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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
At 2 a.m. Friday, sheriff’s deputies responded to Adventist Health Hospital in Clearlake in response to reports of a male adult victim being treated for stab wounds, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Lauren Berlinn.
Berlinn said the deputies determined the victim was assaulted outside of Maynard’s Sports Bar in Lower Lake by multiple people and was stabbed sometime during the altercation.
She said the victim was transported to an out-of-county hospital and was reported to be in stable condition.
The sheriff’s office’s Major Crimes Unit is actively investigating the case, Berlinn said.
Berlinn said the sheriff’s office has developed leads in the stabbing.
However, she said the agency is asking anyone with information about this incident to please contact Det. Jeff Mora at 707-262-4224 or by email at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
In March, the council had discussed staff’s plan for debt financing directly with a bank, with the final proposal coming back this week.
In just a month, some of the city’s financial assumptions for the plan have been impacted by changes to interest rates as the government makes adjustments to address inflation, Finance Director Kelcey Young explained.
“Since the time that we spoke initially, rates have risen considerably,” Young said.
Initially, Young had presented a plan that anticipated a 2.75% interest rate on $15 million over a 15-year financing period.
However, as of Thursday night, Young said the interest rate had risen to 3.3%. She said that within the last hour before her presentation, she heard that the rate may have rolled back to 3.2%.
The lowest and best offer for financing is a loan amount of about $14.6 million with annual debt service of $1.5 million over 12, not 15, years, she said.
Young said there were other options, including borrowing a smaller amount, setting up a shorter loan period or doing a second debt financing program if interest rates go back down.
Even though the interest rate was up, it’s lower than the city has had previously, Young said. “We still think that there’s a lot of value to this.”
She added, “We are trying so hard to change the image of Clearlake.”
Young said the city has the opportunity to pave a considerable amount of its residential roads.
Eric Scriven of NHA Advisors, a firm that’s consulting the city on the process, said the financing plan has always been based on Measure V — the city’s one-cent sales tax that generates about $2.5 million annually — and what the city can conservatively afford to finance.
“It’s been a very robust process,” he said, explaining that they’ve gone out to banks to bid on the financing project. He acknowledged that rates “have increased significantly.”
Scriven explained the situation, noting that the Federal Reserve has become very hawkish due to inflation numbers and attempted to take strong action by raising short-term interest rates. Taxable bonds and tax exempt rates have increased anyway from 0.87 to 1%.
He said he’s heard that the Federal Reserve will increase rates another half a percentage point in May.
The business decision for the council was not as attractive due to rates going up, with Scriven adding that they don’t know where interest rates are going in the future. He said 3.3 or 3.2% for a 12-year loan seems to be the best option.
A lot of banks are becoming very picky due to getting a lot of opportunities put before them. Scriven said many have lent a lot of money in the last two months, as banks have become more attractive since interest rates have risen in the investor market.
The timeline for pursuing the plan included forwarding the council’s approval to the winning bank this week, and executing the legal documents in early to mid June, the same month the funding becomes available.
Councilman Russ Cremer asked about how the interest rate increase would impact the number of miles of roadwork the city can complete with the financing.
“We haven’t finalized the plan. It’ll cut back a little bit on what we can do, obviously,” said City Manager Alan Flora, adding he still thinks they will be able to accomplish work in the range of about 20 miles.
Cremer asked if there is a plan in place for streets that don’t make it into the final plan. Flora said they would try to attack those streets on a pay-as-you-go basis.
“The reality is, it may push back some of those projects a year or two while we implement this,” said Flora.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton asked if they would be locking in the rate before the documents are completed in June.
Scriven explained that if they approved the plan and executed the term sheet, it would become effective on Friday and be locked in for 60 days.
Flora also explained that due to some of the language in Measure V, two actions were recommended by the bond counsel.
First, staff gave a presentation on the plan last week to the bond oversight committee. Flora said the committee unanimously approved it and sent a letter of support for the plan to the council.
A second action related to the spending plan included as an exhibit in Measure V. Flora said there was language in that expenditure plan that gives the council authority to make adjustments to it. However, it’s silent on spending the money on interest.
Flora said the recommendation was that the council take action to include language that says the debt financing is an approved expenditure for Measure V. That proposed wording was included in one of the two resolutions presented to the council.
Councilman David Claffey asked about the possibility of refinancing in the future if rates dropped again. Scriven said opportunities to refinance usually begin around year five of a debt financing agreement. There’s typically a 2% penalty which reduces each year, with no penalty after seven years. Scriven added that they would have to revisit it.
