Public Safety

Community Development

Keeping a community safe is the reason most cities were formed, and Lompoc’s earliest public service was the fire department followed closely by the police department. Today Lompoc has amazing fire safety and law enforcement professionals who are dedicated to our families and community. Unfortunately, Lompoc continually loses highly trained and qualified public safety personnel to other communities resulting in ongoing staff shortages. We have closed the salary gaps over the past four years, but the city needs to work on affording lateral hires. We still need to develop retention incentives to reduce the continual staff turnover despite these pay increases. We have been able to buy needed equipment such as radios and body cameras as well as new fire trucks and safety equipment, but still need to invest in infrastructure. Appropriately funding our fire and police departments is vital to Lompoc's quality of life.

Lompoc’s potential is being realized. We have invested over $6 million in our parks just this year on top of four years of replacing outdated playground equipment and improving safety. But we still need to improve infrastructure as well as find the resources for ongoing new costs. We have over 200 acres of public parks in need of repair and improvement. Progress is happening despite the funding shortfalls. The outdated zoning ordinance has been updated. Evaluating city services and streamlining the processes has begun but restored unfilled positions are slowing results. There is one area that government can create jobs: by building, supporting and expanding parks and infrastructure - check out a career path with the city. Currently we depend a lot on volunteers and can’t thank you enough but we should have a formal volunteer program that makes it easy to sign up, easy to participate, and managed appropriately to protect both city parks and those volunteering. Modernizing our infrastructure and improving our existing parks, is just the first steps to a better quality of life. Progress takes time and funds after so many years of neglect, but we are seeing early blooms of the investment we are making in Lompoc.

City Infrastructure

The City of Lompoc was incorporated 136 years ago. Some of our streets, water and sewage lines are almost as old. We also have 21st Century infrastructure needs: solar energy reclamation, electrification state mandates, gray water systems for recycled water distribution, and broadband internet connectivity to support telecommuting, distance learning, and high-tech businesses. We have the advantage of being a full-service municipal city, but we do not have the surplus funds to give incentives like special utility rates, tax incentives, or reduced fees. This means we will have to consider the costs of implementation and work together to assess the appropriate rates for cost of service as well as investment in the streets, electrical lines and pipes. The more workforce housing built, the more living wage careers in town, the more we shop locally: all increase the financial resources to invest in paving your street, purchasing your excess electricity, hiring and retaining our public safety staff. It isn’t an easy or comfortable decision but we own our own services and need to invest in these assets. Doing these things means investing in ourselves and our community so we all benefit.

Transparency

Lompoc is your city. You deserve to know what and how decisions are being made on your behalf by those you elected. I have office hours at city hall and attend as many community events as possible. Online services are available and increasing as the new software phases are completed. The city website has links to all activities and press releases as do the city social media pages, so be sure and follow them. The city council meeting is THE place to access public information. You can attend in person, call in at 805-875-8201 for public comment, watch on TAPtv Ch 23 or listen to KPEG 100.9. The city website now has streaming video and radio options of the city council meetings. All council meetings are recorded and available on YouTube to watch. The city is working to provide on demand Spanish translation for council meetings and recorded meetings. Just a note about Facebook: It is not public - it is a private platform with the ability to limit who sees what information or requires a person to choose to have an account and follow the resource. I highly encourage you to watch, listen, call in to your city council meetings and use the city website for a trusted resources on city matters.

Growth

Growth is more than just expansion. Growth is thriving and flourishing. How a city grows affects every resident. Lompoc hasn’t grown much in the last 30 years. Building homes inside the city limits, supporting annexation when the landowner requests it, adding business and industrial parks are important to our success. And while it is in our best interests to encourage infill to preserve our rural way of life and surrounding agriculture or renovate existing buildings, it is not realistic to demand or only allow infill or renovation. Lompoc can annex land upon request by a property owner. Lompoc should support any business building modern new facilities. I have continually attended LAFCO meetings to advocate for these requests and explain the loss our community experiences when annexation is denied. LAFCO’s mission is to serve the residents of Santa Barbara County and the State of California by discouraging urban sprawl and encouraging the orderly formation and development of local agencies based on local conditions and circumstances. Based on local conditions we need to build more housing and provide opportunities for VSFB expansion and commercial launches, LUSD teacher recruitment, housing for our own public safety staff, and growth of companies here. But the lack of housing inventory is a roadblock sited by all these organizations when asked what is affecting their mission. Building businesses and homes contribute to the local economy via construction jobs, inventory for realtors, utility usage, products and services used by homeowners and a better school district with property taxes added. Supporting healthy expansion is part of a thriving city.