Goleta residents voted emphatically for their chosen candidates in November, with each winner garnering more than 62 percent of the vote. The City Council received the county’s certified election results on Tuesday evening and gave a farewell sendoff to two-term Councilmember Kyle Richards, who is headed for the Board of Trustees at Santa Barbara City College.
Richards’s fellow councilmembers, city staff, friends, and colleagues spoke glowingly during Richards’s last council meeting, noting his thoroughness in preparing for meetings, kindness, and perhaps unknowing representation for LGBTQ+ people who found his political career inspiring. Reflecting on his time with the city, Richards spoke of his start at the Parks & Rec Commission 12 years ago and the many accomplishments and plans he’d worked on with the citizens of Goleta and the council: “How many cities have a butterfly management plan?” he marveled. “I’m so proud of that.” He concluded with an observation of the political climate: “I would hope that the distrust and cynicism that we see — that we’re up to the challenge of proving them all wrong,” he urged.
Richards won his SBCC seat by a 63 percent margin. Mayor Paula Perotte, who has served on the council for 14 years, six of them as mayor, will continue to guide the city for another four years; she earned 9,515 of the 15,012 votes (63.3 percent) cast in her race. Councilmember Stuart Kasdin returns to represent District 4, newly formed in 2022, receiving 2,275 of the 3,619 ballots (62.8 percent) submitted in southwest Goleta. New to the council will be Jennifer Smith, who won with 2,286 of the 3,553 votes (64.3 percent) in District 3 in the city’s northwest quadrant. Smith knows the city issues well from having occupied a seat on the Planning Commission since 2017.
Also on the ballot for Goleta voters was Measure G, which protects large agricultural parcels from development by renewing the prior MeasureG2012 through 2052. The current iteration outdid the prior, which had passed by a wide 71 percent margin. This year, 81.1 percent of voters approved the preservation of agricultural lands.
Though not a part of city government, the Goleta Water District provides all residents with water. Boardmember Lauren Hanson, running for her fifth term, received a noteworthy tally of a full 85 percent of the vote, or 6,036 of the ballots cast for District 3. Her knowledge of the arcane issues surrounding water, and drought, go back to 2008, when Hanson was first elected.
Goleta staff estimated the total cost for the city portion of the election to be about $58,000, though the County Elections Office would give a final billing in February 2025.
