LAKE COUNTY— The Lake County Civil Grand Jury, in their recently released 2021-22 Report detailed a number of findings pertaining to abandoned vehicles around the County of Lake concluding that abating abandoned vehicles is a costly, labor extensive, and time-consuming undertaking and found that vehicle registration fees collected within the county are “insufficient” to fund abatement of all, or even most, of the abandoned vehicles on private and public properties.
Among other findings, the watchdog organization found that all three Code Enforcement agencies have “limited staff and multiple other, more pressing, investigative and enforcement responsibilities beyond vehicle abatement.”
In a detailed chapter of the report entitled “Persistent Blight on the Landscape: Abandoned Vehicles in Lake County” the Grandy Jury discusses their methodology which entailed interviewing representatives of Lake County Code Enforcement, the Clearlake Police Department, the Lakeport Police Department and the California Highway Patrol, among numerous other agencies and also reviewed documentation such as the CHP Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Handbook, as well as state and county government codes, ordinances and records, to ascertain the scope of the problem.
According to the report, Lake County is the local service authority branch of the state’s Abandoned Vehicle Abatement (AVA) Service Authority, which is authorized by sections of the California Vehicle Code and operates through a joint power’s agreement. The authority has five members from the County of Lake, the city of Lakeport, and the city of Clearlake, with representation by the California Highway Patrol.
The Grand Jury found in their investigation that Code Enforcement officers report insufficient dialogue with the county AVA Authority in setting priorities for code enforcement. At the time of the interviews this year, the county Code Enforcement officers had no dedicated computer for their abatement work, and they had no uniform making them readily identifiable to the public. Moreover, the Grand Jury also found that the County AVA Commission “has been found to be out-of-compliance” with budget and annual report requirements and was suspended from receiving DMV registration fees for one year.
Among their recommendations, the Grand Jury listed that the County Community Development Department dedicate two Code Enforcement officers full-time to the abatement of abandoned vehicles, that the Clearlake Police Department dedicate one Code Enforcement officer full-time to the abatement of abandoned vehicles, and that the county Community Development Department provide its vehicle abatement officers with computers and uniforms.
Pursuant to Penal Code section 933(c), responses are required within 90 days of the published report from the Lake County Abandoned Vehicle Authority, the Lake County Community Development Department through the Board of Supervisors, and the City of Clearlake Police Department.
In her letter of resignation to the Board of Supervisors dated July 12, 2022, Community Development Department Director Mary Darby outlined some of her accomplishments during her tenure in that position including filling out 13 of 17 vacant positions in the department including the Planning, Code Enforcement, and Building and Safety Divisions, as well as getting the Code Enforcement Division approval (with help from former Chief Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson) to change the county’s policy to allow uniforms for the officers and the vehicle wrapping of Code Enforcement vehicles.
Additional information on the Grand Jury Report and previous reports from previous years can be found online at the County’s website at http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/Boards/Grand_Jury/FinalReports.htm
