Category: 2016 Minutes

COBB AREA COUNCIL

PUBLIC MEETING

Thursday, November 17, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426

MINUTES

The meeting was called to order at: 5:58 PM.

GENERAL

 

1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES from October 20

Moved to approve: Gary Prather, seconded: Barbara Flynn. In favor: all ayes

 

1. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins./individual)
   1. Charlene Hamilton: Wants to find out how to get in touch with delivery of tap water and chopped wood; is disabled now.
      1. Answer: LakeCountyLumber.com re free firewood–see on CAC site
      2. Mike Kramer: CalPine Geothermal
   2. Linda Darms from MATH: Asked about redrawing the boundaries
      1. Eliot Hurwitz, CAC Chair, has talked with Fletcher and Claude. MATH has a copy of the CAC map which is also on the CAC website. Intention: spend regular time together and coordinate between the 2 municipal advisory councils; expect a good partnership.
      2. Jessyca Lytle specified that the furthest line out follows the Cobb Area Plan, reduced specifically to the fire area, then expanded slightly for water consolidation including Seigler Springs. In total, the area has really been reduced if anything. That’s the original thought and idea and it wasn’t random.
   3. Barbara Flynn: Misunderstandings are going around that CAC is an extension of Friends of Cobb, and we aren’t.
      1. Gary Prather: MATH must be aware that the boundaries at MATH is for the focus of areas of need for your residents. I am from Loch Lomond, and the only thing we have in common with Middletown proper is the zip code, and that is one of the reasons we want our own council.
      2. Eliot: CAC membership is for anyone who lives inside the CAC boundary.
      3. Fletcher Thornton: Originally MATH only wanted Middletown, and the powers that be wanted it to include Fire District. So MATH hadn’t wanted to be this far anyway.
      4. Jessyca: We should go to MATH meetings also.

 

1. UNVEILING OF NEW CAC CONTACT POINTS
   1. Jessica Pyska: CAC has its own new mailing address and website. (Applause). Website is a place to archive agendas and minutes, videos when we get onto that. Includes committee reports. We have 340 email addresses on our list; Facebook: over 200 followers. Please send photos and we can create a gallery. Contact page is working.
   2. CAC, P.O. Box 1442, Cobb 95426; cobbareacouncil@gmail.com. (Applause.)

 

1. PRESENTATION (Mike Dunlap): Long-Term Disaster Recovery Center  at the Little Red School House
   1. Mike was previously the Lions Club Secretary and is now VP, which allows him the time to do facilities and fundraising. Will go outside the county for grants. Project costs: $350K to upgrade, put a foundation, re-lamp, new floor, upgrade bathrooms for ADA, working diligently to use more and more for community; $100K for parking lot so visitors don’t have to tromp through mud and rain.Need assistance; CalPine is giving money for roof to protect the structure. Have spent $9K on rewiring because running the recovery center made the electrical panel blow out (caught fire, but people were here to put it out).  (Applause.)
   2. Question: Where to send donations?  — We will shortly have the means to receive tax-deductible donations. Lions Club is nonprofit 501c4 (i.e., donations are NOT tax-deductible), and legal advice is to set up a 501c3 foundation. Now concentrating on maintaining service, served Clayton Fire, moved the containers to Lower Lake to help them; Dec 22: Tzu Chi coming to prepare a traditional Chinese vegetarian meal and distribute bento boxes for shut-ins; Dec 25 our own free Xmas dinner here Lion’s Club, also working with Twin Pine on Thanksgiving. Also working on a Lions’ Club website, differentiating between the Lion’s club and the project itself (for donations). Need more legal help from Lions Club International. Can take donations through foundation in Santa Rosa, and earmark for the community center. Must set  up a separate account for the building.
   3. Question: What about sheriff’s department for a center, maybe you can consider what they’ve done and direct people there.  — Lions Club Center will focus on recovery, not be stretched like Sheriff’s Department. Several organizations are interested in setting up to make use of the center that way. Have put in dedicated circuits to support case management activities. There’s no public building up here other than this building. The trophy case will be removed and that can be a book exchange, kids could come by and trade, maybe a bookmobile, too.

 

1. UPDATE ON CALRECYCLE INSURANCE CLAIMS and other pertinent issues from the Board of Supervisors (Rob Brown):
   1. Calpine Tree Removal support: Last month’s CAC minutes were premature re CalPine expanding its tree removal support. There was no response from the public and there was not a whole lot of response but now people are concerned. Just looking at the potential of expanding the program; must handle problems with liability, especially where there’s a house nearby. Cobb Community Investment Fund committee will meet privately this Saturday to iron out details. The program stops at tree dropping; removal has to be by someone else. We’re trying to manage expectations. One guy has 20 acres and he doesn’t plan to rebuild–program there is not going to happen. We’re starting with single acre properties, as $25K doesn’t go a long way. Aerial photos show still a lot of trees.
      1. Kathleen Haskett : Will there be priorities? Some people have removed their trees but are unable to get permission to remove  neighbors’. Brown: It’s a civil matter with the neighbors re proper notification per State. If you take down a live tree or part-live tree, then you become liable.
      2. Catherine Hamilton: Has neighbor who didn’t even know they owned the lot with beetle infestation right next to her house. Brown: That matter is secondary to trees as a fire hazard; USDA program will cover the beetled trees.
   2. CalHome: Nov 28 deadline to HCD for administer the program. Entities in Lake County involved: Hammers for Hope, Hope City and Habitat for Humanity for rehab and first-time home owners. County will be involved in the oversight, get the money out on the street. Public workshop to come. Jeff Lucas: potential $5.2 M for first-time homeowners.
   3. State money available for mitigation, need to apply; Jan Coppinger told him that 25% match needed. Will find 7-8 sirens.  Meeting in Sacramento on the 18th with State. Need to ramp up local communication system to announce the meaning of the siren when it sounds.
      1. Question: Will sirens that don’t work be replaced? Brown:  Fire Department solely responsible for condition of sirens. County OES will work with them on funding. Remote sounding them off is all the County can and will do. The sirens may be obsolete and the Fire Department will decide on what to do.
      2. Tom Slait: You don’t want the sirens going off for a chimney fire. South Lake and OES will work out testing, and little priorities like that.
      3. Jessyca :ytle: Nixle not always working, so infrastructure will show gaps. Communications subcommittee needs to pick up.
      4. Collecting on the insurance for homeowners, contract still in negotiation — need more details to tighten it up, maybe ready in January. Options: put back out to bid, county run the program, need to discuss.
   4. CalPine Winter Wonderland to happen again at Black Rock.
   5. General Plan for County has to be updated every 10 years. Takes a lot of staff time and money to get done. Talked with Community Development Department Director Bob Massarelli, Must start it right and do it on Lower Lake, Middletown, Cobb. Need to identify a group of people in each of these areas, since we’re going to do this anyway. Community will be given general guidelines on roles and responsibilities. Must start now, so when spring comes, Cobb is ready to go. New supervisors coming on board, new planning commissioners–next month one guy is retiring after 18 years and we need applications, please keep in mind.
   6. Grants for CDBG money: Jeff Lucas is managing the process; discussed at last meeting with him wanting for a long time to have a park for kids; Rob has talked with Jessica Pyska and she will put together a group to work on this. We’re the only one that has no park. Applications possible when county and community are ready.
   7. FEMA reimbursement to County and continuance of tree cleanup on private property . Spent a lot of time, but we haven’t been reimbursed yet. Awarded contract to Warner Logging. Holding back on proceeding, as it costs $1.25M for monitoring where they go, so it is very expensive not to have the FEMA money in hand.
      1. Question: What about Konocti Conservation Camp? Brown: Yes, they do tree removal but only for county right of way, not private property.
   8. Rob’s Phone: 349-2628. He says it’s OK to put the phone number on the CAC website. Jessica Pyska invited him to send anything he needs to be put on the website.
   9. Question: Fletcher Thornton concerned that they’re going to outlaw marijuana grows on boundaries north. Down the hill were places that were excluded 10 years ago but should now be brought in as residential areas. Brown: still trying to understand the full impact of Prop 64. We have discretion on dispensaries and manufacturing, and other supervisors can do what they like, but we don’t need these activities in District 5.

 

FUTURE ITEM: Put Prop 64 implications on a future agenda.

 

1. TEAM LAKE COUNTY (TLC) SERVICES STATUS (Team Lake County Vice-Chair Moke Simon, Case Management committee lead Jacqueline Maxman)
   1. There had been TLC Executive Board confusion but now all is consolidated and there are no public meetings anymore. Each member organization operates independently. Most well known is Hope City. They have built  6-7 houses with 1 in Cobb. They have committed to building 50-54 homes. They are working with Lions Club in Middletown, making the volunteer dormitory. Mennonite Disaster Services  to come in and build also.
   2. Disaster case management has been a challenge; have heard many complaints. There are 900+ potential cases and only a few full-time case workers.
   3. TLC meets second Friday of every month, 10-12 at Methodist Church, Middletown. Website: tlc.org has some information. NCO is the fiscal sponsor, don’t have a lot of money.
   4. Question: Brown: There’s a case management building in Clearlake, can we get that closer to Middletown and Cobb?
      1. Maxman: Clearlake center not costing anything. TLC has a thin budget. All donations received have been earmarked for rebuilding homes earmarked, so no administration money. Working now with 13-14 Americorps kids, Middletown Rancheria helping out.
      2. Question: What is current status of cases? 1300 potential caseload, including individuals and households. Biggest challenge is that case management is voluntary, so we might call and don’t get anybody so we can’t force anyone. Very part-time volunteer case managers, not as effective as full-time. Renters from Clayton Fire that had been in Lower Lake, now renters in the Avenues in Clearlake; this wasn’t a giant shift for them because same school district etc.
      3. Question: Shouldn’t you be raising funds to hire someone? Costs $46,000/yr to pay somebody to do case management (not including administrative costs for the hire). Trying to get funding. As a committee, case management has to leave it to TLC to get the money so case managers can focus on cases.
      4. Question: If you were offered a location closer to the center of the disaster, would you use it? Potentially — need wifi, need a place that is safe–and well-lit because we work late; concerned for everyone’s personal safety. Our entire office would fit in this room right now. The police department treats us really, really well and come through regularly.
      5. Question: What are the statistics for Cobb? We can’t tell because it is a voluntary process. I see less than a handful of folks coming through our caseload. In June and July we did a mass call. Of 900 people, has 500 people still inactive, in other words didn’t return any of our two calls.
      6. Question: What are you doing about the people who still need help but haven’t gotten through?  Instead of looking for people, it seems like people who need help would come looking. Current caseload is 300. We’re done with any intake, so we are concentrating on these 300. Maybe some people here can pass the word on.
      7. Question: First thing we did, we told people  where to go. People didn’t think they needed help then, so they didn’t go. Now they need help, but have lost contact. It’s a challenge.
      8. Question: You do intake, and then provide what services? You refer them, or provide them? We fill out the forms: if you were insured/uninsured/underinsured, and then we get verification on proof of residence, voluntary rebuild needed (ie.. free and clear of debt or less than $25K in debt, paid off). If you’ve been declined for SBA (maybe failed the income test), then we put you through the different apps — applies only to homeowners. Otherwise, renter is referred to Craig’s List, FEMA list, etc. We help find the rental and assistance on first and last month’s. Connect them to furniture via “House in a box” and see what they need for individual pieces of furniture.
      9. Question: Given the caseload, how long does it take for a case to go through all of it? Depends on the person. Depends on the issue, too, say, can’t rebuild because septic is crushed. Get case manager at 707-994-2910
      10. Question: In future, could you let us hear about Cobb cases? Red Cross will help out on the information at the monthly TLC meeting tomorrow.

