SAN DIEGO — Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner was unanimously appointed as the new chair of the SANDAG board of directors on Friday, kicking off what some hope will be a new era of leadership and collaboration for the agency.
Heebner has served in Solana Beach for 20 years and on the SANDAG board for 14 years, with the last two spent as second vice chair. The board’s top position was previously held by former county Supervisor Nora Vargas, who shocked the region last month by announcing her resignation after being elected to a second term.
Heebner said she looks forward to helping the board work together over the next two years and thanked fellow members for their unanimous support.
“I really appreciate the trust and confidence that you’re putting in me for these next two years. I’ll do my very very best to bring this board together and make sure that the public is heard, and we work collaboratively on all these very important issues that we have to solve here in our region,” Heebner said.
The board also agreed to appoint San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava as vice chair and Santee Mayor John Minto as second vice chair. LaCava, whose District 1 seat represents Carmel Valley, Los Peñasquitos, La Jolla and Pacific Beach, said he is ready for the responsibility.
“We’ve got some really important work to do at SANDAG. We’ve had some problems in the past that we need to shed and move forward as a unified group,” LaCava said.
For the past few years, the SANDAG board has been plagued by bad blood between board members and board leadership, with many meetings featuring snippy comments and concerns about everyone being heard equally.
The agency has also faced criticism for scandals related to projects such as the State Route 125 toll road. Multiple investigations over the past year revealed that former CEO Hasan Ikhrata, who stepped down last winter, and other executives had hidden major issues with the tolling system from the board.
The agency has sought to get back on track with the hiring of new CEO Mario Orso, who has repeatedly stated his commitment to transparency and following correct procedure.
Because Heebner was already in a leadership role on the board during these various issues, some audience members said they doubted her ability to make change.
“Lesa, you being a primary board member for 14 years, for me, is exactly the reason why you need not head and be chair of SANDAG,” said one public commenter who went by Consuelo. “I don’t know in that time of 14 years what good you’ve actually done.”
Board member and San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones said that while past board leaders have contributed to a hostile environment, she believes Heebner, LaCava and Minto can set the board in a positive direction.
“I think with positive leadership, we can move forward,” Jones said. “No more interrupting one another, no more scoffing — there was a lot of that that happened, and I have every confidence that the three of you can actually make that happen.”
Along with running the SANDAG board meetings, the chair also has the power to set time limits for public comment — something that was a point of contention under Vargas. Directly after accepting the chair role, Heebner received applause from audience members for increasing the public comment time period from one minute to two minutes each.
