Dahl Stays on Toll Road Board After Deadlock

City Councilman Jim Dahl will remain as San Clemente's representative on the Toll Roads board, despite his inability to win support from a majority of council colleagues, officials said.

Dahl's status had been in limbo since the on the Transportation Corridor Agencies board.

Earlier this month, two councilmen, Bob Baker and Tim Brown, voted against Dahl's reappointment, saying they disagreed with his stance on the 241 toll road extension.

After an earlier plan was shot down by the state Coastal Commission, the TCA board decided to push the 241 forward in phases, starting with an initial extension stopping at the outskirts of San Juan Capistrano.

Baker worries the phased plan is a way to build momentum for the entire project, or to have traffic dump onto Avenida Pico, a plan both Dahl and Baker oppose.

"There needs to be some dissension up there," Baker said of the TCA board.

Two other City Council members supported keeping Dahl on the toll road board. That created a 2-2 tie, with Dahl unable to vote under conflict-of-interest laws that bar officials from voting themselves into posts that pay stipends.

The council was initially unsure how to resolve the issue. The city attorney looked into the matter and said, essentially, that a tie goes to the incumbent.

Because TCA has no term limits for its members, Dahl remains in the post unless someone else on San Clemente's City Council shows interest and is chosen by a council majority, the city attorney said.

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