The vote came toward the end of a two-hour meeting held in Lucerne Elementary School’s multipurpose room.
The town hall also voted to direct Chair Kurt McKelvey to send the letter to county, state and federal leaders.
The town hall moved its meeting location to Lucerne Elementary after the Lucerne Hotel’s owner, Andrew Beath, refused to allow them to meet if they were going to discuss the sale to the Scotts Valley Band.
District 3 Supervisor EJ Crandell then sent out a cancellation notice setting the next meeting in January, which the group’s bylaws don’t give him the authority to do.
Concerned about reports that escrow was set to close by the end of December, McKelvey called the special meeting for Wednesday night in an attempt to give the community a chance to comment.
Even in the midst of the busy holiday season, three dozen people showed up to discuss the matter in person — with about 20 more on Zoom at one point as well as others who watched the livestream on Facebook. They voted to approve the resolution, concerned about matters including the impacts on the community and the lack of transparency.
Crandell was not present at the meeting.
The resolution, which can be seen in its final version below, raises issues about community impacts, highest and best use for the building — which the county had owned but sold to Beath in 2019 over community objections — and suggests that the former juvenile hall, which has served as a shelter and is available for purchase for significantly less than the 94-year-old hotel, would be the better site.
The resolution ends by saying, “Lucerne will not be a sacrifice zone.”
At one point the document has used the word “colonialism” to describe the situation. A small number of meeting participants objected to that word and the group agreed to remove it.
In November, the tribe received the $5.2 million Tribal Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program grant from the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. The single grant consumed a quarter of the funding made available in this round to the state’s 110 federally recognized tribes.
The intent is that the hotel would house up to 60 individuals ages 16 to 24, including some families. The target group would be both tribal and nontribal, and from Lake and Mendocino counties.
The grant was written in 10 days in June by Tribal Administrator Tom Jordan, who is not a tribal member, and Ana Santana, who oversees the Lake County Office of Education’s Healthy Start Program.
It lists the Lake County Office of Education as the “primary partner,” and nearly 40 local organizations as “secondary” partners.
However, Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg said his agency had no idea about the project, and so far Lake County News has not been able to confirm that any of the secondary partners knew about it, either.
Falkenberg also said that based on his understanding of the grant documents and after discussions with Santana and Jordan, it was revealed that the intent was for the Lake County Office of Education to run the homeless housing facility.
Falkenberg said that while the agency supports the goals of the project, it has no intent to be the primary partner and won’t operate the facility, as that is outside of its scope.
Nevertheless, the state has decided to go forward with granting the funds, claiming the grant application is accurate despite the claims about nonexistent partnerships.
McKelvey had invited Jordan to last week’s town hall meeting to discuss the project with the community, but he declined, asking instead to come in January.
When McKelvey asked him to come to the special Wednesday meeting, Jordan told him he couldn’t clear his schedule.
That’s because while the town hall was gathering, Jordan was at a special meeting of the Lake County Board of Education, which wanted to know more about the grant and how it had bypassed the Lake County Office of Education’s processes, as Falkenberg acknowledged it had.
Getting answers about the grant and process
At the Board of Education meeting, Falkenberg emphasized that the project proposal aligns with the Office of Education’s core values, which focus on the needs of children and putting children first.
The agenda he’s shared with his staff includes that the Office of Education, or LCOE, will be a support center for school districts, they will foster partnerships to support all Lake County students and build an internal culture based on best practices.
He also raised the issue of respect, and said that if the project was going to move forward, “that bridge of respect has to be addressed and rebuilt.”
Board of Education members questioned Jordan and Santana on how the grant got through without the administration knowing, resulting in board members and agency leadership being surprised.
Jordan and Santana described to the board the hurried process, and Santana admitted she had not formally asked the partners for support.
They acknowledged they do not have firm funding past renovation and the first year of operation. Santana said there are state and federal funding sources, and Jordan said the tribe intended to seek its third state Homekey grant which would give them a five-year operating subsidy.
Santana said it is not a homeless shelter. “It's homeless youth housing.”
She also said she was surprised by the community response, had no idea others were trying to buy the building — the tribe has locked up the building in a purchase agreement for months — and that although she lives in Lucerne, she had no idea there was a town hall.
Falkenberg said a neutral third party has been asked to review the Office of Education’s grant process and see if there are areas where they can improve so this doesn’t happen again.
Board Chair Denise Loustalot said the board, which hadn’t known about the grant beforehand, now had to ask how the project is supposed to work.
Jordan said Scotts Valley is the lead in the grant. “It's their responsibility to figure all of that out,” he said, adding that it is expected to take place over the next three to six months.
It also was explained by Jordan during the discussion that there was not yet a confirmed closing date. He said the state is transferring the money to the tribe, which has to handle other issues with the property owner, Beath. Those are likely to include hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax that Beath is disputing with the county.
“This is a community issue and it’s a controversial one also so it’s hard not to have an opinion on the whole process,” said Board of Education member Anna Ravenwoode.
Ravenwoode said Lake County needs a homeless youth center. “That’s a given.” However, it also needs the economic development that the Lucerne Hotel can provide.
She asked if there was another facility that could house the facility Jordan and Santana proposed, “and leave the Lucerne Hotel for economic development.”
“I want both,” Ravenwoode said.
“I think we all do,” said Loustalot.
Santana said in her 17-plus years with LCOE, her focus has always been on unrepresented youth. She said homelessness and lack of stable housing for communities has been an ongoing issue. So when the grant came available and the hotel was put up for sale, it seemed like a perfect opportunity.
She said they created a list of partners who have supported other grant opportunities, and because LCOE was not supposed to be the financial sponsor, she didn’t let Falkenberg know. She said she realizes now that was a mistake.
Santana said she never imagined the grant would create the “harsh” amount of emotion, and apologized to the community for any hard feelings and to the agencies named as partners that were not contacted.
Board member Dr. Mark Cooper said he was bothered by the statement in the grant that LCOE was the primary partner. “What led you to believe that the LCOE would be the primary partner? Was there something that went on during that time?”
Jordan said it was the belief that LCOE would be able to provide those services. When writing a grant, he said, he anticipates what the granter is looking for. “They were looking for partners, we used the term ‘partner.’”
Jordan also apologized to the board for the discomfort he and Santana had created in the process, adding that collaboration is important.
He made a point of reporting that for the past year the tribe has been in the process of transitioning his position from tribal administrator to a lesser, part-time position in economic development.
As a result, starting in mid-January, he anticipates he will no longer be tribal chair.
“It's time for me to take a lesser role,” he said, emphasizing the transition had been ongoing and had nothing to do with the grant situation.
Jordan did not name who his successor would be or if they were familiar with the next steps in the process.
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.
LATH Resolution A0004 — Signed 12-21-2022 (1) by LakeCoNews on Scribd