Potholes and patchwork visible in the first layer of chip seal on Grouse Road, one of 26 roads in the Cobb road rehabilitation project currently under reevaluation of paving method, photographed on July 30, 2025. Photo by Lingzi Chen/Lake County News.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After pausing a $5 million road project in Cobb due to quality and durability concerns, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday directed staff to add $700,000 to upgrade the surface on certain roads from double chip seal to asphalt.
In 2024, the board approved the plan to use a double chip seal — a less expensive paving material for part of the project — for budgetary reasons. But as construction progressed in the summer, resident complaints and signs of early deterioration led to a mid-project pause and review.
Ultimately, the board agreed to allocate additional funds to upgrade the paving material to meet quality standards that can better withstand traffic, weather, winter snow plows — and last longer.
While Public Works staff said the issue stemmed from paving material rather than construction, the pause and reevaluation of the project have raised questions about the county’s decision-making process.
“We failed,” said Supervisor Bruno Sabatier. “We had plans made available to us. We approved these plans. Two directors have gone through these plans and continued to push forward with these plans, and now we're saying something went wrong.”
During public comment, residents expressed frustration over newly paved roads deteriorating quickly. They said the road issues have raised both emotional and practical concerns, urging the board to approve better paving materials.
As the board agreed at the meeting, a construction change order will go before the board in mid-August, according to Interim Public Works Director Lars Ewing in his email to Lake County News. The change order will reflect the additional funding allocation to the project.
Dates for project resumption and completion are to be determined as county staff work with the contractor, Argonaut Constructors, on the change order, Ewing added.
Construction paused after road issues surface
On April 8, the county awarded a $5.1 million construction contract to Argonaut to rehabilitate 16 miles of road in Cobb.
Under the project plans approved, all local roads were to receive either hot-mixed asphalt or a more affordable double chip seal — a gravel and oil mix. Asphalt, though more expensive, is more durable and typically lasts twice as long, according to Ewing.
Construction began on June 9. As it progressed, residents reported quality issues — including potholes quickly forming on some newly pulverized roads that had received a single layer of chip seal. Their feedback prompted county staff to investigate.
District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska, whose district includes the project area, attended a Cobb Area Council meeting to discuss the matter with the residents, Ewing told Lake County News. On July 17, after inspecting the roads onsite, county staff paused the project pending a design review.
The county then requested the final design report from Nichols Consulting Engineers, or NCE, the firm hired to design for the project.
In a July 23 report, NCE noted that “former county staff” had recommended many roads be surfaced with a double chip seal, according to the staff memo.
“Where the issue came about is the concern of the double chip seal,” said Ewing at the Tuesday board meeting. “At that point, I paused the contract after the first layer of chips was placed so that we could reevaluate.”
For now, 26 roads totaling five miles — or roughly 31% of the project — remain with a single chip seal layer, awaiting next steps.
Potholes and patchwork visible in the first layer of chip seal on Grouse Road, one of 26 roads in the Cobb road rehabilitation project currently under reevaluation of paving method, photographed on July 30, 2025. Photo by Lingzi Chen/Lake County News.
‘We need to understand what we’re approving’
While decision making was mentioned at the meeting, a deeper discussion did not follow.
In a phone call with Lake County News on Monday, Supervisor Sabatier said he was picking up “new information” from NCE’s July report.
To meet the county’s overall budget, the report said “we recommend a group of streets be surfaced with a double chip seal, composed of a larger lower chip and a finer upper chip for smoothness and placed on the pulverized layer.”
Sabatier read this section to Lake County News and said it’s new to him.
“We didn't approve the specifics of the project; we only approved the contract that does not divulge the very detailed specifics of the project,” he said during the call. “And so that can be something that we can change.”
At the Tuesday meeting, Sabatier brought up the fact that the project design had been recommended by two consecutive department directors and approved by the board — and still went wrong.
“We need to do a better job of either understanding what we're approving or making sure that we review what we're approving,” Sabatier said.
Ewing responded, refusing to say there were mistakes in previous decision making.
“I'm not here to say that those decisions were wrong. Chip seal is a viable product.” said Ewing. “I do not want to be up here as the interim director saying that any former directors or anyone involved with the project made an incorrect decision. It's a judgment call.”
The board did not further discuss whether a mistake had been made or how to improve the decision-making process.
On June 17, the supervisors voted to terminate Glen March, director of Public Works, just a year after he took the job.
March’s termination occurred about a week after construction began for the Cobb road project.
With Ewing now serving as the interim, the county is seeking a new permanent hire — the fourth person to oversee the project, following Ewing, March and his predecessor, longtime director Scott De Leon, who retired in June 2024
“There's been a lot of lessons learned in this project. We're on our third director with this project. We have another one coming up,” Supervisor Jessica Pyska said. “And I think, as a board, when we look at these projects, we need to make sure that we're doing these projects to a standard that's going to give us a long term return on our investment.”
As the Cobb area lies in her district, Pyska offered to contribute $225,000 from her cannabis discretionary funding: “I'm pushing in most of my discretionary funding to make this happen, because it's that important.”
