Noozhawk invited Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors candidates to answer questions about important local issues.
The June 2 primary election includes two county supervisor seats: the Fifth District, representing northern Santa Maria, Guadalupe and Tanglewood; and the Second District, representing the Eastern Goleta Valley, Isla Vista, UC Santa Barbara, and portions of Goleta and Santa Barbara.
Three candidates are running for the Fifth District seat to be vacated by Steve Lavagnino, who is not seeking another term.
The candidates are Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez, Cory Bantilan and Ricardo Valencia and they each submitted responses to Noozhawk’s Q&A.
Read Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez’s responses below. She appears on the June 2 ballot as Maribel Aguilera.
Read Ricardo Valencia’s responses here.
Read Cory Bantilan’s responses here.
Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez
Question: What do you think are the three most pressing issues the county faces over the next five years? How would you address these issues?
Aguilera-Hernandez: Affordability, public safety, and economic opportunity. Affordability comes first. The cost of living (housing, the energy to heat our homes and gas prices) is pushing working families out of our community. Working families in Santa Maria and Guadalupe are paying too much for the basics. As an attorney, I handle housing, land use, and business matters every week, so I know where state law protects tenants and where the county is leaving money and permits on the table. On the board, I will support policies that reduce regulatory burdens and push back on policies that drive up costs for residents and businesses. The county’s job is to make it easier for working families to live here, not harder.
Second, public safety. If you do not feel safe where you live, you do not have quality of life. During the last 3.5 years while I have served on the Santa Maria City Council, the city reduced crime by 32%. I plan to bring that same work ethic to the county level. I want work with other supervisors to reduce crime at the county level, support first responders with the resources they need, and improve service times for the County Fire Department through better technology and staffing.
Third, economic opportunity. We need to grow good-paying local jobs. The 5th District has several economic engines, and a supervisor’s job is to make sure they are all firing. Agriculture is the dominant employer and the cultural and economic identity of Santa Maria and Guadalupe. The county’s 2024 Crop and Livestock Report puts gross production at $2.01 billion, with strawberries alone accounting for $860 million, the top crop in the county. The vast majority of this acreage and processing sits in the Fifth District. More working families in Santa Maria and Guadalupe are employed in agriculture than in any other sector. I will defend our ag land and fight for water reliability so we can keep growing the crops that feed America.
We also need to build a workforce pipeline. I will create after-school programs that introduce Fifth District students to the skilled trades such as carpentry, electrical, plumbing, welding, and HVAC trades that keep agriculture and construction running.
These are head-of-household careers that pay well without a four-year degree. A kid in Santa Maria or Guadalupe should know that there is a real path from a hands-on training program to an apprenticeship, to a middle-class career — without taking on student debt. The county should partner with the high school districts, the building trades, Hancock College, and local employers to fund and expand these programs.
Small businesses are struggling with high costs and slow government. As a lawyer who represents small businesses, I see exactly where the county slows things down. I will push for a small-business ombudsman.
Looking ahead, the aerospace and supply-chain growth coming out of Vandenberg is an emerging opportunity that Santa Maria and Guadalupe should be positioned to capture.
Cutting red tape, investing in infrastructure, and treating job creators like partners is how we make Santa Barbara County a place where businesses grow.
Question: The current board is developing an oil and gas phaseout plan. Do you support this phaseout; why or why not?
Aguilera-Hernandez: I cannot support or oppose a plan that has not been released to the public by the Board of Supervisors. Working families deserve to know what is being considered before it is voted on by the supervisors.
I hope the plan includes a real effort to replace the hundreds of jobs held by working families whose income comes from the oil and gas industry, because that industry in the North County provides head-of-household jobs that, according to industry estimates, can pay $80,000 a year starting without a college degree.
The oil produced in the North County is used to make asphalt for the roads we drive on and the tires on our cars. We use these products every day. Energy policy is directly tied to affordability and jobs.
I am worried that phasing out local production without affordable alternatives in place will do three things: raise energy costs for families, push up the price of goods and services, and shrink the public revenue our county depends on for roads, parks, and public safety.
Any real phaseout plan must answer two questions. First, what replaces those jobs, and when? Second, what replaces that energy, and at what cost to families that are already on a tight budget for groceries and school supplies? If the plan does not answer both, it is not a real plan.
We all want to be responsible stewards of the environment, and we have to be honest about the tradeoffs. I support a balanced, realistic approach that protects jobs, keeps energy affordable, and ensures any transition is gradual, responsible, and driven by real alternatives — not mandates that push costs onto our families.
Question: What do you think is the county’s role facilitating and building new housing for local residents?
Aguilera-Hernandez: The county’s role is to get out of the way where possible and lead where necessary. That means four things.
