Contact Your Elected Officials
Attend and Speak at Local Government Meetings
Write a Letter to Your Local Newspaper
U. S. Government
President: Donald Trump Website: www.whitehouse.gov
U.S. Congress
Senator Alex Padilla Website: www.padilla.senate.gov
Senator Adam Schiff Website: www.schiff.senate.gov
House of Representatives, 24th Congressional District Representative Salud Carbajal Website: http://www.carbajal.house.gov
State of California Government
Governor: Gavin Newsom, (916) 445-2841
State Senate, Monique Limon www.sen.ca.gov/limon
State Assembly, Gregg Hart www.assembly.ca.gov/hart
County of Santa Barbara Government
Santa Barbara County, 105 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101, website: www.countyofsb.org
Board of Supervisors
Roy Lee, First District 805.568.2186, roylee@countyofsb.org
Laura Capps, Second District, 805-568-2191, lcapps@countyofsb.org
Joan Hartmann, Third District (Santa Ynez Valley in this district), 805.688.5095, 805.568.2192. SY Valley office: 1745 Mission Dr, Solvang jhartmann@countyofsb.org
Bob Nelson, Fourth District, 805-346-8498, 511 Lakeside Pkwy, Santa Maria, 93455, bob.nelson@countyofsb.org
Steve Lavagnino, Fifth District, 805.346.8400 steve.lavagnino@countyofsb.org
Board of Supervisors meets Tuesdays at 9 a.m. Check County website for location and agendas.
County Planning Commission
- Steve Amerikaner, 1st District, (805) 568-2000, Commissioner Contact: amerikaners-cpc@countyofsb.org
- Kate Ford, (Chair), 2nd District, (805) 568-2000, Commissioner Contact: fordk-cpc@countyofsb.org
- John Parke, 3rd District, (805) 452-8076, jhparke@icloud.com
- Tony Guy, 4th district, (Chair), (805) 568-2000, Commissioner Contact: guyt-cpc@countyofsb.org
- Vincent Martinez, 5th District, (805) 568-2000, Commissioner Contact: martinezv-cpc@countyofsb.org
County Administrator
Jana Petersen, 805-568-3400, Contact: jpetersen@countyofsb.org
Website: www.countyofsb.org/ceo/
Planning and Development, 805-568-2000 (Santa Barbara), 805-934-6250 (Santa Maria) Director, Lisa Plowman
Website: www.sbcountyplanning.org
County Planning Commission meets 3 Wednesdays/month at 9 a.m. Central County Board of Architectural Review (CBAR) normally meets 2nd Friday at 9 a.m. Check planning website for dates, locations and agendas.
Santa Ynez Valley City Governments
City of Buellton
805.688.5177 Website: www.cityofbuellton.com
City Council
David Silva, Mayor, david@cityofbuellton.com
Hudson Hornick, Council Member, District 1, hudson@cityofbuellton.com;
Elysia Lewis, Council Member, District 2, elysia@cityof buellton.com
John Sanchez, District 3, ajs@cityofbuellton.com
Carla Mead, District 4, carla@cityofbuellton.com
Planning Commission
Shannon Reese, Chair
Brian Campbell, Commissioner
Kasey Kump, Commissioner
Marcilo Sarquilla, Commissioner
Vacant
Planning Director, Andrea Keefer, andrea@cityofbuellton.com
Associate Planner: Cara Miralles cara@cityofbuellton.com
City Council meets 2nd and 4th Mondays, 6 p.m. Planning Commission meets 1st and 3rd Thursdays, 6 p.m., unless cancelled. Both groups meet at 140 W. Hwy 246 behind the post office. See the City website for agendas and any notices of cancellation.
