Boos erupted during a Buellton hearing after the conversation shifted from how to fill a City Council vacancy to second-guessing the outcome of November’s mayoral election.
“The only reason we’re doing this is because you didn’t do your four-year term, and that’s a fact,” 3rd District Councilmember John Sanchez told Mayor and former 4th District Councilmember David Silva at the Buellton City Council’s Jan. 23 meeting.
Sanchez then insinuated that many voters were unaware that Silva’s mayoral victory would lead to an empty seat on the City Council, otherwise they would have voted differently.
“I thought it was a stupid idea for you not to finish your four years because you didn’t fulfill your four-year promise, and I knew that we would have to do this. … If everybody knew that, it would have been a whole different deal,” Sanchez said. “A lot of people would have said, ‘I don’t want this kind of trouble. I don’t want to have these kinds of problems. I don’t want to have all this hoopla,’ because most people didn’t know that we were going to have to do this.”
The room was in a brief uproar after Sanchez’s comments triggered shouting from some members of the public in attendance.
“Let’s try to keep everybody civil, even when we don’t agree,” 2nd District Councilmember Elysia Lewis told the audience.
“That’s not a disagreement. That’s a fact,” Sanchez interjected, referring to his original comment to Silva about not completing his term as 4th District council member.
Silva fired back: “Your No. 1 goal seems to be to mitigate an election result you disagree with.”
Tensions were also high at the Buellton City Council’s prior meeting on Jan. 9, when the dais was split down the middle between two potential appointees to take the 4th District spot.
Silva and Lewis supported candidate Carla Mead, while Sanchez and 1st District Councilmember Hudson Hornick argued to appoint former Mayor Dave King, who lost his reelection campaign to Silva in November 2024.
Of the two, Mead—a Buellton resident and Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society board chair—was the only person to comply with Buellton’s direction for candidates to submit a formal letter of intent. The City Council agreed upon this application route in December 2024. Notices outlining the procedure were posted on the city’s website and social media pages.
“I would like to believe that we could put on our big-boy pants and hash this out. … I still maintain that King … is the best and most qualified candidate for this position,” Hornick said at the Jan. 23 meeting. “Twelve-hundred people in the city … voted for him [for mayor in November]. I’m also keenly aware that those 1,200 people did not all come from District 4, but still, it’s a significant number of people, … I would like to honor them.”
Silva said he struggled with Hornick’s and Sanchez’s insistent use of the November 2024 mayoral election as “a point of reference,” in deciding who will fill the council vacancy.
“I just want to make sure it’s clear what we’re discussing here is representation of District 4,” Silva said. “No one from Districts 1, 2, or 3 will vote in the representation of District 4.”
During public comment, Sean Newton, who identified as a resident of Buellton’s 4th District, expressed gratitude to King “for years of dedicated service,” but said his reinstatement on the council would create the “appearance of cronyism—particularly given the voters’ recent decision not to reelect Mr. King as mayor.”
After a 3-1 vote (with Silva dissenting), the Buellton City Council directed staff to prepare for a mail-in special election to determine who will take the 4th District seat. City Manager Scott Wolfe told the council that staff predicts the election will cost $35,000 or more, and the soonest it can take place is August.
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 9, 2025.