LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Board of Supervisors held a lengthy discussion covering the mid-year budget on Tuesday, contributing to a regular meeting that officials said lasted nearly nine hours.
According to Deputy County Administrative Officer Josh Jones, the recommended adjustments in his office’s report found approval from the board, including a resolution to amend the allocation of positions to different departments.
However, when the board considered the combining or separation of the Public Services, Public Works and Water Resources departments, no action was taken — even though it took up the bulk of the total time spent covering the agenda item. The reason for this, Jones said, is that the BOS isn’t certain of the future for those branches.
Several possibilities were considered: merge the departments under one umbrella, separate all three departments or combine two while leaving the other alone.
Since mid-January, District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele has suggested that Public Works and Water Resources — which were merged by the BOS in 2011 — become separate entities once again. He has suggested placing someone with a lake science background as director of the latter. He believes that this would increase efficiency of a Valley Fire-stressed Public Works department and ultimately save money.
“A professional in charge of [Water Resources] doesn’t need a large staff underneath,” Steele said. “That’s the biggest savings.”
Currently, Scott DeLeon leads both departments and has done so since 2011. According the budget review, 75 percent of his salary was paid by Public Works and the other 25 percent was from Water Resources. If the board does decide to split the two, he would be the full-time Public Works Director as
However, DeLeon said he is supportive either way the BOS decides.
Regarding the merging of his department, Interim Public Services Director Kim Clymire said he spoke out in opposition because it would take away from everything his branch covers.
“I think if they move us over to public works, parks and museums wouldn’t get the due diligence they deserve … it wouldn’t be good from an organizational standpoint,” Cylmire said. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Leave us alone.”
By the end of the discussion, a suggestion was made that a committee be established to ultimately find direction. It couldn’t be formed partly because District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington was absent from the meeting.
This issue will be continued at the next meeting on March 1.
