LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Two special meetings planned for Wednesday will discuss the Scotts Valley Pomo’s plan to purchase the Lucerne Hotel with a state grant and turn it into a homeless facility.
The Lake County Board of Education and the Lucerne Area Town Hall will hold their special meetings about an hour apart on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 21.
At 5 p.m., the Lake County Board of Education will meet at the Lake County Office of Education, 1152 S. Main St., in Lakeport.
The single agenda item is the $5.2 million Tribal Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program grant, awarded by the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency to the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians in November.
The grant was written by the tribe’s administrator, Tom Jordan, and Ana Santana, a Lake County Office of Education employee.
The grant language claims that the Office of Education was the “primary partner” in the plan, but Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg said the agency knew nothing about the plan or the grant.
It was not until Falkenberg investigated the matter that he reported finding out that the grant writers had intended for LCOE to run the facility, which he said they will not do because it’s not within LCOE’s scope.
Dozens of other secondary “partner” organizations also were named, but so far none have confirmed being part of the project or knowing about it.
At 6 p.m., the Lucerne Area Town Hall will hold a special meeting at the Lucerne Elementary School Multipurpose Room, 3351 Country Club Drive, also to discuss the plan for the hotel.
The meeting also will be available via this Zoom link.
The meeting ID is 871 6990 6960, password: 13931
The town hall, or LATH, had been meeting at the Lucerne Hotel but last week the owner, Andrew Beath, told them they could no longer meet there if they were going to discuss his proposed sale of the building to the Scotts Valley Pomo.
District 3 Supervisor EJ Crandell followed up by sending out a cancellation notice and setting the next meeting date for January. However, the town hall bylaws give the authority for scheduling meetings to the chair.
LATH Chair Kurt McKelvey wanted to hold the meeting before the end of the month, when it’s been reported that escrow may close on the 94-year-old building, around which the community was built.
McKelvey has once again invited Jordan to attend and speak to the community, but he has declined because of other plans. Jordan has asked to be on the agenda for January.
The meeting will include consideration of a resolution condemning the plan.
LATH also will discuss county maintenance issues within Lucerne, consider making the third request to Public Services for a definite date on when the harbor will be dredged, and discuss a community cleanup initiative and a resolution on the syringe exchange program.
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Special meetings to discuss tribe’s Lucerne Hotel homeless project set for Wednesday night
- Elizabeth Larson