtime member Kevin Waycik on Jan. 10. Waycik died in February following a short battle with cancer.

Since January, Crandell has not been forthcoming with his reasons for not making new appointments until the meeting last Tuesday.

Raising concerns about the plan during public comment were John Jensen, co-founder of Lake County News and the Lucerne Area Revitalization Association, and Kurt McKelvey, who has been LATH’s most recent chair.

Jensen suggested that Crandell has a conflict of interest in the matter, as his restructuring proposal has followed the town hall’s rejection of the Lucerne Hotel project. That led Jensen to suggest that the new county counsel should advise Crandell to recuse himself.

Crandell, in response to Jensen, said there is no conflict of interest on his part.

Melanie Lim, who was appointed to LATH last year, said she also was surprised that the meetings had stopped at the end of 2022 and that a Facebook page for the group, where she got her minutes for the meetings, was suddenly erased.

“Nobody told me what happened,” she said, explaining she’s served on a board before and was never treated like this. “I feel like there’s a little bit of drama and I don't want any part of that.”

There were two Facebook pages for the group, one of which still exists. The other is reported to have been managed by Crandell. Lake County News has submitted a request for information to the county regarding that page and the reasons for its disappearance.

Lim said she appreciates inclusiveness and doesn’t want to be left in the dark. “I would like an explanation if there is one.”

Crandell said he had previously given her an explanation about the length of her term, which Lim said she did not remember.

Supervisor Michael Green then tried to call a point of order to say they were well off the agenda item and Pyska responded by telling him she was running the meeting.

Several Upper Lake residents as well as Olga Martin Steele, wife of Crandell’s predecessor as well as Crandell’s original campaign manager who lives in Clearlake Oaks, spoke in favor of the plan.

Due to some of the speakers who followed Jensen and McKelvey aiming their comments at members of the public, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said the comments should be directed to the board, asking them to please stick to the item.

Pyska asked Crandell for a timeline of when the next actions would take place.

Crandell indicated it would be two to three weeks.

Then, he read a letter from Lani Kane Urquiza, a former LATH chair, who accused Jensen and McKelvey of undermining LATH and efforts to update the bylaws and criticized Lake County News’ coverage of the town hall.

A few minutes after reading the message, Crandell claimed that those were not his words.

Urquiza’s issues with Lake County News likely arise from the fact that the publication made formal complaints to her — and about her — to Crandell and to then-County Counsel Anita Grant during her tenure as chair regarding Urquiza’s persistent failure to follow the Brown Act in calling and holding LATH meetings.

Those failures included not posting the meeting agendas in a timely manner under the law — both online and in physical locations around the town — along with failure to distribute the agendas to those who asked for them and attempts to hold meetings that had failed to be properly noticed.

In at least one instance, LATH’s Brown Act issues while Urquiza was chair resulted in Grant coming to hold a Brown Act workshop with the group.

At no point did Crandell — or, for that matter, the county’s other leadership — in the past indicate a willingness to hold Urquiza accountable. When issues were raised about her behavior, the county did not respond. Nor did Crandell disclose the fact that she was a family friend, which appeared to be the likeliest reason why she was appointed by him as a council member and made chair shortly thereafter.

Like Urquiza, Crandell also mentioned bylaws the group had been working on beginning in 2019, which he called a “template.”

Regarding the “template” bylaws that both Crandell and Urquiza spoke of last Tuesday, that “template” contained a provision that would have allowed nonresident property owners to be voting members of the board.

Crandell didn’t further explain the origins of that “template.” However, that provision was championed by Urquiza on behalf of her then-employer, Kenny Parlet, owner of Lakeview Market in Lucerne.

Parlet, despite being a member of the Lakeport City Council — during the meetings for which he has increasingly begun to make statements about his fears related to COVID-19 vaccinations and chemtrails — had told the LATH on various occasions that he deserved to also have a seat on LATH.

He claimed to be the community’s largest taxpayer, although that does not appear to be the case when looking at the higher assessed value of other commercial properties in Lucerne such as PowerMart, which has a gas station and market.

Ultimately, however, those bylaws changes were rejected and a version without that provision allowing out-of-town residents a seat on the board was approved both by LATH and then, on Oct. 18, by the Board of Supervisors itself in a unanimous vote that included Crandell.

In his role as LATH chair, McKelvey led the effort to bring attention to the Lucerne Hotel plan and also raised issues with the operations of Elijah House, a nonprofit organization that the county had failed to vet before giving it hundreds of thousands of dollars to run the county’s homeless shelter.

Had the county — specifically the Behavioral Health Services Department — vetted the organization, it would have found that it was out of compliance with California Attorney General’s Office nonprofit filing requirements.

Elijah House stopped operating the shelter over the summer and a few months later pulled out of operating a sober living environment in Lucerne’s former visitor center after Lake County News pressed the county, in public, on why that facility was being allowed to operate within a commercial zone.