First, streamline permitting beyond what the state is already doing, and cut unnecessary delays. Second, update zoning to allow more housing where it fits. Third, partner with builders and the skilled trades to actually increase supply. Fourth, make sure roads, sewer systems, and parks keep pace with growth so we are not approving homes we cannot serve.
Stick-built construction has remained the way we build homes for the last century, so the way we build homes has not changed. What has changed is the government permitting process to approve housing projects and regulations that are created by government. The biggest barrier I see to housing right now is not lack of demand; it is overregulation, delays, and cost. The county should focus on making it faster to build homes for young families while maintaining solid standards. Housing prices come down when supply goes up. It is basic supply and demand, the more homes available, the more sellers must compete for buyers, and the more affordable housing becomes.
As supervisor, I will push to streamline permitting for workforce housing and partner with housing agencies, the City of Santa Maria, and the City of Guadalupe to draw down state funding that is currently sitting unused. California has made significant housing dollars available.
Permits and subsidies alone will not get us there. I will work with homebuilders, the trades, and our local apprenticeship programs to bring affordability by design to the Fifth District. That means building homes that are affordable not because we subsidized them, but because we designed the cost out from the beginning. This means starter homes, smaller, well-built, energy-efficient units, and pre-approved plans that cut time off the entitlement process. Affordability by design is how we house our working families.
Question: What are the biggest infrastructure spending needs in your district over the next five years?
Aguilera-Hernandez: Roads and transportation come first because every working family in this district feels them every day. Black Road, the Betteravia (Road) corridor, and Highway 166 west toward Guadalupe all need real investment, not patch jobs. I’ll fight for our share of state and federal transportation dollars and make sure projects already programmed actually get built on schedule. When a parent sits in traffic instead of being home for dinner, when it takes first responders longer to arrive, that’s an infrastructure failure with a real cost.
Second, flood control and stormwater. The Santa Maria River runs through the Fifth District, and it has flooded within the last five years. We need real investment in levees, channels, and stormwater systems, coordinated across the cities, the county Flood Control District, and the Army Corps (of Engineers). The cost of prevention is a fraction of the cost of recovery, and the families who lose homes and businesses in a flood are rarely the families who can afford to rebuild.
Third, water. We need a delivery system that actually works at capacity. That means investing in pipes, pumps, treatment plants, and storage that move water from where it is to where people live and farm. Some of our distribution infrastructure is decades past its design life. If we don’t modernize the system, we’ll have water on paper and shortages in practice.
Fourth, broadband reliability, particularly in Guadalupe. In 2026, broadband is infrastructure. A kid who can’t do homework, a small business that can’t process payments, a senior who can’t reach a telehealth appointment are not luxuries we can defer. Guadalupe deserves the same connectivity that Santa Barbara and Goleta take for granted, and state and federal funding is available right now to close that gap. The county’s job is to apply for it, draw it down, and deliver.
Across all four, my approach is the same: read the documents, look at the data, ask hard questions, and follow through until shovels hit the ground.
Question: How should the county respond to federal immigration enforcement operations affecting local communities?
Aguilera-Hernandez: Agriculture is the backbone of the Fifth District’s economy, and the people whose labor supports agriculture are our neighbors. The men and women who pick our strawberries in the early morning chill, who prune our grapes in the cold of winter, and who pack our broccoli and cauliflower no matter the weather — they are the reason our agricultural economy flourishes. Many live in Santa Maria, Guadalupe, and throughout the Fifth District. I know those people. My parents and I worked with them in the strawberry fields, and I am no stranger to their world.
Immigration policy is set in Washington, not here in Santa Barbara County. What our agricultural workforce needs is federal reform, a path to legal status for experienced workers who have spent years in our fields, and a workable visa program for the next generation.
The county must operate within state and federal law. The California Values Act provides that county resources cannot be used to assist federal civil immigration enforcement, while authority on immigration remains federal and the county cannot obstruct lawful enforcement. The county must be sensitive to the needs of all residents regardless of immigration status while following the law as written — no more, no less.
Within those boundaries, the county has an obligation to provide an environment free from fear; the kind of fear that prevents victims from reporting crimes, that prevents parents from taking their children to school or to the doctor.
Santa Barbara County must work with our growers, farmworker advocates, and our state and federal representatives toward the comprehensive reform this district has needed for decades. I grew up in this community. I worked in these fields with my family.
The county’s obligation is to follow the law and keep people safe, secure, and free from fear. That is how we sustain North County agriculture and the working families who are part of this district.
These answers have been lightly edited for style and formatting.
More Election Coverage
Read Ricardo Valencia’s responses here.
Read Cory Bantilan’s responses here.
Noozhawk’s Q&As with Second District Supervisor candidates will be published Wednesday, May 6.
Read more about local candidates and issues in Noozhawk’s Elections section.