 

1. PRESENTATION ON ASSISTANCE TO SMALL BUSINESS in the fire recovery area (Jeff Lucas)
   1. We have workshops on financing your business; 1:1 consultation similar to case management in that a business owner might need to understand cash flow, marketing.
   2. Andy Nester will help you use the internet to do marketing; can help with permit issues like when new kitchen coming in.
   3. Cobb Business Summit coming. Can access Mendocino funds; $0.5M coming in from someplace, interest rates are not as low as I’d like them to be; deals possible when collateral is limited, insurance to cover that. Can extend so payment schedule easier to handle. Have several loans done in the area. Info on our website.
   4. Question: Resources to market us as a community? No. We can develop that. EDC can go after grants as long as there is an advantage to the community. Worked closely in the past with Rob Brown and Carol Ann Huchingson re  CDBG money, and will do more as we want more of that here.
   5. Barbara Flynn: Whole community needs a sign promotion, we have 2 golf courses etc. stop and see us — if we’re all behind it, Jeff could come up with funds. Maybe do it at a facility in Middletown as you come over the hill, “Go see Cobb!” Dissolve our boundaries. We have MATH and MAMA here.
   6. Moke: Marketing ourselves is needed. We’ve done that as a tribe, put a sign up at Calistoga. had to work with CalTrans. Rancheria here for entire community.
   7. LCEDC services are free. Want to participate more here in Cobb.
   8. Re Cobb Area Plan, LCEDC will participate in private sector: business attraction for the entire county.
   9. Andy Nester. Business Advisor for small business. Met Jeff in May 2015 formed, joined him in July 2015. Consultation is through SBDC work funded by SBA and other sponsors, covers northeastern region of CA; 18 business advisors, he’s here in Lake Co. Since I’ve been working here, have met 38 individuals and businesses, 18 active clients. 6 have been funded, by EDC and Umpqua Bank.
   10. We can start from the simple declaration, “I want to start,” all the way to strategic plans, ongoing management for growth, help with cash flow, become successful in Lake Co. Program is for meeting 1-3 times to assess needs, build on that, all the way through exit plan. Andy was 50 years in tech, operated and funded 3 companies. Retired in 2006 and moved up here. Experienced in fields: restaurant, catering, retail, starting up retail, high tech, motel, campground. Philosophy: Every business is about three elements: people, products and services, money. Meshing them leads to how they work together and a business plan.
   11. Question: What about someone who became permanently disabled after the fire, and wants to sell business? Master carpenter built her a pop-up flower shop, portable, nice for wineries to draw people in, just got barely started. We can meet and form a strategy and selling needs a business plan. I would like to teach a young woman to take over.
   12. Question: Very interested in business development. what about code enforcement? EDC has nothing to do with it. Maybe we can bring it up in another meeting of the CAC. Brochures on the table.

 

FUTURE ITEM FOR THE AGENDA: Business code enforcement.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

1. Emergency Preparedness — none

1. 1. Communications – none, committee chair absent.
   2. Hazard Mitigation – Gary Prather
      1. Jessyca Lytle mentioned the USDA program. Seigler is sending in application. Funds can be used to clear slash and trees dead from beetles. You must have the property surveyed – we had Jim Harley private forester. And then you qualify. Pay for it yourself, then the funds are reimbursed, $540/acre max depending on the condition of the property.
      2. Jessyca: Met Kate O’Donnell, Corinne Woodard for 1-½ hrs. New program: press release was Nov 7 that funding is available. Meant for landowners with acreage. Cost offset for forest improvement program. Process: call and tell them your needs. They come out and survey to compare physically, then discuss what they can offer. If need qualifies, then fill out the application. You have to contract the work, and complete it yourself (or hire). They come out and see whether the work is done as per agreement parameters, then they will cut the reimbursement check in two weeks. Landowners interested need to apply before the beginning of February and get into the current funding cycle before it ends and while it is still more or less safe to burn. Otherwise, if you wait until after February, you will get caught in the summer months that restrict your ability to complete work safely because of the burn ban period.  List of qualified material includes: slash, logs on the ground, milling also possible. Reforestation and replanting and getting seedlings, brush abatement later. Won’t pay for the slash previous to the Fire–will be part of the assessment.
      3. Gary: If you start work now, may not get reimbursed until 2017 because the amount of work had to be broken into pieces.. Next funding cycle begins in February, so if you start the application now, you could possibly make it inside the burn ban period (which starts in May).
      4. Maps – Gary Prather: Has seen improvements in online maps but hasn’t fed it himself; now Seigler roads are showing correctly vs. when first responders for Valley Fire thought they were on Ridge Road but were actually on Mountain road.
      5. Resources — Robert Stark: Had to leave for another meeting
   3. Rebuild Advocacy — Ron Haskett
      1. Things are moving, drove around Gifford Springs: really cool, they’re not messing around. Was talking in the beginning of the disaster to people not wanting to rebuild, and now that’s changing.
      2. Rob: Numbers of permits are misleading because they could cover electrical and other contractors. The speed is good, we have been behind on inspections. Big issue: marijuana permits booming. Marijuana can wait while everybody is trying to rebuild! Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to deny hiring two new staff members for the Planning Department. Please talk to the other supervisors to have them act on this situation.
   4. Neighborhood Watch — Inez Wenckus absent
   5. Cobb Abatement Monitoring — Karl Parker
      1. Wants to get earlier on the agenda sometime.
      2. Dan Nelson said this afternoon that he had received notification of official ok to clean up the main lodge! A company with 30 years of Hazmat experience has been clearing 6 sensitive locations with high percent friable asbestos. When these are done, they will continue. More bad weather and the Thanksgiving holiday will slow things down.
      3. Brown: CAC meeting time was all taken up by Hoberg’s at the beginning,  and I was still getting 30 calls a day. Thank you for stepping in. Made a huge difference. Will they donate land toward a park? Put it in their ear.
      4. Transitioning into weed/brush abatement and beetle tree removal and cleanup
      5. Plan outlined on the website. $2M insurance if you bring the tree down when there’s a structure around. Start with trees before you build!
      6. People need to really start talking with neighbors and see what their plans are to rebuild, and ask them to please cut the trees down. Ron and Kathleen, you’ve tried to connect your neighbors. County can’t get involved, per Anita Grant. Lake Co Bar Assn is helping: working on a draft letter template to say they are responsible for when the trees fall down and that you will take a legal course of action.  The Cobb Community Investment fund will include this in their discussion.
      7. CAC website: posted a lot of resources re tree removal etc. chipping, milling.
      8. South Lake Fire District is doing chipping as a regular program.
      9. Dan Nelson is still offering his tree program to drop trees. Will cover Summit Drive on the other side of the church, he will bring his crew and equipment to anyone there with a Right of Entry. He will haul away as well. See number on website.
      10. Boggs Forest update (Cindy Leonard): Forest Manager had said they would start burning but was concerned re daily for air quality, and it doesn’t seem to be as troublesome as expected. Smoke management plan needed. Took pictures, as Boggs has been burning a while now, and they’re high enough that the smoke is blowing to Middletown and Hidden Valley, so it’s  not a problem up here. Will keep links from Friends of Boggs on the CAC site, plus photos.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

1. FORMATION OF NEW AD HOC COMMITTEE TO MONITOR ONGOING RELIEF EFFORTS
   1. Committee would work actively with TLC on case management issues. Provide communications and access, perhaps. Work at least next 6 months, they are facing a tremendous load need to mobilize.

 

MOTION: Magdalena Valderrama moved to establish the new committee. Seconded: Jessyca Lytle. All ayes.

 

1. 1. Jacqui Maxman: In order to work in the case management office in Clearlake, you have to be cleared through NCO (North Coast Opportunities) and get a background check. We’ll let you process data if you lost a home but we won’t let you work with clients.
   2. Clarification that this is not about case management, the committee want to help TLC with communication. Committee volunteers: Tamsen Nash, Charlene Hamilton, Magdalena Valderrama.

 

VOTE: All ayes in favor.

 

1. CELEBRATING SUCCESSFUL REBUILDING IN THE COBB AREA
   1. Cindy: Put a star on our CAC map for each rebuild. Hoberg’s work needs to be celebrated! She has been out with her chainsaw. Invite guests to our meetings and honor them maybe and put a list on our website.
   2. Ron Haskett: Newspaper interviewed us, looked at the house next door, only wants to talk re the “bad” and always taking pics of the burnt trees. Need our own press releases. People want to come and see the change.
   3. Jessica: For the New Year, let’s celebrate what has happened. Pics of everyone on their front porch, make slider for website.
   4. Green stars for starts, gold for finishes.
   5. Celebrate at Tzu Chi dinner on Dec 22 — this is day after solstice, you get an extra minute of daylight. Catholic Charities bringing bags of food.
   6. Post on Bulletin board on post office — stars to bring hope.
   7. Question: Can county give numbers? Talk to Bob Massarelli about total of permits. Ron Haskett says lumberyard sees all the permits, and they can work with that.
   8. Question: Is it ok that someone gives new signboard 4×8

 

1. POTENTIAL COBB BUSINESS SUMMIT
   1. Barbara: Need to get businesses together. so scattered, and need plans to do joint advertising, work with each other instead of apart.

 

1. 1. FUTURE 0ITEM: Potential Cobb Business Summit

 

FINAL COMMENTS/ SOLICITATION: DECEMBER MEETING AGENDA ITEMS

 

1. Treasurer’s report. Wrote 2 checks to get post office box, and money for website=$200 total. Dunlap: Ask for free nonprofit box at post office, there’s a form.
2. Need to announce CalPine support
3. Tremendous challenge to communicate all this information, especially as many people still have no internet, please pass on the info.
4. RE Tree hazards on neighbor’s lots: When contacting neighbors, please keep a log of when you called, what happened, and if you send a letter do it certified return receipt to build a file. Bar Assn atty says there can be a boilerplate to fill out. If they don’t respond to you, we can try attorney letter
5. How much friendlier chair.

 

MOTION to Adjourn

Adjournment: 8:02pm

 

Minutes submitted by Magdalena Valderrama

COBB AREA COUNCIL
Public Meeting
Thursday, October 20, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426

Draft Minutes

Agenda

• Call to Order – 6:13 p.m. called to order by Eliot Hurwitz

CAC members present – Eliot, Gary, Jessyca L, Jessica P., and Cindy.  (Barbara absent)

Audience present – 32 people

• Announcements

Mike Dunlap (Secretary -Cobb Mtn Lions club) – Oct 29th is the Cobb Mtn Lions Lobster Boil Fundraiser. Tickets are $55. Tickets in advance only. They can be purchased until this Tuesday. Food served will be lobster, veggies, and sausage.

• Approval of Minutes from September 15^th CAC meeting

Motion to approve – Jessica Pyska  Second –  Cindy Leonard

– All in favor –   motion passes

• Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3mins./individual)

• A newly formed county group –  Lake County Disaster Council was formed as, “an official advisory body to the County of Lake Board of Supervisors.  As an advisory body, the Disaster Council’s purpose is to lead ongoing efforts to improve preparedness countywide and provide oversight for critical disaster functions.”

The council is comprised of members of the board of supervisors, county directors and administrators, city managers, fire, police and sheriff’s office managers and the county’s emergency services manager. Meetings  are held quarterly.

• Rob Brown stated – the meetings are scheduled for the 3^rd Thurs at the Board of Supervisors on a quarterly basis. The Disaster Council meetings information will be posted on the Operations of Emergency Service  (OES )page in the future. The first meeting was held today and the main emphasis  was to discuss role of OES and Sheriffs, as well as the grants that have been applied for.
• Eliot and Magdalena Hurwitz stated that they went to meeting and gave additional updates for the  CAC. They also had a road update discussion had with Scott DeLeon regarding road infrastructure projects in the Seigler Springs area.
• Eliot further commented that he was happy to see the kind of coordination to organizations like CAC to keep us apprised of infrastructure work/projects being done.
• The Disaster Council meeting is on Jan 19^th @10am at the Board of Supervisors board room.

• A proposal that Thursday Dec 22 there be a Christmas dinner at the Cobb Lions in coordination with Catholic charities. (suggested parties to consider in coordinating this? CAC, Tzui Tci, Cobb School?)
• Team Lake County update – Magdalena Hurwitz stated that she has been to several meetings and she is concerned that the CAC may need to be aware of and/or  help in the advising of with TEAM Lake county to help move case work forward. Red Cross has given funds and resources, but TEAM Lake County still has approx. 400 people at level one in case management. There was a session open to the public for those in need of services of case management on Cobb and no one showed for the meeting. Funds were present at the meeting to give to those in need.  Magdalena suggests to put on agenda for next CAC meeting to set up a new adhoc committee to  advise and help with communication to allow people to be better served via case work through TEAM Lake county.
• Cindy Leonard– Unclaimed raffle prizes left over from the Rebuild Expo in several months ago will be raffled off to all CAC members present tonight.

Winners

Vanity top – Carol Germenis

In-home paint consultation – Larry Ray

Bottle of wine – Denise Lindquist

Bottle of Wine – Cindy Leonard

Bottle of Wine – Jessica Pyska

Bottle of wine – Gary Prather

Bottle of Wine – Inez

Bottle of wine – Jim Ferrell

Bottle of wine – Eliot

Bottle of wine – Linda Ferrell

Drill – Dave Rogers

Bottle of wine – Mike Dunlap

Bottle of wine – Case Eddleman

Bottle of Wine – Jessyca Lytle

In-home paint consultation – Karl Parker

Bottle of wine – Todd Slate

• Karl Parker – Lake Transit – Informing that the Pay your Pal program is available to help people lacking transportation get rides.  Announcing that this program exists.  (Get brochure with details from Karl)
• Ben Murphy – ( Cobb Area Water District Manager) Announced several water district updates. Greenspan is turning in a plan for insurance. They are trying to get a grant for amount that the insurance can’t pay for.  The grant only covers tank, well rebuild costs.

Rate increase –  As time goes on and more people go back online the rates will start to go down again dependent on where you live.

