Former Central Coast Congresswoman Andrea Seastrand has been named the new organizational development director for the group formerly known as the San Luis Obispo Property Owners’ Association.

The once-SLOPOA has since changed its name to the San Luis Obispo Property and Business Owners’ Association, or SLOPBOA. Under its former name, the group headed a failed local initiative in 2010 that would have required all fee increases in San Luis Obispo to be decided by a majority vote of the public. The group is most active with its criticism of SLO city officials over a structural deficit in which the city devotes much of its financial resources toward employee pay and benefits.

Seastrand, a Republican, ousted the late Democratic Congressman Walter Capps for the 22nd Congressional District seat in 1994. She lost the seat back to Capps in the 1996 election. In 1997, Seastrand went on to become executive director of the California Space Authority.

“SLOPOA has always been an advocacy group for taxpayers in general and property owners in particular,” Seastrand said in a news release. “It fits right in with my philosophy of limited government, fiscal conservatism, and preservation of private property rights.”

According to the SLOPBOA news release, the group plans to open new offices on Prado Road this year. The organization was originally formed in 1994, the same year Seastrand was elected to office.

“It is a huge step forward for the SLO Property and Business Owners’ Association to welcome aboard such an accomplished leader to take our organization to the next level,” President Marco Rizzo said in a news release.