Buellton Mayor Holly Sierra hadn’t even handed over the gavel and she already had two new volunteer gigs lined up to fill her time.
Sierra stepped down as mayor Dec. 8 and leaves reluctantly but appreciative of her eight years as a council member and six additional years as mayor.
“I’ve been so lucky. I’ve just been so lucky to have been able to stay on council and help make a difference with the council members. It’s five people that do it, but in 14 years we’ve been able to accomplish so much. And it just feels so good,” she said.
On her first day as the former city mayor, Sierra met at the 24-acre Willemsen dairy property acquired by the city, a project she cited among her proudest accomplishments while serving on the council.
Part of the property’s house will become the new home for the Buellton Library, a cause close to her heart.
“This is what I’m going to work into,” she said. “I had told everybody I wanted to a couple of months. I just wanted a couple of months to relax and figure out what I wanted to do and I’m already on two committees.
“So much for that idea.”
She wants to revive the Friends of the Buellton Library and raise funds to help buy furniture for the library including chairs and to help relocate it from the its current home off Highway 246.
Plans call for seeking bids in early 2023 to create a parking lot with 125 spaces on land south of the house to reduce impacts on the neighborhood.
“We’re hoping to go to bid in March,” she said, catching herself. “I shouldn’t say we any more, should I? That’s going to be hard.”
Work on the house and parking lot should occur at the same time.
“So when school stops the kids have a place to come,” she said. “By the end of May — that’s what I’m hoping. It’s pushing it a little bit.”
Other parts of the house will become rooms to for meetings.. An old barn will host events. A horse riding organization and the Santa Ynez Valley Children’s Museum will make their homes at the site. Some of the land will allow for future expansion of the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Her second role has seen her added to the board of the Santa Ynez Community Community Outreach which operates the Buellton Senior Center and other programs.
“Those are the two nonprofits that mean the world to me,” she said. “They don’t get rid of me completely.”
Sierra served as Buellton’s postmaster for 12 years and collected comments and concerns from customers, sometimes passing it along to City Hall.
She retired from that job in 2016 after 30 years working for the U.S. Postal Service in the Lompoc and Santa Ynez valleys along with human resources at the Santa Barbara facility.
During her time on the council, the city switched to a directly-elected mayor, instead of rotating the role among council members.
She also pushed for term limits to be adopted, ironically becoming the first affected after three terms as mayor.
“Even though it got me, I still think terms limits are a good thing. I think it’s really important to get young blood and new blood,” she added.
As mayor, she filled roles on various regional panels including serving as a city alternate at the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments.
Her colleagues noted Sierra showed up having done her homework to prepare for those roles, which often required reading large packets of intormation.
“You’re someone who does all the work but you’re also someone who just brings a sense of good cheer and camaraderie and that’s much appreciated,” Third District County Supervisor Joan Hartmann said during the Dec. 8 LAFCO meeting.
“If you look at Buellton over the last 10 years it’s not same community it was a decade ago and a lot of that has to do with leadership from Holly,” said Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson.
Sierra has been replaced as mayor by a fellow council member, Dave King.
“Holly loves her community and she shows it in the tireless effort she has made as a councilmember and as the mayor for several terms,” King said. “I hope Holly remains a strong voice in our community. I know she will.”