On Tuesday the board received an update from the county’s negotiating committee appointed to talk with the city and also approved a letter to the city outlining concerns and issuing an invitation to discuss the matter further.
The annexation of the 123-acre area has been a long-running point of contention between the two governments, and Tuesday’s discussion was more amicable than past county-city encounters on the matter.
Central to the discussion was both water service and a planned road project in the area.
Board Chair Tina Scott said the committee has met twice since Supervisor Moke Simon was added to it. John Benoit, the executive officer of the Lake Local Area Formation Commission, or LAFCo, spoke to them and provided great information on the annexation process, Scott said.
“This has been going on for a very long time. This is not a new process, not a new discussion,” said Scott, who represents the Lakeport area. She said the back and forth has been going on at least 26 years.
Special Districts Administrator Jan Coppinger, one of the county’s committee members, was tasked with doing more research and speaking with the US Department of Agriculture about potential grant funding for a county water project in the South Main Street area, She said the USDA informed her that the county does qualify for 50-percent grant funding for a water project in the area.
She said the agency later informed her that if the county could make a better case for water flows for fire safety, the county could get as much as 75 percent funding for a project. But by Tuesday she hadn’t had a final word on what amount the county could receive. She said the county needs to know that before beginning public meetings.
“Our goal here is to bring a resolution to the South Main Street area. At least for me it is,” said Scott, who added that she believes the situation has been going on for too long, and that the area needs sustainable water and supply for fire suppression.
Simon said he wanted to help solve the problems. “I understand this is critical to the county’s needs and also to the city of Lakeport.” As of the Tuesday meeting, Simon said the committee meetings he’d sat in on hadn’t included city representatives.
Lakeport Community Development Director Kevin Ingram, who participated in the discussion with the board, agreed that the situation has gone on for too long.
“The city of Lakeport is certainly open to meeting and discussing any of those terms regarding property tax,” he said, adding, “We feel that we can provide that service with water at a fraction of the cost of what the county can.”
Ingram said the water loop system the city is proposing has been budgeted out at just over $1 million. An estimate completed several years ago for a water system spur that would extend from the junction of Highway 175 to the annexation area was estimated at between $500,000 to $750,000, a cost that Ingram said he’s sure has gone up.
Scott suggested the city and county could work together to conduct a new survey of property owners, noting that previous ones have been done.
“I think that’s a fantastic idea,” said Ingram. He added that the city's only concern would be that, when those previous surveys were done, not all of the information about the proposal was given to the community.
County Public Works Director Scott De Leon updated the board on the South Main Street and Soda Bay Road underground utility and widening project, explaining that the county now is halfway through the right-of-way phase, which involves working through a number of issues with property owners.
Once the right-of-way is secured, De Leon said the county will complete the right-of-way certification process and pursue funding for construction. He said the hope is to start the project’s first phase in 2021.
The only community member to speak during public comment was Finley resident Phil Murphy, who has been critical of the process. He pressed the board on setting up a date for a meeting with the city. “It sounds like the can has been kicked down the road again.”
After Murphy repeatedly asked why the board couldn’t set a meeting, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said she and Ingram could work to get a date confirmed by the end of this week. Scott said she could then report on when the meeting would take place at next week’s board meeting.
“Well, that’s something. It’s not much, but it’s something. It’s a tiny start,” said Murphy.
Coppinger said the county maintains a sewer system that stretches south from the city limits. Based on her review of the annexation area map, “If the annexation was to take place, that sewer district that we manage there which is already small is going to be chopped up and there’s going to be several parcels and homes south of the annexation that will be left without sewer services.”
That’s because the county or district cannot maintain a district for only a few people. Coppinger said something would have to be done for those impacted residents.
Supervisor Rob Brown advocated for having both the Board of Supervisors and Lakeport City Council sit down together in a workshop and sort out the matters.
“Let’s just get down to it, right here, with five of us, and five of them. I don’t care. We can figure it out,” he said, adding they could stay at it until they got done, and have food brought in to keep them going.
He said a solution hasn’t been reached for a variety of reasons over the years and so he suggested getting everyone in a room together to work it out. He said he had made such a request before, but it didn’t happen based on the relationship between the city and the previous district supervisor – who he didn’t name but was an obvious reference to Scott’s predecessor, Anthony Farrington.
Huchingson said that, based on information Benoit provided, if there are more than 12 property owners in the proposed annexation area, those individuals would vote to approve it. If there are less, it would be up to LAFCo.
Brown said he wanted an honest discussion about how it would impact all parties. “There’s a lot of money generated down there. And this is what this really boils down to. I think that’s really the bottom line.”
Huchingson said she and Lakeport City Manager Margaret Silveira also have discussed in the past hosting a meeting for annexation area constituents.
Brown said he agreed with Ingram, that all the information needs to be made available so people can be armed to make a decision, adding that the past unofficial survey wasn’t done objectively.
“The system itself unfairly pits jurisdictions against each other, so it’s complicated from the get-go,” said Ingram, adding that the most important thing is for everyone to sit down and have the discussion.
Simon moved to approve the letter to the city, which Supervisor Bruno Sabatier seconded and the board approved 5-0.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
South Main Annexation Application County Response 040919 by LakeCoNews on Scribd