LAKEPORT — The Lake County Board of Supervisors next week will consider extending for another six months a decrease in the office hours of many county departments.
In August 2018 county offices were closed to the public on Fridays for a “pilot” period of six months. With that time limit almost up, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson has recommended the board continue the same schedule change for another six months.
The board’s decision is likely to hinge on the same considerations that the initial six-month approval did: high numbers of vacant county employee positions, the tasks that come with the aftermath of numerous recent natural disasters, and a “fiscal crisis” at the county level, all resulting in a higher workload for staff.
“Since heavy workloads and employee vacancy rates are essentially unchanged,” writes Huchingson, “and the pilot appears to be working without complication, staff recommends you Board extend the pilot for another six month period, with staff returning to your Board on or before September 10, 2019 with an update.”
The Friday closure to the public, Huchingson notes, allows staff “to focus on backlogs of work.”
Both Lakeport and Clearlake have similar office hours to the county’s, with staff working but not taking calls from members of the public on Fridays.
The board will also consider an item from Sheriff Brian Martin at its meeting on Tuesday: a proposed shift of titles and pay for two management-level positions at the Lake County Sheriff’s Department.
Martin, who is operating a department with more than a 35 percent vacancy rate, has been granted position allocation changes recently that have substituted civilians to sworn sheriff’s deputies in management roles at the dispatch center and the Hill Road Jail.
Half of his current request is to alter one management position at the jail into a post held by a captain, rather than the lieutenant’s title assigned to that post now. “There is currently a lieutenant working out of class in that position now, and the duties of that position are commensurate with a Captain,” Martin writes.
Martin is also requesting allocations for a sworn lieutenant to manage the dispatch center, whereas the county budget puts a civilian in that role.
Martin estimates the management changes to add $800 each month to each post, but writes “this will be covered through salary savings.”
The board will also vote on, and possibly adopt, the latest draft of the “Hazardous Vegetation/Combustible Material Abatement Ordinance,” which has been receiving amendments since first introduced in December 2018.
In a staff report, County Counsel Anita Grant writes that the latest draft “attempts to address concerns raised as to administrative citations,” “describes the type and purpose of the hazardous vegetation/combustible material program established by the ordinance,” and “streamlines certain provisions regarding nuisance abatement by referring back to already-existing provisions of Chapter 13 of the Lake County Code.”
Another recent edit to the ordinance included striking a five-acre size limit for the developed parcels of land the ordinance would apply to off the document, broadening its geographical scope.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors will meet in the board of supervisors chambers on Tuesday, March 12 at 9 a.m. at the Lake County Courthouse at 255 North Forbes Street in Lakeport.
