CLEARLAKE— The Clearlake City Council during its regular meeting on Thursday received a presentation from Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC)/Distressed Cities Technical Assistance Program (DCTA) representatives on a myriad of Clearlake city projects.
Local Initiative Support Corporation works with a large network of community-based partners to make investments in housing, businesses, jobs, education, safety and health through 38 local offices. It is a rural program that reaches more than 2,200 counties in 45 states, and LISC-founded affiliates and entities.
The Distressed Cities Technical Assistance Program is designed to build capacity of local governments experiencing economic distress and assist local governments and their nonprofit partners in alleviating persistent poverty in specific areas (census tracts). Through DCTA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides technical assistance directly to entities serving smaller communities with populations under 50,000.
“Dealing with the issues of small rural communities has been a passion of mine for my whole career, and I wasn’t really ready to retire, so I was fortunate enough to get this opportunity. The work we have been doing in Clearlake, as (work) we’ve been doing in most small, distressed communities, focuses on three areas: financial management systems, economic development, and housing,” said Stan Keasling, consultant working with the program, which has a contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to support those communities that have experienced natural disasters.
“On the financial system side, we have been working with staff around the development of procedures and policies for financial management, including timekeeping, indirect cost application to grant receipts by the city procurement, and fringe benefits,” continued Keasling. “On economic development, we’ve had a number of different places where we’ve been working. We’ve been trying to identify resources that could help finance new businesses or the relocation or expansion of businesses. Primarily, that work has been focused on the airport and its renovation. On the housing side, we have been working with the staff on strategies about how to use tax defaulted properties to bring about new housing development, working on mobile home parks and looking at the issues around them.”
When it comes to considering actions relating to Measure V, financing of road improvements, the idea is dedicating it to a financing plan to raise a significant amount of money for a lot of road projects, with an estimate of 15 years. “We are trying so hard to change the image of Clearlake, and we have an opportunity to pave a substantial amount of our residential roads, which could then appeal to our investors. It would also potentially mitigate additional safety concerns. And there’s also the opportunity for additional residents to come into this area,” said the Director of Finance for the city, Kelcey Young.
The resolution of the governing board of the Clearlake Public Financing Authority authorized the execution and delivery of an installment sale agreement and assignment agreement to finance road improvements within the city of Clearlake, approving related documents and actions.
The Clearlake City Council meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Information on future and past meetigns including agendas and minutes can be viewed online at https://www.clearlake.ca.us/143/City-Council
