More than 50 people will be appointed to special district governing boards in lieu of election during a special Tuesday meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
This includes two specific groups:
» People appointed to special district board seats in which the number of candidates who filed for the Nov. 8 election didn’t exceed the number of seats
» People appointed to board seats in which no candidates filed for the Nov. 8 election initially
There are additional off-ballot races from the election, but Tuesday’s actions are just for special district governing boards.
The County Elections Office is still counting ballots from the election nearly two weeks ago, and winners of on-ballot races will be sworn in later this year or early 2023. Election results will be certified by Dec. 8.
Six seats on the Montecito Water and Sanitary district boards are being filled by appointment in lieu of election.
Four years after candidates for both boards waged competitive, expensive campaigns to win seats as a “Water Security Team” slate, they encountered no challengers.
That includes Ken Coates, Brian Goebel and Cori Hayman on the water board and Woody Barrett on the sanitary board.
Gary Fuller, the only nonslate candidate to win a sanitary board seat in 2020, quit earlier this year over what he said were concerns with the district’s public meeting compliance.
Phillip Hogan, who was appointed to fill Fuller’s seat, was the only one who filed for a seat and will be appointed to a full term. J. Carter Ohlmann, a UC Santa Barbara research oceanographer, is the only qualified applicant to finish Hogan’s partial term and will be appointed to the seat Tuesday.
Between the 2020 election campaign and April of this year, 12 employees quit the Montecito Sanitary District, including two general managers and two attorneys. The Montecito water and sanitary districts have funded studies to evaluate merging the two agencies.
The following special district board candidates will be appointed Tuesday in lieu of election and take office Dec. 2, according to the Elections Office:
Carpinteria Sanitary District: Lindal “Lin” Graf and Michael “Mike” Modugno
Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District: John Nicoli, Lisa Guravitz and Jena Jenkins
Carpinteria Valley Water District: Matthew T. Roberts for Division 1, Kenneth “Casey” Balch for Division 3, and Shirley Johnson for Division 5
Cuyama Community Services District: Terri Cox
Embarcadero Municipal Improvement District: Holly McCord Duncan and Tom Menna
Goleta Sanitary District: Jerry D. Smith for Division 2 and Steven T. Majoewsky for Division 3
Goleta Water District: Thomas C. Evans for District 1
Goleta West Sanitary District: Craig Geyer, Bob Thomas and Eva Turenchalk
Lompoc Valley Medical Center: Leslie Kelly, Christopher G. Lumsdaine and Elham Novin-Baheran
Los Alamos Community Services District: Pete Kopcrak and Barbara Landon
Montecito Sanitary District: Ellwood “Woody” T. Barrett II and Phillip J. Hogan
Montecito Water District: Kenneth J. Coates, Brian C. Goebel and Cori Hayman
Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District: Keith C. Hadick for Division 3 and Casey Conrad for Division 6
Santa Ynez Community Services District: David Patrick Beard and Bettina “Tina” Padelford
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District: Cynthia A. Allen for Division 1, Art Hibbits for Division 4 and J. Brett Marymee for Division 5
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District Improvement District No. 1: R. Brad Joos, Jeff Clay for Division 2 and Nick Urton for Division 3
Summerland Sanitary District: Jolene M. Colomy and James L. Witmer
Vandenberg Village Community Services District: Steven W. Heuring and Ronald Stassi
Special District Boards With No Declared Candidates
There were seven special districts that had no one file a declaration of candidacy for the Nov. 8 election.
In these cases, the Elections Office worked with district managers to see if board members or staff knew any qualified individuals interested in serving, did outreach through supervisors’ offices, and put out recruitment news releases.
These are the qualified applicants who will be appointed Tuesday in lieu of election, according to the Elections Office:
Casmalia Community Services District (short terms): Filemon Meza and William Ostini
Cuyama Community Services District: Karen Adams and Malcolm Victor Ricci for short-term seats, Jacon Evans Eddy for a term ending in 2026
Cuyama Valley Recreation District (short terms): Kim Marie Eichert, Maria Medina and Laura Edith Price. No applicants for two four-year terms.
Embarcadero Municipal Improvement District: Filip Defoort
Mission Hills Community Services District: James W. Keeling and Matthew Franklin Starbuck
Montecito Sanitary District (short term): J. Carter Ohlmann
Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District, Division 5: no applicants
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.