• Santa Maria City Councilmember Mike Cordero will serve as Santa Maria’s mayor pro tem throughout 2020. Mayor Alice Patino nominated Cordero for the role during the council’s Dec. 17 meeting. The City Council unanimously approved the nomination. According a staff report for the meeting, the city’s mayor pro tem acts on the behalf of the mayor when the mayor is absent. This includes City Council meetings, as well as community events that the mayor is unable to attend. Councilmember Michael Moats served in this position throughout 2019. According to the staff report, the city has appointed council members to fill the position annually since 1999. Prior to that, a mayor pro tem’s term ran concurrent with the mayor’s term.
• During its meeting on Dec. 19, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) appointed new leaders on its board of directors. Second District County Supervisor Gregg Hart will serve as chair throughout 2020, while Buellton Mayor Holly Sierra will serve as vice chair. Hart served as vice chair throughout 2019, while Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino served as chair. Hart, who is a former deputy director with SBCAG, said in a news release that he understands the transportation and housing problems facing the county. “I will work hard with my board colleagues, SBCAG staff, and our partners to secure full funding to complete the [Highway] 101 widening project, expand rail service, increase funding for transit, bike, and pedestrian improvements and create new opportunities for affordable housing,” Hart said.
• Lompoc City Council has appointed an interim utility director after former director Brad Wilkie’s retirement. According to a staff report from the council’s Dec. 17 meeting, retiree George Morrow will fill the position until the city finds a permanent replacement. Wilkie began working for the city as its management services director in 2009, until becoming utility director in January 2019. Throughout his time as utility director, Wilkie was at odds with the council when it came to interpreting and implementing the city’s grease trap ordinance. According to his reading of the city’s state-approved sewer system management plan, all food service establishments within the city must have a grease trap. However, there’s a discrepancy between what’s outlined in the plan and what’s in the city’s municipal code, which states that restaurants are required to install a grease trap at the utility director’s discretion. City Council members expressed concerns over Wilkie not exercising this discretion when requiring businesses to comply with this ordinance. The council backed three business owners who appealed Wilkie’s determination that they must install grease traps during council meetings between June and August.
• On Dec. 23, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order extending price-gouging protections for numerous counties affected by wildfires in 2017 and 2018, including Santa Barbara and Ventura. These protections will remain in place throughout all of 2020. “Communities impacted by these wildfires … have indicated the need for price gouging protections to remain in place to enable them to fully recover because, for example, many rebuilding permits have not yet been submitted, much less approved, and in some instances local law enforcement agencies have had to resolve criminal liability relating to price gouging activity,” the order states.
This article appears in Jan 2-9, 2020.
