COBB AREA COUNCIL
Hybrid PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday February 16, 2023 at 6:30pm
In person and online via Zoom and Facebook
Minutes (Approved 3-16-2023)
CALL TO ORDER – at 6:32pm
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
ROLL CALL
Present: Cathy McCarthy, Chris Nettles, Darlene Warner
Absent: Jake Strickler, Joe Schneider
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
Motion by Chris Nettles to approve Agenda, 2nd by Robert Stark. All in favor. Agenda approved.
Motion by Chris Nettles to approve Minutes 2nd by Darlene Warner. All in favor. Minutes approved.
Brown Act Training as it pertains to advisory commissions – Anita Grant
County Counsel, Anita Grant, gave a PowerPoint presentation, “Ralph M. Brown Act – Ten Things to Know” via Zoom to Cobb Area Council. The presentation gave a general overview of the purpose of the Brown Act, and overview of the changes relating to AB-361 ending on 2/28/2023 (to sunset January of 2024) as it relates to the Brown Act, and also new teleconferencing requirements as it relates to AB-2449, effective 1-20-2023 (sunsets in 2026). Anita is preparing a how-to guide on AB-2449.
Certified Tourism Ambassador Program – Michelle Carson
All volunteer group, non-profit under the Chamber of Commerce umbrella. Distributed presentation handout, “2022 Year in Review” – Lake County Tourism Ambassador. Goal for 2023: refresh window signs and deliver 2023 lists of fishing tournaments to businesses county-wide. Membership has steadily increased since 2019. There is a certification class to become a CTA (Certified Tourism Ambassador) on Saturday, April 15, 2023 from 8:30am to 12:30pm (4-hour class) at Lake Event Design in Lakeport. Registration deadline is April 1st, cost is $25. Visit www.ctanetwork.com, or call Mae at 707-263-5092.
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Robert Stark – has tickets to the crab feed for $75 each. Has ordered 500 pounds of crab. Friends of Cobb Mountain have been notified that Open Mountain Energy wants to take over Bottlerock Power. Mr. Olson would like to present to us.
Glenneth Lambert – Sculpture Jam is moving forward, doing a call for artists soon. Will be held October 14/15 and following weekend. Has an Agreement with Mountain Meadow venue to have it there. Next committee meeting is next Wednesday at 3:45p at the Hub. Looking to have bi-monthly meetings. Looking for volunteers.
Cathy McCarthy – the Blackberry Cobbler Fest committee meeting will be next Thursday at Cobb Mountain Pizza at 5:30pm.
Public and Board Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3 mins./individual)
NONE
Nominations and Elections
Nominations and Elections of New Alternate to serve the term (beginning January 2023 and ending December 2023. No action taken, continue to next Council meeting.
Treasurer’s Report- Chris Nettles
We changed all of our banking over to Umpqua Bank effective 1-31-2023
The T-Shirt fund has been combined with the General Fund.
One charge was made for last year’s BMI license (Cobbler Festival) for $408.99
$ 5,464.66 General Fund
14,589.26 Blackberry Cobbler Festival
1,124.62 Cobb Resource Hub
2,417.62 Emergency Preparedness Fund
$23,596.16 Operating Funds Balance
$48,082.63 Small Business Loan Fund (Originally from S.F. Home Loan Bank grant)
$71,678.79 Net Assets
Supervisor’s Comments – Jessica Pyska
Was on a call early this morning with CPUC, PGE, and RCRC talking about Vegetation Management – fuel crews will be back next week; fewer contractors, more PGE personnel for more oversight. Continue to reach out to Jessica via phone and email if there are any issues. The US Forest Service released their aerial survey annual report last week showing extensive tree mortality all over Northern California. Hoping that this will generate momentum with other counties. Had a meeting with Mike Thompson’s DC staff last week; having another meeting tomorrow morning. Looking for more funding, will keep posted. CalFire grants – applications are being worked on; a lot has to do with tree mortality projects. One of the applications is due about a month from now, awarded in Summer, funded in the Fall. Each grant can go up to $5M, believes there are two Fire Prevention grants being applied for, so there’s the potential for $10M. There is a County Park Survey circulating about the Parks and Trails Master Plan. We are two months into the process, with another year to go to develop the Master Plan. At Tuesday’s County Board meeting we appointed a negotiating team to start working on the Cobb Park concept, and a possible location. There is allocation of $1M from our Geothermal Royalty Fund. More information on the County website and Facebook page.
