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Sonoma County, a dynamic county combining agriculture and industry, City and country, creating unique and varied challenges for its citizens join us as we present some of the information and services provided by the county of Sonoma to help us as we move into the 21st century. Welcome

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to Sonoma County in the 90s with your host Dana Jericho and Gina Lash dana D'Errico and welcome to Sonoma County in the nineties. Today I have with me supervisor Mike Riley, he's our newly elected supervisor from the fifth district and he's going to tell us all

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about the plans he has for the future of his district. Welcome to the show. It's good to have you tell me a little about yourself and your background and why you decided to run for supervisor of the fifth district. Well that's a lot. Uh the fifth

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district has been historically, I think the kind of progressive hotbed of Sonoma County and you know, I was involved with the former supervisor Ernie Carpenter, who had that office for some 16 years um in a couple of his re election campaigns, chairing those, um I've sort

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of been around government for a long time, both serving for a number of years as Assistant to State Assemblyman Dan Houser actually started in county government here in Sonoma County is in the Mental Health Department when I first came up in 1977 as director of drug

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treatment and prevention programs in the county. And for the past several years, I've been out in the West County communities running a Um kind of a Multiservice nonprofit agency that deals with senior issues, employment issues, issues of low-income people. We had the only homeless shelter job

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training programs and have been active in the community in that way. Um also logged about 13 years on local school boards. So in a lot of ways, um the decision to run for supervisor was kind of an extension of that history of of of community service.

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And In my own interest in making sure that we were well represented. You know, in terms of the particular and diverse viewpoints of the fifth district, you know, on the board of supervisors. Well, it sounds like you were absolutely a natural for the position. Well, it

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was, it was a very interesting contest, as you can imagine, after 16 years of having one person in that position and having as as many bright and talented people as we have in the West County who are also historically pretty politically active. It was, it was

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an interesting contest to decide who was going to replace Ernie. I mean the primary, I think there were seven different candidates in a very crowded primary and uh than two of us in the runoff election that seemed to seemed to go on longer than any election

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in history. I think we went back and charted it and from the time we declared to the time of the november 96 election, it was about a 19 month election. So I'm I'm not feeling as much as, as a new supervisor. I feel like I've got

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a couple of years under my belt already. Just from the campaign. Yes, it was quite exciting. You were elected by the fifth district. Can you tell us a little more about the people that are in your district? Well, it's it's a wonderful district in many ways,

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both in terms of its people and its, its, its geography that the fifth district is predominantly what's referred to as the West County. And it it encompasses our entire 50 mile coastline from marin to the Mendocino border. Um, it it has all the lower Russian river

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area, all of our West County small communities, Occidental city of Sebastopol, which is the only incorporated city actually, that's totally within the fifth district. And then it actually comes all the way out to highway 101 and and embraces uh significant portion of west santa rosa and

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almost the entire southwest santa rosa areas of of Roseland and and right and Bellevue. So it's, it's a tremendously diverse area. When you start thinking about the differences between the issues in Roseland and the issues in C Ranch and having those both be in the same

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district. Yes, that that's very diverse. That's a large district in. It has come to my attention with you mentioning this that you are the only form of government. So you have quite a workload. It's been mentioned that if there's a pothole in Annapolis, you know, we're

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the only office they can call for that. It's true, it's The 5th District is somewhat different than the other districts in that so much more of our district is unincorporated area, it's outside the incorporated cities. And so for people who live in the unincorporated area, they

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look to county government not only for um, you know, the traditional services we provide throughout Sonoma County, you know, mental health and public health and, and those sorts of things, but where their Police department, where their road department, you know, we're involved with day in day

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out infrastructure of, of a number of the small unincorporated communities out there. What do you see as major issues coming to the board of supervisors through this coming year? I think we have several challenges that are going to be coming before the board this year, not

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the least of which is how we're going to struggle with and implement these new welfare reform um provisions, uh, and and finding ways and doing that to support a transition of people from, from welfare to independence. And, and finding ways not to trying to take the

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edge off some of the more punitive aspects I think of, of, of that reform provisions. Um, it's um, there are a lot of issues always about the Russian river that are, you know, not only close to my heart because it's in my district, but I think

