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| 11/5/2009 10:37:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Confused by CAGs?
Two types of CAGs appear in this story.
The first is a county-appointed group called the Citizens Advisory Group. This group was appointed to advise the county commissioners on EPA-related issues.
The Community Advisory Group is the other. It would be set up according to EPA guidelines to advise the EPA on community concerns for Superfund sites.
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Non-appointed CAG demanded
Ann E. Wibbenmeyer
Herald Staff Writer
Members of the Citizens' Advisory Group, appointed by the Lake County commissioners to advise the county on Superfund issues, were vocal in their demand for a non-appointed board for an as-yet-unformed Community Advisory Group during another formation meeting on Oct. 27.
The guidelines for forming the latter group were given to Mayor Bud Elliott and Commissioner Mike Bordogna by Jennifer Lane, community involvement coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Bordogna and Elliott wanted to make sure that the community had a say in pending decisions about the California Gulch Superfund Site. A Community Advisory Group, or CAG, is the EPA's structure for ensuring community participation in EPA decisions, according to Lane.
The first formation meeting was held in August, with renewed community interest in the issues. The group agreed to hire a facilitator to help structure the process of creating the group that would advise the EPA of the Lake County input on Superfund issues.
At the Oct. 27 meeting, with about 40 people in attendance, the people from the county-appointed group argued that anyone who showed up to any future meeting should be able to vote on the decisions, as opposed to just having certain people appointed to the committee.
According to Bill Klauber, who is with the county-appointed group, this is the only way to ensure that every voice is heard. If a person doesn't have a vote at the table, then that person's voice is not being heard, he said.
The focus of the facilitator, based on the direction of Elliott and Bordogna, was to invite members representing the various interests in the community to sit on the CAG. Some examples of these interests from the list of about 19 sectors in the community are the business community, education, the Hispanic community and senior citizens.
The meetings would always be well-publicized and open to anyone who wants to attend, said facilitator Sarah Walen. However, just the specified members, each representing the input of a community sector, would vote on the decision being made.
Having a specified board is an exclusive process, according to Carol Hill and Robin Littlepage. Although both were appointed to the current Citizens' Advisory Group, they encouraged a different process for the Community Advisory Group.
Elliott accused this commissioner-appointed group of being exclusive by holding secret meetings.
Brad Littlepage, of the commissioner-appointed group, insisted that the meetings this group held in the past always had an open door.
Few provided input beside the commissioner-appointed board and the elected officials at the Oct. 27 meeting.
For this reason, said Bordogna, he did not want to make a decision that night, but wanted to allow others to voice their concerns in a more comfortable venue.
After the meeting, Elliott did hear other concerns. He told the Herald that two people who were previously very interested in getting involved went out of their way to tell him that they didn't want anything to do with it after that night.
One, said Elliott, was concerned about harming the relationships he already has in the community and the other was turned off by the conflict and hate.
Bordogna also got feedback from those attending the meeting. The e-mails he received indicated that the representative structure was the better model to follow. However, they said they did not want to get involved and "suffer public retribution."
He said the direction he is now leaning is to not form the group.
Boxed item:
There are two types of CAGs talked about in this story.
The first is a county-appointed group called the Citizens Advisory Group. This group was appointed to advise the county commissioners on EPA-related issues.
The Community Advisory Group is the other. It would be set up according to EPA guidelines to advise the EPA on community concerns for Superfund sites.
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