Clearlake City Council upholds marijuana abatement orders, approves new fuel purchase program
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday evening upheld abatement orders on several properties where marijuana was being grown out of compliance with city rules and approved a fuel purchase program that will save the police department time and money.
Code Enforcement staff presented the abatement order appeals for 14170 Konocti St., 3602 Ciwa St., 3275 14th St., 16076 25th Ave. and 16326 34th Ave.
On all of the properties city staff had found marijuana being grown in violation of city rules, with all of the appellants failing to obtain cultivation permits.
Other violations ranged from cultivating outdoors on land without a dwelling structure to lack of an enclosed fence, growing in an area larger than a 10-foot by 10-foot enclosure and being visible from the right-of-way.
In the case of the 16076 25th Ave. property, the appellants had been fined last year for violations and so, under city rules, will be prohibited from growing for a period in the future.
Mark Stewart and Donna Wynn, of the Ciwa Street and 14th Street properties, respectively, were the only appellants to speak to the council in opposition to the abatement orders.
Stewart said he didn’t know about the requirements and has a medicinal need, and stated that the plants were at most six weeks out from being ready.
Wynn, who said she also uses the plant for medical needs, told the council that the 10-foot by 10-foot size limit is not big enough, that she kept her yard clean and had no idea about the rules.
The council voted unanimously to deny all of the appeals.
The council also heard from staff about the Enterprise vehicle leasing program and approved entering into a fuel purchase agreement through the ExxonMobil Fleet National Card Program.
Assistant City Manager Alan Flora gave the council the update about the vehicle leasing and fleet program.
His written report explained that in June the council authorized the finance director to execute the necessary documents to replace city vehicles through the Enterprise Fleet Management Program, an action which included the initial lease of four vehicles as well as authorizing the city manager to lease additional vehicles as appropriate based on available funding in the council’s adopted budget.
Flora told the council that the city has leased five non-patrol police vehicles, one Code Enforcement truck funded by Community Development Block Grant funds, one Building Department truck and one Measure V-funded Public Works truck.
Recently, he said the city ordered 10 new police patrol vehicles from Ford, which he said aren’t anticipated to be delivered until the spring because of a lengthy lead time.
Beyond the vehicle purchases, he said city staff also wanted to bring back an update on fuel management.
Flora explained that the city buys all of its fuel from Redwood Coast Fuels at a card lock station in Lower Lake. The fuel purchases are governed by a historical agreement reached through the county that the city has “piggy-backed” off of in the years since. That agreement gives the city a discounted fuel price.
City staff, in working with Enterprise Fleet Management, became aware of that company's’ fuel purchase program, which allows the city to track fuel usage and mileage for each vehicle, even those that are not leased, issues fuel cards for each vehicle with a unique PIN for the drivers, offers fuel cards that can be used at nearly any filling station except for those that require a membership, and gives the city a five cent per gallon cash rebate when filling up at Mobil stations, Flora reported.
Flora said the city’s biggest fuel user is the police department. The current arrangement also requires that police personnel drive to Lower Lake – sometimes several times a day – to gas up their vehicles.
With a round trip to Lower Lake for fuel totaling 10 miles, at 110 fill ups per month, the department’s personnel are driving 14,000 miles a year just to get gas, Flora said.
In fiscal year 2017-18, Flora’s written report said the city spent approximately $93,292 on fuel.
He told the council that the time spent driving out of town for gas can be better spent on community policing within the city.
At the same time, if police personnel can buy gas within the city limits, that will benefit the city’s discretionary sales tax as well as its sales tax measures, P and V, he said.
Flora said that the fuel agreement with Redwood Coast Fuels will stay in effect and still be utilized by the city’s Public Works Department.
He said that the compilation of the cash rebate, recovery of time lost filling up and saving money spent on fuel just to drive back and forth to Lower Lake is expected to result in a cost savings to the city, plus offer the benefit of better tracking of the city’s vehicle fleet.
Council members agreed. Vice Mayor Phil Harris said he also liked the concept of having officers in town as much as possible, buying there gas there.
“I don’t see any downside to this program at all,” said Councilman Russ Cremer.
Harris added that he wanted officers to use all of the city’s fueling stations, not just Mobil stations, and to be visible.
“This is looking so much better than just getting our fleet upgraded,” said Mayor Bruno Sabatier.
Harris moved to authorize Flora to executive the documents required for the fleet management and ExxonMobil Fleet National Card Program, which was approved unanimously.
In other business the council unanimously approved a resolution revising the City Master Fee Schedule.
Police Chief Andrew White reported to the council that several problems were discovered with the fee schedule.
He said those problems included several sections that were not included which prevented officers from writing parking related citations. It also didn’t allow for issuing fix-it tickets and did not include a late payment penalty and cost recovery for evaluating and establishing payment plans and placing DMV holds.
The council also approved the first reading of Ordinance No. 214-2018 adding section 3-4.16 to the Clearlake Municipal Code to provide information bidding procedures under the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act, and Sabatier presented proclamations declaring October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
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