Vanderlaan named LAFCO chair, reappointed to new term

Bonsall resident Andy Vanderlaan will chair the 2021 meetings of San Diego County's Local Agency Formation Commission, and he was also reappointed for another four-year term on the LAFCO board.

One 8-0 LAFCO vote Dec. 7 reappointed Vanderlaan as LAFCO's public member. A separate 8-0 vote elected Vanderlaan as the LAFCO board chair for 2021 while electing County Supervisor Jim Desmond as the vice-chair for the 2021 meetings.

The public member's term actually expires in April 2021. LAFCO had the option of reappointing Vanderlaan or seeking additional applicants. The reappointment of Vanderlaan was contingent upon his willingness to serve a seventh term. "I'm inclined to do that," he said.

LAFCO then decided to reappoint Vanderlaan for the term beginning in May 2021 and expiring in April 2025. "That's great to be honored that way," Vanderlaan said. "I really appreciate it."

Vanderlaan had been LAFCO's vice-chair for the 2020 meetings. County Supervisor Dianne Jacob was the 2020 chair. The Dec. 7 meeting was the final one for Jacob as a LAFCO board member, as she is retiring from the Board of Supervisors after 28 years. Jacob had been one of the Board of Supervisors representatives on the LAFCO board for the entire 28-year period.

"The whole meeting on Monday was about Dianne Jacob and her legacy," Vanderlaan said. "She was really the change agent for the supervisors."

Jacob led the efforts, both on the Board of Supervisors and at LAFCO, to create a county fire department. The San Diego County Regional Fire Authority was created in 2008 and was originally a zone within the San Diego County Regional Communications System so that LAFCO could merely authorize fire protection and emergency medical service latent powers for that county service area rather than create a new agency. Earlier this year the county and LAFCO undertook the process of separating the county fire department from the Regional Communications System. The San Diego County Fire Protection District became official when a protest hearing earlier in the Dec. 7 meeting indicated that no protests had occurred.

The fire protection district thus came into being on Jacob's final day as a LAFCO board member. "It was meant to happen," Vanderlaan said.

In 1999, LAFCO addressed the issue of property tax transfer to fire protection districts annexing property by forming the Task Force on Fire Protection Funding, which also addressed other funding needs involving the fire service. In 2000 the task force became independent from LAFCO in order to allow for the advocacy of recommendations, and the task force was renamed as the Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services. Jacob was the chair and Vanderlaan was the vice-chair of the task force for its entire existence.

The creation of the county fire department along with the commitment to funding eliminated the need for the task force. "A lot has been done," Vanderlaan said.

Normally the LAFCO vice-chair becomes chair for the following year, although the desire for continuity with an ongoing project may cause the LAFCO board to retain the chair and vice-chair. Vanderlaan was selected as the vice-chair for 2000, when Julianne Nygaard (then a member of the Carlsbad City Council) chaired the board. As vice-chair in 2000 Vanderlaan chaired one meeting in Nygaard's absence. Vanderlaan became the LAFCO chair for 2001.

The LAFCO chair and vice-chair positions normally utilize a rotation between the Board of Supervisors, city council, special district, and public members. Vanderlaan was selected as the vice-chair for 2005 and the chair for 2006. Vanderlaan served three consecutive terms as chair from 2006 to 2008 while LAFCO was in the process of reorganizing fire protection and emergency medical services in San Diego County. Vanderlaan was selected as the 2012 vice-chair, and he served two consecutive terms as chair in 2013 and 2014.

The 2021 LAFCO chairmanship will thus be Vanderlaan's seventh. "It's just wonderful to do that. I'll do my best to serve as well as Dianne and others," he said. "It's a very rewarding honor that the commission would select me as chair for another year. It's going to be a pretty active year."

Vanderlaan lives in the Rainbow Municipal Water District. Rainbow and the Fallbrook Public Utility District have applied to detach from the San Diego County Water Authority and annex to the Eastern Municipal Water District. "That's going to be pretty interesting," Vanderlaan said.

