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Opinion
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- Written by: Philip Murphy
Lake County Vector Control has nine employees (seven full- and two part-time). In the 2008-09 fiscal year it budgeted $871,000 for salary and benefits, and the average employee received nearly $100,000 in compensation. The office manager is paid more than our county supervisors while the director is now paid $103,690 in salary alone. In the same time period requests for service dropped by almost 50 percent.
Vector Control spent roughly 7 percent of its entire 2008-09 budget to spray rice paddies in Tule Lake and the reclamation area with over 13 tons of pesticides, over $90,000 was spent on the pesticide and crop duster alone, at no charge to the growers.
Vector Control owns 12 road vehicles including a new GMC Yukon SUV, the only Vector Control vehicle without the Vector Control logo on its side. Vector Control owns 10 acres of unused land in the reclamation area, several more acres at its facility on Todd road and several more parcels in downtown Lakeport.
While the lab facility on Esplanade is in need of some improvements, the office (located behind the lab), is very modern and spacious, with a nicely appointed board room that has an outstanding view of the lake and Mt. Konocti, and which also overlooks the large and elaborate dock featuring a covered electric boat lift. Vector Control also owns four large motorized barges, which have been virtually unused since 1975.
Vector Control's 2008-09 fiscal year budget was $1,348,030 (an increase of 75 percent over the 2004-05 budget), but it has no Web site though public outreach/education is one of its main stated goals. It has no computerized record keeping for bookkeeping or research, in spite of accounting software being very affordable.
Budget reserves for 2008-09 are $358,432, and over $126,000 was spent on the assessment proposal.
This isn't the same picture promoted by Vector Control in the local media, where residents were warned that if the assessment failed to pass it would result in staff reductions and reduced service.
Vector Control has not made any serious attempt to deal with any potential cuts other than asking property owners for a permanent assessment, which is likely to increase by 3 percent every year – forever.
The Vector Control director has been made aware of multiple significant misstatements in the media regarding Vector Control, but has chosen not to correct them.
One of these misstatements is that Vector Control relies entirely on "environmentally friendly" methods including mosquito fish to control mosquitoes. Such methods are employed, but so are three toxic pesticides, two of which kill fish and another which kills bees.
Vector Control has a capable, hardworking and experienced staff that performs an important function, yet it fails in several respects. It has failed to show proper fiscal restraint and oversight, in part due to it's primitive bookkeeping methods.
It has failed to properly inform the public, due in part to its lack of a Web site and also due to the failure of its director to correct misinformation in the media and Vector Control literature.
Vector Control has failed to explore other means of reducing costs before asking for the assessment, and failed to properly utilize existing assets.
Ballots are due for the proposed assessments by June 30 and many people have already voted.
However, in view of the fact that so little correct information has been available to the public about this issue I will personally collect requests from voters wanting to change their vote and submit those requests to the board.
Please contact me at 279-9836 or
As Vector Control's newest trustee I look forward to helping correct the deficiencies I have mentioned, regardless of whether or not the tax measure passes.
Philip Murphy lives in Finley.
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- Written by: Bette Mueller
Regarding the June 19 "Cost Cutting Measures" announcement by Sen. Wiggins to cut small parts of her state-issued car allowance and annual per diem: This is just one example of state tax abuse in my opinion.
When I worked for the state in San Francisco and Sacramento (and commuted from Fairfield), no one gave me per diem or a state-issued car of any sort. Nor did I have per diem (per diem meaning per day expenses). I paid for my own food, own gas. I always paid my way to work, had to work all year long, and 40 hours a week.
I got no special retirement or insurance benefits and no workshop weekends out of town. Why? I was simply a legal secretary and a legal analyst (paralegal).
Politicians are not kings and queens! And what about their plump vacations, fancy offices, special furniture and state-issued clerical help? The unimportant people are lucky to get a salary that can equal the "average annual per diem of $35,000" per year for senators who decide their own salary and benefits. That $35,000 per diem for many state employees does not include, of course, their salary and retirement.
I believe that only police, fire or some hospital employees need special consideration.
Bette Mueller lives in Kelseyville.
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- Written by: Gregory Cavness
The Lucerne Alpine Senior Center recently held elections for a new board. While generally this sort of thing is routine and hardly newsworthy, in this case, unfortunately that is not true.
Everyone knows that senior centers are a valuable asset to their communities, and to that end they receive both federal and state funds. Likewise they rely on the goodwill and support of these communities for additional, much-needed financial support and for volunteers. In exchange they function as a location offering many services to seniors and a place where they may gather for social, educational and other purposes.
These factors impose a serious responsibility on those whose task it is to guide and manage the centers. It is important to remember that these institutions are public ones and that they must operate by clear and transparent means.
In conducting elections for a board of directors, these centers are no different than any government or national body. Elections must be open, fair and public. In this regard the current elections held at the Lucerne center fall woefully short of these standards.
The issue here turns on who is qualified to vote. Is the voting open and inclusive to as much of the community as possible or is it narrow and exclusive? This is a critical question in any election, and over time certain standards have evolved and have moved into the area of general agreement. The criteria for voting must be published widely and generally known, they must be fair, consistent and equally applied, and they must be reasonable.
None of these are to be found in this recent election. Standards for voting were never officially created by the board. They were never published or made generally known to potential voters.
Standards were changed during the period leading up to the elections, and they were entirely arbitrary, inconsistent and unequally applied. One woman, a former member of the board whose service to the center spans 10 years and who has frequently made generous financial contributions to the center, was deemed not qualified to vote.
On the day of the voting, she made a personal appeal in open meeting to those conducting the elections to be allowed to vote. She was denied. Many others were disenfranchised as well because their service to the center was deemed inadequate or because they did not eat lunch twice a week at the center.
Clearly there is a problem here that may require an external legal solution. But outside of these irregularities concerning qualification and voting, there lies a deeper and more important question: Is the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center to be available only to a small, self-selected group who use their position to continue what is for them a comfortable status quo, or is it to be a greater community resource available to any and all who wish to participate? I vote for the latter.
Gregory Cavness lives in Lucerne.
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- Written by: Jarvis Leishman and Dale Stoebe
The 2009 Clear Lake High School Every 15 Minutes Committee would like to thank the following people for their selfless gifts of time, services and/or products.
The program again was a great success but would not have been without the support of our community. Hopefully the community will continue to support the program for our future students.
Many thanks to: The Lakeport Police Department Volunteers, California Highway Patrol, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Lakeport Fire Protection District, K-Corps, Robinson Rancheria Pomo Indians, Lake County Alcohol and Other Drug Services, United Christian Parish, Chapel of the Lakes, Middletown Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, McDonald’s of Lakeport and the Norcio Family, Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce, Hillside Honda, Lakeport Rotary, Sheffert Videography, Lo Down Productions, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Umpqua Bank, Pegasus Productions, City Center Reality, Clearlake Redi-Mix, Corvettes of Lake County, Switchblade Tattoo, Jimmy’s Deli and Taqueria, Phil and Nancy Kirby, Strong Financial Network, Bob Schoenherr, Economy Propane, Lannette R. Huffman DDS, Mark L Buehnerkemper OD, XI RHO PSI, Safeway, Delta Iota Tau, Northshore Business Association, Lakeport Grocery Outlet, Flowers By Jackie, Ruzicka Associates, Mark and Patricia Wiggs and the Diaz Family.
Your unyielding dedication to our community and the education of our youth regarding their choices involving alcohol is commendable.
Jarvis Leishman and Dale Stoebe are Lakeport Police officers and members of the Every 15 Minutes-Clear Lake High School Committee.