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CLEARLAKE – A longtime incumbent and a second-term Clearlake City Council member are racing this year to represent District 2 on the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
The race this year pits Jeff Smith, the three-term incumbent, against Joyce Overton, a Clearlake City Council member and currently the city's vice mayor, who has been on the council for the past six years.
District 2 is the county's smallest supervisorial district by land area, but because it includes the city of Clearlake it has a significant constituency. Running west to east, it stretches from the shores of Clear Lake to Colusa County.
Smith has been challenged for reelection before, most recently in 2006, when several challengers stepped into the race, which ended with him beating the entire field with a wide margin in the June primary.
However, Overton may prove to be one of his most serious challengers to date, with an already established background in local government through her work on the Clearlake City Council, of which Smith also was a member before moving to the District 2 chair.
Overton said she's challenging Smith because a change is needed in the leadership at the county level.
The election is June 8.
Smith seeks fourth term
Smith, 56, a native of Michigan who moved to California with his family when he was just a child, arrived in Lake County in 1976. He's raised his children here and been a successful businessman.
He has two grown children who live in Sparks, Nev., two stepchildren with wife Cathlene who live locally, and three grandchildren in Nevada, ages 6, 12 and 14.
He served for two years on the Clearlake City Council before running for District 2 supervisor. His third term in that job ends this December.
With help from wife Cathlene, Smith is campaigning for reelection, seeking his fourth term on the board. He said getting out and speaking with constituents is something he enjoys, and it reminds him of why he originally got involved in public service.
Why run again? He said he has a lot he still wants to see accomplished.
His to do list includes upgrades to the Southeast Regional Wastewater Collection System, a project he wants to see completed within the next two years because it's needed for expansion – not just for the proposed commercial development at the city's Pearce Field airport property, which only will take about 120 connections – as well as for residential lots in Lower Lake and the avenues area of Clearlake.
The project, he said, is a “win-win” for the district's residents.
He supports the Lowe's project, which he said he's received mostly positive feedback on from the many community members with whom he's discussed it.
Smith said the project offers Clearlake a chance to move forward in a positive direction. “If we can get an anchor store in that property, that's what we need to do,” he said, adding that, no matter what goes in at the location, the property needs to be used.
The sales tax revenues will benefit Clearlake, said Smith, pointing out that because of lost sales tax revenue, “We're building great roads in Santa Rosa and Ukiah.”
He also wants to work on Clear Lake to avoid the kind of algae issues that hit the county last year. It had been about a decade since the last time a large algae bloom occurred, he noted.
In his 34 years in the county, Smith – who spent time on his own boat last summer trying to break up the algae mats around Clearlake's parks – said he's not seen an algae situation that held on as long. But the county has hired Scott DeLeon to be the new Water Resources director, which Smith said is going to be “fantastic” and will help the county be prepared moving forward.
Smith also wants to work on getting movement from the Environmental Protection Agency on the Sulphur Bank Superfund site in Clearlake Oaks, a project which he said has taken a “ridiculous” amount of time but hasn't been resolved.
In addition, he'd like to see the Middle Creek restoration project through, as he said it affects everyone because of the impact it will have on the lake through restoring wetlands.
“There's so many things I think that we have been able to accomplish in the time I've been in there,” he said.
He also is particularly concerned that there needs to be continuity and experience on the Board of Supervisors if County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox decides to retire at the end of the year, as he's hinted that he might. Smith said an experienced board will be needed to help break in Cox's successor and make sure that the county's careful fiscal practices remain consistent.
During his time on the board, Smith said he's proud of many of the board's many accomplishments, including Basin 2000, which included improvements to the county's wastewater collection system. He said he still wants to see the Full Circle Project completed, with the Lakeport and Kelseyville communities hooked into the county wastewater system that rings the lake and take treated effluent to The Geysers steamfield for injection.
As for the No. 1 item, “The purchase of Mt. Konocti was probably the biggest thing in anybody's career that you could really be proud of.”
He said there also have been “bumps in the road,” where board members may not agree, but they really work together well and, when they disagree, they're back the following week, working toward the same goals.
One of the things Smith said he has learned while on the board is the importance of compromise and talking out differences.
He's also proud of what he's been able to bring the city in terms of resources, including a recent $40,000 allocation for a community garden at the senior center.
Overton has said she doesn't think the county is giving the city is fair share, which Smith contends isn't accurate. He said he believe he has a “fantastic working relationship” with the city, and that he's filled the requests that he could.
In recent years he's been criticized in some quarters for time spent in Southern Oregon, where he owns property. He's been hunting in and visiting that area since 1970, and in 2009 he served on the board for a wetlands and waterfowl group, which required him to travel up for monthly board meetings.
Last December, he resigned, noting, “It was way too much for me.”
He said he became involved with the group after a cholera die-off of wild ducks on Clear Lake several years ago. The group sent an air boat and an operator to help collect ducks and Smith had promised to help them in turn. So when they called on him, he joined the board.
Smith said he's since taken a class to operate an air boat and explained that the connections he made with that and other waterfowl groups makes it possibly to quickly call in resources in the event of another die-off.
Overton says she understands challenges
While a supervisorial seat may differ from that of a city council member, Overton said she's prepared for the transition and maintains that she has the capability and knowledge to perform the duties.
Overton, 53, said she decided to run because she doesn't believe the Clearlake area is getting what it needs from the county.
“I think it's just time for change at the supervisors level,” she said.
Members of her family first arrived in the county in the 1960s, and she first moved to Lake County in the 1970s, staying six years before leaving. She returned for a short time in the 1980s but was back to stay as of 1995. She said she has numerous family members in the area, including her two sisters.
