LAKE COUNTY — Incumbent Anthony Farrington is running unopposed in the June 3 Primary Election for Dist. 4 County Supervisor. He will be sworn in along with the winners of the Dist. 1 and Dist. 5 County Supervisor races in January.
Farrington outlined his priorities for his upcoming third term, including water rights, water and sewer systems, roads, combating methamphetamine abuse and organizing the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program in Lake County.
“We are moving forward with continuing to negotiate for water rights,” Farrington said.
He spoke to Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District General Manager Tim O”Halloran last week to set up a meeting. Farrington and Supervisor Ed Robey are Lake County”s representatives in ongoing water rights negotiations with the Yolo district, which currently has the right to use approximately 314,000 acre feet of Clear Lake annually.
The Lake and Yolo water districts were at a standstill after the Lake County Board of Supervisors approved an amendment in May 2007 to an agreement with Yolo. Currently, the agreement allows the Lake district to inject 7,950 acre feet of Clear Lake water into the pipeline that carries Lake County”s sewer water to the Geysers. The amendment would allow Lake County to use that water for drinking and other beneficial uses.
Among other infrastructure projects, Farrington said upgrading the North Lakeport water treatment facility is a priority.
“We”re looking at having no more hookups for that system until it”s upgraded, and my focus will be on having new development pay for that upgrade,” Farrington said.
The upgrade entails adding a new filtration module that will allow between 700 and 800 new single-family dwelling units to hook up to the water system. Farrington estimated that the project will cost $500,000, and said he is talking with three developers in North Lakeport area to fund the upgrade.
Farrington said he also hopes to launch the Lake County Meth Project, a county-specific version of the Montana Meth Project, a statewide ad campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of methamphetamine abuse.
He is helping organize a Lake County CASA program, which he said is at a standstill as it faces state budget cuts for developing new CASA programs. Farrington said he is considering partnering with Sonoma County CASA until the state can adequately fund the program in Lake County.
“To keep the quagga and zebra mussels out of our waters, I”m pushing for perimeter choke points. The only way to be successful in that is to screen at our county boarders. If we had the political will on the board to make that happen, we could make the cuts in certain areas,” Farrington said.
Discussions around setting up screening stations at the county”s four road access points was met with skepticism from the supervisors at previous board meetings, with the primary concern being how to pay staff to man the stations.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
