Mailing Address
We need your mailing address in order to send your ballot/s. Please remember to enter your mailing address when making online membership payments.
If you have not received your ballot/s by June 6, please contact Kathy McMurtry, our office manager at (707) 884-3179 or gualalacc@gmail.com. and she will send the ballot/s to the correct address.
As they are received, all ballots are checked against our master list. Mailed ballot/s must have a postmark by June 18, 2025.
To vote in the election, you must be a GCC member by June 2, 2025. Ballots for the new directors should be mailed out by June 2 and returned to GCC by June 18.
The annual meeting of the Gualala Community Center, scheduled for June 21 at 1:30 will not be held at the Del-Mar Center in Sea Ranch, but rather in the courtyard at the Gualala Community Center on Center Street.
Board candidates will be filling three outgoing term-limited directors and one resignation: Karen Russell… end of term / David Fouts… end of term / Paula Smith (filling Jami Sundstrom’s seat) / Leslie Bates… resignation (one-year term)
Four candidate seats will be available.
These are the Candidates:
Colby Bibb
My name is Colby Ann Bibb and I am running for the Gualala Community
Center Board.
My career was as a Computer Engineer. My work took me to various
countries on projects including the Space Shuttle Program, a missile
tracking ship, a US Navy submarine test facility, nuclear power plants in
the US and Spain, and satellite ground stations.
When my husband and I moved to the Mendonoma coast in 1999, I quickly
started volunteering at both the Dolphin Gallery and The Sea Ranch
Library. In 2010, I became the Coordinator for The Sea Ranch Library
volunteers. Since 2005 I have also volunteered as a tutor in the Horicon
after school program.
In August 2018 I joined the GCC kitchen volunteers under the leadership of
Sheri Kirby, and in 2019 assumed leadership of the GCC kitchen.
Continuing Sheri’s goal of providing quality food at low prices, I expanded
the menu as the number of kitchen volunteers grew. When COVID struck
the following year it became necessary to alter our menu to fit the “new
normal” and I quickly found solutions to those problems. With the loss of
our kitchen in the February 2023 fire, we once again had to adapt. An
ability to adapt to changing circumstances and to think “outside of the box”
is a skill I will bring to the GCC. I will also bring a dedication to duty; in
almost seven years now I have not missed a single 1st Saturday of the
month Pay’N’Take event.
In summary, I love the Gualala Community Center and the Pay ‘N’ Take for
all the wonderful work done to help local families. I want to see it continue
to serve our community as well in the future as it has done in the past.
Darla Buechner
Who am I?
I have lived in Gualala my whole life and I’m the fourth generation of my family here. My grandparents helped build the original Gualala Community Center (GCC).
I currently volunteer in the Pay n’ Take Clothing Store and I’m one of the many Pay n’ Take bakers that bring you the baked goods we create for sale.
What are my goals?
As a current member of the Steering Committee to Rebuild the GCC, I have realized that after two years, nothing has gotten us any closer to breaking ground. If I’m elected my main goal will be to break ground and start construction in 2025. I know our community, and with help from volunteers, contractors and local businesses we will have a building that will completely replace what we had before the fire, and will add offices and a commercial kitchen and prep area for the Coastal Seniors and Meals on Wheels. I am hopeful that the new Board will support a rebuilding project that includes local businesses and volunteers.
To date the GCC Board(s) have spent close to $700,000 dollars on architectural fees and demolition, they also paid an out-of-town contractor to bid the job and called it a stipend, he was awarded the project. If, elected I will work to terminate all of these contracts.
I will work with the Board to renew the GCC’s Bylaws, which are outdated and in conflict with the California Corporations Code.
I will push for a meeting time of 6pm which allows for people who work during the day to attend meetings, I will also encourage the use of Zoom meetings.
I would appreciate your vote of confidence.
Darla Buechner
Former President of the Gualala Community Center
Contacts:
PO Box 653, Gualala, CA 95445
Darlabuechner@rocketmail.com
Text: 707-684-9325
Michael Combs
If I was once again seeking employment, which I haven’t in the past thirty years, I would list as qualifications an MBA from Michigan State, Hawaiian CPA, twenty-eight years of finance and accounting experience as Controller, Accounting and Finance Officer, Budget Officer, and Management and Effectiveness Internal Auditor. But those aren’t the qualifications needed to effectively contribute to successful community center operations.
