The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted against the Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District’s wishes yesterday, appointing Ken Warfield to fill IVRPD’s vacant seat.

Four of the five supervisors approved Warfield, while 4th District Supervisor Susan Rose abstained from the vote. IVRPD had requested that its temporary member, Keith Allen, be selected to fill the seat, but he will now have to relinquish his position to Warfield on Dec. 1.

IVRPD member Diane Conn said she was angry that 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone supported Warfield instead of the IVRPD’s choice.

“I asked them to respect our appointment… Brooks Firestone nominated Ken because he said he thought [Warfield] has a master in business administration, so he thought he’d be a good candidate,” Conn said.

About seven people spoke during public comment to support Warfield, Firestone said, and Conn was the only person who advocated the IVRPD’s recommendation. He said Warfield is an established I.V. resident and sits on various other organizations related to improving I.V.

“They did not actually look at Ken when they looked at the applications,” Firestone said. “Ken has lived in I.V. since 1968, he’s a member of the [Project Area Committee], has a masters in public administration and is a certified mediator.”

Conn said most of the speakers during public comment were I.V. property owners in support of Warfield. Allen himself could not address the board because he had to work, she said.

Conn said that Firestone never discussed how he felt about the IVRPD’s recommended candidate. She said IVRPD will “just have to deal with it.”

“I’m going to hold Ken Warfield to the promises he made in his application to work for the community,” Conn said.

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