Recently the Lake County Chamber of Commerce sent questionnaires to each candidate for the Board of Supervisors for Districts 1, 4 and 5. Each candidate received the same set of questions. There were no limits placed upon their responses in terms of length. In the two weeks remaining until June 7, the Record-Bee will provide a sample of those responses.
Note: Tina Scott, Martin Scheel, Ron Rose (District 4), Rob Brown and John Stoddard (District 5) did not respond to the chamber questionnaire.
What steps should the county take to aid reconstruction in areas damaged by the fires of 2015?
District 1 Candidates
Voris Brumfield
The county has benefited from a number of volunteer programs to provide assistance for persons with limited means for rebuilding. County staff has begun modification in the permitting process to more quickly allow the rebuilding of homes. The potential for contracting for plan check may speed up the process and/or enlisting additional building inspectors must be considered. But what will be most important is the upgrading of water and waste water systems for most of the Cobb Mountain area if we want full build-out to occur.
Working cooperatively with Foresters for the replanting of the public lands is also important.
Monica Rosenthal
First and foremost, the county should streamline the rebuilding and permitting process working toward a “one stop” shop. The county should continue to actively and diligently pursue grant money to assist with the infrastructure reconstruction in the areas of Cobb and Anderson Springs.
The county can also assist with tree removal, road repair and provide help with specific unexpected fire recovery needs such as fill material and septic site repair. Additionally, the county should continue to facilitate communication to the public through emails, department e-news notices, posted flyers and hold town hall meetings periodically.
The Board of Supervisors should continue to stay engaged with the communities of Cobb and South Lake County and they should each tour the devastated areas of the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley Fires to stay up to date on the recovery progress.
The supervisors should also keep the line of communication open with our federal and state representatives and keep an eye on possible lagging financial impacts to the business community and to the County of Lake in the aftermath of the fires.
Jim Ryan
The county should make the inspection and permitting as streamline as possible. Allowing folks to rebuild in a timely fashion. I believe updating our county website on a regular basis, making the process easily understood for all, and include an estimated timeline to move through the inspection and permitting process.
Jose “Moke” Simon III
Our area has received an enormous amount of county, state and federal support in the form of grants, low-interest loans, and insurance payments to local businesses and residents or renters affected by the fires — but much of that assistance has gone toward recovery efforts and short-term, temporary housing solutions.
County government, however, has its own overall financial limitations. More must be done with our federal and state representatives to keep them focused on Lake County’s immediate and long-term housing needs, environmental damage caused by the fires, installation of sewer lines, and bringing displaced residents back home.
I believe that the private sector continues to play a critical role. We need its dynamism and innovation to create housing options and solutions that fit Lake County’s needs and demographic profiles. Foundations and groups like Hope City, Habitat for Humanity can make unique contributions to an area as ravaged as ours was.
District 4, 5 Candidates
Ted Mandrones
I would look to ease building ordinances for these homeowners; an example of that is the current ordinance restricts building sizes to 720 feet or greater, some homes destroyed in the fires had less square footage so by having to comply with current code, homeowners might not be able to afford to rebuild to current codes and they lose the possibility of rebuilding. People should not be penalized because they lost their homes in last year’s fires
Phil Murphy
The county needs to think outside the box more often when it comes to rebuilding the fire damaged communities, like more willingness to use engineered septic systems, and reducing the minimum square footage of homes so more low income people can afford to build and maintain homes.
We need to develop a fire safety program that is credible, today the county is no better prepared for a major fire than it was last year, and that needs to change. The fire sirens need to be fixed and tested, mass evacuation drills need to be practiced in places like the Riviera to find problems and train residents, mowing should be banned whenever temps are above 90 degrees/after noon/or when winds are above 5 mph on hot days (two or three of our major fires were started by mowing last year). We also need to do more defensible space enforcement, people need to keep roofs clear of leaves and pine needles and wood piles need to be moved away from homes.
Philip Reimers
The first step should be to remind county employees that giving out inaccurate information, making appointments and then not showing up, being short and curt with victims who are owners of the County is disrespectful and victimizing them one more time. Only county officials and those not affected believe recovery is going well. And it is nonsense as suggested by some that the process has been streamlined as much as it is going to be.
