1 CITY OF BLUE LAKE
CALIFORNIA
111 Greenwood Road
P.O. Box 458
Blue Lake, CA 95525
(707) 668-5655
Fax: (707) 668-5916
www.bluelake.ca.gov
Blue Lake City Council Action Minutes
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 ~ 6:30pm ~ Special Council Meeting Skinner Store Building ~ 111 Greenwood Rd., Blue Lake ~ Behind City Hall 1 1. Call To Order: Mayor Sawatzky Called the Meeting to Order at 6:30 p.m. 2 2. Pledge Of Allegiance
3 3. Roll Call and Establish a Quorum of the Council
4 5 Councilmembers’ Present: City Clerk Green established a Quorum 6 Present: Mayor John Sawatzky, Mayor Pro Tem Elise Scafani, Councilmember Kat Napier, 7 Council Member Michelle Lewis-Lusso, Councilmember Terri Bayles. 8 Councilmembers Absent: None
9 Staff Present: City Manager Jennie Short, City Clerk Samantha Green, Park and 10 Recreation Director Emily Wood, And Videographer Justin Goad. 11 12 4. Approval Of the Agenda –
13 14 Motion by Councilmember Lewis-Lusso to approve the agenda. Second by 15 Councilmember Napier.
16 Voice vote: Motion passed unanimously.
17 18 5. Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items: Kent Sawatzky, Erin McClure, Lin Rose, and 19 Julie Christie.
20 21 6. Consent Agenda
22 a. June Disbursements
23 b. June 23, 2026 Minutes
24 25 Consent agenda item 6a was pulled by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani and 6b was pulled by 26 Councilmember Bayles.
27 28 6a. June Disbursements
29 Mayor Pro Tem Scafani asked about various payments related to the Park and Recreation 30 Intern, Auditors, REMIF, and SHN payments.
31 32 Public Comment Received: Kent Sawatzky
33 34 Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani to approve the June disbursements. Second by 35 Councilmember Lewis-Lusso.
36 Voice vote: Motion passed unanimously.
37 38 6b. June 23, 2026, Minutes
39 In addition to corrections that City Clerk Green made regarding spelling of a name and 40 correction to an organization’s name, Councilmember Bayles requested a revision of public 2 CITY OF BLUE LAKE
CALIFORNIA
111 Greenwood Road
P.O. Box 458
Blue Lake, CA 95525
(707) 668-5655
Fax: (707) 668-5916
www.bluelake.ca.gov
Blue Lake City Council Action Minutes
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 ~ 6:30pm ~ Special Council Meeting Skinner Store Building ~ 111 Greenwood Rd., Blue Lake ~ Behind City Hall 41 comment under item 10: Car Show Designation. City Clerk Green will bring the minutes 42 back for final approval at the next regular council meeting. 43 44 Public Comment Received: None
45 46 ITEMS FOR COUNCIL DISCUSSION OR ACTION
47 48 7. Townsquare Kiosk Proposal
49 The Prop 68 Grant that was awarded for the Town Square project included the installation of 50 interactive art on site; providing visual enhancement while encouraging visitors to interact in 51 a playful and educational manner. The following discussion includes a staff proposal for 52 additions to Town Square; satisfying the artistic installation and signage requirement of the 53 grant, while adding another bulletin board in town for the community. 54 55 Public Comment Received: Lin Glen, Adelene Jones, Lin Rose, and Julie Christie. 56 57 Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani to authorize staff to proceed with coordinating logistics and 58 installation of Town Square “restroom kiosk” additions as presented. Second by 59 Councilmember Lewis-Lusso.
60 Voice vote: Motion passed unanimously.
61 62 8. Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce Fee Waiver Request 63 In recent history, the Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce has not paid facility rental fees nor 64 cost recovery for city staff efforts during Annie & Mary Day. With the adoption of the new fee 65 schedule, the Chamber is requesting that Council consider waiving a portion of the facility 66 rental fees (estimated at $1,400).
67 68 Public Comment Received: Kent Sawatzky, Julie Christie, Charis Bowman, and Colin 69 Vance.
70 71 Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani to form an Ad Hoc to work with the Chamber. Second by 72 Councilmember Lewis-Lusso.
