CLEARLAKE >> The recent report giving Clearlake a poor ranking for financial stability spurred debate on what holds the city back and what can boost its prosperity.
While some officials say the findings aren’t representative of the positive direction the city has been heading in, others believe the results are indicative of a long-made assertion: Clearlake never should have become a city in the first place.
Conducted by the California Policy Center, the study sought to rank 490 California cities and counties with respect to their risk for bankruptcy. At number one, Compton was found to hold a default probability of 4 percent. But just a few dozen jurisdictions behind it came Clearlake at number 38.
Despite leaving a margin for error, Lake County and Lakeport found much cozier spots on the list at 361 and 366, respectively. And a glance through the cities’ audits support at least a noteworthy difference in financial ability.
While Lakeport’s government serves a quaint 4,750 residents in a 2.4 square-mile sphere of influence, Clearlake is burdened with more than 10 miles of responsibility and serves 14,985 people. However, at $32.5 million, Clearlake’s net position in 2013 was just slightly ahead of Lakeport’s $25 million.
But that amount is spread thin by the fact that with high crime rates, Clearlake has to direct well over half of its total budget at its police department.
A few elected officials point to various roadblocks that have obstructed Clearlake’s progress. Yet their indirect knowledge of the city’s past limits their ability to take an overview. They prefer to discuss the good path the jurisdiction has moved toward in the last few years.
Certainly, the latest recession was of no help. Property values plummeted and with a short budget, the city eliminated some key positions that would later hurt its situation even more; following the economic downturn, the city’s code enforcement and planning departments were dissolved.
The city has been able to start phasing those positions back in over the last three years, City Manager Joan Phillipe said.
“I’m not sure it’s prudent to eliminate every position in a department,” she said when asked to reflect on her predecessors’ choices.
High turnover rates in other positions, such as the city’s finance director, were also a setback, Phillipe said.
Another blow to the city’s infrastructure came soon after the economy soured with the end of state redevelopment funding in 2011. According to City Council Member Joyce Overton, properties owned by the city’s redevelopment committee were frozen, halting capitol improvements to those assets for a few years.
The old airport property was one of those and the dream of building up a shopping center on the land was cited by Overton, Phillipe and newly-elected City Council Member Bruno Sabatier as a major key to unlocking Clearlake’s future financial virility. The three also conclude that Clearlake is already well on its way to betterment and the policy center’s findings may not be so daunting in the light of progress.
“I think if that stress test was done five or 10 years ago, the situation would have been worse,” Sabatier said. “Our budget situation has been somewhat settled, it’s well organized and better understood now.”
The first revision of the city’s general plan is nearly complete and is an important step as it lays out the proper platform for moving forward, Sabatier said.
“I don’t think the report is really representative,” Phillipe said. “It doesn’t take into account what the city has been doing to improve its situation. The city of Clearlake has had some fiscal challenges; there’s no question of that. However, we’ve been making great strides in identifying why that is and making educated decisions to move forward.”
Phillipe also cited the general plan updates, as well as the updating of the city’s zoning ordinance, as indicators that the city was setting a good course for itself.
However, when laying blame for Clearlake’s current issues, none so squarely place it on the past as former city council member and mayor Jeri Spittler.
According to Spittler, Clearlake’s incorporation in 1980 “was the dirtiest thing that ever happened here.”
At that time, the issues from years of subdividing agriculturally zoned land in the area were becoming apparent, Spittler said. To this day, about 27 miles of the city’s roads are “privately” owned, though the developers who owned them are long gone.
She claims the county’s promises to residents that with their own city, the area’s roads could be fixed and a better police department could be funded, were disingenuous.
Instead, incorporation “was an easy solution for the county to disconnect from Clearlake,” and that disconnect is still being felt amongst residents who continue to suffer under the same problems with dismal roads and overwhelming crime rates, she added. Unfortunately, the fiscal analysis supposedly done in consideration of the city’s incorporation is no where to be found. Neither the state, county, city or Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) hold a copy.
“This city is not sustainable and it never has been,” Spittler said. “You’re looking at 30 years of government neglect.”
When asked whether the city should have been incorporated in 1980, Phillipe, Sabatier and Overton declined to provide much analysis on the past.
“It’s hard to know what the thought process was back then because we’re unable to review the fiscal analysis,” Phillipe said. “But I have to believe LAFCo did its due diligence in 1980.”
“I think the feasibility was fine and otherwise we wouldn’t be here,” Overton said.
According to Record-Bee archives, the question of the city’s financial feasibility was highly debated and the measure to incorporate passed by just 42 votes out of a total of 3,448 ballots cast.
Asked about the city’s ability to overcome its downfalls and Phillipe, Sabatier, Overton and Spittler are eager to express their faith in the city’s future, although they may have different ideas about how to get there.
Overton believes the Way to Wellville initiative, the Hero Project and the hub that the future shopping center will provide are central to the solution.
Sabatier also looks to development projects, like building a boardwalk, to revitalize the city.
Spittler’s path to progress is a little different. Instead of another shopping mall, (which couldn’t be supported by the entire county much less Clearlake, she said), she believes the city could make some progress if it started soliciting for some light industry to set up on the property. At least 1,000 jobs starting at $15 would be an incredible boost, she said.
Secondly, she believes transitional housing is desperately needed to set the residents free from the revolving doors of the jail. And finally, development of the city’s parks could give her past constituents the healthy environment they need.
Regardless of the policy center’s rankings, some time to recover from the recession appears to be allowing Clearlake the opportunity to turn a new corner on its path.
