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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
Gov. Newsom has proclaimed a state of emergency in counties impacted by the Fawn fire, Cache fire in Clearlake, Caldor fire, McFarland and Monument fires, Antelope and River fires, Dixie, Fly and Tamarack fires and the Lava Fire and Beckwourth Complex fire.
Newsom also has signed executive orders to support impacted communities and bolster wildfire response and recovery efforts.
The state secured Fire Management Assistance Grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the response to the Dixie fire in Lassen, Butte and Plumas counties and the response to the Caldor fire, Monument fire, River fire and Lava fire.
The White House last month approved a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration and Presidential Emergency Declaration to support the Caldor fire response, and previously approved a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support counties impacted by the Dixie and River fires.
The text of the executive order is published below.
10.20.21 Price Gouging EO by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
The Adopt-A-Highway program has been one of the longest-standing and successful government-public partnerships in the state.
Since its inception in 1989, more than 120,000 Californians have cleaned and enhanced over 15,000 shoulder-miles of roadside.
The new pilot program will augment the overall goals of the Clean California program by providing additional resources to maintain and beautify the state's roadways.
“Clean California is all about restoring pride in public spaces and making a difference in our communities, and that goes hand in hand with volunteering,” said Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin. “Through Caltrans’ Adopt-a-Highway program, volunteers can pitch in to clean and beautify our roadsides, and we’re proud to offer an incentive for even more people to help Clean California.”
Part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s California Comeback Plan, Clean California is a sweeping $1.1 billion, multiyear clean-up effort to remove trash, create thousands of jobs and engage communities to transform roadsides into places of public pride.
Since July, Caltrans has collected nearly 2,500 tons of trash and made more than 600 conditional job offers as part of the program.
Adopt-a-Highway volunteers help create cleaner and more beautiful roadsides by removing litter, planting trees and flowers, clearing graffiti, and thinning overgrown vegetation, and also help prevent litter and other pollutants from entering state waterways through stormwater drains.
Whether completed by an individual or group, Caltrans will award stipends up to $250 total per litter collection event for activities such as:
— $250 for each adopted highway segment;
— $62.50 for each ramp, or up to $250 for all four ramps;
— Up to $250 for clean-up activities at other locations, such as along bike paths or at park-and-ride facilities.
Caltrans will require volunteers to submit information ― including date, location, amount of trash collected, number of volunteers, hours worked and pictures ― following eligible clean-up activities to receive a stipend. Adopt-A-Highway participants are limited to one payment a month.
As part of the pilot program, the stipends will be available to Adopt-a-Highway volunteers in Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Imperial, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, San Diego, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. Caltrans expects to expand the program statewide in the coming months.
People and businesses interested in volunteering can visit www.CleanCA.com for more details and an online application or call 866-ADOPTAHWY (886-236-7824).
There is no cost to participate in the Adopt-a-Highway program. In addition to clearing litter, Adopt-a Highway volunteers have maintained 1,500 acres of vegetation and planted 100 acres of trees and 36 acres of wildflowers since 1989. Caltrans installs signs displaying the name of the person, family, organization or business on the segment of adopted highway.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department is asking the community to be on the lookout for a missing woman.
Katherine Jackson, 74, has been missing since Wednesday afternoon.
Jackson left her Clearlake residence at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for an unknown destination, police said.
Authorities said Jackson was last seen on foot in the area of 32nd and Phillips avenues.
She was believed to be wearing a plaid cape, a red and black shirt, and black pants, walking with a cane and carrying a cloth bag, possibly with shoes in it.
If you have seen her or know her whereabouts, contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
At the start of the meeting, Police Chief Brad Rasmussen introduced to the council his newest officer, Katie Hutchins, a Middletown High School graduate who graduated from the police academy and worked for Calistoga Police before starting work in Lakeport last week.
With Hutchins’ hire, Rasmussen said his department now has four female officers, the most in its history.
