Clean Water Management Council - Regular Meeting

Yep. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, we will call uh meeting to the order. Um we'll have the attendance first. Uh it's myself here. Jennifer Baker here. Uh Brandon Disney here. Uh Mary Wilson, City of Clear Lake, she's she's I'm sorry. Here on teams. Okay. Um, Kylie Peacock here. Um, Linda Roses Bill here. Uh, Bruno Sabat. I am here, but I am weirded out that I'm on the agenda. Am I the primary now and not uh Helen? Is it Helen?

Yeah, I thought Helen was always the primary. I I I'm here. I'm just weirded out that my name's on the agenda. I'm like, did you just change that after our phone call? She said you tagger it. I can change that though if she is. I'm going to double check for you just to make sure, but I I I thought that's what it was. That's why I called you and said I'm coming, but I'm the alternate and hopefully I can help out, but I will double check. But yeah, sorry, I'm here. I'll shut up now.

Um, so um before we dive into the item three, which is the action item, um we have an item which is not on the agenda. So we should um consideration of extra item not appearing on the agenda. And I would like to add an item about update on the uh blue ribbon committee funded project for storm water. So this is not an item to take action on. This is anformational item. Yes. Just just an update umformational and that would be added to the new business.

Okay. Um, I I I'm I'm good with uh since there's no action to be taken, I'll move to approve the change to the agenda. Second it. Cool. We'll take a motion. Everybody in favor? I I Okay, so we get it added to the agenda to the new business. Excuse me. Have you established a quorum? Um, we do have a Yes, we do have a quorum. You have to put that in the record, please. Okay. Uh yeah, since we have a quorum, so I think we can probably move ahead and then um have a that's just part of parliamentarian practice.

Yeah, sure. Thank you. Um we'll keep that in uh consideration for the future meetings. Um so uh the first section item we have is approval of meeting uh minutes from February 2025 and August 2025. Make a motion to approve the minute. A second. We have a motion and we have a second. Um everybody in favor I I I

So um it seems it everybody is in favor. So it passes with all in favor of passing it. Um we move to um item number four which is new business. Um so the first item we have here is the storm water resource plan. Um

yeah. Okay. Um, so I believe, um, it was sent out an executive summary that Jen prepared, um, going over the plan. Um, but I'll go ahead and give a brief summary of that. Um, so, as um, as you should know, we had a storm water resources plan completed um, this year by MC Engineering. Um, and just wanted to let you all know what that plan really is, why we needed it, and what we need from the council now. Um so California Senate Bill 985, also known as the Stormwater Management Planning Act of 2014, um set a requirement for municipalities to create a storm water resources plan in order to be eligible for state and federal grant funding for storm water and watershed improvement projects. Um, this storm water management plan establishes a countywide strategy to capture, manage, and beneficially use storm water and dry weather runoff. And by adopting the plan, Lake County meets the eligibility criteria for future propositionbased funding pro programs and um any sub subsequent bonds that fund multi-benefit storm water flood flood management and water quality projects. Uh this plan identifies specific projects in the county. Um those projects were submitted by the public and by um the cities and county to MC Engineering. They compiled those projects um wrote up some you know reports, descriptions um the benefits of those projects and compiled them into this um storm water resources plan. Um and uh the even though they have they created a list of all of these projects

that were submitted um funding eligibility is not limited to these projects. Um the plan the storm water resources plan just had to be created in order to apply for grant funding for projects that entail storm water and watershed improvement. Um, so just wanted to make that clear that although there are about what 17 projects listed in the plan, we can still use this plan to apply for grants for different projects that are not included in it. Um so once the plan is adopted by the cities and county um and then reviewed by the state water resources control board, the cities and lake county will be able to participate in state water resources control board grant programs that we had not been previously able to. Um adopting this plan does not commit local funds or authorize immediate construction. Rather, it positions Lake County and its cities to qualify for future state and federal storm water and watershed funding opportunities, compete more effectively for multib grants that support water quality improvement, flood risk reduction, habitat restoration, and climate resilience, strengthen collaboration among agencies, and align project planning with the county's groundwater sustainability, flood control, and climate adaptation goals. So, um, in conclusion, uh, the council or we recommend to the council that they adopt the 2025 storm water resources plan as a strategic administrative requirement that preserves Lake Countyy's eligibility for millions of dollars in future grant funding. The plan does not bind the wershed to construct any listed project, nor does it limit future opportunities. It simply provides the statemandated framework

that keeps Lake County grant ready for upcom upcoming funding cycles. Um we recommend that the clean water council approves this plan and forwards a recommendation to the board of supervisors and city council members for formal adoption.

Thank you. Awesome. Thank you, Miss Kylie. Um so do Somebody need to make a motion to approve this uh plan. I make a motion to Excuse me, Mr. Chair. A point of order. When you accepted this motion, the motion to include a new piece of business that was not on the agenda. Bruno said you can't take action. Uh it's not this one. This one was on the agenda. This one is on the agenda. Oh. Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. Yeah, this is the 4A item. Thank you.

Uh, a motion to approve.

