2018 Conference Materials

Final Conference Program. Large file please be patient while uploading. 

A diverse panel of experts/practitioners will share their deep knowledge and first-hand experience on some hot topics covered in American Farmland Trust and CALAFCO’s recent White Paper – State of the Art on Agricultural Preservation, including: preserving farmland in this age of climate change, strategic tools for preserving farmland in your county, and LAFCo vs. Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program’s definitions for prime farmland, and LAFCo’s role in leading ag preservation.

Presented by: Kai Luoma, Executive Officer, Ventura LAFCo; Kate McKenna, AICP, Executive Officer, Monterey LAFCo; Andrea Mackenzie, GM Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority; Nathaniel Roth, Geographic Information Officer, CA Department of Conservation; Don Tatzin, Commissioner, Contra Costa LAFCo
Moderated by: Neelima Palacherla, Executive Officer, Santa Clara LAFCo  

This is a large file, please be patient when downloading.

Here we are at the end of another full legislative year. Join us as we recap the 2018 legislative impacts on LAFCos. We will hear from the Chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee (ALGC), the Honorable Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, on the focus of the ALGC and her unique Capitol perspective as a former LAFCo Commissioner There will be an opportunity for Q&A with the Chair. We will also get updates from the ALGC’s Consultant and members of the CALAFCO Legislative Committee. Join us as we recap 2018 and look ahead to 2019. 

​Presented by: Honorable Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Chair, Assembly Local Government Committee; Jimmy MacDonald, Consultant, Assembly Local Government Committee; Pamela Miller, Executive Director, CALAFCO; Paul Novak, AICP, Executive Officer, Los Angeles LAFCo; Lou Ann Texeira, Executive Officer, Contra Costa LAFCo

This informative and interactive session is intended to provide elected officials and staff members of LAFCos, counties, cities, and special districts with a better working knowledge of LAFCo history, processes, legal framework and procedures. Participants will also have the opportunity to work together in small groups to discuss and resolve some challenging LAFCo scenarios. Panelists and participants will discuss a number of topics including the authority and purpose of LAFCo; the LAFCo review process; the laws involved in LAFCo decisions; and updating Spheres of Influence and Municipal Service Reviews. You always learn something by attending a LAFCo 101 session!

Presented by: George Spiliotis, Executive Officer, Riverside LAFCo; Kara Ueda, Attorney, BB&K; Susan Vicklund-Wilson, Commissioner, Santa Clara LAFCo 
Moderated by: David Church, Executive Officer, San Luis Obispo LAFCo
 

All of us who participate in the LAFCo world are painfully aware of limitations that constrain LAFCo from achieving its full potential.  Many of us have no doubt thought “If only LAFCo could do this” a better result would be achieved. This session is your opportunity to share those thoughts and ideas with your LAFCo colleagues. It is an opportunity to think outside the box about what could be done to make LAFCo more effective. This is entirely an audience participation session in which you will have the chance to brainstorm creative solutions to LAFCo dilemmas.  

Moderated by: John Leopold, Commissioner, Santa Cruz LAFCo

There are no handouts for this session.

LAFCos are to look at the extent to which a project will help a city or county achieve their fair share of regional housing needs during the review of a proposal, but are not allowed to directly condition land use density, intensity or subdivision requirements.  This session will explore LAFCo's role in addressing the housing shortage in California and present examples where commissions have been a positive partner in helping communities accommodate affordable housing.  Small group discussions will give you the chance to share challenges and identify best practices among the different regions of the state.

Presented by: Robert Barry, AICP, Chief Analyst, San Diego LAFCo; Daron McDaniel, Commissioner, Merced LAFCo; Betsy McGovern-Garcia, Program Director, Self-Help Enterprises
Moderated by: Bill Nicholson, Executive Officer, Merced & San Benito LAFCos 
 

This session will explore recent changes and emerging trends in fire protection services in California and relationships therein with LAFCos. Distinguished practitioners will discuss the challenges and opportunities underlying the delivery of fire protection relative to LAFCos’ prescribed directives from the Legislature. Topics include: funding fire protection, effects of climate change, implementing SB 239, and spheres v. boundary drops.

