Council budgets for 2023-24 Fiscal Year

Cobb Area Council also discussed economic development and preparations for annual festival

COBB- The Cobb Area Council met in person Thursday and further discussed their 2023-2024 budget, planned for the area's big Blackberry Festival annual event and heard a presentation from the county's Community Development Director.

Mireya Turner gave the council a general update on the county's community development. Her department consists of three different divisions, code enforcement, building and safety and planning. (Cannabis is a subdivision under planning.)

Turner said the department has three top priorities in order to support the public: The top priority is staff retention. The others are professional development and fiscal sustainability. She added that so far there have been some rough years lately with staff turnover, which seems to be smoothing out now. “I think one of the reasons is because the former director had prioritized financially professional development.”

Just in the last year over 1,600 building permits were issued. Building and safety completed under 4,000 inspections in the county and all technicians, plans examiners and building inspectors achieved certifications through the International Code Council. “This is really exciting because it's really hard to find professionals around the county that have this certification,” which she said deepens the county's ability to provide good service.

According to Turner, two code enforcement officers are funded through cannabis grants so they are specifically working on that. Last year they removed 25,000 plants and inspected 82 legal sites for compliance. Turner said last year was the first year since the county started issuing permits, that the staff completed annual monitoring for everybody, something the county

is supposed to be doing and are finally getting it done and added that Lake County has been awarded $2.9 million from the state for the program to continue to fund the two code enforcement officers. Staff is contingent on grants and sometimes relies on the general fund, neither of which are sustainable long term, so the staff is working on grants management and hiring.

Turner also discussed updates of the county's comprehensive general plan which includes the regional area plans for the Cobb Mountain and Middletown plans, environmental and climate vulnerability analyses.

The county is getting ready to launch the general plan and should be able to issue a request for proposal for a planning firm to help support staff and update area plans with the housing element pushed back to 2027. The safety element includes the climate vulnerability analysis to quantify the assets and vulnerabilities the county has due to climate impacts. A second key priority is a countywide evacuation plan which will help inform the next local hazard mitigation plan.

Eight area plans including Lower Lake, Kelseyville, Shorelake communities, Upper Lake and the Rivieras need to be updated. The first phase will be to gather data from residents about needs. Turner said the county would like to widen the access and hear from the community, not just those who are keeping things going. “We are going to greatly enlarge and get more passion about outreach to the community and that will be done in order of age of area plan.”

Turner added the plans haven't been updated in a really long time with Middletown being the least old in 2010, the first (Lower Lake) plan hasn't been updated since 1989. “It's embarrassing. This is a community vision that could be lasting for quite a long time until it's updated, it's a powerful document.”

In other items on their packed agenda, the CAC heard the monthly fire season update from Chief Paul Duncan, discussed their budget as talked about previously in a special April 24 meeting of the council, and approved a letter of support for the county's USDA Service Forest Urban and Community Forest Inflation Reduction Act Grant. The CAC also sought to approve a letter supporting the Friends of Boggs Forest's efforts to repair trails, amidst other business.

The Friends of Boggs Forest have been in the process of repairing all the trails, have finished 10 miles of trails with 10 miles to go. They requested a letter of support from CAC for application of a $100,000 grant. the deadline is June 15.

In the wake of a special meeting of the council on Aprily 24 at the community Hub, Chris Nettles gave an update on the budget with total net assets including previous years (money retained after expenses) showing at $70,133 and the CAC general fund currently at $22,051. The economic fund loan program is budgeted at $48,083. Income projections for 2022 showed the Cobbler Festival was expected to net $18,000 for the CAC.

The Blackberry Festival is scheduled for August 26 from 11 to 5 at mountain Meadow 16451 Gold Rd. in Cobb. Volunteers are needed to do twohour shifts to set up tables, chairs and signs, to act as parking attendants, give directions to visitors, and for cleanup during and after the event. Those interested in helping out should contact Jennifer Barry at Barryjennifer9@gmail.com.

The next meeting of the council is scheduled for June 15 and will be a hybrid meeting broadcast through PEG TV.