I I I do have a brief question uh just to ask. Um, are some of these projects overlapping with other projects that the county or water resources is already working on? Uh it feels like some of these are um might have relations with like uh the hitch with uh helping to clear some of like I see dam uh stuff on Adobe Creek and things like that. Um is that supposed to meant to co-mingle the dollars in some way shape or form or braid the dollars kind of like multiple grants doing the same type of work? Um is that some of the intentions that I'm I'm kind of perceiving from looking at this? Um I I think uh as far as I have looked in based on my understanding is um so the project which is already in motion might not be in this one but in the future like which we think might be a beneficial like like as a hitch barrier or passes something it might be there. Uh but mostly this covers storm water uh even not the not a whole lot of creeks or other things does it cover those? it it's anything that's beneficial to storm water and so it's all projects um not necessarily always just co-mingled sometimes they could be brand new projects we just need to pass this document so that we can say that we have this document which is kind of a precursor uh for uh grant funding and so um a lot of the projects that were submitted were submitted through our what was it the portal and there were ideas that the community member had had and concerns areas of concerns that they've had. And so that's how those projects came about.

And so other than coming here to this uh committee, has this been brought to the jurisdictions to take a look and see if there's other projects that they feel might be missing or is this solely community-based um project submissions? No, the same.

It was open to the public um to submit projects as well as the cities. Um, so I know each city's submitted projects that, you know, were of concern. Um, but like I said that this is not we can still this is not limiting the projects that we can apply for grants for. Um, and I think that it's kind of this plan is showing the state water control board that we have projects that fit their criteria. Um, and it's just demonstrating examples of those. And I think you did said like in future we will have opportunity to add projects to this. Let's try. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it won't be update. The the plan will not be updated but um we can submit new projects in you know when we're applying for new grants we'll have to you know we can add projects that are not included in this list. So basically this is a living document. This can be amended in the future. Correct. Excuse me. I I'm I'm ready.

I think you just said the plan will not be updated. I'm not sure you can't have a living document if you're not going to update it. Number one. Um and and number two, I think the problem is that the word plan, it's not a plan. It doesn't have fixed projects that are committed to in any sense of the word. It's it's a scope of work for a plan to be done in the future basically. So I think what this document serves as a purpose to identify those projects and open that funding opportunity for these projects.

So just to be eligible please clarify if it's going to be a living document or not because we have a conflicting statement on the table. I I don't see it being updated anytime soon. It if we do update, it'll be updated as necessary, but as it stands right now, uh it's the projects are just examples of things that we can go after for for this with this document. It just opens up funding for us.

I think that I would suggest that it is a part of your other larger storm water management project, if you understand what I'm saying. it it it it it's not a standalone thing. It it reflects all of the existing watershed work that's being done. So, uh I would hope it would be attached to that master document that you're working on. Yeah. Cool. Are we ready to Yeah. Okay. Make a motion to approve. Second. Yep. So, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I

um is the people online? Uh I Okay. So this motion passes and then this would be recommended to our board and then um cities can recommend to their um council. Uh the second item we have on the new business is POP communication workflow. Janer,

thank you sir. Um, hi everyone. in Jen Baker, City of Lakeport. And our the PEOP is our education outreach group. And I have been working with the ladies to standardize our processes a bit more so that we're not redundant in our work and so that we're also uh messaging succinctly across the line and that we're starting to use the clean water program as the head and then we are aligning to show partnership of the cities and the county in each thing we do. Um, so we developed, well, I developed it loosely a spreadsheet that's going to serve both as a planning tool and real- time tracking. So that will help us with our annual report. We'll be able to have a summary of everything we've done with dates aligned and who was part of it. Um, which should make compiling that data for that annual report a little bit easier. And the first sheet is an education topic identification sheet. So we went through in this tab outlines kind of any and every topic we could think of that's going to relate to storm water management for the education. Um so it would be tied to seasons, environmental conditions, compliance priorities. Um and this allows us to plan in advance. So we would have uh you know dry weather elicit discharge messaging in summer kind of educating people how to report to us concerns uh leaf litter in the fall and things of that sort. Um it also hopefully longer run is going to help us identify gaps to audiences that we need to specifically do some outreach with. Um, sorry, I'm just scanning through my

notes. Uh, so for instance, restaurants, landscapers, contractors, things of that sort. Um, and ideally, this is going to give us a uniform record that will support uh the program documentation. And again, I'll expand that and standardize us. And we've also uh come to agreement that we'll standardize the Facebook social media messaging. Um so we will every time one of us posts it'll be every partner posting same individual message original post will be under the umbrella of the clean water program and then we're going to tag the cities and the county and then we can consistently share so ideally this will turn one post into many. Um and again that we all are on the same page and messaging the same way. Um so that is my update for that. if anyone has any questions or comments about that.

Makes sense. One standard message across all jurisdictions. Hey, D. Well, hopefully we're all duplicating work though to kind of combine it together and get a little more succinct. Yeah. Love it. Wonderful. Thank you. Anybody online? Yes, this is Betsy. I have several questions, please. First of all, who is it who is it that was just speaking? My name is Jen Baker and I work for the city of Lakeport.

Okay. And uh of course I'm I remember you from previous meetings. Um my I have a couple of questions I'm saving for public input, but one of them had to do with the annual report. Uh I've been participating in the outreach and education and public participation workg group for uh about 16 years now. Well, that's wonderful.

Since 2009. So uh it sounds to me like and I'm inferring this from the fact that I was not asked to provide input to this annual report. Now, in past years, I have provided input as a participant in that workg group because I provide a Facebook page that posts that promotes clean water program information. I also produce a radio program every month that focuses on water issues and I host that program with Angela Depala who is now of course the land trust executive director. But those are two types of production that need to be in the annual report. And also everybody in this meeting, if you don't know that you can provide me with outreach that I can promote on the radio, I'd like you to understand that. Um, I've been, you know, I need to maybe renew the point of contact within the Department of Water Resources to make sure that you all understand that you can have, you can use KPFC as a source of outreach. Uh, and of course, we always uh support public service announcements from the public health department when there's a cyanobacteria bloom or, you know, things like that. we do a lot for this outreach uh project or compliance part. So, um maybe uh you and I should talk offline, Janet. Uh

sure. But yeah, that would be wonderful. I will take all the help I can get, Miss Col, and tell you what. Well, yeah. Okay. Thanks. You're welcome. Thank you. Any more comments online? No. All right.

