Little town, big problems: San Simeon's CSD loses general manager, struggles with board member appointments 

San Simeon has a problem.

Years of board quarreling, legal disputes, and redistricting have left the small coastal town south of Hearst Castle without cohesive leadership.

"What we effectively have is a situation where if one board member is out, we would be unable to get anything done at a government level," San Simeon resident Henry Krzciuk said. "It's put us in a really bad situation."

At its June 13 meeting, the San Simeon Community Services District (SSCSD) board cut ties with former General Manager Charles Grace after he and his company, Grace Environmental Services, settled a lawsuit with the San Luis Obispo District Attorney's Office that found Grace had a conflict of interest when writing his general manager contract.

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• Cover Courtesy Photo By Henry Krzciuk
• IN DISTRESS San Simeon's governing body is having trouble filling empty seats and is running out of time.

The SSCSD—a governing body made up of local citizens with jurisdiction over some matters traditionally handled by a city council—now needs to replace its general manager. It's also in the process of replacing two longtime board members who resigned in April, Gwen Kellas and Daniel De la Rosa.

Kellas told the board she was resigning due to a "toxic" atmosphere cultivated by community and non-community members as well as the board itself.

"For several years now, being on the board means surviving in a toxic, harassing, and demeaning atmosphere all perpetuated by a resident, a nonresident, and their followers," Kellas said in her resignation email. "It is why there has been such a high turnover of district directors ... this toxic atmosphere now appears to be supported by other board members."

Kellas didn't respond to New Times' request for comment by press time.

Former CSD board member De la Rosa said that he had been subjected to discriminatory practices by the board, citing his exclusion from budget committee meeting communication threads and an outright lack of due process in being dismissed from his role as budget committee chair.

"The inclusion and respect of all committee members in all committee business is a fundamental expectation and courtesy to the community that we are sworn to serve," he said in his resignation notice. "The entire purpose of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) was to assure that minorities are not being disenfranchised. Your acts of discrimination and exclusion circumvent the spirit of the CVRA."

Neither current SSCSD board member Jacqueline Diamond nor Vice Chairperson Karina Tiwana responded to New Times' requests for comment as of press time.

Board member Michael Donahue responded via email. He said he had no additional comments on the matter and that he was on vacation in a "remote third-world country with poor internet."

According to California government code, the SSCSD had 60 days to find and appoint someone to fill the remaining vacant position. If that time frame has passed, they must turn to the SLO County Board of Supervisors to make the appointment before 90 days have passed, otherwise the district will have to hold a special election for the positions.

Currently, the SSCSD recommended Holly Le to take over the position vacated by Kellas, and she was approved for the role by 2nd District SLO County Supervisor Bruce Gibson at the board's June 20 meeting.

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• Photo Courtesy Of/by Henry Krzciuk
• COASTAL CHAOS Despite its calm coastal small-town reputation, San Simeon is no stranger to chaos in its Community Services District—including current vacancies on its board and a recently released general manager.

Gibson told the other supervisors that he supported her appointment given the dire nature of needing a stable board. He also expressed a desire for the county to be more informed about the district.

"The SSCSD has been in a bit of turmoil with only three serving members at this point, while also dealing with a sudden change in their operations to their critical infrastructure," he said during the supervisors meeting. "I would ask that our Public Works and county staff reach out to the board and their staff to get a better understanding of exactly what that situation is in the district."

However, Gibson he said he's concerned about the Board of Supervisors having that much influence on a matter that—he believes—should be up to San Simeon residents.

"Our preference is that the [CSD] board take care of its requirements and appointments," he told New Times. "It is not ideal for the Board of Supervisors to weigh in on who sits on that district board."

Gibson said this isn't the first time the SSCSD has turned to SLO County for assistance in appointing someone to fill a vacancy—in 2022 the Board of Supervisors received a letter requesting an extension of the 60-to-90-day deadline from then board member Kellas.

Gibson said that "the county declined."

"Unfortunately it came up too quickly and we were notified far too late about it," he said.

San Simeon resident Krzciuk said that the SSCSD board's struggle to find people to appoint for these types of vacancies stems from how small some of the subdistricts are in population after district boundaries were redrawn in 2022.

"There are only about 195 qualified people in San Simeon that can run for these positions, and it is an even smaller number when you look at the individual subdistricts," Krzciuk said. "Statistically it's hard to imagine that you can get enough candidates from that small of a pool with some districts only having around 27 people that could run."

The SSCSD voted to implement current district guidelines in 2022 after it received a notice sent from outside San Simeon that claimed the district needed to draw different boundaries due to improper racial representation.

"Last year the district received a letter from a citizen from another part of the county claiming that the CSD needed to restructure," he said. "The CSD considered it a real threat of litigation, and as a result, the district was split into five areas."

With each subdistrict being so small in terms of potential candidates, Krzciuk and other residents feel that there is little voter representation, as often the one or two candidates who do sign up to run for a position on the board run unopposed.

"It's difficult to find people willing to do these jobs and have the competency and qualifications to do it," he said. "There are usually no competing candidates, so they run unchallenged and it leaves voters with very little say."

Supervisor Gibson said that San Simeon's CSD redistricting itself was not historically unprecedented but was unorthodox for a modern town like San Simeon to do.

"Most subdistricts, like the ones in San Simeon, were drawn out in the mid-20th century, but that was a simpler time," Gibson said. "Now we have environmental regulations and other things they are responsible for, so choosing to draw districts out of a small community is a tremendous burden on San Simeon."

Gibson noted that the SSCSD could have challenged the claims stated in the letter but also acknowledged that the cost of such an endeavor might not have been feasible at the time.

"They could have fought it—redistricting does not provide any benefits to a community that small," he said. "It would have taken a lot of resources, so I understand why they didn't [fight] it, but it adds to their burden."

Gibson wants San Simeon residents to know that the county is listening, but he reiterated that it's ultimately up to the SSCSD board and its residents to work together to handle the process of replacing board members and filling its general manager position.

"I'm standing by and keeping aware of the issues they have to deal with," he said. "If the county or I can do anything to help we will."

Despite the challenges that remain, Krzciuk is hopeful that change is on the horizon and that the SSCSD and residents can work together to face the long-standing problems they've had over the years.

"We need to have longer-term solutions—services that have some depth, so that if one group or one person moves on we aren't scrambling around," he said. "Otherwise we just tumble along without making any progress for our community." Δ

Reach Staff Writer Adrian Vincent Rosas at [email protected].

In an article, “Little Town, big problems: San Simeon’s CSD loses general manager, struggles with board member appointments” that ran in the June 22 issue of New Times, we incorrectly reported how former San Simeon CSD Board Director Daniel De la Rosa parted ways with the budget committee. Director De la Rosa resigned from that committee, stating that he left after being dismissed from his role as budget committee chair. New Times regrets this error.