City Manager, Scott Wolfe, scott@cityofbuellton.com
City of Solvang
805-688-5575 Website: www.cityofsolvang.com
Solvang City Council
Mayor and City Council Members: council@cityofsolvang.com
- David Brown, Mayor – 805-326-9013 david.brown@cityofsolvang.com
- Mark Infanti, Councilmember District 1 805-697-6581 mark.infanti@cityofsolvang.com
- Claudia Orona, Councilmember District 2-805-697-6583 claudia.orona@cityofsolvang.com
- Elizabeth Orona, Councilmember District 3 – 805-325-9450 elizabeth.orona@cityofsolvang.com
- Louise Smith, Councilmember District 3 – louise.smith@cityofsolvang.com
Planning Commission
- Jack Williams, Chair
- Kief Adler, Vice Chair
- Aaron Petersen
- William Zigler
- Brandon Sparks-Gillis
Design Review Committee
- Esther Jacobsen Bates, Chair
- Richard Boyd, Vice Chair
- Melissa Bates
- Charlene Goetz
- Jennifer Johnson
- City Manager, Randy Murphy, randym@cityofsolvang.com
- Planning Manager, Rafael Castillo, rcastillo@cityofsolvang.com
- Assistant Planner, Lisa Schermann, lschermann@cityofsolvang.com
City Council meets 2nd and 4th Mondays, 6:30 p.m. Planning Commission meets 1st Monday, 6:00 p.m. Design Review Committee meets 3rd Thursday, 5:00 p.m. Meetings are held at the City offices, Oak and Second Street, Solvang
See the City website for agendas and any notices of cancellation. Agenda Center
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District
805-693-1156, 3669 Sagunto St., #101 (P.O. Box 719, Santa Ynez, CA 93460, Administers the 3 Santa Ynez River Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA)), Central GSA includes Buellton and Eastern GSA includes Solvang and Townships. Website: www.syrwcd.org
General Manager, William Buelow
Board of Directors:
- Robert Dunlap, Division 1, rdunlap@syrwcd.com
- Steve Jordan, Division 2, sjordan@syrwcd.com
- Philip Carpenter, Division 3, pcarpenter@syrwcd.com
- Larry Lahr, President, Division 4, (includes Buellton), llahr@syrwcd.com
- J. Brett Marymee, Division 5, bmarymee@syrwcd.com (Includes Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Solvang)
Meetings are held quarterly, 3rd Monday, 10:00 AM, Buellton City Council Chambers
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, ID#1
Improvement District No. 1 (ID#1): 805-688-6015, Website: www.syrwd.org, 3622 Sagunto St., Santa Ynez, provides water services for the eastern area of the Santa Ynez Valley
Board of Trustees
- Jeff Hozer, Division 1 Representative, zJholzer@syrwd.org
- Jeff Clay, Division 2 Representative, jclay@syrwd.org
- Nick Urton, Division 3 Representative, Nurton@syrwd.org
- Michael Burchardi, Division 4 Representative, mburchardi@syrwd.org
- Brad Joos, Trustee at Large, bjoos@syrwd.org
General manager, Paeter Garcia
Board of Trustees meets 3rd Tuesday of each month, 3:00 p.m. Meetings are held at the ID#1 Water District office, 1070 Faraday St., Santa Ynez. See website for agendas.
Los Olivos Community Services District
PO Box 345, Los Olivos CA 93441, 805-500-4098
Board of Directors (see website for board members and staff contact forms)
- Tom Fayram, Director
- Tom Nelson, Director
- Lisa Palmer, Director
- Julie Kennedy, President
- Greg Parks, Director
Manager, Guy Savage,
PO Box 3435, Los Olivos, CA 93441, 805-500-4098, Manages wastewater treatment for Los Olivos.
Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Wednesday at 6 PM at the Los Olivos Grange Hall. Website: losolivoscsd.com
See website for contact and agenda information.
Santa Ynez Community Services District
Manages wastewater treatment for the Santa Ynez Township
1070 Faraday St., Santa Ynez, CA 93460, PO Box 667, Santa Ynez, CA 93460, 805-688-3008, Website: sycd.com
Board of Directors
Frank Redfern, President
David Beard, Director
Tina Padelford, Director
Brett Marymee, Director
Donald Kelleher, Director
Regular meetings on 3rd Wednesday of the month, 5:30 PM at 1070 Faraday St., Santa Ynez
General Manager, Alexandra Griffith
Write a Letter to the Editor
It seems like “everyone” reads the Letters to the Editor, so it is a good way for your ideas to get attention. Here is the information you need to write a letter to the newspapers most widely available in the Santy Ynez Valley. We recommend using e-mail to transmit your letter.
- Santa Barbara Independent: 50-250 words, do not say anything about address and phone number. E-mail: letters@independent.com
- Santa Maria Sun: Maximum of 250 words. Include name, address and phone number. E-mail: letters@santamariasun.com
- Santa Maria Times: No longer than 300 words. Must include author’s full name, address and daytime phone number. E-mail: smtletters@santamariatimes.com
- Santa Ynez Valley News: No longer than 250 words. They require full name, address, daytime phone number. Only name and town are published. E-mail: mcooley@leecentralcoastnews.com
Information current as of 9/13/2026