Okay. So I think uh we'll move along and then we will move to our next item which is to inform update and we have Janica again for this. All right, everyone. Um, so, uh, just for a little context, I'm not sure how long ago the program was, the software, excuse me, was definitely in place before my arrival, but we utilize a platform to log our elicit discharge and I believe we have the trash module as well. It's just elicit discharge, right?

Okay. um with a software platform called second nature to inform the number two and then inform um and we have we noticed collectively as a group that we also were using that in a bit of an inconsistent f all of us were kind of doing our own right

system inside of there and we also learned that definitely we're repeating work there's a lot of redundancies. Um, so these vendors, they're wonderful. They're always very receptive to teaching us how to use it a little more efficiently and how to work around in it. And we I believe it was I picked the wrong one. I believe it was earlier this month or the end of September. It was end of September.

Thank you. That we did a 60-minute training with them as a refresher to go over our processes. Um, and sorry And the goal of that one was to help us standardize everything. Um, I think that we'll be much more successful as a group if we start standardizing our processes. So, we're all same thing. Everywhere you go, it's going to be the same thing. Um, and what we learned by doing that, again, we identified the redundancy. Then they showed us how we can take what we're entering into that platform and just convert it to PDF to be that report that we send off to the California State Waterboards. And I don't think any of us were doing that. I think we were the the group had a process with a templated form which is great but we were taking that templated form kind of doing that work adding the pictures doing all this and then going over to this at least I was and then going over to this platform and doing it one more time and kind of attaching it. So big big timesaver that they showed us and my concern about the PDFs inside of the twoin form. I was concerned it might not hit all the data points that the waterboards need but it surely does. So and you can add the pictures to it like just the the time that we will be able to reclaim by using this software appropriately um I think is going to be a big benefit to the group. Um, so I just wanted to update on that and let you guys know that we're still using it and hopefully we're going to be using it much more efficiently in

I think a lot has to do with the turnover. We've had turnover and so trying to learn that um that database is a little different um where I can put mine in, but I don't necessarily finish and close out my cases. And so having them reiterate, hey, this is what your process is and what you should be doing, it kind of helped me jump and better manage what what things I report and how it's going to come out in our

It does also I forgot it does also display a map and we can see all of our incidents in the map. So that's also um quite informative too to kind of pull it up and see comparatively what our district looks like as opposed to Clear Lake or county. So it's really a great tool. So I'm excited to get in there and use it efficiently. Same. Cool. Um and that I that is all I have for that one. So if anybody has any question or comment, I'm happy to No, good. Okay, thank you so much.

Um okay, so we'll move to our next item which is the new item which we added today. Um so it's an update about Lake County storm water projects. So um about uh in 22 23 there was um couple of projects which was submitted to the blue ribbon committee for for the storm water management and um so those in total I think it was about um four or five projects in total costing about $1.7 million. Um and in the previous round of funding we got about 700,000 um of those funds and how that has been used is the TR um um TR implementation and uh and also I think this report here storm water resource plan uh the MC engineering that is also funded by the same

it's um EOA EOA is doing our storm water uh plan. So yeah so basically like the and u strong uh infrastructure assessment that's the basic purpose of it and in recent round of funding we got about another million dollar which was initially submitted but not u approved or it was approved but we were waiting for the funding. So um the goal of those projects is to um do the infrastructure assessment as well as the storm water um management uh program and policy review just to make sure that we are up to date with like other agencies and we are um ready to apply for funding or any future funding which becomes um available. So that's the goal for those funding and in um and when we applied for those funds um there was like a commitment from the board a board of supervisors like to provide us $100,000 a year for 5 years and that was basically to cover like overhead for our water resources department because many times this grant doesn't cover the overhead cost. Um but uh in the previous round with the 700,000 which we got we have mostly used like our internal funds for that. So um and there was a need to um some funding for the groundwater management more specifically big valley uh GSA.

So in this week board meeting like we asked board to approve um to expand the use of those storm water fund to also include groundwater management. So those projects are moving along but because we had some need in the groundwater. So out of out of those 500,000 we're going to use it for both like the storm water as well as the groundwater. Um so yeah I think that was the update. Um yes um obviously that part I I'm I'm well aware of but it's been a while. I apologize that I've been to one of these meetings. I am the alternate. I'll give you that. Uh, but what I don't see in there, which could be really useful, is what is the budget for storm water and is it something that can be shared with this group every so often, maybe not every meeting, but at least once in a while, twice a year, whatever that might be, just to get an idea of what is being spent to move the projects forward, what money is available for other projects to go forward. Um since there seems to be very specific uh buckets that are designated for storm water projects, it would be nice to see how the where the money is and how it's been uh used as well as accumulated um in the future.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely we can include that in future. Uh right now the the recent funding which we got is in still in the like we are doing the paperwork for it in order to make sure that it's aligned and we are doing and we do have like a shared where we collect the water quality samples if we have like all um cities and county contributing towards the city. Yes, we do fresh first flush for the cities. Yeah. Yeah. So that might be a good idea I guess to provide each city does not have their own it all comes through one central area for all the work that's being done right. I know I know we hired somebody or we're paying for um to develop a plan

but that that was all shared if I remember correctly. So the money is based here then the work is coming out of here or is the work being done by all jurisdictions individually with their own separate budgets? I I think for most part it's their own budget like it's separate but then we have a common plan or like this clean water um like this meeting here. So yeah, we have a contract which we actually need to uh renew uh again, but we the county do the sampling for the cities and then um I believe we do we like um charge you guys or there's a fee. I'm not familiar. Bethany normally contract that we did,

right? And that contract is um needing to be updated. I just have to find it. But there's other projects other than just a sampling and those projects are done internally by the cities. Correct. We work we work hand in hand with our cities on a lot of things. Okay. Yeah. Whatever's not the most complicated thing, but whatever's possible to at least let us know what funding we've received, what the what uh what we have left and what projects are utilizing it. That would be a really good visual to better understand how we're making progress. Yeah.

