Editor’s Note: With 2019 coming quickly to a close, we present our annual month by month end of the year review where we recap some of the big stories and memorable moments of 2019.
JANUARY
School board change
A Lakeport Unified School District governing board with three newly-elected members voted during closed session in early January to terminate the contract held by Superintendent April Leiferman.
Board chair Dan Buffalo said after the meeting that “there was some mixed reception” among the public in attendance.
He said the board had voted 3–1–1 on the matter, with himself and former running mates Carly Alvord and Jen Hanson voting “yes,” board member Lori Holmes voting “no,” and Phil Kirby recusing himself from the discussion.
Buffalo said that he felt he had been elected with the expectation that major changes would be made at the district.
Cannabis permits approved
Also on this month, the Clearlake City Council considered adopting two development agreements for commercial cannabis businesses within city limits.
Both ordinances are for property located on the same block of Olympic Drive and owned by Howard Levin, south of the Burns Valley Mall. Justin Jones and Steven Malone applied for use permits for two units each on this property.
Assistant City Manager Alan Flora said that only one cannabis business like those considered by the city were currently operating in Clearlake, though a dozen such businesses were to be allowed.
“The City Council has decided to allow up to 12 total permits,” Flora said. “11 permits have been approved by the Planning Commission.”
FEBRUARY
BOS considers restructuring Sheriff’s Department
In early February, The Lake County Board of Supervisors considered a restructuring proposal for the sheriff’s department.
The restructuring proposed to change the type of management at the department’s dispatch center and the county jail.
In a memo to the board, Sheriff Brian Martin wrote that the department had struggled in the past to properly fill leadership positions at the jail and the dispatch center.
“The department has a long history of failed recruitment efforts for the position of Central Dispatch Manager,” he wrote. “It is my desire to reclassify the Central Dispatch Manager to a Chief Deputy and make that a permanent assignment.”
MARCH
Lakeport Fire District planned approach to fiscal problems, support of Measure M
As the Lakeport Fire District strategized how to support a pending ballot measure which would raise the district’s fire tax, efforts were underway to find funding from other sources amid concern about finishing out the fiscal year within budget.
The district laid off six firefighters in 2018 due to a budget deficit and then created Measure M—a ballot measure set for a May 7 special election that sought to raise the fire tax to $6.14 per benefit unit, bringing in an estimated $1.2 million in the first year. That measure was approved by the Lake County Board of Supervisors and sent to the registrar of voters’ office to be processed.
Alan Flora, a director on the district board who is also finance director and assistant city manager of Clearlake, said he was concerned about the county’s capability to properly carry out the fast-approaching May election.
APRIL
Violent and property crimes drop in Clearlake
The City of Clearlake has experienced marked decreases in violent and property crimes in the past year, according to an annual report presented by Clearlake Police Chief Andrew White to the Clearlake City Council at a meeting in mid April.
White reported that instances of violent crime in the city had gone down by 16 percent over the past year compared to the previous year, and that property crimes had dropped by a similar 14 percent.
“As a chief of police and as somebody who has been in an administrative role, we’re happy with single digit numbers,” White said. “Double digit numbers in a city that’s disproportionately affected by crime, especially violent crime and Part 1 property crime, this is a massive accomplishment.”
MAY
‘Unusual’ late-season winter storms rolls through Lake County
A storm that began dropping precipitation in Lake County early morning in Mid month was said to be unusually late for a storm of its kind, according to the National Weather Service.
“This is definitely unusual,” said Sacramento-based NWS Forecaster Brandon Rubin-Oster, noting that some rain is to be expected in May. “These storms do happen from time to time, but the intensity of it is the bigger story.”
Referring to the weather system, which has been referred to as an “atmospheric river storm” like those which brought Clear Lake to flood levels earlier this year and in 2017, Rubin-Oster called it a “late-season winter storm,” one that carried potential for “full-fledged” precipitation in Lake County.
JUNE
zoning ordinance changes related to wireless communications considered
The Lake County Board of Supervisors considered making changes to the county’s zoning ordinance related to the regulation of wireless communications towers and antennae.
The proposed changes came after a Verizon-supported cell tower application which asked for significant variances from tower setback and access requirements to reclaim an unused tower in downtown Middletown was denied by the Lake County Planning Commission. Verizon then filed an appeal to the commission’s decision.
