LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Fair Board will meet on Monday, Feb. 22.

The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the fairgrounds administration office, 401 Martin St., Lakeport.

Action items include approval of the Livestock Auction contingency reserve percentage and setting the date of the appreciation dinner.

A discussion of the upcoming county fair – times, admission prices, carnival and grandstand entertainment – will be held.

There also will be committee reports, a strategic planning session followup, an update on the Lake County Fair Foundation and the chief executive officer's report.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – At the January meeting of the South Lake County Fire Sirens (SLCFS) the 2016 slate of officers were announced just prior to the installation luncheon held at the Middletown Senior Center earlier this month.

South Lake County Fire Chief Jim Wright was on hand to read the duties and responsibilities of each official SLCFS position.

Also in attendance were Fire Board Member Jim Comiskey and Administrative Assistant Gloria Fong from the South Lake County Fire station.

Pat Hallman will serve as SLCFS president; Carol Olsen was reappointed as second vice president; Jeanne Netherwood will continue to serve SLCFS as secretary and Fran Rand, new to the board, has accepted the position of treasurer. The first vice president position remains vacant.

Outgoing board members Jeanne Cordeiro and Ruth Angst were recognized for their commitment to SLCFS.

Cordeiro, former president of the organization, and her husband Al, lost their Cobb home during the Valley fire and have relocated to Sonoma County.

Angst, a Hidden Valley Lake resident, served as SLCFS treasurer for the past 10 years and has decided to retire from those duties. Both will continue as Fire Siren members.

Other business conducted included the awarding of the annual SLCFS Star of Excellence Award. It went to both Cordeiro and Netherwood for their outstanding service to the Fires Sirens and its mission.

“The mission of the SLCFS is to raise funds to purchase equipment and supplies and to assist the South Lake County Fire Department wherever we are able,” states Fire Sirens President Pat Hallman. 

Since its inception over 30 years ago, the SLCFS has raised more than $300,000 to meet that goal.

“The efforts of the members of this unique organization help to save lives daily, through their fundraising efforts, the Fire Sirens have made possible the purchase of life saving equipment so that this fire department can better serve the community,” said Fire Chief Jim Wright.

SLCFS also runs the Fire Siren Thrift Shop located at 21095 Highway 175, Middletown. The Fire Siren Thrift Shop, “Second Hand But Grand,” is open every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The next SLCFS meeting will be on April 4 at the Middletown Fire Station. All interested community members are welcome to attend.

SLCFS meetings are held monthly on the first Monday of the month. A coffee social kicks off the morning at 9:30 a.m. and the meeting begins at 10 a.m.

For more information contact Pat Hallman at 707-987-3991.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Citizens Caring for Clearlake is inviting the public to a cleanup event on Sunday, Feb. 14.

Beginning at 8 a.m., the group will meet at Borax Lake on Sulphur Bank Road in Clearlake to clean up any illegal dumping in the area.

Work will take place along Sulphur Bank Road.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The regular meeting of the Clearlake Planning Commission and Park and Recreation Committee scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16, has been canceled.

The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 1.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Tickets are on sale for the annual Soroptimist Spring Fling on March 12 at the Twin Pine Event Center in Middletown.

Doors open at 11:30 a.m. The event includes lunch, silent and live auctions, a basket raffle and a guest speaker. Proceeds fund local programs benefiting women and girls.

The featured speaker for this year’s event is Sandra Millers Younger, author of “The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells the True Story of California’s Epic Cedar Fire,” which has been acclaimed as required reading for residents of wildfire country, and adopted as a training text for top-level emergency response manager and incident commanders.

Younger lost her home, 12 neighbors and nearly her own life in the Cedar Fire – the biggest known wildfire in California history – which ravaged San Diego County in 2003, burning 280,000 acres, destroying more than 2,200 homes and killing 15 people.

Today, as a speaker and founder of ComeBACK Solutions Intl., Younger works with disaster survivors and emergency response leaders to promote resilience – the quality that transforms disasters, loss and trauma into growth, opportunity and global impact.

She and her husband Bob were featured in the NBC Dateline special “Escape: The Great California Fire.” She also was featured a speaker at the recent National Association of Foresters Conference.

Sponsor tables are available and individual tickets are $40 each. Lunch includes meat and vegetarian dishes, beverages and the Soroptimist famous dessert bar. Send payment to SI Clear Lake, P.O. Box 7167, Clearlake, CA 95422.

For more information, call President Olga Martin Steele at 707-998-1302.

SACRAMENTO – State Board of Equalization Member Fiona Ma, CPA, has joined with Assemblyman Bill Dodd to introduce sweeping new legislation strengthening the Kopp Act, which establishes new contribution and reporting standards for the State Board of Equalization.

State Controller Betty Yee also is in strong support of the legislation, AB 1828, which will reform portions of the Kopp Act by banning contributions from individuals and businesses that have appeals cases (adjudicatory proceedings) before the State Board of Equalization a year before the case is adjudicated, and extends that blackout period to one year after the case is adjudicated.

AB 1828 also bans all behested payments, which are donations made directly to charities and non-profits at the request of an elected official, one year prior to, and extending to one year after the case is heard.

In addition, this measure requires State Board of Equalization to be transparent in posting the names of all contributors with cases before the board.

The bill will impose the toughest fundraising and reporting requirements on any state elected officials in California.

“I am pleased to work with Assemblymember Dodd on these tough new campaign finance and reporting standards,” said Fiona Ma. “The Board of Equalization, unlike the Legislature or other constitutional offices, makes decisions that directly affect the bottom line for taxpayers and businesses, sometimes to the tune of millions of dollars. We need to be fair and impartial in our decisions, and these new standards will help ensure we not only avoid a conflict of interest, but even the appearance of a conflict. ”

“I’d like to thank Fiona Ma for her leadership and partnership in fighting for transparency and campaign finance reform. It’s important that the public is given confidence that tax rulings before the Board are based on their merits and absent of the appearance of influence or favoritism,” said Assemblymember Dodd.

“Because of the board’s unique role, members must adhere to the highest ethical standards,” said Yee, the state’s chief fiscal officer. “Steps towards increasing accountability and public confidence in the board’s decisions should be applauded.”

Members of the State Board of Equalization are elected from four districts in California, with the state controller serving as an ex officio fifth member of the board.

The State Board of Equalization not only collects and enforces California sales and use tax, as well as 35 special tax programs (like the tobacco tax), it also serves as the appeals body for tax disputes with either the Franchise Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization.

Dodd’s legislation will make a number of changes to the Kopp Act, which governs contributions made and reported by members of the State Board of Equalization. Among the provisions of AB 1828 are:

· Banning all behested payments, where elected officials seek contributions for charities and non-profits, for a period of one year prior, extending to one year after, a business entity or individual’s case is adjudicated by the State Board of Equalization.

· Requires disclosure within 30 days of any contribution made to a member of the State Board of Equalization within 12 months preceding or subsequent to any SBOE adjudicatory proceeding.

· Requires SBOE to post on its website any contributions made from businesses or individuals with an appeals case before the board 12 months prior or subsequent to a board hearing on their case.

· Revises the definition of “contribution” to explicitly include payments made at the behest of an the State Board of Equalization member, and

· Includes employees of a party, participant or agent, regardless of whether they are working on the case, within the framework of these contribution limits.

AB 1828 was introduced by Assemblymember Dodd on Tuesday, Feb. 9, and is sponsored by Ma. It will be eligible to be heard in Committee in March.