Kings County holds study session on Reclamation District 761 boundary dispute; parties urged to agree on mapping or appointments

Kings County supervisors spent the bulk of their June 9 meeting in a study session on governance, mapping and election questions for Reclamation District 761 (RD761), a landowner‑voter district where trustee votes are allocated by acres owned and two trustee seats have been vacant since November 2025.

County counsel summarized the issue to the board: multiple boundary maps — some dating to the 1930s — conflict over where RD761’s line falls, and several parcels are bisected by the district boundary. Because votes are apportioned by in‑district acreage, the county and the district cannot determine how many votes each landowner may cast without a definitive boundary overlay. County counsel framed non‑exclusive options for the board, including encouraging the parties to stipulate to appointments in lieu of an election, directing staff to help procure historical and survey records and a neutral engineering firm at the district’s expense, continuing efforts to constitute a county‑appointed three‑member election board that could set acreage and votes, or returning with documentation to call a special election under the Elections Code.

Colin Pierce, general counsel to RD761, said he had advised in October 2025 to postpone a contested election because unreliable maps made it impossible to allocate votes lawfully. "We just need to figure out the boundaries,” Pierce told the board, urging either a stipulated resolution among landowners or retention of a neutral expert to produce a definitive map and acreage determination.

Representatives of two major landowners — Sandridge Partners and the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LA Sanitation) — presented sharply different operational perspectives. Scott Ready, attorney for Sandridge Partners, argued that the quickest path to functional governance would be for each major landowner to withdraw one nominee so the board (or the county) could appoint the remaining two candidates, restoring a functioning five‑member board that could then address mapping and other matters.

Craig Andrew, a Sandridge representative and RD761 board member, added that Sandridge has historically funded most RD761 maintenance and assessments and said trust issues and a sequence of agenda changes at the district meeting led to the collapse of prior compromise efforts.

AJ Malik, deputy chief assistant engineer for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts and president of RD761’s trustees, said LA Sanitation’s large landholding (he said nearly all of its 14,500 acres are within RD761) makes an accurate map critical not only for elections but also for allocating Kings River water rights, paying bills and determining operational responsibilities. "An accurate map of RD761 needs to be prepared," Malik said, urging the board to support county assistance in securing a neutral engineer or historian to produce a definitive map.

Assessor Christy Lee told the board the county can provide parcel ownership data and parcel maps, but the assessor’s office does not perform engineered parcel splits to determine how many acres of a parcel lie inside a district — that requires a surveyor or engineer. County counsel said staff had begun identifying engineering firms that had no prior business ties to the principal landowners in order to minimize perceived conflicts and emphasized that cost responsibility (whether the district or landowners pay) must be clarified.

Supervisors discussed practical next steps, including the district’s suggestion to place a two‑part proposal on RD761’s upcoming meeting (appoint nominees and consider a neutral mapping firm). Several supervisors encouraged the parties to try again to reach the two‑part agreement; county counsel said staff would continue to work with the district and landowners to identify options and return with recommendations. No formal vote or action to call a special election was taken at the June 9 meeting.

The RD761 study session underscored the legal and technical complexity of landowner voting districts: parcels bisected by historic boundaries, overlapping special districts, and decades of inconsistent maps leave county staff, the district and landowners weighing whether to pursue negotiated appointments, an independent engineer’s mapping, or formal election procedures under the Elections Code. County counsel said she would return with options and potential legal pathways for funding or charging the district for mapping and election costs, and RD761 counsel noted a district meeting scheduled for June 23 where the parties could attempt to resolve the two outstanding items.