73 Voice vote: Motion failed (2:3)
74 75 9. Hazard Mitigation Plan Approval [Resolution 1265] 76 The City of Blue Lake has been working with our various municipal and agency partners on 77 the update and adoption of the City’s hazard mitigation plan. The plan has been reviewed by 78 FEMA for consistency and compliance and is now ready for adoption. Once adopted, the 79 plan will be utilized by the City to develop future funding requests to address identified 80 hazards and to assist the City in prioritizing project implementation and disaster planning. 81 3
CITY OF BLUE LAKE
CALIFORNIA
111 Greenwood Road
P.O. Box 458
Blue Lake, CA 95525
(707) 668-5655
Fax: (707) 668-5916
www.bluelake.ca.gov
Blue Lake City Council Action Minutes
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 ~ 6:30pm ~ Special Council Meeting Skinner Store Building ~ 111 Greenwood Rd., Blue Lake ~ Behind City Hall 82 Public Comment Received: Karen Gilkerson, Kent Sawatzky, Christine Davis, Lin Glen, 83 Julie Christie, and Lin Rose.
84 85 Motion by Councilmember Bayles to Adopt Resolution 1265 “Resolution of the City Council 86 of the City of Blue Lake Authorizing the Adoption of the Humboldt County Operational Area 87 Hazard Mitigation Plan 2025 Update.” Second by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani. 88 89 Roll Call Vote:
90 Ayes: Sawatzky, Scafani, Napier, Lewis-Lusso, Bayles 91 Motion passed unanimously
92 93 10. Examination of Sales or Transactions and Use Tax Records [Resolution 1266] 94 The City of Blue Lake entered into an agreement with Hinderliter de Llamas and Associates 95 (aka HdL) to provide consulting and software services that help the City to understand and 96 maximize the collection of sales, use, and transaction taxes. HdL must be given permission 97 by the City to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to access the City’s 98 Sales, Transactions, and Use Tax Records.
99 100 Public Comment Received: Lin Rose.
101
102 Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani to Adopt Resolution 1266 “Resolution of the City Council 103 of the City of Blue Lake Authorizing Examination of Sales or Transactions and Use Tax 104 Records.” Second by Councilmember Lewis-Lusso.
105
106 Roll Call Vote:
107 Ayes: Sawatzky, Scafani, Napier, Lewis-Lusso, Bayles 108 Motion passed unanimously
109
110 11. FY 26-27 Budget Amendment and Organizational Chart Approval [Resolution 111 1267]
112 At the June 23, 2026, City Council meeting, Council approved the Fiscal Year 2026–27 113 Operating Budget, including the Position Allocation Table and Classification Pay Plan, which 114 allocated 3.5 FTEs to the Business and Finance Department. Following recent recruitment 115 efforts, staff recommended increasing the part-time Administrative Accounting Specialist 116 position from 19 to 32 hours per week to better support departmental workload and allow for 117 retention of a current employee, resulting in additional benefit eligibility and increased costs. 118 Staff also presented a revised Organizational Chart incorporating prior Council feedback for 119 approval. Additionally, staff recommended allowing the City Manager to accrue unused 120 holiday time as comp time on a one-to-one basis in accordance with the Personnel Policy. 121
122 Public Comment Received: Kent Sawatzky.
4 CITY OF BLUE LAKE
CALIFORNIA
111 Greenwood Road
P.O. Box 458
Blue Lake, CA 95525
(707) 668-5655
Fax: (707) 668-5916
www.bluelake.ca.gov
Blue Lake City Council Action Minutes
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 ~ 6:30pm ~ Special Council Meeting Skinner Store Building ~ 111 Greenwood Rd., Blue Lake ~ Behind City Hall 123 Motion by Councilmember Lewis-Lusso to Adopt Resolution 1267 “A Resolution of the City 124 Council of the City of Blue Lake Amending the Adopted Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2026- 125 2027”; and Approve the Organization Chart; and Affirm that the City Manager’s holiday hours 126 can be banked as comp-time for future use as needed as of date of hire. Second by Mayor 127 Pro Tem Scafani.
