City of Solvang voters will have two options on their mayoral ballot: incumbent Mayor David Brown and Denise El Amin.
Brown focused more on economic drivers and the city’s tourism brand, while El Amin focused on “ethics first” and an overhaul of city management, they told Noozhawk.
Brown, the current mayor, has been a Santa Ynez Valley resident since 1991. He has a background in farming, mortgage financing and real estate. He joined Solvang City Council in 2022 and became mayor in 2024.
Having been on many nonprofit and for-profit organization boards, he sees his role of mayor as a chairman and tries to promote gratitude and hospitality.
“It doesn’t matter to me if you’re mayor, city manager, department head, front desk — everybody has the same title: We’re all concierge,” Brown said.
El Amin has lived in Solvang for 12 years and has had family in the area her whole life. She has had a 30-year career at AT&T, where she served as a union representative and labor negotiator.
El Amin emphasized that she believes public office must serve community needs rather than personal benefits.
“When you run for office, you should be running to help the people in the community,” El Amin said. “If you have any other reason that you’re running, then you should not be running.”
Solvang’s Growth and Boundaries
Brown discussed his strategy to expand Solvang’s urban growth boundary and sphere of influence to meet the state-mandated housing requirements. He said it’s important for any housing to match the city’s aesthetics.
“If we were not compliant with our housing element, somebody could come in and say, ‘I’m going to do a builder’s remedy on that site and go up seven stories,’” Brown said. “What would that do to our downtown in our storybook aesthetics? It would decimate it.”
El Amin criticized past councilmembers for failing to meet state planning deadlines four years ago, which she believes gave away Solvang’s local control.
She is advocating for improving public communication and focusing on small, immediate projects rather than decades-long master plans.
“I would like to see Solvang take care of short, quick, easy, accessible projects versus putting a lot of time into something that’s 35 years away,” El Amin said. “They need to be more transparent to the residents on where our money is being spent.”
City Administration and Strike
El Amin spoke critically of City Manager Randy Murphy and compared his management style to a homeowners association that favors contract workers over staff.
She spoke against pay increases for Murphy and other administrators, considering the employee labor strike over pay that ended earlier this month.
“The city workers were really just slapped in the face when they found out how much the management team received versus them receiving,” El Amin said. “Randy Murphy seems to think that (workers make a living wage), but then he gets 20- to 40-percent raises.”
Brown defended the city’s negotiation efforts during the strike as fair and market-aligned, and said paying above market value would be an irresponsible use of taxpayers’ money.
He argued that union leadership had overpromised its members and maintained his position as an elected official to manage the public funds.
“I’m a steward of the resources we have, and I’m also held accountable to taxpayers not to pay more than the market,” Brown said. “Hence, I believe our offers have been fair.”
The city and striking employees reached an agreement Oct. 14 to end the work stoppage. Details of that agreement have not been made public as of publication.
District 3 and District 4 City Council Elections
District 3 City Council member Louise Smith is running unopposed. Smith is focused on infrastructure upgrades such as improving roads and the city’s wastewater treatment plant. She also wants to balance small-town preservation with Solvang’s tourism-heavy economy.
“Everyone I talk to, all the visitors I talk to, they’re just saying that this is an incredible town, and I just want to keep it magical,” Smith said.
Elizabeth Orona is running unopposed for a second term in District 4. In her district, which is entirely residential, she is focused on fiscal discipline, firewise safety protections and affordability, on top of the multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects coming.
“Significant decisions will get made in the next four years that will define Solvang for the next 20 years, and that’s what I want to work on,” Orona said.
Read more about candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot in Noozhawk’s Voter Guide.
