LAKEPORT—The Lake County Board of Supervisors held their weekly meeting in the County Courthouse and online via zoom Tuesday. They discussed how to recruit the next Community Development Director as the current director Mary Darby submitted her resignation Tuesday July 12. They also heard a proposal from Lake County Energy Services Company, Trane US Inc., regarding recent progress on the North Lakeport FLASHES energy, disaster and climate change resiliency projects.
Lake County Director of Human Relations Pam Semek presented the department’s plans for recruiting a replacement for Darby after she submitted her resignation over a week ago. Currently the position has been listed on multiple recruiting sites like Zip-Recruiter, Facebook and LinkedIn but Semek is seeking approval of the department’s acceptance of bids from larger recruiting firms while they continue to accept resumes.
According to Semek, the department will do their first reviews on August 9 hoping to begin receiving bids around that same time. District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier responded stating, “When it comes to a director, we should immediately be going with a recruiting firm. I think it’s possible to do both at the same time that way we can collect both levels of applicants.” Semek responded “True, but if we get a good candidate pool, we’re going to save that $25 to $30,000 with a recruiting agency.” After some discussion, the board agreed to continue accepting applications while seeking bids from recruitment firms.
The board also heard a proposal from members of the Lake County Energy Services Company, Trane US Inc., updating them as to the estimated cost and progress of the FLASHES project in Lakeport.
Comprehensive Account Manager Mike Daly illustrated the current plan which includes the installation of 20 Mega Watts of solar power, two 40-million-gallon water tanks, and three 10 Mega Watt hydro turbines. These measures would enhance the communities’ firefighting capabilities by installing fire hydrants in the area, offering tanker refill access and affording the ability to feed fire mains. The project also offers the community energy resilience by creating both community and critical infrastructure microgrids, all while helping achieve Trane’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by one gigaton globally. Regional Manager for Trane John Brown said, “What it does for the community is to protect against the threat of fire, I’ve really never seen a project like this that brings all three of those elements together. It’s really unique and really progressive.”
The project began in January, 2020 and the projected cost for completion of this project is $146 million dollars and would require $250,000 dollars from the County every year. Matthew Rosthstein detailed three options to move forward – termination of the project, direct Trane to prepare tender for offer, (a tender offer is a public bid for stockholders to sell their stock), or direct Trane to find a qualified investor. District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska asked what the timeline for each option was. After careful consideration the board conceded on option three and will direct Trane to find a qualified investor.
Minutes, agendas and video can be found on the County website at countyoflake.co.gov.
