What looked just a few short weeks ago like potentially full local election ballots, is now marked by a lack of interest, as seats in all three Estero Bay Communities are going largely unchallenged, with a few garnering no interest at all.
No Contests in Morro Bay
Morro Bay’s three offices — mayor and two city council seats — won’t be contested this election, as no one stepped up to challenge Mayor Carla Wixom, nor the council seats — due to incumbents Jen Ford and Laurel Barton not seeking re-election — so the two businessmen who did apply — Jeff Eckles and Bill Luffee — will win seats in walkovers.
That is unless someone signs up to be a write-in candidate. But if readers are contemplating such a toe dip into politics the clock is ticking down quickly.
“The Elections Code,” City Clerk Dana Swanson explained, “provides a process for write-in candidates, whereby they can file a statement of write-in candidacy to the elections official [City Clerk] that includes the candidate’s name, residence address, declaration stating they are a write-in candidate, title of the office for which they are running, and the election date.
“The elections official would then issue nomination papers,” Swanson added, “and they would be required to collect signatures of at least 20 registered voters in the City of Morro Bay, same as during the regular nomination period.”
There are deadlines to meet. “The statement and completed nomination papers,” Swanson said, “must be made available on the 57th day prior to the election (Sept. 9) and must be filed by 14 days prior to the election (Oct. 22).”
That write-in candidate will, of course, not be listed on the ballots but Wixom, Eckles and Luffee will be there, that’s because there is still the issue of Measure A-24 to be decided.
Asked to comment on the gimme win, Luffee said, “Yes, I was disappointed that more people did not step up and a bit surprised. Given that they did not want to deal with the controversial energy projects or are satisfied with current Council and potential ones they decided to stay quiet.”
Eckles had similar sentiments. “A challenging political environment,” he said, “and three well received candidates resulted in a non-contested election. I am honored and humbled that I will have the opportunity to represent the citizens of Morro Bay and help chart a course forward for the city.”
Wixom too was asked about the easy win. I’m not sure why,” she said. “I hope in part that the community has faith in the job that I have been doing the past two years. We have worked hard to garner consensus and work collaboratively for the good of all the community.”
She acknowledged there are some big issues on the horizon. “We have very large-scale issues facing our community,” she added, “and perhaps, the time commitment that that requires factored into someone’s willingness to commit at this time. I also look at politics at a national and state level, where I think many of us see the divisiveness and that too may be a factor.”
Charged Battery Issue
Morro Bay probably won’t see a contested election for its representatives on the council, but the election does contain one sure-fire, hot button issue.
Measure A-24 is a citizen’s initiative that would lock in the existing zoning on the waterfront — from Beach Street north to Morro Rock — especially the power plant property.
The power plant was re-zoned from industrial to visitor-serving/commercial when the City updated its General Plan and Local Coastal Program, the main planning documents that set the zoning and other important guidelines on future development projects.
Since the General Plan/LCP was finished, power plant owners Texas-based Vistra Energy applied to build a 600-megawatt Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on part of the plant property. To do so, Vistra needs to change the zoning back to industrial.
That project has stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition mostly from a group calling itself “Citizens for Estero Bay Preservation,” which drafted the initiative, gathered petition signatures and qualified it for the November Ballot.
There are also many folks and business interests in town who support the project, and Vistra has been doing its part to try and allay the fears of residents, holding several community meetings to discuss everything from the technology to the fire risk and in the future and perhaps most-importantly, community benefits.
Indeed, the City is currently looking for a consultant to handle the benefits negotiations between the company and the City, seeking to get the best deal it can from a project. Whatever community benefits that go to the city and in turn the citizens will be through some sort of development agreement.
But ultimately the final decision could fall into the laps of State agencies, namely the Energy Commission and Coastal Commission.
Ghosts of Elections Past
In the past, especially on the three tries it took to finally form a Community Services District, Los Osos had plenty of folks stepping up to take a leadership role on the CSD’s Board of Directors.
