TSL:Sweet Valley info

 Located at 34.2 degrees North and 119.4 degrees West,Sweet Valley sits at an elevation of 80 feet above mean sea level and is 3 miles inland on average. The town sits on the Aitken-Cleaves-Miller Shale Deposit’s western edge running off into the Greater Cortez Vale,formed by the outflow of the Northern Cortez Sea around 9 million years ago.

In terms of the landscape itself,the greater town of Sweet Valley is built running on a 60 degree slope from the Anacapa Hills down to the shoreline where are the town’s beaches. This is resemblant of the way Santa Barbara is built but on a slightly higher elevation.

The physical area of Sweet Valley is 76 square miles,of which 65 square miles is land and 11 square miles is water.

The town of Sweet Valley is governed by an elected mayor-council government. Elections are held usually every 5 years,in theory at the pleasure of the town government. 

Mayors of Sweet Valley:

1. Jordan Kane (1864-1875)
2. Michael Hanlon (1875-1882)
3. Louis Stein (1882-1890)
4. Jeremy Patman (1890-1896)
5. Martin Belson (1896-1903)
6. Arthur Chesney (1904-1912)
7. Beric Dayne (1912-1922)
8. Lewis Pearce (1922-1929)
9. Thomas Hecht (1929-1944)
10. Richard Dellon (1944-1953)
11. Marcus Brooks (1953-1959)
12. Belinda Sherwood (1959-1967)
13. Richard McGuire (1967-1974)
14. Cameron Bacon (1974-1980)
15. Jack Bradley (1980-1988)
16. Anthony Gilbert (1988-1992)
17. Peter Santelli (1992-1997)
18. Alice Wakefield (1997-2005) 
19. Stacey Arnette (2005-2014)
20. Mark Mitchell (2014-2019)
21. Julie Patman (2019-2032)

At the accession of Alice Wakefield the Sweet Valley municipal council consisted of:

• Mayor Alice Wakefield 
• Deputy Mayor Arthur Dayne
• Town Manager Robert Pfeiffer
• Deputy Manager Dyan Fowler 
• Police Chief Frank Delacorte 
• Fire Chief Bill Wittner
• Harbormaster Matthew Belasca
• Town Attorney Jamie McGuire
• SVHS Principal Marcus Egbert (honorary)
• Town Comptroller Beverly Harris
• Planning Director Andrew McKay
• Parks and Recreation Manager Mark Walker

Since the days of Jack Bradley,the Mayor and Deputy Mayor positions have become ceremonial for the most part. The Town Manager and their Deputy hold much of the power usually associated with the Mayoral office.