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important to everyone in Sonoma County and maybe we can talk a little bit more about that. Um, the other issue I see that's coming before us is how we can make our criminal justice system more responsive to the particular problems of domestic violence. Um, people throughout

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the justice system are meeting and struggling with that issue and I expect to have some proposals coming before the board to address that specific issue. Probably within the next three or four months. Your district always seems to make the headlines and it's in the news quite

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a bit. It's a very colorful district. Wonderful district. Tell us about the floods and now the coho salmon as an endangered species. How do you see that as affecting the area? I think to understand how it affects again, not only the Russian river area, but all

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of Sonoma County, you have to understand the importance of the Russian river to Sonoma County. The Russian river is arguably our most important natural resource. It's a drinking water source for over 600,000 people in our region. It's a major attraction uh, for our tourism industry. Um,

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it is the, uh, it is the habitat uh, for, you know, many uh, many categories of animals and certainly, you know, the wild fish that have been diminishing over um, the last several years and are, are of concern to people. And so it serves a whole

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variety of of, of functions that help us live the life and the quality of life that we have in Sonoma County. The floods are a recurring problem. It's not a new problem, but I think there's been certainly renewed intensity about trying to figure out what we

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can do to lessen the impact on the severity of those floods, particularly in the last four or five years. Uh I was at a meeting last night actually in Greenville with um over 200 residents to announce that we had gotten some $4.5 million dollars that we're

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able to use much of its federal money uh to help a number of people in that area elevate their houses. So we can hopefully get them out of a situation where they have repetitive damage each time there's a flood, we're not gonna be able to help

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everybody with this particular program. But hopefully it's a start that we can we can build on over time. And I know that's that that's always a concern. Besides just getting houses elevated though, I think we need to look at why we seem to be having more

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frequent floods of a more serious nature than we have had in at least our recent history, let's say the last 100 years. And I'm interested in looking at what other stormwater management practices we can institute to ensure that when we ask people now to spend the

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20 to $40,000 it takes to raise their house above what we're calling the 100 year floodplain that were not also through development in the floodplain and, and through other factors, creating a situation where those same, that 100 year flood plain is going to be raised five

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ft in the next 10 years and those same people are going to be be flooded again even after they've elevated. So I think we have a responsibility to look at the broader picture as well as doing what we can within the, within the affected area. How

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you had mentioned earlier before the show that the dams were a great help and that they are preventing even more severe flooding. Is that true? It is true. And, and one of the major rationales and, and public reasons for building the dams were for flood control

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purposes. Um, I've discussed this with engineers and members of the Army Corps and their best estimates are that the combination of Warm Springs Dam and, and and and coyote Dam up by Ukiah have reduced the peak of floods in, in the most severe floods by somewhere

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in the, in the area of 6 to 8 ft. Uh, what, what, what's a little scary about that is even with that reduction, we're seeing in 95 for instance, and in 86 floods that are higher that any, that we've had recorded in the last 100 years.

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And so one has to wonder what else is happening here that's contributing to, you know, increase flood levels even after we've put those dams in place to ostensibly take the top off those floods and make them less severe. So that's quite a major undertaking to investigate

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all of these different issues. Well, it's, it's it's an ongoing process and it's it's one that I think that we need to become serious about. I've asked the water agency to For instance, uh compare elevations over the last 20 years in the laguna basin from what

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they were 20 years ago in terms of elevation above sea level to what they are today. Um The Laguna basin has historically been the retention basin that has taken the top off severe floods for the Russian river. It uh its function in that manner. And there

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are, there's some people who believe now that through increased sedimentation in the Laguna over time the backflow in and the washout and particularly with the gravel mining and some of the timber practices we've allowed along the Russian River. That, that Laguna basin has been gradually building

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up and is acting less as a retention basin for the river. And that may be one of the reason we're seeing higher flood levels when they happen. I see. Well, this will be very interesting as it progresses as we get along in this. I can see

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that, but that's not new for your district. You've been having quite a few meetings with public out in your area on sewer and septic issues. What is that all about? Well, it's, it's about an area of our county that really was initially built um, predominantly as

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summer cabins from people coming up here from san Francisco and other areas and, and enjoying the Russian river and, and the wonders of the river and during the summer months and really not, you know, staying in these rather small, you know, structures and on small plots,

