CLEARLAKE >> In its first meeting of the new year, the Lake Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) set to work on fresh business with an overview of the upcoming process to renew the city of Clearlake’s municipal service review.
A draft of the municipal service review (MSP), which will ultimately provide an outline and evaluation of the city’s services, was presented to the commissioners by LAFCo Executive Director John Benoit on Wednesday.
Research for the draft was conducted between spring of 2012 through the fall of 2013, but gaps remain in the information. Most significantly, the review awaits the city’s adoption of its updated general plan. City Manager Joan Phillipe said the city council was expecting a final draft of the plan in April or May.
In the meantime, the next step is for the commission and interested parties to provide their comments to Benoit on the MSR draft before the end of February, while the next meeting concerning the city’s MSR is scheduled for May 20 at Clearlake City Hall.
The city’s sphere of influence, which geographically defines an agency’s service area, will also need to be completed by the commission. Benoit’s tentative recommendation for the commission Wednesday morning was for the sphere of influence to be the same as the city’s boundaries, though other options are available.
During the meeting, questions from the public arose concerning the city’s future debt service to its loan agreement for the former Redevelopment Agency. Concern was expressed over the fact that the MSR shows the city’s debt service increase from a steady annual $850,000 to more than $1 million after 2019. Benoit said more investigation into the loan agreement was necessary to determine the reasoning for the hike and the city’s ability to make the increased payments.
Asked later what he felt the most important topics of discussion would be in Clearlake’s MSR process, Benoit said the city’s environmental, flooding and road issues would probably be hot topics.
The fact that the city’s water, sewer and fire protection services are not provided by the city will also be of interest and was briefly touched upon in Wednesday’s meeting.
“It will affect the city if for some reason we find they’re not being adequately provided,” Benoit explained. “However, I don’t have any indication they aren’t being adequately provided at this time.”
While the county’s Watershed Protection District MSR took two years to complete, Benoit remains optimistic about the Clearlake MSR timeline and projects it could be finalized in the summer.
“These things (MSRs) have been taking a lot longer than normal,” he added.
In other LAFCo news, although not present, District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington will be replacing former supervisor Denise Rushing on the commission. Joyce Overton will also replace Denise Loustalot.
While the MSR for the Watershed Protection District was finalized in December, the district’s sphere of influence is still on LAFCo’s to-do list. Currently, the district’s sphere is the same as the county’s boundaries. However, the county’s line also includes federal lands that the district does not have jurisdiction over, which complicates the decision. The area covers different three watersheds.
“The options for the Watershed Protection District’s SOI are many,” Benoit said.
The commission is ultimately responsible for defining the district’s sphere of influence (SOI).
Benoit also reminded attendees of the meeting that the public member recruitment for the commission is up and coming as Ed Robey’s term is ending.
At LAFCo’s next meeting, to be held March 18 at 9:30 a.m. at the Lakeport City Hall, the county’s five fire districts will collectively be discussed as the commission prepares another MSR for those services. The fire district’s provision of emergency medial services is likely to be a primary topic of the meeting.
