Russom headed for Arroyo Grande mayoral victory as Guthrie leads City Council race
Caren Ray Russom and James Robert Guthrie were leading their races for Arroyo Grande mayor and City Council, respectively.
As of 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, with 100% of precincts reporting, incumbent Russom held a lead over challengers Gaea Powell and veteran Dale T. Hanson with 65.3% of the vote.
Powell had secured 24.3% of the vote so far, while Hanson had 10.2%.
“I’m obviously encouraged by the results, and I’m grateful to the citizens of Arroyo Grande for electing me again, to serve the city for two more years,” Russom said. “Obviously, we have to wait for full results to come in, but early indications would tell us that I’m going to be here for two more years.”
Russom thanked her staff for their work, and thanked voters for supporting a positive campaign.
Russom has been a part of Arroyo Grande government since 2005, when she was appointed to the city Planning Commission.
She served on the Arroyo Grande City Council from 2010 to 2013 and 2016 to 2018. After that, she was elected mayor.
Russom said she hopes to lead Arroyo Grande through its coming General Plan update, which could include infrastructure improvements.
“(The General Plan) says where we’ve been, where we want to go, and who we want to be, and you need to elect a mayor who knows who we are, where we’ve been, where we want to go and who we want to be,” Russom said.
Powell is a “constitutional sanctuary city” candidate who served as chief of staff for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial campaign, while Hanson is a Vietnam War veteran who said he is dissatisfied with Arroyo Grande’s handling of water issues.
Meanwhile, in the Arroyo Grande City Council race, Arroyo Grande planning commissioner James Robert Guthrie was leading local businessman Ben Franco in the campaign for the District 4 seat.
So far, Guthrie had earned 64.7% of the vote to Franco’s 35.1%, with 100% of precincts reporting.
Guthrie said he looks forward to working on infrastructure policy if his lead over Franco holds.
“It looks like the sales tax measures going to fail,” Guthrie told The Tribune Wednesday morning. “We’re gonna have some pretty serious budget issues to work through, particularly as pertains to roads.”
Guthrie, who served on the City Council from 2004 to 2016, has served as an Arroyo Grande planning commissioner since 2021.
He said he wants to rejoin the council to oversee financial policy and road repair, which he called “near and dear to (his) heart.”
Franco, who opposed the COVID-19 lockdowns, said he was running because “every citizen deserves a voice.”
Franco said he does not support Measure D-22, also on the ballot.
“I believe we have funds that are just being allocated differently, and we need to adjust how we spend our money,” said Franco, the former owner of an exterior maintenance business.
San Luis Obispo County deputy district attorney Kathleen Secrest was unopposed in her quest to represent District 1.
Measure D-22 falling behind
As of 12:45 a.m., with 100% of precincts reporting, Measure D-22, which would raise Arroyo Grande’s sales tax by 1 percentage point to 8.75%, fell behind, with 48.5% of voters voting “yes.”
The ballot measure would generate around $5.6 million more in annual revenue for the city, which would be used to upgrade infrastructure such as roads and drains.
A simple majority is needed to approve the measure.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 8:15 PM.
