Month: July 2019

COBB AREA COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday July 18, 2019,
6:30-8:30pm NOTE NEW START TIME
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426
Draft Meeting minutes:
CALL TO ORDER (shut down cell phones; sign in please)
Roll Call: Cindy Leonard, Cathy McCarthy, Jessica Pyska, Eliot Hurwitz, Absent: Frank Lincoln. (Gary Prather has resigned as treasurer)
• Annual Election of CAC Board members (2 seats) and officers (postponed from last month)
-Opening for council position: Jake Strickler is nominated by Jessica Pyska and Cathy McCarthy. All in favor of electing Jake: unanimous.
-Eliot’s position is up for election. He is excited to continue on as Chair. All in favor of re-election of Eliot as Chair: unanimous.
-Opening for treasurer: Eliot proposes that Frank Lincoln take over treasurer from Gary and that all other positions remain the same.
33 people in attendance
Approval of Minutes from May 16, May 24, and June 27 2019. Motioned: Robert Stark , Seconded: Jim. all in favor and none opposed.
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS
-KPFZ mentioned that the county is exempt from Hazardous Vegetation Ordinance, as is the state and federal, is this correct? Yes, that is true. Magdalena suggests that we contact the other municipal advisory councils to get a letter from all the councils to let the county know that
Lisa Kaplan announced that the Eco Arts show has returned to the Trailside Park in Middletown. Please come check it out!
Middletown Arts Center is having their Fire Anniversary Show on Friday September 13. Look on their website for information on submitting art for this show. All That is Now is the theme.
Next Friday is a talk about a 13 panel piece that Alana has done. Please come join them for that show.
Justin Coundjeris came to announce that the path from the Estates neighborhood to Hardester’s is now being closed because the lot is now going to have a house built on it. Jessica says that one of our long-term goals is to have walking paths around town. Maybe an easement could be made like they do for beach access? Robert Stark says that it is a prescribed easement and unless the public takes action to state that it is a known and obvious easement then you will lose out on keeping that path. You would need to contact the county to order a “stay” to prevent construction until the issue is resolved. Jake says that in that situation, somebody has to take responsibility for the easement. The county would be an obvious choice, but Justin says he has been maintaining it thus far. Perhaps Hardester’s needs to be involved. Ben Murphy says that the fire department is wanting enough room for a firetruck to drive through
Jon Meyer announces that Bingo Bob is coming back a week from tomorrow. Also another Lobster dinner will be coming up.
Joe from Pine Grove is going to have a star gazing night with Angelo who lives in Anderson Springs. It is a 16” lens and can be programmed to locate specific points in the sky. Look out for posters about this event.
TREASURER’S REPORT Eliot says there will be a treasurers report next month as we transition to Quick books. Thank you to Jon Meyer for helping with that transition.
t-shirt report: Pre-sold $2400 plus $2200 for the ones Hardester’s bought.
PUBLIC and BOARD COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins./individual):
Fire Season Update:
new CAC “Puller Bear” loan program (big tool to pull out big weeds like Broom)
Cindy is looking for approval of a document that community members sign to check out our weed wrench tool. All were in favor of document.
Firewise Community organizing update. lots of good news about insurance discounts for people living in Firewise neighborhoods.
Mel has an update on the communication committee. He gave a demonstration of the radios in different locations to explain how the new repeaters work. There are now about 40-50 radio users (the less expensive $12 toy radios), plus 4 ham radio operators. CAVERN is the name of the network. Mel will program them for you if you would like to join in and get one. Each of the Firewise areas has a different zone, but in general they just use one for the testing on every Saturday at 1:00.
Supervisor’s Comments
Community Reports
Introducing Guests from Paradise, CA – sharing recovery/regeneration stories. The guests from Paradise attended an event at the New Paradigm College in Lucerne. Then they also toured around our area to help bridge our communities and share experiences.
-Susan says that one of the things that they are reflecting on is that the work that we have done after the Valley Fire has made things they are doing easier. For example our trouble with insurance has made it easier for them.
