LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council at its Tuesday meeting received a brief update on the situation surrounding the Westshore Pool, approved a grant application and presented an updated plaque honoring mayors over the last 26 years.
Council members Tom Engstrom and Martin Scheel were absent for the meeting, although Scheel participated by telephone during the council's closed session on labor negotiations, according to Mayor Kenny Parlet. Parlet said there was no reportable action from the closed session discussion.
During the Tuesday meeting, City Manager Margaret Silveira gave the council an update on the Westshore Pool, which is owned by the Lakeport Unified School District. The city and school district have an agreement for operating the facility.
The pool didn't open for use in February by the Clear Lake and Kelseyville High swim teams and the Channel Cats swim team due to concerns about the pool's safety that had been raised in a 2003 letter from the Division of the State Architect, which the district discovered in a file over the holiday break.
Those concerns had not been addressed previously, and since the letter was found the city, school district and county have been working together to find solutions, said Silveira.
On March 27, the district approved an agreement with SHN Consulting Engineers and Geologists of Willits to do soil stability testing around the pool at a cost of $10,650.
Silveira said the school district agreed to pay for the study as the city had paid close to the same amount for a new pool pump.
She estimated that the testing and report from SHN probably won't be ready for about six weeks.
“That does, of course, hamper our public swim,” said Silveira, referring to the summer months that the city operates the pool and makes it open to the community at large.
The city, Silveira added, is not subject to the rules of the Division of the State Architect like the school district is. As such, the city could still have the pool open and offer swim lessons, but she said she couldn't guarantee that yet.
Silveira said the county has offered to assist with getting the pool ready to be operated, but she noted, “We don't know what the next step's going to be.”
She added, “At this point we're all hoping for a clean bill of health on the soils.”
Public Works Director Mark Brannigan also told the council that the length of time the soil study will take will not give the city enough time to get the summer swim programs in place.
Parlet agreed with staff that it didn't make sense to invest more money in the pool until the report is done.
County Deputy Administrative Officer Alan Flora told the council that the county has been keeping the lines of communication open with the city and school district, and that the Board of Supervisors is supportive of working collaboratively to get the pool reopened.
Parlet told staff he was impressed with the new pool pump equipment, which he saw during a recent visit to the pool.
Also on Tuesday, Silveira showed off the updated Mayor's Plaque recognizing city of Lakeport mayors from 1988 to present.
She said the council commissioned the plaque in 1988, with the mayor's name to have been added each year, although it hadn't been updated since 1988. That is, until recently.
“How heavy is that?” Councilman Marc Spillman asked as Silveira picked up the plaque to show it.
“It's heavy,” she replied.
The updated plaque will be hung in the council chambers, Silveira said.
In other business, the council held a brief public hearing – and received no input – on a resolution to direct staff to proceed with finishing an application for a $400,000 2014 Community Development Block Grant Planning and Business Assistance Grant. The resolution was approved 3-0.
Consultant Jeff Lucas explained that the city was proposing to use $300,000 of the grant for a business assistance loan program and $100,000 for a planning and feasibility for the Lakeport waterfront area from Third Street to Clearlake Avenue.
Regarding the business loan program, Lucas said lenders have told the city that it's a good time to reestablish the program, which would offer low fixed rate loans, such as 2 percent over 10 years for equipment and working capital in order to foster job creation and business retention. He said the application is about halfway finished.
Silveira said the city wants community input on uses for the waterfront so that when development opportunities arise, they can be pursued. She said that the city doesn't currently have money to implement any waterfront projects, but gathering public input is the first step in any such effort.
City Engineer Scott Harter presented a resolution ordering the summary vacation of a stormwater easement located on parcel G within the Del Lago Subdivision. The council approved the resolution, which will allow the subdivision's homeowners association to build a new shed.
The council also approved Public Works Director Mark Brannigan's request to purchase an equipment trailer. A request from Harter for an Engineering Department truck purchase was continued to a future meeting.
During the meeting Parlet presented proclamations designating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month and California Safe Digging Month, and April 1 as National Service Recognition Recognition Day.
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