Contact Your Elected Officials
Attend and Speak at Local Government Meetings
Write a Letter to Your Local Newspaper
U. S. Government
President: Joseph Biden Website: www.whitehouse.gov
U.S. Congress
Senator Alex Padilla Website: www.padilla.senate.gov
Senator Diane Feinstein Website: www.feinstein.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, Steve Bennett www.assembly.ca.gov/bennett
County of Santa Barbara Government
Santa Barbara County website: www.countyofsb.org
Board of Supervisors
Das Williams, First District 805.568.2186, dwilliams@countyofsb.org
Gregg Hart, Second District 805.568.2191, ghart@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 agenda.
County Administrator
Mona Miyasato
Website: www.countyofsb.org/ceo/
Director of Planning and Development
Lisa Plowman
Website: www.sbcountyplanning.org
Director of Long Range Planning,
Dan Klemann, Deputy Director
Website: www.longrange.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., Solvang Municipal Courtroom, 1745 Mission Drive, Solvang. Check planning website for dates, locations and agendas.
Santa Ynez Valley City Governments
City of Buellton Website: www.cityofbuellton.com
City Council
Holly Sierra, Mayor, hollys@cityofbuellton.com
Ed Andrisek, eda@cityofbuellton.com
David King, davek@cityofbuellton.com
Elysia Lewis, elysia@cityofbuellton.com
John Sanchez, ajs@cityofbuellton.com
City Manager, Scott Wolfe, scott@cityofbuellton.com
Planning Director, Andrea Keefer, andrea@cityofbuellton.com
City Council meets 2nd and 4th Thursdays, 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: Charlie Uhrig, Charlie.Uhrig@cityofsolvang.com
Mayor Pro-Tem: Claudia Orona, Claudia.Orona@cityofsolvang.com
Mark Infanti, Mark.Infanti@cityofsolvang.com
Robert Clarke, robert.clarke@cityofsolvang.com
Jim Thomas, Jim.Thomas@cityofsolvang.com
City Manager, Xenia Bradford xeniab@cityofsolvang.com
Planning and Community Development Director, Vacant
City Council meets 2nd and 4th Mondays, 6:30 p.m. Planning Commission meets 1st Monday, 6:00 p.m. Design Review Committee meets 2nd Thursday, 6:00 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, Improvement District No. 1
Website: www.syrwd.org
Board of Trustees
Jeff Hozer, Division 1 Representative
Jeff Clay, Division 2 Representative
Lori Parker, Division 3 Representative
Michael Burchardi, Division 4 Representative
Brad Joos, Trustee at Large
General Manager, Paeter Garcia
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
PO Box 345, Los Olivos CA 93441, 805-500-4098
Board of Directors
Tom Fayram, President
Lisa Palmer
Julie Kennedy
Mike Arme
Brian O’Neill
Santa Ynez Community Services District
1070 Faraday St., Santa Ynez, CA 93460, PO Box 667, Santa Ynez, CA 93460, 805-688-3008
General Manager, José Acosta
Board of Directors
Karen Jones, President
Bob D’Ambra
Bradlee Van Pelt
Frank Redfern
David Beard
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 Barbara News-Press: no longer than 250 words, no more than 1 every 30 days, writer’s address and telephone number. Must be exclusive to SBNP. E-mail: voices@newspress.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 2/15/2021