LAKEPORT— At this week’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors authorized Lake County to apply for a competitive state grant for a plan to retrofit community centers for relief of extreme weather conditions and other emergency situations.
Terre Logsdon, Lake County chief climate resiliency officer disclosed a plan to alleviate many of the worst aspects of the above challenges. Her office identified a pool of $5 million in state funding available in competitive grants. The county is applying for a $500,000 grant to be used to retrofit community locations to serve as Resiliency Centers to diminish the hazards of threatening weather, and drifting smoke events.
Funds for the grants are overseen by the California Strategic Growth Council and the California Department of Conservation. Legislation supporting the effort was made by passing State Senate Bill 155 (CA Rehabilitation Center program) and Assembly Bill 211 that ensures CRC grants include collaboration with community residents, community- based organizations and multi-stakeholder partnerships. Applications for round one funding must be in by Sept. 18.
Logsdon noted she based the county plan using a model developed by the Tuolumne County Community Resource Center. They put several state grants together to erect two resiliency centers. In a slide show she illustrated the model she derived from the Tuolumne example.
“This California grant that Lake County is applying for is in the model of a hub and spoke (wheel frame) where spokes (community centers) will be served by a future hub (central resiliency center),” Logsdon said. She went on to single out a dozen community centers (spokes) throughout the surrounding communities around the lake, including the Fairgrounds.
“What this plan grant will do is examine each of the 12 facilities and find out what we need to upgrade their structures to serve as cooling/warming/smoke inhalation centers,” she said. And she clarified that some of those centers serve specific populations yet have subsequently expanded to accommodate the entire public to serve in emergency situations yet not for overnight shelter. “But that’s not what we’re looking for at these facilities vis-à-vis the community centers,” she added.
“Residents need to go to a place that is trusted, familiar and already close to their communities. But our goal is a long-term, stand-alone community resiliency center similar to what is in Tuolumne.
She also explained through a community stakeholder advisory committee, local advice can be shared with the community RRA (Risk Reduction Authority) whose members are typically drawn from the Fire District, and other civic engaged organizations. Stakeholders will not necessarily be members of the RRA but provide local insight from surrounding communities.
But District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier inquired about the efficiency of using the spokes and hub model. “Because if we try to do all 12 (spokes), possibly we might not get much done,” he said. “Can we isolate which areas we can prioritize, because it looks like we’re doing a Jack-of-all trades (approach) rather than an expert type thing. How are you going to process this?”
Initially, the idea was to make each of the 12 sites like the two resiliency centers in Tuolumne explained Logsdon. “But a lot of the senior centers don’t have enough staffing and they’ll need training (to convert to resiliency centers),” she said. “What we want is Lake County to own a free-standing resiliency center,” she added. But the grant can help us look at all possible locations, all zoning and needed infrastructure while planning a facility, and then we go to the next level and pinpoint a location.”
District 5 Supervisor and Chair Jessica Pyska recalled the BOS looked at the Fairgrounds as a possible resiliency center last winter. “We had to submit a plan but did not have the funds,” she said. “And we had no time to develop a plan, so that’s why we have this resolution.” And she noted, the county has used some ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding to support those community centers, so a strategic plan is vital to win state funding to eventually build a resiliency center.
District 4 Supervisor Michael Green recalled the Tuolumne example required successive rounds of grant funding, yet doubted Lake County could reach that level with an initial grant. “But this plan lays out exactly what we are doing down to dollars and cents,” he said. “And I appreciate our ability to track in real time, and getting a grant reassures me we’ll be responsible stewards.”
He went on to explain, Lake County has presented an open-ended plan and can look at both models; a central hub and seeding the spokes (community centers). “We’re not locked into one particular model, as the initial grant unfolds,” he said.
Logsdon added, “This grant will determine what the senior centers need physically, financially, staffing and volunteers,” she said. “And it will identify what makes sense to where we have a stand-alone hub.”
In other actions, the BOS emerged from their closed session Tuesday and announced two actions: According to chair Jessica Pyska, the board unanimously acted to: 1) terminate Jonathan Portney as Health Services Director, effective immediately; and 2) appoint County Administrative Officer, Susan Parker, Interim Health Services Director.
“We are grateful to Mr. Portney for his service to County residents since January of 2022, and wish him great success in the next phase of his career,” noted Pyska and added that no further comment will be provided, as Mr. Portney’s separation from County employment is a confidential personnel matter.
Pyska also noted that the County Administrative Office’s Human Resources Division has already begun the process to recruit for Lake County’s next Health Services Director, and a job announcement will soon be available.
“As with all Board-appointed Director-level County roles, this recruitment will be far-reaching, in the interest of attracting the highest quality applicants. We hope to identify a Director who can be a long-term fit, she added.
Noemi Doohan, MD, PhD, MPH, was ceremonially sworn in as Public Health Officer Tuesday, despite starting on September 1. Pyska added that Doohan’s “medically-focused leadership will be invaluable during this time of transition. Promoting the well-being of every County resident is among our Board’s highest priorities.”