The remaining amount — $475,000 — will be covered by the approved county budget for roads or unanticipated occurrences. Ewing said at the meeting that it would not affect the county’s other projects.
Residents: ‘That’s not gonna hold’
NCE Principal/Pavement Engineer Jame Signore said at the meeting that double chip seal is a “very common treatment used in rural agencies around the western United States.”
He recalled that for the Cobb project, double chip seal was only planned for roads with lesser traffic and lower speeds.
But it does not seem to perform as expected in some of the roads treated with this material.
Kelsey and Jeritt Skelton, who live on Grouse Road — one of the roads being considered for an upgrade to asphalt — said they were initially excited to see the road work begin.
But days after the first layer of chip seal was applied, the crew came back and did a “patch job,” Jeritt Skelton told Lake County News, standing on the road in front of his home, pointing to the “patches” in various sizes. Some parts of the chip layer already were gone and dirt was exposed.
“That’s not gonna hold,” said Kelsey Skelton, speaking of the road durability during winter, looking away to the road.
She said she did not know what’s going on with the road work. Seeing the constructors putting the first layer down and not coming back, she thought, “that’s how it’s gonna be forever.”
Still, the Skeltons expressed gratitude for this first chip seal layer with patches. “I am grateful to have this at least; the roads before were really bad,” Jeritt Skelton said.
The Skeltons are not alone.
Ewing told Lake County News that residents’ concerns have centered on “frustration regarding previously-paved roads being double chip sealed, and questions regarding whether the double chip seal would hold up in that area given frequent use of snowplows in the wintertime, among other factors.”
Cobb resident Grace Ernst said during public comment that the first coat applied to the roads have already developed potholes, areas of exposed dirt and erosion.
“And that’s with good weather and just a few cars driving by,” Ernst said. “It is troubling to think about how the deterioration will progress and accelerate once we begin to get rain and snow.”
Operations Chief Paul Duncan of South Lake County Fire Protection District and Cal Fire also spoke over Zoom to support asphalt paving for safe operation of fire fighting.
“We need to maintain that state minimum of 75,000 pounds and an aggregate base of those roads to support that equipment,” Duncan said.
Located just two minutes away from the Summit Drive, on one of the roads under concern, is the Cal Fire Helitack Base.
“Putting a chip seal down, to me, is not a long term solution,” Duncan said. “And it is a hazard for that community.”
Potholes and patchwork visible in the first layer of chip seal on Grouse Road, one of 26 roads in the Cobb road rehabilitation project currently under reevaluation of paving method, photographed on July 30, 2025. Photo by Lingzi Chen/Lake County News.
Ongoing challenges
Toward the end of the discussion, District 3 Supervisor EJ Crandell, who said his district has the lowest Pavement Condition Index, or PCI, reminded the board that road challenges extend beyond Cobb.
Road conditions have limited access by garbage truck and emergency vehicles in parts of his district, Crandell said, among other problems the district’s residents have been facing owing to road conditions.
“I'm not trying to go against this project; I support it. I just want to emphasize that I just want these to get done, so my district can get a higher PCI code,” he said. “I only say that just to kind of stand on a soapbox, not trying to go against this.”
A 2023 report by NCE recommended a 10-year pavement management program of $165 million over 10 years — a minimum scenario — that aims to raise the overall pavement condition in Lake County and reduce the need for deferred maintenance. However, even this plan was well beyond the county’s funding capacity.
As the board addresses Cobb’s immediate needs, how to allocate stringent road funding countywide remains an ongoing challenge.
Cobb roads under evaluation
In his email, Ewing provided a list of the roads being “evaluated for pavement.” It includes the following 26 roads:
• Adams Springs Court • Adams Spring Drive • Brookside Drive • Carolyn Drive • Castlewood Road • Costello Way • Creek View Drive • Dove Drive • Elliott Drive • Entrance Road • Forest Lake Drive • Grouse Road • Hogan Hill Lane • Jones Court • Lassen Drive • Palmer Court • Palmer Drive • Pamela Drive • Parnassus Drive • Prather Court • Prather Way • Quail Drive • Regina Way • St Helena Drive • Sugar Pine Drive • Summit Drive
For a full list of roads under construction for the Cobb road project, click here.
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The California Attorney General’s Office on Thursday confirmed that the U.S. Department of Education has released a billion dollars of education funding to California a month after the federal agency said it had frozen the funds for programs including those benefiting English learners, migrant students, adult learners and those relying on community learning centers.
On June 30, a day before the start of the new school year, the U.S. Department of Education announced the freeze or “impoundment of federal funds.”
The funding that was frozen totaled $6 billion nationwide for six longstanding programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the funding from those program are used for services including educational programs for migrant children and English learners; programs that promote effective classroom instruction, improve school conditions and the use of technology in the classroom; community learning centers that offer students a broad range of opportunities for academic and extracurricular enrichment; and adult education and workforce development efforts.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg said the action was expected to result in $1.2 million being withheld from county schools — or about 16.5% of its over $7 million in total federal funds allocation — months after school budgets were set for the coming school year.