The SDCWA currently consists of 24 water districts or water departments. "There are other agencies involved," Vanderlaan said.

A municipal service review evaluates an area's services and anticipated needs, and a sphere of influence study determines the boundaries best served by a particular agency. Both are prerequisites to any jurisdictional change other than an annexation of land within the existing sphere of influence, and LAFCO also conducts periodic municipal service review and sphere of influence updates for all cities and special districts. Vanderlaan notes that municipal service reviews now include budget and level of service information. "That makes it a lot more meaningful," he said.

LAFCO is responsible for jurisdictional changes including consolidations, detachments, annexations, and city incorporations. Although consolidations have occurred infrequently in recent years (since Vanderlaan joined the LAFCO board in 1996 San Diego County has had three water district consolidations and three fire district consolidations which did not involve the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority) and no city has incorporated since Encinitas and Solana Beach in 1986, small annexations and detachments result in San Diego LAFCO processing numerous boundary changes each year.

Vanderlaan had experience with fire district consolidation prior to joining the LAFCO board. He was the fire chief of the Fallbrook Fire Protection District in 1986 when that agency transitioned to the North County Fire Protection District after merging with the county service area which provided fire protection to Rainbow and adding the previously-unserved Gavilan Mountain area. Vanderlaan was also the fire chief when LAFCO oversaw two attempts by Fallbrook citizens to incorporate as a city; those efforts ended with rejection in 1981 and 1988 elections.

Ed Thurber was the original chief of the Fallbrook Fire Protection District (which was officially called the Fallbrook Local Fire Protection District when it was founded in 1930). Vanderlaan grew up in West Covina and began his career with the Covina Fire Department. He spent 3 1/2 years with the Covina firefighters and 9 1/2 years at the Huntington Beach Fire Department. In 1976 Vanderlaan came to Fallbrook as the assistant fire chief and became the fire chief that year when Thurber retired sooner than expected. After his retirement from the North County Fire Protection District at the end of 1995, Vanderlaan served as the executive director of the Western Fire Chiefs Association.

Mike Ott was LAFCO's executive officer from 1992 until his retirement in 2017. Keene Simonds became the executive officer after Ott's retirement, so this is Vanderlaan's first term as president with Simonds.

"I think it's good that Andy is the chair," Simonds said.

"He's doing a great job," Vanderlaan said of Simonds. "Keene is very knowledgeable, and it's a pleasure to work with him and his staff."

Vanderlaan recognizes the role of LAFCO's staff in the agency's success. "They're functioning extremely well," he said. "They have a rather small staff, but they're all very good."

LAFCO has a staff of eight, including Simonds but not including consultants.

The staff activities include the preparation of board packets. "They're extremely well done," Vanderlaan said.

The LAFCO board consists of two county supervisors, one city council representative from San Diego, two city council members from the county's other 17 incorporated cities, two members from special district boards, and one public member. Each of those categories also has one alternate who can vote if the regular LAFCO board member is not present.

Jacob's departure leaves Vanderlaan as the longest-serving board member. The alternate public member, Harry Mathis, has served in that role since 2000 and was previously a San Diego City Council representative on the LAFCO board. "Harry's a great guy," Vanderlaan said.

Mathis was also on the board of the Metropolitan Transit System (formerly the Metropolitan Transit Development Board). "He's involved and when he speaks he speaks with a lot of experience," Vanderlaan said.

His work with LAFCO during his time as fire chief led Vanderlaan to apply for the public member position when that seat had an opening in 1996. He was appointed as LAFCO's public member that year and was re-appointed to additional four-year terms in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 as well as this year.

Vanderlaan's post-retirement activities included a year as president of the Boys and Girls Club and coaching basketball at the Boys and Girls Club, Fallbrook High School (at the junior varsity level), and Potter Junior High School. He is currently on the board of education for Zion Christian School, which now includes a pre-school and a learning center for children up to twelfth grade as well as an elementary school.