COBB AREA COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday May 18, 2023 at 6:30pm
In person only
Minutes (Approved 6-15-23, As Amended)
CALLED TO ORDER at 6:33pm
Roll Call
Present: Cathy McCarthy, Chris Nettles, Darlene Warner, Mel McMurrin
Absent: Jake Strickler, Joe Schneider
Pledge of Allegiance
Approval of Agenda as Amended
Strike 7:35p Item: Approve/Disapprove Letter of Support for Friends of Boggs Mountain
Motion by Chris, 2nd by Paul. All in favor. Agenda approved.
Approval of Minutes
Regular Meeting Minutes – Motion by Chris, 2nd by Robert. All in favor. Minutes approved.
Special Meeting Minutes – Motion by Chris, 2nd by Eliot. All in favor. Minutes approved.
Short Announcements
Paul Duncan – Pine Summit Pool Cleanup Day is this Saturday from 10am to 3pm
Robert Stark – Lion’s Club will be offering refreshments before CAC meetings, and a social after meetings during the hotter months.
Case Kees Winkleman – presented a bid for paving the Rainbow bridge on both sides
Public and Board Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3 mins./individual)
Tom Slaight – comment regarding 9-1-1 calls and apparent possible increase in solo falls and vehicle accidents resulting in head injuries.
Mireya Turner, Lake County Community Development Director – general update on the department
Three Divisions in the CDD Department: 1) Building and Safety, 2) Code Enforcement, and 3) Planning Division. Cannabis is a sub-division under Planning. Has a staff of 37 people.Three top priorities of CDD Department: 1) Staff retention, 2) Professional Development, and 3) Fiscal Sustainability. Planning and Code Enforcement is not self-sustainable. Building and Safety has issued 1,600 building permits in the past year and just under 4,000 inspections in the County. All technicians, Plans Examiners and Building Inspectors have achieved ICC Certification. Two certified in ADA compliance. Code Enforcement has been awarded a new grant of $2.9M over the next 5 years, which funds two Officers with the Sheriff’s Office assistance. Last year was the first year that we completed Annual monitoring for everyone. This is funded by Cannabis grants from California. Cannabis Code Enforcement removed 25,000 plants, inspected 82 legal grow sites for compliance. Combination of on-site visits and satellite imaging. Shut down 54 unpermitted grows and removed 9,833 pounds of debris. Almost all the staff are 100% trained and have received CASIO certification. The Board of Supervisors established a two-year pilot program called Road Map Task Force which allotted funds going to the Sheriff’s Office and Code Enforcement focus on a community and chose Clearlake Oaks area. 226 cases were opened, of which 64 were vehicles, and 126 cases closed (4-10 to 12-31 of 2022). The goal is get property owners to self-abate. Planning Division: 430 planning permit applications. Whole variety of Ordinances. Consistent with General Plan/Zoning Ordinance, to be consistent with community visioning and Local Community Area Plan. Advanced Area Planning: General Plan, Zoning Ordinance, 8 Local Area Plans. Five-Year General Plan (handout). Need to perform a Climate Vulnerability Plan and County-wide Evacuation Plan. Next Hazard Mitigation Plan. Would like Area Plans broken into two phases. Elements first phase, and Visioning is the second phase, hearing from the community during an outreach period. The General Plan update comes after all this.
Complaints can be submitted at CDD counter, online, and can be submitted anonymously.
Planning to ask the BOS for 2 new positions for grant-writing: 1 grant writer, and 1 grant manager. Building Permit fees discussed. Some fees are mandated, some are approved by BOS.
Supervisor’s Comments- Jessica Pyska
Economic Development Department – CEO has arrived. Last week went to Santa Cruz for Wildfire Forest Health Task Force Meeting. Governor appointed task force. Networking with tree mortality issue. Spoke with Secretary Crowfoot again, asking specifically for a Tree Mortality working group within the Task Force. Met with Cal EPA Secretary Garcia to be part of the North Coast Region Biomass Pilot Program. Tree mortality in our area from Hwy 29 south of the Kelseyville Riviera area and all of the Cobb area, has 10,000 dead trees within the 200-foot buffer zone of roads. At a cost of $4k per tree to remove, that’s a $40M project. Working on putting together an Application to CalOES under the CA Disaster Act to get this project going, had to contract out. There is a 25% match. CalFIRE previously was able to provide this match but is not available this time. IRA (Infrastructure Reduction Act) is an option; putting together a grant due June 1. Applying for Federal money. Is a 1:1 match. 22k dead trees throughout the County. Tree work happening on Bottlerock – combination of North Shore Fuels Crew, CLERC, and Chief Duncan. Big trees needed different operators to come in to do the work. Funding from previous fire prevention grant from CalFIRE that CLERC was able to shift around. Two items on the BOS Agenda for Tuesday, May 23rd: 9:15am item is a presentation from the CA Dept. of Insurance regarding wildfire and home insurance issues, discounts, and CA Fair Plan; will be approximately a 15-minute presentation; and 10:30am item (Item 6.5) regarding the County 10-Year Pavement Management Plan.
The Bike Monkey Race at Boggs Forest was 2 weeks ago. There were about 400 registered riders. This race started in 2006, and is one of the first big mountain races in CA. They have invested heavily in Boggs Forest, have planted over 1k trees, and ran the promotion last year.
