Agency mulls long-term plan to merge CSDs

BARSTOW • Dozens of people from Yermo, Daggett and Newberry Springs arrived at the Silver Valley High School cafeteria Wednesday night ready for a fight with a government agency that they believed to be trying to force a merger of their communities.

The actual proposal that San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission executive officer Kathleen Rollings-McDonald had come to discuss was more benign.

LAFCO, an independent agency that oversees local districts that provide services like water and fire protection, may vote in May to recommend that the three communities move towards a long-term plan to join under one governing body that could provide services like fire protection, street lighting, parks, and water to the entire area.

The commission is in the process of reviewing the services provided in the districts as state law requires every five yearsas part of the process of updating the communities’ “spheres of influence,” the areas where the districts’ boundaries are expected to extend in 20 to 25 years.
The LAFCO commission will vote May 20 on a proposal to combine the spheres for the Daggett, Yermo, and Newberry community service districts.

That decision would have no immediate effect on the districts or their services, Rollings-McDonald said. Essentially, it would be a suggestion from LAFCO to the communities that they look at the possibility of consolidating their community service districts in the future.

Rollings-McDonald said that operating as one district could increase efficiency, save on administrative costs, and allow the district to employ a full-time general manager rather than part-time managers for each district.

Under the law, LAFCO could initiate a process to combine the districts into one entity, but the San Bernardino County LAFCO has never used that power, she said. Even if LAFCO did propose to consolidate the district, a protest by 10 percent of the local residents would force the matter to go to a majority vote of the people.

The community residents who flocked to Wednesday’s meeting spoke overwhelmingly against the idea of merging the three governing bodies.
Newberry Springs resident Margaret Graessle, a substitute teacher with the Silver Valley Unified School District, said after Wednesday’s meeting that she could not think of any advantages to consolidating. Newberry Springs CSD is already bringing in funds for local projects and providing good service to the district, she said.

“(Rollings-McDonald) kept talking about efficiency of delivery of services,” she said. “I don’t see any more efficiency in combining them.”

Daggett Fire Department chief Joe Morris said, “I don’t think it would be an advantage to us in particular, or to any of the other groups, because everyone pretty much has their own way of doing things.”

JoAnne Cousino, general manager of the Newberry CSD, read a statement from the board saying that the community would be reluctant to give up its self governance without being assured that it would get better services in return. Other residents said they felt the consolidation could bring in an extra layer of government, and that trying to cover the entire area with one fire district would not be feasible.

In an unofficial draft report given to the CSDs, LAFCO staff pointed out a number of deficiences in the local services wrote that the area would be best served by the San Bernardino County Fire Department rather than by local agencies. However, the report noted that neither the county fire department nor the CSDs had supported the idea and that the county fire department cited a lack of funds to support service in the area.

Yermo CSD President Bob Smith said he could see advantages in the communities working more closely together, especially in areas like grant writing, but that coordination could be achieved without consolidating the districts.

If the LAFCO board votes to merge the spheres of influence, it will conduct another review in five years, at which point, it will assess whether the communities have shown any interest in merging, Rollings-McDonald said.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or asewell@desertdispatch.com

Background

• Community service districts are local governing agencies for unincorporated areas in the county. They may provide a wide variety of services including water, emergency services, parks and recreation. Daggett, Newberry Springs and Yermo each have a separate CSD.

• Sphere of influence: The anticipated boundaries of a district in 20 to 25 years, used as a planning tool.

On May 20, the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission will look at consolidating the spheres of influence of the Daggett, Yermo, and Newberry CSDs, aimed at encouraging the districts to plan an eventual merger of their governing bodies and services. LAFCO is not proposing to actually merge the districts now.