LAKEPORT — At the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, the board declared September 28, 2018 Native American Day in Lake County. District 1 Supervisor Moke Simon read the proclamation, which cited Native American peoples’ more than 12,000 year history in Lake County and noted that “the Native Americans of Lake County have been intertwined in every aspect of our community’s history,” continuing to say that “Native Americans have helped to make our community stronger and more prosperous.” Recognizing the great impacts that Native American culture has had on “every American,” the proclamation affirmed the importance of Native American sovereignty while stressing that community’s close relationship to the other communities in Lake County.
District 3 Supervisor-elect EJ Crandall thanked the Board of Supervisors for the proclamation and announced that an “Indian Days” event will be held on September 28 at the Robinson Rancheria.
Jim Browneagle of the Elem Pomo tribe said that “This has been a long journey,” and expressed that Simon’s seat as Supervisor represents the fulfillment of a long-held wish to have a Native American on the board.
An item on the agenda calling for consideration of the final recommended budget for fiscal year 2018-2019 was postponed until the board’s next meeting, September 25, at 10:15 a.m. County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson attributed the delay to a “computer glitch” that resulted in a portion of the budget not being printed in time for review by responsible parties.
In an overview of Lake County’s response to and recovery from the Mendocino Complex fires, Recovery Coordinator Nathan Spangler said that $1.5 billion of disaster relief grants had been awarded to 1,053 survivors of the fires who registered for assistance.
District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele said he was “surprised that it is only one thousand people” who have signed up for assistance, noting that tens of thousands of Lake County residents had been affected by the fires. Spangler, Steele, and District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith urged more people to apply for funding. Spangler said he hoped to get more right-of-entry forms—which allow CalRecycle to perform cleanup after disasters on private residences—coming in, as he had only received 38 from Mendocino Complex survivors and four from Pawnee survivors.
Sally Peterson from Middletown Rancheria asked the board to be aware that the National Historic Preservation Act section 106 requires cultural resource monitoring, and recommended that as agencies continue performing cleanup operations, the board work with local Native American tribes to protect historic cultural resources. “During the Valley Fire, we found resources that no one knew were there.”
In an item on the agenda regarding majority protest proceedings prior to the establishment of the Lake County Tourism Improvement District was postponed. Huchingson said that the county hoped to resolve concerns that had been raised by some of the property owners who would be paying for the TID. Huchingson said that originally there had been support for the district’s establishment, but that some property owners had “changed their minds.”
The Board of Supervisors took action on a request from District Attorney Don Anderson to allow all seven DA’s investigators to take official vehicles home overnight, which stemmed from Anderson’s concern that three investigators residing out-of-county had difficulties responding to emergencies at night without their official vehicles, some of which are equipped with more than $100,000 worth of equipment. After discussion on the significance of the fact that DA’s office employees are not first responders even though they respond to emergencies, the board voted four to one to give an interim approval for overnight vehicle use by seven investigators. That interim allowance will be reviewed by December 4. District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown stood opposed to the approval, which he saw as making inconsistent use of policy regarding official vehicles. The board discussed creating a policy revision in order to smooth out concerns raised by Brown.
By chance on the same day that Napa County was discussing the same topic, the board considered their options regarding the consolidation of the County Auditor-Controller’s office and the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office into a proposed Auditor-Controller-Tax Collector’s office. The change, said Steele, would “streamline” the county offices in response to what Huchingson has called Lake County’s “dire financial situation.”
