CLEARLAKE — Mayor Jeri Spittler said Friday she”s not exactly sure why the City Council turned on her at Thursday”s meeting, but she did question comments made by council members that she was “hard to work with” and that she was being “disrespectful” to the rest of the council.
“It seems to me that if you don”t agree with their opinions, then maybe that”s what they mean by ”hard to work with” or ”disrespectful,”” Spittler said the morning after the council moved to discuss her possible demotion at its next meeting on Aug. 22.
“Councils disagree sometimes — that”s what they do. I”m not going to agree with them on everything,” Spittler said.
Earlier in the meeting, Spittler cast the dissenting vote on a sales tax measure that was approved, 4-1, and sent on to the November ballot.
The mayor argued that the cost to put the measure before the voters ($28,000) was “a gamble we can”t afford” and that putting the measure before the city”s voters again one year after they rejected it “doesn”t feel comfortable for me.”
The mayor, in her third year of a four-year term, said she won”t campaign on behalf of the 1-percent sales tax increase, even though some would argue that the $28,000 cost to put it on the ballot is now a moot point.
“It”s not just the cost. I don”t think the pavement management plan numbers are specific enough,” she said, referring to a city report that outlines funding projections and where the money would be spent.
According to the city”s projections, the measure, if passed, would generate about $1.4 million a year, with 75 percent of the funds going to road maintenance and improvement, and 25 percent going to code enforcement.
According to a Facebook posting early Friday by Councilmember Joey Luiz, Spittler will be asked to step down as mayor at the next meeting.
There was speculation that Vice Mayor Denise Loustalot would then assume Spittler”s role, with the mayor dropping into Loustalot”s “councilmember” position. But Loustalot, in her first year on the council, said if Spittler is demoted, that wouldn”t necessarily mean she”d become the new mayor.
“From what I understand, the council would vote (to fill the position),” Loustalot said. “Being vice mayor doesn”t mean that I”d become mayor.”
Luiz or council member Joyce Overton, who formerly served as Clearlake”s mayor, would be likelier replacements, according to council members.
Loustalot said she and the three other members of the council were basically “in agreement that we discuss (the issue) at the next meeting. From my perspective, I think it has been an environment that”s been hard to work in.”
Spittler said she was shocked when council members criticized her during Thursday”s closing comments, which followed more discussion on the long-debated marijuana ordinance — another issue over which e the mayor has had disagreements with her colleagues.
The criticism came after a good portion of the approximately 50 attendees — one of the biggest council turnouts of the year — had left the building or were headed in that direction.
Spittler said there”s been growing friction between her and the rest of the council since she addressed the county”s Board of Supervisors in early June, raising questions about the 1980 incorporation of the City of Clearlake and the county”s role in the process “and how (Clearlake) ended up as a hot potato.”
Spittler ended up apologizing to the council. “If I was out of line or if I offended anyone — that wasn”t my intention,” she explained at the June 13 council meeting. “But I think it”s important to be able to discuss the issue. We inherited (the city”s problems) from the county. We”ve never had enough money to fix the problems,” she told the council.
On the same night, council members who had previously indicated support for some key parts of the marijuana ordinance that Spittler was pushing for reversed their position, which ultimately put the medical pot ordinance on hold for nearly two months.
After more discussion Thursday, the proposed ordinance was pushed back again for some re-wording and clarifications. The council will have to take it up again, perhaps at its next meeting.
Rich Mellott is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 14 or rmellott@record-bee.com.
