LAKEPORT >> In its August 21 meeting, the Lakeport City Council will consider whether to reappoint Councilwoman Stacey Mattina and Mayor Mireya Turner, or to hold an election for their positions in the fall. Each official was the only candidate listed for their seat at the end of Lakeport’s general election nomination period on August 10, 2018, according to a staff report filed by City Clerk Kelly Buendia. Pursuant to California elections code, the City Council of Lakeport can choose to appoint candidates, rather than hold elections, when they are unopposed. Members of the Lakeport City Council serve staggered four-year terms, with no term limits imposed on their positions.
According to Buendia’s report, should the City Council choose to appoint Mattina and Turner, the elections code requires that “the City Clerk shall not accept for filing any statement of write-in candidacy which is submitted after the appointment is made.”
Deputy City Clerk Hilary Britton said Monday that candidates running unopposed like this, and being considered for appointment rather than election, is “not uncommon in smaller communities.” Nevertheless, Britton said that “this is the first time we’ve had to do this” for Mattina or Turner. Turner, who has been on the City Council since 2014, is coming to the end of her first one-year term as Mayor of Lakeport, in which role she succeeded Mattina in 2017. Mattina, according to Britton, has served on the City Council since 2010, including her time as mayor.
Buendia said Monday that the primary benefit she sees in the City Council choosing appointments for Mattina and Turner is “the cost factor,” adding that opting out of the elections process would save the city about $4,000.
In another item in the same August 21 meeting, the City Council will hear from Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen about a proposed nonprofit to be set up in order to raise funds for a “Police Dog Foundation.” Buendia said that “a member of the community wants to raise funds” to support a police dog in Lakeport, and that the City Council will “be cooperating with them” to do so.
The foundation would be called the Friends of the Lakeport Police Department. Rasmussen said Monday that Lakeport resident and Susie Q’s Donuts owner David Brown “wanted to start a nonprofit foundation to pay for a police dog and other equipment, so we want to support him in that effort.” The City Council is being asked to “give direction to allow the mayor to appoint one of the council members to sit on the board of directors” for the nascent organization. Next steps for the nonprofit include certification through the state and federal governments.
Brown, who will attend the City Council meeting, said he “saw a need for having a police dog in our community,” not just for the service such dogs could provide Lakeport, but as a way to increase police officer retention rates. Small town police forces often lack the bells and whistles that larger forces do, and Brown hopes that a K-9 unit would be the kind of “exciting job” opportunity that could keep good officers on the force. Addressing the service a police dog force could provide, Brown noted that “we had a couple threats to our schools last year. A police dog with the correct training will be able to help the parents and community feel more secure in our schools.” Brown hopes to train two police dogs in the next three years. First-year total costs for buying, training, housing, feeding, and equipping a police dog and its accompanying officer are about $50,000.
Brown said that having a member of the Lakeport City Council on the board of directors for Friends of the Lakeport PD would provide for the ease of cooperation between the foundation and the city. “If we have one of their council members on our board of directors, there will be a lot of clarity.”
The Lakeport City Council meets the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 6 p.m. at the City Council Chambers, 225 Park Street.
