LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Board of Supervisors approved the probation department’s proposal to change the location of its juvenile probation camp program to Sonoma County.
Discussion on the issue was minimal as only District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington asked presenter and chief probation officer Rob Howe questions. For the most part the inquires concerned the specific details of the program and the annual budget allocation.
In response, Howe explained that the department sets aside around $39,600 annually to pay the Bar-O Boys Ranch in Del Norte County. The place charges the county $109 a day even when it doesn’t have a juvenile placed there.
Yet he claimed the department hasn’t had long vacant streaks nor has it gone over budget in his five-year tenure.
“It’s not uncommon for our county to have someone at a place like this,” Howe said. “We must’ve had one time in the past three or four fiscal years where we went four months without someone placed.”
The proposal was approved unanimously, 5-0. According to Howe, one juvenile is already attending the Sonoma County facility.
