LAKEPORT— On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors welcomed newly appointed District 4 Supervisor Michael S. Green, replacing the vacancy created when Tina Scott resigned in July. Also discussed was a monthly health update and the consideration of an amendment to the commitment letter for the FLASHES Energy project.
Green was administered the oath of office and gave a heartfelt speech sharing a letter written by his mother many years ago. “I believe elected officials are only limited representatives of the will of the majority and that their position is an irrevocable privilege not an inherent right,” he said. “I believe any individual who says you can’t fight city hall without having tried has surrendered part of that heritage of a free society and has in effect denied the principal of the majority rule in favor of the rule of special interests.”
Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein and Michael Day, from Trane Comprehensive Solutions, discussed an amendment to the September 2021 letter of commitment between the County of Lake and Trane Technologies to advance the North Lakeport FLASHES Energy, Disaster and Climate Change Resiliency Projects. This amendment adds two additional paragraphs to the letter changing some language regarding the lease of city lands, increases to the termination fees, and adds a section defining the County’s role including “… the County’s present role in any potential development of the North Lakeport Projects is making County-owned property available to achieve certain public benefits.”
Day gave an overview of the project to date and potential public benefits stating, “As we related in July, we have been successful on most fronts on this, the project looks to be technically viable, the project looks to be economically viable, we have done initial environmental surveys, we’ve done initial engineering work, we’ve looked at soils and a lot of different things and this project looks good. The next step is for us to take it out to the investing public and find a good fit for Lake County.”
The Board of Supervisors had questions as to how the public will actually benefit from the functions of this project, specifically the micro-grid, with District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier stating, “I think detailing what occurs during a power outage, that the electricity doesn’t get sent to Sonoma, is important to me, that we don’t create this so that we stay dark and someone else gets the electricity.” District 4 Supervisor Green noted, “I do think as this project moves forward, when it comes back again when we talk about leases or another addition, better to find the downstream stuff, the connection to the North Lakeport Community Services and Development department, or how these micro-grids are going to work. You mention two very different situations so I think being able to better define the resiliency as far as energy I think will definitely help move this forward not only for the county but for your investors.”
District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska shared that this project and the use of “water batteries” had been discussed on an NPR radio show with several people expressing interest. The board voted to approve the amendment as amended.
Health Services Director Johnathan Portney, accompanied by Interim Public Health Director Dr. Carl Spore, presented the Health Services monthly update. Spore discussed Lake County’s low transmission numbers and the continued importance of both the COVID 19 and flu vaccines stating, “Influenza will be an issue we worry about. We haven’t had any other significant variants coming from the east coast or from Europe, but we expect, probably, an increase this winter as everyone gathers for the holidays.” Spore also mentioned an increase in COVID monitoring at a wastewater treatment plant and will be watching that and looking for a trend.
More information on the Board of Supervisors as well as minutes, agendas and video, can be found on the county website lakecountyca.gov.
