Consider the Municipal Service Review (MSR)/Sphere of Influence (SOI) Initial Study for the City of Woodland (LAFCo No. 24-03) and determine a comprehensive MSR/SOI Update is not needed for this five-year review cycle per Government Code §56425(g)

On the basis of the initial evaluation contained in the attached MSR/SOI Initial Study for the City of Woodland (LAFCo No. 24-03), staff recommends LAFCo determine the following:

1. The required MSR determinations would likely not be significant;
2. An SOI Update is not warranted or requested by the City; and
3. Therefore, an MSR/SOI Update is not needed, and the City will be reviewed again in five years per Government Code Section 56425(g).

None.

A comprehensive MSR/SOI Update was last adopted for the City of Woodland on January 24, 2019, aligning the City’s SOI to coincide with its 2006 voter approved Urban Limit Line. Consideration for review is due again, as required every five years.

Per the Cortese- Knox-Hertzberg (CKH) Act §56430, MSRs are only technically required when LAFCo intends to update an agency’s SOI. Although for our special districts, Yolo LAFCo has frequently opted to perform MSRs notwithstanding an SOI Update in order to review and provide oversight of our smaller agencies that tend to be more rural and volunteer in nature. In the case of a city, where there is inherently much more scrutiny, accountability, and transparency (including comprehensive annual audits), staff evaluates whether LAFCo’s report would provide valuable information on a case by case basis. Yolo LAFCo has memorialized this approach in local policy (Project Policies 6.2 Criteria Municipal Service Review), "Although MSRs are technically required only when updating agency SOIs, per Government Code §56430, Yolo LAFCo will typically conduct MSRs on local special districts even if an SOI Update is not needed because, unlike cities, Yolo County’s special districts tend to be rural in nature and staffed by limited professional staff or entirely volunteer-run, meaning there is less oversight to ensure operational adequacy and fiscal sustainability."

Staff has utilized the MSR checklist template as an initial study screening tool to evaluate whether the MSR determinations would be significant (see attached). Staff recommends, based on the initial study checklist prepared, an MSR/SOI Update for the City of Woodland is not needed this cycle and LAFCo will consider it again in five years. LAFCo has tended to make this determination for cities when an SOI Update is not needed or desired. Staff spoke with the City Manager, Ken Hiatt, on October 10, 2024, and he confirmed the City is not seeking a change to its SOI at this time and concurred with the recommendation that no MSR/SOI Update is needed.