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5. The legislative body determines within 60 days of the close of the formation <br />hearing whether to order formation. <br />6. If the legislative body orders formation, it must also select an initial board of <br />directors for the GHAD. The legislative body may choose either to select five <br />landowners from the GHAD area, or seat itself on the initial GHAD board. <br />Existing GHADs within the City of Pleasanton <br />Following the steps set forth above, the City has formed four GHADs: Oak Tree Farm <br />subdivision, Moller Ranch subdivision, Laurel Creek Estates (The Preserve, Oak Hill <br />Estates and Kolb Ranch Estates) and Lemoine Ranch Estates. The Oak Hill Estates <br />subdivision and the Kolb Ranch Estates subdivision were both annexed into the Laurel <br />Creek GHAD after the formation of the original district; those annexations occurred on <br />August 1, 2000 and July 20, 2004 respectively. All of the four existing GHADs are <br />located on the west side of Foothill Road and in areas where potential geologic hazards <br />exist. The City Council has appointed itself as the Board of Directors for each GHAD <br />and appointed the Finance Director, City Clerk, City Attorney and Public Works Director <br />as officers of each District. <br />Post GHAD Formation Procedures/Effects of Proposition 218 <br />After the GRAD is formed, the Council/Board must take a number of steps before it <br />becomes operational, including passing a budget and levying an assessment. Each <br />year, before levying the annual assessment, the Board must adopt a resolution <br />declaring its intention to order that the cost and expenses of maintaining and operating <br />the district shall be assessed against the properties benefiting thereby. The resolution <br />is to contain a report setting forth the yearly estimated budget, the proposed <br />assessments to be levied, and a description of the method used in formulating the <br />assessments. <br />After the resolution is adopted, a notice is mailed to all property owners advising them of <br />the contents of the resolution and advising them of the time, dates and place of the <br />public hearing when their protests can be heard. At the public hearing, the Board <br />considers any protests and makes any revisions to the proposed assessments. The <br />Board may then confirm the assessments and order the levy and collection of the <br />assessments. <br />Proposition 218, enacted in the November 1996 general election, makes it more <br />procedurally complex, in certain situations, to levy the assessment. Generally speaking, <br />after Proposition 218, property owners within an assessment district such as a GHAD <br />must be given an opportunity to vote on the annual assessment. <br />An important exception, however, to Proposition 218's requirement that the property <br />owners be given the opportunity annually to vote on the assessments occurs when: (1) <br />the district was formed by the vote of all the property owners then owning land in the <br />proposed district; and (2) the proposed annual assessment is not higher than the <br />previous year's assessment other than increases due to an inflation factor, such as a <br />Page4of7 <br />