CITYHOOD BACKERS ADVISED TO SHARE DWP.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Sharing water and power with Los Angeles in a secession scenario would be a work solution if the San Fernando Valley secedes, a California public policy expert said Friday.

``At this point, a joint-powers authority is seen as the most realistic alternative for secession,'' Steven Erie told about 50 members of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association at a luncheon in Sherman Oaks. ``But there are a few speed bumps in the process that should be looked at now.''

Erie is director of the Urban Studies and Planning Program at the University of California, San Diego, and a member of the Governor's Commission on Building for the 21st Century.

Erie said that while the city has a surplus of electricity, its water supply could face a crisis in the next 15 years because of the area's booming population.

Because the Valley, with more open spaces and higher summer temperatures, consumes more water per capita than the rest of the area served by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, he said, it would behoove a separate Valley city to share the utility to continue current water-rights contracts with the Metropolitan Water District.

Those spearheading secession should focus on negotiating what percentage of the city's proprietary departments should be allocated to the Valley, he said.

``But no matter how well you negotiate,'' he warned, ``this will likely end up as a great battle between attorneys.''

Jeff Brain, the president of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, which has led the push for the current secession study, said the agency conducting the study - the Local Agency Formation Commission - has great authority in determining who gets what, but that legal battles are likely.

``Determining the Valley's share is not a begging or negotiating point,'' he said. ``LAFCO will decide who gets what, and then it could end up in court.''

How Los Angeles would split up its assets in proprietary departments such as airports and water and power if the Valley were to secede has yet to be determined, sparking debate between secessionists and city officials.

A recent ruling by the County Counsel's Office dictates that LAFCO, the government agency charged with studying the city's breakup, has the authority to impose its own solution to splitting up the assets - an issue at the center of the secession debate.

And last week, a top officials with LAFCO expressed the view that financial information requested from the city was inaccurate, incomplete and not provided in a timely manner.

Leaders of the drive for the secession study went further, saying the city was sabotaging the study and that the information it provided was tilted in favor of the city.

Mayor Richard Riordan, a consistent opponent of breaking up the city, has indicated his view that LAFCO does not have the authority to decide how some departments are split, and that an attempt to do so could lead to litigation.

The earliest the secession question could be placed on a citywide ballot would be November 2002, but the recent dispute over financial reports has led to speculation that it will not be on the ballot until 2008.