Cobb Water District yard project –  only ¼ yard done in this project so far.

Overall – Out of the 256 homes lost on Cobb area water now there are now about 49 to 50 are back on again. In Adams Springs alone there are 77 hook ups total and only 2 have come back online.

• General question regarding trees marked by county for removal.  Is the county not taking any more trees at this time?

Rob Brown updated –  All of the trees that say LC on them are pending. We are waiting on funding to get the go ahead to proceed and take them down.

• Joan Moss – Makes a general statement – Isn’t it nice that it rained!! Smiles and “Yes” comments throughout were exclaimed in response

• Presentation by Sasha Shempliner on “Airkrete insulation” (an innovative fire proof insulation product)

Airkrete Insulation  is a safe, biodegradable, energy efficient, fire and mold proof  spray insulation product

Sasha showed an informational  video  about the product and further explained its benefits. The video and/or link will be available for viewing on the CAC website. Sasha states that house fires can reach max temp in 20 minutes and then the remaining hour to two hours after  it starts to slow down. During studies of the product airkrete, measurements were taken of this process using thermal imaging camera to study it, and areas using it do not burn. In order for the fire to move it needs air. This insulation does not help with this. Aikrete seals the air out. It doesn’t melt because the melting temp is too high. Using this product is like an insurance policy in itself

This is a new product and many do not know about it yet. If insurance companies knew about it they probably would require it.

Some might be concerned about contractors using materials that are exactly the same as what was there when people lost their homes. Airkrete is applied like any spray foam insulation.

It’s economical with the same r value of expanded foam. Also it’s completely biodegradable. It’s made of 94% air and the rest magnesium oxide. It does not allow mold, or pests because it dries out what it comes in contact with.

Questions

Gary Prather – ques – Cost comparison compared to regular insulation? Answer:  It costs more than fiberglass but half the price of foam. The process to apply airkrete –  it is sprayed on and has a shaving cream texture. It’s light and it’s easier to pull wire through than fiberglass. It can’t be damaged by water even if there is a pipe leak.

Ques – Does the insurance industry recognize that this is a better product ? Answer: No. But  you would need to work with your individual insurance to inform them about the product and  inform them of its advantages.

Inez Wenckus – ques. Is netting needed when you apply it? Answer:  No netting needed; it is applied directly onto the sheetrock.

• Sasha passed out information to individuals with further questions and welcomed anyone else with questions to contact him.

• Decision/Approval Items– Authorizing opening of CAC Bank Account

Recently the CAC applied for community funds from CALPINE community investment fund and received $3,000 last month to use for seed money/start up costs. The funds that were applied for are restricted to – Costs for specific start up costs, i.e website domain and all other web fees, P.O. Box set up, LCD projector to project information at meetings, etc.

A vote is needed to approve establishing a bank account at Bank of the West, Clearlake Branch. Members of the council who will be approved as signers. Council Members: Eliot Hurwitz (chair), Gary Prather (Treasurer), and Jessyca Lytle (Secretary).

Motion to approve made by – Robert Stark     Second – Magdalena Hurwitz   – all in favor –   motion passes

It is a Free account.  All signers have to get to bank before the 28^th.

Ques – Brought up by multiple members of the council regarding the pros and cons of non-profit status. Are we able to establish 501c3. This will be looked into and report out about findings will be given at next mtg.

• • Additional Ad in Report by Council Chair and Treasurer to update about website. Refered to  council member Jessica Pyska . She stated as well as submitted an invoice for web domain for the amount of $192.70. Jessica stated that she needs forwarded agendas and minutes for each month and finalized/approved bylaws so she can post them on the website. The website will be up and running soon – definitely by the next meeting.  The website is:   cobbareacouncil.org

Email to send info to be posted on the website: cobbareacouncil@gmail.com

• Committee Reports
  • Emergency Preparedness (Gary Prather) Not as worried about fires at this point in the season. Be aware of erosion; make sure gutters are clean, etc.
    • Communications (Jill Martin)
    • Hazard Mitigation (Gary Prather) PG&E continuing to take down trees due to beetle killed trees. Chipping crews can be available to help get rid of the slash. The regular, ongoing chipping program has grant money for about 4 more weeks of chipping before they are done. The application is on the CAC Facebook site.

Cindy Leonard – added that Jim Harvey wants to inform people that this winter there will be a lot of fire and smoke due to the need to burn slash and wood from timber taken down as a result of the fire.

Magdalena Hurwitz suggested that the CAC be generally informed as to when it might be done.

Ques – What to do with logs left on property that have been cut by PG&E. Can we work on finding resources to work with the Cobb area residents to remove fell trees (potentially for firewood or milling) especially in residential areas? Gary Prather suggests an option would be to have CAC contact Brian Bottari with PG&E to see if there can be a way to resolve this.

• • Maps – Gary Prather. Gary stated he has noticed that someone is already working on map issues and telling those who provide mapping. Some errors have already been corrected on mapquest, so already some errors have already been corrected. Gary will continue to follow up on this as time goes on.
  • Resources – Robert Stark – It is at a point where the physical resources (in the ground) are just now are being arranged for financially and otherwise. Until then we will not know a lot of things until some of things thing start to go in the ground are being brought up to date.

OES division of drinking water emergency plan is being work on once a month by meeting and by individuals. The county is divided into 3 sections. Each section will have a captain and that captain during emergency times will go to OES headquarters and coordinate resources and staff needed in that area. Work is being done on creating ID cards for staff for each employee, detailing their agency, and an ID number that will be stored electronically for captains to access and activate during emergency times.

• • Rebuild Advocacy – Ron Haskett – (not present. Nothing reported)
  • Neighborhood Watch – Inez Wenckus – Call and let her know if anything comes up in your area. Had a couple of incidents where she got good responses/results from those involved in the watch.
  • Cobb Abatement Monitoring – Karl Parker – special report on Hobergs Resort Cleanup.

Karl Parker – presented a slide show and provided a detailed update (updates will be available in the future on the CAC website)

A Brief overview of report – more detailed report on Facebook page

Metal Cleanup

Metal  cleanup as of last week – they  moved 22  40’ truck containers of metal. Before and after pictures were shown of several areas of Hobergs Resort to show clean up progress. Approximately 30 loads have been taken to the dump.

Debris Removal

Removing debris along back ridgeline now from several different sites

Karl explained as a reminder of the complexity of the project that there are 3 categories of cleanup (general  debris cleanup without asbestos present, debris with <1% asbestos present, debris with > 1% asbestos present)

As of this morning 24 buildings have been cleared. The two motel buildings are cleared. 40 buildings/sites are remaining. The specialized HAZMAT debris removal @ contaminated sites (> 1% asbestos) will begin as soon as weather permits.

Question – Joan Moss – About how many had Greater than 1% (Karl will get exact info and get that to us)

Wood removal 

They are still working very hard on this. New equipment has increased output to 7 – 12 Cords per day.

Wood is still free to Cobb residents. They are also charging $225 for a cord of oak. They have so far delivered 160 cords locally.

Number of workers engaged

There are 12 HAZMAT-certified workers on-site, as well as 40 general laborers working mainly on the wood processing operation.  (Combination of paid employees/ and workers provided via CA Human Resource Grant)

Obviously, the rainy weather has become a factor that has slowed progress quite a bit. However, to all appearances, the Hobergs management remains committed to maintaining momentum and bringing the project to completion as soon as possible. The Abatement Monitoring Committee continues to maintain regular contact with the Hobergs management, as well as County officials in order to support and encourage successful completion of the goal.

Question – When was their original target date for completion?

Answer – Oct 15^th but they have adjusted this until the end of the month if weather permits

Cobb Abatement Monitoring’s  Next Challenge – hazard trees (burnt or beetle killed trees).  Also, abatement/management of overgrowth of brush in previous burn areas with a focus on finding ways to engage vacant/absent land owners.

Items to put on agenda for next month

Suggestion to put tree removal on agenda to discuss specifically why Calpine fund for tree removal  has a requirement stating that it isn’t able to take down trees next to newly built houses.

CalRecycle – insurance claims collection, what company will be contracted to complete the process and what that process will look like.

Motion to adjorn meeting – Magdalena Hurwitz    Second –  Joan Moss

Adjorned 8:03 pm

COBB AREA COUNCIL

Public Meeting

Thursday, September 15, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm

Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club

15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426

Draft Minutes

 

• Call To Order @6:07

 

Number in attendance: 20

Committee board members present – Eliot Hurwitz, Barbara Flynn, Jessyca Lytle,  Jessica Pyska,

Gary P. (Absent)

 

• Announcements

 

1. 1. Cobb Community Investment Fund presentation of a $3,000 check to the CAC for start-up funding. Boards members Robert Stark and Jessyca Lytle presented the check to the CAC.
   2. Mike Dunlap, Secretary of the Mountain Lions Club gave an update about the Mtn Lions Club and the closure of the Cobb Mtn Recovery and Donation Center. The Lions are looking for funding to support the continued work needing to be done on Little Red Schoolhouse building. He encouraged everyone to consider this building as our community center.

 

• Approval of Minutes for August 18th

 

Jessyca Lytle moved to approve the minutes – Barbara Flynn seconded, all were in favor.

 

• Public Comment of Non-Agenda Items

 

Joan Moss –Community Member

Shared a letter to the editor that she wrote about the current state of recovery/business in the county

Madeline Martinelli – Board member for South Lake Fire (council or district?)

There is a training for volunteer fire fighters starting in October for Fire Fighter I certification. It is free of charge. Currently there are 4 volunteers in Cobb area and there are none in Loch Lomond area. You have to live in the district and must be 18 yrs of age to apply. Call 987-3089 or go and get application

Sasha Shempliner – Hamrony Air (local contractor). Works with a product called “airkrete” and would love to show/inform people about this insulation product that is extremely fire resistant and biodegradable.

The CAC invited him to speak at our next meeting about “airkrete” and other fire wise building/products.

 

• Information Only – Discussion Items

 

1. 1. Lake Grand Jury Report 2015-2016 (BOS has 90 days to respond as of June 30th)

I don’t have notes for this for some reason…

Information Only – Discussion Items  Continued

 

• Terry Daniels and Carole Cole-Lewis (Lake County Time Bank)

 

Topic: Service exchange/rebuilding

They formed the Lake County Time Bank in 2011 – to get the greater community to come together to exchange services through currency of time rather than cash. Mr. Daniels is originally from an area in NY where there was a crisis of affordable housing. He was part of a group that created a housing cooperative called home enterprise. They got people together to pull/share skills and cash/resources to work on remodeling houses and help create more affordable housing. An entire community built quickly around this work. Licensed professionals for electrical, plumbing, engineering, etc. are a part of this as well as those who do not necessarily have the skills, but want to help and have the time. Licensed professionals also gave classes and instruction to those unskilled at specific tasks. Volunteers were all ages and had varying levels of abilities – they always found a job for everyone who volunteered. A tool cooperative was also created as a result of the housing projects. Both Terry and Carole proposed the idea that after the Valley Fire, this may be a way (with the skills and capital) to help rebuild more affordable housing. If Cobb is interested in doing this or starting this he is interested in helping to create this. They invited all to join the time bank, and if enough people are interested in the home enterprise concept they’ll start it up.

 

• Andre Siberry  (Engineer), Cobb Area resident

 

Topic: Firewise building

Mr. Siberry explained the basic concept of the Fire triangle   – Air – Heat – Fuel-   These are the things required for a fire to burn,  and if one missing then the fire cannot continue to burn. All firewise building is based upon this concept. He suggested reducing fuel and the continued maintenance of reducing fuel around structures to prepare in advance. Know the Fire ladder – grass – brush – trees –  If you can interrupt this ladder then the fire does not have a chance to become a larger fire. He reminded everyone that heat rises – fire moves uphill faster than downhill . This also means that even a creeping fire can come up under your deck. If a deck area is not cleared of brush/pine needles or a barrier is not installed to prevent the fire from creeping under your deck, then a fire can catch both the deck and then the home on fire. If possible around decks, a non-flammable material  like hardiboard can be put into the area between the deck and ground to keep the fire from getting under the house. Also another very important thing : Don’t put your wood pile next to house or leaning up against your house. In general he stated to build your home out of as many things as you can that are not flammable. Examples -Stucco is much more resistant to fire than wood siding; a Metal roof is much more resistant than shingles. Remember to annually clean up roof – keep pine needles off, clean rain gutters, etc. Also keep brush and tall grasses at a minimum around your home. Doing all of these things does not prevent your home from burning in a fire, but it will help with the odds. Best to prepare. Prepare your place to a level that if no one is able to protect your house after a fire has gone through and is still hot/burning for days, then your home has a better chance.

