CLEARLAKE — The Lake County Community Action Agency (LCCAA) continued to make difficult decisions Thursday at a Board of Directors meeting during a financial crisis that finds the agency in debt more than $340,000.
LCCAA President Tom Jordan began the meeting by reading a statement informing those assembled any financial decisions the board made were based upon information provided to them by the chief financial officer, whom he did not name. “All decisions were made in good-faith based upon that information.
Clearly, we have now discovered that some of that information was not correct,” Jordan said. “If it had been known at the time, the decisions that I think this board made would have not been made.”
The board voted unanimously to voluntarily terminate current Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) contracts with the state Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) and relinquish its eligible entity status in an effort to establish a new community action agency quickly. The agency chose to do this rather than have the CSD investigate and make an independent decision on what to do with the agency to speed up the re-establishment of the agency to better service the residents of Lake County. The agency had previously received a letter on March 21 from the CSD proposing to terminate the agency”s status as Lake County”s official community action agency unless a plan can be presented within 14 days on how the agency intends to become operational on a limited basis by May 1. Jordan prepared a letter for Denise Arend, CSD”s acting chief deputy director, informing them of their decision.
The agency has been in the process of finding a buyer for a property used as transitional housing in Clearlake. Local realtor Sharon Bassham reported to the board they received three offers and are in the process of closing on one of the offers. The offer they are considering moving forward with is not a cash-only transaction like the other two, but would pay between $4,000 to $5,000 more than the cash-only offers. The board voted to extend a closing date on the property from April 7 to April 22.
The agency also discussed the selling of a passenger van and a cargo van. The passenger van was on loan. Jordan said he made a payment of $287 out of his own pocket in order to prevent the car from being seized because payment on the van had not been made in three months. The agency has 30 days to decide what to do with the passenger van. The agency intends to keep the cargo van for a while in case they need to use it to move items.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
