Who’s running for Sacramento County Board of Supervisors? A preview of candidates for March

Homelessness, affordable housing and road improvements are top issues among candidates competing for two seats on Sacramento County’s governing body that are up for election in March.

Five candidates are running for supervisor of Sacramento County District 3, which represents largely unincorporated areas such as Arden Arcade, Carmichael and Fair Oaks. The seat was held for 16 years by Susan Peters, who announced last year she would not seek reelection.

The five candidates for District 3 who qualified for the March ballot are Matt Ceccato, Catrayel Wood, Gregg Fishman, Rich Desmond, Tiffany Mock-Goeman.

Two candidates are running for supervisor of District 4 – representing Citrus Heights, Folsom and unincorporated communities such as Orangevale and Antelope – are incumbent Sue Frost and Bridget Duffy.

The primary election is March 3, but mail-in ballots have already been sent out to registered Sacramento County voters.

If a candidate wins a majority, he or she will automatically gain the seat; otherwise, the top two vote-getters would compete in a run-off during the Nov. 3 general election.

The League of Women Voters of Sacramento County will be broadcasting candidate forums on Metro Cable 14 and online on YouTube Wednesday evening. A livestream video of a District 3 candidate forum hosted by Sacramento Area Congregations Together last month can be viewed on the nonpartisan group’s Facebook page.

You can also check out The Sacramento Bee’s 2020 Voter Guide, produced in partnership with Voters Edge California. Go to bit.ly/sacbee-voter-guide-2020 to see all the races you’ll be deciding and create a personalized list of candidates.

Sacramento County District 3 Candidates

Matt Ceccato, an Arden Arcade resident, is the district director for Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove, and a combat-wounded veteran. Ceccato said his work with the Bera’s district office has allowed him to work as a kind of caseworker for residents “on a microlevel” to help them secure social services and benefits.

The key issues he’d tackle as supervisor would be addressing homelessness and mental health issues with “comprehensive, collaborative, real wraparound services.” He would like to see more “creative work” done to get individuals housed and supported, and said that “there’s a lot of state and federal funding that’s been left on the table.”

“As a combat veteran, I’m not afraid to talk about mental health, we have to erase that stigma,” he said. “I just don’t know what would be better experience that working with the community at our highest level of representation in the region.”

Catrayel Wood, a Fair Oaks resident, is a senior budget analyst with the Judicial Council of California and a regular volunteer and donor for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento. Wood said he would bring a data-driven approach to the county leadership position, given his finance and policy background.

Affordable housing and homelessness are the most pressing issues facing the county, Wood said. He said shelters “should not be the end goal,” and that he would like to streamline the approval process for more inclusionary housing, adding, “Let’s not put up additional barriers or roadblocks.”

“In the last 15 years we’ve seen housing that is no longer affordable, roads that are in constant need of repair, and a record number of homeless,” Wood said. “Someone needs to step forward and do something.”

Gregg Fishman, an Arden Park resident, is a member of the SMUD Board of Directors, and previously worked at the California State Association of Counties as a communications coordinator. He said his past work has allowed him to learn “the ins and outs of local government,” and learn about innovative solutions piloted by other agencies.

He said the county should be working more collaboratively with the city of Sacramento and other suburbs to coordinate on “solutions not Band-Aids” to address homelessness, such as incentivizing landlords to accept tenants with federal housing vouchers. Striking the right balance between spending transit dollars on expanded mobility options and repairing roads is also top of mind, Fishman said.

“(District 3) is the least incorporated district, providing all the social service stuff but also municipal services that cities are required to do,” Fishman said. “That requires someone who’s really willing to spend the time and effort on those prosaic issues.”

Rich Desmond, a Carmichael resident, is a former California Highway Patrol chief, and previously oversaw the agency’s legislative affairs program. He said he’s “seen first hand” the breadth of challenges the county faces, such as dangerous road conditions and people suffering from mental health crises.

Desmond said he would find more funding to tackle the backlog of transit maintenance, and encourage the creation and expansion of business improvement districts. “Something I’d do is really dig into (why) bureaucratic delays and red tape exists in the county,” he said. On homelessness, he said shelters alone are insufficient, and that the county should be more integrated with cities to provide social services.

“That would be my number one priority, to sit down and improve the relationships and attack this in a collaborative manner,” he said.

Tiffany Mock-Goeman, a Carmichael resident, previously worked as a program manager for Sacramento Steps Forward, the county’s lead nonprofit partner agency on homeless issues. She has 25 years of experience in nonprofit leadership experience, focused on social service programs related to health and housing.

The county “has been unwilling to accept its responsibility” on homelessness, Mock-Goeman said, and should more aggressively explore creative solutions, such as micro-units and transitional homes in suburban areas. She would also like to break down barriers for the redevelopment and transformation of vacant lots, such as charging fees after the completion of a project rather than upfront.

“Everybody knows somebody who needs affordable housing — a senior on fixed income, the barista at Starbucks, the person who takes your dry cleaning,” she said. “There has to be a place for everybody.”

Sacramento County District 4 Candidates

Sue Frost, a Citrus Heights resident, was elected supervisor in November 2016. She said she’s been proactive listening to her constituents on the issues they care about, and has been a strong defender of taxpayers. “My value system is aligned with what my district,” she said.

Frost said she’s a strong advocate for expanded social service programs in the probation department and Sheriff’s Office, and has helped establish the Antelope property business improvement district and expand the Orangevale public library over the last three years.

She championed a pilot program to employ homeless individuals to clean the American River Parkway. Although only two people successfully stayed with the program, she said its helped her realize “the big problem is mental illness and drug addiction.”

“I’m hoping in the coming months and years — we’re already beginning to focus on more of those resources and programs in those two areas,” she said.

Bridget Duffy, a Citrus Heights resident, is a self-described housewife. She previously ran for Citrus Heights City Council in 2014, and in 2018 she competed for various local and state offices in Pacifica.

Addressing homelessness is her top priority, she said. Sacramento County engages in “predatory practices,” Duffy said, forcing them to “uproot their encampments every three days, and people wonder why they look so disheveled.” Duffy said the county should use eminent domain to seize vacant or abandoned properties and turn them into housing for homeless individuals.

“Private property doesn’t have civil rights, people have civil rights,” Duffy said. “It’s a simple fix and governments aren’t doing it.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 7:15 AM.