-David says he is feeling that we are the big brothers and sisters in disaster, even though they know there are some big differences in the two fires . They know there is a lot they can learn from our experience.
-Susan says she was contacted by a southern California filmmaker to take the story of Paradise to Washington, DC. The first filming he did was when they initially visited the rubble of their home.
Please look up “Refugee John Michael Son” on YouTube to see a video of a film that was written by a fire survivor.
Tom comments that he is so pleased with the progress
Blackberry COBBler Festival Plans – Jessica Pyska
We successfully obtained a grant from Calpine donation fund. ($4,000 for the Economic Development Committee which includes $2,700 for the Cobbler festival, and $2,000 for the Disaster Preparedness Committee)
Jessica reports that the Economic Development Committee has lots of plans and has produced t-shirts to show our Cobb pride. The goal is to add some more fun events, and get back some of the events that we used to have on Cobb. We now have lots of music committed and local vendors. It will be noon to 5:00.
Cathy announces Tuesday August 6th 5-9ish Cobb Village night in the Hardester’s parking lot. Renee Chastain is going to be selling food, pizza place will be open, Wendy Collins is reaching out to Mandala Springs to have massage chairs, informational tables, hopefully music. This is just the first Village Night of many that we will be having.
Update from Cobb Area Water Company – Ben Murphy (including Rainbow Bridge project)
-On July 25th there will be the final committee CDBG vote for the final funding. The money is there and they have never seen one turned down in 12 years, so we have very high hopes that the vote will be yes. There are over 5 million dollars in funds. 1.8 has already been received as well as 2.4 million planning grant.
Carol Hutchinson already has been given approval to do the go-ahead. We hope that the bridge builder can begin with the pilings in the fall for the pipeline crossing on Rainbow. This will be a brand new single lane 80 ton bridge with speed bumps.
Summit project is 40 days out to go to the county, then it will go out to bid.
For two weeks in August Ben and his crew will be going up to Paradise to work to help that community.
Ben announces that the Geothermal Committee still needs a Cobb resident on the committee. You can get the form at the Cobb Water office or Calpine Visitors Center.
motion to adjourn at 8:07 by Robert, seconded by Jessica.

Draft Meeting Minutes-June 27, 2019
COBB AREA COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday June 27, 2019,
6:30-8:00pm
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426
Draft Meeting Minutes
CALL TO ORDER (shut down cell phones; sign in please)6:32 p.m.
Roll Call Eliot Hurwitz (Chair), Cathy McCarthy, Frank Lincoln (alternate), Jessica Pyska, Absent: Cindy Leonard, Gary Prather (?)
20 people in attendance
Elections: Eliot announced that elections would be postponed until July 18th meeting, in keeping with the previous elections, which were held at the July meeting. Gary and Eliott’s terms will expire in July. Gary is stepping down. Eliott seeks reappointment. After the election takes place, new roles of Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer will be determined.
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Hobergs is readying plans to submit to the County for approval in the fall.
Cobb Economic Development Committee announced that its T-Shirts have arrived and will start arriving in Cobb businesses for sale during the first week of July. (Hats have not yet arrived.) Prices are $25 for adult sizes and $20 for youth. Businesses will keep $5 from the sale of each shirt as commission. John Carlisse provided funds for upfront costs of shirts in the amount of $5727.00 for which he will need reimbursement. Online presales were in the amount of $2635.00
4th of July Parades will be held at both Pine Grove Resort and Whispering Pines
CAM Cobb Area Musicians will be performing at Kelseyville’s Kickin’ in the Country Street Dance on July 4th.
Kelly Stuckey announced Lion’s Club will host Family Bingo and Square Dancing on July 6th at Little Red School House.
