Supervisor Neil Derry

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/20/2010 03:13:20 PM PST

SAN BERNARDINO – Third District Supervisor Neil Derry said Wednesday his office will pay the $6,600 cost of challenging a government panel’s power to merge six county islands into the city.

The basis of the challenge is whether the Local Agency Formation Commission for San Bernardino County, also known as Lafco, correctly followed state laws that allow cities to annex unincorporated territory without a popular vote.

State law allows Lafco and similar panels to approve annexations without elections under certain conditions, one of which is that county islands have less than 150 acres of territory.

Susan Hulse, who filed paperwork asking Lafco to reverse its November approvals of the annexations, lives in a 130-acre area that is contiguous with a 61-acre area. She thinks Lafco officials have employed a piecemeal strategy to avoid the ballot box.

“I feel strongly that the island annexation policy … violates the rights of landowners and voters,” Hulse said at a Tuesday meeting of Lafco’s board of directors.

Hulse also asked Lafco to waive the $6,600 in fees, but that request was rendered moot after Derry, a member of the Lafco board, announced that he would foot the bill from his office’s discretionary budget.

Derry did not elaborate on his decision while board members considered Hulse’s request, but he has previously said that he questions whether Lafco officials are in strict compliance with state law.

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