Commission
Roles & Duties
The Legislature charged the Local Agency Formation Commissions with carrying out changes in governmental organization to promote specified legislative policies now codified in the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, as amended. Among the major policy statements are:
that LAFCO is to encourage orderly growth and development essential to the social, fiscal and economic well-being of the State of California (Government Code 56001)
that LAFCO is responsible for encouraging the logical formation and determination of boundaries while discouraging and eliminating "islands" (Government Code Section 56668)
that LAFCO must exercise its authority to ensure that affected population receive efficient and quality government services (Government Code 56841)
that LAFCO is required to exercise its authority to guide development away from open space and prime agricultural land uses unless said actions would not promote planned, orderly and efficient development (Government Code Section 56377)
Membership Requirements
By State Law, the Imperial County Local Agency Formation Commissioners are selected from the groups most affected by its decisions, e,g. the public, the cities and the County. The Imperial County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is currently composed of five members, each of whom serves four-year terms. The expiration date of the term of office for each member is the first Monday in May in the year the member’s term expires. Members required are as follows:
1. Two City Council members appointed by a Committee consisting of the Mayor from each of the cities within Imperial County (commonly known as the City Select Committee).
2. Two Imperial County Board of Supervisors appointed by the Imperial County Board of Supervisors.
3. One public member appointed by the City and County members of the LAFCO. In addition, the Commission could allow the seating of two additional members representing the special districts. The local agency has encouraged the seating of local special districts that have, to date, elected not to serve on the Commission.
Staff to Commission
The Local Agency Formation Commission is an independent agency. While it consists of members from the County Board of Supervisors and members of the City Council’s at large, it is truly not an organization under the control of either the County or any of the Cities. The Commission is supported by staff, which includes an under-contract Executive Officer to the Commission (Jurg Heuberger), and a Clerk to the Commission (Rosa Soto).
To process the various projects that come before the Commission, LAFCO does use the services of independent consultants to achieve accurate and timely processing of projects.
Legal Counsel to the Commission
The LAFCO, while having the authority to retain its own independent legal counsel, currently utilizes the contract services of a designated Deputy County Counsel.
