SAN MIGUEL ADVISORY COUNCIL MINUTES
PO Box 425, San Miguel, CA California, 93451
www.sanmigueladvisorycouncil.org
MEETING TIME & DATE: 6:00 PM – June 23, 2010
LOCATION: COMMUNITY CENTER –
(13th Street, behind Library)
6:00 PM – Meeting called to Order. As this is the night for the election the order is altered so that the candidates will have time to give introductory talks with question and answer time, followed by voting. The League of Women Voters will be conducting the election.
I. Flag Salute – Mike Sanders
II. Roll Call – Sharon Brower
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS
GARY DAVIS – CHAIRMAN Present
VICE-CHAIRMAN Vacant
SHARON BROWER – SECRETARY Present
TOM BANISH – TREASURER Present
DENIS DEGHER – PUBLIC RELATIONS Present
NOEL CARPENTER – HISTORIAN Present
MIKE SANDERS – CSD LIAISON Present
JEAN HOFFMANN – MEMBER Present

Chairman Gary Davis explained the procedure for the evening, then turned the meeting over to Noel Carpenter for the introduction of the candidates and speeches.

Tom Banish – Tom has been on the council for 4 years and has served as treasurer for the past two years. He has a small vineyard and winery on the west side of San Miguel. He also works for the Paso Wine Alliance – a large winery where small wineries can go to have their wines made.

Gary Davis – Gary has been on the council for 2 years, the last year as chairman. He is a Cal Poly grad and lives within the sphere of influence on the southeast side with a Paso Robles address. Gary took the time to explain the sphere of influence and how anyone living within that area can be on the council.

Denis Degher – Denis has been on the council for 4 years and served 2 years as chairman. He also has a vineyard and small winery on the west side of San Miguel. Denis is also an accomplished musician.
Jean Hoffman – Jean was elected to the council last year as an alternate and filled a regular seat in March when Debbie Lewis resigned. Jean is a long term San Miguel resident, leaving the area to live in Petaluma and then returned to “home”. Jean serves on the San Miguel Resource Connection and the Native Daughters of the Golden West.
Patricia McHarris – Patricia lives on the west side of San Miguel with her husband Steve. Steve has served on the council in the past and Patricia feels that she would like to contribute to her community too. She is also a member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West.
Craig Rambo is running as a write-in. Craig lives in San Miguel and works for Paso Robles as a “Waste-water specialist”. Craig said he feels it is time for him to become involved in his community.
*Craig Rambo’s eligibility has been verified by the League Members.

III. MINUTES APPROVAL – As a glitch in the minutes did not deliver them correctly to the Council they will be resent for approval at the July 28th meeting.
IV. TREASURERS REPORT – Tom Banish reports a balance of $895.69. He has two checks to write so that amount will change and he will need to ask the County for more funds.
V. COUNCIL REPORT
A. Chairman – Gary Davis. Mr. Davis reported on
the Chairpersons meeting he attended.
Questions that came up were: Can the
Council’s have fundraisers? He explained that the
County is in a crunch and is unable to fund the
Councils as they did before. He also asked if
anyone has any input to please pass it on to the
Council. Another item that was discussed and
explained was the difference between low income
vs : Low cost. Mr. Davis went on to give a brief
synopsis on how the projects get to the Council,
saying that Elizabeth Kavanaugh, the North
County Planner is responsible for bringing the
projects to us.
Fred Thacker stated that “The years I was on
the Council we hammered every month about
why they are trying to send so much low cost
housing to us.”
Denis Degher said that “Six months ago I spoke
before the Board of Supervisors against low cost.”
Gary Davis explained that the “numbers are
presented by the state and the County can go
against them.” He said that the “County has
numbers that show the population at 1290 and a
projection of 1158 by 2025.”

