From the looks of things, Local Agency Formation Commission board members like to keep up their aura of mystery– although some might call their behavior nonsensical, as well as unexplained. Either way, it adds to the intrigue, and likely will ensure a crowded room at the LAFCO board’s June 23 meeting.

At 4pm, commissioners will discuss the Carmel Valley Forum lawsuit in closed session. Following the closed-door talk, commissioners will meet in open session “for discussion of the litigation as an informational item,” says LAFCO Executive Officer Kate McKenna, “and there may be potential action taken at that time.”

But there’s no word on what that action may– or may not– be.

“There are discussions going on,” CVF attorney Michael Stamp says. “I can’t tell you where they are going to go. We don’t have any agreement. We don’t have anything in writing.”

CVF won a legal battle last month when a judge ruled that LAFCO wrongly stalled the incorporation process. “LAFCO abused its discretion when it decided that incorporation of the Town of Carmel Valley was (1) a project and (2) that an EIR was required,” concluded Monterey Superior Court Judge Lydia Villarreal in her May 7 decision.

Since then, LAFCO has held a couple of closed-sessions about the lawsuit. But it remains mum about sending the issue to the ballot– allowing Carmel Valley residents to vote on whether they want to form their own town– which is what CVF members want LAFCO to do.

In 2005, after years of meetings and comprehensive studies, LAFCO board members issued a unanimous finding that the proposed incorporation petition would not need a full-scale environmental impact report. But in October 2006, a new LAFCO board voted 5-2 to require several new studies– including an EIR– be completed before the issue could be put on the ballot. In March 2006, CFV filed a lawsuit. Now, the group waits to see what the LAFCO board will do on June 23.

LAFCO meets at 4pm Monday, June 23, in the Supervisors’ Chambers, 168 W. Alisal St., Salinas. 754-5838.