 

• Tony Gonzalez (Gonzalez Brush Busters), Cobb Area Resident

 

Topic: Brush Removal using goats

Goats are the solution – they can very quickly reduce fire fuel up to 80-90%. Mr. Gonzalez stated that the fire came about 75ft from his house, but since he had goats they helped to keep the fuel down, and he could stop the fire. Goats are good for areas that are either very steep or flat. He uses electric netting (powered by solar panels) for fencing for wherever you need the goats. He keeps dogs (Great Pyrenees) fenced in with the goats to protect the goats from predators. Goats eat poison oak, blackberries, manzanita, etc. – they will also eat the dead leaves on the ground from last year. They can be destructive with smaller trees, but they don’t hurt larger trees. He moves them often enough so they don’t get to harm most-sized trees. He’s been goats to reduce/eliminate brush and grasses since 2004.

He typically charges weekly $750-$1400 depending on the size of the job and the goats can clear areas about an acre in size in around a week.

(At the mtg. John Carlisi suggested in agenda and notes and on website to include contact information)

Contact Information: Gonzales Brush Busters (707) 349-1814  www.goatsforlandscaping.com

 

• Committee Reports

 

1. 1. Emergency Preparedness – (Jessyca Lytle reporting out for Gary Prather- Committee Chair)
      1. Communications – Jill Martin (nothing new to report)
      2. Hazard Mitigation – Success of brush removal using goats on Gary’s property. The goats were extremely effective and cleared acres of areas very quickly.
      3. Maps – Gary is working on getting Calfire Incident command maps and will continue from there to make corrections/adjustments to road labels, etc
      4. Resources –( Robert Stark) For consolidation project is moving forward. Mr. Stark also mentioned that he met with new Lake County OES director and the new community development director along with all of the other county water agencies/district managers  to start working together to compile a list of agencies and staff to have authority to step in and work in incident areas in the event of an emergency. Specific agencies (such as water district personnel) need access to emergency zones without question by law enforcement or other emergency incident authorities.  Also these agencies will work together to have a coordinated emergency preparedness plan through OES director.

1. 1. Rebuild Advocacy – Ron Haskett (not present this evening nothing reported)

1. 1. Neighborhood Watch – (Inez Wenckus – Committee Chair)

Planning on doing future mtgs. There are 14 neighborhood watch gourps in the county to date. If anyone is interested in starting one for their neighborhood contact her

Robert Stark stated neighborhood is needed –recently equipment stolen off of property where a house is being built on Sulpher Creek rd.

Barbara Flynn stated the same as Robert – recently at the pub – caught on camera- a person stealing $300 off of the bar (money meant to pay the band)

1. 1. Cobb Abatement Monitoring – Karl Parker – Committee Chair)

Karl gave a detailed summary report with a slideshow. The cleanup has many moving parts.

For wood removal – major amounts of wood have already been removed – also wood delivery program for Cobb – free wood for Cobb residents. No bark is on the split wood. The bark was taken off during the splitting process. Sign up using Lake Co Lumber form and then they will deliver to your house. The link to the form is on the CAC facebook page.

For metal removal – they are currently collecting, washing and transporting the metal.  As of this morning Karl was told they already took away 5 40’containers of metal.

For the Cleanup of structures –there are 2 categories for the cleanup. The first category is anything less than 1% asbestos can be removed and taken to Eastlake landfill once the permits have been completed.

The second category is anything more than 1% asbestos. This has to be removed more carefully and debris taken to special location out of county. All workers will be Hazwoper trained and certified. The primary clean up concern is the friable asbestos. It is not harmful unless it is airborne.  That is why they are keeping the cleanup area moist with water during any part of cleanup process.

Ques – Concerns about enough water and crews managing the dust. Karl said he will follow up on this.

The CAC Cobb Abatement Monitoring Committee is getting weekly updates from Scott Schellinger, the Development Director for Hobergs site. These are posted on CAC facebook site and will be posted on the website in the future.

 

• Decision/Approval Items – none?

• Adjourn

 

At 8:11 pm Jessica Pyska moved to adjourn and Pete Germenis seconded the motion, all were in favor.

COBB AREA COUNCIL

Public Meeting

Thursday, August 18, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm

Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club

15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426

Draft Minutes

Present: Eliot Hurwitz, Barbara Flynn, Jessyca Lytle, Jessica Pyska, Gary Prather

(Cindy Leonard took minutes; 36 people signed in as attendees.)

Eliot Hurwitz, acting as Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm.

1. Introduction of Guests:
   1. Rob Brown: Announced he will be the Clayton Fire Coordinator. Mentioned that the Clayton Fire will not receive FEMA funds for recovery because it did not reach the required size of disaster for help at the federal level.  It will be a very big challenge for Lake County because of the high percentage of people who live in poverty in the affected areas. Mr. Brown answered a question from the public, stating that landowners must cut down dead trees that are endangering a neighbor’s home.  Call Rob Brown with any questions:  707-349-2628.
   2. Jim Wright of CalFire: reported on the cause of the Valley Fire. The 2016 report has been out about a week and can be viewed at: http://calfire.ca.gov/fire_protection/fire_protection_firereports, Valley Fire (CA LNU-008670). All rumors are addressed in the report.
   3. John Colon from the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary at Seigler Springs (historically known as the Seigler Springs Resort). There are several large water sources on this property (ponds, lakes) and they would like to integrate with the greater community to fight fires. They have a 40,000 gal. reservoir for filling fire trucks, as well as firefighting equipment, truck, etc.  Can we put up a communication system to help in an emergency?
   4. Middletown Area Town Hall: The board has an ongoing invitation to attend our C.A.C. meeting to offer comments and suggestions.  No one from MATH was in attendance today.
   5. Dan Desmond from the Lake County Resource Conservation District.  This organization is the implementation side of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and was created after the dust bowl to help communities with sustainable conservation of natural resources. They have been a tremendous help to our community, offering supplies for the school gardens, supporting training for the garden teachers, creating ongoing education for 4th graders with the “Creek Days” event at Putah Creek, as well as watershed education.  Most recently, the RCD is sponsoring a chipping program to help residents clean up from the Valley Fire, as well as taking care of ponderosa and sugar pines and Douglas fir seedlings to help replant the forest.

1. ANNOUNCEMENTS
   1. Valley Fire Anniversary events
      1. David Leonard announced that Cobb School will host a 1year anniversary ceremony at their outdoor amphitheater to thank the many firefighters and others who helped to save our school and to recover from the fire. This will be mainly for the school community, so that we keep a safe environment for the students.
      2. Barbara Flynn announced a 2nd anniversary of the Pub/ Valley Fire Anniversary on Sunday September 11th from 2:00-? for the community to come share stories/reflections and healing.
      3. Karl Parker announced a benefit concert at the Ely Stage Stop on September 10th.  This event is a fundraiser for Hope City to help rebuild homes after the Valley Fire (and maybe Clayton fire?).
      4. Twin Pine event Sunday?
      5. Black Rock event?
   2. Other Announcements:
      1. Joan Moss said CA Human Development workers had been put on hold while a discussion about equity in pay was resolved.  They will be back to work on Monday.
      2. Deb Helleren has concerns about people mowing on hot days.  Can we create guidelines, or are there guidelines we can promote? Reply from Gary Prather that Department of Forestry guidelines are that mowing should only happen in the early morning since fire can spark and it spreads quickly in the heat of the day.  Nevertheless, everyone should be watchful. The fire that occurred on Seigler Mountain the week before at 10 a.m. was discovered to have resulted from a spark at a sawmill that was used early, at 8 a.m. to mill just 6 boards.
      3. Rose and Dave Geck gave a Cobb Valley Fire Recovery Center update. The center will be closing September 11, 2016. There is speculation that the center will relocate to Middletown to assist Clayton Fire. No final details yet, as confirmed by Melanie Garrett of the Red Cross. All gave thanks to those working at the Recovery Center and to the Lion’s Club for hosting for this year!
      4. David Leonard announced that there will be fresh food available at Cobb School on Fridays from 3-4:00 weekly, thanks to North Coast Opportunities and Food Bank of the Redwood Empire. This donation of food is to help support our community during recovery.
      5. A thank you to the Red Cross for their assistance was given.
      6. California HOPE gave an update on what they can offer during the final days they are deployed to our community (paid by a FEMA grant).  Their last day is October 12th, one year from the day the Valley Fire was declared a National Disaster. Lance Bushmandirected people to their flyer that lists the support meetings.  He noted that the fire anniversary can create triggers with anxiety. Lorna O’Kelley mentioned that self care is very important and H.A.T. (healing after trauma).
      7. Mike Dunlap, Secretary of the Mountain Lions Club, stated that the Lion’s Club is in need of financial and physical help.  With the recovery center open they are seeing $800 PGE bills.  He invited people to join the Lions Club, which Eliot immediately did! The community is invited to the annual Labor Day (Sunday) pancake breakfast.
   3. Approval of the minutes of June 9: Motion–Dave Geck, Seconded–Karl Parker, all were in favor
   4. Approval of the minutes of July 26th: Motion–Rose Geck, Seconded–David Leonard, all were in favor

1. Committee Reports
   1. Emergency Preparedness — Gary Prather, Committee Chair
      1. Communications — Jill Martin: nothing to report at this time. Repairing old sirens is too costly, Tim Kaminsky working to get brand new sirens.
      2. Hazard mitigation — chipping program from RCD, there might be a flyer from CalFire regarding mowing/milling guidelines.
      3. Maps — David Rogers is a new volunteer to help with this.  Ron Sharp is the county contact for maps.
      4. Resources — Robert Stark. Hydrants: Robert did the water element for the S.L.C.F. District and will use this information for water resources. Grant: they will be going door to door this weekend in Pine Grove and Bonanza Springs to get paperwork complete so we don’t miss the grant opportunity for water consolidation.
      5. ** Volunteers needed at South Lake Fire District!! Age 18 or older and must live in district**
   2. Neighborhood Watch — Inez Wenckus. A meeting is being planned at the Pub, date to be announced soon. Neighborhood Watch is happening all around the lake.
   3. Cobb Abatement Monitoring — Karl Parker.  Due to the Clayton Fire, he was unable to put together the handout he had planned. The committee has had 3 meetings with Scott Schellinger (Development Director) and Dan Nelson of Hoberg’s.  Karl does believe there is real movement happening towards cleanup of property and has taken photos. Of the 65 structures, each one needs testing (by the Forensic Analysis Consulting Services) and a separate abatement plan. These have been done. They have been submitted to the county for approval. There are complex mitigation and inspection procedures.  There is a segregation of metal happening and 100 cords of wood per week are being processed. The community is invited to take photos to document any things that concern them or that they want to share.  A helper is needed to construct an information board at the Post Office. To contact Karl Parker, call 529-1649.

1. Information Only discussions
   1. CalFire Report on the Valley Fire CA LNU-008670.  Discussed earlier in the meeting.
   2. Lake County Grand Jury Report 2015-16
      1. state of the county Office of Emergency Services (9 pages) — not covered
      2. state of fire safety in the county — Eliot read out
      3. nuisance abatement after the wildfires — Eliot read out
      4. BOS has 90 days to respond, and the report was issued June 30, 2016–Rob Brown clarified that the Board compiles responses from the various departments that were listed in the report and then presents these responses in a single document. Also, planning is one thing, implementation is another.  There are not enough funds for the $180,000 3 warning sirens. Right now if we are fundraising, it might be best to put it towards those affected by the Clayton Fire.  He has only one staff person to help at the LAC (local assistance center).
      5. Joan Moss commented that there are still NOAA Weather radios available from the Sheriff.

1. Decision/approval items:
   1. Cobb Community Investment Fund application. The application will be for $3,000.00 for: website creation, a post office box, printing, and map updating. Motion:____________ Second: Cindy Leonard, all approved.
   2. Karl Parker described an idea he has to commemorate the 1 year Valley Fire anniversary with a tour of the area.  There was a lack of interest to pursue idea.

1. Council and Additional Announcements
   1. Skilled people needed to take turns taking minutes. No takers.
   2. Random acts of kindness are encouraged during this week.

Meeting adjourned at:

7:25pm

Respectfully submitted,

Cindy Leonard

COBB AREA COUNCIL

Public Meeting

Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm

Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club

15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426

Draft Minutes

Present: Eliot Hurwitz, Barbara Flynn, Jessyca Lytle, Jessica Pyska, Gary Prather

(Magdalena Valderrama took minutes; 46 people signed in as attendees.)

Eliot Hurwitz, acting as Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:04 pm.

1. MAC REVIEW:  Chair reviewed what a municipal advisory council (MAC) is and does. State law provides for the establishment of a MAC for unincorporated areas. Essentially, draw a circle on a map, set up the council, and whoever lives within those boundaries can act. The Cobb Area Council Map was posted on the back wall for the meeting.  A MAC serves as the eyes and ears on the ground of interest to locals, and likewise for Board of Supervisors. Other examples in the county: MATH, and north shore. For the C.A.C. everyone attending the assembly is a member, with the votes carried by those who are registered to vote in the region marked on the Cobb Area Council Map. He welcomed everyone and outlined the agenda.

1. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS
   1. Peter Leuzinger, new forestry manager for Boggs State Forest discussed its status: 90% gone essentially; 2-3yr rehab plan for the forest; 75%-85% salvage logging completed.  Re-opening timeline: not clear, still a lot of hazards–stump holes, burned trees, lots of equipment; looking at opening portions not so badly damaged or areas successfully mitigated maybe by spring have visits again (applause)
   2. Ed Robey, new chair for Team Lake County congratulated everyone for getting together a municipal advisory council

1. READING AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Council had not had a chance to post. Will post for next month’s meeting and ask for approval then. There were no objections.

ACTION: Council will post the June 9, 2016 Minutes for next month’s meeting and ask for approval then.

1. TREASURER’s REPORT: (No Treasury yet)

1. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins./individual)
   1. Barbara Flynn: Talked to Brian our sheriff about the new CA laws on guns to find out where to get info. He says he will print us up something, meanwhile check out CA Rifle and Pistol Assocation.org
   2. JoAnn Holme – Has lived in the area since 1963, never a problem with the water; her neighbors are all on the same line, she has filters, and she is the only one whose house burned, so why is the water an issue in her being allowed to rebuild? Has met with Ruminski and Brown, they say “I’ll get back to you”. Never heard more.
   3. Female Resident – Have heard Hoberg’s is going to try to put a food service truck into business and go around to service the building sites. Why are we allowing this to come in when other food services have lost business? Needs attention.
      1. JLytle: BOS just heard about the truck this week
      2. Robert Stark: Asked Rob Brown about the truck. Brown says that the lack of activity at Hoberg’s can’t be used against a permit for a food truck–however, Hoberg’s can’t do it on that property
      3. Leah Jennings: You have to have a commercial kitchen to operate a food truck; check with environmental health department
      4. Male Resident: Why isn’t Hobergs cleaned up yet?
      5. GPrather: Nancy at MATH from OES gave a runaround answer, insurance says he has to clean up
      6. EHurwitz: At recent BOS meeting, Brown says there is formal agreement to be cleaned up by Oct 15, and can’t wait until Oct 13 to start
      7. Robert Stark: Workers there today, asking for directions; some are same as before, i.e., there is activity.
      8. Michael Dunlap: Food truck, parked on Hoberg’s, should have a big sign on the back, “Hoberg’s is an unconfined and undefined hazardous waste site”, so since it was parked on a hazardous waste site do you want to eat off it?

1. OLD BUSINESS
   1. Re-introduction of initial panel of council members (voted upon by the public on June 9th, and appointed by the County Board of Supervisors July 19): Eliot Hurwitz, Barbara Flynn, Jessica Pyska, Jessica Lytle, Gary Prather. There is now room for an alternate as Beau Moore has had to step back. Alternate “alternate” will be voted on later in the meeting
   2. Activation of Ad Hoc Committees proposed to and voted upon by the public at the June 9th general meeting:
      1. Rebuild Advocacy — Ron Haskett anticipates setting up email, maybe a website on this topic. Let me know your concerns; been in Cobb 30 yrs, got our house rebuilt and can share info
      2. Emergency Preparedness — Gary Prather notes that emergency preparedness takes in a lot of different areas. Four to concentrate on now: communications, maps, hazard mitigation (dead trees), and resources. Governor Brown declared a beetle disaster but the funding only covers federal lands; we need a grant writer especially for large landowners.
         1. Communications: The MATH has started to work on sirens with CalFire and South Lake Fire Districts; Sheriff has Nixle and has distributed affordable NOAA weather radios, but we need a separate form of communication (phone calls, etc.) to know why the siren is going off –could be fire, civil defense, riot, or other emergency.

ACTION: Jill Martin will head up this subcommittee.  

1. 1. 1. 1. Update county and media (google) maps: Current maps show roads that don’t exist, existing roads weren’t named on firefighting maps, roads have been chained off by private landowners thinking the road was theirs and cutting off key fire fighting access.
            1. Joan Moss: Our church said we could use that bell in case of electricity. Would like to help with media. Will ask Madelyn re maps.
            2. Gary: that bell was used to call volunteers in my grandfather’s time
            3. Ed Robey: talk to the county surveyor.
         2. Resource needs: Robert Stark will work on Water resources as subtopic of resource needs; also note, huge lack of volunteers to staff fire engines  in South Lake Fire District because of extensive required volunteer training and other state mandates. Shana Jones, the CalFire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief, reported that CalFire has not built a new wildland fire station since 1959. The three Cal Fire stations are located in Middletown, Clearlake Oaks, and half way between Kelseyville and Cobb on highway 175 just north of Red Hills Road. The nearest Cal Fire helicopter is at Boggs Forest, with next closest helitack bases in Mendocino county, Santa Clara county, and Butte county, so helicopters also are not enough. The closest fixed wing air tanker bases are in Ukiah, Santa Rosa, and Chico. Lake county has one inmate fire fighter camp (Konocti Conservation Camp) located on highway 29 half way between Lower Lake and Kelseyville that also houses one reserve fire engine that is primarily used for the protection of the camp itself. Even if they got only 1 more engine in another station, there would be a cut in the response time. Need volunteers to support as well as actually fight fire. Need someone to head up a community emergency response team (CERT), folks who know the area for water resources and won’t need to be stopped by roadblocks; Emergency Preparedness will help Neighborhood Watch, because keeping people in their homes is the best way to prevent looting. There is only 1 CERT @ Spring Valley, and we have a couple of volunteers from The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary Has done the research to find out how to start and run one. Gov. Brown’s funding upgraded engines, but they are not staffed.

ACTION: Gary wants to meet with subcommittee chairs after this meeting.

1. 1. 1. Neighborhood Watch — Inez Wenckus says that at Anderson Springs, they found some people that didn’t belong in the area. Had a scanner in their car, saw trespassers in the pool, watched and asked them, they said they were swimming, called dispatcher to  notify cops. Signs are up on the highway. Neighborhood Watch celebration coming up in Lucerne Aug 9  as they have completed 2 yrs. Lucerne resident, Kevin Waycek, came to help Anderson Springs have its first watch meeting  last night,  talking about what to do. Get signs, patrols for fire, set up more local meetings.
      2. Back to the Rebuild Advocacy committee — Ron says on social media they are not always correct and it starts snowballing. Need to be able to ask the right questions and get the right answers. If you’re talking to someone in the County, please get their name as we need to know who said that, then we can get that to Rob Brown and follow up; he’s really good at responding but he gets stretched thin if he doesn’t know who to talk to. We start knocking these things off ourselves. Kelseyville Lumber, please email or call me I’m up at 5:30AM. Email: rhaskett@kvlumber.com. Are we setting up a website?
         1. JPyska: when we get funding, yes. In the meantime, we have a Facebook page: Cobb Area Council. Please “like” it.

1. NEW BUSINESS
   1. Selection of New Alternate – Chair Eliot Hurwitz asked Cindy Leonard to introduce herself
      1. Cindy:  Has lived in Upper Rainbow 20 yrs; married to Cobb Elementary School principal; their daughter is 10 years old; manages school gardens; lost home and are rebuilding after Valley Fire
      2. Chair asked for other nominations, and hearing none called a vote

VOTE: Aye with applause, none opposed

1. 1. Officer selection by the council members:
      1. Chair: All ayes on Eliot Hurwitz, none opposed
      2. Vice-Chair: All ayes on Barbara Flynn, none opposed
      3. Secretary: All ayes on Jessyca Lytle, none opposed
      4. Treasurer: All ayes on Gary Prather, none opposed
      5. Communications: All ayes on Jessica Pyska, none opposed

ACTION: Small pieces of paper were marked with X’s on 3 of them (indicating a 3-year term), and the council representatives drew lots for their terms. Results: x–Eliot, x–Gary, x–Cindy will serve for 3 years, and the rest will serve for 2 years.

1. 1. Getting items put on the agenda, Council point of contact:
      1. Send agenda items and other email to point of contact: cobbareacouncil@gmail.com
      2. Send a message to the Facebook page, “Cobb Area Council”
      3. Deadline: a week before the next meeting; we meet every 3rd Thursday of each month beginning in August, i.e., August 18, so we need agenda items by the 2nd Thursday of the month, i.e., August 11 for the next meeting
      4. This Thursday there is a Valley Task Force meeting at Cobb School 6pm, when we would have ordinarily met
      5. Robert Stark: What if, 4/5 majority gets the item on the agenda, then post per brown act 72 hrs since you are acting as county committee? Seventy two hours is needed under the Brown Act to give proper notice so you can’t discuss business without the assembly. Everybody says yes. It would be ok to post agenda at Water Board.
      6. We will use Rosenberg’s Rules of Order: much more practical than Robert’s Rules and is available online

1. 1. Review and Adoption of Proposed Bylaws–Chair read out each of articles

Q:  Robert Stark: Why is a Treasurer mentioned? Are you expecting to pay the council members compensation?

A:  No Council member will get compensation. We will be looking for grants for specific needs, like the map materials that Gary is talking about.

1. 1. 1. Proposed amendment: not quorum be a 4/5 simple majority to amend bylaws.  Moved and seconded
      2. Clarification re amendment:  quorum is 4/5 but 3 only needed to conduct business.
      3. Tom Slaight: Who are you representing? Whoever’s here is good, but don’t say the people of Cobb, because they’re not all here. You’re not speaking for everybody.
      4. EH: We certainly want to outgrow our current meeting space.
      5. JL: There are still task force meetings, we are not the only forum for questions and such; please keep going to BOS meetings etc.  It takes all of us, we’re not saying come here only as there are many other points of contact. This Thursday, the Task Force meeting is up here on Cobb, and if people stop showing up they won’t hold them anymore.
      6. As read and with changes, motion to approve as amended: moved
   2. New MOTION from Robert Stark: Chair with Treasurer should sign disbursements.
      1. Group discussion:
         1. Money comes to C.A.C. with approval from Board of Supervisors, i.e., we can’t accept money ourselves, the Controller does this.
         2. Linda Lou Bartlett: When one of those two people is away, then what? Need flexibility–how about Vice Chair?
         3. Basically, invoices are approved by the council members, so all the members can see all the invoicesReport on checks going in and out will be part of the Treasurer ‘s Report
      2. MOTION AS AMENDED: Bylaws can say instead, “Checks to be signed according to standard procedures and control mechanisms to be adopted.” Moved: Karl Parker, seconded Glenneth Lambert

VOTE: All AYES, none opposed

1. 1. Joan Moss: Take the grand jury report seriously and read it. Bring this to the Task Force, there should have been a Disaster Council set up

ACTION: Grand Jury Report and perhaps Disaster Council items for next agenda.      

1. 1. Review and Approval of proposed application to Cobb Community Investment committee for start up funds

ACTION: Tabled until the application form is completed

1. 1. Possible Formation of other immediate ad hoc committees
      1. MOTION: Establish an ad hoc Hazard Abatement Committee; Debra Helleren so moved, seconded: Jessica Pyska

VOTE: All AYES, none opposed

ACTION: Karl Parker will lead this Committee.

Meeting adjourned at 7:18 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Magdalena Valderrama

Public Meeting to form a

Cobb Area Council (“CAC”)  

Thursday, June 9th, 6pm

Little Red Schoolhouse

15780 Bottle Rock Rd, Cobb

Called to order by meeting chair, Barbara Flynn at 6:04 pm.

(Approximately 61 people in attendance at call to order)

(Meeting notes taken by Jessyca Lytle)

1. PURPOSES OF THE GENERAL MEETING

• inform all the residents of our intention to create a Cobb Area Council (“CAC”), a municipal advisory council as recognized by the State of California
• describe the council, what it does, and the benefits we hope to gain for the area covered by the proposed Cobb Area Council Map
• present the current process for creating this council, and
• invite everyone attending to agree to the creation of the council and join with us in shaping the future of our community!

The agenda was organized so that fellow Cobb area residents could share everything that has been learned about municipal advisory councils and then the floor was opened to questions and discussion. Afterwards, a vote was held to receive the decision of the rest of our community. Next steps were reviewed that are needed to formalize the decision and ideas were received from the public for future consideration about where to begin making things right in our community after the Valley Fire disaster.