Her hire also has brought the department to full staffing, which “we have not been at for some significant time” due to hiring issues, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said that over the last 10 years, Lakeport Police — with 13 sworn personnel — has only hit its total number of officers one or two times and usually only stayed at full staffing for as little as 30 days.
Following Hutchins’ introduction, Councilwoman Mireya Turner presented a proclamation designating October 2021 Domestic Violence Awareness Month to members of the Lake Family Resource Center.
The council’s main item of business on Tuesday night was a public hearing on the proposal to increase water and sewer rates for city residents.
Chris Fisher of Willdan Financial Services, the consulting firm the city hired to lead it through the Proposition 218 process required for increasing utility costs, presented a report on the increases. Willdan had presented similar reports in May and August.
Fisher said Willdan’s staff has worked with the city staff on the study in order to prepare for the rate increases. “It’s been an exhausting but very productive process,” he said, adding they have done everything they can to take everything into consideration.
The primary goals of rate study are full cost recovery of utility expenditures, cost-based rate structure, equity among customer classes, administrative efficiency, a five year financial plan and Proposition 218 compliance, Fisher said.
From 2022 to 2026, the city of Lakeport is planning more than $7 million in capital utility projects — 41% in water and 59% in sewer facilities, Fisher said. From 2027 to 2031, the city plans another $7.5 million in projects, with 58% and 41% to go for water and sewer, respectively.
For every dollar of debt owed in utilities, Fisher said $1.20 is needed to pay for that debt.
Over the coming five years, Fisher said an average residential customer who uses 800 cubic feet of water per month, water and sewer rates combined are forecast to increase from $127.34 to $157.54 monthly.
In order to approve the new rates, the council had to hold a public hearing and receive any final written protests that hadn’t yet been submitted, as required by Proposition 218.
During that hearing, which lasted just three minutes, there were no protests submitted in person to the council or via email.
One Lakeport resident posted comments in the meeting’s Zoom chat speaking against the increases, but City Attorney David Ruderman said that was insufficient to meet the written protest requirements.
After the brief hearing was closed, City Clerk Kelly Buendia reported the protest tabulation to the council.
“Currently we have one valid protest and no other protests have come in,” said Buendia.
In order to have a sufficient number of protests to reach a majority and stop the utility increases, Nick Walker, the city’s finance director and assistant city manager, said the city would have had to receive 1,661 protests, or 50% plus one. Ruderman said that number is based on parcels.
Due to a nuance in city municipal code, the council will have to hold a second hearing for the water rates before Nov. 1, Walker said.
The city’s water system ordinance, adopted in 1954, requires that resolutions relating to the water enterprise have two readings, which is unlike how resolutions generally are handled. The city’s wastewater ordinance was revised in 2008 and does not contain the same restriction on adoption of resolutions.
The council approved the resolutions to increase water and sewer rates in unanimous votes.
City Manager Kevin Ingram asked the council if 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, would work for a special meeting to hold the second hearing on the water rates. The council agreed.
Once final approval on the water rates comes in next week’s hearing, the increases are set to go into effect on Nov. 1.
In other news on Tuesday, the council unanimously approved a one-year lease for the Clear Lake Environmental Research Center, or CLERC, for the basement of the city’s historic Carnegie Library, at a monthly cost of $850.
During the first year, the city will cover electricity, water, sewer and trash while they determine how much it will cost for the building’s utilities.
Initially, CLERC will use the basement for its laboratory and administrative offices, Ingram said. In the future, the plans are to also move into the top floor, where repairs are still needed to the ceiling and lighting.
The council also gave unanimous support to Chief Rasmussen’s request to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Lake Family Resource Center for a Crisis Intervention Responder Program.
Rasmussen said Lake Family Resource Center will assign, and pay for, an intervention specialist who will team up primarily with the department’s homeless outreach officer to offer more appropriate and targeted services to people in crisis who need resources beyond what a police officer can provide.
The center has money to cover the program through December 2022, Rasmussen said.
He said the program’s details are still being finalized, with the agreement soon to be signed, with a goal of rolling out the program in November.
Email Elizabeth Larson at