Taking on an incumbent is no easy job, Overton said. It's always harder running against someone in the seat.
However, when it comes to the challenges facing constituents and what she's hearing on the campaign trail, Overton said a big issue in the race is the economy.
“People want to know what we're going to do” and what economic help the candidates can provide for the community, Overton said.
If elected, Overton said she intends to make the supervisor's post her full-time job.
She's been frustrated at county-city relations on some projects, such as the Southeast Regional Wastewater Collection System, which needs upgrades to the tune of around $5 million.
While the city at one point had pledged half of that cost in redevelopment money, it has since stopped negotiations on an agreement – which Smith had supported – citing fiscal troubles and uncertainty over the whether or not its Lowe's shopping center project on Highway 53 is even going to move forward.
Overton had stated in public meetings that she believed the county was responsible for the system upgrades, not the city.
She also saw firsthand the struggle that the city's businesses faced last year because of a massive algae bloom – the likes of which county Water Resources officials said they hadn't seen in decades.
“It was devastating,” she said, noting that the city's transient occupancy taxes – also called “bed” taxes for accommodations – were “zilch” because of the algae bloom.
“In my mind it just wasn't necessary,” and something should have been in place to have prevented it, she said.
Last summer Overton – who also is a member of the Clear Lake Advisory Subcommittee, which looks specifically at lake issues – hosted a series of town halls with local business owners and Water Resources personnel to discuss Clear Lake's challenges.
She pointed out that the attention drawn to the problem has since resulted in the county receiving about $100,000 in grant funds for work on the lake.
Regarding the city's Lowe's project, Overton is guarded on the topic, which she said is necessary because the city is being sued over it by the Sierra Club Lake Group. She told Lake County News in an interview in March about the suit that she had expected it would happen.
However, pointing to her comments during the public hearings on the topic earlier this year, Overton noted, “I think everybody knows that I did not support the (mitigated) negative declaration.”
Overton voted against approving the project without an environmental impact report, but voted for the other associated motions, including approving the property sale and a land swap for an easement with a neighboring property owner.
“I didn't want to use our redevelopment money for that project,” she said. “I wanted to use our redevelopment money for our Lakeshore Drive.”
What didn't go before the council, said Overton, was the economic impact for the city if redevelopment was used on Lakeshore Drive, where many community members have voiced a desire to see better infrastructure, such as curbs, gutters and sidewalks.
“We didn't have anything to compare it to,” she said.
In her time in the community and while working as a council member, Overton has been involved in a variety of social issues.
She's worked with the Lake County Community Action Agency – for which she is a board member – to form local youth centers. Three currently are open in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks and Middletown. Overton said she'd like to see a fourth open in the Lakeport or Lucerne area.
Her work on behalf of youth also includes being a founding member of the Clearlake Youth Center and a member of the Safe House for Youth Committee.
Overton also began the “Warm for the Winter” drive, now in its second year, which provides the homeless with warm clothing, tents and nonperishable foods.
Most recently, she's assisted with organizing a local homeless coalition, a group of individuals and social agencies collaborating to address the city's growing homeless population. Part of the group's goals include the creation of a 10-year plan to end homelessness, such as has been adopted in other communities across the country.
She said a shelter is needed somewhere in the county to offer homeless a place to stay temporarily.
Overton chairs the board for the local PEG Board, which oversees the community access television channel, TV8. Smith also is a member of the board, which has been criticized by community members for changes to the station's handling of videos.
Her other responsibilities include acting as president of the Redwood Empire Regional Board, sitting as a board member for the California League of Cities and the Clean Water Advisory Committee. She's also a board member for Lake County Special Districts.
Other interests for the supervisorial hopeful are encouraging the use of green energy in local developments and a facelift for Clearlake's Lakeshore Drive.
She said the city's redevelopment has been mismanaged, and that by this time Lakeshore Drive should have looked like new.
In the current economy, changes aren't going to be easy. “It's going to be really rough for this county for five years,” she predicted.
Overton said the community needs to work together to decide what it wants Clearlake to look like in 10 years.
She said she values public input and if elected plans to hold more town halls to gather the suggestions and ideas from the talented, smart people in the district.
A spirited debate
The two candidates met for a televised debate this past Tuesday at the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall. The debate is being rebroadcast on TV8.
During the debate, Overton and Smith were asked several questions about their priorities if elected supervisor, the skills and characteristics that qualify them to serve on the Board of Supervisors in the coming four years, the Burns Valley Pathway project, the Lowe's project, what actions should be taken to prevent quagga mussels infecting the lake and if they supported zones of benefit.
Both Overton and Smith listed protecting Clear Lake as a major priority and shared their experiences in the community and local government.
It was at the end of the debate that a few sparks flew as they were summing up their qualifications and goals in their closing statements.
Overton suggested that Smith hadn't done enough for his district when it came to bringing money and resources.
In particular, she said more money was needed for the youth centers in the area.
She also referred to the $100,000 grant the county received in the wake of town halls she held last year on the county's algae problem.
She said the true government is the people.
“It's time to march on for all of us,” she said.
Smith replied by saying that was the most he had ever heard from Overton about what he hadn't done for the city of Clearlake.
He said that Supervisor Denise Rushing had worked to get the $100,000 grant, and that the county was just as badly impacted from algae as from the negative publicity that he blamed Overton for; she was featured in Bay Area TV coverage of the issue.
“It's amazing, it's election time and I hear these things I haven't done,” he said.
He added, “If you think I've done a good job, I'm up for a rehire.”
Learn more about the candidates by visiting their Web sites: www.jeffsmithdistrict2.com or http://joyceoverton.net.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
