Funny how he didn’t take this on with your husband. Quite the bully.
I would follow up and see if he actually is the president of the chamber of commerce. Santa Cruz is a small enough community. I guarantee that others have had run-ins with this guy. Also, although this was your first encounter, I am pretty confident the rest of the Santa Cruz community will be very welcoming and excited to have a local letterpress shop.
Glad to hear you will be moving forward with your letterpress enterprise. Wishing you much success.