CLEARLAKE, Calif. – During a quick regular Thursday night meeting the Clearlake City Council appointed voting delegates for a fall conference and turned down two proposed property donations.
In under half an hour council members worked through an agenda with only three business items.
In the first, they appointed Councilman Russell Perdock as the city's voting delegate to the League of California Cities' annual conference, which takes place in San Jose in September.
Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson and Bruno Sabatier were appointed first and second alternates, respectively.
City Manager Greg Folsom presented to the council the two proposed property donations, both of which he recommended declining.
The first parcel up for consideration, located at 5768 Vallejo Ave., is owned by Georgeann Jolley.
“This is a fairly simple one,” said Folsom, who explained that the city's Public Works director, Doug Herren, went to look at the parcel.
“There's no current or future potential use for this property. It's very inaccessible,” said Folsom, noting that to get to it one has to take a dirt road.
There was no public comment on the proposed donation, which the council voted unanimously to decline.
The second parcel at 3497 Park St. is owned by Khaled Neouchy, and is a similar type of property to Jolley's, said Folsom, explaining it's also on a dirt road.
After a review by city staff, Folsom said it was determined that there are no current or future uses for that second parcel, either.
He explained that the city would take on additional liability if it accepted the property, and so he recommended not taking it.
No public comment was offered and the council followed up with another unanimous decision to decline the Neouchy parcel.
During his first official report to the council, Folsom thanked council members and the community for the warm welcome he's received since joining the city last month as its new city manager. It's his first city manager post.
“I've met a lot of people so far. Everybody has just been tremendously nice,” he said, noting that the friendly people he's met since interviewing for the position caused him to be interested in taking the job.
“Coming from the big city,” said Folsom, who most recently was in Riverside County, “you don't necessarily see that all the time, so it's kind of refreshing.”
Folsom also thanked the council for letting him overlap his first weeks on the job with the final weeks of retiring City Manager Joan Phillipe's tenure.
Folsom started work June 15, and Phillipe retired officially on June 30, although she attended the Tuesday Clearlake Planning Commission.
“She's been a tremendous asset to me, helping me to learn and get up to speed on a number of projects,” Folsom said, adding that Phillipe has been extremely gracious with her time and knowledge and an asset to the city overall.
As he's been getting settled in, Folsom also has managed to complete the county's Certified Tourism Ambassador program, met with local leaders, and was part of the joint council and commission meeting on June 30.
During council member reports, Councilwoman Joyce Overton reported that she has been hired as the new executive director for the Highlands Senior Services Center, effective July 1.
In his report, Perdock agreed with Folsom's perceptions of the community. “We do have nice people here. We have genuine people.”
Perdock thanked the Lakeshore Lions Club and the other community groups that helped put on the city's July 4 celebration.
Perdock said he wanted to send a letter of thanks to Pacific Gas and Electric, which made a nearly $7,000 donation to the city's fireworks show.
Fortino Dickson reported on her attendance at the League of California Cities' Executive Forum in Monterey, where communication and collaboration were key topics.
Based on her interactions with representatives from other communities, Fortino Dickson came away with a conviction that the city's leaders communicate well with each other, and that on the local level collaboration is successful.
“Here in Lake County we collaborate on a much bigger scale than other communities do,” while leveraging resources amongst agencies, she said.
Fortino Dickson also asked the council for consensus to bring forward a proposal for a plastic bag ban in the city, which the council had decided to hold off on pursuing following a previous discussion.
Considering the city's waterways and natural elements, “I think that a plastic bag would be something that, for our community, makes sense,” she said.
Fortino Dickson received the requested consensus from fellow council members who expressed their interest in discussing the plastic bag ban proposal at a future meeting.
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Clearlake City Council declines property donations
- Elizabeth Larson
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