128
129 Roll Call Vote:
130 Ayes: Sawatzky, Scafani, Napier, Lewis-Lusso, Bayles 131 Motion passed unanimously
132
133 12. Memorandum of Agreement with County of Humboldt for Environmental Health 134 Services
135 The City received a letter from the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human 136 Services Division of Environmental Health on July 23, 2025, informing us that they were 137 terminating the historic contract with the City effective 12 months later. The County Board of 138 Supervisors approved a template Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for future contractual 139 relationships. This updated MOA strengthens DEH’s ability to enforce the California Health 140 and Safety Code of Regulations within our city limits. This updated MOA also provides 141 access to new DEH programs such as Tobacco Retail Licensing, Childhood Lead Pollution 142 Prevention Program, and the Edible Food Recovery Organization inspection program. 143
144 Public Comment Received: Kent Sawatzky and Julie Christie. 145
146 Motion by Councilmember Napier to authorize the City Manager to execute the Memorandum 147 of Agreement by and between the Conty of Humboldt and City of Blue Lake for environmental 148 Health Services. Second by Councilmember Lewis-Lusso. 149 Voice vote: Motion passed unanimously
150
151 13. Power Plant Update
152 On July 4, 2026, the fuel pile at the power plant caught fire. The Blue Lake Fire Department 153 responded. After many hours the successfully eliminated the fire, with additional efforts later 154 to put out small hot spots in the pile. Gary from GLJ brought an excavator to create holes in 155 the pile so that the fire department could extinguish the fire inside of the pile. The source 156 appears to be a firework that was set off in the middle of Taylor Way that went into the grass 157 adjacent to the property, catching the grass on fire and eventually the fuel pile itself. 158
159 Public Comment Received: Julie Christie.
160
161 14. Bike & Skate Park Update
162 Numerous volunteers met with the City to lay out the plan for drone survey maintenance at 163 the site. They have begun removal of the plastic, relocation of the sandbags, adjustment of 5 CITY OF BLUE LAKE
CALIFORNIA
111 Greenwood Road
P.O. Box 458
Blue Lake, CA 95525
(707) 668-5655
Fax: (707) 668-5916
www.bluelake.ca.gov
Blue Lake City Council Action Minutes
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 ~ 6:30pm ~ Special Council Meeting Skinner Store Building ~ 111 Greenwood Rd., Blue Lake ~ Behind City Hall 164 the fences, weed eating the grass to grade, and minor modifications to keep positive 165 drainage. I am working with Points West Surveying to obtain a proposal for a scope and fee 166 to complete the topographic drone survey and field collection of underground infrastructure 167 and centerline monuments.
168
169 Public Comment Received: Kent Sawatzky and Julie Christie. 170
171 Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani to authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a 172 contract with Points West for completion of the drone survey up to $4,500. Second by 173 Councilmember Bayles.
174 Voice vote: Motion passes 4:1 with Councilmember Napier dissenting. 175
176 15.Council Correspondence
177 16.City Manager Report
178 17.Future Agenda Items Requested by Council
179 City Manager and City Clerk Evaluation Process
180 Fiscal Policy
181
182 18.Closed Session Agenda:
183 a. Public Comment on Closed Session: Kent Sawatzky and Julie Chrisite. 184
185 Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Scafani to move into Closed Session. Second by 186 Councilmember Bayles.
187 Voice vote: Motion passed unanimously.
188
189 Council convened into Closed Session at 9:59 p.m. for the purpose of:
190 a. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-ANTICIPATED LITIGATION 191 Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (d) of 192 Section 54956.9: one case. Facts and circumstances involve claims by Danco 193 Communities that the City’s election to terminate the Development and Disposition 194 Agreement after notice and opportunity to cure is not permitted under the terms of the 195 parties’ agreement.
196 b. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-ANTICIPATED LITIGATION 197 Initiation of litigation pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9: one 198 case.
199 c. Report Out of Closed Session: Council adjourned closed session at 11:08 p.m. No 200 reportable action was taken.
201
202 Adjourned at 11:08 p.m.
203
6 CITY OF BLUE LAKE
CALIFORNIA
111 Greenwood Road
P.O. Box 458
Blue Lake, CA 95525
(707) 668-5655
Fax: (707) 668-5916
www.bluelake.ca.gov
Blue Lake City Council Action Minutes
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 ~ 6:30pm ~ Special Council Meeting Skinner Store Building ~ 111 Greenwood Rd., Blue Lake ~ Behind City Hall 204 Prepared by: Samantha, City Clerk