Last Eligible Candidate Turns Down LAFCO Post : Search: Stanley Eisner gives no explanation for decision. The commission must restart its effort to fill its top executive job.

The county commission that rules on cityhood and annexation issues agreed Friday to begin a new search for a top administrator after the last eligible candidate declined to take the job.

The decision by Stanley Eisner to refuse the executive director job at the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is a setback for the agency, which is empowered to create cities in unincorporated areas.

Eisner, who is Ventura County’s LAFCO executive director, did not explain why he no longer wanted the Los Angeles job, which pays up to $75,000 a year, officials said.

Two other job finalists were disqualified earlier this week for conflicts of interest because, until a few days ago, they had been serving as LAFCO panel members. Officials disclosed Friday that one of the two candidates--West Hills resident Larry Calemine--had also been disqualified for the job two years ago.

“We’re going to have to reopen the matter,” said LAFCO chairman Thomas Jackson at the panel’s Friday meeting.

The commission voted 6-0 to set Oct. 27 as the new application deadline. And Jackson, who also is mayor of Huntington Park, said the commission will make a final decision Nov. 8.

Jackson said Eisner, who has headed the Ventura County LAFCO since 1992, was offered the Los Angeles County job this week and faxed a proposed contract. But Eisner responded Thursday by faxing his letter of withdrawal.

“We were all very surprised,” Jackson said. The letter offered no explanation, he added.

Eisner’s Ventura County office was closed Friday, and calls to his home were not returned. Former commissioner Calemine, a development consultant whose clients include the builders of Porter Ranch, reportedly had been the leading candidate.

But on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County counsel’s office issued an opinion saying both he and Diamond Bar Mayor Pro Tem Gary Werner were ineligible for the job because they had served on the panel during the job search.

Calemine’s bid for the same job was also squelched in 1993 by a similar county counsel’s ruling.

This time, Calemine and Werner, while remaining panel members, said they left LAFCO meetings when the job topic arose. But the latest county legal opinion said that was not enough.

Calemine learned of the legal question last week and resigned after serving four years as an alternate to the nine-member commission. Werner, a regular member since last year, did the same on Tuesday.

Both men are expected to reapply for the executive director’s job.