Lake County Special Districts lists 2024 infrastructure gains; Spring Valley resident questions standby fee billing

Special Districts Administrator Robin Borre told the Lake County Board of Supervisors that her office completed a string of water and wastewater projects in 2024, and outlined priorities for 2025, while a Spring Valley resident raised questions during public comment about changes to standby-fee billing.

Borre said the district began purchasing property in Clear Lake to improve wastewater service for the Highlands and Vallejo areas; cleaned about 75,718 feet of wastewater lines; awarded design and study contracts for Kelseyville and North Lakeport; and completed rate studies and rate implementations for North Lakeport, Kelseyville and Spring Valley. She also reported 0 spills in November and December despite heavy rainfall and said staff aim to reduce sanitary sewer overflows to zero. "We cleaned 75 over 75,000 feet of wastewater lines," Borre said. "I had 0 spills in November December despite the significant amount of rainfall we had, so I'd like to thank my staff."

The presentation included quantitative district metrics: 3,894 active water accounts, 7 new water connections, 1,790 water service requests and a water delinquency rate of 0.49 percent; 12,304 active sewer accounts, about 200 equivalent dwelling units (primarily in Clear Lake for the Kenocta Gardens project), 309 sewer service requests and sewer delinquencies under 5 percent. Borre said the district recorded 20 sanitary sewer overflow events in the last year, six of which occurred after she took the job; she described the largest as about 700 gallons that did not reach surface water. The lighting district manages 656 lights, with five new fixtures installed and 13 service requests.

During public comment, a Spring Valley resident identified as Sterling said residents believe they had not been charged standby fees for more than a decade, and that charges rose after a local Prop 218 vote failed. Sterling asked for clearer community outreach and for Borre to attend local advisory board meetings to explain the changes. "Please explain to most of the community how she raised the standbys to where they're paying $26 every other month to $76 every other month now," Sterling said.

Borre responded that the attorney's office reviewed the district's rules and that the county's ordinances and rules require charging a base rate plus any standby fees. "Our rules clearly state that everybody is charged the base rate, and then there's additional fees," she said, adding that standby fees are commonly applied to vacant properties because they still require system capacity and can impose risks such as leaks. She said staff had issued two months' notice before changing billing and that, "technically, under state law, I believe we can go back 3 years for billing errors, and we've decided not to do that." She also said the district has a form and a process, reviewed with county counsel, that would allow property owners to relinquish entitlements so they would not pay standby fees.

Borre quantified the change in revenue tied to corrected standby billing as roughly $91,000 in additional funds across districts and listed standby-account counts by district: Spring Valley 74; Findlay 11; Kona 8; Kelseyville 32; North Lakeport 79; Soda Bay 62. She said the majority of standby accounts outside Spring Valley are vacation houses that may pay for only part of the year but retain service year-round. The administrator said the district awarded 11 generators (one awarded but not yet installed) and is working to install them, and that planned 2025 work includes constructing three test wells (one in Spring Valley and two in North Lakeport), finishing tertiary and full-circle studies, completing Spring Valley distribution and capacity studies, and upgrading the Soda Bay water treatment plant following a programmable logic controller failure.

Supervisor Spatier thanked Borre for consulting with county counsel and said she appreciated the effort to clarify long-standing practices. "I appreciate you digging into some of these things so we can help clarify," Spatier said. Borre said she meets regularly with local advisory members and will follow up on the specific Spring Valley requests.

The presentation closed with Borre asking for questions and stating the district will add project-delivery reporting, a list of forthcoming rate studies and grant application tallies to future matrices. No formal vote or change in county policy was recorded during the presentation.