Okay. Bruno, I'd just like to add that that is one of the primary responsibilities of this council under the regulatory statutes governing the stormwater management program in the county of Lake to to oversee that budget and make sure the projects are on track and so forth. That's that's what this council is supposed to do. Um uh and also I'm I think I'm concerned about not understanding when Pawan when you say you're using internal funds for that. I know that there are several million dollars in the budget for the Department of Water Resources that is supposed to cover the operations of the Department of Water Resources to serve the watershed protection district. And uh you know that's I would wonder where where that money is going if it's not being used for the projects it like those groundwater the big valley groundwater sustainability um program I think Bruno really we need to see all that

um when you say like millions of dollar um for which program you're talking about? I think what she's talking about is your general budget for uh water resources and watershed protection district has millions of dollars because it covers all the salaries. It covers all the work that you do. She's concerned about the money being taken from your general dollars that you have in your uh budget and not the 450 9550 $450,000 that was uh moved over to the GSA. She's worried that you not touching this but touching the money you have in your budget. What did it take away from in your general budget because you you you work within a tight margin.

Um and I I think that work has been ongoing and vacancies sometimes create uh allowables for moving uh uh resources around. Uh not everything that's budgeted is always 100% of the time used. There's always a little bit of fluff. Uh and so as long as we are not losing anything, that to me is the most important part. But I think getting a visual and our eyes on the budgets to ensure that um we're using the money appropriately and we know what's left to see if we can do more uh is going to help us uh moving forward. Yeah, we can do that. We

for most part because like most of our programs are grant funded so they are already have a pretty defined scope and like where we going to use it. It's just that the board fund which was provided to us was because we didn't know like how much overhead it would be. So one part is like we had less overhead than we expected and the other is like whatever that overhead was we have been using our internal funds. So and I think on the next meeting we can we can provide those charts and um

I think ask Miss Jackie to come cuz she can explain it way better than any of us can. I'm not an accountant by any means. So, I think she would be a better resource to explain those things and create those uh what the budgets look like and where everything is going. So, in our next meeting, we'll definitely invite her and uh have her present on that. Yeah.

And and yeah, I would just like to say that yeah, there are like checks and balances in place. So, it's not like we have a lot of leeway to use some fund for something else. Uh that's definitely not the case. Um and moving forward probably we can have that uh budget thing. Yes. Uh that would clarify these things. Um okay so do we have any more questions? Okay so not seeing an any. So I think we can move along and then we have our old business here. Adopter drain update. So, um I am happy to announce that our adopted drain um is still alive and it's actually flourishing. We have a lot more people participating. I didn't wasn't able to bring the slides with me, but um if anybody hasn't checked their drain, I know uh Hamlin has reached out to me and said, "Hey, did you check your drains?" So, make sure we're doing that. Please be safe about it. Don't remove the grates and things like that. that it's stuff we've been putting out and I'm hoping that we can put it out during our PIP too um for our storm water um stuff, our outreach stuff. And so we've removed I want to say 3,000 lbs was the last number I seen in this county. And so um and it was like 36 drains at the time that were adopted. And so we have a lot more drains. Well, not in many of the counties, but more of the cities. And so, um, we have drainage tissues. And so, um, I I think it's successful and it's as long as we continue to promote it. I know I have it on cards and QR cards and I just kind of pass them out on how to, uh, adopt your drain, you know. I think it's a fun program cuz it gets you u you're taking you're doing actually doing something. You can physically see your change in your community, you know, and how you

affect that drain. Um, and so yeah, I just wanted to say that um, for adopted drain. And is there any questions about adopted drain? You have a handout from Betsy. Oh, what you got, Miss Betsy?

Hi. Yeah, this is for Bruno. Um, you know, the city of Clear Lake has in in two previous decades created a master drainage plan improvement plan for the artificial drainage system in the city. And uh that could be combined with um annual million dollar awards of creek improvement grants from the um Department of Water Resources. But as far as I know to this day, even though the city is doing this fabulous road job, there's no work being done on that drainage um master uh the drainage master system upgrade and that's that contributes to that lower arm contamination. So just pointing that out. So, just as as a response, I I know that they've done a lot of um for lack of better term, irrigation work or storm water work on some of the roads that they've done. I don't know if it aligns with the storm water master plan you're speaking of. Uh but I know that they they've done a lot of underground tunneling uh in order for water to get off the street and into the right locations. So hopefully that does align uh with the plans that were done, but I know also that right now um they're going to stall doing a lot of that work um for the fact that um they're they're they're struggling with uh some of the environmental issues that are coming along with uh digging underground. Um, and so they're going to have to really go tiny project by tiny project and not entire road projects. Uh, cuz the environmental impact of cost is going to be based on the entire road project and

not just the area that they're looking to dig in. And so they're cutting back. I'm not talking about anything related to roads. I'm talking about the drainage system that comes down starting from Ogulan Canyon, Burns Valley Creek over uh Burns Valley Road underneath the um the old uh Four Corners Lumberyard uh and then uh drains out into the canyon behind the uh Elrandy Hotel. It's a whole It's a whole semi artificial drainage system and then that flows down into the lake. I don't think anything's been done about that.

