Another Paso Robles resident enters race for City Council. Why he’s running
Elections in Paso Robles are ramping up early this cycle after another resident announced their candidacy for the District 2 City Council seat that’s currently occupied by Chris Bausch.
Robert Simoni, a soon-to-be retired financial systems administrator for San Luis Obispo’s Empirical Systems Aerospace, said his campaign has four pillars: smart growth, improve roads, fiscal responsibility and preserve open space.
Looking for something to keep him involved with the community post-retirement, Simoni said he saw the upcoming City Council election as the perfect way forward.
“It is a lot of work, so a lot of people shy away from doing it, but I’m up for the challenge,” he said. “We love it here — love the community. We want to keep it a great place to live. That’s kind of what I’m interested in doing as a City Council member.”
Simoni is currently up against one other candidate for the District 2 seat, Paso resident Michael Massey. The district’s sitting council member, Bausch, has yet to announce if he intends to run for reelection.
In his campaign platform on his website, Simoni addressed the recent “turmoil” of the City Council, telling The Tribune he hoped to replace Bausch, who was involved in a dispute with former City Manager Ty Lewis in 2024, which ultimately cost the city $640,000 in legal fees.
Bausch was also the center of a lawsuit filed by The Tribune after he refused to turn over city-related documents regarding the 2024 dispute.
Simoni said the $640,000 could have been used toward fixing roads or hiring more teachers.
“It’s just not money that’s well spent,” he said. “I’m someone that’s learned to live, to work, cooperatively with others in the course of my career, and I pledge to do the same and treat everybody with respect — fellow City Council members all the city employees to work with them cooperatively, and, you know, prevent stuff like this happening.”
In tandem with fiscal responsibility, Simoni hopes to promote what he named “smart growth” in the city that will prevent traffic, especially along 13th Street and Niblick Road bridges in District 2.
“You have those bottlenecks and keep building more and more homes there,” he said. “Until those bottlenecks are addressed, it’s just not a smart thing to do. So I would like to see the growth put in places, particularly on the west side, where there’s already easy access to the 101.”
Simoni said he also wants to get the ball rolling with preserving open space, specifically the Montebello Oaks area in his district, which attracts not only admiring onlookers, but species like ducks, turtles and foxes.
“I’d like to see it set aside for open space, if possible. So that would definitely be a priority,” Simoni said. “No guarantee I’d be able to accomplish that by myself, but I want at least the residents in my district to know that that’s a priority, and that’s what I’m going to be working towards.”
For more information about Simoni’s campaign visit bobsimoni4paso.com.