Month: June 2021

Cobb Area Council
Meeting Minutes
May 20, 2021
DRAFT
CALL TO ORDER – Cindy called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm
Jessica Pyska requested we take a moment of silence in honor of Steve Moore.
Roll Call:-
Present – Cathy McCarthy: Chairperson;, Cindy Leonard: Vice-Chairperson, Frank Lincoln: Treasurer, Chris: Nettles: Secretary, Jake Stickler: Member-at-large
Not present – Dottie Bates: Alternate
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
Motion to adopt Agenda made by Cindy
Second -Cathy
Motion carries unanimous.
Motion to accept minutes from March meeting made by Cindy
Second – Frank
Motion carries unanimous.
Short Announcements
Dottie resigning – will open the alternate position for election. Nominations will be accepted at the next meeting.
Kent Romney CMAT sponsored by USDA Forest Service is evaluating wildfire mitigation efforts in our community thorough May 28th. Will offer suggestions to the community after observation period..
Glenneth – Jones Creek Crossing zoom meeting May 28th 7p (see Facebook page), Clay classes available, see http://fineartcafe.org for more info.
Cindy – June 2nd PG&E Town Hall 12n -1:30. Regarding PSPS shutoffs this year.
Magdalenda – May 29 10a-2p SCRA Rummage Sale in Loch Lomond, Will have South Lake fire council and a fire truck for the kids.
Debbie – Friends of Boggs Mountain New Maps available. Just that we’re scheduling twilight work to hike and prune trails. Stay tuned for dates.
Pine summit pool opening Memorial Day weekend.
Loch Lomond pool, opening weekend of May 22nd
Public and Board Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3 mins./individual)
Glenneth Lambert is planning a “sculpture jam”. Needs help organizing. Contact Glenneth for more information.
Treasurer’s Report- Frank
Total Current balance is $16,351.67
General fund: $1,052.81
Blackberry Cobbler Festival $6,316.53
Cobb Resilient $1,456.28
Cobb Safe $851.23
Economic Development $1,300
Rebuild NorthBay $564.42
T-shirt fundraising $4,503.89
Wilder Than Wild fund $161.31
Broom Busters $146.20
1 expense of $3 for checking account fee
Supervisor’s Comments- Jessica Pyska
Risk Reduction Authority Town Hall on May 6th. Available on the county Facebook page & Lake County YouTube channel
See https://Firesesafelake.org for slideshow about Lake Country vegetation mitigation ordinance
Firesafe landscaping from Lake County Master Gardeners
Firewise community presentation from Magdalena Valderama
Sherriff Martin on LakeCo alerts – sign up at the lake County Sheriff’s Office
CMAT (see above) next Thursday will have provide report for fire mitigation – will help with Community Wildfire Protection Plan update
Emergency Drought declaration declared by Sherriff Martine & ratified by County Board of Supervisor
Please voluntarily conserve water!!
Senator McGuire is holding a town hall on drought conditions
Funding available from CalFire – Need to get Lake County Firesafe ready to accept grants. Looking for people to participate in meetings. They meet 2nd Thursday of each month. See https://firesafelake.org/ for more information
American Rescue plan $12 million for county. $6 million available in May. Other half next May (2022) Need ideas for something bold in Lake County. Jessica helping with directing those funds to programs. Call her with ideas.
COVID – on June 15th rolling back tier system.
Over 50% of county vaccinated! If you’re not vaccinated, Please do!
Lake County Public Services Director Lars Ewing.
Never had a countywide park planning process.
Starting Needs Assessment now.
Four locations as possibilities:
Park/trails at Forest Lake, generally between Gifford Springs Rd and Golf Rd (multiple parcels)
Cobb Mountain trailhead at the end of Pinewood Way (I think it was Pinewood?)
Open space / public access to Anderson meadow – 15710 Bottle Rock Rd, APN 013-034-19
“Hardesters” park/trailhead – please confirm 9915 Meadow Drive, APN 050-892-07
Fall or Summer Master planning process for Parks & Rec.
Lars Ewing, Lake County Public Services Director, lars.ewing@lakecountyca.gov, (707) 262-1618
2021 Fire Season Update – Paul Duncan
Dry conditions prevalent! Fire season underway
Boggs Mountain Fire Hawks will be responding to fires by end of June. – training now.
Crew on Boggs Mountain will be ready for visitors soon
Camps staffed crews of 4 people.
Redwood Foodbank helping with distributing smoke alarms & fire extinguishers
Fire Extinguishers & Firefighting tools embedded with law enforcement officers
Keep grass short, use string trimmers, no afternoon mowing. Please keep appropriate defensible space around homes!
Pine Summit Pools membership avail. https://Pinesummitpool.com for more info.
