LAKEPORT — After a workshop held before the City Council”s regular Tuesday meeting in which city and county officials fielded questions and heard public comment, the three council members in attendance decided to move forward with hosting BoardStock at the city”s centerpiece park.
Acting City Manager Richard Knoll hosted the workshop that began with an informational session about the event including tentative dates, the range of sports events, potential cost to Lakeport Police Department and the Lake County Sheriff”s Office as well as the event”s possible effect on the city.
The event was canceled after two years at Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa because of problems with underage drinkers at last summer”s BoardStock. Undercover agents from the state Alcoholic Beverage Council (ABC) found in the neighborhood of 20 underage drinkers on KHRS property last year.
Several attendees at the Tuesday workshop expressed concern over problems with alcoholic beverages at the event in general, saying the event was welcome if alcohol could be kept out of it.
Still others doubted that could be done. Several pointed out that it would be easy enough for a boater to bring an alcoholic beverage from the boat to the shore, since there is no law prohibiting alcoholic beverages on the lake.
Lakeport businessman Roy Disney expressed further concern that limits on drinking in the park would push the problem out onto the water. “Alcohol and boating do not mix,” he said.
LCSO worked in conjunction with eight other agencies to patrol the water at last year”s event, according to Sheriff Rod Mitchell.
Mitchell said last year”s event cost his department more than $53,000 in staff time and resources to patrol it. He noted that KHRS has comparatively less road access than Library Park, which prompted him to overstaff the event in the two years it was hosted at the resort to avoid a shortage of deputies on site.
The cost to the Lakeport Fire Protection District was estimated at an earlier meeting at $10,000, based on the Kelseyville Fire Department”s cost in previous years.
LPD Police Chief Kevin Burke said policing BoardStock would no doubt be a challenge, and said he would like to see the event”s coordinators provide professionally trained and state-licensed staff to supplement local law enforcement.
Melissa Fulton, executive director for the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce, noted that BoardStock”s events are held during the day between approximately 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Asked when most incidents requiring law enforcement attention took place, Mitchell said that more than half of the time stamps on arrests were in the evening.
All the same, Disney submitted a list for the city”s review that contained the names of local businesses in opposition to the idea of hosting BoardStock in Lakeport, including the city”s three largest hotels.
Disney pointed out that the Chamber brings plenty of other family-oriented events, such as antique car shows, bass tournaments and the upcoming debut of the One-O-One Triathlon event. “We need more events like that,” he said.
The three city council members in attendance at the following city council meeting decided to support staff efforts to continue exploring the possibility of hosting BoardStock at Library Park. A public input session is tentatively scheduled for 4:30 p.m. before the next city council meeting on Tuesday, March 20 at city hall.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
