LAFCO ADDS FINISHING TOUCH CITYHOOD SUMMARIES APPROVED FOR BALLOT.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

A milestone in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood secession efforts was quietly passed Wednesday as the agency that labored for three years to define terms for the divorces wrapped up its work.

As its last action on the issue, the county Local Agency Formation Commission approved the wording of impartial summaries of the two cityhood measures which will be written in the ballot booklets mailed to voters before the Nov. 5 election.

As the meeting ended, LAFCO officials voiced relief that their work was completed on the most controversial and difficult issue they ever faced.

``Hallelujah,'' said LAFCO Executive Director Larry Calemine, the official who faced intense criticism from Los Angeles city officials and others opposed to secession. ``Now I can get a life.''

The secession efforts shined a spotlight on the normally obscure agency, which usually oversees minor boundary changes and formations of special districts for water and garbage service as well as creation of cities in unincorporated areas of the county - nothing with the complexity of dividing a city of nearly 4 million people.

Calemine, in particular, faced criticism from secession opponents, who felt he was biased because he was involved in an earlier secession effort in the Valley in the 1970s and because he had economic interests in the Valley. Calemine continually insisted he was neutral on the question and a majority of commissioners expressed confidence in him.

The commission voted on May 22 to place Valley secession on the ballot and approved Hollywood two weeks later, but that did not end its work. It still had to hear appeals and then draft the wording of the measure that is written on the ballot.

Finally, it had to approve an impartial ballot analysis, the neutral statement that is placed in the booklet sent to voters before the vote. The commission Wednesday approved the analysis drafted by the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office with little discussion or dissent.

``I want to thank everyone for their thoughtfulness and consideration,'' said LAFCO Chairman Henri Pellissier.

``Even though we have disagreed on some of these items, that's our right to disagree. We have the right to be right, we have the right to be wrong. Sometimes the majority is right, sometimes the minority is right. We did accomplish it and I thank you for your help.''

The next step in the process is the submittal of the pro and con arguments - written by the two opposing campaigns - that are also placed in the ballot book. The county Registrar-Recorder's Office will make the arguments public next week.

LAFCO also has studied cityhood for the San Pedro and Wilmington area, but postponed its study earlier this year after it could not easily find a way to make the area economically viable on its own.

As the LAFCO meeting ended, alternate commissioner Hal Bernson, a Los Angeles City Council member from the Northwest Valley, predicted that no matter what happens on Nov. 5, the city of Los Angeles will be changed, as will its political leadership.

``There may be some political repercussions over this,'' Bernson said. ``But in time those will pass.''

Replied Pellissier: ``You wanna bet?''