Inez reported, in the interest of public safety, a violent altercation between a hitchhiker and a would-be good samaritan.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Gary was absent but sent report that states total in bank $3970.00
PUBLIC and BOARD COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins./individual)
-Eliot announced that the Cobb Area’s efforts toward recovery from wildfire is being noticed by surrounding counties. Cobb will be visited in conjunction with the event at New Paradigm College featuring Charles Eisenstein who will speak to “Climate a New Story” on July 17th. The visit will be on July 18th, and will culminate in attending the July 18th meeting of the CAC. Our visitors will come from Sonoma County and Paradise.
-It was announced that Cobb School has a new principal Aram Osterlye, who was previously principal at a school in Paradise which was destroyed by the Camp Fire.
Short reports from CAC Committees as needed
Communications Committee:
– Mel reported that there are 6 new licensed ham radio operators in Cobb. Saturday radio check-ins continue. Repeater sites in Hobergs and Boggs need adjusting. The committee members present will gather briefly after this evening’s CAC meeting. Lake County Broadband solutions, located by the airport in Kelseyville, is up and running with 100 subscribers and looking to place equipment to reach all parts of Cobb
Economic Development Committee: What’s Up on Cobb
Jessica reported that shirts from Pre-Order would be available for pickup at the Little Red School House on July 3rd from 8-10am.
The BlackBerry Cobbler fest is still trying to secure a venue. Adams Springs Golf Course is looking to be the choice, and we have a verbal agreement and are seeking to sign a contract. Adams Springs would require a $1000 facility use fee, which along with other fees, is an obstacle. Cobb Area Council would be asked to purchase a $358.00 Broadcast Music Industry contract that would give the CAC one year of rights to play music at its events, both live and recorded. A $250 event insurance package would need to be purchased. Additional costs for marketing and Passports to local businesses, as well as staff T-shirts for the event would possibly total $1000.00, for a total budget of $2608.00 Proceeds from current T-shirts would go to compensate for some of these expenses. Vendors will also be asked to submit a nominal fee to participate. Additionally, requests for a grant from Cal Pine and the Rebuild North Bay are being submitted to offset these costs.
Glenneth motioned for the purchase of the BMI contract, contingent upon adequate funding through T-shirt sales or one of the grants. Trina seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
What’s Up on Cobb facebook page is up and running.
Cobb Village Night is scheduled for July 16 and Augst 6
Next meeting is Wednesday, July 10th at 6:30
Firewise Community Update:
Magdelena reported on county-wide fire season preparations.
Disaster Recovery in Fire Communities- create a preparedness plan at Moose Lodge in Clearlake
the Joint Powers Risk Reduction Authority. The committee has a $75K budget but no funding source, and is applying to Rebuild North Bay but so far their goals are unclear.
So. Lake County Fire Safe Council is an adhoc committee of the Lake County Board of Supervisors since 2008, which includes Office of Emergency Services, Dept. of Forestry, Bureau of Land Management, Fire Protection District, and the County
PG&E planned power outtages: PG&E will need to do manual inspections of the lines after the outtage event before they can restore power, which will extend outtage timeline. Generator safety is a cause of concern. Wendy Collins has been drafting a generator safety pamphlet, and garnering the approval of PG&E, South Lake County Fire, and others, prior to publishing,
Governor Newsome’s office is offering grants, which North Coast Opportunites will administer, for Communication About Emergency Preparedness.
CERT training grants are available, also administered by NCO. Dale and Theresa at Lake County OES has already been working with 6 CERTs in Mendocino
Supervisor’s Comments- not present
New Items:
Cooling stations may be needed in the event of power outtages. Lion’s Club may be the recipient of a donated generator and the Lions’ Club could offer meals and refrigeration of medicines, and power other medically necessary items. It will need a licensed electrician to be set up.
KQED published a report on the Wilder than Wild screening at Soper Reese.
PG&E to make presentation at regular meeting of the Cobb Area Council on August 15
Next meeting of CAC is July 18, 2019 at 6:30pm at Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club: 15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426
Motion to adjourn Cathy, Seconded Jessica 7:47

Draft Meeting Minutes-May 16, 2019
COBB AREA COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday May 16, 2019,
6:00-8:00pm
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426
Draft Meeting Minutes
CALL TO ORDER (shut down cell phones; sign in please)6:02 p.m.