1. SHORT PRESENTATIONS

1. What a Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) is (Eliot Hurwitz)

• Municipal advisory councils (MAC) were established by state law.
• MAC advises County Board of Supervisors, but also can establish relationships with other state agencies, nonprofit and other organizations.
• Creates a new political voice for our community and creates a formal structure to hear, view and receive information and consider it in regards to our communities’ needs.
• Anybody who lives in the area can vote in decision making process.
• We can do preprocessing and can present as a group at large to board of supervisors
• Can also be a step toward incorporation if that is what is desired by the community
• Examples of Local MAC’s: MATH, Hopland
• Next step – resolution to be passed by the board of supervisors

1. Proposed Cobb Area Council Map (Jessyca Lytle; this portion of meeting notes taken by Magdalena Valderrama)

• Initial council planning group developed the boundaries based on the Cobb Area Plan (last updated by the County in1989).
• Proposed northmost boundary: Red Hills Rd/Hwy29, cutting across Harrington Flat, includes up on the mountain, westernmost point at Sonoma County line/geysers; proposed southmost District 5 boundaries by Middletown (because there are some few areas often forgotten, like Anderson Springs); coming up on the east side, further to the Perini Cutoff i.e., lowest point of Loch Lomond, then northernmost again.
• For infrastructure purposes, Cobb Water is doing the consolidation with the state and we need to include folks, especially because of long term recovery needs
• Consulted the bear and water maps, (5 or 6), at the CalPine Community Investment and Mitigation Fund, to include our unique needs at this point in time.
• Boundaries can be expanded or reduced, are not set in stone, we just have to go through an approval process.
• Proposed boundaries just to start, and covers the greatest need area, businesses and communities.
• Jessyca has been here since she was a child, helped distribution donation for the fire plus a lot more.

1. Review of Draft Resolution for the Board of Supervisors (Jessica Pyska)

Jessica read through each section of the draft resolution and explained the thinking behind each. Copies of the draft resolution were provided to attendees to follow along with, and questions were taken.  Sections of the draft resolution refer to different area plans; acknowledge the diversity of our community, duties of the council, and general long term goals.

1. Introductions of Proposed Panel members for the Initial Council

• Eliot Hurwitz  (Loch Lomond resident)
• Gary Prather  (Loch Lomond resident)
• Barbara Sprague Flynn (Cobb resident)
• Jessyca Lytle  (Cobb Area resident)
• Jessica  Pyska  (Cobb resident)
• Beau Moore (Cobb Area resident)  Alternate

III. DISCUSSION AND VOTE

Ques – Budget?

Resp – Board of Supervisors to determine budget; noted: Mendo County provides their MACs $3,000 each; we would use money for communications to our residents and technical studies

Ques – Emergency Alert System?

Ques – Council boundaries, why not Harbin and Anderson Springs

Resp – Chose to not include because they have traditionally been more represented by MATH (Middletown Area Town Hall).

General Resp – the CAC will focus on basic services needs in general but now even more so post fire

Ques – Can see why we are looking to do this. This has to be done carefully – worried about freedoms involved that can be lost due to increased regulation and taxes.

Response – This is the people’s panel; a community group to advise the supervisors; tell them we need sheriff services too.

Response –This is an advisory council; it can only advise BOS, not create taxes or regulations

Ques – “Duties 1) Item f.  Implementation of Cobb Corridor”, what is that?

Response – a goal in the future to work toward in terms of a proposed project in the future

Ques / comment – Patrisha O’ Sullivan, from New Zealand originally, newly returned to the area – has experience in planning – congrats to us for doing a fantastic job in giving our community a voice

Ques – Who has been speaking for our community?

Resp – Middletown Area Town Hall is supposed to include Cobb, but theirs is a much larger population and they have different concerns

Ques – What do you do when you have a difference of opinion?

Resp – If difference of opinion, C.A.C. must state that the difference exists, and then those who are in not in agreement are able to address BOS

Ques – Karl Parker filled with gratitude about this. You presented in clear/concise way; represents a lot of work. Welcomes opportunity to vote for proposed panel.

Ques – Concerned about BOS not funding us and that would prevent the resolution from passing

Resp – Funding is a separate issue; if BOS doesn’t provide any funding, we will still be duly constituted and can apply for/find funding elsewhere (government and nonprofit grants, bake sales etc.)

Ques – Is this for economic development or for recovery?

Resp – Basic to organizing ourselves; we will discuss the process for recovery plans after the general voting around the resolution

Ques – Concerned about funding due to gov mandates, etc. on how government funding can be spent; warned about Agenda 21

Community Vote

• • Kathleen Eckhart moves to approve; Karl Parker – seconds
  • VOTE: All in favor – unanimous and by acclamation!!!
  • At vote: 72 people present

1. NEXT STEPS AND CLOSE

1. Activating the Council

• BOS Approval Process
• Next mtg will be an official mtg of C.A.C. once BOS approves resolution
• Explain “ad hoc” committees – will start up after resolution approved

2. Recovering from the disaster: Ad Hoc Committees, important dates, staying in communication

Ad Hoc Committees proposed

1. Rebuild Advocacy (Ron  Haskett and Beau Moore heading up)
2. Emergency Preparedness (Gary Prather heading up)
3. Neighborhood Watch (Inez Wenckus heading up)

Ques – Get a siren in area for the next fire season?

Response – Must address that at June 23rd mtg to inform TASK force of concerns ASAP.

3. Important dates:

• June 23rd  6 pm: Valley Fire Task Force meeting in Middletown with State Senator McGuire, Assemblyman Bill Dodd, county supervisors, CalFire, and county departments and districts, Team Lake County; please come and voice concerns, needs that must be addressed, etc. They will be followed by the press, so this is an important time to come forward to bring up current and expected concerns
• July 13th 6 pm: Habitat for Humanity Grant Opportunity meeting: Cobb Mountain Lions Club, 15870 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb; pre-application process

ADJOURN:       7:13pm (about 45 minutes before the end, originally scheduled for 8:00pm)

COBB AREA COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING 

Thursday, December 15, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426 

DRAFT MINUTES 

Agenda and Discussion 

Meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm.

I. The Chair introduced Chief Mike Wink who came to make an announcement about alarm sirens for the Cobb and Loch Lomond areas.

1. CalFire Chief Wink also works for the South Lake County Fire Protection District in Middletown, your local fire department. Devin Hoberg, a board member of the district, lives here in Cobb and is here today.

2. Fire sirens were originally used to summon fire department volunteers to handle any emergency including medical. Local Fire Dept. in late 80’s quit using fire sirens altogether because pager technology had improved so much that it didn’t make sense to use sirens anymore when the situation involved a medical emergency rather than a community emergency. However, community forums following the Valley Fire made clear the desire and need for adding another layer of information to the multiple outlets we already have with Nixle, reverse dial 911, etc.

3. The district board considered the community’s input, then talked with the local OES (Office of Emergency Services) which the county had placed within the Sheriff’s Department, and then also partnered with the Lake County Fire Chiefs Association and the undersheriff to look into the request. Amongst all the chiefs, jurisdictions, and disciplines in the fire chiefs association, there weren’t any funding sources specified or available for disaster, but there was the Cobb Mitigation Fund from Calpine to give back to the community, so an application was made for two new sirens–one in Cobb and the other in Loch Lomond. The funding was approved just a few days ago.

4. Activation of the sirens will now be operated by OES at the Sheriff’s dept instead of by the fire district. It is just an emergency notification siren, alerting the community that an emergency situation exists. When the siren is not being tested, then you should just know to seek specific information about the nature of the emergency: check with friends, cell service, Nixle, and so on. The sirens are just an additional layer to know something is going on.

5. The South Lake Fire Protection District covers Loch Lomond, Cobb, Anderson Springs, Middletown, halfway between Hidden Valley and Lower Lake, Coyote Valley, and The Geysers. The Anderson Springs Mitigation Committee funded their siren. The Hidden Valley Homeowners Association bylaws, allow them to exercise a one time-assessment so they are funding theirs. There is $30,500 still to fund the last siren remaining for Middletown. Your local folks are representing you here in Cobb.

Questions and Answers session with Chief Mike Wink re Cobb and Loch Lomond alarm sirens

Q: (inaudible) contributed $60K?

A: Each siren had to be funded with different money because the infrastructure for each one was different, and installation needs have different requirements. Tried to use existing sirens, and even tested them (maybe startling residents) but the newer technology covers much more territory decibel-wise and area-wise. The Federal Signal Company showed the Propagation Map, as well as Googlemaps, and the old sirens’ reach were very isolated around the stations. We asked for options, and chose a high decibel, rotating siren, so it should cover Whispering Pines to Loch Lomond with overlap in the middle per the maps.

Q: When will the system be up and functional?

A: Funding application came together in the last 6-8 weeks. Had to work with Sheriffs’ department to make sure we ordered the right components so when they push the button in Lakeport the system works. Shipping alone is $6K, and we don’t want to have to order twice. The goal is to have everything in place next summer.

Q: Will the system be hooked up to Nixle?

A: The siren system is independent. You don’t want a community siren for a missing child, for example. Works with generator and battery backups. The generator kicks in 24 hours, and there is a wireless activation signal as well in case there is no local power.

Q: How does this system work with the emergency radios?

A: The emergency radios are for weather only and are activated by the weather service out of Ukiah. The default program is set to Sacramento, so you have to make sure you include Ukiah. When the National Weather Service does a broadcast, the signal turns on the radio, makes audible and light signals, then you can click the radio for the news.. You can change channels to listen to information from buoys, and a few other weather monitoring sources.

Q: What is the Sheriffs Dept protocol?

A: This is still so new, we are just passing on the news that we got the approval. They are working towards the protocol, maybe 8 months, just coming into place now. Must stress that this NOT a fire siren, just emergency notification. The rest of the county is watching to see how this works and it could possible expand to cover other areas. We know now that there are matching grants available for the rest of the county. The present project could meet the 25% requirement for the matching grant.

Q: What about the reach going east/west?

A: (Shows map) The system overlaps with the Anderson Springs siren.

Q: Would it include Seigler Springs, and the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary?

A: Yes. On the map, green=100% covered, yellow less percent, red=foundering.

Q Calfire gave grants, Lake County got 0, Fresno got 2.6M. Why the discrepancy? A (Wink) Counties don’t apply for this type of grant, the Firesafe Council has to apply. There is another grant being worked on.

A (Brown): Both the Southlake and Firesafe councils already have multiple Calfire projects, and they have been using the existing workforce (Konocti Conservation Camp + others) grants. So much existing work is stacked up (finishing the firebreaks for one) and they have to finish that work before the crews can be free to do additional work. There is a timing associated with the grants, so the districts can reapply for projects. In other words, they already have grant funding and the crews are still trying to finish the work, so they have to spend it down before they can apply for more. For the next grant cycle, volunteers will be needed to help write the grants. Local talent, please link the firesafe councils to your website, so they can receive volunteers. South lake has only 5 volunteers, same with the Lake County Council. These two are the leads for those projects.

ACTION: Chair called for a followup report for the next Cobb Area Council meeting.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES from November 17

Lytle change to USDA grant item: Committee Reports section, 1.b.ii. on page 10, stated “no time limit”. This should be changed from:

Jessyca: . . . They come out and see whether the work is done as per agreement parameters, then they will cut the reimbursement check in two weeks. Can start your application now as there is no time limit–good in case it has to extend over a season (say can’t burn during summer), or you can’t get workers for 8 months. There is no time limit because this is often several months out for people. List of qualified material includes: slash, logs on the ground, milling also possible. . . .

to

. . . then they will cut the reimbursement check in two weeks. Landowners interested need to apply before the beginning of February and get into the current funding cycle before it ends and while it is still more or less safe to burn. Otherwise, if you wait until after February, you will get caught in the summer months that restrict your ability to complete work safely because of the burn ban period. List of qualified material includes: slash, logs on the ground, milling also possible. . . 

This is clarification for those applying for the grant to get reimbursed on costs for removing dead trees on parcels over an acre. The grant covers bark beetle and brush management. The funding cycle ends in February. It is important if you are interested to get the application process going now before the deadline. You have to wait another winter for the work because of the intervening burn ban that starts around May. Look at Cobb Area Council Resources page.

Moved to approve the change to the minutes as outlined above: Pyska. Seconded: Flynn. All: ayes.

III. UPDATES FROM SUPERVISOR ROB BROWN

List of updates includes:

a. County insurance collection for property clean up and tree removal

b. The CalHome rebuilding finance program

c. Funding the for Anderson Springs sewer system

d. Planning Commission vacancy for District 5

a. County insurance collection for property clean up and tree removal

Can seem like things aren’t getting done, but there are a lot of different meetings to go to and just not reporting on every single little thing and turn.

Has been bombarded re trees, especially with the recent weather as trees have come down on cars and houses. Residents come with an initial sense why didn’t you do something sooner. County government can’t solve every single issue. We are down on our reserves, Short answer: if we solve one person’s issue we have to be prepared to deal with all. This is the only county in the state for years and years that was always in the black and this is the first year

that didn’t happen. Still waiting for FEMA reimbursements; can’t hire staff to do a lot of things. Tree program wasn’t as widely used as we had hoped.

Has been emailing back and forth with Karl, have been talking with county counsel all day, and have met previously with folks a lot as well. Can’t just go on one person’s judgment that a tree is bad looking but might not actually be much of a hazard vs one that is truly hazardous. Ross is here, he’s an attorney and will talk in a little while and confirm that these trees on private property become a civil matter between neighbors. It is a matter that should have been resolved prior to rebuilding, but now it’s a situation.

