Who will be on the ballot for SLO County supervisors race in 2024? Here’s who plans to run
The March 2024 primary election is nearly a year away, but at least one candidate has already thrown her hat in the ring for the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors’ District 5 race.
Atascadero mayor pro tem Susan Funk announced Friday that she will run for the seat.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me to take a look at this because they’ve seen what I’m able to do in getting people to work together, collaboratively, across a big range of political spectrum,” Funk told The Tribune.
After settling a lawsuit over redistricting, the board selected a new district map on Tuesday that dramatically shifted the boundaries of District 5.
The so-called Patten map, drawn by Arroyo Grande resident Richard Patten and approved by supervisors in 2021, carved Atascadero out of District 5 and moved it into District 2.
The new map, also known as Map A, returned Atascadero to District 5, along with groups Santa Margarita with the Garden Farms community. District 5 also catches Cal Poly and the Carrizo Plains.
Mayor pro tem could run for county supervisor
Funk was elected to the Atascadero City Council in 2018, and has served on the council for nearly two full terms.
Now, she’ll take the leap into county politics.
Funk has experience working at a county level. She’s the chair of the San Luis Obispo County Homeless Services Oversight Council, a group that helped the county develop its five-year plan to reduce homelessness by half.
“We’re able to give steady guidance to county staff to move forward boldly and assertively to move forward with this plan,” Funk said.
Along with reducing homelessness, Funk said she’d enact policy to expand affordable housing in the county. She’s also passionate about supporting local businesses.
Funk said she wants to “create an economy that serves the community,” supporting events and experiences that both tourists and locals can enjoy.
Funk wants to support sustainable water use. She’s a member of the Atascadero Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency, and she grew up around discussions of water usage as her father was a hydrologist.
“I grew up driving all over the Midwest looking at everybody’s crops and how they were irrigated,” Funk said. “I appreciate how absolutely essential water is to the future.”
Finally, Funk would prioritize “championing responsive, responsible government that listens to people and works from the facts,” she wrote in a news release.
Funk noted that there hasn’t been an Atascadero representative on the Board of Supervisors this century.
”It’s time for us to hear from the Atascadero experience and bring that to county government, and make sure that the county government serves everybody,” Funk said.
There’s a campaign finance filing for a committee called Funk for County Supervisor 2024 with the California Secretary of State’s Office.
According to her website, she’s endorsed by sitting SLO County supervisors Bruce Gibson, Dawn Ortiz-Legg and Jimmy Paulding.
It’s unclear who Funk’s opponent would be in a race for the District 5 seat.
Incumbent Supervisor Debbie Arnold, who was originally elected to the board in 2013, has not announced publicly if she plans to run to keep her seat in 2024.
Arnold hadn’t filed any campaign finance documents with the California Secretary of State’s Office as of Friday.
This story was originally published April 21, 2023 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Who will be on the ballot for SLO County supervisors race in 2024? Here’s who plans to run."
