Council Meeting

During the City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 21, the following items will be addressed and possibly voted on:

The approval of $627,371 to be spend on the lobby of the SLT Airport to make improvements for both appearance and aging electrical and lighting. A Verdi, Nev., company submitted the bid to add a gas fireplace, log and iron accents, stone facade, new windows, walls and ADA complaince.

Approve measures to add two new tax measures to the November ballot, one to increase Tourist Occupancy Tax (TOT) by 2 percent and the other to increase sales tax by 1/2 percent.

Graduates of the Spring South Lake Tahoe Citizens Academy were honored during Tuesday's City Council meeting on June 7.

The graduates are: Kevin Brown, Dan Gill, Patrick Jarrett, LeeAnn Jarrett, Kirsten Jensen, Natalie Lehman, Michelle Lloyd, Eanad Lott, Devin Middlebrook, Kae Reed, Nicole Stimac, Jarred Uppendahl, and Kirk Wooldridge.

Dear City Council,

Most people don't like taxes, or having any new ones, but South Lake Tahoe voters will have the choice in November to vote on two ballot measure that would bring about two tax rate hikes, one that only tourists will pay, and another that will be paid for by both locals and tourists.

If passed, the ballot measures will accomplish two things: replace the recreation complex and repair the City's roads and/or replace the aging fleet.

In just over one hour, the South Lake Tahoe City Council finished up all of their business for the day, but not all that was on the agenda.

City Council members Hal Cole and Tom Davis were both missing from the May 3 meeting, Davis due to a planned County Supervisor luncheon and Cole due to illness.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will have item on their agenda May 3 that will not only affect local residents, but tourists as well. They are contemplating some tax initiatives that could appear on the November ballot, initiatives needed to pay for much needed city improvements including roads, facilities, replacing an aging fleet, a remodel of the recreation and swim complex and more.

To televise or not televise, that was the question in front of the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Tuesday, April 19. While live streaming of the Council meetings is not required by law, it is something the City has done on both the internet and television since May, 2007.

The agenda item was added after discussion arose during the April 5 meeting when Mayor Wendy David asked that they stop televising the public comment portion of the meetings. Her comment caught many by surprise, even by some of her Council members.

During Tuesday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting, the Council gave direction to the City Attorney to create a policy on how non-agenda item public comments are televised.

While the public is always invited to speak during the public comment period, the Council will look at not televising the portions that aren't about agenda items. They will also look at continuing to televise those comments made by non-profits and other groups to publicize their activities and events.

The South Lake Tahoe Fire Code has changed, much to the appreciation of both homeowners and contractors who had to deal with different codes, depending on the location of the home, City or in the County.

The council voted to remove restrictions on the fire sprinkler code (Chapter 5.20) to be more in line with Lake Valley Fire District. The City's stricter code confused contractors who build houses in the city, and in the county, and it was also found to be cost prohibitive for homeowners wishing to remodel.

The Knights Inn could be purchased by the City of South Lake Tahoe for $6 million should a grant be awarded them by the California Tahoe Conservancy. If that happens, the City would purchase, and then demolish, the motel located on Highway 50 near Ski Run Boulevard to make way for a new environmental and retail project.

There is grant money available through the CTC which the City will apply for. The funds come from the state's Proposition 1 Water Bond which was approved by voters in 2014 to authorize $7.545 billion in general obligation bonds for water projects.

We've all seen them, or driven through them. They are a sure sign of winter, filling with water at every storm. They are small, they are large, and in some states they joke they are big enough they can swallow a small car.

What are they? Potholes.

In a move that will save the city money as well as increase staffing, South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue added 12 new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) specialists to their staff on December 14.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue is now the only fire department in the Tahoe basin to have three firefighters on each engine at all times and two EMS specialists in the ambulance.

It was a changing of the guard during Monday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting. Wendy David moved from her position of mayor pro tem to mayor, and Austin Sass took over the second-in-command duties.

