LAKEPORT >> Thanks to the absence of a few Lake County officials, the two most controversial agenda items for Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting were once again delayed.
The first issue, which considers the separation of water resources and public works departments, was quickly delayed to District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock’s absence and didn’t warrant further discussion.
Meanwhile, the second continuance wasn’t dispatched so easily. Continuing the discussion on the details of the debt obligation deal between the county and District 4 Supervisorial candidate Martin Scheel for the abatement of his sunken crane nearly five years ago — opened on June 14 — stirred quite a bit of debate.
Since Scheel couldn’t find a loan in time to pay the $55,906.07 owed in one lump sum, the majority of the board members still supported charging him a fair interest rate for the ten-year repayment. District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele suggested 2.5 percent, but the actual rate would have to be solidified by the then-absent tax collector Barbara Ringen at next week’s meeting.
“There’s penalties applied on other things where you owe money,” District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith said, adding that the payments should be made monthly instead of the original proposal of twice a year.
The only defector from consensus was District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington, who has notably lambasted the Lakeport City Councilman throughout his supervisor campaign for this and other previous mistakes.
He thought that the interest rate along with the promissory note wasn’t good enough and further suggested that the county garnish his wages, pursue judicial action or, because Scheel doesn’t have any liquefiable assets, assess a lien against those owned by his wife.
“There’s isn’t real property at stake. I don’t know if it is apples and apples in saying that this is consistent with the spirit of the abatement process,” Farrington said, addressing Scott DeLeon’s comments about the model for the original deal (no interest; property liens). “The promissory note is a disservice to the public.”
Scheel — absent from the meeting due to a personal matter — felt these comments amounted another political attack to hurt his campaign for the incumbent’s seat. He qualified for a runoff against Tina Scott to replace Farrington.
“It’s obvious that Supervisor Farrington uses this as political football to support his candidate and to smear me,” Scheel said.
Farrington denied the claim, calling it “totally inaccurate.”
“My position is that Mr. Scheel should be treated as any individual and make payment as any other debtor,” he replied. “There’s no political attack, this is an exception made for an individual and he happens to be a candidate… it’s not personal. It’s not political. It’s reality.”
Regardless of intention, the incumbent did not find total agreement for his ideas — especially the judicial action.
Because the abatement of the crane occurred back in 2011, District 5 Supervisor and BOS Chair Rob Brown argued that the statute of limitations was exceeded. According to County Counsel Anita Grant, it would be defined as three years.
That argument was immediately countered by Farrington, the Lakeport-area supervisor and lawyer. Due to the circumstances, he explained that statute hasn’t expired and has, in fact, just begun.
“There’s plenty of dialogue that Mr. Scheel’s never received a bill,” Farrington added.
Whatever is decided — legal action, interest rates, etc. — it will have to wait until July 19.
When asked via phone about the meeting, Scheel said he’s “at the mercy of the board.”
“If they want a monthly payment then that’s okay,” he said. “I’m still looking for a solution with [them].”