Presented by: Steve Abbott, Fire Chief, North County Fire Protection District; Don Butz, Fire Chief, Lakeside Fire Protection District; Jeff Meston, Fire Chief, President, CA Chiefs Association; Keene Simonds, Executive Officer, San Diego LAFCo. 
Moderated by: Gay Jones, Commissioner, Sacramento LAFCo

What happens when an MSR reveals that a local agency is not performing to the standard of its principal act?  Or when facts in the MSR demonstrate a local agency’s lack of accountability to its constituents.  What can - and should - a LAFCo do to encourage a local agency’s accountability and transparency?  The panelists will explore the range of statutory and local policy options, as well as web-based services, to encourage local agency accountability, offer their insights into how LAFCo determinations can be guided through political minefields, and describe how local agencies’ accountability to the public can be supported through web-based products and services.  

Presented by: Sloane Dell’Orto, COO, Digital Deployment; John B. Withers, Former Commissioner, Orange LAFCo
Moderated by: David Fey, Executive Officer, Fresno LAFCo 

The mobile workshop consisted of a tour around Bass Lake with various stops and view points of the devastation from wildfires and the issue ot tree mortality. Attendees heard from tree mortality experts fro Madera County, CAL FIRE and USDA Forest Service. Follow along by uploading the Mobile Workshop Story Board.

The legislature gave LAFCos flexibility in implementing MSRs, and as we all know “one size does not fit all”. This session will explore the successes and challenges of fulfilling our mandate and significant variations in implementation across the state. The speakers will engage the audience in an honest dialogue of MSR questions we all face: Are we meeting its intended purpose? How should we balance “comprehensive” yet be practical with resources? Are they worth the tremendous effort? What’s the value and how MSRs being used creatively? What’s the legislature’s next step thinking for MSRs?

Presented by: Michael Colantuono, President, Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC; Pamela Miller, Executive Director, CALAFCO
Moderated by: Christine Crawford, Executive Officer, Yolo LAFCo
 

Local governments now operate in a messy, disruptive world.  This interactive session explores the need for all public-sector leaders to experiment, cross boundaries, take “smart risks” and adapt over time.  You will help identify the big challenges facing your LAFCos in the next five years and the competencies needed by leaders at all levels to address those challenges. 

Presented by: Dr. Frank Benest, Former City Manager and ICMA Liaison for Next Generation Initiatives
Moderated by: Debra Kurita, Assistant Executive Officer, Orange LAFCo
 

In partnership with CALAFCO, the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research have developed a paper on climate smart growth practices to support LAFCos and other local agencies by encouraging efficient development and protecting natural and working lands. The session will highlight information about State tools and resources that support LAFCos’ work, including Urban Footprint, a powerful urban planning software. The session will also feature case studies from several LAFCos of successful climate smart growth policies and practices.

Presented by: Jim DeMartini, Commissioner, Stanislaus LAFCo; Andrew Fetterer, VP of Product Management and Marketing, Urban Footprint ; Ena Lupine, Communications and Policy Advisor, Strategic Growth Council; Susan Vicklund-Wilson, Commissioner, Santa Clara LAFCo
Moderated by: Emily Tibbott, Senior Advisor, Environmental Science & Policy, Strategic Growth Council 
 

Recently Californians have experienced numerous disasters, both natural and human-created, from wildfires, earthquakes, floods, droughts, and dam failures.   This session will focus on the way LAFCos are responding to disasters be it through facilitating partnerships, renewed awareness for Municipal Service Reviews, Spheres of Influence or changes of organization.  Increasingly, LAFCos are playing a larger, more specialized role in disaster recovery, such as resolving barriers to agency consolidations that would have not occurred if it had not been for the disaster. This will be a facilitated session whereby panel members and the audience will provide feedback on how LAFCos can continue to assist and add value to our communities and meet the service demands of “the new normal”.

Presented by: Robert Barry, AICP, Chief Analyst, San Diego LAFCo; Mark Bramfitt, Executive Officer, Sonoma LAFCo; Jan Coppinger, Administrator, Lake County Special Districts; Michelle Frederick, No. CA Consolidation Coordinator, State Water Resources Control Board; Steve Lucas, Executive Officer, Butte LAFCo; Ed Robey, Commissioner, Lake LAFCo; Ricky Samayoa, Commissioner, Yuba LAFCo
Moderated by: Anita Paque, Commissioner, Calaveras LAFCo

This is a large file, please be patient when downloading.