Editor, Ceres Courier,
What is LAFCO? It’s a commission with the unusual name, Local Agency Formation Commission – LAFCO. It was authorized by the California State Legislature in 1963. All 58 counties in California have a LAFCO.
LAFCO is the most important agency in the county. Period. Why? Because only LAFCO can authorize when and where cities can expand “grow” their borders.
Stanislaus LAFCO (www.stanislauslafco.org) has three main goals:
1. Encourage the orderly formation of local governmental agencies;
2. Preserve agricultural land resource;
3. Discourage urban sprawl.
The makeup of the commission: two county members (supervisors), two city members (mayors and/or councilmembers) and one public member. Each commissioner has an alternate who votes if the member is absent.
Every LAFCO in California’s 58 counties has one unique charge. In addition to the four elected officials that serve, LAFCOs include a public member to ensure citizen representation and a broader perspective in their decision-making, especially regarding boundary changes and local government organization. This public member serves as a voice for the general community.
On April 23, 2025, Stanislaus LAFCO elected a public member and alternate public member for four-year terms on the commission. Twelve residents applied. Eleven applicants were public, having never held the position of an elected official in Stanislaus County. One applicant was a former elected official and LAFCO member. The candidates introduced themselves and addressed the LAFCO members prior to the vote for the public member.
A nomination was made, emphasizing the nominee’s experience on Stanislaus LAFCO and the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. The motion was seconded, highlighting the nominee’s service on LAFCO and knowledge of land use issues. With three votes, the motion passed. A former elected official and LAFCO member was seated as the public member.
The selection of a former elected official, and former LAFCO member, completely ignores the purpose of seating a public member – engaging and educating “the public” about land use issues that serves the broader community. For LAFCO members to stress the need for the public member to be knowledgeable about land use issues is disingenuous. Very few elected officials come onto LAFCO with a background in land use. Few LAFCO members served on a planning commission.
How do members become knowledgeable about land use? The Stanislaus LAFCO staff informs and educates the commissioners at meetings and through communications. How do new members learn about issues such as SOI (Sphere Of Influence), MSR (Municipal Service Review), Housing Numbers, CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), etc.? They attend LAFCO meetings – they listen, they learn.
Holding one LAFCO position for the public is to engage the broader community by way of a public voice. It’s to give the four elected members a broader perspective in their decision-making. Selecting a former county supervisor and LAFCO member as the Public Member denied the broader community of a voice as well as the opportunity to learn about boundary changes and local government organization.
When was the last time the public member wasn’t a former elected official?
Matt Beekman, Jeani Ferrari, Garrad Marsh,
Farmland Working Group Advocacy Committee
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