On July 14, Attorney General Bonta co-led a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two states together in filing a lawsuit and motion for a preliminary injunction, arguing that the freeze violated federal funding statutes and regulations authorizing the programs and appropriating funds for them, federal statutes governing the federal budgeting process and the constitutional separation of powers doctrine and the Presentment Clause.
Then, on July 25, the California Department of Education received notice that beginning the week of July 28, the U.S. Department of Education would begin releasing previously impounded federal funds for the current federal and education fiscal year.
“The Trump Administration has officially reversed course on its blatantly illegal, misguided effort to freeze critical education funds weeks before the school year was set to start,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Let’s be clear: This funding should never have been frozen in the first place – that’s why we filed our lawsuit. We’re glad to see the Administration back down from its illegal effort to withhold these funds, but we can’t lose sight of the long-term damage caused by the President’s campaign of chaos and uncertainty. California will not stop fighting to hold the President and his Administration accountable to the law and to protect our children’s educational future.”
The state Department of Education received grant award notifications on Wednesday confirming that the entirety of the funds that ED was required to make available to the states on July 1 was being released.
“California schools have been waiting for these resources to serve students, and now nearly $1 billion of illegally impounded federal education funds will finally reach our classrooms,” said California State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond. “The Trump administration’s delay created unacceptable uncertainty for our schools and harmed many of our most vulnerable students. However, we are moving swiftly to ensure these funds support students, educators, and school communities without further interruption.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social.
“Syd.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has dogs of many breeds, sizes and temperaments waiting for their new homes this week.
The shelter has 48 adoptable dogs listed on its website.
This week’s dogs include “Syd,” a 2-year-old male Belgian Malinois mix.
“He is an energetic, affectionate dog who thrives on companionship, play, and comfort. His playful nature and love for toys, coupled with his excellent leash skills and potential for cohabitation with other dogs, make him a wonderful addition to any home,” shelter staff said.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social.
The earthquake near the east coast of the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia on July 30 2025 generated tsunami waves that have reached Hawaii and coastal areas of the US mainland. The earthquake’s magnitude of 8.8 is significant, potentially making it one of the largest quakes ever recorded.
Countries around much of the Pacific, including in east Asia, North and South America, issued alerts and in some cases evacuation orders in anticipation of potentially devastating waves. Waves of up to four metres hit coastal towns in Kamchatka near where the earthquake struck, apparently causing severe damage in some areas.
But in other places waves have been smaller than expected, including in Japan, which is much closer to Kamchatka than most of the Pacific rim. Many warnings have now been downgraded or lifted with relatively little damage. It seems that for the size of the earthquake, the tsunami has been rather smaller than might have been the case. To understand why, we can look to geology.
The earthquake was associated with the Pacific tectonic plate, one of several major pieces of the Earth’s crust. This pushes north-west against the part of the North American plate that extends west into Russia, and is forced downwards beneath the Kamchatka peninsula in a process called subduction.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) says the average rate of convergence – a measure of plate movement – is around 80mm per year. This is one of the highest rates of relative movement at a plate boundary.
But this movement tends to take place as an occasional sudden movement of several metres. In any earthquake of this type and size, the displacement may occur over a contact area between the two tectonic plates of slightly less than 400km by 150km, according to the USGS.
The Earth’s crust is made of rock that is very hard and brittle at the small scale and near the surface. But over very large areas and depths, it can deform with slightly elastic behaviour. As the subducting slab – the Pacific plate – pushes forward and descends, the depth of the ocean floor may suddenly change.
Nearer to the coastline, the crust of the overlying plate may be pushed upward as the other pushed underneath, or – as was the case off Sumatra in 2004 – the outer edge of the overlying plate may be dragged down somewhat before springing back a few metres.
It is these near-instantaneous movements of the seabed that generate tsunami waves by displacing huge volumes of ocean water. For example, if the seabed rose just one metre across an area of 200 by 100km where the water is 1km deep, then the volume of water displaced would fill Wembley stadium to the roof 17.5 million times.
A one-metre rise like this will then propagate away from the area of the uplift in all directions, interacting with normal wind-generated ocean waves, tides and the shape of the sea floor to produce a series of tsunami waves. In the open ocean, the tsunami wave would not be noticed by boats and ships, which is why a cruise ship in Hawaii was quickly moved out to sea.
Waves sculpted by the seabed
The tsunami waves travel across the deep ocean at up to 440 miles per hour, so they may be expected to reach any Pacific Ocean coastline within 24 hours. However, some of their energy will dissipate as they cross the ocean, so they will usually be less hazardous at the furthest coastlines away from the earthquake.
The hazard arises from how the waves are modified as the seabed rises towards a shoreline. They will slow and, as a result, grow in height, creating a surge of water towards and then beyond the normal coastline.
The Kamchatka earthquake was slightly deeper in the Earth’s crust (20.7km) than the Sumatran earthquake of 2004 and the Japanese earthquake of 2011. This will have resulted in somewhat less vertical displacement of the seabed, with the movement of that seabed being slightly less instantaneous. This is why we’ve seen tsunami warnings lifted some time before any tsunami waves would have arrived there.
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