In city council races around SLO County, incumbents come out on top

San Luis Obispo County voters showed they were happy with the status quo Tuesday night, voting back into office every mayoral candidate and city council member who was up for re-election, according to unofficial results.

Some younger candidates also came out on top, particularly in San Luis Obispo, which sent newcomer Aaron Gomez, 37, to the City Council. And in South County, all three of the city councils — in Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach and Pismo Beach — now have a majority of women on the dais.

While each city council has its own issues to tackle, top challenges for most of them remain managing the water supply, debating how and where to grow, and increasing economic development.

In the two San Luis Obispo County supervisor races, voters re-elected Adam Hill to a third term in the 3rd District seat over challenger Dan Carpenter, and sent District 1 candidate John Peschong over Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin to take outgoing Supervisor Frank Mecham’s seat.

Martin on Wednesday morning congratulated Peschong in an email and pledged to work with him where their goals coincide — most notably a desire for a greater law enforcement presence in the North County district.

“Now is the time to work together to serve the residents of our district and our county,” Martin wrote. “It is my hope that this attitude will prevail across our entire nation.”

While the unofficial result reflects 100 percent of ballots cast at the polls Tuesday and about 61,700 vote-by-mail ballots, there are still thousands of outstanding ballots.

San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong said there are 42,781 ballots left to count, including vote-by-mail and provisional ballots, as well as ballots cast at the polls that weren’t able to be read by the counting machines.

The outcome could affect a few close races in the county, including the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District bond, which was passing with 55.6 percent of the vote. It needs 55 percent to pass.

Measure J, the countywide half-cent sales tax measure for transportation projects, was failing with 65 percent of voters in support. It needs a two-thirds vote, or 66.7 percent.

The Pismo Beach City Council race also was close between the second and third vote-getters, including incumbent Councilman Erik Howell.

Tuesday’s unofficial election results show that 56.8 percent of the county’s 168,257 registered voters cast a ballot. But the turnout will increase as the remaining ballots are counted.

Here’s a look at the city council races across the county.

Arroyo Grande

The election in Arroyo Grande was one of the more divisive races in the county this year, with two distinct tickets forming early on.

Incumbent Mayor Jim Hill, who retained his seat over challenger Richard Waller, was on one side of the debate over water policies and other issues. Hill was ahead, 59.5 percent to 40.3 percent, on election night.

The two women elected to the City Council — former county Supervisor Caren Ray and incumbent Councilwoman Kristen Barneich — were on the other side of that debate. They secured their seats with 31.8 percent and 26.5 percent of the vote, respectively.

They will preside over a city in a tenuous time: Arroyo Grande has been one of the South County cities most concerned with the ongoing drought’s impact on the local water supply, and many residents have said more needs to be done to protect the endangered supply.

To that end, voters also passed Measure E-16 on Tuesday — which would allow the city to purchase emergency state water — with 86 percent of the vote.

Atascadero

Atascadero Mayor Tom O’Malley on Tuesday was re-elected for a third term, with 60.7 percent of the vote, while Councilwoman Roberta Fonzi retained her seat and Planning Commissioner Charles Bourbeau became the city’s newest council member.

In the City Council race, Fonzi received the most votes, taking 38.1 percent, while Bourbeau received 32.2 percent.

Economic issues — particularly efforts to revitalize Atascadero’s downtown and the need for business growth and local jobs — were widely debated throughout the candidates’ campaigns.

Atascadero voters also voted on two ballot measures to decide whether their treasurer and city clerk would continue to be selected by voters or would be appointed by the city manager’s office.

Voters narrowly approved the city manager appointing their city clerk, with 50.5 percent in support, but decided they still wanted to elect their city treasurer, with 51.8 percent against making the position appointed, according to the unofficial results.

Grover Beach

Grover Beach Mayor John Shoals was re-elected to a second term with 63.7 percent of the vote to challenger Ron Arnoldsen’s 36.2 percent. Shoals will be joined by council veterans Debbie Peterson and Jeff Lee, who received a respective 41.4 percent and 36.3 percent of the vote.

The city’s Measure L-16, a tax on marijuana, also was successful based on unofficial results Tuesday night, with 71.4 percent of voters voting in favor of the measure.

The five candidates vying for the three open seats in Grover Beach had focused primarily on continuing the current council’s momentum toward making the city a “hip, young” town.

Morro Bay

Morro Bay Mayor Jamie Irons retained his seat Tuesday, with 41.5 percent of the vote. Challengers Tina Metzger and Betty Winholtz received 36.6 percent and 21.5 percent of the tally, respectively.

Marlys McPherson and Robert “Red” Davis won the two available Morro Bay City Council seats, with 32.6 and 30.2 percent of the vote, respectively.

During the campaign, all of the candidates touted their leadership skills and promised to protect Morro Bay’s natural beauty and wildlife.

Paso Robles

Councilmen Steven Gregory and Fred Strong won re-election in Paso Robles, receiving 39.7 percent and 33.4 percent of the vote, respectively.

Strong entered the race seeking his fourth term, while Gregory, who was appointed to the council after Steve Martin was elected mayor in 2014, hoped voters would elect him this time around.

During the campaign, candidates debated issues including gang crime, medical and recreational marijuana and water rates.

Pismo Beach

Voters clearly elected Pismo Beach Councilman Ed Waage to serve as their next mayor, but the results in the City Council race were much closer.

Waage had about 56.8 percent of the vote, compared with mayoral challenger Sandra Gore Nielsen’s 42.7 percent.

Council candidate Marcia Guthrie and incumbent Erik Howell were in the lead Tuesday for the two open seats on the City Council — with 26.2 percent and 26.1 percent of the vote — though Brian “Craig” Kreowski was close at their heels with 24.3 percent. Kreowski trails Howell by 100 votes.

While not as contentious as other South County races this year — or even past Pismo Beach races — the results will determine the beach town’s leadership as it decides a key range of growth issues for the city, from opening up the Chapman Estate to how best to address the ongoing state drought and a dwindling water supply.

San Luis Obispo

Jan Marx was elected to her fourth term as mayor of San Luis Obispo, beating challenger Heidi Harmon, 52.5 percent to 47.1 percent.

Marx was the only incumbent running in San Luis Obispo on Tuesday. Voters also elected newcomers Aaron Gomez and Andy Pease, who received 27.2 percent and 24.2 percent of the vote, respectively.

The race centered on issues including: relieving an impacted housing market, managing the city’s water supply and reassessing the controversial rental housing inspection program, which is intended to ensure rental homes meet health and safety standards through city inspections.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Marx said the development of the Avila Ranch and San Luis Ranch projects will bring more workforce housing, but encouraged local companies to explore public-private partnerships with nonprofits to build housing for their workers. She also would like to see Cal Poly add more student housing to free up dwellings for city workers.

In regard to the rental housing inspection program, Marx said she would like to review more data to see how well it’s working but is open to revamping the program. It will be discussed at a City Council meeting in March.

“I’d like to find out how well it’s working through a survey or additional data of landlords, tenants and property managers who have had their units inspected,” Marx said.

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 6:48 PM with the headline "In city council races around SLO County, incumbents come out on top."