Result: Remembered that years ago, the County had $40K to abate abandoned pear trees as an environmental hazard, especially if they were not sprayed properly it brings the coddling moth, and then neighbors would have to spray more. We never used it, and actually had thought to use it for the Riviera which was at higher risk for wildfire than Cobb and therefore a higher priority. So we allocated the abatement there. Now the Lake Co Firesafe council is working there.

Issue: If county does the work, then they have to apply the prevailing wage, which quadruples the cost to: $4k. The $40K abatement fund is just a drop in the bucket in that case.

Next week, the BOS agenda includes a decision to apply this fund to the Valley Fire trees and, instead of a neighbor or other complainant setting the priority, make it so that an arborist is required to determine whether the tree(s) are high priory or not. $40K will go there. Contractors will be notified via the permit process to confirm first that the building site is clear – can’t put people in harm’s way. Simple: County won’t stop issuing permits, just asking the applicant to sign a statement confirming that there are no hazardous trees threatening the building site.

County counsel has clarified that because the abatement concerns the “use of public funds”, there must be a clear public benefit. Abatement can’t just be based on a “credible threat of the fearful and costly unknown”. Applicants have to confirm right up front, before building commences, that there are no trees in the area that could cause damage before the permit can be issued. For any hazardous trees sitting on a neighbor’s property and that could damage your house, the neighbor is ultimately responsible. Insurance company will go after the neighbor.

Questions and Answers regarding hazardous tree removal on private property

Q (Lytle): I brought up the issue on tree mitigation at the task force meetings to come up with a plan. Understood that $10M from State requested, still waiting. Then I asked for the Calpine money to go to these lots. With the County’s $40K will any contractor work at County rates? Shouldn’t we model Federal program? Isn’t the County responsible for disaster management oversight? Wouldn’t the Fire Safe Council money touch this issue?

A (Brown): Grant funds from the Fire Safe Council are specific for each project, in this case firebreaks. It’s possible that future money could touch tree mitigation. County is still spending down the grant money we received 6 years ago.

Q (Pyska): How will people know to cut hazardous trees down before a permit can be issued?

A (Brown): When they come get a permit, an item will be on the application to confirm that there are no trees nearby that will be a hazard to the new building. For houses are already built, we’ve got to figure out. We need the public to come to the board meeting with the other

county supervisors present, because they may not see the importance as I do. The next meeting is next week, and then not again until Jan 3.

Q: What about the County’s hazardous tree removal program?

A: We’re just waiting for funding; have several hundred thousand already done now, while over a million was included in the contract. So we’re not moving forward until the Feds begin reimbursing the county as promised.

Q: What is the role of state reps in this?

A: It’s not that they’re not listening, there are 39 other assemblypeople trying to get attention. We’ve met with HCD re CDBG funding and have set an infrastructure priority list, which is like disaster case management unmet needs for the county–the same thing basically.

Comment (Haskett): I take responsibility for the trees on my lot, there were 2 trees that fell the wrong way onto the public right of way. The other owner gave us permission to cut trees on his property. At the time, they looked alive. Those 5 trees were green, and after a year passed, they died. Trees have been swaying in the bad weather. There’s no complaint against property owners who haven’t rebuilt or are missing in action and aren’t doing anything. The frustration is that they don’t care.

Brown: This is a very different time from that school meeting some time ago, when Greg Giusti said no one wanted trees taken down. We’re asking the state for infrastructure money of $81M to help get planning and environmental health staff to help with the housing reconstruction, as well as money for fire departments, water, and water storage. Out at Anderson Springs, only

18 left out of 200 homes, and we’re asking 7.3M to help with the sewer system out there. It’s also possible that the water board may be a source in case CDBG doesn’t cover this, and we’re working hard on the issue.

The infrastructure requires consolidation of the water system in Cobb area. The work is absolutely necessary, and clearly you can’t afford it on your own because it’s going to cost about $4.5M. There may be funds available outside CDBG, yet we’re going to put this item in our request anyway.

Road repairs: 120 miles affected by potholes and other damage; roads have been affected that aren’t even in the fire area because there were 12,000 logging truckloads alone from the initial cleanup. We’re requesting $75M from the state.

Fire-safe Communities needs commitments from Calfire and the County to help with the secondary roads in Anderson Springs.

Regarding removal of hazardous trees on private property there is a list — not a priority list, just a list showing 2000 properties. If you figure 5 trees/lot = $10M, and the county just doesn’t have that money.

Other items to be included are:

Air Quality sample analysis $275K

Automated weather stations $70K

Trailside park recovery $1.2M

Acquisition of park space in Cobb $2.19M

and a museum project

Q: What is the timeline for the CBDG?

A: First proposed in May. Been talking to HCD a long time. Staffperson was “kind”. Brown invited the HCD to come for a tour for 4 hrs. They hit every pothole, and folks were in tears by the end. At the time, we requested a third of what we’re asking for now. They said ask for everything and we will whittle down. Now we are grinding through that process.

Q: Is there still opportunity for community to propose projects?

A: Original proposal made in May, then have been revising over time.

Q: When do we find out what we qualify for?

A: This is done bit by bit and another meeting needs to be set up. This is not your typical grant with timelines as a condition of the grant. Some road money will come in for example but not $75M.

Robert Stark: When we did the state income surveys for help with the water district consolidation, it took a long time to get through, we had to go 4 times.

Brown: You’re sitting in a committee room with the state senator, the assemblyperson, a representative from HCD, a representative from USDA, a representative from the water board and they only have 1 hr to handle this, then another meeting has to be scheduled to pick up where we left off.

Q: Is CDBG Federal money coming through the state?

A: You have to apply whether you know what money there is or not because it’s an open process. There are no guarantees. It’s more like a dance between the agencies to see who will go first; very exhausting, can’t get too frustrated.

Q: You got some road money?

A: For Gifford Springs $500K was used to get rubber asphalt work from Calrecycle. As soon as find out what’s available, we go right to it. McGuire called Nancy Ward who is next to the governor to get alternative road money. They said let’s get back to you, how about before the holidays via phone conference, so now there’s no driving to Sacramento.

Q: What about the drive up on Bottle Rock Road – now it’s dark, wet, and there are no fog lines, very treacherous. Can we get maybe striping?

A: Will talk to Scott DeLeon. There was $500K/average/yr gas tax money from the state out of which we get $25K. Since loggers and dumpers are from another state, their state gets that gas tax money. Brown is talking to the state. Can’t use road money on trees. Take what we can get now.

Update about CalHome program to help with rebuilding

Back in May, HCD was here when McGuire held a town meeting, and they announced a program to help under CalHome. $7.2M is available. Habitat for Humanity was the only agency in Lake County that qualified then. $1.9M of that was for Calaveras County but no one there qualified as they had no nonprofit that had done that kind of work before. All $7.2M is coming to Lake County now.

Re qualified nonfprofits to do the work: previously, Calpine had funded Hammers for Hope for 6 years to help people with wheelchair ramps and kitchen remodels. One CalHome program

was for first time homebuyers, so only Habitat for Humanity applied. The other program was for rehabbing, $5-6M for which Hammers for Hope applied.

State is scoring the nonprofit applicants now. The application was due Nov 21. Was hoping they could let us know before the holidays, and award the grant in January. Brown has asked to meet both agencies, still waiting to hear.

For down payment, bank loan, 30 yr loan, pay back with one payment at the end of 30 years is possible. Qualification is based on income and ability to pay back. Very flexible. Will get the word out when we hear news.

Other updates:

1. Planning Commission vacancy — After 19 years of service, one of the commissioners is retiring. Applications are being accepted. Press release was sent out today, deadline is Jan 19. Will extend the timeframe if no qualified applications come in. Must be breathing, live in the district, and be over 18 yrs old.

2. Area plan update — last one was 1989. Don’t have staff to update; dealing with disaster. Can work with community members. Bob Massarelli will come in January to nightly meetings to join community in seeing what’s in there and what has to be changed. Block grant to be used. Whole county needs updating. There weren’t cellphones in 1989, marijuana was illegal, etc., so there’s a lot of stuff that is serious and needs to be updated.

3. Insurance collection for the cleanup may be imminent for January; still working the detail. Application is on the website. Will forward to Eliot for the CAC website.

Q: Who will enforce the abatement on the neighbor’s lot?

A: Hazardous trees are a civil matter between property owners. The county can do its part by putting everyone on notice via the permit process and it might be a construction burden then. If you decide to take matters into your own hands, you could be arrested for trespassing. However, you still have to get caught doing it.

Q: Is there any help for junk abatement, all the old fences, etc.? It’s depressing,

A: Junk abatement is on the back burner but not off the table. There are so many other leading priorities for health and safety.

IV. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins./individual)

Charlene Hamilton: Lot next to me on the corner is owned by a law firm in Sacramento. Contacted them 3 wks ago and emailed today. Is concerned about rain and wind, could be killed because of the storm, there’s so much beetle damage.

Katherine DeMartini (addressed to Rob Brown): We were told after the fire that if we relocated in the county and didn’t rebuild we could get tax relief. Has filed the papers, talked to the Assessor’s office, Debbie Olsen has a pile of determinations, doesn’t know where they can get to it. Tax base I’m in now is higher, so I’m being asked to pay what the amount was on Cobb Mtn.

Brown: County will refund the money.

Chair: Please talk offline about individual problems, or by email.

V. COMMITTEE REPORTS:

1. Abatement Monitoring committee (Karl Parker)

a. Hoberg’s:

i. Scott Skellenger, dir of development at Hoberg’s reports great news: they have completed the main lodge complex, i.e. half of the total removal abatement. This is a big deal as the worst materials were concentrated there. Also reported recently on Facebook that they have removed 10 container loads of hazardous materials to specialized disposal site, and have taken 8 loads of non-hazard materials to the county landfill. Environmental services are idle now because of the weather, and then there’ s the holidays coming.

ii. 18 free firewood deliveries have been made to Cobb area residents. Shipped off 32 additional cords offsite.

iii. Larger scale tree removal going on especially up by Gifford Springs.

b. Hazardous trees:

i. Last time we talked about posting info on the website and at the post office re this critical problem requiring right of entry and getting the trees down. Some neighbors have been responsive, but we are also aware that former neighbors have been nonresponsive or have refused to sign the ROE. Takes a lot of skill to take down a tree and not cause the problem you’re trying to prevent.

ii. Acknowledges Rob Brown: anyone would have had a hard time receiving the emails I sent him. His job is to keep working, and my job is to keep pushing to go beyond what they think is possible. Recent case: a neighbor’s mother’s house was almost completed, and the mother had just moved in when a dead tree from a neighboring property next door came crashing down on the new house. The impact was very emotional and now they are back at square one, working things out with insurance to see what is covered and they couldn’t send an adjuster that day.

iii. Introduced Andre Ross of Ewing Associates. In the past, Karl has worked with Mike Ewing, Andre’s boss. Notes that 6 minutes, or 0.1 of an hour is the smallest unit of time in lawyerland. Property owner’s recourse starts before the problem begins. Write a letter — it took 2 hrs — identify who is the target, where are they, how do you put fear of god into someone on 2pp of paper. Give “notice of dangerous condition”, and insurance company will be eager to deny them coverage on the basis that they were never told the client had got notice from the attorney. The letter simply describes what’s likely to happen in event of a tragedy, and is NOT an actual threat.

iv. Andre Ross has lived in Lake county a long time, is District 5 resident, family was also traumatized also by the Valley Fire, and he cleared his schedule for this council meeting. Has also practiced in Marin Co.

v. The secret re the neighbor’s hazardous trees is to place them on notice re dangerous conditions. You cannot get any action on this as a public nuisance as government entities are too large and clumsy to operate that way. You must initiate a private cause for action by FIRST placing them on notice. Not by phone call. Put it in writing. Send a copy by Certified Mail and also by First Class, so if recipient refuses to sign certified, lawyer can use this to argue that the first class letter didn’t come back.

vi. Note that under CA Tort Law (ie civil wrong) a timber trespass = 3x monetary value of the original tree, so any tree you fell in secret suddenly becomes the most expensive tree on the planet . When the tree is found cut down after you’ve sent a notice, then you are Suspect #1.

Q: In that letter putting them on notice, would it help to state that an arborist has diagnosed the tree?

A: Don’t need to spend money on arborist. Also note that employing an arborist to walk onto the property can be considered trespassing. Simply write it so that “Neighbor acted or failed to act, and thereby permitted condition to exist” can become the argument in court. Reasonable time for response is 15 days, and you can also outline that otherwise your lawyer will contact them. Ask them whether or not they have insurance coverage and to let you know, so at least that gets them thinking re their policy.

Q: What about easements, who do you go after?

A: Go after the property owner.

Brown: Clarification — “LC” mark on the dead trees does not mean these are the county’ s trees, just that it’s just marked for removal by the county.

