CLEARLAKE—At Thursday’s City Council meeting, the council considered and discussed an agreement with the City of Lakeport for supplemental law enforcement services, with the recommended action of authorizing Police Chief Andrew White to sign the agreement.
The Lakeport Police Department has requested assistance from the Clearlake Police Department to cover patrol shifts due to temporary staffing challenges. Clearlake has sufficient staffing to provide this coverage on an overtime basis without negatively impacting police coverage in Clearlake. Officials noted that while agencies routinely provide day-to-day mutual aid without compensation, in the proposed situation, it is appropriate for the receiving entity to compensate the entity providing the services. Rather than memorialize it in a one-way agreement, the proposed agreement permits either agency to provide supplemental law enforcement services to the other. That alleviates re-negotiating and approving in agreement should circumstances necessitate Lakeport providing law enforcement services to Clearlake.
“We came up with an agreement that we made sure it was a two-way agreement. If we needed the service in the future, we could contact them (Lakeport) and we’d have a framework to do it and in a rapid amount of time. At this time, we wouldn’t need the coverage, but you never know in the future,” said White.
“For the last several years, law enforcement has been in a situation where recruitment and hiring is very difficult. There is a drastic decrease in the number of people that want to be police officers. This is not just in Lake County, but throughout our state and country. I’m currently in a situation where we’re down numerous positions,” said Lakeport Police Department Chief Brad Rasmussen.
“We have been working hard to try to hire those positions. We did in fact hire three people this week, but the problem is they’ve got to go through either recertification courses or police academies, and that takes a number of months,” added Rasmussen. “We also have other staff that’s in field training. I have some vacancies. Lakeport police might be working alone or have limited staff. That’s why I reached out to Chief White to discuss this. If there were available police officers in Clearlake on days off that were wanting to work overtime, they could come in and act as a secondary cover officer.”
In other council actions, Clearlake City Manager, Alan Flora, submitted a consideration of request for the City of Clearlake to initiate an annexation process for approximately 300 acres at 2050 and 2122 Ogulin Canyon Road, contiguous to the northeastern boundary of the city.
The owners are looking to develop their property. For several years, they have been working with the county of Lake in developing the area, which was a former hops farm, into a cannabis operation. According to city staff, this project is no longer viable, and they are analyzing various other uses for the land, such as industrial or residential. The same owners have worked with the city on a few other projects within the city limits and, at this point, would prefer to work with the city on the development of those properties as well. They have submitted a formal request for the city to consider annexing the two parcels into the city limits. This would require an application through the Lake Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO), by either the city or the property owner.
Flora said they approached the city to discuss what direction to move next. “Eventually, they sent a letter requesting that the city consider annexing those two parcels in order for them to move forward with some type of development proposal,” said Flora during the Council meeting.
According to the letter, the land is currently within the jurisdiction of Lake County and is zoned “RL” – Rural Lands. “In 2019, we applied to Lake County for a Major Use Permit for a cannabis cultivation project. The Lake County Planning Commission approved the Use Permit application in November of 2021, and then a group of Clearlake residents appealed the Use Permit. In May, contrary to the CDD Staff recommendation, the County Board of Supervisors, on a motion made by Supervisor (Bruno) Sabatier, granted the appeal and denied the Use Permit. Since that decision, we have been in communication with the City Manager and the Mayor about the possibility of amending the sphere of influence,” noted real estate agent Brian Pensack in the document.
“From what we understand, the city has a desire for a light industrial presence in the Ogulin Canyon area. If we’re able to create something, it’ll bring a lot of tax revenue and other benefits to the city. The options of things that we could do are good for not just us, but mostly for the city,” Pensack said during the meeting.
“We try to move them forward as fast as we can. If this is the direction of the council, we would certainly do the same on this one. I don’t know if Mr. Pensack or his partners have any specific timeline. I think because of the history and the three-year permitting process and so forth, they’re just investors, anxious to see something proceeding there. As far as I understand, that’s really the urgency in moving this forward,” said Flora.
Flora said he believes “expanding too much of our boundary is something we should be careful about. We can certainly put some little workshop together and try to focus on some details on what else we would like to consider adding to the sphere.”
Mayor Dirk Slooten concluded that looking for guidance at that point was the right step to be taken.
The open session concluded with an introduction and first reading of Ordinance No. 265-2022 Amending Chapter 10, Section 10-3.5 of the Clearlake Municipal Code relating to appealing abatement orders to the City Council, submitted by City Attorney Ryan Jones. Staff noted that those minor amendments will improve the procedures for appeal hearings consistent with best practices.
