[PM News Update]
Here in California, you don’t often find an institution that’s over 100 years old. But in Ukiah, we actually have one. And this weekend, it will celebrate its 150 year anniversary. It’s First Presbyterian Church in downtown Ukiah. Their two days of festivities begin Saturday with former members, youth directors, pastors and friends of the church’s ministries. They will all gather for a dinner and a silent auction. There’s also a special slide show planned that will feature highlights of the church’s history. The public can attend on Sunday, starting with the 10am worship service followed by an old-fashioned potluck. The theme for the event is “Don’t Stop Believin’ – The Journey Continues”. The First Presbyterian Church of Ukiah was established in 1874 and has had 38 pastors over their 150 years.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors this week. They’ll be examining the Health Services director’s plans for the coming fiscal year and will also have discussions about the recruitment for four department head jobs. That meeting starts at 9am tomorrow morning in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport. You can watch the meeting live on Channel 8, online at the Lake County website or on the county’s Facebook page. The board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link. You can also watch the Zoom meeting. To participate in real-time, join the Zoom meeting. The meeting ID is 865 3354 4962, pass code 726865. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at 16694449171,,86533544962#,,,*726865#. The meeting can also be accessed via phone at 669 900 6833.
Reports are out from the Lake County Association of Realtors and they show that home sales have gone up, even though home prices have softened this last year. In March of this year, a total of 69 single family homes were sold through the multiple listing service, compared to 55 in February and 82 sold a year ago during the month of March 2023. Less than six months of inventory is generally considered to be a “sellers’ market” while more than six months of inventory is often called a “buyers’ market.” The median sale price of a single-family home in Lake County in March was $300,000, which is higher than the $275,000 median sale price for February but lower than the median sale price a year ago of $324,500 during March 2023. The median asking price of homes on the market right now is $397,000.
In Kelseyville, there has been a project underway for over a year. The project has been to build a historically accurate working blacksmith shop. Now, there will be a grand opening for the shop and it’s this weekend. The Lake County Historical Society will hold its annual member’s picnic in the oak grove at the ElyStage Stop and Country Museum beginning at noon this Sunday. The picnic will feature the opening of the museum’s blacksmith shop with demonstrations. Volunteers began the building in 2018 and is the project of six years of hundreds of hours of hard work by volunteers and lots of donations of money and materials. The blacksmith shop is located at the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum is located on Soda Bay Road, just off Highway 29 between Kit’s Corner and the Riviera Market.
The Lake County Division 35 of the California Retired Teachers Association will have their quarterly meeting tomorrow. The luncheon meeting will be held at the Riviera Hills Restaurant located on Fairway Drive in Kelseyville.
Registration and social time will begin at 9:45 a.m. The business meeting will be called to order at 10 a.m. by President Fletcher. If you are a current member, you are encouraged to bring a potential new member. Members delivering cookies to each of the Lake County Schools in recognition of the Day of the Teacher will pick up at the meeting. Lunch will be served at noon.
With fires, earthquakes, flooding and more here in California, we all need homeowner’s insurance to protect our property. As insurance companies determine to leave our state, it can get tougher to find companies to provide coverage for you. Now, a Los Angeles based insurance company is working with a Texas-based company to write new policies for those of us here in the Golden State. Mercury Insurance announced that they will now pick up some of those policies that are underwritten by Tokio Marine America of Houston, who is moving out of the home insurance market and moving to business policies. State Farm, of course, is California’s largest insurer, but they have announced they will NOT be renewing 72,000 policies here in our state. Allstate and USAA are also not renewing a lot of policies here.