JULY
Damin Pashilk reaches plea agreement in Clayton Fire case
Damin Pashilk, the Clearlake man suspected of intentionally setting the Clayton Fire, pleaded no contest to setting four wildfires in 2016, according to a statement released by Lake County District Attorney Susan Krones.
Pashilk, 43, had been in custody since he was arrested in August 2016 by Cal Fire investigators on suspicion of arson in more than 15 fires in 2015 and 2016. These included the Canyon Fire, which burned 15 acres and destroyed a residence, and the Clayton Fire, which burned almost 4,000 acres and 300 structures in the Lower Lake area.
Pashilk entered a no contest plea on July 9 to arson charges for the following four fires during July and August of 2016, according to Krones’ statement: the Western Fire, which burned less than “an acre of dry grass,” the North Branch Fire near Ogulin Canyon Road, which burned 25 acres of vegetation, the Canyon Fire and the Clayton Fire.
AUGUST
Grand Jury investigates fire department finances
Local fire districts were facing mounting financial troubles that will need more than just added tax revenue to lay to rest, according to a report released this summer by the Lake County Civil Grand Jury of 2018-2019.
Though three of Lake County’s six fire districts have successfully passed parcel tax hikes since 2017—signifying public support is likely for upcoming tax measures in the remaining three districts—the grand jury argued that success in raising taxes wouldn’t make for balanced budgets in the long run.
The benefit of an increased tax rate alone, the grand jury wrote in its report, titled “Lake County’s Fire Protection Districts: Keep Calm and Carry On,” won’t “solve the districts’ budgetary shortfalls, as other factors are also at play, some reflecting long-term trends and demanding long-term solutions.”
SEPTEMBER
Clearlake manager: 20 percent of city’s properties are tax-defaulted
As the County of Lake prepared to hold a tax-defaulted property auction in 2020 after failing to hold one this year, top officials from the City of Clearlake said it was “critical” that defaulted properties be sold more quickly.
Nearly 10 percent of the properties in Clearlake are five or more years delinquent on their taxes, according to Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora, who addressed the Lake County Board of Supervisors regarding the issue in September.
Flora said he’d requested tax delinquency records from the county, and discovered that about 3,400 of Clearlake properties owe some level of back taxes. The city has about 17,000 properties within its limits.
“That’s 20 percent,” he said. “The total debt owed is about $5.3 million.”
OCTOBER
PG&E turns out the lights not once, not twice but on multiple occasions
After Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s massive planned power shutoff began putting out lights throughout Northern and Central California in the first of four power shut downs during the month of October, many businesses around Lake County remained closed throughout the day, while others struggled to open.
The shutoff, the first phase of which had affected over 500,000 PG&E customers by the afternoon of October 9, including more than 37,000 in Lake County, was scheduled to expand over the course of the day, eventually cutting power to more than 800,000 customers. It was at the time, the largest planned power shutoff ever carried out by PG&E.
NOVEMBER
Deputy district attorney sues County of Lake for harassment, discrimination
A deputy district attorney took legal action alleging he has long been the subject of harassment, retaliation and discrimination by his fellow employees at the Lake County District Attorney’s office as well as by District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Daniel G. Flesch, a prosecutor for the county since 2012, filed suit on Oct. 29 against the district attorney’s office, supervisor Brown, and other county personnel whom Flesch did not name in court documents.
Seeking protection under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Flesch alleged numerous instances of illegal workplace treatment by his coworkers dating back to 2014, including homophobic and anti-Semitic remarks and false claims against Flesch’s conduct as an attorney.
DECEMBER
Diane Fridley hired back as interim registrar of voters
Longtime elections official Diane Fridley was hired back on an interim basis as Lake County Registrar of Voters, following the departure of former registrar Catherine McMullen in early December.
Fridley retired in December 2018 after a 41-year career at the County of Lake that included decades of elections experience.
Since then, the county registrar of voters office has seen a tumultuous year.
Former deputy registrar Maria Valadez took up a position with Mendocino County, and Lake County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson temporarily took over as Fridley’s replacement. Then in June, McMullen, a Lake County native who worked in elections in Multnomah County, Oregon before returning here, was hired as a permanent new registrar.
But McMullen submitted a resignation letter less than six months after stepping into the role, following closely on the heels of a November special election that was carried out using a new-to-Lake County electronic voting system, and which took place just weeks after a series of countywide power outages executed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
