LAKE COUNTY >> Being in and around Lake County since 1950, Philip Reimers has seen the region go through many changes. But he doesn’t care for some of what he’s observed — especially the declining vitality of Clear Lake and its related tourism industry.
“People have forgotten what this area used to look like. This should be a tourism-based economy and it should be thriving,” Reimers (pronounced Ree-murs) said. “The reason tourism is what it is now, is I believe, the condition of the Lake. It’s gotten worse over time and it’s going to get worse.”
As a District 5 Supervisorial candidate, he is focusing his campaign on the Lake’s clean up, which he said will bring visitors back to the county, creating jobs and improving the economy throughout.
The retired contractor’s vision, though, will not come through traditional means of using taxpayer money.
Instead, if elected he plans to contract the private sector to stop the spread of toxic algae blooms and convince businesses/non-profits to fund the projects.
“We’ll never fix that lake with tax dollars…we’ve been trying for years,” he said. “So we’re gonna go to the public corporations and organizations that give more than $40 billion a year and we are going to ask them for help. That’s only way it’s going to be fixed.”
When asked how he will convince these companies and organizations to contribute, Reimers said that he will compile a list of potential donors and immediately begin communication upon taking office.
One of those companies is Cleanflo, a total water management company that offers environmental quality services. According to its website it has used its technologies to cleanup more than 40 lakes across the United States since 1970, including those suffering from toxic algae blooms like the ones that have plagued Clear Lake during the recent drought years.
“We are not looking at a 5 or ten year plan where we have to take measurements to convince people that there have been improvements, “ he added. “You would be able to see it one year’s time and two years’ time you’ll have a pristine body of water.”
The fixes, he believed, will bring the tourists back to the county who have stayed away due to the Lake’s reputation. Additionally, this will create jobs and help improve Kelseyville’s agriculture-based economy.
“It’s either going to be tourism or it’s going to be the status quo,” he said.
Other Issues
Reimers said we wants to be an advocate for Valley Fire survivors — like his constituents on Cobb Mountain — and to help streamline the process because the county currently has a “disconnect” with them that is “slowing building down.”
“I’ve heard horror stories of people making four, five, six trips to get simple questions asked,” he said. “If I was elected and a person was going through problems, I’ll walk through it with them.”
He also has ideas about Anderson Springs and its sewer issues.
Despite the state law prohibiting septic systems close to bodies of water, the retired contractor claimed that the county could ask for an exemption for the community’s residents. It would work like this: septic systems would be initially installed and then be connected to the new sewer system.
Doing so, would prevent survivors from waiting and thus choosing other places to live.
“That sewer is probably not going to be there for three years,” he said. “By then people are going ‘to say to hell with it and I’m going elsewhere.’”
However, these septic systems bring up contamination concerns and prior studies have found that they cause pollution in the Putah Creek Watershed that leads to Lake Barryessa.
Reimers said that the new systems would work and if there is contamination, it wouldn’t be impactful.
“The water that will filter into the creek after its leached through the ground will be no more contaminant than the 10,000 animals upstream that are using the same creek for everything that they do,” he said, adding that the soil would also help filter the water. “Believe it or not, the Earth is an amazing filter.”
Other issues include: prevention of wasteful spending by the government and the local schools.
Reimers will go up against current supervisor and chair Rob Brown, an incumbent for four terms and more than ten years of experience as a county leader; the businessman said he has none but has interacted with government constantly in his career. In fact, he said his last election was for class president of his junior high school.
“I have no government experience, but I’ve watched government for 66 years and I believe understand how it’s supposed to work,” he added. “If I’m there I would be working for the people of Lake County, that’s who’d I answer to.”