Roll Call Cindy Leonard, Eliot Hurwitz (Chair), Cathy McCarthy (arrived later), Gary Prather, Frank Lincoln (alternate), Jessica Pyska
32 people in attendance
Approval of Minutes from March 21, 2019 Jessica motions, seconded Magdalena
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Geothermal committee needs a Cobb resident to be on the committee. Ben has applications at the Cobb Area Water Company. There are grant applications for Cobb projects there too! Next meeting July 11
-Kelly announces: Memorial Day Weekend Lion’s Club Square-dance on Saturday night, Pancake breakfast Sunday morning
Robert Stark attended the Calpine seismic meeting on Monday. The history based on re-injection shows that in the spring there is a substantial amount of small earth movement, based on shrinkage and groundwater. The geologist that is involved in that project is incredible. There is no doubt that there is really good monitoring happening! We will be seeing derricks and other equipment because there are three drills going in.
Glenneth states that he is doing a class starting June 4th with natural building materials. Sculpture, cob, papercrete, etc. 4-5 people max in class.
Note that there is difficulty accessing the Lake County website if you are outside of the country
David and Trudy Wakefield from The Lake County Bloom newspaper are introduced by Jessica.
Loch Lomond Roadhouse is now having music every Sunday. Wednesday May 22nd will be a very good guitarist. The Loch Lomond Roadhouse Facebook is a great place for their info.
Short announcement: Jeff Lucas says thank you to the Cobb community for help with the survey work to re-do the income survey. It has been submitted and the survey part was approved. It was a big hurdle and he is grateful for our support.
Eric Sklar announced the Kokoro Resort (Avalon Hot Springs) on Big Valley Road in Middletown. This project is submitted to the County of Lake for Preapplication Development Review.
Jessica asks how will you ensure that Lake County residents can still afford to use this facility? If you show your ID then perhaps a mid-week discount for local residents. Eric states that this resort will be year round.
Rich Curtola asks what will the egress for the damaged roads? Eric says $250,000 would have to be put into the roads coming into the resort (by their resort). Also, his resort would be generating TOT tax to go to Lake County.
Eric says he is not targeting any particular age. Rooms will cost roughly $250 or so, so much less that over in Napa. There will be a cannibis component to this resort. There will be cannibis gardens on site, and the processing of this will be done at the Clearlake facility that they own.
June 5th is the preapplication meeting to decide what needs to be done next. Then a 4 month process to get through the hearing process. Spring of 2020 would be the hopeful beginning of construction.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Gary states total in bank $7073.05
-request from Cindy that we purchase a square card reader and also a cash box for the Wilder Than Wild event on June 14th. These are items that we can also use for other things (like t-shirt sales, Blackberry Cobbler event, etc). Jessica will have
PUBLIC and BOARD COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins./individual)
-David asks for advice for getting rid of poison oak.
-Also, thank you for everyone for getting addresses to Mary Jane Montana for the Hazardous Vegetation inspections. They are finishing up Cobb and moving on to Anderson Springs this week.
Short reports from CAC Committees as needed
Firewise Community Update:
The May 4th community clean up date was really great! (Eliot project photos on screen). This was a great way to continue to build strength among our neighborhood groups.
The funds were dispersed to all of the working groups, with the remaining $140 going to purchase a Puller Bear for the Cobb Area Council.
It is now official that the California Fair Plan is giving a discount to homeowners who live in a Firewise Community. Make sure that you know what community you live in! A detailed map will be located on the California Fire Safe Council website the second week of June. The current map does not have specific details: https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Wildfire/Firewise-USA/Firewise-USA-Resources/Firewise-USA-sites
-Cindy states that she and Magdalena have continued to attend the county meetings regarding Disaster Preparedness and recovery. Cindy states that we are hoping to encourage the rapid growth of the Lake County Fire Safe Council so that it can help bridge the gap between what the many state, local and non-profit agencies are doing and what the local communities/homeowners (Firewise Communities especially) are doing. There is a rapid amount of grant announcements and we want to make sure that Lake County has the structure in place to capture all the grant money and utilize it efficiently.
