This article was updated on Jan. 25 to include Santa Barbara County’s response.
Lompoc Mayor Jenelle Osborne joined the Santa Barbara County 3rd District Supervisor race because she wanted to bring a different perspective to the table that elevates the voices and needs of mid-county residents, she told the Sun.
“It’s been two years with the incumbent, and we’ve been meeting regularly, and I’ve given a laundry list of things the county controls that we need in the community, and I just didn’t see that happening,” Osborne said.
Osborne is running against incumbent Joan Hartmann and financial business owner Frank Troise to represent the 3rd District—which now encompasses Lompoc, Buellton, Los Olivos, Ballard, Santa Ynez, Solvang, and Goleta after the 2021 redistricting process—in the March 5 primary election.
“There’s just been an ideology that so aligns with South County that it stops hearing what mid or North County is trying to accomplish,” Osborne said. “When you have an imbalance on the Board of Supervisors, you’re not a healthy county because of the decisions being made; you’re in lawsuits—whether that’s with AMR or ExxonMobil—for decisions that shouldn’t have been made the way they were made.”
Being sued forces the county to spend money and use resources inappropriately, she said and added that she hopes to help advocate for an economic plan that diversifies community economies—which helps them become more resilient in the face of disasters—and addresses commuting, quality of life, housing, and child care concerns.
“How do we reduce that commuter population so they’re not spending two hours a day outside of their community and create a work-life balance where jobs are in the community? Part of that is housing,” Osborne said. “You see a demand by the state and its impact on the communities, and a one-size-fits-all isn’t the solution.”
She said she wanted to see a respect for “organic growth” in communities that meets state guidelines and a better investment in current infrastructure rather than going out and acquiring more land.
Fellow candidate Frank Troise is also hoping to focus on Santa Barbara County’s economic growth. The current Santa Ynez resident founded SoHo Capital—a wealth management firm that focuses on technological development and climate sustainability. His main goal is to help steer the county away from what he said would be a $15 million to $20 million budget deficit over the next three to four years, he said.
Santa Barbara County disagreed with Troise’s assessment. Read more here.
“We had a total of 14 very specific budget proposal items, and we have presented five of them to the county. The five we presented will generate over $200 million in revenue to the county,” Troise said.
While Troise said addressing budget concerns will help other county issues, his other priorities include investing in public safety, creating a strong climate framework, and investing in more child care development.
Adding a Lompoc Tech Campus, investing in planning and development, promoting Lompoc space tourism, improving child care, and creating a new climate framework will help generate thousands of new jobs, accelerate delayed projects, increase tax revenue, and help the county transition to cleaner energy reliance, according to Troise’s budget breakdown.
“If either Jenelle [Osborne] or the incumbent came to us and [said], ‘We will do this, we agree with you that this is a road map to get us from point A to point B,’ I will drop out of the race,” Troise said. “This election should be over by March 5; there’s no reason this should continue to November.”
The budget proposal has been sent to each campaign, which were both evaluating it as of Jan. 12.
Incumbent Hartmann said that she’s helped keep the county on strong fiscal ground by investing in emergency preparedness and establishing local partnerships for further economic development in her district’s communities.
“We’ve developed, in partnership with SLO County, a comprehensive economic strategy and we’ve identified different areas where we think the Central Coast has a competitive advantage with the universities, community colleges, private sectors, and the military base,” Hartmann said. “Renewable energy technology and agricultural technology are all areas where we anticipate tremendous growth—including precision manufacturing and [artificial intelligence] and automated machinery.”
Hartman said she wouldn’t run for the supervisor seat after this cycle.
“After four or five more years I think it would be time to step aside,” Hartmann said.
If elected for a third time, Hartmann added that she would also prioritize emergency preparedness in the face of climate extremes, investing in “state-of-the-art facilities” to address homelessness in Lompoc and Isla Vista, mental health and recuperative care investments, addressing youth crime and violence through partnerships with local organizations, and supporting the recreation master plan’s development and its community benefits.
“We’re finally in the last lap. I’ve been working for two years to introduce myself to new constituents—60 percent or more are new to me,” Hartmann said. “As difficult as campaigns are, it’s nonetheless really good to go door-to-door and talk to people and hear what their concerns are.”
This article appears in Jan 18-28, 2024.