who determines our County’s future?

The financial impact of the economic downturn has affected local government at all levels. Because of this, the agencies are not always delivering service at the same levels as they were when the last Municipal Service Review (MSR) was done.

The most recent Municipal Service Reviews are five years old and the information is often out-of-date. Given that this is a primary tool used in evaluating a political jurisdiction’s ability to provide quality community service, there may be reason for concern.

LAFCo’s administrative structure, requiring inclusive public and private representation and autonomous funding mechanisms, along with developer fees, creates effective insulation against outside influence in its decision- making roles.

LAFCo is not a well-known government entity and would benefit by making its functions better known. The current website is incomplete and contains dated materials. It would be beneficial to both LAFCo and the public if the web site was updated to contain LAFCo’s policies on specific issues such as fire protection, property tax loss and city islands. This would facilitate a more consistent, even handed, approach to these issues. 24

The LAFCo board seeks to cover a broad spectrum of political interest, and has one troubling irregularity. The two commissioners representing the “special districts” component come from Valley of the Moon Water District and Valley of the Moon Fire District. These district boundaries overlap and provide representation to only a very small area of the county RECOMMENDATIONS R1. The Grand Jury recommends that LAFCo initiate the necessary MSR update to reflect changes brought about by the economic downturn and its effects on public agency budgets. R2. The Grand Jury recommends LAFCo update and keeps its web site current on all issues, which should include additional information about what it does and how it functions. R3. LAFCo’s policies on such things as property tax revenue loss and fire district mergers should be clearly spelled out so that all parties to the LAFCo action(s) will be well-informed and can see they are being treated equally. We recommend LAFCo policies be written and made readily accessible on the web site. R4. In the future, LAFCo should appoint special district members that represent larger and more diverse areas of the county. REQUIRED RESPONSES n R1, R2 R3 & R4 Sonoma County Local Agency Formation Commission LAFCo should be aware that its comment or response should be conducted subject to the notice, agenda and open meeting requirements of the Brown Act. BIBLIOGRAPHY Interviews conducted: LAFCo Staff LAFCo Commissioners Rohnert Park City Officials Rancho Adobe Fire District Representative Rincon Valley Fire District Representative Previous LAFCo staff member Documents Reviewed: Government Code sections 56000-56001 and 56375-56388, Fire and Police Protection portion of the EIR for the Northeast Specific Plan annexation, Portions of the current LAFCo Municipal Service Review that addressed Rohnert Park Public Safety Department and the Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District, LAFCo fee schedule, LAFCo Executive Officer job description, LAFCo staff report May 5, 2010, Item 4 concerning unincorporated islands, The MOU between LAFCo and County of Sonoma for professional and support staff, office space, equipment, supplies and legal services. Internet Sites Referenced: CALAFCo, Marin LAFCo, Inyo LAFCo, Sonoma LAFCo, leginfo.ca.gov, “About Us” from the Sonoma County LAFCo web site 25