CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the Clearlake City Council will discuss the process for finding a new city attorney, get a presentation on a sales tax to benefit Clear Lake and consider allowing the nonprofit that runs the city's youth center to rent out the senior center for events.
The council will convene at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, for a closed session to negotiate for the possible acquisition of the Clear Lake SPCA building, located at 8025 Highway 29 in Kelseyville.
The public portion of the meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
At the meeting the council will formally receive a letter of resignation from City Attorney Malathy Subramanian of Best Best & Krieger LLP and consider authorizing city staff to release a request for proposals for legal services.
Subramanian has served as Clearlake's attorney since January 2008.
Her resignation letter stated, “This letter will also serve as technical notice of the termination of our legal services agreement with the City pursuant to Section 12 of the agreement.”
While that agreement calls for 30 days' notice, Subramanian said she will continue serving as city attorney for 60 days in order to help with a smooth transition in securing another city attorney.
“It is imperative that the city begin the process of securing legal counsel,” City Manager Joan Phillipe said in her report to the council regarding Subramanian's resignation. “Sixty days will go by very quickly and as such it is staff's recommendation that authorization be given to proceed immediately with sending out a request for proposal (RFP).”
Phillipe said that, upon receipt of the letter, staff began the work of creating an RFP and a comprehensive list of attorneys and firms to solicit responses to the request.
She also is suggesting that the mayor create an ad hoc committee of two council members to work with staff on reviewing proposals and making a final recommendation to the full council on candidates to interview in the final selection process.
Also on Thursday, the council will get a presentation from Lake County Public Works and Water Resources Director Scott De Leon on Measure L, the sales tax measure to benefit the health of Clear Lake. The measure is on this June's ballot.
In other Thursday business, the council will discuss a possible amendment to the Lake County Youth Services Youth Center lease to provide for no-cost use of the Clearlake Senior Community Center for fundraisers, and discussion on the request to amend the agreement to allow for rental of the Youth Center building for multiple types of non-youth oriented events.
Items on the consent agenda – considered to be noncontroversial and accepted as a slate with one vote – include warrant registers; minutes of the Feb. 13, Feb. 27, March 6 and March 13 council meetings; and minutes of the Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting on March 12.
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