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For more than two months, the public member position at San Benito County’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO)—which oversees the boundaries and growth of the county’s two cities and nine special districts—has been officially vacant and has been filled on a temporary basis by an alternate member.
LAFCO is now seeking applicants for the position and applications are open through Nov. 5. Commissioners are expected to choose a new member at its Nov. 13 meeting.
Every California county has a LAFCO made up of representatives from local jurisdictions and one community member who does not hold public office.
In San Benito County, the commission consists of San Benito County Supervisors Kollin Kosmicki and Dom Zanger, Hollister Mayor Roxanne Stephens, San Juan Bautista Mayor Leslie Jordan and a public member.
LAFCO Executive Officer Jennifer Stephenson, who has worked in other LAFCOs across the state, told BenitoLink that the public member plays a key role in keeping the commission balanced.
“As much as possible, commissioners at LAFCO should take off the hat of the agency they’re representing, and that can often be hard to do,” Stephenson said. “For the public member, though, because they have no obligations to a particular public agency, it’s much easier. And so, they tend to speak, or at least represent the public, in a more unbiased way.”
The public member position has been vacant since August, when former commissioner Julio Rodriguez stepped down to take a seat on the Hollister Planning Commission, amid concerns about a potential conflict of interest over serving in both positions simultaneously.
Rodriguez had been appointed to LAFCO in March.
Before Rodriguez’s LAFCO appointment, the seat was held for 14 years by Richard Bettencourt, who resigned before being removed by Kosmicki, who sought someone more aligned with the slow-growth agenda of a majority of both the Hollister City Council and county Board of Supervisors.
Since Rodriguez’s resignation, the position has been filled by alternate public member commissioner Lynn Mello, a former San Benito County deputy director of public health who was appointed the same day as Rodriguez.
At a Sept. 11 meeting, Kosmicki and Zanger moved to appoint Mello as the official public member. But with Stephens absent, they didn’t have the votes, since Jordan opposed appointing her, arguing that she lacked a formal application. She said the commission should give more time for potential applicants who might not be aware that the position was open. The decision was postponed to the next meeting.
As of Oct. 29, Mello was the only applicant for the public member seat, Stephenson said. Those interested in the position must email a letter of interest to Stephenson describing their experience in public agencies and explaining why they want to join LAFCO.
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