Breakup Studies Expected to Be Done in 22 Months

A study of San Fernando Valley and Harbor cityhood should be completed in 22 months, soon enough for a potential vote in two years, officials said Thursday.

“If we keep to that schedule, we can make the 2002 ballot,” said Larry Calemine, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission.

The ambitious schedule and details of the study are contained in a work plan released Thursday by LAFCO and developed by Pacific Financial Management Inc., the consulting firm ranked first in bidding for the project.

The $1.39-million contract could be approved later this month, allowing work to begin March 1, Calemine said.

Previously, officials said the study could take as long as four years, potentially delaying the cityhood elections until 2004.

“It’s very encouraging to see that the consultant believes it can be completed sooner than some people thought,” said Richard Close, chairman of the secession group Valley VOTE.

If Calemine’s agency decides secession is feasible, the measure could then be placed on the ballot. Passage requires separate majorities in the Valley and the city as a whole.

The consultant’s plan identifies many issues that must be resolved before it can be determined that breaking up the city would hurt neither the old nor the new cities financially--a legal prerequisite for a popular vote.

For instance, secessionists most likely would have to make cuts in services provided by their new cities to offset the transition costs involved in establishing new municipal governments, the consultant warned.

*

The work plan states that cuts in staffing, elimination of non-vital city departments and other options will have to be weighed by secessionists to cover transition costs most likely to include construction of police and fire command centers and purchase of equipment for the new cities.

“It does not appear feasible that both the city and applicants can continue to operate the same level of municipal services, in the same manner, and offset transition costs,” the company’s report warns.

Close, who is an alternate on the Local Agency Formation Commission, said he disagreed that service cuts may be necessary.