mayor hal cole

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City Council will be voting to hire Frank Rush as the new South Lake Tahoe City Manager during their Tuesday, October 16 meeting.

Rush, 49, who has been Emerald Isle, N.C. town manager since 2001, was one of five candidate finalists interviewed for the job after the City Council hired a recruiting firm on April 17, 2018. Dirk Brazil, the interim SLT city manager, said the process has been a fair one with extensive work between the City's human resources department and the recruiter. Rush was a unanimous choice by the City Council.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - "We've been waiting to be in South Lake Tahoe for a long time," said R. Adam Smith, Executive Director of Store Development for Whole Foods in Northern California. "Couldn't be more thrilled than to be here today."

Smith took part in Monday's groundbreaking at the new Bijou Marketplace along with the Jim Halferty and Chris Peto of Halferty Development Ground, the owners of the property along Highway 50 and the corner of Ski Run Boulevard, and local officials.

You've spent your life savings on the dream, to buy a home in South Lake Tahoe. Better yet, you've found the perfect property where you can find a way to live in Tahoe and own a home that brings in some income.

There are current 56 different parcels in the City limits that are multi-family units that are also licensed vacation rentals and the City of South Lake Tahoe wants to prevent them from being rented, thus stopping the home owners from earning the needed income to keep their home.

I'm proud to be an American,
Where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
Who gave that right to me.
And I'd gladly stand up next to you,
And defend Her still today.
'Cause there ain't no doubt,
I love this land, God Bless the U.S.A.

While the community is still in shock over the death of South Lake Tahoe Police Officer Mark Hounsell, his wife Jeanne and a family friend, a fundraising campaign has started to help their children as they move forward in life without a parent.

All four of Mark's children were in the 2004 Chevy Suburban on October 17, 2015 with Mark and Jeanne when, for unknown reasons, the vehicle left the roadway and crashed, killing all three adults inside.

During a special meeting of the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Monday, October 19, JoAnn Conner was publicly censured, a first of its kind for the City. An overflowing crowd spent over three hours in Council Chambers as comments were made both supporting Conner, and against what they said was "abusive, bullying and intolerant behavior."

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.

For an estimated 20 days a year, homeless people would have access to a "warm room" where they can seek refuge when temperatures drop below freezing and conditions are deemed unsafe.

The Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless (TCH) asked the South Lake Tahoe City Council today for access to the recreation center between the hours of 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. on nights when there is a forecast of extreme temperatures. Wanting to keep the homeless population on the South Shore safe, TCH asked for permission to house approximately 20 men and women on a temporary basis.

A new vacation home rental (VHR) ordinance will take effect in South Lake Tahoe on October 1, 2015.

The new ordinance will require all homeowners who want to rent out their homes to get it inspected by the Zoning Administrator prior to being issued a license. Since the real estate community told City Council that not having a permit prior to escrow may cause homeowners to lose sales, the current homeowner may now get it inspected prior to the sale in order to take as much uncertainty away from sales as possible. This inspection will be valid for one year.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Chief Jeff Meston made a presentation Tuesday, asking for an alteration to the Cal Tahoe JPA agreement for City provided ambulance services.

Meston wants the City to remain a part of the JPA, but hand over ambulance duties to Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD).

"Keep us humble of heart, unselfish in purpose," were some of the words spoken by Chaplain Curt Emrie at the South Lake Tahoe Memorial Day ceremony held Monday at Happy Homestead Cemetery.

About 100 people gathered to honor those who not only gave the ultimate sacrifice in the country's wars, but for those who served in the Armed Forces.

550 flags had been placed on the grave sites of veterans, placed there by members of the South Lake Tahoe American Legion Post and the SLT Moose Lodge.

During Monday's ceremony there were speakers, music and shared memories.

You will soon be seeing this state of the art, high tech van traveling through the streets of South Lake Tahoe. Equiped with lasers, GPS, digital measuring tools and cameras, the van will be able to record the conditions of the city's infrastructure, thus allowing the gathered data to be evaluated to priorizie all maintenance.

