LAKEPORT — The Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) Tuesday closed some business matters that had been carried over from multiple meetings.
In addition to voting to move forward with the Bottle Rock Power geothermal energy expansion project, an issue that had been ongoing since Feb. 22, the BOS voted to relocate the Mental Health Department from Lakeport to a new building in Lucerne.
The relocation issue had been carried over from every meeting since Feb. 15. Some citizens were concerned that moving the building to Lucerne would make it harder for people to access the care provided by the department.
Three proposals for buildings were before the BOS, with staff recommending they move forward with a 20-year lease with Bruno & Associates for an office building on 13th Avenue in Lucerne.
The department”s current Lakeport landlord made a new offer at last week”s BOS meeting to “gift” the building to the county following a 15-year lease.
Chief Deputy Administration Officer Matt Perry told the BOS the lease-purchase offer would be less advantageous to the county than taking the offer from Bruno & Associates because it would cost the county approximately $54,000 to $76,000 more each year for the next 15 years than the lease for the Lucerne building.
In addition, Assistant Clerk to the BOS Mireya Turner said the lease-purchase agreement would jeopardize the county”s status of being debt-free because a lease-purchase agreement would be classified by the state as debt.
The county would also have to sell the building at fair-market value in the future, which could cause the county to lose money on the building, Perry said.
During public testimony on the issue, building owner Clifford Ruzicka made another offer to the county, which was $1,068,424 less than Bruno”s offer while still allowing the county to own the building at the end.
County Administrator Kelly Cox told Ruzicka the competitive process had ended and the county couldn”t keep negotiating the matter.
District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing moved to reject the lease-purchase agreement with Ruzicka and accept the lease offer from Bruno & Associates. The BOS voted 3-2 to accept the lease in Lucerne, with Supervisors Jeff Smith and Anthony Farrington in dissent.
In addition to closing those two business matters, the BOS honored county employees and heard three presentations from representatives of Lake County Mediations, Buxton and the Mendocino National Forest supervisor. They also adopted a resolution to keep Lake County within the same U.S. Congressional District, delivered a proclamation and approved some appointments to county positions.
The BOS honored more than 100 employees for their ten or more years of service to the county. BOS Chairman Jim Comstock presented the employees with a certificate of appreciation and varying small tokens of appreciation. Those honored included Supervisors Rob Brown and Farrington, who had both served the county for 10 years.
Representatives of Lake County Mediations presented an organization progress report to the BOS.
The organization brought in many volunteers and went into many communities to raise awareness on mediating small claims and eviction cases. As a result, the organization had seen an increase of cases mediated.
Lisa Hill of Buxton Company, a company that helps businesses better understand their consumers, presented to the county three reports that pulled from market research to help the county better understand its business clients and the needs of local businesses.
Buxton had entered into an agreement with Lake County in 2009 to help the county form a retail development strategy.
Buxton has been utilized by many companies and communities, including FedEx, San Bernardino County and the city of San Jose.
Hill insisted Buxton isn”t “Big Brother” because the information they compile is used to help clients understand their customers and make strategic decisions.
Comstock, who invited Hill to speak to the BOS, said the information Buxton provided the county would be valuable and a great tool to utilize.
Mendocino National Forest Supervisor Tom Contreras presented to the BOS the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service plans and priorities for the 2011 fiscal year.
Contreras said their priorities focused on looking at issues in a larger scope and preventing large forest fires by doing more prevention work such as clearcutting, which is the practice of cutting down and removal of trees in a portion of the forest.
The organization also plans to focus on ecological restoration of the forest, especially in areas affected by wildfires. Contreras said about 2,580 acres of wildlife habitats were improved in the forest last year and approximately 1,138 acres of the forest had been planted with trees.
The Mendocino National Forest spans portions of Lake, Glenn, Mendocino, Tehama, Trinity and Colusa counties.
The BOS approved Richard Hinchcliff as Chief Deputy District Attorney at the request of District Attorney Don Anderson. The BOS also approved the appointment of Olga Martin-Steele as District III Planning Commissioner, and the appointments of Michael Linnell, Robert Malley and Jim Steele to the Sheriff”s Office of Quality Assurance Exploratory Committee.
The BOS presented a proclamation designating March 15 as National Agriculture Day and the week of March 13 to 19 as National Agriculture Week in Lake County. Annette Hopkins and Bonnie Sears, of California Women for Agriculture in Lake County, received the proclamations.
The BOS approved a resolution to keep Lake County within its current U.S. Congressional District. This came about because of the passage of Proposition 20, which delegates the California Citizens Redistricting Commission with establishing new Congressional District boundaries based on 2010 U.S. Census data.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
