Mount Konocti Facilitation - Lake One Stop
Sandra West might best be known as the owner of the Edgewater Resort in Soda Bay, but she is also very heavily involved in several other community organizations. The Edgewater Resort specializes in family reunions and already have a strong summer calendar on the books, although there's always room for a few more visitors.
But what Sandra came to speak about was the Mount Konocti Facilitation (MKF). Mount Konocti Facilitation seeks to help new and existing businesses with all the challenges that can face an organization. While many small business owners feel like they are alone in their struggles, the MKF can help with marketing and other programs to ensure success in the organization. The organization can be likened to a board of directors of sorts and offer coaching services to help a small business owner make informed decisions.
Both the County's Chambers of Commerce and the County Redevelopment agency are the sources of referral for the Mount Konocti Facilitation.
Sandra also spoke of Lake One Stop. This program is truly unique in that a business can hire an employee or rehire a previous employee and have their wages and workers compensation paid for for up to three months by the program. Essentially, this is part of the government's stimulus money and seeks to help small businesses avoid making layoff decisions.
The Lake One Stop also has a work experience program for both part- and full-time employees. Rather than welfare, this program can pay all or part of an employee's salary while they are earning on-the-job experience. This can minimize the risk to a business owner looking to take-on an untrained employee and helps individuals learn new careers while being an asset to society.
This program can also help with transportation and clothing specific to the job.
Finally, there is another program that can step in if you are in danger of not being able to pay an employee. This rapid-response program can even apply to sole proprietors.
This type of stimulus infusion can really help many small businesses struggling with cash flow by taking the burden of paying some employees right off the books for specific periods of time.
Denise gave a brief summary of the things happening with the Board of Supervisors.
The Public works department is looking at affordable paving options for the North Shore bike trail.
Lake County has a new water services director, Scott De Leon.
The fire plan that was adopted earlier is really starting to show signs of bearing fruit.
The Board of Supervisors is really starting to deal with the marijuana issue and there will be public meetings scheduled to keep everyone up to date on how things are going and to get public input.
Pat Iasino - Upper Lake High School
Pat brought high school valedictorian Talia Lamb by to help detail the Every 15 Minutes program. The program definitely had a profound effect on the students.
There is definitely good news at Upper Lake High School. While the state average for passing the stringent High School Exit Exam is about 80 percent, Upper Lake's student body got a score of 91 percent. Still parents and volunteers will be needed to continue the excellence in education as the school has dropped from a high of 55 employees to 37 due to significant budget cuts facing all government organizations in today's reality.
Eric Seely
Eric had some good news - the town clocks for both Upper Lake and Clearlake Oaks have been ordered and delivery is expected by the end of June. The second clock will go into Nylander Park in Clearlake Oaks and we will get one in Upper Lake.
The fishing pier in Lucerne is essentially completed but now requests for quotation are going out for the landscaping which has to include things like wheelchair ramps and other ADA compliant items. Several attendees remarked that it'll be difficult to keep people off the beautiful, completed fishing pier despite the fact that it's "officially closed" until the landscaping can go in.
Holiday Harbor is presently a big focus of the County's. Presently they're working on a master plan for the landmark and hope to create a real community center for Nice. While there will be a large public component, possibly including restaurants or other "boardwalk" type items, there could also be lodging, condos or other components. A plan is currently being developed with community input.