LAKE COUNTY ? The fate of at least one of the county”s surplussed quagga wash stations may change Tuesday.
Los Angeles County is awaiting confirmation from Jeff Rein, Lake County deputy administrative officer, that Lake County intends to sell all four stations for approximately $16,000 apiece, 75 percent of the original cost.
“Normally, surplussed property is something we”ve had a number of years and is no longer in use. In this case, these are new units, and we need to recover some of the money we spent on those that should not have been spent on those, if they”re not going to be used,” Cox said.
The Lakeport City Council decided Tuesday night to ask the board for one of the stations.
Lake County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox put the request and an update regarding the sale of the stations on the board”s Tuesday agenda next week.
Cox said the Board of Supervisors surplussed two stations last fall and amended the resolution to include all four stations Feb. 24. The nearly $80,000 used to purchase the stations came from county general fund money set aside in the Marketing and Economic Development budget for lake-related projects.
Cox said his department took over as the lead department in the sale of the stations after the Public Works Department did not dispose of the original two, but by then the board had added two more.
Councilwoman Suzanne Lyons said she recently decided to pursue keeping a station for use in Lakeport after talking to a state Department of Fish and Game biologist during a recent quagga mussel inspection training session.
“He told me for any program to be effective you really needed to have a decontamination station, and he said if you had only one, it should be located in Lakeport,” Lyons told the council.
The wash stations are designed to spray a water vessel with 140-degree water in order to kill any mussels or larvae. The non-native, freshwater quagga and zebra mussels reproduce quickly, changing the ecosystems of infested lakes and clogging water intake pipes and boat motors.
Lyons told the council water users in the Great Lakes area spent $149 million in five years, “just trying to keep these things at bay ? you won”t get rid of them, they won”t go away, there is no cure.”
Lyons continued, “It would be nice if everybody who should step up stepped up and did what they should, but ? from a self-interest standpoint, we”ve got to do the best that we can do, and I think it certainly wouldn”t hurt us to ask for time, and hope that maybe other people come to their senses.”
Lyons said not enough effort had been made to help businesses incorporate quagga mussel decontamination into their operations. Councilman Roy Parmentier wasn”t as diplomatic.
“I think the county did right when they bought them in good faith, but let”s quit beating around the bush. The person up there that”s running this program doesn”t have a damn clue what”s going on,” Parmentier said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
