SLO County Election: District 2 Board of Supervisors Forum

Two candidates are vying for the District 2 seat on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in November.

Incumbent supervisor Bruce Gibson and his challenger, retired orthopedic surgeon Bruce Jones, discussed their policy positions at a Thursday night forum at Atascadero High School hosted by the League of Women Voters and the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce.

Gibson and Jones were the first two to get votes in the primary election, kicking off a Bruces battle this fall.

At the forum, they answered questions on topics ranging from water and building fees to election integrity.

Here’s a look at how candidates answered these questions.

Where are the candidates for the redistricting commission?

During Thursday’s forum, candidates were asked if they would support an independent redistricting commission.

Jones said he wouldn’t, adding that voters would hold the oversight board responsible for a poorly drawn map.

“If they draw unfair cards, they have to face re-election,” Jones said.

Gibson disagreed. He said voters in a Gerrymander constituency cannot hold supervisors accountable “in constituencies they have deliberately designated to further their own re-election.”

Gibson said he would support an independent redistricting commission and noted that he suggested this idea to council because the current map of the district is in court over gerrymandering allegations.

“Elected officials shouldn’t be responsible for choosing their constituents,” Gibson said. “When district boundaries are drawn for purely political reasons, it degrades our democracy.”

Are elections secure in SLO County?

Jones said San Luis Obispo County should require voter identification and use paper ballots exclusively to ensure election security.

“I think a lot of citizens are worried about the integrity of the election,” Jones said.

Gibson, however, is confident in the security of SLO County’s election and said there was no evidence of voter fraud in the county.

“These concerns that people have expressed to us are completely vague, completely unfounded,” Gibson said. “Our elections are fair, accurate and beyond reproach.”

Gibson also called the voter ID rules a “classic voter suppression technique.”

How should SLO County address water issues?

If elected to the District 2 seat, Jones said he would work to develop new sources of water, from using more recycled wastewater to desalination.

He said he will also increase the county’s water storage capacity through methods such as flood retention ponds, repairs on Santa Margarita Lake, also known as Salinas Reservoir.

Jones said he supports “high-tech irrigation” and drought-tolerant landscaping.

Gibson said he supported using new technologies to solve the water crisis, but added there was a bigger problem when it came to water.

“The core aspects of the argument over a scarce and shrinking resource are human,” Gibson said. “For me, the basic need in treating our water is the political will and a set of relationships to bring the relevant parties to the table to have a serious conversation.”

He said the county needs to improve its water conservation policy, noting that some winemakers use twice as much water as others.

What can SLO County do to reduce construction costs?

Gibson said San Luis Obispo County aims to process building permits quickly and at a reasonable cost.

He noted that the county must meet state requirements for processing building permits, such as submitting a project for an environmental review to comply with California’s Environmental Quality Act. This adds time and cost.

Gibson said the unaffordability of the housing market “is not fundamentally about county fees.”

In fact, he said, SLO County’s fees are low compared to local towns and neighboring counties.

“We’re always looking to streamline our process where possible,” Gibson said. “But the problem is much bigger than that.”

Jones said his goal was to reduce costs during construction processes.

Jones suggested the county submit house plans that would automatically be approved by the county.

That way, if developers select this plan, they “don’t have to go through certain processes,” Jones said.

“We need to be able to build more homes that people can afford to live in,” he said. “We artificially made them too expensive.”

How effective are cannabis licensing and code enforcement programs?

Jones said he’s noticed cannabis code enforcement issues in the county. He thinks the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office should be responsible for enforcement rather than county planning department staff.

When he served on the Templeton area advisory group, Jones said he voted to approve a cannabis development.

However, he said the project has created problems for the city, ranging from community complaints to code enforcement challenges.

“I think we have to be careful with cannabis, that they stay between the white lines of the rules,” Jones said. “If you have a smell, you have to take care of it. If you have other issues that encroach on the neighbour’s property, that needs to be taken care of.

Gibson called the county’s response to the cannabis industry “truly a mess” due to “inconsistent policy decisions” by the conservative majority on the board.

“This industry — which is legal, I remind everyone, in the state of California — has the opportunity to be part of the economic mix here,” Gibson said. “But instead of going in and organizing, we ended up with a huge illegal black market due to political decisions, such as the majority of the board refusing to allow dispensaries in unincorporated communities. in society.”

Gibson said the board needs to make consistent decisions about “what kind of cannabis-related activities we should allow” so the industry can grow and generate revenue for the county.

“Cannabis comes with a lot of baggage,” Gibson said. “We have to get past that. We need to understand that this is a legal activity that we need to regulate.

What’s the best way to reduce homelessness?

In August, the Supervisory Board approved a five-year plan to halve homelessness.

Jones said he supports most aspects of the plan, such as having a centralized department to manage the county’s response to homelessness. However, he thinks this department should report directly to the county chief administrative officer instead of the county social services department.

“We have to move forward, but we have to move forward so that we don’t get lost in multiple layers of management,” Jones said.

Gibson said he was “absolutely excited” about the new plan. He said it was essential that the plan simultaneously address building more housing and improving mental health and addictions services. He also said he appreciates the Citizens’ Oversight Council which will hold the county accountable for executing the plan.

He noted that “political will” is essential to move the plan forward.

“We need to discuss where we’re going to do this housing, how much we’re going to do, who’s going to pay,” Gibson said.

The supervisor said he will use the relationships he has built with staff and agencies during his tenure to facilitate these discussions.

Should a wind farm be built off the coast of Morro Bay?

Jones said he was in favor of wind power, but was not enthusiastic about the proposed offshore wind farm off Morro Bay.

“I believe most people who live on the coast don’t want to look out and see windmills,” Jones said.

Jones compared the proposed wind farm to an oil rig, noting that both are expensive to maintain and quickly deteriorate due to salt water.

Gibson, however, said oil rigs and offshore wind turbines are not comparable and called the Morro Bay Offshore Wind Farm “a huge part of our renewable energy future”.

He said the wind farm proposal has the potential to produce one and a half times the power output of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant near Avila Beach, and will also create local jobs.

He said the potential aesthetic problems caused by wind farms are “a small price”.

“I get aesthetic preservation,” Gibson said. “But we are in a crisis, in terms of global climate change, and this is a small but important part of solving this problem.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2022 8:00 a.m.