Lompoc City Hall stinks these days, and it’s not from nearby agriculture

There is a pungent odor in Lompoc, and it isn’t from the broccoli fields after they have been mowed and before they are plowed under to enrich the soil. Several months ago, one of the City Council members was charged with multiple felonies related to his applications for utility rebates. Then the council was informed that there had been other errors in the rebate program. Following these charges, the Santa Maria Times reports that “the city hired RSG under a contract of up to $38,895” at the City Council’s direction to conduct an impartial review (“Lompoc utility rebate review finds recordkeeping deficiencies, urges tighter oversight,” Oct. 20). The innocent explanation is that they were exercising their oversight responsibilities and simply wanted to know how many other applications were defective, since an in-house review had already identified about a dozen erroneous submittals.

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