The Santa Maria City Council had at least one surprise during its March 3 meeting—and no, it’s not that the council isn’t forming an ad hoc immigration committee.
One of the council members resigned 11 minutes into the meeting.
Why? Well, Carlos Escobedo said he’s moving out of his district and didn’t feel right sticking around. So, he quit, dumbfounding his about-to-be-former colleagues on the dais and the city attorney before walking out of the room.
This is the same Escobedo who was so cryptic in the last meeting when he spoke about the potential ad hoc committee. Is this one of the things he was talking about finally making a decision on? Is this what he meant when he said people weren’t going to like what he had to say?
Was his upcoming move such a surprise he couldn’t warn anyone? Like he found out before he walked into the meeting that day and the moving truck was waiting outside … or did something else happen?
Inquiring minds want to know. Like mine. I have so many questions.
And because he left, the ad hoc committee on immigration was a non-starter, thanks to a split 2-2 vote with Mayor Alice Patino and Councilmember Gloria Flores dissenting.
“After five months, are you kidding me?” someone from the peanut gallery said.
No jokes here. Patino and Flores also gave Escobedo a standing ovation as he walked out the door, which did not hit him on the behind.
You know who’s not getting a standing ovation? Solvang Mayor David Brown. His nifty new mobile phone app, Solvang Passport, is causing consternation on his dais.
Solvang Councilmember Elizabeth Orona brought up the app during the March 9 meeting to say that it could cause the mayor to have conflict of interest concerns due to the way Solvang Passport makes revenue. Participating businesses pay $250 a month to be included on the app’s scavenger-style hunt for stamps at the respective businesses.
“Can our businesses be sure that the mayor is acting on the public’s behalf … ,” she said before the city attorney interrupted her, “ … or those who are participating in his model.”
City Attorney Chelsea O’Sullivan warned Orona about speaking too much about the unagendized item. Orona wanted to have the city go so far as to send Brown a “decease and refrain” order, “to avoid a number of gray areas of potential conflict.”
O’Sullivan said that was a no-go. So Orona then asked her fellow council members if they would join her in directing staff to agendize an item on the topic—and the majority did (with Brown recusing himself, of course). That whole recusal thing is what Orona said she’s most concerned about.
“In his role as making key decisions, it will be disruptive for us as a … functioning council to have him constantly recuse himself from key decisions,” she said.
Think about it: Any four-person governing body needs a fifth to help make controversial decisions. That ad hoc committee vote is the perfect example: without a tiebreaker, it was 2-2.
But if you get 10 stamps at the Solvang Trolley Ice Cream Parlor you get a free single scoop of ice cream.
The Canary likes free things. Send ice cream samples to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in March 12, 2026 – March 19, 2026.