COBB AREA COUNCIL
Hybrid PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday September 15, 2022 at 6:30pm
In person and online via Zoom and Facebook
Draft Minutes
6:37 CALL TO ORDER
By chair Cathy McCarthy
Roll Call
Present – Cathy McCarthy: Chairperson, Cindy Leonard – Vice-Chairperson, Jake Strickler: Member-at-large
Not present: Christopher Nettles: Secretary, Joe Schneider: Alternate- Frank Lincoln: Treasurer
Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag.
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
Agenda approval motion:
Magdalena moved to approve the agenda
Cindy seconded
Passed unanimously
Motion to approve June Minutes
Eliot moved to approve June 2022 minutes
Cindy seconded
Passed unanimously
Short Announcements
September is Disaster Preparedness Month. First week of October is Fire Prevention week
Lion’s club distributes free food on first Wed & third Thursday from 8a-10a
Cathy gave a special thank you to our video crew: Alan Horwitz, Tom Stiles, & Eliot Hurwitz.
Public and Board Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3 mins./individual)
Eliot announced OURCO beta testing – Cobb app for passing news and commenting on issues
Annette Lee running for MUSD school board.
Cindy Leonard resigned from the Cobb Area Council effective 9/16/2022
Treasurer’s Report- Frank
In the black!
General Fund: $3096.64
Blackberry Cobbler Festival: $14686.85
Cobb Resource Hub: $1124.62
Emergency Preparedness: $2417.62
T‐shirt sales: $2603.89
Total assets: $23,929.62
There are two outstanding checks from Cobbler Festival
Supervisor’s Comments- Supv. Jessica Pyska
Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make the Cobbler Festival a success.
There is form available on the county website for self to county boards and concils. Filling out that form is one way to get your name in the running for the open alternate seat on the Cobb Area Council
Government to Government meeting regarding the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). Plans are to make it a living document. October 5th will be public comment on the CWPP at the Lake County Board of Supervisors chambers.
Supv Pyska is looking for volunteers to sit n the committee revising the Lake County hazard Mitigation Plan. Please email Supv. Pyska if you are interested.
Need two volunteers from Cobb for the Geysers Geothermal committee which meets to discuss issues to geothermal power generation. Also, need one person from the Cobb Water Board,
PG&E invited to county board meeting to discuss hazard tree mitigation and other forestry work they are doing around the area. PG&E has a new hotline for wood removal – (800)564-5080. You can also email them at treesafety@pge.com .
Jessica had a meeting with State Senator McQuire. He is facilitating a meeting with PG&E’s regional VP.
Tree Mortality emergency requires hel from multiple agencies and companies. The county is preparing to apply for disaster act financial assistance to contract out tree removal along county righ-of-ways. Focusing on evacuation corridors first.
Fire Season Update – Paul Duncan
Camp operations are doing well. May have a 3rd crew here. A lot equip is out in Siskiyou and Nevada counties fight fires, although, they try to keep as much personnel and equipment here to put out local fires quickly.
Doing work on the Air Curtin Incinerator. Moved it and have a lot of material delivered there. Will start burning when the weather permits. Also, they have developed a go/no-go list to determine operation based on a list of conditions.
Heliopods are tin operation They are tanks that help with water supply for firefighting helicopter.
Chief Duncan discussed the Hwy175 construction with CalTrans. Flaggers are now in place until fire season is done (instead)
Powerline undergrounding has started in various areas around the Cobb Area
No burning until fire season is over!!
Jessica acknowledged the 7th year anniversary and all Chief Duncan did to help the community during and after that disaster.
Blackberry Cobbler Festival report
Many thanks to all the donors, volunteers, and vendors who made the
Watch drone footage on the recording of the CAC on Facebook from 47:32 –
County estimated that over 3500 people attended (based on cars)
600 pieces of Cobbler sold by the Cobb Mountain Lions
100 people for the Harvest Dinner – made 600 dollars for the CAC from the dinner
Festival made $11,800 after expenses.
Tab on Explore Cobb website with more details for next year.
Created a plaque for the winners of the Kelly Stuckey Blackberry Cobbler award
There will be many other improvements for next year.
7:50 Committee Reports (3 minutes/individual)
Firewise Communities:
Magdelena – Seigler Springs Fire wise community has nothing new to report
Firewise community re-certifications are due in November for the year.
SSCRA is working on the Community Wildfire Defense Grant. Also now need an action plan for three years.
Also discussed need to identify street signs for dead ends, etc. email Magdalena at magdalenavh@sscra.org
Cindy – Community met in may and gathered sheets. Already submitted and was rejected. Apparently, there is a new form to streamline things. Every three years must update action plan.
Glenneth – Jones creek – bringing down trees and digging trenches of power lines. Richie Bucher will be taking over this Jones Creek Firewise neighborhood group.
Gene – Not available
David T. – no report
Laurie –no report
Communications Committee- Mel
13 radios sold at Cobbler festival
Budget Committee- Chris
No report
Forest Health Committee- Eliot
Working on comprehensive list of potential projects for future grants.
Economic Development Committee- Joe
No report
Consideration of the Findings Required by AB 361 to Allow Teleconferenced Meetings by this Body to Continue ( AB 361 Brown Act and Virtual Meetings)
Moved, seconded, and approved to continue hybrid format for next meeting.
Date of Next Regular Meeting: October 20, 2022 Hybrid meeting
7:50p Adjournment
Moved by Magdalena, Seconded by Cindy, unanimously approved.