Pinocchio Chronicles: Why won't county vote PAAC nominations? Part III

Pinocchio PAAC articles Parts I & II asked why Supervisors have not timely voted on the Carlsbad and Vista nominations to fill Palomar Airport Advisory Committee (PAAC) 9-month and 17-month vacancies. What excuse does county give?

A Dab of History: Redistricting: Redrawing the SD Election Borders [For New District Maps, see https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/bos/map.html]

SD County has 5 voting districts. Until January 2022, McClellan-Palomar Airport (Palomar) sat in Supervisor Desmond’s District 5. Prior to this date, Desmond (and his 5th District predecessor Bill Horn) picked the 9 PAAC members subject to the “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back tradition” of the Board rubber stamping-supervisor-designated committee members.
Redistricting plopped Carlsbad and the Airport into Supervisor Lawson-Remer’s District 3. Desmond retained a redefined District 5 without Palomar.
Post Redistricting Committee Appointment Questions
After redistricting, two questions pop up. First, should the existing PAAC members remain seated? Or should they offer their resignations because the supervisor who appointed them (Desmond ) no longer had PAAC appointing authority? County ignored the issue and Desmond-nominated PAAC members remain.
Second, should Desmond or Lawson-fill the Carlsbad and Vista vacancies and future PAAC vacancies?
Logically – as is the custom and practice when federal state, and local administrations change – all committee members should offer to resign but offer to continue to serve if the newly-designated appointing authority (for PAAC, Supervisor Lawson-Remer) wishes to retain them.
Supervisor, PAAC, and County Staff Befuddlement
Apparently, the redistricting committee-appointment issue has befuddled county. So much so that county staff at the March 16, 2023 PAAC meeting suggested different ways of splitting the PAAC appointing authority between Supervisors Desmond and Lawson-Remer.
For the reasons above, this “political compromise” seems silly and inconsistent with the Board Policy A-74 wording and intent. The whole point of periodic redistricting is to sweep out the old and sweep in the new. Supervisor Desmond – a retired commercial airline pilot, who will always put commercial aviation interests over the interests of several hundred thousand homeowners – should have no role in picking (as distinguished from voting) PAAC members for an airport no longer in his district.

The Sleeping County Counsel

The county befuddlement shows a weak County Counsel. Even before the voters approved new districts, the County Counsel should have advised how redistricting would affect A-74 Board, commission, committee, and task force appointments. And, if the county counsel failed to do so, the supervisors should have immediately asked for a county counsel opinion. The County Counsel should not be punting a legal decision to political land.
The San Diego Redistricting Commission approved the new district boundaries in December 2021. Does it really take 2 years to answer basic redistricting questions? And deny Carlsbad and Vista their designated PAAC representatives?
Next Time in PAAC Part IV: How the Board has failed at Palomar for 50 years.
Correction: The initial PAAC Part II article has been corrected to delete the comment that PAAC member Nesbitt had resigned from the PAAC.