How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
On Monday night, the council interviewed and appointed the new planning commissioners and continued the meeting on Tuesday evening when it selected members for the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee and the Measure Z Advisory Committee.
Lakeport Planning commissioners Michael Froio and Michael Green were elected to the city council in the November election, leaving their two seats vacant, with the term of a third seat, currently held by Ken Wicks Jr., up on Dec. 31.
The commission reviews planning and development matters and advises the city council on land use issues. The commission currently meets monthly on the second Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Applicants for the three seats were David Brown, Scott Barnett, Kurt Combs, Kipp Knorr, Nathan Maxman and Derek Pool.
On Monday night, following virtual interviews with applicants, the council appointed Barnett and Combs to four-year terms. Maxman, who ran for city council and narrowly lost out on winning a seat, was appointed to fill the remaining two years on Froio’s term, said City Clerk/Administrative Services Director Kelly Buendia.
Barnett, Combs and Maxman will join a commission that also includes Mark Mitchell and Jeff Warrenburg, whose terms run through the end of December 2022.
Froio, Green and Wicks took part in their last planning commission meeting in their capacity as commissioners on Wednesday night. The new members will be seated at the commission’s Jan. 13 meeting.
On Tuesday night, the council discussed the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee, or LEDAC, and the Measure Z Advisory Committee, or MZAC, Buendia said.
LEDAC, which has 11 members, meets bimonthly. It advocates for a strong business community and works with the city and community on the city’s economic and business goals and activities, including business recruitment and retention, recommendations for the implementation of the city’s economic development strategic plan, and coordinating and reporting on the annual business walk.
Membership is open to anyone who lives, works, shops or does business in the city of Lakeport, including those who live in the unincorporated Lakeport trade area.
Applicants included Denise Combs, Bonnie Darling, Bill Eaton, Mary Phillips, Alicia Russell, Wilda Shock and Gene Yoon. Combs, Eaton and Shock currently serve on LEDAC.
Buendia said the council appointed Shock, Darling, Combs and Russell, and gave staff direction to appoint Eaton as an ex-officio research committee chair.
The new appointees will join Pam Harpster, Andy Lucas and Laura Sammel, whose terms expire at the end of December 2021.
In November 2016, city voters approved the 1-percent Measure Z transactions and use tax, which requires independent audits and citizens’ oversight.
As a result, MZAC was formed to review all revenues and expenditures of the tax revenue. It also makes recommendations to the city council on expenditures for tax proceeds.
MZAC’s five members serve four-year terms and the committee meets quarterly. Membership is open to residents of the city.
Applicants included Meg Harper and Zack Jordan, and incumbent Dennis Rollins.
The council appointed all three to the three open seats, Buendia said.
They will join Susan King and Verna Schaffer, whose terms run through the end of December 2022.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News reports
Since 2012, the Kelseyville Food Pantry – a collaboration of the Presbyterian, United Methodist, and Unitarian Universalist churches in Kelseyville – has been feeding the hungry not just in Kelseyville but all of Lake County twice a month.
The food pantry offered its thanks to the Hunger Task Force of Lake County and to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for their very generous donations.
Thanks to the generosity of these two organizations, beginning on Jan. 15, the Kelseyville Food Pantry will begin offering an additional pantry to supply guests with a bag of canned items.
The distribution will be from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on the third Friday of each month.
The food pantry’s monthly giveaways – which include nonperishable items as well as fresh produce, eggs and bread – will continue on the second and fourth Tuesdays from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., all at the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church, located at 5340 Third St., behind WestAmerica Bank.
Everyone is welcome; the food pantry’s only criteria is that you are hungry and that you share what you cannot use.
“Our sincere thanks to the Lake County community that has sustained and supported us over the past eight years. Your generous spirit has helped us maintain our goal to feed the hungry, and as that need continues to grow during these uncertain times, we appreciate you even more!” pantry organizers said.
