LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Thursday night, during its final meeting of the year, the Middletown Area Town Hall finalized its slate of board candidates for the new year, discussed bylaws revisions and got an update on a cell tower project.
MATH opened nominations for three seats in October, with the nominations also open last month and again on Thursday night.
The seats to be filled – which Chair Tom Darms said include two representing Middletown proper and one at-large seat, not the other way around as had been stated on the agenda – currently are held by Darms, Vice Chair Sally Peterson and Secretary Paul Baker.
MATH’s board also includes Rosemary Córdova and Lisa Kaplan, who are at-large members.
MATH, whose members reported having less participation since the meetings have been held virtually and not in person, went into Thursday night’s meeting with no formal nominations having been accepted at its last two meetings.
By the end of the Thursday night discussion, however, a slate of three candidates formed and will be presented to the town hall for acceptance at its January meeting.
The candidates are Ken Gonzales, who previously served on the MATH board; businesswoman Monica Rosenthal; and Baker, who this time agreed to serve but said he didn’t want to continue to be the board secretary.
All three accepted their nominations.
At the November meeting, MATH approved bylaws updates which included making December the month in which nominations close and setting the election in January. While the group has typically held elections in January, the bylaws previously didn’t give a specific time for elections.
The November bylaws updates also include allowing for nominations by proxy for those who can’t attend a meeting in person, which previously hadn’t been allowed.
MATH went over further bylaws changes regarding clarification to the board election procedures which will be presented for acceptance at the January meeting.
Darms said the new board members will be approved in January. At that time, they are expected to discuss having alternates in place for the board in order to ensure they can have a quorum at future meetings.
In other business, the group received a report from Community Development Director Scott De Leon on the granting of a permit to Verizon for the use of an existing cell tower in Middletown.
A previous iteration of the project was denied by the Lake County Planning Commission last year but De Leon said he is allowing this new permit to go forward because it’s his conclusion that the county can’t deny it and comply with federal law.
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