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At its March 13 meeting, the San Benito County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) chose Julio Rodriguez as its new public member commissioner. Rodriguez is a longtime associate of LAFCO chair Kollin Kosmicki, who in three months has changed the course of the agency to align with the slow-growth agenda on which he said he campaigned.
Appointed in a 3-1 vote, Rodriguez was nominated by County Supervisor Dom Zanger and backed by Hollister Mayor Roxanne Stephens and Kosmicki. His appointment came after Zanger, Stephens and Kosmicki voted to remove Richard Bettencourt, who had served as LAFCO’s public member commissioner for 14 years.
LAFCO Executive Officer Jennifer Stephenson, who has worked in various LAFCOs across the state, told BenitoLink at the time it was the first time she had seen such a removal.
In his introduction at the meeting, Rodriguez said he understood LAFCO—which oversees the creation of new cities and local government agencies—was “a very politically contentious entity.”
“Any time we give an entitlement, and we say that this parcel or this area is going to be able to do something, we’re creating a situation where people can sometimes double, triple or quadruple their wealth overnight,” Rodriguez later told BenitoLink. “So it’s absolutely 100% political.”
He said he was looking forward to serving the community “in the way LAFCO is intended”—focusing on preserving agricultural land and discouraging urban sprawl.
“Slow growth is a reaction to the institutional failures of the county, the city and governments to plan developments thoughtfully, thoroughly,” he said. “The county and the city should not be subsidizing development, and that is what has happened. The growth and the sprawl are just out of control, and that is why I believe I was chosen.”
Rodriguez is a substitute teacher and currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and planning at San Francisco State University. In 2020, he ran for Hollister City Council and lost. The following year, Kosmicki appointed him as his district’s planning commissioner.
Of the seven candidates applying to be LAFCO’s public member commissioner, Rodriguez was the only one whose letter of interest was not published in the meeting’s agenda packet. In the notice of vacancy, applicants were invited to describe their background, reasons for applying and submit them no later than March 5.
Stephenson told BenitoLink Rodriguez only provided an application form, which was the way LAFCO received applications before. Rodriguez told BenitoLink he didn’t submit it by mistake, but did provide a letter, which was distributed to the commissioners before the meeting.
San Juan Bautista Mayor Leslie Jordan was the only commissioner in the meeting to vote against Rodriguez. After the vote, Jordan nominated local activist Rob Bernosky to be Rodriguez’s alternate. Jordan and Bernosky are on the opposite side of the growth debate, advocating for so-called “smart growth.”
Jordan’s nomination failed, and Kosmicki instead nominated Lynn Mello, a former San Benito County deputy director of public health. Kosmicki also disclosed during the meeting that Mello contributed $200 to him in November 2023.
Mello was appointed by the same 3-1 majority that secured Rodriguez’s seat.
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