Last week the Local Agency Formation Committee met and passed a resolution
determining a sphere of influence for the City’s of Plymouth,
Jackson, Sutter Creek, Ione and Amador City.
Executive Director Roseanne Chamberlain described the items as more of a
formality, as the spheres of the Cities were not changed. “We re-affirmed existing
spheres,” said Chamberlain and went on to explain that “Different cities had
different maps that were all made at different times by different people and by
accepting the sphere of influence action it confirms a multitude of actions.”
Recently Chamberlain took on a huge task of researching LAFCO meetings and
minutes and found that many times a motion was made to change a sphere but that
action never appeared on a map.
She
said these motions date all the way back to 1978, so the maps are in dire need
of an update. Also of concern are the City Councils that voted to change their
sphere of influence, but never brought the matter before LAFCO. So
from here LAFCO will have to go through records City by City to figure out what
was requested and then hold a formal hearing before LAFCO to have those changes
implemented. Chamberlain
explained that by accepting the spheres of influence at the meeting it did not
change any city’s sphere, but rather it creates a beginning point so all of the
maps can be updated. She said that LAFCO will not be changing the actual
spheres of influence for each City until next year. --During the meeting the
Committee also interviewed candidates for the public alternate seat based on a
point system and they chose Byron Damiani to fill the open position. In addition the agreement between LAFCO and
the Amador County for building use and support
services was also discussed and some confusion was expressed by committee
members. Currently the agreement states in Section 4 that “the County may
terminate for cause,” however, cause is not defined in the contract. As it
stands now the agreement is based upon cooperative goodwill. The committee
ultimately decided to postpone adopting the new agreement so County staff can
clarify the word “cause” and what implications that has for LAFCO.
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