LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Thursday evening the Clearlake City Council approved a new school resource officer contract with the Konocti Unified School District for the coming school year.
The district has reported that enrollment is growing across its nine schools in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks and Lower Lake, and the agreement with the Clearlake Police Department is meant to increase safety through having a full-time police officer dedicated to the district.
Police Chief Tim Hobbs said this is the latest contract with the district and covers the 2024-25 school year.
There had been a school resource officer in place until October 2020, when the longtime assigned officer retired. The school resource officer arrangement was put back in place beginning in 2023, Hobbs said.
Hobbs said nothing in the new memorandum of understanding changes except for price increases for the school district.
Konocti Unified will pay $160,992.62 to fund the cost of the full-time school resource officer, which includes salary, benefits, overtime, training and vehicle usage costs. Hobbs said that cost increased by about $14,300 since last year due to a cost of living adjustment required with the police bargaining unit and an increase in the vehicle lease cost and additional fuel cost.
He said there is provision in the agreement to add additional officers with reimbursement.
In response to a question from Mayor David Claffey’s question about how much time the officer spends at which schools, Hobbs said that prior to last year, the office was mostly at Lower Lake High School and Lower Lake Elementary School, with the rest of the time spent at the other schools.
Last year, with the new Obsidian Middle School being open, he said the officer spent the majority of the time at that location, followed by the high school and the elementary school.
Councilman Russ Cremer moved to approve the memorandum of understanding with Konocti Unified, with Councilwoman Joyce Overton seconding and the council voting unanimously in support.
In other business, the council voted to support a mitigation fee program on behalf of the Lake County Fire Protection District; approved updates to the city’s management classification and benefits plan and city salary schedule, including a 3% cost of living adjustment to management; and approved the first reading of Ordinance No. 270-2024, which amends Section 2-3.7 of the Clearlake Municipal Code to authorize the city manager to sign documents as specified in Government Code Section 40602, with a second reading scheduled for the next meeting.
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Clearlake City Council approves updated school resource officer contract
- Elizabeth Larson
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