What are? Foremost is the ability to see that our community center needs to serve our community, and that requires knowledge of what those needs are and of how they can be met. I began to learn the unique needs of our coastal communities when my family moved to Point Arena in 1949 shortly after my seventh birthday. Soon I was an active participant in the dances, dinners, etc. in the various halls — in Point Arena the Civic Center, Druids’ Hall, VFW Hall, and the school gym and auditoriums. The Garcia Grange in Manchester — I’m a former president. And of course the Gualala Community Center where I enjoyed frequent dances after I got my driver’s license in 1958.
However, over the past 27 years as a member of both the Gualala Lions and Rotary — past president of both — I became immersed in community service activities which revolved around the Community Center. The annual Lion’s Club Crab Feed fundraiser, of which all profit is returned to the community, at times served over 400 diners in three seatings. If the Community Center was larger, only two seatings would suffice. It was packed full at Rhododendron breakfasts, Thanksgiving and spaghetti dinners, senior lunches, memorial services, and my 80th birthday party.
Experience I gained as Community Center user has taught me that a large open hall meets the Board’s rebuilding criteria:
- Provide a large gathering space for the Gualala community
- Rebuild this facility with expedience, without delay
- Control and reduce the project costs significantly
I pledge the best of my abilities to help achieve these goals.
Michael B. Combs
Janet Pierucci
I have been a north coast resident since 2015 and have volunteered in the GCC Bakery since 2018. I come from a small farming community in California’s Central Valley and feel right at home in Gualala. I love meeting my neighbors and friends in the post office or market and want to contribute what I can to keep Gualala a wonderful place to live and visit.
I have been an active volunteer in many organizations throughout my life including The American Cancer Society, The American Red Cross, Kern County Mental Health Board, Kern County Welfare Volunteer Advisory Committee, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Board of Trustees, and the Kern County Grand Jury. I have served volunteer organizations both at the community and state levels in a variety of capacities.
Like many people in Gualala and the surrounding area, I am looking forward to the day we have a brand-new community center complete with a Hall, Kitchen and a permanent home for GCC Clothing. I would like to see our community center reflect the spirit and culture of Gualala. If elected to the Board, I will work diligently to reach that goal. I would be honored to be elected to the GCC Board and will do my best to be of service to the community.
Thank you,
Janet Pierucci, PhD
PO Box 1754
Gualala, CA 95445
805-845-8989
Paula Smith
I’m Paula Smith and I’m running for the Gualala Community Center (GCC) board. When the GCC burnt down in February of 2023, Gualala lost its heart. I intend to bring it back. We need the hall, appropriate restrooms, kitchen and Pay N’ Take facilities so we can gather as a community again, to meet and socialize with one another, to do our civic duty by voting and become connected again. I was successful as one of the Forum 4 in raising over $650,000 to keep RCMS afloat. I’ve worked on election campaigns for fire departments, schools and the library here in Mendonoma all of which won. In December of 2024 I was asked to join the GCC Board to fill an unexpired term and was approved for the position without objection. I applied for a grant with PG&E and organized a tasty and fun pizza fundraiser at Two Fish thanks to Margaret and Hilla the owners. I have manned information/fundraising booths at the safety fair, Art in the Redwoods and on PNT sale days to educate the community, increase GCC membership and raise donations to rebuild the center.
I’ll keep working to find funds and encourage people to join GCC. We can rebuild our heart by working together. Vote for me and join me in rebuilding the center.
Help me fill the hat.
To vote in the election, you must be a GCC member by June 2, 2025. Ballots for the new directors should be mailed out by June 2 and returned to GCC by June 18.
The annual meeting of the Gualala Community Center, scheduled for June 21 at 1:30 will not be held at the Del-Mar Center in Sea Ranch, but rather in the courtyard at the Gualala Community Center on Center Street.
Board candidates will be filling three outgoing term-limited directors and one resignation: Karen Russell… end of term / David Fouts… end of term / Paula Smith (filling Jami Sundstrom’s seat) / Leslie Bates… resignation (one-year term)
Four candidate seats will be available.