OPENING SPEECH 3:00
Good evening, everyone. I want to start by thanking the League of Women Voters and the co-hosts for organizing tonight’s forum and giving our community a voice.

My name is Gary Janek Michaels, and I am running for City Council to put my unique background in infrastructure deployment and fiscal management to work for Santa Maria. Originally from Chicago, I am a third-generation Polish-American from a
working-class family and the first to attend college. I moved to Santa Maria in 2005 to join Comcast’s corporate operations team, where I led the strategic rollout of fiber-optic networks across school districts, local governments, military bases, and hospitals. In this role, I managed city and county franchise agreements, collaborating closely with government managers, technicians, and contractor teams.

This was a major career change for me. Previously, I spent many years in West Coast television management and marketing—a field heavily disrupted by the rise of internet media. Recognizing that the future lay in technology infrastructure, I successfully pivoted, later holding advanced roles with Comcast in the Bay Area and Time Warner Cable’s Government and Education team. Along the way, I earned an Academic Certificate in Accounting from UCLA.

In 2013, I purchased a home in Hidden Pines Estates to relocate and care for my aging parents. Since then, I’ve worked to protect your taxpayer dollars by serving on the Santa Maria-Bonita School District Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee and my local HOA board. In 2017, I launched E-rate Compass, a consultancy helping schools nationwide secure critical technology funding.

I am running for City Council because I have the proven expertise to protect and expand our local housing infrastructure. But building
infrastructure is only half the battle—we must also stop unsustainable spending. I want to put my UCLA accounting training to work at City Hall, structurally restoring financial balance to protect our taxpayers.

OPENING SPEECH 3:00 PAGE 2
My goal is to reinvent Santa Maria’s growth model. By doing so, we can build community wealth, protect our neighborhood identity, and ensure that District 1 neighborhoods finally receive their fair share of resources and localized care.

The City of Santa Maria needs to reinvent itself. We are still operating on a 20th-century revenue model that is failing a quarter of the way into the 21st century.

Right now, the city is acting like a broken car constantly in need of repair, rather than a beacon of sound financial management guided by an affordability mandate.

To the cynics who say this transformation isn’t possible: look no further
than our own wine country. It is one of the most powerful examples of an
agriculture-heavy region completely upending the assumption that it cannot
compete on a premium stage. We did it there, and we can do it at City Hall.
We can do this. Thank you.

CLOSING SPEECH 1:00
My fellow Santa Marian’s and especially District 1 voters.

Another election, and more city red ink. Our structural deficit projection this fiscal year is $7.1 million, and next year it is projected at $7.9 million. Plus, a complacent government overspent our LEAF reserve fund—our city savings account—leaving it completely depleted down to less than $1 million. Look at the trajectory: just last fiscal year, the deficit peaked at a staggering $26.4 million, following a $21.3 million deficit the year before that. And on and on.

Two years ago, at this very forum, Mayor Alice Patino stood before us and read off a laundry list of excuses for our budget crisis—citing a 49% spike in workers’ comp and a 45% jump in liability insurance. She used costs completely outside her control to justify a massive structural deficit and declining city performance. Yet, just two months ago, she used that same circular logic to vote ‘yes’ on giving herself a 20% stipend raise. Leadership means taking accountability, not making excuses. Just because the Mayor doesn’t know how to solve a structural budget problem doesn’t mean it can’t be solved.

So, on Election Day, I ask you to ask yourself: Do you honestly think this is the best Santa Maria can do? Do you see a gap between the stated goals of the city and visible reality of your neighborhoods? The choice is yours. If you want the status quo, you can vote for my opponent, Richard Batalla—who was appointed to this seat by the current administration and is heavily backed by labor unions. Or you can vote for Celest Mendoza, who answers to her own coalition of special interests. But letting labor unions and special interests dictate our city spending is no way to RUN A GOVERNMENT. (or balance a budget for us).

Or you can vote for me, Gary Janek Michaels, armed with my UCLA accounting training and my determination to get us out of this mess.Or you can vote for me, Gary Janek Michaels, armed with my UCLA accounting training and my determination to get us out of this mess.

I ASK FOR YOUR VOTE. Thank you.