Got this comment yesterday from Paul Novak, executive officer of the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO):

Mr. Manzer:

It is an indisputable fact that town councils are not part of county government.  Despite the ruling by a judge in the Agua Dulce Town Council case – a ruling, which, incidentally, has no precedential standing – there is nothing the county can do about the behavior of a town council.  County staff scoured 50-plus years of records of the Board of Supervisors, and there is not a single action in that time span connecting town councils in any legal way to county government.

The county does not fund town councils, county lawyers will not advise town councils, and the county has no say over their operations.

While the issues you and others raise may be of concern, it is unrealistic to expect (the) county to somehow intervene and force a town council to do anything.

– Paul Novak, former planning deputy to Supervisor Antonovich

So there you are, folks. This is from someone in the know. It explains why financial disclosure may not be required, and it tells us the town councils are simply another community group or club.

Representatives from the county attend the meetings of these groups and others like them because, with only five supervisors and 10 million folks in the population, the supervisors need to get input from the community. The reps don’t vote and seldom say anything. They are listening and reporting to their supervisor.

Our great fear is that the input the county will see from the Castaic Area Town Council will be in favor of the expansion of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill. The operator, Waste Connections, is getting what it is paying for.

Actually I’m shocked by Mr. Novak’s comment and thank him profusely for the information. It is the first real answer many of us have received about the town councils – ever.

If you live in the Castaic area, do you think the Castaic Area Town Council does anything for you? Really? It holds a Fun Run to raise money to operate itself. The major contributor to the event is – don’t say it – Chiquita Canyon Landfill. No wonder the dump thinks the Castaic Area Town Council will do what it asks.

If you live in the Castaic area and have a homeowners association, that HOA has very real legal power over what you can and can’t do within the confines of the HOA area.

Contrarily, the Town Council can do nothing legally. It isn’t government. It really isn’t anything but a sounding board for citizens so they can MAYBE get some word to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Just so we all get an idea of how big Los Angeles County is, let’s do a little comparison:

Los Angeles County is 4,752 square miles in area.

Rhode Island is 1,212 square miles.

Delaware covers 2,491 square miles.

So adding the land area of those two states, our county is still 1,000 square miles bigger.

And if you combine the total populations of those two states, you get 1,977,750. Los Angeles County is about 10,020,000.

That is sure a lot of people for each supervisor. Thus we have town councils in the county’s unincorporated areas. The supervisors need help.

I must say, I don’t think the county is getting the help it needs from the Castaic Area Town Council. That group has voted in favor of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill expansion and signed an agreement saying so. They can tell that to the county – but is that what the people want?

Obviously the last Castaic Area Town Council election proves it isn’t what the people want. So if you agree that the landfill expansion should be stopped, I suggest you go to the website below and sign a petition. Give them to your friends. Let the whole valley know about the petition.

You can sign the petition and read all about the dump at the following address:

http://www.chiquitalandfill.net

We can stop this. The whole Santa Clarita Valley can stop this.

Please. Take the time. Dump the Dump.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].