The county also is supposedly conducting an investigation into Elijah House, the result of which still hasn't been made public. In the meantime, the supervisors bid a fond farewell to Behavioral Health Services Director Todd Metcalf earlier this month, who is headed to Hawaii, without having to respond publicly to the outcome of the Elijah House investigation.

McKelvey pressed Crandell on whether new appointments to LATH would be made ahead of a change to the group. Crandell said the changes were happening first.

In response, McKelvey said LATH should have a part in the discussion, and that it wasn’t appropriate to make that decision before the appointments.

“Noted, thank you,” Crandell said.

Board members indicated support for Crandell’s plan.

Crandell’s stalling of town hall meetings also has prevented the community from receiving updates from Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Mike Ciancio.

In a special district board meeting to discuss staffing last week, Ciancio said he’s continued to make his rounds to other town halls over the last several months, noting he’s done the fewest update in Lucerne, where he’s waiting for the town hall’s issues “to get straightened out.”

Following last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Lake County News submitted a Public Records Act to the county, requesting to obtain records of communications between Crandell and the community members he said have contacted him, leading to the proposed changes to the town hall.

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. — Lake County’s unemployment rose in January, holding with a seasonal trend seen across the rest of the state.

The California Employment Development Department’s latest jobless report showed that Lake County’s unemployment rate in January was 6.7%, up from 5.4% in December and 6.6% in January 2022.

California’s overall unemployment rate for January was 4.2%, up slightly from 4.1% in December but still much improved over the 5.2% statewide rate in January 2022.

The federal unemployment rate was 3.4% in January, compared to 3.5% in December and 4% the previous January.

Lake County’s workforce in January totaled 26,630 individuals, with 1,920 unemployed. That’s compared to 26,710 workers and 1,510 unemployed in December, and 27,150 workers and 1,920 unemployed a year ago January.

Total farm jobs were up by 35.6% percent in January over December, with farm jobs rising from 450 in December to 610 January. While January’s numbers were an improvement over December, they are down by 31.5% percent from January 2022, when there were 890 farm jobs.

Total nonfarm jobs were down 0.7% in January compared to December. In January there were 16,030 jobs compared to 16,150 in December. January 2023 actually was an improvement by 0.3% over January 2022, when there were 15,990 jobs.

Most job sectors in Lake County showed declines or stayed flat. The only area to show some growth was private education and health services, which was up by 1.3%.

The report said California’s unemployment rate was up despite the fact that the state’s employers added 96,700 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy.

Employed Californians in January totaled 18,503,400, an increase of 21,300 persons from December’s total of 18,482,100 and up 297,600 from the employment total in January 2022.

At the same time, the number of unemployed Californians was 813,800 in January, an increase of 23,500 over the month, but down 180,400 in comparison to January 2022, the report said.

California payroll jobs totaled 17,996,400 in January 2023, up 96,700 from December 2022 and up 599,500 from January of last year, the Employment Development Department said.

Total nonfarm jobs increased by 599,500 — a 3.5% increase — from January 2022 to January 2023 compared to the U.S. annual gain of 4,967,000 jobs, a 3.3% increase.

The Employment Development Department also reported that updated data shows California fully recovered its nearly 2.8 million pandemic related job losses earlier in June 2022 rather than October 2022 as originally estimated, and the peak unemployment rate of 16.1% hit earlier in April 2020 rather than May.

Of the 517,000 jobs gained nationally in January 2023, California accounted for 96,700, or nearly 19%, of the nation’s overall non-farm job growth, the state reported.

The report said the number of jobs in the agriculture industry decreased from December by 2,400 to a total of 434,400 jobs in January. The agricultural industry had 21,000 more farm jobs in January 2023 than it did in January 2022.

The Employment Development Department reported that eight of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in January with government, up by 46,000, leading the way with strong gains in state government educational services, boosted by the end of the University of California academic workers strike in December.

Leisure and hospitality, up by 20,800, also enjoyed an extremely strong month-over gain thanks, in part, to very good gains in not just gambling industries, but also in performing arts, spectator sports, and talent and sports agents, the report said.

Construction suffered California’s largest month-over job loss for January 2023 due, down 7,300 jobs. That’s due in part, to the severe winter storms and extreme weather across the state, as well as from reductions in the specialty trade contractors subsector, the report said.

Lake County’s unemployment rate last month ranked it No. 42 statewide among the state’s 58 counties.

San Mateo had the lowest unemployment rate in the state, 2.6%, while Colusa had the highest, 17.5%.

Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 17.5%, No. 58; Glenn, 7.1%, No. 43; Mendocino, 5.4%, No. 28; Napa, 3.9%, No. 11; Sonoma, 3.6%, No. 7; and Yolo, 5%, No. 27.

In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the Employment Development Department said there were 368,865 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the January 2023 sample week.

That compares to 326,252 people in December and 412,738 people in January 2022.

At the same time, 48,150 initial claims were processed in the January 2023 sample week, which was a month-over increase of 6,600 claims from December, but a year-over decrease of 6,249 claims from January 2022.

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.