Sprague selected as Local Agency Formation Commission vice chair

Former North County Fire Protection District deputy fire chief Ed Sprague was selected to be the vice chair of San Diego County’s 2018 Local Agency Formation Commission.

Sprague, who retired from the fire district in 2015, lives in Carlsbad and is on the board of the Olivenhain Municipal Water District as well as on the LAFCO board. An 8-0 vote, Dec. 4, selected Vista Irrigation District board member Jo MacKenzie to be LAFCO’s 2018 chairperson, and a second 8-0 vote gave the vice-chair position to Sprague.

“I’m honored and privileged to have the opportunity to serve,” Sprague said.

LAFCO handles jurisdictional boundary changes including city incorporations, annexations, consolidations and detachments. San Diego County’s LAFCO board consists of eight members: two county supervisors, one San Diego City Council member, two city council members from the county’s other 17 incorporated cities, two special district board members and one public member. Sprague and MacKenzie are the two special district members who are selected from the county’s independent special districts, which have voter-elected directors as opposed to dependent special districts whose members are the board of supervisors or a city council. Bonsall resident Andy Vanderlaan is the public member.

Sprague is a lifelong North County resident who was born at Tri-City Hospital and attended San Dieguito High School. He also attended San Diego State University and received both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in public administration. Sprague’s father and uncle were both captains with the Vista Fire Department, and Sprague’s two older brothers were with the Carlsbad Fire Department before they retired. Sprague initially joined the fire service with the Carlsbad Fire Department and spent 26 years there before becoming the North County Fire Protection District deputy fire chief in May 2012.

Sprague has been an Olivenhain Municipal Water District board member since January 2008, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. Neither of LAFCO’s special district representatives ran for re-election in 2014, so MacKenzie was chosen to replace the first member, who stepped down, and Sprague was selected to fill the other vacancy.

After he retired from the North County Fire Protection District, Sprague became an assistant professor in the Fire Technology department at Palomar College. Although LAFCO’s purview does not include school districts, Sprague’s position at the community college district complements his experience with fire districts and his water district.

“I think I have a diverse background,” he said. “My 30 years of fire service experience helps.”