If you would like to become a volunteer, the food pantry can use people to shop for canned items and be reimbursed. They can also use a few more socially-distanced hands to help on pantry day to fill the bags.
For more information please call Julie Berry at the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church office at 707-279-1104 or email her at
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News reports
The funds are made available from taxpayer contributions to the Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund.
“California’s injured, sick and orphaned native wildlife need our help now more than ever,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “We are proud to quickly make funds available to help these important partner organizations operate during difficult economic times.”
In 2017, Assemblymember Marie Waldron’s Assembly Bill 1031 created the Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund on the state’s income tax form, and thanks to taxpayers’ generosity, more than $820,000 has been donated as of October 2020.
“I am so pleased these organizations will receive the funding they desperately deserve,” Waldron said. “Without them, California’s wildlife would suffer, which would mean we all suffer. I’m honored to have played a role in conserving California’s abundant natural beauty.”
In 2019, these 45 organizations collectively cared for nearly 112,000 orphaned or injured wild animals, including bats, opossums, skunks, raptors, reptiles, foxes, songbirds, fawns, sea birds, coyotes, bears and many other native species.
CDFW acted swiftly to stand up the new competitive grant program to support and advance the recovery and rehabilitation of injured, sick or orphaned wildlife and conservation education. Funds may be used to support activities such as operations and ongoing facility needs, innovation in animal care (e.g., wildlife rehabilitation techniques, enclosure designs, diet and behavioral enrichment), post-release monitoring and conservation education for the public.
“The California wildlife rehabilitation community is incredibly grateful for this much-needed support,” said Rachel Avilla, president of the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators Board of Directors. “While 2020 has certainly taken its toll on many small organizations, our commitment to helping wildlife remains strong as injured and orphaned animals continue to need our help daily. We want to thank Assemblymember Waldron and her team for pushing this landmark legislation through and CDFW for being an excellent ally. We are profoundly grateful for their continued collaboration and support to help care for California’s precious wildlife.”
Consistent with the legislation, eligible organizations were required to document their status as a nonprofit organization that operates a permitted wildlife rehabilitation facility, complies with all conditions of its Wildlife Rehabilitation Memorandum of Understanding, and maintains active participation in the Wildlife Rehabilitation Medical Database.
A full list of wildlife rehabilitation organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit entities, can be found at https://wildlife.ca.gov/conservation/laboratories/wildlife-investigations/rehab/facilities.
In Lake County, organizations that offer wildlife rehabilitation are as follows:
– Clearlake Wildlife Rescue, Clearlake, telephone 707-350-3337;
– Clearlake Veterinary Clinic, Clearlake, 707-994-9100;
– Wasson Memorial Veterinary Clinic, Lakeport, 707-263-5380.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10, via Zoom. The meeting is open to the public.
To join the Zoom meeting click on this link; the meeting ID is 872 2935 2332. Call in at 888-788-0099.
In an item timed for 7:15 p.m., MATH will take nominations for three seats – one at large and two representing Middletown proper.
The MATH Board includes Chair Tom Darms, Vice Chair Sally Peterson, Secretary Paul Baker, and at-large members Rosemary Córdova and Lisa Kaplan.
The seats up for election currently are held by Darms, Peterson and Baker, all of whom have declined to serve another term.
At the November meeting, the group said no nominations had yet come in, but Kaplan told Lake County News in the following weeks that some community members have come forward and expressed interest in serving.
Kaplan said that to be eligible to serve on the MATH Board, individuals must be qualified, which means they must live and be registered to vote in the South Lake Fire Protection District.
Other agenda items for Thursday include a discussion on the bylaws regarding clarification to the board election procedures, timed for 7:40 p.m.; public input, scheduled for 8 p.m.; and items for discussion and action in January, set for 8:15 p.m.
MATH will hold its first meeting of 2021 on Jan. 14.
MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
For more information email
Email Elizabeth Larson at