Before stepping out of the Solvang City Council’s March 23 meeting, Mayor David Brown playfully handed his gavel to Councilmember Louise Smith.
“We’re going to need it,” Smith joked, followed by some laughs on the dais, including from Brown.
As the council’s mayor pro tem, Smith didn’t resort to gavel-slamming at the hearing—which Brown recused himself from—despite some instances of city officials speaking over one another.
The topic of discussion: a new independent mobile phone app developed by Mayor Brown that prompted Councilmember Elizabeth Orona to voice conflict of interest concerns at the council’s previous meeting on March 9.
She described the app as creating “a number of gray areas” by promoting specific businesses in town that pay Brown a monthly $250 fee to be featured. The council member then asked Solvang’s legal advisors to send Brown a cease and desist letter.
“Staff did some investigation between now and then, though it was a quick turnaround,” City Attorney Chelsea O’Sullivan told the council on March 23. “Staff’s not making a recommendation on whether to [issue a cease and desist], but we brought forward the information that we thought relevant for the City Council’s consideration of that potential action. Happy to take any questions.”
According to the staff report, Brown reached out to the city attorney back in December 2025 to request advice on any potential conflicts of interest he should be aware of while operating his new app business venture, Solvang Passport.
“That confidential legal advice has since been provided to the City Council under separate cover,” the report states. “In this case, the potential statutory conflicts seem to be manageable. … Ultimately, the mayor is personally responsible for determining whether he has a conflict of interest, whether he can be impartial, or whether he must recuse himself from a decision.
“And, just like any other city official,” the report continues, “the mayor would face personal liability for any future failure to comply with applicable conflict of interest rules, including failing to recuse when required under state law.”
One of the featured businesses on Brown’s new app, which encourages users to rack up points toward rewards by scanning QR codes at the different destinations it highlights, is the Solvang Trolley Ice Cream Parlor—co-owned by Councilmember Claudia Orona (no relation to Elizabeth).
While commenting on Brown’s voluntary recusal from the Solvang Passport discussion, Elizabeth asked staff if Claudia should also recuse, with caution to “a possibility of bias that might present itself.”
“OK, first of all, it is up to each individual council member to decide whether they have a potential bias or conflict of interest or not,” Claudia said, “because each individual council member [is] the one that’s going to take the heat, the fines, the public scorn, and the potential repercussions from the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).
“That being said, personally, I think [the app] doesn’t represent any financial gain to me whatsoever,” she continued. “If anything, it’s cost me an ice cream cone that I have to give out for free.”
Elizabeth then asked Claudia: “Did you receive anything of value via representation on his application?”
“That is debatable,” Claudia responded, “because if it cost me giving away an ice cream cone that somebody was willing to pay for until they saw the QR code on the thing, then no, it did not drive anything of value.”
Councilmember Smith asked staff if the council could request that Brown “slow down” or pause from further managing Solvang Passport until the council has had more conversations and clarity about the issue.
City Attorney O’Sullivan said that council members could express any specific concerns in a letter to Brown, but “going farther to tell him to stop doing his business, I caution the council from doing that.”
After Elizabeth suggested that the council consider amending the city’s internal ethics policies, specifically regarding rules about self-reporting conflicts of interest, Claudia said that’s exactly why there are already FPPC protocols in place.
“If we think that a public official is not doing something right, anybody can file a complaint,” Claudia said. “There are institutions that deal with this. … That’s what the [FPPC] does. We already have the tools to deal with this sort of thing.
“[If] you think he’s doing something wrong, file a complaint,” she told Elizabeth. “They’ll do the investigation. They’ll do all the work for you.”
This article appears in March 26 – April 2, 2026.