These groups all have a role in this organization:
1) Fire Safe Councils
2) Resource Conservation Districts
3) Fire Adapted Communities
4) Firewise Communities
The public needs the Lake County Fire Safe Council as the liaison to find out about: upcoming power outages, help clearing properties, home hardening, notification systems (sirens), what do the colored ribbons on trees mean?
We hope that the Wilder Than Wild screening at the Soper Reese Theatre will help get the many groups together who are doing great things in Lake County but have not met the other groups working on the same thing. Creating synergy and helping us do more.
CalFire states that they are waiting on the Archaeology report on the Bottle Rock Road clearing project. They hope to have that in the next month so that their crews can do the clearing.
CalFire Grant: Homeowner defensible space re-imbursement. Currently there are 37 applications, another 7 that were recently received.
Supervisor’s Comments- not present
New Items:
Jessica Pyska- Economic Development, aka “What’s Up on Cobb”
-it will be on the Facebook page (the “Cobb-webb”)
T-Shirt Design Contest- 1st- Rosie Starchild, 2nd- Emma Wakefiled, 3rd- Samantha Wood.
Music nights at the Hardesters parking lot (maybe a Thursday night)
Joe at Pine Grove might have star gazing in the meadow, plus music
Solstice party June 22nd at Pine Summit Pool. Price to be announced, music, vendors, Kelsey Creek Brewery, Mandala will sponsor massage chair.
Blackberry Cobbler Festival Plans (Aug 24)
1st Annual Blackberry Cobbler Festival
August 24, 2019
Whispering Pines Resort
“What’s Up on Cobb” is a marketing and promotion group that was formed through the Cobb Area Council to support the businesses in the Cobb Area by creating synergy and a “buzz” to get people excited again to live here and visit here. Our goal is to help local businesses have at least one event this summer that will be open to the community, marketed to summer visitors, and promoted throughout the county. We have a team of volunteers that are dedicated to “bringing the fun back to the mountain” and want to help make this a summer the beginning of a new era.
A Day of Picnicking Under the Pines
Sponsored by the Cobb Area Council & “What’s Up on Cobb”
Bring your picnic blankets and enjoy a day of old fashioned fun!
1. Cobbler Contest with “celebrity” judge: Cobb School Principal David Leonard
2. Food-
Cobb oven pizza, Fairlight Ahlgren
BBQ
Blackberry cobbler, Lions Club
Blackberry lemonade, Cobb School Science Camp
Blackberry ice cream sundaes, CAC & What’s Up On Cobb
Adams Springs Golf Course Clubhouse
2. Vendors-
Local and Cobb artists (about 15)
Pottery, jewelry, Valley Fire art & furniture, blackberry jam, honey…
Style and Soul “pop-up” in the building
Kids play area
The donated foam play set
Kids craft area
Jumpy house, Cobb School Science Camp
3. Music-
Acoustic, picking music, bluegrass, Americana
Square Dancing
Lake County Clickers?
Bingo Bob leading dances on the grass (Eric could sub in… he’s a great teacher)
4. Passport Raffle
“Passport to Cobb” will be available earlier in the month, get all the stamps and enter the raffle.
Stamp ideas- Swim at Pine Grove, yoga at Mandala… a way to get people to visit every Cobb business.
Raffle prizes will be donations from vendors.
5. Garbage
CAC seeking local businesses to sponsor garbage cans
Asking So Lake Refuse to donate dumpster/cans for the event
Cobb Mt Leo’s and/or HS students in need of service hours to clean up/pick up trash while the event is underway and afterwards
6. Restroom facilities
How many toilets are already on premises?
CAC seeking local businesses to “sponsor” portable toilets.
motion to adjourn Rich Curtola, Seconded Jessica 7:43