Flora also suggested they could choose to move forward with a smaller project if the council thought it was a high point for interest rates and jump back in when rates are lower.
While he said they were disappointed with the movement in rates, they still felt it made sense to move forward with the larger group of projects.
Mayor Dirk Slooten said he thinks interest rates are going to go up for the time being. Citing historical trends, Slooten said it could be up to seven years before things start moving down again.
Community members voiced support for the plan. They included Terry Stewart, a longtime city resident who also is a member of the Clearlake Planning Commission.
Stewart reminded the council that while rates have gone up slightly, it’s not like how rates have been traditionally. He recalled how home mortgage rates were about 20% in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
He encouraged them to move forward immediately, lock in the best rate and contract a large amount of road work at the current rates, which Stewart said will probably save even more money than anticipated.
The council unanimously approved two resolutions, one to authorize the documents and official actions relating to the Measure V financing and the second to authorize the execution and delivery of an installment sale agreement and assignment agreement to finance the road improvements.
The council on Thursday also approved the first reading of the Clearlake Police Department’s military equipment policy ordinance and set a second reading and adoption for the May 5 meeting, and heard a presentation from a Local Initiative Support Corp. representative regarding the Distressed Cities Technical Assistance Program regarding Clearlake projects.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: OFFICE OF SEN. MIKE MCGUIRE
State Sen. Mike McGuire’s bill, SB 884, is supported by Cal Fire firefighters and it passed the Senate Energy Committee and the Governance & Finance Committee this week.
“For far too long, America’s largest utility – Pacific Gas and Electric – has failed its customers and made California unsafe,” said McGuire. “For years, the utility underfunded modernization and wildfire safety efforts, which has had devastating impacts. The only path forward is to move power lines underground in the most high fire risk regions. SB 884 will save lives and ratepayers money.”
PG&E has been charged with nearly 100 felonies in the deaths of California residents in wildfires they caused over the past four years. Californians have literally run for their lives to escape flames from these utility-caused wildfires.
Undergrounding electric lines reduces the likelihood of fires starting by 99% and will vastly reduce carbon emissions by stopping mega fires before they start.
McGuire said SB 884 will expedite the undergrounding of 10,000 miles of utility lines, while saving ratepayers money by using federal infrastructure funds. Currently, PG&E undergrounds approximately 100 miles of their electrical lines annually.
“Year after year, these utility-caused wildfires have become our reality. This insanity must be stopped for the health and safety of all Californians,” said McGuire. “We’ll be working day and night to get this critical legislation passed.”
The bill now will be sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing.
The bill will do the following:
• Mandated performance metrics would be implemented by the California Public Utilities Commission on undergrounding projects, including timelines for completion and penalties for not hitting deadlines, and the utility would have to prove safety protocols are met prior to receiving a rate of return.
• Develops a pathway to expedite undergrounding construction by establishing a shot clock for local government permit approval/denial to just 150 days.
• The legislation would save ratepayers money by mandating that utilities use available federal infrastructure funds to construct the undergrounding project before using ratepayer funds, and it would mandate telecommunication companies to underground their utilities in the same trench as the electrical undergrounding.
• This dig-once policy will help as a cost share and help make our state telecommunication system more resilient, especially in the highest risk zones.
• Guarantees a 270 day judicial review in California courts if an undergrounding project faces a California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
The following dogs are available for adoption.
‘Fritz’
“Fritz” is a male Australian shepherd mix with a black and white coat.
He is dog No. 49278179.
‘Andy’
“Andy” is a male American pit bull mix with a short gray and white coat.
He is dog No. 48995415.
‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male Labrador retriever-American pit bull mix with a short charcoal and fawn coat.
He has been neutered.
‘Chai’
“Chai” is a female Alaskan husky mix with a gray and white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49279552.
‘Colt’
“Colt” is a male Rhodesian Ridgeback mix with a short rust and black coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49812106.
‘Ebenezer’
“Ebenezer” is a male American pit bull terrier mix with a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 49191651.
‘Pooh Bear’
“Pooh Bear” is a 1-year-old male American pit bull mix with a copper and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49603144.
‘Scrappy’
“Scrappy” is an 11-month-old male American pit bull mix with a short cream-colored coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49603144.
‘Snowball’
“Snowball” is a male American Staffordshire mix terrier with a white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49159168.
‘Terry’
“Terry” is a male shepherd mix with a short brindle coat.
He is dog No. 48443693.
Email Elizabeth Larson at