B. CSD Liaison – Mike Sanders reported that they
are still working behind closed doors on the
property; owned by the Grizzles, north of the
Waste Treatment Plant. Mr. Sanders wanted
people to be aware that the last meeting was the
first of three required meetings to placing the bills
on the tax rolls. He said that citizens who do not
want to see this happen need to attend the
meetings.
VI. PUBLIC REPORTS
CHP/Sheriff – Sheriff Josh Calagna introduced
himself and was immediately queried by Mike
Sanders re: the recent car thefts. He said they are
using unmarked cars and all night surveillances in
attempts to catch the thieves at work. He also
said that most of the thefts occurred because the
cars were left unlocked and most were also on K
and L Streets. He explained that there are two
beats; beat one is south of Templeton to the
Cuesta grade and beat 2 is north of Templeton to
the county line. There can be 4-9 deputies on duty
for both beats and during the daylight hours they
have single cars (one car – one deputy) up until
9:00 Pm then they switch to two deputies to one
car (for safety). A slim or light night shift would
consist of three cars while a regular or heavier night
would allow for six cars. This shift continues to 3:00
AM and is often called the graveyard shift.
Geof O’Keefe asked Deputy Calagna “I assume
you’re asking for more staff but the budget doesn’t
allow it?
The Deputy’s response was “I’m a line staff person
and I’m happy in my job.
Robin Chapman brought up the ongoing problem of
the motorcycles in the river. Colleen Enk – “They
have a right of way.” Deputy Calagna replied that,
“We don’t have the re-sources to go down into the
river bed. If they come up out of the river bed we
deal with them at that point.”
Gary Davis added, “As you know we’ve had
representatives from the Sheriff’s Department, who
have verified that there are two 4 wheel vehicles in
the warehouse.” Denis Degher, “I’ll volunteer to
ride.”
Lynne Schmitz stated she had seen the CHP
chasing motorcyclists down the railroad right of way.

CSD – Dale Hamblin – Not present
Supervisor’s Office – Both Frank Mecham and Vicki
Shelby present. Mr. Mecham said he had a very
interesting day. “They had a Level 2 at Diablo Canyon
this morning during the time they were doing a
scheduled test. It was a carbon dioxide leak and no
radiation leaked, but it created a lot of calls. Yesterday,
6/22, Vicki and I went to a meeting where they said the
test would be done in July or August and then this
happened today. There were a lot of rumors and those
are hard to contain.”
“My office hours will be tomorrow in Paso Robles from
9-11 and then at Heritage Ranch from 2-4. We also did
the 3 day budget hearing in 1 and ½ days. The budget
was balanced and passed for 2010 – 2011.”
Colleen Enk asked about the status on the water shed
study – as it relates to the mines?”
Mr. Mecham replied that the Pankey Mine is close to
completion on the EIR.
Laverne Buckman wanted to know “What’s happening
with the railroad crossing?”
Mr. Mecham responded he was not sure , “We’re trying
to push it along, there’s an area in Templeton also that
we’re looking at.”
Mike Sanders asked, “What does it mean, a balanced
budget?”
Mr. Mecham said, “It means that when what we have
in revenue is spent that’s it. The budget will be a
moving target as the state continues on. We’ve had to
eliminate 250 positions.”
Geof O’Keefe asked, “What’s going on with Mission St.?”
Mr. Mecham replied, “It’s been approved. It will be in
the next budget cycle – next year.”
NATIVE DAUGHTERS OF THE GOLDEN WEST – Jean
Hoffmann reported that , At the Annual Meeting in
Ventura last week we honored Lynne Schmitz for her
history here and her publicizing of this area.” There
was a round of applause while Lynne stood.

VII COUNTY PLANNING REPORT –
Elizabeth Kavanaugh is not present.
Denis Degher had the computer disc for the Cal Poly
design plan. Sharon has it now and will try to put it
on the web site.
Gary Davis gave an update on the Saunders
project. (COAL 07-0036). “They are ready to start
construction.” And the: Ruben and Susan Garcia – 35
acre project. “ This is the lot split that came before
the Council about 2 and ½ years ago. I would have
to ask Elizabeth exactly when. They want to get a
split that would consist of one lot at 24 acres and
the second at 10 acres. This would consist of two
parcels, the exact acreage would be 24.87 and 9.65.
The numbers on those are APN 027-171-011 and
APN 027-121-005.”
X. OLD BUSINESS – There was no old business at this
time.
A recess was called and at 8:00 PM the meeting was
reconvened as the counting of the ballots by the
League members was completed.
They reported that there were 41 signed ballots and
the order of votes was:
Gary Davis…………………….29
Jean Hoffmann……………….26
Tom Banish……………………22
Denis Degher………………….20
Patricia McHarris……………..18
Craig Rambo………………….15
Meg Brooks………………….2
Colleen Enk………………….1
The League of Women Voters who participated
tonight was thanked for a job well done.
The new Council was congratulated and a picture was
taken for posterity. After being seated the Council
voted on the new officers. They are:
Chairman…………………..Gary Davis
Vice-Chairman……………Noel Carpenter
Secretary……………………Sharon Brower
Treasurer…………………….Tom Banish
Public Relations…………….Mike Sanders
Historian……………………..Jean Hoffmann
Denis Degher………………..Member at large
Patricia McHarris will be the first alternate
and Craig Rambo will be the second.
IX. NEW BUSINESS – There is no new business at
this time.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM
The next meeting will be on July 28th at 7:00 PM

The minutes were approved as is.