A steady stream of voters of all ages cast ballots at the Elwin Mussell Senior Center polling location on Park Avenue in Santa Maria last night, voting to elect city Planning Commissioner Etta Waterfield as the city’s newest council member.
Along with Waterfield—who won the majority with 34 percent (6,077 votes)—incumbent Jack Boysen (26 percent, or 4,540 votes) was also re-elected out of a pool of five candidates. A total of 17,698 votes were cast, according to the Santa Barbara County semi-official voting tally.
This was Waterfield’s second time running for City Council; she lost by two votes in 2012.
Waterfield attributes her success to fundraisers, a dynamic campaign team, and its manager Teresa Manchaca, whom she called “fascinating” and didn’t stick to normal strategies.
Waterfield campaigned on the promise of bringing more business and jobs to Santa Maria, where the unemployment rate currently sits at 8.5 percent, above the national average of 5.9 percent.
This is where the work starts, she said. As planning commissioner, she was responsible for development of land in the city. Her most recent accomplishment was streamlining the process of expanding the production capacity Zodiac Seat Shells, which is building a new plant on Skyway Drive.
“When businesses come to Santa Maria, the door is open,” she said.
Going hand in hand with development is a stronger public safety division, she said. As a councilmember, she wants to make sure revenues from Measure U (passed in 2012) go to hiring more firefighters and police officers.
This article appears in Nov 6-13, 2014.