From redistricting to water policy, new SLO County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding shares his priorities 

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Jimmy Paulding used a political cliché on his first day in office as 4th District county supervisor—"I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work"—but the 36-year-old buzzed with genuine excitement as he spoke one-on-one with New Times about his year ahead.

Paulding's victory in last year's election helped overturn the conservative majority that's led the Board of Supervisors since 2017. Now, the Arroyo Grande native has a long list of priorities he hopes to accomplish with a new majority. He ran through some of them in a Jan. 5 interview. Below are the highlights.

On the new Board of Supervisors majority ...

"In terms of taking a look at some of the board majority's decisions of late, I do have plans to hopefully work with a new board majority that wants to make some changes to past policy."

On repealing the new Paso Robles basin planting ordinance ...

"I think the first order of business is the planting ordinance. There's a legal window we have to repeal that. The first red flag there was out of all the groups that were interested and/or affected by the ordinance, we didn't see any support from the community or the public. When you see that the Farm Bureau is adamantly opposed, organizations like that that are advocating for our growers, it certainly begs the question, what's going on here?

"When you drill deeper, I think there were a number of unintended consequences that came with that ordinance that would impact property rights and impact the ability for our region to accomplish the sustainability goals we're trying to achieve.

"When we're trying to plan for reducing our groundwater pumping, and that ordinance increases the amount people can pump from 5 acre-feet to 25 acre-feet, you're going to create a lot more groundwater use.

"I think that planting ordinance was bad policy motivated by what might be legitimate concerns of a few board members, but that would have an effect disproportionate to the problem they're trying to solve. There are other ways to solve the fairness concerns they're trying to address."

On the Patten map and resolving the redistricting litigation ...

"Again, going back to red flags, we had so many different community groups coming out saying, 'Don't do this. This map disenfranchises voters.' I am for enfranchising, not disenfranchising, voters.

"We have to, within the context of that litigation, develop a path forward that makes sense. That could entail an independent redistricting commission developing the boundaries for a future election. I think one of the things that has to be analyzed is—say you pick one community, Oceano: It had its right to vote in the 2022 election taken away. If we were to go back to the old lines, Oceano would then not be able to vote in the 2024 election again. So, it would be further disenfranchised for another two years.

"There is a discussion that our board will hopefully have in closed session that will revolve around how do we address those concerns? And maybe it will end up being that it makes sense to allow the 2024 election to proceed based on the current boundaries and then work toward the goal of an independent redistricting commission developing the outcome for the next election. I have no idea. We'll have to see where my colleagues are on that."

On campaign finance reform ...

"I may end up just agendizing outright campaign finance reform. I was really distressed to see the previous board majority basically increase the campaign finance limit from what the state law would've capped it at, $4,900, to $25,000.

"No matter an elected official's political affiliation, we should all want to get big money out of politics. We've seen an uptick in the amount of money it takes to run a robust campaign here on the Central Coast. The fact it takes a half million dollars to compete is problematic. And I think $25,000 per business, person, or PAC is a problem.

"We saw most California counties simply allow the state law to go into effect, and the previous board majority said, 'No, we want to increase that.' I think that was misguided policy, and it's in the best interest of our community and our democracy to just allow that state law to apply to our county and cap those donations."

On rejoining the Integrated Waste Management Authority ...

"The amount of time and effort that that board decision [to leave the agency] required of all the city managers, the staff, to figure out how to go through that dissolution proceeding was huge. It literally kind of sidetracked those jurisdictions from other priorities.

"I think it makes sense to work together as a region. I think it's about capitalizing on the economies of scale to be able to work together to manage our waste. The county had to basically staff up and create a new division to manage waste, and that's a 100 percent duplication of services and an unwarranted expenditure of taxpayer dollars, in my opinion. I'd love to see that policy reversed, to see the county rejoin, and to work with the cities to manage our waste and capitalize on the benefits.

"The first question is, do all the cities want us to rejoin? What's to say the board won't just do this again in the future? My response to that is we have a new board majority. I believe this new majority is interested in building coalitions, strengthening partnership, and working together."

On joining Central Coast Community Energy ...

"It's, again, an example of a fiscally responsible policy objective as well as one of good governance where we're working together as a region and a super region with other counties and cities and then availing ourselves of the economies of scale and the benefits that result from that.

"It would actually, right now, reduce electricity bills for our customers and businesses here in SLO County. It would allow the incorporated areas to tap incentives programs they have—farmers, for example, to buy components and equipment that will help transition their fleet to electric. There's just quite a lot in terms of benefits, and I'm not seeing the cons on a pros and cons list."

On boosting funding for the county Elections Office ...

"We're in a position where the election process has taken quite a bit of time. They're under a lot of pressure in that department. In addition, as I understand it, the staffing in comparison to other counties is just not there. They're under-resourced.

"The public outreach component of this is critical. If we want people to vote earlier, I think we can accomplish that goal by allocating resources necessary to the kind of outreach that will encourage folks to do that. And that's just one way.

"[Former Clerk-Recorder] Tommy Gong had given a presentation on a lot of things he wanted to change and do. All of his recommendations were shot down, including to go to the vote center model, which was going to be cheaper and increase the number of days people could vote at the polls. And that's another example of misguided policy I hope we can course-correct."

On avoiding partisan politics ...

"It's a fair question. I think it's largely about civility, engaging with our colleagues in a respectful way, and creating a culture of consensus building. If we're engaging in a civil and constructive way, and not in a partisan way, I think we're going to accomplish that goal.

"It's not my plan to inject national politics into our board discourse. I think if our board is able to address concerns without engaging in hype, without using incendiary rhetoric, if the board can engage in a civil way, in a constructive way with the community, with itself, then we're going to be much better off than the prior board majority."

On the Dana Reserve housing project in Nipomo ...

"I can't tell you how I'm going to vote on it. The goal is to be impartial as a decision maker. In general, the environmental impact report is out. It identifies a series of Class I unmitigable impacts to natural resources, lots of native oak woodland, environmentally sensitive habitats, and then you have traffic issues, water issues, much of which the developer feels is being adequately addressed.

"My job is just to listen at this stage. I've met with members of various groups that are either opposed to the project or want to see it scaled back somehow. So, my planning commissioner will take the project on, I think it's in March, and I'll be voting on it a month after that."

On building a new Sheriff's Office substation in Nipomo ...

"As I was walking and knocking on doors, talking to people, it was a repeat issue that kept coming up: response times, law enforcement presence, crime in general. I think it's a project that had been identified as a priority—there's a piece of county-owned land slated for the project and money from the Monarch Dunes/Trilogy development—I think it just got deprioritized. I think it's time to really bring it back and move it along." Δ

Assistant Editor Peter Johnson can be reached at [email protected].