Clear Lake council adopts ordinance moving authority on fire mitigation fees to future resolution

The Clear Lake City Council on April 4 adopted Ordinance 269-2024, amending municipal code section 3-5.8 so the city will set the rate for the fire mitigation fee by council resolution rather than by ordinance. Council Member Kramer made the motion, Council Member Purdock seconded it, and the ordinance passed by unanimous vote.

Council staff said the change is procedural: it does not itself raise fees. Manager Flora told the council that staff recommends adopting the ordinance now to update code language but delaying any decision on fee amounts until a countywide meeting of agencies — an approach he said would give the city time to coordinate with the fire district and other jurisdictions before any resolution on rates is drafted.

The Lake County Fire chief urged the council to consider regional insurance and risk factors when weighing fee policy. "State Farm has dropped 72,000 policies this year," the chief said during public comment, framing limited insurer capacity and high fire-severity zones as constraints on housing and construction. Consultant Semenov, joining by Zoom, estimated that the proposed fee increase would generate about $1.5 million over 18 years — "roughly about 1 and a half million dollars," he said — an amount he characterized as modest relative to capital needs such as an aerial ladder truck.

Council members asked staff for a timeline and said they expect coordination to move quickly; Manager Flora said county-led workshops were expected in April and that staff anticipates the matter could be resolved before the end of the fiscal year depending on discussions. The ordinance adoption leaves the rate-setting mechanism with the council and sets a path for a future resolution to propose or change fee amounts.

The ordinance adopted on second reading was described in the motion as: "An ordinance amending section 3-5.8 of chapter 3, the Clear Lake Municipal Code, establishing the rate for the fire mitigation fee by city council resolution." The motion passed unanimously.