Arroyo Grande: Jim Hill and Kristen Barneich keep spots, Caren Ray to join City Council

Jim Hill seems to have held on to his mayoral title in Arroyo Grande, based on unofficial result tallies Tuesday night.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Hill held about 59.5 percent of the vote in Arroyo Grande, defeating challenger Richard Waller, who ended the night with only 40.3 percent of the vote.

Former county supervisor Caren Ray and incumbent Councilwoman Kristen Barneich also seem to have secured their two seats on the Arroyo Grande City Council, with 31.8 percent and 26.5 percent of the vote, respectively.

Traffic commissioner Ken Sage took 15.4 percent of the vote, followed closely by Planning Commissioner John Mack with 15.3 percent and then college counselor LeAnn Akins with 11 percent.

Measure E-16, which would allow the city to purchase emergency state water, also looks to have passed with 86 percent of the vote.

The results could still change, depending on outsanding vote-by-mail and provisional ballots, which San Luis Obispo County Clerk Recorder Tommy Gong said could be counted by later this week.

The race to lead Arroyo Grande has been one of the more divisive local races during the current election cycle, with two very distinct tickets forming early on.

On the one side was incumbent Hill, aligned with Planning Commissioner Mack and college counselor Akins, running largely on platforms of more stringent water policies, more financial accountability and the need for a closer inspection of operations at City Hall.

On the other side was newcomer Waller running for mayor, with incumbent Councilwoman Barneich and former county supervisor Ray, running largely on platforms of responsible growth during a drought and returning civility to the City Council.

Traffic commissioner Sage, who was also running for one of the two open four-year terms on the City Council, remained unaffiliated with either ticket throughout the race.

Whoever wins 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 have said more needs to be done to protect the endangered supply. Just how that can be achieved has been one of the more divisive issues among candidates, with some promoting immediate moratoriums on building and others calling for a more cautious approach that doesn’t stall the city’s economic growth.

Going along with that has been the city’s push to pass Measure E-16, which would allow the city to consider purchasing emergency state water.

In 1990, voters passed a ballot measure that prohibited the city from participating in the California State Water Project — a pipeline and storage system that transports and shares water across the state — without first seeking an affirmative vote from citizens. That prevented the city both from buying water directly from the state and from purchasing excess state water from San Luis Obispo County or other local agencies.

At the time, the measure was meant to be a growth deterrent: Many worried that bringing in more water would start a building and housing boom in the city until the population reached unmanageable proportions.

If approved, the new measure would allow Arroyo Grande to pursue buying water from neighboring agencies or from other cities around the state, though how much that could potentially cost the city is unknown.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 8:48 PM with the headline "Arroyo Grande: Jim Hill and Kristen Barneich keep spots, Caren Ray to join City Council."