Uh, no, that's I you you mentioned road, so I I got distracted. Um, I don't believe they've done anything. And that comes out right at the lamp lighter, not El Grande. But either way, I know which one you're talking about. The one that goes uh underneath Safeway, comes out at the uh fire station uh and goes through town. There might there might be another another drainage um pattern coming off of the hill that comes down behind the hotel, but if you go behind the hotel, you can see it. Um but yeah, I know the one you're talking about too. That whole there is there is a whole

very very uh disconnected artificial drainage system in the city that really does have to have to have get fixed. Well, lucky for us, Mary Wilson is on the meeting and I'm sure she's taken copious notes to uh bring that to the city. Hey, Mary, if you if you want any information about that, let me know. I've got the whole history of it. I'll reach out to you. Betsy, I do have a question. Do we know how many uh drain um drains how many drains there are versus how many have been adopted?

We don't. And so the reason for that is because it's not just drains. If it's a covert you want to clean out, you can adopt it. You drop a pin there. Um if it's a little 4 in right in front of your house that you know is part of the covert system, you can adopt that. And so, uh, to get all that data would be hard for it's adopt a drain. Yes. It's one of those like little it's wherever you think trash is going to collect or, uh, you know, it's going to affect our waterways, you can clean it out.

And so, you can adopt it. Um, is there any kind of messaging or outreach done like right before the rain start to those who have adopted to see if they can go and clean out their drain so that it can allow for the flow to to occur? And this is the wonderful thing about this program is that Hamlin sends out those uh reminders. So I guess if I had adopted a drain, I would know that. You know, I wish you would have said that. That was a good comeback. Yeah. I could have been like, "Well, did you do your drain?" you would know how this works. But that's that's the very cool thing about this program is it it really doesn't take any of our time. We don't have to send out any letters, any reminders. It's automatic.

Yeah. The welcoming packages and everything come from Hamlin. And we also do have uh the ability to look at that data and we can add it to our storm water reports. And so my my concern I guess from some of your answers that you're not sure how many, but I I'll go specifically drain, not drain with air quotes. Um, do we go out to clear out the other drains that are not adopted to ensure that there's going to be flow so it doesn't create flooding anywhere in the community? So for us or is that public works? That's public work. And so we we do our two drains. So we um have Leonardo and Michelangelo who the names of our drain and our guy

Donatella. It wasn't quite close enough but our guys do. Fred, thank you Fred and Ed who take care of our uh drains here within the city of Lakeport and uh they they maintain our drains and report out on the app just like they're supposed to. Okay. So thank you. Yep. It's usually like a 5minute process. We just take a bucket with us and shovel out whatever is there. little push broom and weird. Cool. Okay, so do we have any more questions on this? Send me a leg. I got a QR code right here for you, bro.

In here. I got I got to find a drain. I don't have one near my house. Yeah, that was us, too. Yeah. See, you can just give it to Bruno so he can screenshot it right then and there. Keep it with me. You have to take this one. Yeah. I don't want to get more. I'll get other I'll get other people. There we go. Okay. So,

you guys should also check out the the Department of Water Resources website. um all that outreach material that's on there and when you're going to your civic meetings or your organizations, let them know that that information is there because it's just a gorgeous the story boards. Remember, Linda, I mean, it's just it's just fabulous. The people in in your room in this meeting need to promote the use of that material. It's excellent.

Right. Oh, and um a shameless plug for our our uh whatchamacall we actually have free boater kits that we are giving out right now. Um all you have to do is do a nine nine question survey and one of those questions is your name. So literally if you want a free we're we're giving them out. We've posted it on Facebook. We've we have it here at the counter. Um, so if anybody knows voters, knows uh would like a spill kit, just come up to us and and we'll be happy to get it out to you. City of Lake 2 has them at city hall available for anybody who comes in. That was Miss Jen where dog trying to give them to this guy over here.

We have we have a handful with the boat business. Cool. Uh, okay. So I think we can move to our next item which is um coastal cleanup day update.

Okay. So I cannot tell you how happy I was and excited I was for this coastal cleanup. We had nearly 100 volunteers across eight sites. Um we got people calling in who were like, "Hey, can we have a site in the oaks?" You know, and I'm like, "Uh, that goes to cleanup's tomorrow." So next year we'll tag you. we'll get you guys on on the board. And so it's growing more. People are are becoming more involved. And so it's exciting to me to watch this grow. Um we team up with um why can I remember their name? Um I know this. It's the coastal the clean commission.

Yes. Thank you. Wow. It's late. Don't forget the the folks down in Clear Lake uh caring for Clear Lake. Yep. They helped out. We had like I said eight sites and so Clear Lake always has theirs and the the people who do uh that site are the people um is it caring for Clear Lake.

Yep. They Citizens Clearing. Yes. They did awesome. And so um this year we were able to give out a boat. We only had one. I tried to get some uh donations and stuff for all the other sites, but we only got one boat from the coastal commission. It was a fourperson blowup boat and the one person in Middletown that we only volunteered in Middletown won it.

