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 website: www.countyofsb.org
Board of Supervisors
Roy Lee, First District 805.568.2186, roylee@countyofsb.org
Laura Capps, Second District, lcapps@countyofsb.org
Joan Hartmann, Third District (Santa Ynez Valley in this district), 805.568.2192. jhartmann@countyofsb.org
Bob Nelson, Fourth District, 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
C. Michael Cooney, 1st District, (805) 568-2000, Commissioner Contact: dvillalo@co.santa-barara.ca.us
Kate Ford, (Chair), 2nd District, (805) 896-2153, Commissioner Contact: dvillalo@co.santa-barara.ca.us
John Parke, 3rd District, (805) 452-8076, jhparke@icloud.com
Roy Reed, 4th district, (Vice Chair), (805) 568-2000, Commissioner Contact: dvillalo@co.santa-barara.ca.us
Vincent Martinez (Chair), 5th District, (805) 568-2000, Commissioner Contact: dvillalo@co.santa-barara.ca.us
County Administrator
Mona Miyasato
Website: www.countyofsb.org/ceo/
Director of Planning and Development
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 Website: www.cityofbuellton.com
City Council
David Silva, Mayor, david@cityofbuellton.com
John Sanchez, vice Mayor, ajs@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
Carla Mead, District 4, carla@cityofbuellton.com
Planning Commission
Shannon Reese, Chair
Brian Campbell, Commissioner
Kasey Kump, Commissioner
Marcilo Sarquilla, Commissioner
Vacant
City Manager, Scott Wolfe, scott@cityofbuellton.com
Planning Director, Andrea Keefer, andrea@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 of Solvang
Website: www.cityofsolvang.com
Solvang City Council
Mayor and City Council Members
- David Brown, Mayor – david.brown@cityofsolvang.com
- Mark Infanti, Councilmember District 1 mark.infanti@cityofsolvang.com
- Claudia Orona, Councilmember District 2– claudia.orona@cityofsolvang.com
- Louise Smith, Councilmember District 3 – louise.smith@cityofsolvang.com
- Elizabeth Orona, Councilmember District 4 – elizabeth.orona@cityofsolvang.com
Contact the Council
The City Council may be contacted as follows:
- By email at council@cityofsolvang.com
Solvang 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 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.
William Buelow, General Manager
Board of Directors:
- Robert Dunlap, Division 1
- Steve Jordan, sjjordan@syrwcd.com; Division 2
- Philip Carpenter, Division 3
- Larry Lahr, President, Division 4, (includes Buellton)
- J. Brett Marymee, Division 5, bmarymee@syrwcd.com (Includes Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Solvang)
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, Improvement District No. 1:
District 1: Mark Moniot, Mmoniot@syrwd.org
District 3: Philip Carpenter, pcarpenter@syrwcd.com
General manager, Paeter Garcia
Website: www.syrwd.org
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
Board of Trustees meets 3rd Tuesday of each month, 5:30 p.m.( Nov. – Mar.) and 6:30 p.m. (April – October). Meetings are held at the Water District office, 3622 Sagunto Street, Santa Ynez. See website for agendas.
Los Olivos Community Services District
Manager, Guy Savage
PO Box 345, Los Olivos CA 93441, 805-500-4098
Board of Directors
- Tom Fayram, President
- Tom Nelson, Director
- Lisa Palmer, Director
- Julie Kennedy, Director
- Greg Parks, Director
See website for contact information.
Santa Ynez Community Services District
1070 Faraday St., Santa Ynez, CA 93460, PO Box 667, Santa Ynez, CA 93460, 805-688-3008
General Manager, Loch Dreizler
Board of Directors
Frank Redfern, President
David Beard, Vice-President
Tina Padelford, Member
Brett Marymee, Member
Donald Kelleher, Member
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 8/24/2025