Two longtime scrutinizers of local government, Oceano resident April Dury and Los Osos resident Julie Tacker, want the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to conduct an audit of an allegedly extravagant airport event.
Now a group called SLOcal Activists’ Coalition that’s looking to expand, the duo filed a complaint to supervisors on July 2 that claimed the county Department of Airports spent more than $160,000 on a “Cleared for Cheer” holiday event in December 2025 at the Oceano Airport.
“I believe that they [supervisors] did not know this allocation was for one big, massive party, and that … they didn’t get a budget, they didn’t get a description, they didn’t require anything besides pushing money over like at the gambling table,” Dury told New Times.
Dury attended the winter celebration at the Oceano Airport after receiving a flyer in the mail. The flyer advertised free admission to an event featuring a drone show, live music, crafts, snow play, food trucks, and a makers market.
The complaint summarized that roughly 400 attendees, including Dury, received gifts like lap blankets, beanies, and flashlights bearing the Oceano Airport logo.
“Immediately after the event, Dury sent a series of public records requests seeking documents, correspondence, and expenses related to the Cleared for Cheer event put on by the Department of Airports,” their complaint read. “Over many months, she received a trickle of information that led to more requests.”
Calculations based on the records Dury and Tacker received showed the expenses upward of $160,000 included items like 65 tons of ice for almost $30,000, a two-hour drone show that cost around $190 per minute, a $3,600 hot chocolate bar, 48 Christmas trees, light projectors, pillows, a velvet couch for the Santa Claus impersonator, and staff meals.
The event budget was nested in a $210,000 fund to support community engagement and outreach efforts at Oceano Airport, which supervisors approved as a mid-year budget adjustment in November 2025 without a public hearing. That sum added to the existing $25,000 engagement and outreach fund contained in the 2025-26 Oceano Airport budget.
Fourth District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding told New Times that money for the Cleared for Cheer event came from the Airports enterprise fund that’s supported by airport users and revenue from airport operations.
“I was not aware that this amount of money would be spent on this event, and I can see why it may raise concerns,” Paulding said. “While the Airports Department has been directed to better connect the Oceano Airport with the community, this expenditure will require an internal review to determine if it was appropriate or if there are improvements necessary to our review and approval processes for funding large public events.”
‘Moving forward, I will more closely scrutinize budget requests from the Airports Department and will ask our chief executive officer to provide additional oversight to help ensure future expenditures are consistent with the board’s expectations for fiscal stewardship.’
—Jimmy Paulding, SLO County 4thDistrict Supervisor
He added that though locals enjoyed the event, he wants to find out if community engagement can be achieved at a lower cost.
“Moving forward, I will more closely scrutinize budget requests from the Airports Department and will ask our chief executive officer to provide additional oversight to help ensure future expenditures are consistent with the board’s expectations for fiscal stewardship,” he said.
The event flyer also asked visitors to bring a non-perishable food item or an unwrapped toy to donate to the Salvation Army and the Lucia Mar Unified School District’s Families in Transition Program.
Dury and Tacker alleged that county Airports Director Courtney Johnson failed to communicate with the Salvation Army in the lead-up to the event, resulting in the charity’s absence from the event. All in-person donations went to the school district program.
Moreover, the Toys for Tots drive helmed by Friends of Oceano Airport for 15 years didn’t take place at the airport during the event.
“‘Seven planes loaded with toys were diverted to Lompoc,’ per local pilot Michael Brown who spearheaded a toy collection he personally took on in his area, specifically for the Friends of Oceano Airport’s annual toy drive that ultimately benefitted Santa Barbara County children instead of Oceano children in SLO County,” the complaint read.
Johnson told New Times that the department made multiple efforts to coordinate with local charities and nonprofits during event planning. She added that they invited Friends of Oceano Airport to participate but the group decided to operate independently.
“This was a first-time event, so that number includes one-time purchases of reusable equipment, event infrastructure, and other county assets that support future community programming, not just one evening’s event,” she said.
Dury and Tacker plan to submit their complaint to the SLO County grand jury and the California Coastal Commission, especially since County Airports plans to meet with the latter in August for permit approval.
This isn’t their first time analyzing public funds used by officials. Roughly three years ago, they conducted a smaller-scale investigation into what they call “Hamburgergate.” The Cleared for Cheer event, Dury and Tacker said, was “Hamburgergate on steroids.”
“It was a public works celebration in South County, and like 100 hamburgers cost $1,500 and for a staff of eight,” Tacker said. “The problem with it was that Oceano CSD [Community Services District] paid for it. Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, and Oceano Public Works employees benefited from it, but Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach paid the least of the $1,500, they had the most staff … and they RSVP’d early, so they got $5 [discount] on top of it, but we never actually issued that report.” ∆
This article appears in July 9-16, 2026.
I’m shocked they used a Santa Claus impersonator instead of the real one!
Wait a second, do what – activists? I have a fading memory about Tacker and her significant other being on a “Mission from God” (Blues Brothers trivia ya’ll) to close down the airport for development, so there’s one conflict of interest. Then there’s the other one, who is still miserable after her time in the pokey…never happy about anything…sad…
It’s about time Oceano had an event that brought families together.
For years, residents have asked for more positive community events, and when one finally happens, some people focus only on the price tag without acknowledging the hundreds of families who attended, the local vendors who participated, or the holiday memories that were created.
If the Board of Supervisors approved the funding, shouldn’t they have understood what they were approving? It raises the question: Why wasn’t the event budget on Supervisor Jimmy Paulding’s radar before the funds were authorized? Oversight is the responsibility of elected officials, not something to question only after the event has taken place.
If a review of the expenses is warranted, then conduct one. Accountability is part of good government. But let’s also remember that not every investment can be measured solely in dollars. Building community has value too.
Instead of criticizing every effort to do something positive in Oceano, perhaps we should encourage more opportunities that bring our community together
We spent years hearing Oceano was the County’s forgotten stepchild. Then the County actually throws a community event there and now we’re demanding audits. You couldn’t write better satire.