LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) Tuesday discussed a new state fire fee.
Californians living in state responsibility areas (SRA) covered by CAL FIRE will be charged a fee of $150 for each habitable structure on their parcel. Residents living in areas served by an organized fire protection district will have that fee reduced by $35. The fee was part of legislation passed in July and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.
BOS Chair Rob Brown brought the issue before the supervisors after Lakeport Fire District (LFD) Chief Ken Wells alerted him. Wells and Lake-Napa-Sonoma CAL FIRE Chief Tim Streblow discussed the fee with the supervisors.
Brown said the SRA covers most of Lake County, including areas within the jurisdictions of local fire districts. Wells said approximately 13,000 homes in the county will have the fee imposed on them.
“The fee goes to the State of California,” Wells said. “It goes into the general fund for the State of California for California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). Local fire agencies will not receive any of this funding.”
Streblow said the intent of the fee is for protection. He said CAL FIRE”s budget has been reduced by $80 million and the governor was looking to offset those reductions. He said the fee is estimated to bring in $100 million, which will go toward nonprofit fire prevention projects. Both Streblow and Wells said the first bills for the fee are expected to be mailed out in July.
District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock said he didn”t see a benefit to the county unless the fee helped fund the local fire districts.
Brown proposed putting a group together to work with local fire safe councils and examine the fee.
Lake County residents can see if they are within the SRA by visiting the State Forestry Board”s website at www.bof.fire.ca.gov/sra_viewer/.
In other matters, the BOS adopted a resolution amending the District Attorney Office”s budget to accommodate unanticipated revenue from federally-seized asset forfeiture funds for the purchase of technological equipment.
DA Don Anderson said the department requested approval to purchase a forensic device for cellphones to extract information during criminal investigations; video conferencing equipment; and surveillance and recording equipment to monitor the DA office”s parking lot and other areas.
Anderson said the need to extract information from cellphones during criminal investigations has increased. Each time the department needs to do so, someone must drive to either Mendocino County or the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force in Napa to retrieve the information. Anderson said the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) has sought to retrieve cellphone information 10 times and the DA”s Office four times this year.
Anderson said the need for surveillance and recording equipment to monitor the parking lot, lobby and three access doors of the DA”s Office resulted from crimes being committed in the parking lot.
Anderson was requesting a total of $20,000 be allocated for the purchases. He said the extraction device costs approximately $10,000 and estimated the other equipment costs would be approximately $5,000 more.
District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing suggested approving an initial $10,000 for the extraction device and approve the other purchases once the equipment costs were known.
Sheriff Frank Rivero said the funds were disputed by his office to make sure money goes to both the DA and LCSO is appropriate.
Anderson said the asset forfeiture funds came to his office legally and he was following the law, so there is no dispute.
Rushing said she had an “increasing level of frustration” with the DA and LCSO not working together.
“You two should resolve this without the Board of Supervisors,” Rushing said, adding she was inclined to vote “no” until the matter was resolved. She said she would not vote to appropriate $20,000 but would if the resolution was modified to $10,000.
The resolution was not modified when offered by District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith. It was passed 4-1, with Rushing in dissent.
The supervisors approved moving forward with suggestions for community development block grant (CDBG) funds.
Matt Perry, chief deputy county administrative officer, said community development block grant funds are for projects that meet three national objectives: The project should serve as a benefit to those with low to moderate incomes, eliminate slums and blight and meet an urgent community need.
Perry said the administrative department had two projects in mind to apply for CDBG funds. One would be to find Lampson Field wastewater disposal alternatives. The second is to construct curbs, gutters, sidewalks and streetlamps along Highway 20 in Clearlake Oaks from Foothill Boulevard to High Valley Road on the north side of the highway, and from Lake Street to Keys Boulevard on the south side. Perry said the second project would supplement existing funding from a Safe Routes to Schools grant.
Perry said administration applied for the Lampson Field project in 2002 but were denied funding. He said the county owns land nearby now. He said the Highway 20 project was first applied for in 2006 and funding was denied. He said the CDBG funding could add to current projects.
Rushing said these were “all worthy projects.” The BOS unanimously approved moving forward with the suggested project applications and solicit public comment on the projects.
The BOS voted unanimously for an intended decision to affirm a ruling by an arbitrator in a personnel matter with an LCSO correctional officer who was terminated.
Before moving into closed session for the matter, Sean Hale, an attorney representing Melissa Wallahan, said Wallahan worked as a correctional officer before she was terminated in 2011.
Hale said a hearing officer found scant evidence for termination and upheld Wallahan”s appeal. Hale asked the supervisors to uphold the hearing officer”s decision and reinstate Wallahan with back pay.
The BOS moved into closed session to hear the specifics of the case. Moving back into open session, the BOS made an intended decision to affirm the appeal and directed county counsel to prepare findings of fact in the matter.
The matter will appear on Tuesday”s agenda for formal action on the findings of fact.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
