Planning Commissioner resigns after possible conflict identified

A letter sent to the South Lake Tahoe City Council and Lake Tahoe Unified School District has prompted Angela Swanson, a member of the City's Planning Commission, to resign from her position.

Swanson was appointed to the commission after submitting an application and being appointed during the January 17, 2017 City Council meeting. She was one of 11 people vying for the five open positions, each for a two-year term.

The community service minded Swanson was also appointed to the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board of Trustees on September 27, 2016 to complete the term of Ginger Nicolay-Davis who resigned to become a LTUSD employee. That term runs until December, 2018.

"We, the Advisory Board of Tahoe 4 Tahoe/Let Tahoe Decide, are concerned with a situation that affects both the Lake Tahoe Unified School District and the City of South Lake Tahoe, specifically the Planning Commission," the letter to City Council and the LTUSD School Board began.

The group's spokesperson, Tamara Wallace, said they were surprised Swanson was appointed to the second position because of a 2001 California Attorney General ruling that prohibits a person from holding two elected offices in the same jurisdiction, Government Code 1099: The prohibition against holding incompatible offices concerns a potential clash of two public offices held by a single official when one office exercises jurisdiction over the other office. This prohibition says the issue has two elements. First, the official in question must hold two public offices simultaneously. Second, there must be a potential conflict or overlap in the functions or responsibilities of the two offices.

At the time of appointment nobody ruled there was a conflict.

"We don't consider her to be a fault in any way in this matter," said Wallace of Swanson.

Swanson resigned from her position as a SLT Planning Commissioner on Wednesday, March 22, once she was made aware of the potential conflict in positions.

The Lake Tahoe Unified School District replied with a letter to Wallace on March 23. In that letter, LTUSD Superintendent Dr. James Tarwater states:

"The Superintendent and the Board are aware that prior to accepting the position with the Planning Commission, Ms. Swanson consulted with the city attorney and was advised that there was no conflict. Yesterday, upon receipt of your email, in which she was advised that there might in fact be conflict in that the two positions may be incompatible, she immediately resigned from the Planning Commission."

He also said LTUSD met with their legal counsel and determined Swanson acted in good faith and relied on legal advise received before applying for the commissioner job.

"I did my due diligence prior to being appointed and checked with both LTUSD and the City of South Lake Tahoe to make sure I could serve on both the school board and planning commission," said Swanson. She also started working for Tahoe Transportation District just before appointment to the Planning Commission, something she checked for conflicts as well.

The Attorney General ruling being used by Tahoe 4 Tahoe is the same one that California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) Executive Director Patrick Wright used to suggest SLT City Councilman Tom Davis and El Dorado County Supervisor Sue Novasel shouldn't serve on his board at the same time as holding their elected positions, even though that had been procedure since the CTC inception. The City and County have since appointed non-elected people to serve on that board.

To fill Swanson's position on the planning commission the SLT City Council will consider appointing from the current planning commission list or re-solicit applications.