LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After a round of interviews during its Thursday night meeting, the Clearlake City Council chose the city’s newest planning commissioner.
In a unanimous vote, the council appointed Terry Stewart to a term that ends in March 2025.
He will fill the seat vacated in September by Kathryn Davis.
Stewart, who submitted his application on Tuesday, was one of three applicants who sought the position. Also applying were Thomas Burnett and Jim Scholz.
A lifelong Lake County resident, Stewart graduated from Lower Lake High School in 1968. He went on to get his contractor’s license. He owned and operated Floortown from 1980 to 2000, and continues to operate a shades and blinds business and owns a number of rentals.
Stewart was a firefighter with the fire department from 1976 to 1989, a former Clear Lake Chamber president and remains a member of the Clearlake Rotary Club.
Council members asked him a variety of questions; one of the questions was about his view of the city and its future.
He said he’s optimistic about the city’s direction, noting that what’s happened over the last two or three years has been “a marked turnaround.”
Stewart said he was impressed with improvement to the city’s streets thanks to the Measure V sales tax, and also noted he’s very pleased with the development of Austin Park. “It’s fabulous, really.”
He added, “I’m upbeat about the future of the community,” noting he wants to retain the flavor of a small town, but make it nicer and more welcoming.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton thanked all of the applicants, adding that the council doesn’t usually have such a hard choice.
Ultimately, council members favored Stewart for the position, with Councilman Russ Cremer moving to approve his appointment. Councilman David Claffey seconded and the council approved the motion 5-0.
The council also appointed Michael McKeown to the Clearlake Marketing Committee. McKeown, the sole applicant, will succeed Susan Bloomquist, who resigned in August.
In other business during the two-and-a-half-hour-long meeting, council members discussed a local syringe exchange program, Any Positive Change, that had been operating in the city and had begun to distribute glassware for smoking drugs, which state law allows such programs to do in the interest of reducing disease.
The program is no longer in the city after the owner of the property where it had been operating severed the relationship.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors also discussed the program, approving a resolution that continues to authorize the syringe program but enacting a temporary restriction on distributing any glassware.
The council chose to take no action regarding rules for syringe supply programs, instead choosing to wait to respond and set up rules should Any Positive Change apply to the state to operate in the city.
Council members also got an update on the redistricting maps for county, state and federal offices that are now in the draft stages, but chose to offer no additional input on the maps at this time.
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Clearlake City Council selects new planning commissioner
- Elizabeth Larson
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