The attempt by the Lake County Department of Water Resources to get the Board of Supervisors to approve updating the mussel ordinance (1/11/2011 BOS meeting) was unfortunately another display of our BOS not being decisive and firm when leading our county on these critical issues.

The main dispute was the change that requires resident boat owners to obtain an annual $10. sticker for each boat they own and use on the lake. Non-resident boats are required to pay $10. for a sticker good for a month of lake usage – if they return to the lake in another month they must buy another sticker.

Several local owners of multiple boats complained that the change requires them to pay excessive amounts (e.g., $50. for five boats) and face the burden of keeping current stickers on their fleet. (The previous ordinance provided free stickers with no expiration date.) I can almost understand the concern of those that whined about the new rules. I am now required to buy four or five (what boats are required to have stickers does need some clarification) stickers annually.

However, the BOS in this case should have just noted the public input with sympathy and moved on. Instead they reacted to the small number of comments and requested that Water Resources Director Scott De Leon provide a plan for fleet rates or maximum costs per address (e.g., someone with six boats would only have to pay for three of the six stickers required). This greatly complicates the simple sticker distribution model the county uses where they sell stickers for a reduced amount to a small number of vendors (e.g. a bait shop) that then resells for the full $10 to cover their expenses.

Scott, who holds arguably the most critical position in the county as director of Water Resources, must work on a solution to this trivial issue in addition to his day job of managing the critical parts of the mussel protection effort, manage the weed and algae effort, and ensure that the lake and water resources in the county remain viable. The BOS could easily have spared him this latest task.

A more prudent path would have been to push back on those who complained while stating we have to move forward at this time and explaining future plans to get all in the county (in addition to boat owners) contributing to fund this effort. Everyone in the county of Lake will suffer economical loss (including further erosion of property values, less demand for property, much reduced tourism, etc.) should the mussels get through to our lakes.

All of the county is at risk as is the state, so ultimately the burden should be shared by more than the boat owners. Such funding plans are being considered for all lake management efforts including weeds and algae. The BOS is aware of all of this and yet they let themselves again be herded by a few comments from the public.

Only Supervisor Jeff Smith had meaningful comments independent of public input. Supervisor Anthony Farrington used the occasion for his often-repeated sermon on highway choke points, again not relevant to the topic at hand.

The residents complained this time, maybe next meeting the non-residents will complain and again send the BOS in a different direction.

The BOS needs to show tough love when it comes to their main tasks of protecting our lake, our economy and our way of life.

The BOS first heard of this mussel risk six years ago, they knew about it in great detail three years ago. The BOS should be engaged with Sacramento to get a statewide mussel plan in place. They need to be pro-active and not just responsive to the latest complaint.

Ed Calkins lives in Kelseyville, Calif.