Mandala Springs Vibe Fest – brought in about 1,300 people. A lot of complaints on social media regarding the noise level past 10pm. Mireya informed on how to submit complaints. Noise ordinance for entire County. Most amplified music requires a use permit. No record of a permit for this event. A letter was sent to them explaining what is allowed and what isn’t. Begin with a courtesy letter. Permits can be revoked. CDD doesn’t know if no complaints are received by them from the community.
Fire Season Update – Paul Duncan
New Battalion Chief in Middletown, ride #1417. Worked as a paramedic for 3.5 year in the district, worked in camp for 2 years. We have 1 engine per Battalion current staffing, then 1 engine per station, then 2 engines per station which is peak staffing level by July 1st. There is tree work going on at Boggs. Ongoing issue with the landing zone being too tight for the helicopter, the approach is unsafe. Trees are flagged, and the Prather’s are the licensed timber operator for this operation. Attended an event at the Lake County Museum, which was a memorial for Firefighters and Police Officers. One of the Mendocino firefighters killed in the 1987 Lauder fire, Denis Lee Cullin, was put on the plaque. Denis was actually killed in Lake County. His death prompted the start of the helicopter long-line hoisting program. South Lake Fire District is starting the Operation Force Multiplier in June. Last year tools were used 7 times to put out fires.
Treasurer’s Report- Chris
Paid in the past 30 days: Rent at Hub ($500), Water Bill for Hub ($35)
Current Balances:
$ 12,632.99 General Fund
$ 7,000.00 Blackberry Cobbler Festival
$ 0.00 Resource Hub (No currently restricted grant money)
$ 2,417.62 Emergency Preparedness Fund
$ 22,050.61 Operating Budget Balance
$ 48,082.63 Small Business Loan Fund (Originally from S.F. Home Loan Bank grant)
$ 70,133.24 Net Assets
Budget Report (spreadsheet handed out; Incorporated Herewith by Attachment “A”):
Annual rent at hub is largest expense $8,000
Total expense budget for 2023 expected to be $12,240
Communications Committee has funds in SSCRA to be transfer to General Fund. TBD
Income projection from the Cobbler Festival: $18,000
Spoke with Jenavive Herrington, County Auditor, for advice and ideas on how we can incorporate annual auditing into CAC Bylaws and best practices for financial controls
Approve/Disapprove 2023/2024 Budget as discussed at April 24 Special Meeting
TABLED to Next Regular Meeting
Approve/Disapprove Letter of Support for Friends of Boggs Mountain
Approve/Disapprove Letter of Support for County of Lake’s USDA Service Forest Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Grant (Incorporated Herewith by Attachment “B”)
Motion by Eliot, 2nd by Chris. All in favor. Letter Approved.
Committee Reports (3 minutes/individual)
Firewise Communities– Magdelena, Cindy, Glenneth-/Richie, Gene, David, Laurie
Cathy – Communications Committee partnered with Jones Creek Firewise Group to hold an event on May 6th for Wildfire Community Preparedness Day in the Cobb Hardester’s parking lot from 8am to Noon.
Communications Committee- Darlene
The event on May 6th was a success. We signed up 8 new members, and sold-out of the radios we had on-hand. We programmed a couple radios and got to meet the faces behind some of the voices we know on the radio. We’re finally testing the new repeater at the Hill location and beginning to get more check-ins. We’re going to be increasing our Facebook presence and doing more outreach.
Forest Health Committee- Eliot
Yolo County Resource Conservation District approved the payment of $15k through CalFire that will go towards the expenses owed for the ACI. We will be able to payoff our outstanding bills. The Cobb Mountain Watershed Education and Restoration program continues this weekend. Will be doing restoration work along Cole Creek. This is the 3rd weekend we’ve been doing that, helping to restore part of the creek. This is SSCRA in partnership with the Forest Stewardship Committee. The Forest Stewardship Committee is kicking around ideas to do a Cobb Mountain Forest symposium sometime after Labor Day to do a full-day or two-day workshop on helping the future of the forest. The CAC liaison for this Committee was Chris Nettles and will now be Jake Strickler.
Economic Development Committee- Chris
Now chaired by Chris. The committee will be rehabilitated since it hasn’t met for several months. Will be meeting the last Tuesday of every month. Time and place TBD. May 30th is the next meeting. We may wait a month to get things moving again.
Blackberry Cobbler Festival – Approve/Disapprove Statement- Cathy
Blackberry Cobbler Festival – Statement of Purpose:
The Blackberry Cobbler Festival allows the Cobb Area Council to continue offering support to the people of Cobb, as well as local businesses, artisans, and community organizations. The festival provides a platform for Cobb community organizations to raise money for their individual projects. We showcase local businesses and artisans. The festival encourages our local businesses to create events in conjunction with the festival to create a community wide celebration of what Cobb has to offer. By attracting visitors to Cobb Mountain for one more weekend this summer, the Cobb Area Council comes closer to our community development goal: to improve the local economy and improve visibility of the Cobb Area to the rest of the county.
Motion by:Chris, 2nd by Paul. All in favor. Statement Approved.
Next Committee meeting is June 1st at 5:30pm at Mountain Meadow.
Next Meeting: June 15, 2023
Will have full audio and video capabilities, PEG and YouTube channels.
Adjournment at 8:15pm
Motion by Cathy Chris, 2nd by Eliot. All in favor.
Discussion at 6-15-23 meeting that no Motion is needed for Adjournment according to Rosenberg’s Rules of Order.
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene Warner, Secretary
