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, Gregg Hart www.assembly.ca.gov/hart
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
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 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. Check planning website for dates, locations and agendas.
Santa Ynez Valley City Governments
City of Buellton Website: www.cityofbuellton.com
City Council
David King, Mayor, davek@cityofbuellton.com
John Sanchez, vice Mayor, ajs@cityofbuellton.com
Hudson Hornick, Council Member, District 1, hudson@cityofbuellton.com
David Silva, Council Member, david@cityofbuellton.com
Planning Commission
Patty Hammel, Chair, pattyhammel@yahoo.com
Art Mercado, Vice-chair, artmercado2@msn.com
Laura Romano Defazio, commissioner, lauralei_762@msn.com
Shannon Reese, Commissioner, Shannon.m.reese@gmail.com
Marcilo Sarquilla, Commissioner, msarqui@yahoo.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 and City Council Members
- Mark Infanti, Mayor
- Elizabeth Orona, Mayor pro tem
- Claudia Orona, Councilmember – at large
- David Brown, Councilmember District 3
- Robert Clarke, Councilmember – at large
Contact the Council
The City Council may be contacted as follows:
- By email at council@cityofsolvang.com
Solvang Planning Commission
- Jack Williams, Chair
- Joannie Jamieson, Vice Chair
- Aaron Petersen
- Justin Rodriguez
- Kief Adler
City Manager, Brad Vidro, Interim City Manager, bradv@cityofsolvang.com
Planning and Community Development Director, Vacant
Planning Manager, Sophia Checa, scheca@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
Design Review Committee
David Cavanaugh, Chair
Esther Jacobsen Bates
Jennifer Dryden Hess
Christopher Lapp
Maryvonne Laparliere Martin
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, Improvement District No. 1
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
Brad Ross, Vice-President
Lisa Palmer, Director
Julie Kennedy, Director
Greg Parks, Director
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
Karen Jones, President
David Beard, Vice-President
Tina Padelford, Member
Bradlee Van Pelt, Member
Frank Redfern, 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 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