Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe issued the following statement today regarding the recent passing of the John Sanford Todd, Lakewood City Attorney and originator of the Contract City plan.

We have lost a local government pioneer. John was a visionary, and a mentor to so many of us. He was calm, cool, tough and had a great sense of humor. The Contract City plan, which John was instrumental in developing, became a civic model to dozens of future cities across Los Angeles County and the State of California. Even today the Contract Cities remain Los Angeles County’s largest customer of municipal services.