Drought Conditions- Ben Murphy, Cobb Mountain Water
Please voluntarily reduce water usage by 20%
District has taken on drought management plan at 75% of historical. Flows are about 15% less than normal. Several projects have reduced water leakage dramatically.
Looking into incentive programs if have to call mandatory drought emergency.
Water conservation plan is on the website.
Contact: Ben@cobbareawater.com
Jessica put in a plug for grey water capture systems.
Projects:
Out for bid soon for start August 2022 Mt Hanna & Pine View projects.
2023 Alpine Meadows & Starview projects
Pine Grove system renovation next.
List of other projects available form Ben. e.g. water tanks being renovated.
5 more wells over 5-10 years
Committee Reports
Firewise Communities: Magdelena, Cindy, Glenneth, Gene.
Cindy –
CMAT met with all Firewise communities in Lake County.
Broombuster events in Cobb & Middletown successful.
Postcards for cutting Scotch Broom – “Cut the ‘Bloomin Broom!”
See https://Firesafelake.com website for starting Firewise community
Download evacuation list from website above.
Jone Creek Crossing website also has evac lists available.
Gene Yoon – Planning an event at Boggs Lake Preserve.
Magdalena –
Bottlerock Rd. corridor Firewise approved. Congrats to Gene Yoon. Now 5 Firewise communities in Cobb
Fire Prevention Program Grant at SSCRA: 59 owners reimbursed for 75 parcels $66,000 left to distribute. Program end in March 2022.
Kent from CMAT acknowledged our community efforts at fire mitigation.
Communications Committee- Mel McMurrin
CAVERN – Cobb Area Volunteer Emergency Radio Network. Get quick Alerts. Share information. Even when phones and internet can’t.CHECK-INSSpring check-ins of 25-30Wednesday night 6:30 Alert test and check-ins. Early Check-ins welcome all day.Check-ins let you know someone can hear you.Testing backup repeater and additional Alert transmission sites.MEMBERS190 users. Large new group of users in Harrington Flat Rocky’s road west side.Get a ID and let us know where you are at.CAVERN.mobi/id RADIOSHave over 50 ReTevis FRS radios availableHandful kept at Cobb Resource Hub. $25 pair.Get licensed. Use the repeater $70 now, $35 after June 19 – 10/yr entire family household. $50-$100 radioshttps://CAVERN.mobi/gmrs Need a radio? Contact Mel (415) 302-6896 or kk6tmn@gmail.comMEETINGSCommunications Committee Meeting proposed Next week. All invited. Time/date/link to be posted very soon. Wed 5/26 after check-ins likely time.Basics and Advanced Features of Your FRS or GMRS
Cobbite of the Year- Cathy next meeting 
Will schedule meeting soon, possibly June 2nd
Blackberry COBBler Festival 2021
Next Monday May 24th 4p at Whispering Pines resort
Decentralized event over the entire weekend (Labor Day weekend)
Main events August 28th at Whispering Pines Resort
Economic Development Committee
AHEAD Grant Update- Eliot
Loan fund – One new application we are working with. $30,00 still available for business loans. Contact Eliot or Jeff Lucas
Asking for an extra 3 month to complete Cobb Area Development and Resilience Strategy.
Community Resilience and Development Strategy- Next full draft will be available by next CAC meeting (June)
Broadband effort is looking over funding coming available.  
Collaborative Marketing Initiative- Cindy
Continuing local marketing efforts. See https://explorecobbca.com/
Funding for resource hub is running out. Looking for money to keep the Hub going.
Cobb Merchants Association- Cathy
Still determining if we want a stand-alone association or partner with other business associations.
Plan is to survey business about this issue.
CAC website and mailing list – Vote on Proposal to update the CAC website. 
Spoke with both contenders on the phone. As Gene noted, the technology was essential the same. Both were fully capable of doing the work. Kim keyed in on a concern of mine and addressed it by offering some alternative ways of approaching the site. She has been working with us on other sites so seems to have a built-in knowledge of our needs and overall requirements.
Chris made Motion to contract with KL Design Solutions for the redesign of Cobb Area Council website
Frank seconded motion.
Discussion: Jessica also endorsed KL Design Solutions
Motion unanimously approved.
Discussion item: When to return to “in-person” meetings. 
Jessica suggested that after June 15th we should be able to have outdoor meetings through the summer at the Little Red Schoolhouse.
Eliot suggested we do hybrid meetings.
Poll: 6 for stating in-person in June; 8 for starting in July.
Will resume in-person meetings in July, 2021
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn by Chris
Seconded by Cindy
Motion carries – adjourned at 8:41p
Date of Next Meeting: June 17, 2021 6:30 on Zoom and simulcast on Facebook