By Frederic Lahey for the Record-Bee
COBB— At the Cobb Area Council public meeting Thursday the council was introduced to Annette Kamaloni, Executive Director and Chuck Baron, Director of Operations of the recently formed Lake County Community Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit organization that serves as a fiscal agent for community needs, administering grants for community projects.
Kamaloni and Baron stated that their priorities are to develop low-income housing programs and workforce development. Baron envisions workforce training as a part of the construction of much needed housing, following county-wide roundtables assessing community needs, developing resources and “catalyzing” the community. He emphasized using “blue sky” opportunities to develop strategies to apply in times of disaster.
In the wake of the Valley Fire, which devasted so much of the community, Lake County had no fiscal agent, a third party that receives remittances and makes disbursements on behalf of state and federal funding agencies. Consequently, all of the disaster relief aid intended for Lake County went to Sonoma fiscal agents instead. The diminished disaster relief aid intended for Lake still made its way to local residents and communities, but having a local 501(c)(3) foundation in place has long been a goal of the Board of Supervisors.
Kamaloni and Baron discovered a common interest in helping the community during the construction of the Hope Center in Clearlake. Kamaloni has an MBA degree and over 25 years of experience in construction while Baron has over 40 years of experience in construction.
Jessica Pyska, District 5 Supervisor, announced that the Red Cross donated the new backup emergency generator they brought in for the recent extended power outage, which she categorized as a major win for the Cobb community. She also announced a $1 million grant accessed through Geothermal Royalty funds for the purchase of a 13-acre parcel for a community park ($300,000) and improvements that will include restrooms and safety modifications. She encouraged community input in the Cobb Area Plan on the Lake County website as that will guide the Planning Commission about land use issues in the future.
Paul Duncan, Division Chief with Cal Fire and chief at South Lake County Volunteer Firefighters Association, announced a weather spotter training program. He is looking for 10 spotters to be trained in giving real-time updates to meteorologists on conditions in Cobb during weather and disaster events.