It was the And he was like, "Really? I just clean my ditch." And he got a vote. So, um, aside from that, we were happy that, um, Supervisor Rasmusson um, donated funds and so we got to show appreciation to our volunteers and we had a barbecue um, for our volunteers. Uh, Chris uh, from our department barbecued, you know, everybody came out and helped and it was really uh, it was a beautiful thing. It was nice to sit there and talk to everybody afterwards and, you know, uh, get to know them. you don't really get to spend time with your volunteers very much. So, I thought this was a very cool thing and I'm hoping that uh we'll be able to do something like this again next year and hopefully it just continues to grow. But, it was exciting and if you guys get a chance to check out the Facebook post, if you were a volunteer, tag yourself in it cuz I think that is super cool. Um, but that's all we got until September again next year.

Yeah, and I really appreciate that. I did receive a couple of comments from people. So, I think that was really awesome to hear. Yeah. To piggyback on it, we at Lakeport alone had 23 volunteers and we had our best poundage. We had 2,260 lbs collected. Wow. That's nice. It was Well, Ron and Cody kept showing up with it was where are you going?

Yeah, it was super cool. people were just coming and so u I don't have the exact tonnage that we removed um in total because some people didn't keep track as as well as others but we're we're around they go through the hauler I didn't do this I mean I did the scale at the site just cuz it was fun and like kids loved it and I would pump up like I'd add 10 lbs to every little kid who came I'm like you collect it and it's 12 m it So full showed up. It was fun, but the the our total I real total came from the hauler. Yeah, we had eight sites, so we couldn't kind of harder to

get them. And Lassern Lassern came out in full force. And uh we had to actually call in somebody to shave some off the top. So Oh gosh. And it was one of those big What are they? The probably poor chain. Yeah, the big yard. The rolloff ones. Yeah, we had it we had him come out twice because Yeah, the ser did not hold back and so that's good. Yeah, I'm going it's better in there than it is in a waterway. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, but that's my update. Any questions?

Okay. I just have a suggestion. you know, uh, Trevor Mockle is our new deputy chief administrative officer working for, um, our public information office. Um, it it would be fun to see a press release with all that information about all the different parts of the county and how many people volunteered and all that kind of stuff. Be a great promo. Cool. Cool. Noted. Okay. So we will move along to our item number six which is clean water updates monitoring updates MS4+ plus updates. Okay. So that was me and Fred. We did that um

Thursday. Last Thursday. Last Thursday. And so samples went out. Uh we had four that didn't get sampled because there was no running water. Yeah. It's it's the four sites that are commonly dry this time of year, right? And so we it did get conducted in samples to get sent out. Um we are waiting on the next storm cuz I believe we're supposed to do five, right? And so um as storms come, we'll start taking samples and as soon as the data comes in, we will disperse it to who who needs it. Is this the testing of pythioids? Pythroidids. No, I don't know if I said that right.

This one is metals. Um, let me think medals we did. Let me see. And um, guy I just grabbed for you. I I I can share I would share the COC with you guys cuz I can't remember off the top of my head exactly every characteristic we tested for. Uh, our regular turbidity uh, nitrogen phosphorus floor. Yes, phosphorus. So it's just water quality, water um, Gotcha. Correct. And we do do medals out of three just different four sites. And so and and for those speroids I think because we didn't exceed it or like uh so we don't have to do it repeatedly. So I think once it's done I think we are done good with that.

Right. We're still working on finalizing. I'm working with the Jessica to finalize that report. it wasn't finalized and so we're doing the edits that they had requested and then we'll submit for final but okay sounds good so we will move to our next item number seven workg group meeting schedule and updates on peon uh I apologize Bethany is out of the office for a bit uh we with the exception of the meeting we had last quarter when we met I don't believe this group has come together again for an additional meeting. Okay, sounds good. It'll be waiting on her desk when she

It will. It will. Just piling up. Uh the next one we have is MUN uh Good Housekeeping.

Yep. The um Kylie Peacock, City of Clear Lake, I host the MUN uh Good Housekeeping work group. We met in September to work on our annual reports together um and do a little um and just to yeah kind of go over what we were including in ours um and kind of touching on what Jen was talking about earlier is just trying to um you know help each other out as much as possible to not have to do things twice. So that's what we did for our last workg group. Um, our next one will probably be at the beginning of next year and I think we'll be working on um pesticide um fertilizer inventory spreadsheet or something of that sort which is a requirement of the um MS4 permit. So,

okay, that sounds good. The next one we have is outreach and public participation. And I think this is a join for all the people in that. Yeah.

Yeah. That was all of us. And so that's where you start seeing us sharing our Facebook posts. Miss Jen has been uh gracious enough to be our creative person for us, creating the posts and whatnot. And we kind of put our heads together on what information we want to share and then we just share it out to our Facebook post is what we've been doing. I think we also talked about maybe having all these meetings in one hit. We did cuz that this one we're doing as a monthly. I think we need to revisit the permit to make sure that we're hitting the cadence. The outreach is a monthly and I think the other two are at this point in time to be a quarterly cadence. And I'm not trash quarterly.

Quarterly would be good for that one. And so we're looking at trying to get them all because we all have busy work schedules and so it's easier for us to just hit every subject in one hit um rather than trying to have four separate meetings. Yeah. And that makes sense. Yeah. When we start to u put these together and well, we've kind of been having our meetings and and getting things worked out and so but yeah, I think for for future we're probably just going to add them all into one meeting, one monthly meeting or so. Yeah. Yeah. So, the next one we have is stress and IDE.