Q: If I send email and follow up with a letter and a phone call, wouldn’t that constitute notice?

A: You can’t prove receipt of an email because it could have gone into the spam filter. And a phone call is only your word against the other person’s.

Robert Stark: Saw no erosion control at Hoberg’s–what a disaster today!!! There are 4 inches of silt on the water district corporation yard that wasn’t there previous to the weather. Has written to Ray Kaminski.

A: Go to community development, Bob Massarelli for enforcement.

Q: Living right below Hobergs’ — are we in danger of mountain coming down on top of us in a landslide?? Roots weren’t removed, weight of tree not there.

A: No one qualified to comment.

2. The new Relief Monitoring Committee (Magdalena Valderrama)

a. At the November CAC meeting the assembly voted to create a committee to help address connecting available resources to Cobb residents with recovery needs due to the Valley Fire. This new committee is still in the process of developing clear protocols. The committee will not be doing case management, but will be searching for community members who still have needs but are left out.

b. Please refer to the report attached from the Committee’s Kickoff meeting, held November 28, 2016.

c. Red Cross volunteer Bethany Schwarz is in Lake County for one month with Red Cross to help our community. She has been assisting in a project to map all Valley Fire rebuilt homes that have been finalized (meaning ready to move in). After only a few days work, 17 ready-to-move-in houses have been mapped with a Cobb address, and there are more finalized permits that will be added as the rest of the information is processed and efforts are combined with the Rebuild Advocacy Committee.

d. Ron and Kathleen Haskett (from the Rebuild Advocacy Committee) added that there are 21 more near Summit. The total number of homes lost is 1300, out of which 600 were located in Cobb.

e. Celebrating the Rebuilds is important for morale building and benchmarking because so many people have left the area.

f. Jessyca Lytle: Spoke with Jan Coppinger from Special Districts, and she will help us do large scale maps, 5 maps through Stan Schubert. Also, Kelseyville has a very large printer we might be able to use

3. Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee on Communications (Mel McMurrin)

a. Eliot, Jill, Mel met a few weeks ago about the sirens and possible new methods to communicate within the Cobb Area. Brainstorming results:

i. billboards

ii. internet

iii. amateur radio (i.e., ham radio)

iv. GMRS radio ((GMRS) is a land-mobile FM UHF radio service designed for short-distance two-way communication) can also do weather alerts, connect 1:1 as well as two-way. Very interested in these GMRS radios which are basically kids toys and you can license them, only $65 for a family, then we have repeaters and get people talking

v. Citizens Band radio still exists

vi. mesh networks,

vii. Go Tena (i.e. connect to the internet via cellphones)

viii. Nixle

ix. NOAA weather radios

x. Broadcast band – large consumer radio stations

xi. Lower power stations such as the ones CalTrans uses

xii. Facebook: Lake County Scanner pages — Lake County Scanner News Fire/EMS/Police and On the Scanner

xiii. Telephone phone trees

xiv. Reverse 911

xv. Scanner listeners — these are USB sticks that can be turned into scanners

b. Mel introduced Ken Albee

i. Not a lot of ham radio operators in Cobb. You can get small ham radios now for just 20-30 dollars, and it’s only$15 for the test.

ii. Ken Albee, KG6TFQ, gives the Amateur Radio tests in Lake County.

iii. During the Valley Fire, the hams found out what was happening, for example roads that had been reported closed but were actually open

iv. Basic test no longer requires Morse Code; can be scheduled as needed

v. There are now internet links for getting the licenses and books you can get online

4. Proposed outline of the CAC 2017 Action Plan

i. Chair read from the draft outline a starting list of items that would be included (below) and called for a full outline to be brought to the council next month:

a. Work with county on revising the area plan. Area Plan is a key document linked to the county general plan. County General Plan is the county’s constitution. our Work Plan will be a key roadmap about what we want to be.

b. Ongoing recovery, need to list what is needed to support that. The level of hit was similar in relative impact to Hurricane Katrina, so it’s not “been a year get over it” for us.

c. Establish an effective communications network–need to have many redundancies

d. Mitigate fire danger — Need to have a Cobb Area Response Plan in coordination with County OES

e. Not just recover but serve resilience and develop a vibrant economy

ii. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

a. John Carlisi: Excellent coverage. Overarching as it should be. Need to include increasing citizen participation, even starting at elementary school level. We have one of the best schools in CA, it’s on the list. If you get the kids, you get the parents.

b. Kathleen Haskett introduced Mark Mitchell a Lake County contractor: If you are on the fence about rebuilding, keep in mind submitting plans before January 5, when the next level of new building codes mandated by state get activated every 3 years. Health and safety codes are the same, but now there is a 30% increase on energy efficiency required. This will add $3-5,000 dollars on a small home; $5-18,000 on a large home.

AGENDA ITEMS OMITTED FOR LACK OF TIME

1. Nominations for Lake County Chamber of Commerce “Community Stars”

2. Discussion of potential projects that could apply for Community Development Block Grant funding

3. Planning to support the Community Christmas Dinner on Dec 22nd at the Little Red School House offered by Tzu Chi

Meeting adjourned 8:02 pm.

ATTACHMENT 1 – REPORT FROM THE RELIEF MONITORING COMMITTEE

Relief Monitoring Committee of the Cobb Area Council Kickoff meeting November 28, 2016 

Tamsen Nash and Magdalena Valderrama met and laid out intentions and plans for proceeding. Potential members include: Charlene Hamilton, Denise Scoles, Cindy Leonard

OBJECTIVES DEFINED

The Relief Monitoring Committee:

1) monitors how well the needs of our residents are being met after the Valley Fire — and Clayton Fire for those who were doubly affected; and

2) provides communication support for the disaster case management process by being a collection point for council members and area residents to report any difficulties in getting disaster case management services

3) eventually, the work of the committee may be integrated with other council work to establish long-term disaster recovery plans congruent with the Cobb Area Plan going forward.

GOALS

The committee will start by:

1. Creating a tear-off flyer announcing the availability of help and providing complete contact information — it is estimated from many anecdotes that not all residents have access to the internet and that of the people who do, many are not proficient at locating pertinent information;

2. Posting this new information online as well, through Facebook and the CAC website;

3. Identifying and establishing committee procedures to monitor the referrals made to disaster case management at Team Lake County;

4. Comparing the number of damaged parcels listed in the CalFire Valley Fire Incident Report with the number of cases closed or unresolved/ inactive, particularly within the Cobb Area boundaries;

5. Formulating and posting questions to Team Lake County asking their help in providing aggregate data

Accomplished: 

Drafted: Copy and layout for the poster

Compiled: A list of public areas in the Cobb environs where the tear-off flyer can be seen by the most people–this includes churches and retreat centers, Hardester’s in Cobb, Mountain High Coffee Shop, Cobb Information Board, Cobb Water District office, Postal offices/services in Cobb and Loch Lomond, the Loch Lomond Roadhouse, the bulletin board outside Dino’s Deli at the Loch Lomond store.

Identified: A simple set of procedures to keep comparison counts of referrals made to Team Lake County. The person staffing the Committee phone number will date and keep a list of the people who

call asking about any help available. These contacts will be referred formally to Team Lake County disaster case management. At a regular period to be determined, the Committee will ask Team Lake County to let us know how many of the referrals have been acted upon, whether activated, disqualified, closed, etc.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

A list of questions to ask Team Lake County and partners

For disaster case management in general: 

1. Where does the data come from — do FEMA, Red Cross, and World Renew have a way of sharing and/or compiling their survey data? How is the data shared with the other partners?

2. Of the 1300+ people affected by the Valley Fire, how many people signed up for disaster case management?

3. Every professional database has a way of identifying and counting data. Of those who signed up for disaster case management, how many heads of household are listed with a Cobb address?

4. (When time later permits): The Cobb Area Council covers the area bounded by Highway 175 north of Socrates Mine Road, east by Big Canyon Road, north by Red Hills Road and Highway 29, and west by the Lake County line. How many individual heads of household from this area outside of the immediate village of Cobb are listed for disaster case management?

5. How many of these cases have been closed due to needs having been met or client request?

6. How many cases were closed due to being unable to reach the client?

7. How many cases have received supplemental CAC assistance from the American Red Cross since distribution began June 2016? Can you break the numbers down by month? What qualifications do TLC guidelines require for this assistance?

8. How many people have been disqualified for CAC assistance? What are the grounds for disqualification?

Rebuilding questions to ask Case Management Committee, Construction Committee, Hope City, and Mennonites Disaster Services: 

1. How many applications for permits have been submitted to the County?

2. What types of and how many permit applications have been approved?

3. How many homes are COMPLETED?

4. How many homes have received OCCUPANCY Permits?

5. HOW MANY FAMILIES have moved into their new home?

Cobb Area Council Action Plan 2017

About the Cobb Area Council

The Cobb Area Council (“CAC”) was formed in the summer of 2016 as a Municipal Advisory Council, to support and advise the Lake County Board of Supervisors (“BOS”) on the specific needs of the Cobb Area. Following the Valley Fire of 2015, it became apparent that the Cobb communities needed a forum for public discussion, with the capacity to bring urgent needs to the county government and to organize the community and seek resources. On June 9, 2016, the community voted unanimously to pass the resolution to create the CAC. A few weeks later, the BOS approved the resolution, as well.

All Cobb Area residents are welcome to attend and participate in the town-hall meetings. CAC meetings are held the 3rd Thursday of the month, 6pm, at the Little Red School House on Bottlerock Road, Cobb.

The following areas will be addressed by the CAC in 2017:

1. Provide ongoing support for recovery from the Valley Fire – Help our neighbors rebuild and return home

The effects of the Valley Fire on the Cobb Area will continue to be felt for many years as we continue to rebuild homes and heal the land. The Cobb Area Council will continue to participate as appropriate in all of the formal recovery programs offered by Federal, State and County government as well as in programs of independent nonprofit and business organizations. A principal function of the Council will be to build communications connections to local residents, to disseminate information about programs, to serve as a conduit for local feedback to program providers and to seek resources from all sources to assist in the recovery, rebuilding and redevelopment process.

2. Establish Emergency Communications Network for the Cobb Area

In 2017 the Cobb Area Council will work to establish a robust and comprehensive local emergency communications system, integrating resources available from government with local neighbor-to-neighbor communications.

3. Spearhead Revision of the Cobb Area Plan

The Cobb Area Plan was last revised in 1989. Clearly much has changed since then, especially following the Valley Fire in 2015. Thus the revision of the Cobb Area Plan will be a top priority for the Cobb Area Council in 2017.

The purpose of the Cobb Mountain Area Plan is to provide guidance regarding the long term growth and development of the Cobb Valley and Loch Lomond areas and other surrounding rural communities and rural lands. The Area Plan is a tool by which greater planning detail is provided for the Cobb Mountain Area. The policies of the County’s general plan call for more detailed plans to be

prepared for the unincorporated communities. It is recommended that they take the form of area plans which can be adopted as part of the Lake County General Plan. The Cobb Mountain planning area is one of ten geographically distinct subregions within Lake County for which area plans are to be prepared. The area plan will focus on specific community and rural issues and needs. Participation by local residents is an extremely important component of preparing an area plan.

The relationship between the general plan and an area plan must be mutually complementary and consistent. Policies in the Area Plan should supplement general plan policies, yet more precisely reflect the characteristics found in the planning area. Upon adoption, the area plan and the general plan must be internally consistent. The Cobb Mountain Area Plan also includes a zoning map which corresponds to the land use designations of the plan. Changes to the County zoning in the Cobb Area may be considered.

Key areas to be considered include:

 The Local Environment and Ecology

 Public Safety

 Land Use, Housing and Circulation

 Economic Development

 Local Cultural Resources

4. Provide ongoing support for efforts to mitigate fire danger in the Cobb Area

The threat of wildfire will continue to be a significant, even increasing, aspect of life in the Cobb Area. The Cobb Area Council will continue to research and report to the community on all aspects of fire danger mitigation and will promote best practices throughout the community.

5. Work on Cobb Area Emergency Response Plan

The Cobb Area Council will work with the County Office of Emergency Services to establish a comprehensive Emergency Response Plan in coordination with the Countywide Emergency Response Plan. This will include the Communication Network described above

6. Support for the Economic Recovery, Resilience and Thriving of the Cobb Area

Expanding on the Cobb Area Plan described above (#3), the Cobb Area Council will develop a strategic vision for the economic future of the Area.

7. Involve the citizens of the Cobb Community in CAC programs by active outreach and education

Cultivate active participation in CAC meetings and committees throughout the Cobb Area. This may include outreach to the Cobb Elementary School and other local groups. It will also include specific educational events offered to the entire community

8. Cultivate active partnership with our neighboring communities in Lake County – especially Middletown, by attending community, especially meetings of the Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH) and inviting MATH Board Members to attend CAC meetings.