Nationally it is estimated that there are $2 trillion of backlog mainenance to roads and other items in the infrastruce of cities and counties. Locally the number is estimated at $26 million.

Boulder, Colorado has one. Portland, Oregon has one. Even Roseville and Truckee, California have one. If plans go as they appeared to during a presentation at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, South Lake Tahoe will soon have one.

What is it?

"It" is a combination BMX track and mountain bike skills park which will be located at the city owned Bijou Park.

Bijou Bike Park Association (BBPA) and Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association (TAMBA) President Ben Fish laid out the proposed plan to the Council and community.

For his "State of the City" address, South Lake Tahoe Mayor Hal Cole took everyone on a trip through the city, celebrating the successes of the last year and creating an anticipation for a future seen with new investments, an improved economy, more businesses and a community that will continue to thrive.

Mayor Hal Cole will deliver the 2014 State of the City Address during Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The agenda for the 9 a.m. meeting at the Council Chambers located at the airport also includes the graduation of the Citizen's Academy, the presentation of an audit that shows paid parking was profitable and a vacation rental home presentation.

If unable to attend the meeting in person one can view it on line,

There has been a lot of anger and disappointment among the ranks of employees in the City of South Lake Tahoe over the last few years as they went through budget cuts, staff cuts, benefit cuts and a lack of raises.

"Our City Council is in a unique position," said Mayor Cole. "We understand the disappointment of our employees."

Parking rates for Heavenly Village retailers wishing to validate customer's tickets were lowered from $1.50 per hour to $1 per hour in Tuesday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting. The movie theater validations were lowered from four hours to three hours as well.

After lengthy debate during Tuesday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting, a 3-2 vote changed the direction of the second phase of the plastic bag ban.

In January, 2014, a ban on single use bags was implemented for all grocery stores and food vendors in the city limits. That portion of the ban has not changed. What has changed is the second phase which was going to expand the ban to retail stores starting on October 15, 2014.

It's long been joked that South Lake Tahoe has two seasons: winter and road construction.

Get ready for the latter as it's time to begin the South Lake Tahoe projects.

At Tuesday's City Council meeting, Jim Marino, the City's Assistant Public Works Director, outlined all 13 different projects happening within city limits this year.

On the photos in this story you'll their locations, and which ones are deemed to create the heaviest traffic as a result of closing intersections or reducing travel to one lane.

The Lake Tahoe Humane Society and SPCA thanks South Lake Tahoe for the great turn out at their open house and ribbon cutting on February 25, 2014 in honor of “World Spay Day”. TahoeChamber was present to officiate the ribbon cutting and Mayor Hal Cole cut the ribbon. It was a great turn out and a good start in the Lake Tahoe Humane Society’s mission to let the community learn about all their fantastic services, such as spay and neuter vouchers, emergency pet medical care assistance and an emergency pet food bank.

Golden Bear Events would like to thank the community of South Lake Tahoe for the success of the Inaugural Community Wide 4th of July Parade and Celebration. Parade participants and vendors came from primarily Meyers, Stateline, and South Lake Tahoe. Several new businesses, like The Oven, the Yum Truck, and Lake Tahoe Custom Cycles were happy to be a part of something as new as they.

Publisher's note: After the annual Memorial Day ceremony in South Lake Tahoe this year, Mayor Hal Cole was criticized by members of the public for not attending. When Lake Tahoe News learned he sp...

To the community,. I watched and listened to Mayor Hal Cole's state of the city speech. There are two parts to any speech, substance and tone. On substance ...www.laketahoenews.net/.../opinion-den...

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will pull an all-day meeting Tuesday, Oct. 18.
The regular meeting begins at 9 a.m. with the “State of the City” address by Mayor Hal Cole. Because this is still a regular meeting, there will be other consent agenda items and business to attend to.