So, we have been super busy with trash and IDE. Um, we have been doing cleanups along creeks. I'm trying to think right now we're do finishing one in the oaks on on Mountain View. Stokes do stubs. Dubs lane. Yeah,

dubs lane in m and uh the oaks. We've had a few uh in Lakeport um outside. Um I will actually I I wanted to map them out. of wanting to get better because we're doing so much work and actually capturing what we're doing and how much we're doing and in what trash is one thing. IDE we've been helping uh with removal of abandoned vehic uh boats, vehicles and creeks. We just finished one this morning over off of in Lern or Upper Lake um over by uh Robinson. I saw that yesterday.

That was pretty. Let me talk, didn't I? So, um I think we're doing a lot of good stuff there and I I am excited to actually share that. But I think having those visuals would be better than me just telling you, hey, we've done six, seven cleanups and we've responded to these many IDEs and so I need to get better at that. It's just because I'm doing a little bit more and so it's a little harder for me to uh focus in and getting what I actually want it to look like. Uh right now I'm just playing whack-a-ole. And and you you have that one big trashide on 175 that's in planning right now.

Yep. That is something that uh Supervisor Rasmmanson brought to our attention. Um it is at the headarters of one of our creeks. Uh unfortunately we're gonna have we're having a hard time reaching the o owner. Um it does look like it's an unpermitted cannabis site of some sort. So uh we probably won't get a response till May because October already happened. And so we probably won't see anybody out there until May. So without the ROE we can't go on. It's there's no right away. There's it literally goes from road to property. What point do you go get a warrant? um that is going to be on CDD. So, we're working with CDD as well. And so, we don't have that

authority. Oh, Emma, if you're heading it out, you have to write it into an ordinance. I mean, cuz it's like as the rain comes, all those things, the plastics will break down. So, now you have microplastics going into our waterways. And so, um this is why when I when when I hear about things or somebody brings something to my attention, we address it as fast as we can. And so, so, so you said not till May, but you also said you're working with CDD. Are you hoping to get something done sooner? Okay.

I'm hoping. Yeah, cuz we sent out from our department. All we can really do is ask for the ROE. So, we sent a letter to the address that is in uh assessor's office and we posted one at the gate. And so, that as far as we can go. getting in the weeds here, but at the same time, like environmental crimes

to me, one of the biggest concerns of environmental crimes is not you cut down somebody's tree or you salted the earth. It's all of this is going to leech into the waterways, which then goes into the source, the main, not the source, but where it dumps into the waterways, which is the lake. And so I would feel like giving you the tools that you need to act as quickly as you need so it doesn't impact the waterways. I'd be down to look into that just cuz I that that would be a better tool for you to have. Like do we want to protect the lake or do we not want to protect the lake? And if right now you're handcuffed to do so, I'd love to release you. We are literally

I think it might be just the code enforcement having some time for our department that might work um in parallel and just working together. Yeah. So because having a full-time or like somebody just because it does require some kind of training and uh I just think Linda would enjoy that. Yeah. Uh that's what Linda Linda Linda can definitely do that. That's the Linda I met. Yeah. Yeah, you know. Yeah, it's a gift and a curse. Yeah, I I do feel like we do. Um if I can get the I really just want to get things out of the tributaries

and so we but we are we are held by uh you know I if I I usually use Neil from Fish and Wildlife. If I I'm like this is bad, bro. Like can you do something? You got a gun. Lindon was never good. You know, Lyndon didn't have things. I don't want to go to that one. I'm like, Lynon just got some stairs you down. That's about it. But, you know, I need teeth. And so, um, I understand that CDD is uh, you know, they have issues too. And so, but there are a lot of things that we could use CDDs and code enforcement's help on right now.

Yeah. But that thing is in works. So, hopefully, I think we will get it out. We are working with CDD. Um, sooner or later probably that should be out. Maybe not this season, but definitely out there for the next season. Um, okay. Do we have any questions here? Okay, seeing none, I think we can move along. And the last item on our agenda is um upcoming meeting dates for 20. So this was the last

um clean water uh council meeting for 2025. And then we have the proposed date here for 2026 meeting dates. Um so February 19, 2026 2 p.m. Lake County Courthouse, May 21st, 2026, 2 p.m. City of Clear Lake Council Chambers. August 2026, 2 p.m. City of Lakeport Council Chambers. November 19, 2026 2 p.m. County of Lake Courthouse. And so because these dates are put out in advance, I'm like, can we make sure to be there? Cuz we haven't This is only our second meeting that we've had a quorum since 2024. Oh my gosh. Thank you.

Um, and so if if we can plan to have to be here. So, can I ask a favor? Of course. Can you send out these invites to all of us so that we can populate our calendars as quickly as possible so that we don't over um okay uh over commit to other things. It's an invit. And then I sent you an email about the uh alternate and the uh primary as well.

Yeah, I got that and I noted it right here. I was like yes. Okay, cool. Let's go to um I think that's it unless um one of my things and this is a little off the agenda but um I'm not sure if I'm hitting everybody who is supposed like I know that I I hit the council members but is there anybody else in the public that we're supposed to be sending these to anybody like I put it out inviting

yeah like I put it out but um I couldn't find from from when Angela was here, like who that was. And so I'm going like, or they just had the names without the emails attached to them. And so I just want to make sure if there's anybody in jurisdictions that I need to be reaching out in your guys's areas, let me know so I can um put them on the list, too. And so that's good. Cool.

I I'd like to I'd like to suggest that you start the year by sending out the legal agreements and and and the purpose of the council. and the purpose of the council to all the people that are on the email list and invite them to participate because uh it's not excluded to just appointed members. It is open to the public. It's a Brown Act meeting. We could have members of the Ottaban Society, the Sierra Club, um you know, the municipal advisory councils and so forth. And I think they would really be appreciate knowing what what this council is about.

