Elk Grove will get a new voice on Sacramento Board of Supervisors for first time in decades
Sacramento County’s fifth district supervisor seat is open for the first time in decades and familiar Elk Grove faces are vying for the spot.
Elk Grove City Councilman Pat Hume; former Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly; Cosumnes Community Services District Board member Jaclyn Moreno and former Elk Grove Unified School District board trustee Alex Joe are in the race.
The incumbent, Supervisor Don Nottoli of Galt, announced his 28th year on the county board will be his last. Nottoli, a Democrat, is retiring after his current term.
Pat Hume
Elk Grove city councilman Hume has garnered support and endorsements from business, law enforcement and many of the county’s elected officials.
“Don leaves big shoes to fill,” Hume said in an interview. “Don Nottoli, (former county supervisor) Toby Johnson — they rolled up their sleeves and did the work to represent the interests of the south county.”
Hume has a reputation as a consensus-builder, a regionalist steeped in local policy matters and a tough cross-examiner on the city council.
He sits on the dais of an Elk Grove in the midst of a building surge but that also faces challenges including homelessness, housing affordability and businesses trying to move forward through an ongoing pandemic.
“We saw during the pandemic that the corporate machine was rolling just fine, but the mom-and-pops were getting crushed,” he said.
Hume envisions a more customer-service focused Sacramento County and calls for a new ombudsman’s office that would help shepherd business owners through county bureaucracy.
He supports new home construction in the undeveloped southeast of the county, saying development could relieve the county’s housing crunch and help to moderate home prices while bringing jobs and business to the new neighborhoods.
“We have to figure out what the logjam is for all levels of housing,” Hume said.
Hume says he will also lean on his experience on transportation and the relationships built with local and regional leaders over the years. Hume has worked for years on the Capital Southeast Connector project, the Folsom-to-Interstate 5 bypass now under construction that will cut through southern Sacramento County.
He also sits on the boards of Sacramento Regional Transit and the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, which is bringing passenger rail service to Elk Grove and Sacramento with its Valley Rail extension project.
“I have relationships where I can pick up the phone. I recognize that no city is an island unto ourselves — we should be acting regionally on infrastructure, water, growth,” Hume said.
Hume has pledged to “forge a new path to reduce homelessness” that considers not only providing more housing, but also addresses deep-seated issues of addiction, mental health and trauma that the county’s unhoused grapple with each day.
“How do we intervene to help seek a better path? We can’t treat homelessness as a thing — it’s a population of people,” he said. “This is not a city or county issue, it’s a regional issue.”
Jaclyn Moreno
Local labor supports Cosumnes Services District Board member and mental health professional Jaclyn Moreno. Moreno is also endorsed by the Democratic Party of Sacramento County and Stonewall Democrats.
Moreno was elected in 2018 to the board which oversees parks, recreation and fire protection services in Elk Grove, Galt and unincorporated south Sacramento County. Moreno worked to diversify Cosumnes Fire Department’s ranks, focused on financial accountability and advocated for workforce development.
“My favorite thing is policy making and trying to figure out how we can create a community that works for everyone,” Moreno said.
A school psychologist and mental health counselor, Moreno said addressing mental health and homelessness amid the COVID pandemic will be major planks of her campaign.
“It is important to have a mental health professional who is on the ground floor everyday on the dais,” Moreno said. “We’ve seen with COVID, an increased need for mental health care, an increased need for drug addiction support. Those issues are paramount to our unhoused community. Ultimately, that’s why I decided to run.”
Moreno also pledged to help working families and small business owners, saying the county needs to work closely with minority- and women-owned businesses to make sure they receive resources and opportunities.
“There wasn’t a concerted effort to reach those folks,” Moreno said. “We need to talk about equity and the equitable distribution of those funds.”
Alex Joe
Joe, of Elk Grove, the former school board trustee, seeks to be the first Black Sacramento County supervisor since Grantland Johnson, the trailblazing politician, activist and Clinton appointee, who served from 1986 to 1993. Johnson died in 2014 at 65.
Joe could not be reached, but told the Elk Grove Citizen in February that he would focus on public safety and curbing gun violence and would be a needed Black voice on the board.
Joe ran twice for the seat in the 1990s. He lost to eventual supervisors Johnson and Nottoli.
Steve Ly
Steve Ly seeks a return to public office. In a January rally announcing his election bid, Ly pledged to tackle homelessness, focus on public safety and boost economic growth, the Elk Grove Citizen reported.
“I am the candidate that offers more,” Ly said, according to the Citizen.
Ly made history in 2016 with his mayoral win, becoming the nation’s first elected mayor of Hmong descent. But discord on the dais clouded his tenure. Later, controversies involving Ly’s staff and supporters that included harassment allegations levied by a former campaign manager, Moreno and mayoral candidate, now Elk Grove Mayor, Bobbie Singh-Allen, contributed to Ly’s defeat in 2020.
Ly has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Ly did not respond to interview requests for this story.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
CORRECTION: Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli has not endorsed Elk Grove City Councilman Pat Hume in Hume’s race for a seat on the Board of Supervisors. A previous version of this story incorrectly said Nottoli is backing Hume.
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