But today, for the second straight election, it will have to appoint people to fill seats, after no one applied to run for two offices.
There were two seats open — Div. 3 (Area 3) and Div. 5 and neither of the incumbents decided to give it another go.
Area 3 Director currently is Troy Gatchell, and Area 5 Director is Board President Marshall Ochylski.
Area 3 is located on the east and southeast side of town; and Area 5 includes the area along Santa Ysabel and the northeast part of town.
As Los Osos CSD has used a district-style election model since 2021, candidates for a particular Area seat are supposed to live in that district. Both seats are 4-year terms.
General Manager Ron Munds, commented, “The Board will appoint people to the two seats; there will be an application period, still to be determined, for interested parties. We are working with the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office to get the timeline and deadlines.
“We will be discussing the appointing process at our September Board meeting [Sept. 5],” he added. “Wish I had more details but that’s what I know so far. For now, applicants must live in the District [either 3 or 5] to be eligible.”
No Races in Cambria, too
Cambria CSD will not have elections as no challengers to the three incumbents on the ballot stepped forward.
That means Harry Farmer, Karen Dean and Tom Gray will all be re-appointed to their positions by the board, of which they make up the majority.
Same goes for the Cambria Community Healthcare District Board, as three incumbents there too will be re-appointed.
The three are Cecelia Montalvo, Bruce Mumper, and Igor Fedoroff.
One Race for School District
The San Luis Coastal Unified School District had three seats open but will only have one contested, as incumbents Chris Ungar and Brian Clausen will be re-appointed.
The single contested race is between incumbent Eve Hinton and challenger, Erica Flores Baltodano. Hinton represents Dist. 6, which covers the eastern and southeastern portions of San Luis Obispo, stretching from Sinsheimer School out past Los Ranchos beyond the SLO County Airport.
One Race for CSD
One of three open seats on the board of the Cayucos Sanitary District will be contested, as no one stepped up to challenge for the other two against long-time incumbents Bob Enns or Hannah Miller.
However, Incumbent Michael Shopshear will face challenger, Justin Smith.
Enns will be re-appointed to a seat he’s had since 1991.
The Elementary District Board is a different matter, as both seats there will be contested.
In Trustee Area 4, retired Cayucos and Coast Union School Superintendent, Scott Smith will face off against Pete Schuler and in TA-5, Dan Puett will challenge incumbent Susan Brownell.
Districts a Bust?
With another lackadaisical turnout for local races, the question arises if district voting is useful someplace as low on the bureaucratic totem pole as a CSD Board or Health District, or in small communities like Cambria, Los Osos and Cayucos?
Los Osos, Cambria and Cayucos are divided up into voting districts and each board member is chosen by those particular constituents, instead of voting by the whole community for all candidates.
This district voting is the result of the California Voting Rights Act, which calls for district elections in order to protect certain disadvantaged voters, and it is being pushed under a subtle threat of lawsuits onto even the smallest of governmental entities.
The situation has been likened to the Americans with Disabilities Act abuses of 15-20 years ago, and how the ADA was being used by some law firms to go after businesses and local governments with threats of lawsuits over non-compliance with the ADA standards for public facilities like restrooms. Most cases ended in settlements, as well as forced compliance with the law.
Now, law firms have gone around threatening lawsuits if an agency doesn’t at least study switching to voting by districts, and in essence prove they shouldn’t do it. LOCSD’s Munds has said just conducting a study could run $30,000, more if it went to court. Many agencies have simply made the switch to avoid a legal entanglement. However, protected classes (minority communities) of voters don’t live in one particular neighborhood or section of town anymore. In Los Osos, people of all types live side-by-side everywhere, so districting the electorate hasn’t much protected anyone. But does appear to help create apathy over running for office. It’s hoped November’s voter turnout does better.
In Morro Bay, voters soundly rejected switching to a district model back in 2004 with Measure F.
