LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week gave the go-ahead to city staff to apply for a federal grant that would fund most of a revamped and reestablished police K-9 program and accepted a new protocol for seating Lake County Fire Protection District Board members.
On Tuesday, the council held a public hearing to consider adopting a resolution supporting an application to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Communities Facilities Loan and Grant Program for the Lakeport Police K-9 program.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said his department wants to reestablish its police dog program, which has been inactive since its last dog, Max, retired in 2009.
In August, Rasmussen had gone to the council to ask for a council member to be appointed, at the appropriate time, to the board of directors of a newly forming nonprofit, “Friends of Lakeport PD,” which David Brown, owner of Susie Q’s Donuts in Lakeport, is founding to support the department’s K-9 program, as Lake County News has reported.
At about the same time as the Lakeport Police Department began working with Brown, they were contacted by a representative from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who advised them about a new opportunity for funds for a police K-9 program.
“As you’re aware, we've been working on this for several months now,” Rasmussen said.
He said all the work has been done to submit the grant to the USDA. What remained to be done on Tuesday was to get the council's approval to direct the city manager to sign off on getting the final submission done.
Rasmussen said the department could receive about $68,500, which he said would be “a very good start” to getting the program under way. He said the funds can be used for any part of the program, including vehicles, which can be very expensive, as well as the costs of the dog and its training, and training and lodging for the handler.
“We do have plenty of time if it gets approved to make sure that our nonprofit is also able to provide some of the other needed funding for the program,” Rasmussen said.
Councilman George Spurr asked if Rasmussen was going to have an existing car retrofitted or if they would get a new one.
Rasmussen said the plan is to get a specially outfitted Chevy Tahoe for the K-9. The department has been in the process of getting new vehicles.
All told, Rasmussen said the grant funding would cover about 75 percent of the program, with the nonprofit to supply the rest.
“So we’re looking really good if this goes through,” said Councilman Kenny Parlet.
Spurr followed up by asking if the program has to be kept in existence for a specific number of years. Not necessarily, said Rasmussen, but the department couldn’t simply stop the program and sell the K-9.
He said he has up to five years to use the money. “I don't expect it to take that long.”
There was no public comment and Councilwoman Stacey Mattina moved the resolution, which the council approved unanimously.
New protocol for filling fire district board seats
The evening’s other main item of action was the consideration of a resolution to establish a protocol for appointing directors to the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board.
The document that City Attorney David Ruderman presented to the council mirrored a resolution accepted by the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 20.
Ruderman, County Counsel Anita Grant and the general counsel for the fire district had worked together to craft the protocol, which Ruderman said is meant to allow them to move forward in logical way to make sure the district has the representation it needs.
He explained that the fire district board is appointed, not elected, and that to become elected the fire district board would have to decide to make that change.
Absent that, he said the Fire Protection District Act – which formed the basis of the resolution – allows for appointment of board members from cities and counties based on proportionate share of population.
Looking at the current fire district population, Ruderman said there is a slight majority residing in the unincorporated county.
Ruderman said that, previously, in the agreement the city had with the district when it was annexed, the city council was to recommend two fire district board members and the county approved them.
He said that doesn’t quite jive with what the Fire Protection Board Act says, and so in the resolution that was specifically amended.
The result, said Ruderman, is that the city will have two appointees and the county will have three.
He said they also decided that the best way to move forward was to slightly stagger the seats, so the resolution has a provision that says two vacancies are coming up for 2019 and the rest in 2020.
So for the coming year, the county and the city would each have one appointment, and for 2020 the county will have two more appointments and the city one, Ruderman said.
The original agreement called for the county and city to appoint four of the board members and for those four to appoint the fifth. That’s changed now in the new protocol, but Ruderman said the board can always make recommendations.
He said fire district board appointees must live in the district. He said the city can appoint members who don’t live within city limits, but it also can limit itself to only appointing city residents.
If the 2020 Census or other data shows that the population apportionment has changed, the city and county can revisit how many members they would appoint, he said.
Ruderman noted that the supervisors had already approved a resolution that’s similar to the city’s, and that the fire district board is set to consider its own version of the resolution in the next week or so.
Spurr asked if anyone has shown interest in the seats yet. City Manager Margaret Silveira said at least two people have submitted applications. The application period is open through 5 p.m. Dec. 12.
John Whitehead, chair of the fire district board, said he had reviewed the draft resolution. “It all looked fine to me. I didn't see any issues with it.”
He said he would like to see a two-year stagger, with the next appointments in 2021, not 2020.
He said they have another vacancy, in addition to the seat that Gerry Mills retired from in September; Bill Whipple, the fire district board’s vice chair, has just turned in his resignation.
Ruderman said that it had been the county’s position that all of the fire board trustee seats were coming available in 2018. There had been interest from the fire district counsel in having two-year staggered terms, and the compromise was the one-year stagger. He said either was fine from his perspective.
“I would recommend that we be consistent with the county, because that’s the entire purpose of this,” said Ruderman, noting that a two-year stagger between the seats is “certainly rational.”
He said one option was for the council to adopt the resolution as is and then reopen it later. They also could amend the year for the next appointments, moving it from 2020 to 2021, but that would lead to a conflict with the county’s rules.
The other option, and the one the council ultimately accepted, was to adopt the resolution and direct Ruderman and Silveira to reopen the discussion about a two-year stagger with the county’s representatives.
“That makes more sense, keep it moving forward that way,” said Mattina.
Dan Kane, president of the Lakeport Professional Firefighters Association, thanked the council for it hard work on the resolution, saying he understands the challenges.
Kane asked if there be a protocol for an interview and testing process for prospective board members. Silveira said there will be an interview process.
Mayor Mireya Turner, who formerly worked in the Board of Supervisors office, said that based on her experience it’s best to have commissions and boards standardized and agreed with the two-year stagger, noting it’s better for the public.
Councilman Tim Barnes moved to approve the resolution, which Spurr seconded and the council approved 5-0.
The council also reached unanimous consensus to direct staff to look into extending appointments from 2020 to 2021 in order to have the two-year stagger.
Turner then offered a heartfelt thank you to the fire board members for their work.
In other business on Tuesday, Turner presented the Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Finance Director Nick Walker.
An introduction of new employees was rescheduled to the next meeting.
When the council emerged from closed session, Mayor Mireya Turner said the council voted 5-0 in closed session to extend for six months – or until July 1, 2019 – an agreement with Verizon Wireless that would lengthen the window in which the company could file suit over the denial of its appeal for a wireless tower.
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120418 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd