Ballots have been mailed to Sunset Beach registered voters for the 3 openings on the Sunset Beach Community Association Board. Ballots are to be returned by Nov. 30. The following are the statements personally written by the candidates and listed in the order they were received; accuracy and content is solely each candidate’s responsibility.
The candidates were asked— “Why should the Sunset Beach community vote for you to be an SBCA board member?”
Carrol Wolf
My name is Carrol Wolf, and I have lived in Sunset Beach for 30 years. Recently Sunset Beach has become divided over an issue that none of us really wanted: being taken into another city.
After studying the various feasibility reports, I concluded that being a part of Huntington Beach was the only plan that made any financial or political sense.
Therefore I support making this transition as quickly and smoothly as possible. Then our community can get back to things like chili-cook-offs, parades, and being friendly with our neighbors.
Having spent my working career as a licensed California architect, I have seen first-hand, the complexities of any city’s infrastructure. Putting an arbitrary boundary around our Sunset Beach will NOT change its unique character, but having to make all the necessary decisions involved in cityhood most definitely would. Thank you.
Bill Sebring
I have lived in Sunset Beach for over 35 years. I am a past member of the SBCA Board.
I have served as a regional president of the California Student Association of Community Colleges (CalSACC) for our local 14 Community Colleges.
I have experience with Bylaws, Robert’s Rules of Order and parliamentary procedures at local, county and state levels. I do my best to represent the concerns of residents, property owners and businesses.
We need to work together and respect our diversity. A difference of opinion is expected and needs to be addressed with civility.
“Why can’t we all just get along?”
I have been involved since the onset in the application to incorporate the city of Sunset Beach.
I would like to thank everyone for their time and effort in the process of incorporation. There was a proven majority; through polls, signed petitions and personal donations who desired to pursue cityhood.
I believe, given the opportunity, we could have proved fiscal viability in the LAFCO comprehensive analysis.
I am disappointed in the handful of individuals who tried to undermine the efforts to incorporate through misdirection and manipulation.
Alas, we are where we are …
The future is unwritten.
Let us write it together.
I will stand up for Sunset Beach!
Sue Porter
I am Sue Porter and I moved to Sunset in 1964.
I am a member and past president of Las Damas, a member of the SB Woman’s Club and the SBCA.
My family has been actively involved in Sunset Beach, my husband David dedicated many years being on the SBCA and LCP and our daughter was on the Sunset Beach volunteer Fire Department.
My husband and I along with Jack Milucky started the parade held in Sunset Beach in December. Our entire family has volunteered and been involved in many other events and traditions in Sunset Beach.
I want to be on the SBCA Board because if we are annexed our community needs to have a board that will stand up for the community and continue to maintain at least some of the independence Sunset Beach has had for over 100 years.
Rooney Daschbach
I am a Businessman and 29 Year Resident of Sunset Beach, CA. My wife Claire has been a long time member of Las Damas and co-chair of Fireman’s Ball the last 2 years.
My decision to run for the Sunset Beach Community Association (SBCA) was made immediately following the decision by Huntington Beach City Council to annex our Town.
Despite a strong and unified effort by a core of Sunset Beach residents, we were given no right to vote and annexation was forced upon us. It is my personal opinion that the entire process was a cram down and a slap in the face to the wants and wishes of a majority of the residents in a more than 100-year old community.
Sunset Beach is a fabulous place, a unique community filled with pride and character. It is essential that this uniqueness survives and flourishes.
We need SBCA representatives who will speak up for our community. If not, the Sunset Beach we know and love, will be swallowed whole forever.
Be sure to vote for those who will stand up for Sunset Beach!
Gretchen Hoad
Thirty years have passed since our family set down in Sunset Beach, and I’ve just grown to appreciate our unique community more each year and want it remain so.
So it’s no secret that I’m firmly on the side of those who want us to remain independent of our neighbor, Surf City, and I’ll keep on personally working for that goal.
I will stand up for the desires and interest of Sunset Beach residents. Yet, I recognize that after the dust settles and we know what our future brings, we’re all still neighbors, and I will also work toward keeping that unique neighborhood feeling alive and thriving. I hope you will vote for me.
Tom Burke
Hello, my name is Tom Burke, and I’m a candidate for the Sunset Beach Community Association.
Board of Directors. I’ve lived in Sunset Beach Area for the last 46 years. A past SBCA Director, currently chair the SB-Local Coastal Program Advisory Board, and sit on the Seal Beach/Huntington Beach Transition Committee.
Annexation the number one topic in this community; when LAFCO changed SB sphere of influence to Hntington Beach last year it seemed to surprise this board?
I don’t know why, at least the last three District 2 County Supervisors, their staff, and LAFCO has been telling this Board that the Community needed to address this coming change.
The Board is currently pleading the Ostrich Defense.
Well the Community exploded, Seal Beach Annexation, HB Annexation, Cityhood, ECT.
And just when we needed the Board most it imploded. Denial, special interest, accusations, shouting matches, incompetence, the “Peter Principal” at its best.
The annexation train has now left the station, when HBCC approved its second reading to file with LAFCO in October, 2010 it started down the track.
Has a few stops, County, LAFCO, and the Coastal Commission, but they are just to pick up baggage in route to its inevitable final destination.
It’s time for the SBCA Board to step up, take a leadership role in this once in a lifetime opportunity to protect and improve this charming little beach community for many generations.
Partner with Huntington Beach, have a strong voice in our future, stop this poor me attitude.
If elected, my goal will be to get this Board back on track in representing the wishes of the community to the SBCA, and our new partner Hutntington Beach.
Mike
VanVoorhis
I am currently Vice-President of the Sunset Beach Community Association Board of Directors. For four years I have been working on the PCH Underground Utilities Project and it is scheduled to start in January 2011.
The Orange County Fire Authority has dissolved the Volunteer Fire Program in Sunset Beach and I am leading the effort to keep the fire station building for our community.
I am Chairman of our SBCA Transition Committee trying to ensure that the important issues to Sunset Beach will be retained after our annexation to Huntington Beach.
I have a good working relationship with the Huntington Beach City Council, City Administrator and Planning Department.
We have a unique opportunity to influence our future and I want it to have the best possible outcome.
I have previously been a member of our Volunteer Fire Station for 23 years and the Sunset Beach Sanitary District for 18 years.
Dr. Anthony Nobles
I believe my years of experience leading many Boards of public and private companies and fighting for those that I represented provide a value to the SBCA Board.
I have fought for and will bring corporate governance experience to the SBCA board.
I will work to fight for the rights of the community and its members without bias.
I will listen to the opinions of all members of our community and bring their concerns, opinions and ideas to the Board.
I believe in supporting the “Sunset Beach” we have all come to love, while helping us to grow as a community moving forward as a member of the SBCA Board.
My family and I have come back to Sunset Beach to retire here, since we purchased our home I have become very active in our community, initially supporting the drive for city hood and later serving on the transition committee.
I have also recently been voted onto the LCP Board and will use my background in real estate development, building design in both residential and commercial real estate.
I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of the SBCA at a time when we are entering into this new unchartered place of becoming a part of Huntington Beach while never letting “Sunset Beach” get lost in the big town.
