LAFCO needs two committed community members

Dear Members, The Monterey County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is one of the most important governmental bodies in the County. LAFCO has the final say on all annexations to cities and districts, and thus is a powerful growth regulator. The Commission makes decisions about local government boundaries and spheres of influence of the cities and districts in Monterey County. LAFCO’s legislative purposes are to encourage the orderly growth of cities and districts; protect agricultural lands and open space; discourage urban sprawl, and ensure the efficient delivery of local government services. The LAFCO board consists of eleven members:

• Two representatives of the county’s cities (plus one alternate), chosen by the Mayors’ Selection Committee;

• Two members of the Board of Supervisors (plus one alternate) appointed by the chair of the Board of Supervisors;

• Two representatives of independent special districts (plus one alternate) chosen by the Special Districts Selection Committee; and

• One member from the public (plus one alternate) chosen by one commissioner from each of the other three groups.

Each commissioner is appointed for a four-year term ending the first Monday in May. The commission meets once a month, on the fourth Monday of each month, at 4:00 p.m. The positions of the public member and the public member alternate will be vacant at the end of their terms in May of 2018, and LAFCO is seeking nominations for those two positions. There are no specific qualifications for the public members. Salinas Valley cities are actively engaged in adopting and implementing new general plans and spheres of influence. LAFCO will play a critical role in the ability of the cities to implement these plans and realize their future goals. The public members are often the “swing” between conflicting factions on the Commission, and thus play an important role in the Commission’s decisions. Brian Finegan, Board Member Salinas Valley Leadership Group