A petition recommending the Clearlake City Council consider a ballot measure to return the city to the jurisdiction of the County of Lake is being circulated throughout the community. Circulation of the petition begins today and representatives of the effort will be in the community collecting signatures.
Petition representatives will be near the Clearlake Post Office on Olympic Drive; and the Clearlake Park Post Office on Lakeshore Drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, Wednesday, July 25.
The effort is being spearheaded by Clearlake residents Frank Brumfield and Bill Shields. Both Brumfield and Shields are consistently vocal in local politics; the Clear Lake Observer?American often publishes letters to the editor submitted by Brumfield, in which he expresses his concerns regarding the state of the city, while Shields” is a voice familiar at city council meetings.
“We have tried for several years but you can”t even get the council to discuss the infrastructure needs here in the City of Clearlake,” Brumfield and Shields said in agreement. “We have gone backward. We have regressed. It”s time to go back to county jurisdiction because if you look around you can see that the county has moved ahead and we have regressed.”
Organizers cite five main arguments for dissolving the incorporation of the City of Clearlake:
? “City Payroll and benefits takes all the money and leaves nothing for the roads, and needed infrastructure.”
? “City Pay scales are as much as 25 percent higher than Lake County employees, yet the County of Lake is responsible for five times more citizens than the City of Clearlake.”
? “The City Council refuses to have open dialogue with the citizens concerning a city wide bond issue to build streets, storm drains and infrastructure.”
? “The police department budget takes 65 percent of the money, but you never see a patrol car in over half of Clearlake.”
? “The County of Lake already provides sewers, sewage disposal, landfill (dumps), fire protection, paramedics and a public library.”
The primary concern expressed by organizers is the amount of money the city pays in salaries, which they say leaves nothing for roads and infrastructure needs. In a correspondence to Mr. Brumfield, dated Feb. 20, 2007 from Clearlake City Director of Finance Michael Vivrette via City Clerk Melissa Swanson, it states: “We had 63 employees as of the last payroll report including council. Payroll based on budget is $4.94 million for this fiscal year including payroll of $2.64 million, benefits of $980K, and payroll costs of $776.5K. Actual payroll for calendar 2006 was $2.71 million which included payouts of three 30-year employees.”
According to Vivrette, the total budget for this fiscal year is $8,371,343. “Payroll is always your biggest part of the budget because the city provides services.” Vivrette continued, “Over half of the personnel costs are in the police department ? approximately 65 percent ? of which Measure P picks up about 26 percent.”
Organizers also say there is a lack of public services in the City of Clearlake. “The code enforcement in this town literally doesn”t exist and the people that are working in the department don”t do their jobs,” said Brumfield. “Clearlake is nothing but junk cars everywhere and they seem to be multiplying.”
With dissolving the incorporation of the city, organizers propose the following public services be provided as follows:
? Fire protection ? present provider being Lake County Fire Protection District and proposed provider the same;
? Police protection ? present provider being the City of Clearlake and proposed provider being the Lake County Sheriff”s Office;
? Domestic water service ? private water companies being present provider and proposed provider being Lake County Special Districts;
? Agricultural water service and sewer service ? present provider being Lake County Special Districts and proposed provider the same;
? Solid waste ? present provider being Lake County Waste Management and proposed provider the same;
? Road/street maintenance ? present provider being the City of Clearlake and proposed provider Lake County Public Works;
? Snow removal ? no present provider and proposed provider Lake County Public Works;
? Power and street lighting ? present provider Pacific Gas and Electric Company and proposed provider the same;
? Planning and zoning authority ? present provider being the City of Clearlake and proposed provider Lake County Community Development Department;
? Schools ? present provider and proposed provider being Konocti Unified School District;
? Animal control ? present provider and proposed provider being Lake County Animal Care and Control; and
? Weed abatement ? no present provider and proposed provider being the County of Lake.
Organizers plan to continue the effort until they meet their goal of 2,000 signatures or more. They anticipate requesting an agendized discussion among the city council possibly by September.
The petition being circulated reads as follows: “THIS PETITION MAY BE CIRCULATED BY A PAID SIGNATURE GATHERER OR A VOLUNTEER. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK.
“We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Clearlake, situated in Lake County, California, hereby petition the Clearlake City Council to provide its citizens with a full service city, as proposed in its incorporation in 1980.
“If the City Council cannot provide its citizens with the proper services as listed in the LAFCO application form for incorporation, then we the undersigned request that the City Council proceed to disincorporate the City of Clearlake and return to the County of Lake Government as a full service district.”
For more information concerning the effort, contact Frank Brumfield at 994-3016; or Bill Shields at 994-0811.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
