The recent petition asking City Council members for a full service City or disincorporation that was circulated by myself and Bill Shields, residents of the City of Clearlake, was a success in many ways. Let”s explore some of the episodes that have developed from the beginning of the petition.
First of all, certain local politicians and city employees tried to belittle our effort and referred to the petition as a waste of time. Then suddenly we had undercover “citizens” and messengers visiting our signature stations as incognito information gatherers. Some were plain clothed police and others were obvious disrupters to our effort to request signatures of registered voters.
The last group worked behind the telephone and called the corporate offices of Rite-Aid, Safeway and Wal-Mart back east and tried to get our signature stations shut down at local business places.
Then, the Clearlake Police came out into the open and started pushing us off of what they called “public property.” City Hall had begun to take notice, but they couldn”t stop us.
The next notable happening was the hundreds of concerned people from Lower Lake, Hidden Valley, Cobb, Clearlake Oaks, Lucerne, Lakeport and all over the county that had either lived here or had family here; they wanted to sign the petition.
We had to say “no” because the petition states only registered voters of the City of Clearlake. Those county residents said they wanted to see this city cleaned up, the roads repaired and some police activities curtailed.
All of Lake County took notice, but members of the Clearlake City Council were giving us a bad time and trying to discourage the whole idea of a petition that would bring our elected government officials to listen to the citizens.
On September 5, the Clearlake Observer American printed a story about City Hall responding to the petition.
The only elected official who commented was council member Thein and the same old rhetoric about the “pie in the sky” and the greatest administrative staff the city has ever had. Thein was correct about one thing when she talked about a light at the end of a tunnel, thereby confirming many citizens” belief that the city is in a long dark abyss.
The city administrator”s remarks about a tax ballot measure comparing to a bond issue and the sales tax measure being better for the city residents is completely in left field. Who ever heard of a $150 million sales tax measure for a city with a population of 14,000 people?
Right at this time the city administrator isn”t quite sure where his paycheck is going to come from.
His extremely bloated salary is nothing new to Clearlake because the city has been in the red for 20 years. This administrator came to Clearlake for one thing, and that was to double his income ? likewise his retirement ? and in a few years or less, he will be gone.
One of the most amazing remarks quoted by the Observer American article was the new police chief, Allan McClain”s observations about the lack of police patrols being seen throughout the city.
Bear in mind this individual just arrived in Clearlake two months ago and doesn”t even live in the city that pays his excessive salary. I would wager that he can”t identify Clearlake”s streets by memory, so how could he comment, “If the residents are not seeing a patrol car that means they weren”t having a problem in their area.”
For a police chief that can”t tell the difference between a mama and papa motorcycle club and the Hells Angels, I would say his judgment is not the best.
The turn out of citizens that signed the petition was more than adequate to bring attention to our elected officials and city staff. The petition, signatures and agenda request was filed and received by the City Clerk on September 4, 2007.
This matter will be heard at 6 p.m. on September 27, 2007 in the Clearlake Council chambers. Those of you who would like to tell the council members some of your concerns can do so that meeting and not be limited to three minutes.
At this time, I would like to thank Mike Juell and Bill Bennett for their constant work in helping us gather signatures, and my wife Marion, for keeping everything in order. Bill and I also want to express our gratitude to all those citizens who signed the petition and shared their experiences concerning City Hall with us.
Frank Brumfield is a resident of Clearlake.
