Sometimes it is the quiet ones you have to worry about. In San Diego, as in all other counties, they have a Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFC). It controls the boundaries of cities and agencies.
“LAFCOs operate as agents of the California Legislature. They can do what the legislature itself can do: bring new cities and special districts into (or out of) existence, and control how, when and where public services go. They periodically assess how cities and special districts operate and recommend how to make them more efficient. That’s typically led to small changes for years. Rarely, though, did San Diego’s LAFCO seek to wage their own war. That’s changed.
Now San Diego’s LAFCO is beginning to assert dominance over local political powerhouses it’s never challenged before, like the San Diego Association of Governments. And now, the Port of San Diego which manages, as the port describes it, a $9.2 billion maritime industry.
This is being used to change power—not to make government more efficient or less corrupt. Oh, this is an unelected body—appointees who you do not know and who can change your community without a vote of the people. That makes it dangerous.
This Once-Quiet Agency is Less Quietly Building An Empire in San Diego
San Diego’s Local Agency Formation Commission is a mouthful but has serious power when it comes to breaking up or breaking down government institutions like the Port of San Diego.
by MacKenzie Elmer, Voice of San Diego, 6/17/24 https://voiceofsandiego.org/2024/06/17/this-once-quiet-agency-is-less-quietly-building-an-empire-in-san-diego/
A once low-profile political organization the California legislature set up to rein in sprawling suburbs and settle border disputes is picking new fights in San Diego.
Its critics accuse the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, of empire building. Its champions say LAFCO is a welcome new referee in long-standing conflicts with unbudging bullies.
Typically, LAFCOs settle disputes that are brought to them. For instance, water districts that want to leave San Diego boundaries for cheaper water elsewhere go to LAFCO to do so. Or, if the neighborhood of La Jolla wanted to cede from San Diego (they do) and become its own city, La Jolla needs LAFCO’s blessing.
LAFCOs operate as agents of the California Legislature. They can do what the legislature itself can do: bring new cities and special districts into (or out of) existence, and control how, when and where public services go. They periodically assess how cities and special districts operate and recommend how to make them more efficient. That’s typically led to small changes for years. Rarely, though, did San Diego’s LAFCO seek to wage their own war. That’s changed.
Now San Diego’s LAFCO is beginning to assert dominance over local political powerhouses it’s never challenged before, like the San Diego Association of Governments. And now, the Port of San Diego which manages, as the port describes it, a $9.2 billion maritime industry.
The ambitious vision for the agency nobody ever heard of appears to be coming from one man: Keene Simonds, San Diego LAFCO’s leader and executive officer. And Simonds wants to clean up houses that aren’t in order.
“LAFCO has a tremendous amount of power,” Simonds said. “If LAFCO concluded an agency was no longer operating appropriately, orderly or accountable, we could initiate our own proposal to dissolve or break up that agency.”
The Port of San Diego’s had a lot of negative press lately.
In June, a grand jury determined that the port rules San Diego’s bayfront relatively unchecked. By July, the port had placed its CEO on administrative leave for unknown reasons, as Axios reported, swiftly followed by the censuring and ultimate removal of its appointed leader representing National City, Sandy Naranjo in October.
National City Councilman Marcus Bush, a Naranjo supporter, started calling for LAFCO to investigate the port. That city, one of the five that has a bayfront in the port’s jurisdiction, has for years been sparring with the port. Bush is frustrated with what he characterized as the port’s dependence on National City police and fire to respond to the shipyards operating on port-leased land.
National City should be fairly compensated for this, Bush says.
“It’s all about National City getting its fair share,” Bush said, whose resume includes work on a LAFCO in Imperial County before his time in National City.
By that time, the eye of LAFCO had already fixed itself on the port. And in March, LAFCO’s governing commission voted unanimously to declare the port subject to LAFCO’s oversight, which means it would be subject to internal investigations, and perhaps structural changes, from LAFCO.
Thanks, but no thanks, the port said.
Randa Coniglio, the port’s acting CEO, showed up at that meeting’s public comment asking, why now? The port already answers to the State Lands Commission, which disputed LAFCO’s authority in a series of letters. (That’s another government agency that manages 4 million acres of state tide and submerged lands, what the port then manages locally for the San Diego region.)
“(This) will put the port in the precarious position of having to serve two masters,” Coniglio said.
The LAFCO commission was unconvinced.
Stephen Whitburn, LAFCO’s chair and a San Diego City Council member, responded saying the city of San Diego must answer to all kinds of regulators – both local and state. So why can’t the port have more than one master? He called LAFCO’s action a “valuable and supportive role” to the duties of the port.
Republican Jim Desmond, the former LAFCO chair and a San Diego County supervisor, was a bit more blunt.
“This is not a witch hunt. We’re not after you to throw you behind bars,” Desmond said. “This is a mutual understanding on how we can work together better.”
Regardless, it’s clear the port is taking this seriously.
Each side has hired outside lawyers. Board members are no longer speaking publicly on the matter, except to distance the port from the issue.
“This is not between LAFCO and the port of San Diego. This is between LAFCO and the State Lands Commission,” said Frank Urtasun, the port board’s chair representing the city of Coronado.
The port is also staring down opposition in the state Legislature. San Diego Assemblymember David Alvarez, a Democrat, proposed a bill called the Port of San Diego Reform and Accountability Act to establish an ethics board and change how the port spends its budget. Recently, LAFCO and the port have agreed not to sue each other until September, a quickly withering olive branch for two sides that seem hellbent on standing their ground.
Earlier this month I sat down with Simonds at San Diego LAFCO’s headquarters in Fifth Avenue’s Manchester Financial building. Simonds answered the door in horn-rimmed glasses and a lavender sweater. The San Franciscan’s quips are tinged with ‘90s alt-rock and film references whose self-described kindred spirit is Liam Gallagher, the lead singer of Oasis.
I asked him why San Diego LAFCO seemed to be sticking its fingers in a lot more pies of late.
“This idea that there’s some kind of hostile takeover is completely misplaced,” Simonds said. “LAFCO is a place where any member of the public could come and seek a change.”
The port, for example, was on Simonds radar since he joined San Diego LAFCO in 2017. But it wasn’t until the grand jury report, a LAFCO commissioner inquiring whether it fell under their purview, and a National City Councilman requesting their help that he directed his staff to look into it.
Simonds said his beef isn’t with the port. It’s with the State Lands Commission who “broke the bro code” by sending a letter telling LAFCO to stand down without much prior communication.
“The State Lands Commission staff doesn’t seem to understand their own statutes let alone LAFCO,” Simonds said.
Looking at the State Lands Commission letter from March 1, it appears the feeling is mutual.
“San Diego LAFCO has never before, in nearly 60 years since LAFCOs were empowered to oversee special districts, exercised jurisdiction over the port,” wrote its executive officer Jennifer Lucchesi.
In other words, the state said, stand down, San Diego LAFCO.
It’s clear, at this point, that LAFCO will not.
Simonds also revealed his staff will be looking into the San Diego Association of Governments, which among many roles, builds highways and decides how to expand public transportation. They’ve hired Bill Fulton, a preeminent urban planner in San Diego.
“LAFCO is the granddaddy of growth management for the state of California,” Simonds said.
