Imagine spending all that time to get to elected board, rallying enough support to overcome inertia, spending all that time making a change in the system that is productive, and staff and the lawyers not bothering to do the backend.
The elected government unit is what its board says it is, its charter is up to itself. That the paperwork did not make the state capital, is something the staff should be fired for. That nobody at the state saw the news in the paper and flagged the process is why California state government needs to be split into 7 to 10 new states.
Not bothering...
Or deliberately sabotaging?