As 2020 comes to an end, it’s time to look forward. This year was one of the most chaotic of any in my adult life. Hopefully, the problems caused by a disease pass by and we can return to what was normal before politicians got into the doctoring business.
In September 2017, the Lompoc City Council agreed to divide the city into four political districts; each would have the same number of registered voters and was the result of a citizen complaint on April 25, 2017, alleging that the California Voters Rights Act was being violated. It’s interesting to note that neither of the complainants has since applied to serve on any city commission nor have they run for office.
This year’s election completed the conversion to district representation, so the next logical step was to assure that each district had equal representation on the various commissions to which council members make direct appointments.
On Dec. 1, Mayor Jenelle Osborne initiated a council request to have a discussion on the issue. Councilman Victor Vega had been a very vocal advocate for encouraging people to run for office or serve on commissions, however he couldn’t bring himself to second or even third Osborne’s motion.
On Dec. 15, the city attorney provided a recommendation on how the City Council could proceed with revisions to the appointment method and structure of city commissions.
The discussion was spirited; Councilman Dirk Starbuck started the discussion by saying that “it’s hard to get people to come in for these commissions”; he was right because while the public often complains about government, few want to commit themselves to serve. But just because something is “hard” doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done.
Councilwoman Gilda Cordova spoke of her experience on the Economic Development Committee and said that she was discouraged by the way the council had disrespected her and other committee members’ input during joint council/committee meetings.
Maybe that’s why it’s hard to find people willing to serve. I have spoken with other commission members who resigned because of the same issue—their work and recommendations were ignored by the City Council.
Starbuck also pointed out that the districts will be changed in August 2021 once the census is completed. So it would mean that appointments made in the early part of the year may conflict with the geographic boundaries of the new council districts.
Councilman Jeremy Ball made the point that in his district he had at least two prospective applicants of various ethnic groups for several commissions. He also made the point that he expended considerable time and effort to connect with the people of his district and that allowed him to have a “hyper focus” on his district’s unique needs.
Mayor Osborne felt that aggressively seeking out commission applicants would give more people an opportunity to experience government and nurture a future council candidate pool, and having representatives from each district could lead to a more unified community. One way to make the process a little easier would be to reduce the number of commissions so that fewer people would be needed. The council should take this under advisement at a future meeting.
The mayor also suggested that if the council couldn’t find interested candidates, then perhaps a case could be made that the district representation system wasn’t working in a small community like Lompoc.
Councilman Vega pointed out that district representation was brought via threatened litigation and was not designed to unite the community but divide it—and that maybe it works in a large city but not in a city of about 19,000 registered voters. I can’t argue with that assessment.
However, I could not agree with his assertion that this effort was simply a power play to dominate the Planning Commission or any other commission. Maybe he should try to actively recruit applicants from the 1,500 people who voted for him in the 2018 election.
It should be noted that based on a spreadsheet provided by the city attorney, no one from Vega’s 2nd District serves on any direct appointment commission. If he really believed that more people should serve, why hasn’t he reached out to his constituents and encouraged them to apply for open positions in the last two years?
After a one-hour discussion, Mayor Osborne made the motion to convert to district representation for several of the commissions to be effective March 15, 2021. With only Councilmen Starbuck and Vega objecting, the motion passed 3-2.
Based on my own 23 years of experience serving as an appointed commissioner, I could tell you that if you choose to serve you will have a better understanding of how the city works. For example, if you served on the Utility Commission you would learn how utility fee rates are determined and just exactly how much work it takes to provide drinking water, power, waste removal, and all the other services of the city’s Utility Department.
I would urge you to apply for one of the several city commissions; vacancies will exist, and you can quickly find out what positions are open by checking the city clerk’s page and clicking on “advisory bodies”; this will lead you to the vacancies list and the application forms.
To sum this discussion up, it appears that the focus of the council has shifted to a new era in Lompoc politics by responding to legal requirements rather than going rogue.
Ron Fink writes to the Sun from Lompoc. Send your thoughts, comments, and opinionated letters to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 31, 2020 – Jan 7, 2021.