Okay. Yeah, if they can reach out to me and give me their emails, I'm happy to send things out to them. I I'll do that for you. Thank you. I appreciate that.

And um I see that um our item number 10 and nine is like um little bit out of order here, but I think we might have to My bad. We might have to adopt these dates like are we I think that was the action because we postponed it last meeting. Yeah, I believe so because if you look the minutes I read them before I came but I thought it said that we deferred the new calendar because we didn't I don't know we did it for something. Do we have we didn't have a quorum? Oh that's right. We need to adopt these dates. Yeah. Yeah. I think we just need to get I move to the calendar as proposed. Second. Cool.

We have a motion and second. Um, everybody in favor? I I um we have some people online here. Uh, Mary and Kylie. I. Okay. So, everybody in favor? So, this motion passes. So, these would be the date for the next um next year um meeting. Um, and the last item we have on the agenda is the public comment period. So, it's open to anybody who has any comments. Um, there's a hands up from Betsy.

Uh, yes, I have several questions actually. Uh, the first one is um, has the annual report been turned in for the uh, compliance program? Has that, um, has that been completed? Is that the MS4 permit? Yeah. Is that Yes, it is. Yep. Yeah. Okay. And um do we have somebody assigned to lake bed management at this point? My understanding is that there's a limited staff in public works and water resources is doing lake bed management. I'm not sure how that set up.

Yes, lake bed management is with water resources and we do have a staff for that.

Okay. And then um uh uh there was there have been several different discussions about water management, water quality management. Uh storm water is not is only halfway connected to to water quality. But um uh there is a there is a direct connection between the uh water quality improvement program for Middle Creek Marsh uh restoration and uh our agreement with Yellow County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. um which uh uh just this summer the uh original application for a water right was uh uh I think uh expired and uh so the watershed protection district no longer has uh an application for that water right. I just wonder if there's any other uh plan to uh manage that resource uh along with the um this uh situation up in u upper lake where the easements on watershed properties may impact the uh uh funding of some kind. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but but do we do we have uh somebody working on uh identifying what we need to do for Yellow County in relation to our water rights?

Um I think your question might be related to the Middle Creek um water rights. Um

yeah. Um so there was like a application which was filed long back um for the water ride in the for the middle creek project but that was always in question about whether that's even practical or even needed in the first place. Um yeah, we were supposed to have like some discussion with Yolo County about that, but um I think the water board was asking for more clarification that what what was the purpose or what was the need for that water right? Um there was a there was a requirement that Yolo County placed on the approval by the state department of water resources and the requirement was for Lake County to do the scientific analysis of availability of water uh and uh show that the amount of water that was applied for would be available and that data was never produced. So I'm guessing that that's what uh so there there's no longer any application for water right.

Yeah, that that was the requirement from the water board. So basically in order for them to allocate any water, right, we need to show them that that water is available in the first place. So I'm asking if the issue is dead now. I believe it expired. Yeah, that thing is expired. So, I mean that that's not no more an issue or Okay, that's all I wanted to know if you know if that's out of the picture finally. Yeah.

Yeah. It it expired I want to say at the end of last year or the beginning of this year. I remember that was a conversation. Uh but I I don't know. I'm just making an assumption that uh once the Middle Creek restoration project does take uh effect and uh we start seeing the marshlands come back to life out there, I bet you we will have another discussion about water rights. Uh which will probably be a fight with uh Yolo County flood control.

Oh yeah, there's no there's no question. There's no no point even discussing it because Yolola County would sell us the water and we wouldn't need to have the right or the license to renew and it would be it would be no problem. So just keep that in mind. The last question I have is what happened to the basin monitoring plan where we were going to have electromagnetic detection of groundwater basin margins to determine the proximity of the Scots Valley Basin to the Big Valley basin and the monitoring wells that were going to be placed along the uh perimeter of what is thought to be that basin between in the city of of Lakeport. What happened to that project? So that project is in motion right now. We just put out a RFP received one of the proposal for that and we would be reviewing that proposal and awarding that bit in um depending on like what the merit of that project. So you are talking about that AEM study for the groundwater basins, right?

Yeah. Great. Yes. Oh, cool. Could I get a copy of the RFP so I could just talk about it on the radio? Um yeah, it should be published out there. Um I mean we can provide it but it's still open or did it it got closed. U we received one only one bid on that. Yeah. I just like to see what the scope of work is because you know we're really we're really keeping an eye on that groundwater basin issue between Scots Valley and Big Valley. Yeah. Um you know Todd Todd from our department? Todd Abbott. Uh Todd Abbott. Yeah. Uh, no. I I saw him speaking at the board of supervisors on Tuesday. Should I get in touch with him? Yeah, he does. Oh, great. Oh, super. Thank you very much.

Sure. U Betsy, if you go to Lake County website and on the top you go to business and bid opportunities and then if you click closed for the um show closed, awarded canceled bids. It's just half a page down here. I just found it real easily and quick. Airborne electromagnetic AM survey of Lake Countyy's groundwater basins. It closed on 117205. And then if you click on that, you'll be able to see a copy of the RFP. Super. Thank you very very much. Really interested in that project. She gave us a good information.

Yeah. So that project is moving along and hopefully we will uh get it done sometime soon. Do we have any other public comment? I see Betsy hand but I think it might be the folder. Yeah, sorry. Thank thanks for all the information everybody. Yeah, sure. Um, okay. So, I think with that I think we can agend the meeting. Yeah. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thanks. Have a good day.

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