CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce offered its official endorsement of Measure L during its monthly dinner meeting Tuesday at Kour Thai Restaurant in Clearlake.
Chamber Executive Director Joey Luiz said the endorsement was supported unanimously by the chamber board.
Committee to Save the Lake 2014 Chairman Jim Magliulo was in attendance to accept the endorsement, as was committee member Victoria Brandon, who delivered a presentation about the measure to fill the evening's program.
Measure L is a half-cent sales tax imitative to preserve and restore the health of Clear Lake.
It is a specific tax requiring an expenditure plan and citizens' oversight committee. Annual independent audits are to confirm appropriate spending.
“Clear Lake is Lake County's greatest asset, by far,” Brandon said. “With Measure L we have the opportunity to make an investment in Clear Lake and our own future and the future of our children.”
Brandon said Measure L will help reduce the impacts from toxic, foul-smelling algae and nuisance aquatic weeds.
She said the measure will assist in providing a funding source to continue ongoing aquatic weed mitigation programs that currently utilize one-time, special purpose funds.
The expenditure plan, she said, requires funds be spent specifically on water quality programs, aquatic invasive species prevention programs and the Nuisance Aquatic Weeds and Algae program.
She said Measure L will also provide a source for matching funds in new and ongoing projects that support these programs.
One such project, Brandon said, is the Middle Creek Restoration Project, which will help restore wetlands so they can naturally filter and clean the lake as well as improve wildlife habitat.
She said the $6 million project requires a 50-percent match. She said Measure L includes a set-aside plan that could generate as much as $400,000 for the project in the first two years.
“Then there is the Full Circle Project that gets septic off the lake,” Brandon said. “Measure L would provide leverage with money to use as local match for those grants.”
Brandon said Measure L would assist in ongoing prevention efforts to keep invasive species such as quagga and zebra mussels from entering the lake. She said infestation by these invasive species would severely damage the health of the lake and its fishery.
Brandon said there is a sunset clause of 10 years on the measure. “Our hope is in 10 years, we won't need this (tax) and (programs) will be self-sustaining.”
For more information regarding Measure L, visit www.savethelake.info .
Correction: The article originally said Measure L was supported by a unanimous vote of the membership. That sentence has been corrected to state that the vote was of the chamber's board.
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