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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Shortly before noon on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors emerged from closed session to appoint Mireya Turner as interim Community Development Department director, effective immediately.
Turner’s is the seventh appointment the board has made to head the department since the start of 2016.
She succeeds Mary Darby, who took over the job on a full-time basis in October.
“I am honored to take on the interim director position,” said Turner, adding that during her time with the county of Lake, Darby “made great improvements to the department, including building a superb team of qualified and professional staff. I look forward to working with them to achieve the excellent level of public service our residents deserve.”
Turner has served on the Lakeport City Council since December 2014. She’s also served as a board member for the League of California Cities since 2018.
She brings eight years of experience in county and city planning activities. In June, she accepted the position of Community Development’s deputy director, following three years of service with the city of Ukiah, all in management and leadership roles.
Turner previously served in multiple roles with the county of Lake, including service with the Community Development Department and the County Administrative Office. In January of 2013, Turner completed a Master of Public Administration degree.
Last month, Darby tendered her resignation, with plans to continue in the job until Nov. 4.
By the time she announced her resignation, the board had five scheduled closed session performance evaluations with Darby, far more than are held on an annual basis with department heads.
Last Tuesday, the board held a sixth closed session evaluation of Darby.
Three days later, on Friday, Darby announced her immediate departure from the director’s job at the end of that business day, nearly three months ahead of her previously scheduled departure date, according to comments County Administrative Officer Susan Parker made during Tuesday’s board meeting.
As a result, on Tuesday morning, Parker requested the board take up an extra item to consider a closed session discussion to appoint an interim Community Development director, leading to the decision to appoint Turner.
“We are truly excited Ms. Turner has stepped up to assume this interim role,” said Board Chair Eddie Crandell in a written statement released by the County Administrative Office. “Her combination of experience and education, and recent service as deputy director, made her the logical choice. As members of the public will also be aware, recruitment for a permanent Community Development director is ongoing, and we look forward to conducting interviews soon.”
The departure of Darby, who is Black, followed by two months the county’s settlement of a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by the county’s former human resources director, Pamela Nichols.
Nichols, who also is Black, alleged wrongful termination, racial discrimination, infringement of her First Amendment rights to free speech and retaliation.
The settlement paid Nichols $500,000 and required the county to conduct training in the discrimination harassment complaint process, continue its ongoing process of implementing cultural awareness training.
At the same time, the county’s Community Visioning Forum Planning Committee is continuing to meet as part of a stated effort to increase equity and inclusion in Lake County.
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The council will meet at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, in closed session to discuss a potential case of litigation before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. 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
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18.
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.
On Thursday, the council will meet one of August’s adoptable dogs from the city shelter, and get presentations on the Sulphur Fire Roadway Disaster Repair Project and ZoneHaven.
Under council business, staff will present a proposed agreement for the city to purchase property at 6540 Old Highway 53.
City Manager Alan Flora’s report to the council explains that the property is to be used for the construction of a new public roadway and future commercial development at the former Pearce Field airport.
“The City has been actively engaged in development of the former Pearce Field airport over the past few years. The project will include a new roadway, developed by the City, that connects Old Highway 53 and Highway 53 from the 18th Avenue intersection,” Flora wrote.
He said that proper development of this road and connecting it with the existing improvements at 18th Avenue required the acquisition of some privately owned land.
“Earlier this year a transaction was completed near the Highway 53 intersection to accommodate the new roadway. For over a year the City has been working with Amerigas to complete the purchase of property near Old Highway 53 to accommodate the road construction on the western side of the property,” Flora wrote.
Flora said city staffers have negotiated with Amerigas and reached a proposed agreement that would allow the city to purchase the property for the appraised value of $110,000.
“This purchase would allow the 18th Avenue road construction to be started later this year,” Flora said.
In other business, the council will hold the introduction for the first reading of an ordinance to update the municipal code to reflect the city’s migration from a traffic engineer to a city engineer model.
The council also will review and consider approving the use and retention of the development impact fees for fiscal year 2021-2022 and discuss the proposed bylaws amendments for the 2022 League of California Cities Annual Conference.
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 E4 Utility Design for dry utility planning services related to the Burns Valley Development Project, for a not-to-exceed amount of $24,900; discontinuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Aug. 23, 2021, and ratified by council action on Sept. 16, 2021; and discontinuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Aug.18, 2021, and ratified by council action on Aug. 19, 2021.
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The Hill and Bank incidents were reported about an hour apart on Tuesday.
The Hill fire was reported in the area of Highway 29 and Hill Road in north Lakeport shortly after 4 p.m.
The fire did not threaten structures but did temporarily close down the southbound lane of Highway 29 near Mockingbird Lane, according to radio reports.
Cal Fire sent air attack and tankers, along with ground resources to join local fire districts, which stopped forward progress at around 4:45 p.m., at which point the fire was reported to be between five and seven acres. Units remained on scene for several hours for mop up.
At around 5:30 p.m., two small fires were reported in the area of Sulphur Bank and North drives in Clearlake.
The Bank incident was reported to have burned about two to three acres.
The Clearlake Police Department issued a Nixle alert asking people to stay clear of the area.
Lake County Fire, Northshore Fire and Cal Fire were involved in fighting the two small blazes, with Clearlake Police officers also joining the effort.
“When it comes to responding to fires, it’s all about teamwork, coordination and cooperation,” the Clearlake Police Department reported on its Facebook page, where it posted a picture of Sgt. Elvis Cook and Officer Chris Kelleher helping to hold the fire line with hand tools.
Air attack, tankers and Copter 104 from the Boggs Mountain Helitack were part of the response, radio reports indicated.
Copter 104 was among the last aircraft on scene, clearing the incident just before 6:30 p.m.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
At the same time, Gov. Gavin Newsom has named former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to serve as an infrastructure adviser to the state of California, working with local, state and federal leaders to identify priority projects and maximize access to federal funding across all regions of the state.
“With this influx of federal dollars, we have an incredible opportunity to rebuild California while creating quality jobs, modernizing crucial infrastructure, and accelerating our clean transportation progress, benefiting communities up and down the state,” said Gov. Newsom. “Antonio has the extensive experience and relationships to deliver on this promise and bring together the many partners who will be key to our success. I look forward to his collaboration with the Administration as we build up communities across California.”
The $120 million in funding is being awarded to the following local governments, transit agencies and others:
• $25 million to the High-Speed Rail Authority for its Merced Extension design work
• $23 million to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for complete streets improvements along Howard Street.
• $20 million to the Port of Los Angeles for its Terminal Island Grade Separation.
• $15 million for the Inglewood Transit Connector Project.
• $15 million for the Yuba-Sutter Transit Authority’s Zero-Emission Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility.
• $15 million to the City of Fontana for multimodal complete street improvements.
• $5 million to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments to plan and design Mobility Zones in the Sacramento Region.
• $1.6 million to the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation for a separated pedestrian and bicycle path across Highway 101 in Del Norte County.