Councilmember Tom Davis, who has served as both mayor and mayor pro tem, was also interested in a fifth term in the pro tem spot but the nod went to Sass.

Hal Cole's term as mayor during the City of South Lake Tahoe's 50th anniversary is coming to a close. During the next City Council meeting on Monday, December 7, the next mayor and mayor pro-tem will be elected. All current council members are eligible though first term Councilwoman Wendy David is the current mayor pro-tem.

Normally held on Tuesdays, the Council meeting was moved to Monday so Tom Davis could attend his daughter-in-law's graduation from nursing school in Tennessee. The meeting starts at 9:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers at the airport.

The fourth session of the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department’s South Tahoe Action Team (STAT) graduated during today’s City Council meeting.

Tuesday's agenda for the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting appears to be a fairly short one.

Council members will start off with a recognition of the recent graduates of the South Tahoe Action Team (STAT) program.

There's an old joke about the seasons in Lake Tahoe: There are two seasons in Lake Tahoe. Winter, and Road Construction.

While the "winter" comment may not be as it once was, there is no question about "road construction" as it now goes from May through October.

Part of living in the mountains is sharing our best weather months with construction workers, road controls and traffic cones. Residents get that. But what drivers went through during the 2015 construction on highways 50 and 89 was not only inexcusable, it was preventable.

During the September 15 South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting, a man who identified himself as Ross Tisanrich approached the speaker's podium during the public comment period. He said he was a local wildland firefighter and wanted to bring the use of pesticides to a halt. He told the council he would drink the chemical weed killer Round-Up if they wouldn't commit to ending the use of pesticides that get into Lake Tahoe.

As part of the City of South Lake Tahoe's 50th anniversary celebration they held a recent history hunt, and all participants finding getting all 15 answers correct were honored with a prize during Tuesday's City Council meeting. The questions led people on a tour of South Lake Tahoe, looking for clues in city owned locations.

The participants turning in perfect scores:

The Beadoin Family
Cynthia, Helen and Tom Burkart
Dana and Gauge Patterson
Jim, Justin and Tracy Ruger
Joe and Aurora Spear
Margaret Vestal
Sean Watson
Tina Brown

They win a special commemorative T-Shirt.

Residents go to the City for a number of requests, and in order to make sure procedures are followed on those requests, new policies were created Tuesday during the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting.

A Champions Plaza Recognition Policy was created in order to know how to handle the expected requests for names to be placed at the new venue at the corner of Highway 50 and Lakeview Avenue. The sculpture was selected earlier this summer.

As people move into bear country the bears learn that people has tasty food, even if its not exactly what they should be eating. They also learn that people leave this tasty food out where they can easily find it, in trash cans in front of homes and in big dumpsters at restaurants, motels and timeshares.

The year was 1946. The President was Harry S. Truman, "It's a Wonderful Life" was in the theaters and a stamp cost three cents. It was also the year the Tahoe Trout Farm opened in South Lake Tahoe.

This business, located off of Lake Tahoe Blvd on Blue Lake Avenue, was the topic of the South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission's meeting on August 13.

In an effort to "Clean Up Highway 50," the City's sign ordinance is meant to get rid of the blight and unattractive signage that visitors and locals see each day they travel the main artery through town.

SnowGlobe will be able to have amplified music go later this winter in order to stagger the times concert goers leave the venue. With 15,000 people leaving at the same time, concert promoters said this would allow them to more adequately and safely accommodate the people leaving and not create long lines at the buses.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting, the council voted unanimously to allow the concert promoters to have amplified music in the tents only until 11:30 p.m. on December 29 and 30 and until 1:00 a.m. on December 31.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will be discussing changes to the Vacation Home Rental Ordinance on Tuesday that, if passed, will bring about changes to the permit review process, add criteria to be considered when a new permit is issued, and the addition of an annual renewal review.

There have been several packed council and community meetings on the topic of the proposed updated to the Vacation Home Rental (VHR) ordinance, and Tuesday's meeting should be no different.