Union Asks Panel to Halt Secession Bid

The union representing most blue-collar workers at City Hall said Tuesday it has formally asked the Local Agency Formation Commission to reject the San Fernando Valley secession proposal on legal grounds, arguing that the viability of a proposed city is uncertain.

However, Service Employees International Union Local 347 has decided against asking the state controller to review a financial study by LAFCO that found cityhood is viable.

Robert F. Hunt, the union’s general counsel, said labor leaders do not believe the study provided enough information on the effect of secession on city workers to make a review productive.

LAFCO’s proposal to have a Valley city contract with Los Angeles to provide all services for up to three years allows the commission to elude the question of what would happen to city workers when the contracts expire, Hunt said.

In a letter to LAFCO, Hunt and union General Manager Julie Butcher said the financial study “is materially defective because it is based on untenable assumptions.”

“The [study] simply does not provide any form of reasonable assurance that both a seceding San Fernando Valley city and the remaining Los Angeles would be financially viable in the event of secession,” the union officials wrote, adding that the study does not “adequately address the concerns of dedicated city employees.”

LAFCO officials will consider the union’s position in deciding in April whether there is enough evidence that Valley cityhood would be financially viable without hurting Los Angeles and should be placed on the November ballot.

Valley secession leader Richard Close expressed confidence in the LAFCO financial analysis. “I believe the LAFCO study has adequately dealt with these issues and employee protections,” he said.

He welcomed the union decision not to seek a state controller review, saying any review could delay getting the measure on the November ballot.

But the Los Angeles City Council’s top advisor said he probably will ask the panel on Friday to seek a state controller review of the financial study on Valley cityhood. Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton has said the financial study is flawed and underestimates the negative effect of secession on the Valley and the rest of Los Angeles.

“We will have a list of reasons for having the controller look at it,” Deaton said. “This is a very important issue and the citizens have a right to know the information is correct.”