Land owners on proposed
dividing line can choose side

More than 100 North County property owners - including singer Michael Jackson, the Rancheros Vistadores, Midland School and the University of California - will get letters this week giving them the choice of being in or out of the proposed Mission County.

The Mission County Formation Commission will notify the 127 parcel owners that their land is contiguous to, or bisected by, the boundary of the proposed county, which basically encompasses the same region as the current North County.

Under state law, those owners can choose to be included in the new county, or petition to remain in Santa Barbara County.

Other North County property owners already have decided they want no part of the new county. However, they probably don't have legal standing to exclude themselves because their property doesn't touch the boundary.

The Coalition Against the County Split on Monday began to collect signatures of people who want their property removed from the proposed Mission County. They plan to submit the names to the Mission County Formation Commission during its upcoming evening meetings.

"We just want to show in each of the communities that there is enormous opposition to the county split," explained coalition member Joyce Howerton, former mayor of Lompoc. "Many people signed the (commission formation) petition thinking they were signing against the split."

The other property owners have more legal standing and an easier chance of getting a change. The parcel owners, which also include Gaviota State Park, Atlantic Richfield Co. and Barnwood Vineyard, need only to show up at one of three public meetings this month and ask for inclusion or exclusion, or they can send a letter to the commission.

Some of the parcels flow over both counties, including the Young America's Foundation, which manages the late President Ronald Reagan's ranch.

Ms. Howerton said she believes those who sign the coalition petition may have a chance for opting out of the new county. The boundaries initially were set by the Citizens for County Organization, which circulated the petition leading to the creation of the formation commission.

"The commission needs to look at these issues seriously," Ms. Howerton said, noting the new county would start off significantly in debt "My property values will be greatly diminished if there's a new county. This is going to affect me economically. This needs to be given what we consider to be a lot of attention."

The state code on the matter, she said, may be outdated.

"If the county split went into effect and the proposed Mission County is in the economic shape everything indicates it will be, we feel as Santa Barbara County residents - who have been taken out against our will - that we would have legal recourse," Ms. Howerton said.

The formation commission will hold public hearings about boundary and other split related matters. The meetings will begin at 6 p.m. They will be held Aug. 16 at Guadalupe City Hall, Aug.23 at Lompoc City Hall and Aug. 30 at Solvang City Hall.

In a related development, the county formation commission Monday decided that if voters approve the new Mission County in March 2006, its residents will soon after cast ballots for a new board of supervisors, as well as a sheriff, district attorney, auditor and assessor.

Although having an elected board of supervisors is a given in any of California's counties, the Mission County Formation Commission during its Monday meeting had a list of jobs it could recommend be elected or filled by supervisorial appointment.

Because the job of sheriff is the only one legally required to be elected, the five-member commission opted to allow voters in November 2006 to chose their own district attorney, auditor and assessor.

It will leave other top county jobs up to the new board, saying it wants to give the officials expansive latitude on their own government structure.

The formation commission is chiefly responsible for studying whether the proposed county north of the Gaviota Tunnel will be economically feasible. But along with that task come a host of other legal requirements, such as guiding the new government's employment structure.

According to state law, the commission has the option of deciding whether to initially place on the November 2006 ballot the jobs of treasurer, county clerk, tax collector, recorder, public administrator and coroner.

By not doing so Monday. it allows the possible board to consolidate jobs and appoint officeholders at first Those employees then would run for elected office in March 2008.

"We wanted to leave the new board the most flexibility and direction we could, as to what offices they might consolidate," said John Torell, commission secretary.

Commissioner Dick Frank was the elected county assessor for San Luis Obispo from 1976 to 2003. He said he favors the accountability elected leaders have to residents. He had some concerns about recommending an elected auditor, however, because he believes some tasks can be combined to reduce staffing. That would include, he said, considering having the sheriff also be the coroner.

The commission also will suggest that no school districts change their boundaries if voters approve a new county. Mission County's creation would mean seven districts would be divided between the two regions and would become "joint" districts like the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District.

Mr. Torell said local school administrators suggested it "would be a nightmare" to split those districts.

Students living in one county but attending school in the new county would also potentially have to change schools, which he suggested the commission avoid.