The third time seems to be the charm for Jim Mosby.
“I think people wanted change; nearly 70 percent of the people voted for change,” the former Lompoc City Council member and mayoral candidate told the Sun. “There’s a lot of things that we were doing before that we need to bring back; we need to make sure that City Hall is working for the people, and lately it’s been working in the other direction.”
Mosby challenged incumbent Jenelle Osborne again this year, after losing to Osborne in 2018 and again in 2022. This time around, the two longtime opponents were joined by newcomer and People’s Self-Help Housing Portfolio Manager Lydia Perez.
According to preliminary election results, Mosby was leading with 5,166 votes (39.9 percent of the vote); and Osborne was trailing by 1,010 votes with 4,156 ballots cast for her (32.1 percent). Perez garnered 3,577 votes (27.6 percent). Santa Barbara County’s results must be certified by Dec. 5.
Osborne told the Sun in a statement that she’s proud of the accomplishments she’s achieved in her time serving on the City Council, including replenishing the general fund reserve to more than $8 million, replacing outdated equipment for first responders, and restoring “respect and decorum to the council, staff, and public at council meetings.”
“It has been an honor to serve Lompoc for the past 12 years from the Economic Development Committee to City Council and as mayor the past six years,” Osborne said in the statement. “I leave the incoming mayor and new council the opportunity to build on that success. Unfortunately, I fear a reprisal of the distrust of government, staff, and each other will set the community back once more with the return of the incoming mayor to the council.”
Osborne said in a previous interview that there wasn’t a level of respect or compromise when Mosby was on the dais, and a level of decorum returned once he lost his seat.
“I hope I am proven wrong, but it is on each and every resident to attend council meetings and voice concerns in person for any accountability,” she said in the statement.
Perez told the Sun in a statement that running for mayor “has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
“This campaign was never just about one race or one role—it was about Lompoc and the people, our shared hopes, and the work we must do to build a stronger, more inclusive future,” Perez said in the statement. “I’m proud to share that I’ve been appointed to the board of directors for the Lompoc Youth Center, and I’ve already begun applying for city commissions and committees where I can continue to contribute meaningfully.”
Based on preliminary election results, men will make up Lompoc’s entire dais next term, with 1st District Councilmember Gilda Aiello (formerly Cordova) stepping down and former Planning Commissioner Steve Bridge leading the race, and 4th District Councilmember Jeremy Ball running unopposed this term.
Aiello told the Sun in a previous interview that she stepped down after facing “a few unfair attacks brought on by a group of individuals who wanted to have me removed,” including Bridge. In her public campaign page on Facebook, she said that this group of residents accused her of tax fraud, living outside the district, and using her position on City Council to leverage the property she owned.
Bridge denied Aiello’s allegations in a previous interview. He now leads the 1st District race against Patrick Wiemiller, Lompoc’s city administrator. As of Nov. 25, Bridge earned 63.6 percent of the vote (2,409 votes) and Wiemiller garnered 36.1 percent of the vote (1,367 votes).
Along with the changing dais, Ken Adam Park is slated for change. More than 6,800 people (54.3 percent) voted to convert the 82 acres of city-owned land into a space education center. Votes against the conversion trailed behind by more than 1,000 votes (5,797 ballots and 45.7 percent of the vote).
Perez and Osborne both previously opposed the proposal to convert Ken Adam Park into a space-themed education center, but Mosby supported the conversion because it’s slated to bring in an estimated 300 to 400 jobs to the community.
“I think we need to not talk about growth, but get the growth happening. We’ve had little to no development in this town; we’ve been stagnant,” Mosby said. “This is one of the projects that can help stop that trend.”
This article appears in Nov 28 – Dec 8, 2024.
