COBB AREA COUNCIL
ONLINE PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday January 21, 2021 at 6:30pm
PARTICIPATE online via ZOOM or Facebook
Draft Meeting Minutes
1. CALL TO ORDER at 6:31
2. Roll Call : Cindy Leonard Secretary here, Cathy McCarthy Chair here, Frank Lincoln Treasurer
here, Jake Strickler here, Chris Nettles here
3. Approval of Agenda: moved to approve agenda with adjustment by Cindy, seconded
by Chris, all approved and Minutes motion by Frank, seconded by Jessica, all approve
4. Nominations Vote to Fill Vacant Seat. Eliot nominates Dottie Bates to be alternate.
There is not actually an alternate position listed in our bylaws, but the bylaws
committee will make the update. Vote was made and Dottie was unanimously
approved as alternate.
Cindy was nominated to be new Vice Chair, all approved
Chris was nominated to be new Secretary, all approved
5. Short Announcements- none
6. Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3 minutes per person)
Friends of Boggs announcement by Cindy. There have been trees falling on the trails,
especially after the latest windstorm. These will be cleared this coming weekend, but
the public should be on the lookout for falling trees when hiking or biking on the trails.
There have been a few incidents where debris (including large rocks) have been
intentionally put on the trails by vandals.
Friends of Boggs Mountain is continuing to look for donations, since they have not
been able to hold their usual fundraisers. You can donate at their new website:
boggsmountain.org
Jake asks about the Blackberry Cobbler festival. It will be the Saturday before Labor
Day, if things are safe with Covid-19 at that time.
7. Department of Transportation/CalTrans Update on bridge on HWY 175 at Bottlerock
Danielle Ruiz Caltrans regarding bridge in front of the old Village Pub. They introduced the
Project team. Our bridge is one of 3 projects in Lake County.The need is that the railings do
not meet standards and the bridge needs to be widened. the project will cost $4.3 million.The
construction will happen September 1-December 2021. New bridge will be 40 feet wide.
There may be trees removed as needed. The widening will occur on the golf course side.
During construction there will be a traffic signal. One lane will still operate, it will not be
completely closed during construction. There is concern by the public that
Bonnie from Caltrans says that during an emergency they do as much as possible to work
quickly to coordinate with local emergency officials.
Mike Khammash from Caltrans says that they will prioritize safety at the project.
Justin Wood from Caltrans says that the contractor will provide a traffic contingency plan
which may include an alternate route.
Please contact Bonnie Kuhn with any questions and concerns. 707-496-6879
bonnie.kuhn@dot.ca.gov Public Information Officer Caltrans District 1 Lake and Mendocino
Counties.
Shaun asks if there would be construction staff there 24 hours a day? No, there would not be
people there all day, just during the day.
8 foot shoulder will be on both sides of the road and will give room for bikes and walking.
Michael Kramer asks if this project is really necessary because there isn’t as much traffic on
that bridge. CalTrans says that regardless of the amount of traffic, the work needs to be
done for the safety of traffic.
8. Richard Boiselle- Illuminations Technology: Communication Towers, Sirens, Sensors
Municipal Public Safety Solutions & Smart City Infrastructure. He is a long time
resident of Cobb rboisselle@illuminationtechnologies.com 707-867-2451
Chris Canning, CEO of Illumination Technology (he is also mayor of Calistoga)
Passive infrastructure. Partner with municipalities for safety products. Not just
telecom company. County wide wireless infrastructure. They build a pole and attach
features to it. Security, alerts, street lights, WiFi, drone systems. One is in place on
Calistoga road on the north side
IQ FireWatch is 24/7 wildfire detection. One is on Diamond Mountain. They caught
the Glass Fire. This technology is German designed and is used in about 11 countries.
It is Artificial Intelligence, so the sensors detect an event and then contacts a human.
This has been tested in Calistoga. The county of Napa will be installing eight of these
sensors. This detects fires before they are in the canopy. Detecting 4 meter square
size and 9 mile distance.
There is not good coverage for the siren in Cobb currently, so possibly some additional
sirens are needed. Mostly they are located at the fire stations, but some might be
needed to fill in.
9. Treasurer’s Report- Frank current total balance is $16,926.02
General fund: $1,647.36
Blackberry Cobbler Festival $6,316.53
Cobb Resilient $1,456.28
Cobb Safe $851.23
Economic Development $1,300
Rebuild NorthBay $689.42
T-shirt fundraising $4,503.89
Wilder Than Wild fund $161.31
10.Committee Reports
● Firewise Communities: Magdelena, Cindy, Glenneth,
Jones Creek Crossing will have a Zoom meeting next Thursday
Magdalena says she just assisted Gene with a site visit as well as a Lower Lake
site. That would bring the total of Firewise groups to 14 in Lake County.
Magdalena has issued a deadline to the outstanding applicants for the
Vegetation clearing grant. Once this work is completed, then she is moving on
to production of the Homeowners Guide for Lake County.
Cindy states that Cobb Area Council has been awarded $5,000 for another
Broom Busters event (or series of events). More details to come!
● Communications Committee – Mel: Dust off your radios! It is still fire season and
trees falling. There are about 25 check-ins per week at our Wednesday check
in.
● By-Laws Committee – Chris: this work is ongoing.
● “Cobbite of the Year” Committee – Cathy Tabled till next month
● Economic Development Committee
○ AHEAD Grant Update- Eliot We still have about half of the loan amount
and a couple of applications are in the works. 2/3rds of the way through
the Data and Projections project. Broadband study is at an impasse
because Chico State was not successful. Perhaps we can work with
Chris Canning. Overall we have spent half of the grant so far and we
have about 6 months of work to go.
○ Collaborative Marketing Initiative- Cathy/Cindy The explorecobbca.com
website is up and running. We determined that it would be great to get
some stickers and business cards that can have a double-purpose to be
merchandise tags. A vote was taken to ask approval for spending $100
for these to be designed and printed. All said yes.
11.Supervisor’s Comments- Jessica Pyska D5: she wants to make sure that we all know
that Doctor Pace is saying we need to be extra careful right now. She brought our
attention to a graph. The vaccine roll out began this week with a clinic at the
Fairgrounds is people over 75 and also teachers. Once we move through that
population then we will get food service workers, depending on how much vaccine we
get per week. Sutter and Adventist have their own supply, so if you have a doctor then
try to get an appointment through them. Looking at the graph we are continuing to
raise higher and higher, possibly because we have not been locked down. When we
get large doses of the vaccines, we will have clinics 6 days per week.
She is working on a plan for community work days to do burning and removing
hazardous vegetation. She has contacted Dr. Pace and he considers this essential
work and approves this as long as Covid protocols are followed.
12.Date of Next Meeting: February 18, 2021
13. Adjournment at 8:55
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