COBB AREA COUNCIL
Hybrid PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday July 21, 2022 at 6:30pm
In person and online via Zoom and Facebook
Draft Minutes
6:31 CALL TO ORDER
By chair Cathy McCarthy
Roll Call
Present – Cathy McCarthy: Chairperson, , Chris Nettles: Secretary, Joe Schneider: Alternate- Frank Lincoln: Treasurer
Not present, Jake Strickler: Member-at-large, Cindy Leonard: Vice-Chairperson
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
Agenda approval motion:
Chris to approve the agenda
Frank seconded
Passed unanimously
Motion to approve June Minutes
Eliot moved to approve June 2022 minutes
Chris seconded
Passed unanimously
6:35 Short Announcements
Blackberry festival coming up on Aug 27 – CAC expresses our full appreciation to the sponsors od our 2022, 2nd Annual Blackberry Cobbler Festival
6:40 Public and Board Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3 mins./individual)
Tom Slaight requested clarification on the conduct of participants when addressing issues in front of the Cobb Area Council. Cathy acknowledged her role in maintaining order and setting the appropriate tone in CAC meetings.
Mel announced a post-op meeting of the Cobb Alert Net exercise on Saturday at Mountain High
6:50 Treasurer’s Report- Frank
In the black!
General Fund: $3359.44
Blackberry Cobbler Festival: $5715.86
Cobb Resource Hub: $1723.33
Emergency Preparedness: $2417.62
T‐shirt sales: $2603.89
Total assets: $15, 820.14
6:55 Supervisor’s Comments- Supv. Jessica Pyska
Updated CAC on fuel reduction projects with CLERC (Clear Lake Environment Research Center) – contractor back on the Fox Drive neighborhood.
North Shore Fire Protection District built out a fuels crew this season in partnership with the tribal community. Supvs Pyska & Simon allocated some discretionary funds to equipment to that crew. They will also be working in the Fox Dr. neighborbood.
PG&E is taking down many trees in the Wildcat and Salmina Meadows area. PG&E is having difficulty obtaining the cooperation of some landowners. Please work with them, because fuel reduction helps the entire community.
Bookmobile coming soon to Cobb. Will have books has well a Chromebooks, WiFi, hotspots, etc.
$640K will fund a Climate Resilience Officer for the county. The job add will be going out early in the next couple of week.
$1m allocation from geothermal resources to fund a Cobb parks project – Forest Lake and a trail to peak of Cobb Mountain identified.
7:10 Fire Season Update – Paul Duncan
2nd Fire crew added at Konocti Camp.
Air Curtin Incinerator will be back up & running when weather permits
There were two recent fire incidents along Bottlerock road, Crews all did an excellent job keeping those fires contained.
Fire Sirens purchased new helipods for portable water tanks on the helicopers
A masticator is coming soon for clearing important escape routes
One final signup for Operation Force Multiplier (last round in 2022)
No open outdoor burning right now.
7:15 CalTrans HWY 175 Bridge Project Information- Presented by Cal-Trans
May watch the presentation on Facebook live video from 34 to 38 mins,
There was a discussion about a signaling system for managing 1 lane traffic both ways. The community was concerned about the one-way traffic control not being managed by live people at the actual site. CalTrans agreed to reconsider this arrangement. If there are complaints about the construction please contactor Granite Construction or Danielle Ruiz at CalTrans. There will be no impacts to water quality as the clean water from the creek will be diverted around the project.
7:45 Cobb Mountain Water Update – Ben Murphy, General Manager Cobb Water District
Water levels are two weeks ahead of normal, seeing what we normally would in August. – Please conserve! (Expect to be ok for the full season)
Working with Lake County Broadband Service for an agreement to put antennas on one of the water tanks that will support a broadband services trial in a few Cobb neighborhoods.
Grant updates – 3 new applications for drinking water improvements to Pine Grove, Alpine Meadows, Starview & Adams Springs. These projects are behind the Mount Hannah & Pineview Heights.
Weight capacity and speeding questions presented. Speed bumps were placed on the bridge, but doesn’t seem to deter people from speeding. Bridge had 80k capacity, it is well beyond the specs for this capacity. Bolts are regular checked.
7:50 Committee Reports (3 minutes/individual)
Firewise Communities:
Magdelena
Had an evacuation fire evacuation safety training for a small
summer camp along North Siegler Road and it involved
four adults and six kids – kids inspected cars for evacuation supplies
2 new volunteers for the home assessment program – 9 homes assessed, 5 scheduled, 17 waiting to be conducted. Need additional volunteers.
Conducted Fire Safe Council workshop Firewires Communities have grown to 17 from 4 in 2018 and two more in the works.
No chipping in August. Too dangerous in the high heat.
Cindy – Not available
Glenneth – Not available
Gene – Not available
David T. – CLERC starting on smaller parcels in Fox Drive area
Laurie – starting new Firewise Community in Gordon Springs area
Communications Committee- Mel
Cobb Alert Net has 240 – 265 members, 25 total GMRS radios
Cobb Resource Hub has $10 Retivis rt22 radios for sale
Budget Committee- Chris
Starting 2023 Budget planning in August, Chris N, Frank L. & John Carlisi are on the committee. If you want to contribute to this committee, contact Chris Nettles: cdnettles@gmail.com
Request from chair to add Communications Committee to 2023 Budget
Forest Health Committee- Eliot
ACI will start burning material from the contractors working on local projects
Announced Watershed Education Program, stay tuned for more details soon. (kicking off in Feb
Economic Development Committee- Joe
Glenneth proposed a Sculpture Jam weekend in Oct.
Econ Development committee taking a month off because of the activities associated with planning for the Blackberry Cobbler Festival.
Need liaisons between CAC and Middletown Area Merchants Association or Kelseyville Business Owner’s Association.
Need volunteers for the Blackberry Cobbler Festival, please contact Cobb Area Council if interested. Cobbmccarthys@gmail.com for vendor applications. ($35 for goods, $50 for food vendors
8:15 Motion for Special Saturday Meeting
Tabled until further notice.
8:20 Date of Next Regular Meetings: August 18, 2022
8:15 Adjournment