Cobb Area CounciL
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday January 18, 2018, 6:00-8:00pm
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426
full agenda packet available at www.cobbareacouncil.org
PRESENT: Cindy Leonard, Ron Hasket, Gary Prather, Jessica Pyska, Eliot Hurwitz (Chair)
25 people in attendance
CALL TO ORDER 6:02 (shut down cell phones; rules of participation)
Welcome to new attendees
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Glenneth, MAC event about VanGough 7:30 tomorrow
Kelly- Cobb Lion’s Club Crab feed March 3, tickets $60.00
Cathy announced BlackRock golf course Jan 26 open mic 7-10, dinner for sale
Feb 4 Super Bowl party, dinner opening soon: Brandon new chef
March 24 disc golf tournament (90 golfers
Feb 3nd Moore Family winery crab boil, silent auction to benefit Cobb School Garden program
APPROVAL OF MINUTES from December, 2017
A few changes by Robert Stark
Motion to approve: Ron Hasket
2nd – Jessica Pyska
TREASURER’S REPORT, Gary Prather. Current balance $2,203.32 (no change)
PUBLIC and BOARD COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins./individual)
Email notice to add to agenda items
Jessica Pyska hazardous trees photos have been forwarded to CalTrans
Big ear
Cindy Leonard report of the Friends of Boggs Mountain (FOBM) meeting Tuesday Jan 16th.:
Jeremiah and Brett from the California Dept. of Forestry gave an update: they are on track with clearing and burn piles will go through this winter. The next group of 400,000 trees will arrive soon and be stored in Kelseyville till they are planted in March. They are very pleased with the survival rate of the 300,000 trees that were planted last March. This will bring a total of 3,000 of 3,500 acres replanted. Boggs remains closed for safety.
FOBM elected a new president: Chris Blomquist
Debbie Bloomquist is working with REMBA and attended a trails conference.
FOBM will have a Community Dinner (date yet to be determined) in the spring as a membership drive and community information meeting. You can join ($20 individual) at boggsmtn.net, but this is not necessary to attend.
Boggs is a Demonstration forest (different than a State Recreational Park, for example) and lots of research is happening from plant related to bird recording.
Jeremiah reported that many of the challenges at our forest is helping to shape recovery policy. Bills submitted for making it easier for other forests that have burned.
David Theissen (previous president) added that we are all frustrated with not being allowed in, but that we need to continue to be patient.
Ron Hasket reports on the County meeting in Kelseyville. There are 19 positions unfilled, some that there are no funds to fill. 5 million dollar shortfall. Building Dept. not included at meeting, all others were. Lack of property taxes is a big reason for shortfalls. Some properties are being sold, even for a loss. The castle is still up in the air. Less tourism tax (Harbin). No money to clean up Lake or to promote it.
Robert: Konocti Harbor is in escrow again. The backlog of properties is a big issue. 175 properties that are unpaid property tax and could go to auction, but the county staff is so overwhelmed and they want to get out of the real estate tax.
Ron: They didn’t mention what they think they will generate from the cannibis tax. Cindy: Perhaps the profit will go to law enforcement.
Ron: We spoke to departments about speeding up inspections. Two new houses started construction on Cobb today!
Robert: New road tax will positively impact our county
Jessica: comment came through CAC website about road improvements
Eliot: Byron Turner is just about done with template for the area plan and passed to Bob Maserelli for Board of Supervisors for approval. Eliot is watching the BOS meeting minutes to see when that happens and we will get our Cobb Area Plan committee energized.
Lake County Broadband Solutions update:
-Terre Logsdon: Beta testing has begun around their offices. They are looking for solutions for Cobb. They are looking at products that would use the white space frequencies that were used by broadcast television. This means that we would not need “line of sight” which is a challenge on Cobb.
Website is live now: http://lakecountybroadbandsolutions.com
More information they will know after a meeting on Feb 9th.
There many folks in the area that cannot get any DSL, so this will be a new option for them. Kids won’t have to use a hotspot to do their homework. Many students at Woodland College do not have internet, so they rely on the school for internet, many folks work from home and do not have internet for their business and are using a cellphone hotspot. Software updates take up all their data.
Go to their website and enter your information and they can see if you are able to get their service and you can keep up to date on what is happening.
Initial price is still to be determined as they explore the equipment. Consumers will have equipment from Mimosa (a dish) that they buy, LCBS absorbs the cost of installation. There will be no contract requirements.
Glenneth: Hobergs has erosion control measures
Short reports from CAC Committees as needed
PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
A New Year on Cobb MT.
Prepare for UPCOMING TOWN MEETING on Neighbors helping Neighbors
Gary, Ron and Eliot met to put together some details for event Saturday March 3rd from 10:00 till 4:00 at Cobb Mtn. Elementary School for community emergency preparedness event. Fire Chief Mike Wink Brian Martin, Forestry, South Lake County Fire Protection Dist. Bureau of Land Management would present. We would talk about hazard mitigation, helping neighbors who are elderly or handicapped who might need help by identifying these folks and methods to contact them. Eliot would like to create the Fire Wise Community program here on Cobb. Lot by lot assessments, training to do this type of organization. Identify the logical places as hubs, then these areas will assess their neighborhood, then come together to make a plan.
Each year this process will become easier and more streamlined.
Where are the evacuation zones?
The Cobb Area Council will be the government liaison, the Seigner Springs nonprofit would organize the other groups like Lions Club, Churches, etc.
At the March 3 meeting there would be presentations, then we could divide up by community hubs, then begin to build the organization from there.
Gary: The fire prevention fee used to provide grants for fire prevention services, so we are wondering if that previous amount ($115) could be paid directly to our South Lake Fire Safe Council for their programs like the chipping program. Charitable contributions are still tax-deductible in the current tax law.
If we become a Fire Wise Community, it will make firefighters much more safe if they need to fight a fire here. Homeowners need to do their part to maintain any fire breaks or clearing.
We can start a sign up for “Neighbors Helping Neighbors”.
Jessica: last spring the Pine Summit Pool had a community burn day, but not enough people knew to participate
Glenneth: Time Bank would probably be thrilled to participate in this.
Cathy: office of emergency services should be involved.
Cindy: High School community service hours for students.
Mr. Curtola: we should contact UPS or FedEx or other to get food donated for the event. Cindy said she will look into it.
Motion made to establish a formal committee to organize the “Cobb Safe 2018” event for March 3. Motion: Ron, Seconded: Jessica
We should get copies of the Cobb Fire Safe Council evacuation brochure to have for this event.
We would like David Leonard to talk about Cobb School evacuation plan, they could perhaps help guide organizations like preschool to create a plan. (including a secondary plan if plan A is impossible).
Eliot will ask a few folks about putting a flyer together very quickly
Security at Cobb Elementary School/Neighborhood Safety
Toyota 4Runner seems to be the vehicle. They were tearing up the pool parking lot. Kathleen thinks it is dark green with two high spotlights on hood and a roof rack, lifted, but she cannot prove it. They are really going fast and unsafe. Call the 467-4000 number so that it goes to Ukiah and they can respond faster if you see them.
Meeting adjourned at 7:25 First Gary, Seconded Ron