LAKEPORT — With the end of summer approaching, the Lake County supervisors approved a recommendation Tuesday to shift money from a contract to address nuisance algae on Clear Lake to a contract for weed abatement.
“Moving that money would still allow us to do a robust algae harvesting effort on the south end of the lake and would allow us to clean up the weed problems that we”re seeing here at the west end of the lake,” Water Resources Director Scott De Leon told the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS).
The discussion took place late in the afternoon at the Lake County Courthouse, toward the end of a BOS meeting that lasted more than six hours.
The supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday morning to take up the contract amendments as an extra item later in the day.
De Leon suggested taking $125,000 from the $275,000 algae contract with Aquatic Environments, Inc. and moving it to the existing contract for weed abatement with the same company.
The added funds would cover the costs for weed work Aquatic Environments did beyond the scope of the original $152,125 contract and would allow the company to complete more efforts near Library Park, according to De Leon.
Algae efforts could continue for several weeks, as approximately $50,000 was spent on algae harvesting and disposal as of Tuesday, he added.
“With some improvement and efficiency, I think we could see algae harvesting last another three to five weeks at that funding level,” De Leon said.
In other business, the BOS tasked the county”s Space Committee with identifying options for setting up a Lake County Sheriff”s Office substation in Clearlake Oaks. District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith will replace BOS Chair Rob Brown on the committee for those discussions.
Matt Perry, interim county administrative officer, gave an update on the county”s temporary fee waiver program, which the BOS approved in December allowing project applicants to have certain planning fees waived, and water and sewer expansion fees deferred.
County staff granted waivers for six projects to date, Perry said.
The BOS heard the annual report of the Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee and approved a revised set of bylaws for the committee.
Earlier, Brown presented a proclamation designating August as Breastfeeding Awareness Month.
District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing read aloud a decree declaring August as Child Support Awareness Month.
Brown also presented proclamations commending three longtime county law enforcement officials: Hart Gall, Chris Rivera and Mike Curran.
During citizen”s input Tuesday morning, two CAL FIRE officials shared an update about the wildfires burning in eastern Lake County.
The BOS will consider a proposed resolution next week declaring a local emergency because of the fires.
Jeremy Walsh is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 263-5636, ext. 37 or jwalsh@record-bee.com. Follow him on Twitter, @JeremyDWalsh.
