AGENCY GETTING SET FOR SECESSION PROPOSALS.

Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer

Gearing up for a task that no one in California has undertaken this century, the Local Agency Formation Commission said Wednesday that it might need to hire a consultant to help handle an expected spate of proposals for secession.

LAFCO, which is empowered to authorize secession proposals for a public vote, is expected to decide next week whether to spend $75,000 for a consultant. The consultant would estimate how much time and money the commission would need to analyze a secession plan.

San Fernando Valley activists plan to circulate petitions this summer calling for a LAFCO study. Similar efforts are under way in the city's Westside and the Wilmington-San Pedro area.

If the consultant's mission seems simple, it isn't. There is no precedent for guidance, since no California municipality has seceded from another since 1890, when Coronado broke away from San Diego.

``There has never been a detachment application submitted to us,'' said Larry Calemine, the commission's executive director. ``How in the world can we come up with a cost? We don't have that kind of expertise on staff.''

The commission might need to hire other consultants to analyze the city's assets and devise a way to divide them fairly.

``Say the city of Los Angeles employs 45,000 people, and say you break away 40 percent of voters,'' Calemine said. ``What do you do? Do you fire 18,000 people? No. But we'll need to hire a human resources person to look at that.''

Finding consultants could be difficult, Calemine added. Few people have dealt with the issue before, and fewer might want to jump into the contentious debate surrounding secession.

``Let's face it, whoever does this, their results are going to be attacked,'' Calemine said.

It also is uncertain who would pay for the actual secession study. Calemine believes whoever requests the study must cover its costs.

But Jeff Brain, co-chairman of the Valley group seeking a secession study, said it shouldn't have to shoulder the financial burden.

He noted that when Malibu and Agoura Hills broke off from Los Angeles County, they didn't have to pay for the accompanying county studies.

The group's lawyers still are discussing the payment issue with LAFCO, Brain said.

Right now, the commission lacks a basic estimate of how much each such study would cost, Calemine said.

Other than discussing the possible need for a consultant, the commission has done little to prepare for possible secession studies, said Commissioner Jim DiGiuseppe//, who represents the Valley on the 11-member panel.

``It's so far in the future, we don't know when, if ever, these things will come before us,'' he said.

For its part, Valley VOTE is trying to draft a mission statement that quickly explains this complex process.