Lake County supervisors hear public comments on Kelseyville renaming, Middletown election complaint and landfill proposal

At the Lake County Board of Supervisors public comment segment, residents raised four distinct issues: a request to reconsider the Kelseyville name-change item, a petition alleging election irregularities on a Middletown board, a proposal to study converting the county landfill into a solar-powered micro-factory, and a call for community reconciliation around the county’s lake.

The public comment session is an unscheduled portion of the meeting where speakers are allowed up to three minutes; no formal board action was taken during the remarks.

Resident Elaine Brown urged the county to prioritize healing and dialogue over recent community disputes. "I think we have to start our conversation with kindness, forgiveness, love, and most of all, grace," she said, and recommended convening a public table focused on the lake and the science of recent local changes.

A second speaker identified in the record as Mr. Brown asked the board to place item 6.11 (the Kelseyville name-change item heard Dec. 10) on the earliest available agenda so the two newly seated supervisors can participate. He said the new supervisors should "be allowed the opportunity to weigh in" and urged reconsideration, adding concerns about the prior board members' legitimacy as part of his justification. "I respectfully ask that it be placed on the earliest available agenda for reconsideration," he said. No board motion or vote on that request was recorded during the public comment period.

Reverend Julia Bono of the Rainbow Church of Living Light read a petition and alleged procedural problems in a local organization’s election process affecting Middletown proper. Bono said the petition, started Jan. 8, asserted that during a Dec. 12, 2024 mass meeting the chair, Monica Rosenthal, "officially closed election nominations, and then just 20 minutes later falsely stated that nominations were still open in order to accept an additional nomination." She also said the petition alleges an "unauthorized private decision to allocate 1 of those 2 vacating Middletown proper seats to the at large region," which Bono said contradicts the organization's bylaws. Bono asked for several remedies in the petition: correction of the election materials to show Middletown proper seats were up for election, a new election, Rosenthal’s resignation and a permanent ban from the board, and formation of a review committee to ensure compliance with the organization’s bylaws and the Brown Act. The board took no immediate action on those requests during the meeting.

Ben Hittle, who said he teaches solar and sustainable construction and robotics, asked the board to place a feasibility study on the earliest agenda to explore converting the county landfill into a "micro factory," proposing solar panels, biogas capture and robotic sorting. He said he had discussed the idea with staff in special districts and other county contacts and described the proposal as an effort to combine renewable energy, material recovery and local manufacturing; he asked the board to consider a formal feasibility study but did not present formal project documents during his remarks.

No motions, directions to staff, or votes resulted from the public comment segment recorded in the transcript. The chair closed public input after the speakers and moved the meeting to the next listed agenda item.

The comments signal topics the public wants the board to address in future meetings: reconsideration of a prior name-change item, investigation or review of a local election process, exploration of innovative landfill reuse, and facilitated community dialogue about the lake.