COBB AREA COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday August 17, 2023 at 6:30pm
In-Person and Online Participation Available
MINUTES (Amended, Approved 9-21-2023)
CALL TO ORDER at 6:39pm
ROLL CALL:
Present: Cathy McCarthy, Darlene Warner, Jake Strickler, Joe Schneider
Absent: Chris Nettles, Mel McMurrin
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
APPROVAL OF AGENDA – Motion by Paul Duncan, 2nd by Jake Strickler. All in favor. Agenda Approved.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES – Motion by Paul Duncan, 2nd by Jake Strickler. Letter attached to previous minutes had edits, primarily grammatical – not changing anything substantial to overall letter. All in favor. Minutes approved.
SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Cathy – restaurant at Mountain Meadow venue is now open. Wayne from Cobb Mountain Pizza is now open at Mountain Meadow. Wayne sold Cobb Mountain Pizza to Sean who used to work for Pogo’s Pizza in the Rivieras. The new restaurant will be called Parmesan & Peppers.
Inez – commented on Air Quality requiring an additional permit for commercial burns, expressed that the guidelines of what can and cannot be burned must be followed. There is a burn ban in effect.
Cathy – Blackberry Cobbler Festival is August 26th. Talked about traffic congestion last year, and measures being taken this year.
Bottlerock Road – undergrounding road project is to begin soon: will be 6-day per week work.
PUBLIC AND BOARD COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 MINS./INDIVIDUAL)
Tom S. – expressed concern regarding solo accidents, Jessica advised to contact our new public health officer. Commented about transparency in use of name and last initial. Asked Jessica to respond to the book “Cause Unknown.”
Mike Davis – commented on the poor condition of Pine Summit Road. Inquired about road paving plan for Cobb area. Jessica commented and referred to the County website for more information.
SUPERVISOR’S COMMENTS – JESSICA PYSKA
Missed last month’s meeting due to being at the National Association of Counties conference in Austin, Texas for four days. IRA money for housing, broadband, climate. Important to be ready, proactive planning. Tree Mortality Plan – submitted package to CalOES May/June. Visited Tuolumne County Resiliency Center; Lake applying for planning grant due beginning of September for Community Resiliency Center funds. The Red Cross has dedicated funds available to resiliency centers – available to Lions/Little Red. Hired a full-time Public Health Officer. JPA: Marin, Mendocino, Napa, with Lake – Career Point Office Building, Monday-Friday 8am-5pm, next to Library Park. More grants are being worked on. Road Plan – there was a presentation back in May from DPW, cost for entire road projects in the County is $340M. According to the Concrete Paving Index, most of the County’s roads are at the failure point. The proper way to submit a complaint about road conditions is through the DPW website. The water company must first do their consolidation project(s) before roads can be improved, and PG&E must finish their undergrounding. There is a moratorium on new roads. Our Tax Collector has onboarded an Asset Management firm; previous County revenue per Quarter was $80K/Q. Our current County quarterly revenue is $2M/Q.
FIRE SEASON UPDATE – PAUL DUNCAN
Rainbow Fire cause is under investigation. Local resources are still here. Cyclone Hillary is current focus. There will be a funeral for the Captains and Pilot lost in the fire down south. IC-1 sent a Strike Team to assist with Maui fire. 4×4 feet is a residential burn. 4291 PRC – PG&E tree removal issue: PG&E is responsible for removing the trees. Requests must come from the property owner. CPUC Advocacy – on 8/31 the BOS will be addressing the CPUC.
TREASURER’S REPORT – CHRIS
NO REPORT
Discussion/Approve: CAC to possibly take over lease for the Resource Hub
Rent is $540. Corrected: rent is $530 per month. Hub being underused; not worth keeping open. Can it be at Lions Club; Lions Club is willing to support. The number of people visiting the Hub is approximately 6 people per day, 3 days per week. Lions Club needs financial help from CAC. $300 rental fee for CAC meetings at the Lions club. Jessica added that there are funds available from the Red Cross and suggested considering other resources within the Ad Hoc Committee. Motion to continue a month-to-month lease at the Hub (if acceptable with Timothy Toye) until such time an Ad Hoc Committee is formed to work out alternatives with Lions Club/Little Red to serve the purpose of the Hub. Motion by Eliot, 2nd by Mary P. All in Favor. Motion approved. Chief Duncan offered to host CAC meetings in their training/conference room at the Cobb Fire Station as an alternative and suggested purchasing 10×12 foot shed(s) (as the FD uses) to put in Little Red parking lot to serve as the Hub.
Discuss Explore Cobb Facebook Page management Proposal
Consensus is the current offer is too expensive. Glenneth suggested getting other bids. Cathy mentioned internship or Communications major graduate. Cathy appreciates the relations cultivated by Abby. Jim W. suggested exploring options with Kelseyville schools/student programs. Jessica suggested partnering with high school students; Freshman dual-enrollment. Motion to refer to Economic Development Committee with recommendations. Motion by Paul, 2nd by Eliot. All in Favor. Motion passes.
Discussion/Approve Donation of Funds to Mountain Lions
Folded into Ad Hoc Committee formed above.
COMMITTEE REPORTS (3 MINUTES/INDIVIDUAL)
Firewise Communities – Magdelena
Two events coming up: 1) Firewise USA – has a set of Regional Community Coordinators (Magdelena is one of them). They’re Having a quarterly meeting, which is scheduled for 9/5. Covering a guide for the regional coordinators which includes a bunch of CalFire coordinators, who are the official coordinators; also covering risk assessment and 3-year action plan. CalFire now has an agreement with Firewise USA that any community in this State must meet a 3-year action plan instead of the normal 5-year action plan. Several of our Firewise communities are up to task. Also going over Spanish Firewise resources. Resources for Firewise leaders to track risk reduction investments. When asking for a grant must show dollar equivalent. Must prove that the community has invested the time and work when asking for financial assistance. Did that as a group of Firewise communities at the beginning of this year. Still waiting to hear from the Resource Conservation District whether the grant money is coming through. 2) Firesafe Marin has put together a Wildfire Watch Special coming up on Monday from 6-7pm. Email Magdelena if interested.
Communications Committee – Darlene
The new repeater is on the Mountain. Had first week of check-ins on the new repeater. Some users had issues being on the correct channel, overall, it went well. People can hear each other better and further away from each other. Still have a few GMRS users needing their radios reprogrammed. Mel will be gone to Australia for 6 weeks. Cathy commented on the Rainbow Fire that Cobb Alert Net put out an alert, and that Watch Duty post was 15 minutes after Darlene put out Alert on the radio. Darlene commented on the communications during the Rainbow Fire. Darlene clarified with Chief Duncan who puts out evacuation warnings, orders, and asked what an evacuation request is. The Sheriff issues all notifications related to evacuations.
Forest Health Committee – Eliot
Will resume activities in September
Economic Development Committee – Chris
No report
Blackberry Cobbler Festival – August 26th – Cathy
Cathy – mentioned all the activities offered, the restaurant at Mountain Meadow will be open during the festival, listed all the sponsors. Boggs Mountain guided hike the following day (Sunday), Lake County Amateur Golf Tournament at Adam Springs Golf Course opens on the 25th (Friday). Lions Club will become a “cobbler factory” on Friday the 25th – making 1,400 cobblers. 2 shifts, 9A and 1P. There will be Bingo after the festival.
NEXT MEETING: September 21, 2023
Cathy (Chair) will be absent, Jake (Vice-Chair) will be unavailable, Darlene (Secretary) will chair.
ADJOURNED at 8:20pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Darlene Warner, Secretary