Fire Season Update – Paul Duncan (Report given by Supervisor Jessica Pyska)
Lots of winter work happening. Copter 104 crew could be doing some training before normal staffing in April. A reminder to folks doing burning: please be sure not to create a smoke hazard for your neighbors.
High Fire Severity Mapping Letters deadline has been extended until April 3, 2023.
(Jessica’s note: CalFire is redoing their High Fire Danger Severity Mapping and looking at 50-year forecasting. We would like to see a 10-year forecast. If anyone is interested, you can review the County Board meeting from 1-24-2023 and submit letters).
Approve/Disapprove Scheduling of a Special Meeting of the CACs to determine budget, goals, and strategies, to make recommendations at a Regular scheduled meeting. – Chris
Chris Nettles moved to have a half-day meeting on a Saturday within the next two months. 2nd. Motion approved.
COMMITTEE REPORTS (3 minutes/individual)
Firewise Communities– Magdelena, Cindy, Glenneth-/Richie, Gene, David, Laurie
Magdelena – Firewise groups have been meeting with each other. Two workshops have been completed. Resource Conservation District (RCD) grants being worked on – there are two grants, one is due 2-23-2023, not doing anything on that one for a number of reasons. Aiming for the one with the 3-15-2023 deadline. There’s another one in May, but there’s time to work on that one. The RCD grant we’re going after is focused on ingress and egress. Need to see if we can have Richie to do the calculations.
Communications Committee – Darlene Warner
Researching a new repeater, which we have narrowed down to one – it’s a Bridgecom. Looking to acquire the repeater in March. They are currently on backorder, and need to be preprogrammed. The plan is to test and implement the new repeater by July. We may have to reprogram radios due to interference we’ve been having from another source that’s getting into our current repeater. The new repeater will improve the strength of our coverage, and coverage area. We tested the wattage of our current repeater which is 2 Watts currently. 25 checkins this week, 29 last week, 18 the week before. Hopefully checkins will increase as we get closer to summer, and with improved coverage. The smaller Retevis radios are available for sale at the Hub. If interested in getting your FCC license, or for any other reason, email cobbalertnet@gmail.com.
Budget Committee– Chris Nettles – approval of half-day Saturday meeting to be determined (see above)
Forest Health Committee
Eliot Hurwitz – regarding log deck clean up – thank you for patience. Ongoing plan to accept brush debris from the community for the rest of the year. Brush is under 6 inches in diameter.
Tom Slaight – watershed restoration and forest management – asked about committee members, meetings, agendas, minutes…asked to have about 15 minutes at the next council meeting. Eliot clarified that the project being talked about was not a Cobb Area Council project. Cathy mentioned the CAC website needs to be updated. Chris mentioned considering finding a WordPress person to help with the CAC website. Darlene commented on CAC minutes being in transition, Tom commented it’s not the Council meetings, it’s the Committees’ that’s his primary concern. Tom handed out an article from the Record Bee, “Seeking Cobb Watershed Property Owners”
Economic Development Committee– Joe Schneider (not present)
Date of Next Regular Meeting: March 16, 2023
Per AB-2449, this will be a hybrid meeting where participants may attend via Zoom. However, Councilmembers must be present in-person unless there is “just cause” or an “emergency” as defined in AB-2449 as it relates to teleconferencing. Motion made, Chris 2nd, all in favor. Motion approved to continue hybrid meetings in accordance with AB-2449.
Date of Next Special Meeting to Discuss Cobb Area Council to discuss Goals, Strategy, and Budget TBD at next Council Meeting
Adjourned at 8:33pm
