LAKEPORT >> Becoming increasingly important to local control of governance in Lake County has been the emergence of the Municipal Advisory Councils over the prior two decades.
The initial MAC in the county was launched in 2006. It was developed by adopting an enabling resolution by the Board of Supervisors, for the Middletown Area Town Hall. “The MATH board of directors created the Middletown Area Plan,” Betsy Cawn, director of the Essential Public Information nonprofit broadcasting in Upper Lake explained.
The first Municipal Advisory Council in the county was established in 2006 by the creation, through an adoption of its foundational enabling resolution, through the Board of Supervisors, for the MATH.
The second MAC began in 2016 in Cobb, recalled Cawn. “They created a specific enabling resolution calling for the Cobb Area Council’s leadership to develop a robust recovery plan to address the impacts of the 2015 Valley Fire on that community,” she said.
Three more MACs were started by former Supervisor Jim Steele, for the District 3 supervisorial communities. “One of them covers the county’s East Region population centers in Spring Valley and the town of Clearlake Oaks (East Region Town Hall),” Cawn said. “The second focused on the community of Lucerne (now, Central Region Town Hall), and a third covers territory that includes Lake Pillsbury, Blue Lakes, Saratoga Springs, Witter Springs, Bachelor Valley, Middle Creek Valley, the town of Upper Lake and the town of Nice (West Region Town Hall).”
One dynamic town hall is the Scotts Valley Community Advisory Council (SVCAC). It was created in 2017 by District 4 Supervisor Tina Scott, who was succeeded by the Governor’s appointed replacement following her resignation, by Supervisor Michael Green. “Mr. Green insisted on conducting their meetings in a location within the jurisdictional boundaries of the specific MAC,” Cawn said.
One challenge of Scotts Valley is the lack of infrastructure necessary to support remote participation in meetings. “For many residents, the ability to receive emergency notifications via internet or telecommunications is wanting, since the only available public facility (the Scotts Valley Women’s Club on Hendricks Road) does not have WiFi,” she said. “I am unaware of any effort to record meetings and have them made available on the county website, county Facebook pages, or PEG TV’s YouTube Channel.”
The City of Lakeport owns two wells in the Scotts Valley jurisdiction, and management of the Scotts Valley groundwater basin was the basis for creation of the Scotts Valley Water Conservation District in 1968, Cawn noted. “That initiative was in response to basin impairments caused by a major transportation project conducted by the State Department of Transportation; the eight miles of divided highway between the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff and the Todd Road intersection with Highway 29.”
A critical resource for Scotts Valley is access to groundwater. Cawn points out because the Lakeport Plan does not include the jurisdiction of the city of Lakeport; but the special study area of Scotts Valley is identified in the city’s General Plan. Impacts on the city’s state adjudicated rights to a limited volume of Scott’s Valley groundwater capacity is aimed to avoid future problems.
“City Manager Kevin Ingram continues to participate in the SVCAC and related county programs, such as the identification of the groundwater basin, by use of electromagnetic monitoring, for which funding was secured and project execution is anticipated in the near future.”
One of the current board of directors of SVCAC is Cornelia Sieber-Davis.
Sieber-Davis noted SVCAC meets in person from 5 to 7 p.m. on the 4th Monday of each month at the Scotts Valley Women’s Club House, except for December this year. “As many may know, cell and internet reception is sketchy in Scotts Valley, so at this time the meetings are in-person only,” she said. We have never had live stream meetings. During the pandemic there was zoom from a resident’s home.” Typically, agendas and minutes are posted on the county website and at the door of the clubhouse.
“The motives for MACs are different for each,” she added. “Flooding is important for Scotts Valley but less so for the Lucerne area for example.”
Cawn also remarked, “The Bureau of Land Management has provided an inter-agency liaison to support the county’s long-term wildfire risk reduction projects (led by the Lake County “Community Risk Reduction Authority),” Cawn said. They are documented in the newly approved Lake County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, dated, Oct. 3, 2023, at the BOS meeting.
Additionally, a vulnerability of the Scotts Valley area, is its lack of capacity to deal with emergencies where wildfire is the dominant threat. “The Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief, Patrick Reitz, has testified to the Board of Supervisors about the absence of communication services,” Cawn said. “And also, there’s a need for fire suppression water systems, while inadequate roadways exist for high-risk properties where development of new commercial cannabis operations is ongoing.”
