Pam Marino here, marveling that a position on a board that doesn’t always get a lot of notice has attracted 13 candidates vying to be appointed on Monday, Aug. 24. What’s more, this is the second attempt at filling the public member seat on the Local Agency Formation Commission of Monterey County. The first attempt wound up in a stalemate.
In April, I wrote about the first attempt, when there were just three candidates: incumbent Matt Gourley; Michael DeLapa, executive director of LandWatch Monterey County; Brian Okazaki, an attorney originally from Orange County. Okazaki, a newcomer, was bypassed, placing the contest between Gourley and DeLapa.
Three commissioners were in favor of reappointing Gourley. Commissioners Wendy Root Askew and Kate Daniels, elected officials representing the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, refused to vote for either Gourley or DeLapa.
The two supervisors contended that each man had been “too political” on past issues: Gourley voted against a public buyout of California American Water as approved by voters in 2018; DeLapa was critical of an annexation plan by Gonzales.
Since at least one supervisor was needed to support a successful candidate, the vote went nowhere. LAFCO commissioners voted in June to start all over again and a call went out to the public to apply for the open seat.
Fast forward to the present and there are 13 candidates, two of which are Gourley and DeLapa. Housing and land use expert and former Salinas planning commissioner Matt Huerta is another one.
The 10 remaining candidates of men and women include people with extensive backgrounds in areas such as housing and community development, public administration and real estate. There’s one CSU Monterey Bay graduate student and an accountant. A few of the applicants have served on planning commissions or other governmental boards or commissions.
Which gives Root Askew, Daniels and the rest of the seven-member LAFCO board some room for compromise if the two supervisors won’t budge on Gourley. It also gives the commission a chance to diversify itself and bring on someone new to the public member seat, since Gourley has been serving since 2001.
If you want to take a look at the candidates, you can find their applications attached to Monday’s agenda. The meeting takes place at 3pm in the Board of Supervisors Chambers, inside the Monterey County Government Center, 168 W. Alisal St., Salinas. The agenda includes instructions to participate on Zoom. You can also watch on the agency’s YouTube channel.