LAKEPORT — The City Council approved a loan agreement between the general fund and the water operations and maintenance fund for the recent purchase of property with two groundwater wells Tuesday evening.
The city previously leased the property, known as the Green Ranch, but agreed to buy the land for $700,000 to secure the water source, Finance Director Dan Buffalo said. General fund money paid for the acquisition.
“You are aware by now, probably painfully aware, of the condition of the water enterprise, especially on the operations side. It did not have the cash or the resources available to purchase that property, but the opportunity was there. It was a significant benefit to the city to do so,” Buffalo said at City Hall.
Escrow closed in July and title was transferred to the city. The loan terms allow for a three-year repayment window with 2 percent interest compounded monthly, Buffalo said.
The acquisition was among the projects listed in the city”s application for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development financing. “If the USDA loan is funded, (the Green Ranch purchase money) will be paid back immediately to the general fund,” Buffalo said.
“But we built in a three-year window in case for some unforeseen circumstance, the unlikelihood that we can”t get the USDA loan, we”ll have at least an opportunity to look elsewhere for that funding,” he added.
The council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the loan between the two funds and establishing the repayment terms.
In other business, the council directed staff to submit a cooperative work agreement (CWA) extension request to Caltrans for the preliminary engineering phase of the Lakeshore Boulevard Emergency Repair project.
The nearly $48,000 funding for the phase lapses June 30 if not fully invoiced or if the deadline date were not extended, City Engineer Scott Harter said.
“Currently, we are in contract negotiation with a biologist to do the biological studies to get the environmental work done. But there are some studies that can”t take place until next spring and then the engineering design will have to occur after that,” he added.
The extension request, if approved, would likely push the funding expiration date to June 30, 2014, Harter said.
The betterment project would install about 550 feet of steel sheet pile along Lakeshore Boulevard running south from about Jones Street to improve existing shore protection, according to Harter.
Police Chief Brad Rasmussen recognized Officer Gary Basor, who was named police officer of the year by the Lakeport Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2015 on Oct. 8.
Basor started with the Lakeport Police Department in May 2011 after working about 14 years with the Lake County Sheriff”s Office.
“Immediately upon coming to work for the city of Lakeport, Gary became a committed team player and shared his experience, which benefited our department and our other staff greatly,” Rasmussen said.
Basor was unable to attend the council meeting.
The council voted to reschedule its second meeting next month for Nov. 27 because the original date, Nov. 20, fell during a furlough week for city staff.
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.