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you know, on a year round basis over the last 25 years or so, what we found is that more and more people are inhabiting and, and, and owning and, and living in a lot of the former summer cabins on a year round basis. And that's put

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a tremendous strain on the ability of the infrastructure out there, which is primarily septic kinds of systems to handle that kind of year round use. And, and so we're, we're working to look at what it will take to help upgrade from a health perspective, many of

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these small communities can't maker mirabelle heights to a level that meets current health standards. It doesn't pose a health risk as it does currently and how we can do that in a way that that's affordable for, for the folks out there. In november, the state passed

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a bond act making about $30 million available for helping people in small communities with low incomes address exactly these issues. And so a lot of my efforts have been to, let's let's get people together and get applications in and see if we can take advantage of

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some of these dollars. I see. We need to pause right here. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. I'm Michel Dorn. I played a Klingon warrior worf on star trek the next generation Worf spent years getting an education starkly required. Now he's a skilled and respected member

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of the elite enterprise crew to enterprise. Go ahead. Sir, beam me up To reach your goals in the 21st century. You'll need a good education. So be patient stay in school and graduate brought to you by the Air Force because we know the value of a

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good education. Welcome back to Sonoma County in the 90s. Today. I have with me supervisor Mike Reilly. So let's revisit him Mike. It sounds like you've been really busy these last few months since you have gone into your new office as supervisor. I'm sure you were

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very busy before that also. But I heard that you recently married. Now, tell me about that and how that's working out with all of these meetings and things that you're doing. Well. It's, it's, it's been wonderful actually. And and and it is true. I was sworn

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into office on january 6th and judy and I got married on january 25th. It actually was in the middle of a flood warning day out in Greenville that, that we had our wedding at a friend's house and so it's, it added a bit of excitement to

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the gathering. People who came there weren't sure whether they'd be able to leave afterwards. Um, but it's it's it's it's a it's a time of very exciting new things in my life and with both the job and and the marriage and and having a new wife,

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it's it's a very exciting and challenging time. I think that that's great. I think that's wonderful that you've taken out all these new things all at the same time. Thank you. There's also, um, a rumor that this election was the most expensive election, your campaign for

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supervisor in the history of Sonoma County. Can you tell our viewers why that was the case? I think it's been a trend that campaigns are becoming more and more and more expensive and because ours was the most recent and probably the longest in history too, but

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the most recent contested election where you don't have an incumbent that was running, it was really an open office. Um It's not surprising that that that that happened, uh, personally. I think it's it's a shame. I think that the increasing reliance on more and more money

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to get elected on on on larger donations is really taking politics and away from the ordinary person and their feeling that they can influence in some way. And so I've been a very strong supporter of campaign reform finance reform finance, I think we've been hearing about

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on the national level, certainly, uh, in the, in the last several weeks and and was a strong supporter of the campaign finance reform proposition that passed and in the november ballot. And I think it'll, it'll do more to even the field and bring politics back where

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it's of a scale that, that ordinary people can relate to it better, can feel like it's not just the purview of special interests and large, wealthy money interest to influence the outcome of elections. We really need to work to bring a sense of political connection back

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to people because I think people are feeling very cynical about that. Um, I understand that you have an interest in historical preservation and I very much admire your district and what they did with their bridge in Greenville, you made the, the news than also quite a

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few times. Can you tell me more about that? I very much admire that aspect. Well, we, we were able in Greenville with the new bridge being put in and it was basically being put into modern standards because our old bridge um used to leave uh, side

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mirrors laying in the middle of it every time, you know, two motor homes decided to pass each other going different directions. The width was really not of modern standards. We were able to preserve that through a largely community effort as a walking bridge that will connect

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the center of town to the other side of the river and what we hope will become a seven or eight acre park on the other side, right in the middle of town. It's pretty hard to find seven or eight acres in the middle of a town

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anymore to create a park. And so we think that will add to the attraction of Granville and the lower Russian river area in, in a broader sense. Um, I think there's a tremendous connection between kind of celebrating and honoring our historical heritage here in Sonoma County

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and, and the economy, the economic benefits that we get from tourism from, you know, visitor services. So I think the extent to which we can make our historic, our history here more evident to people. It not only has benefit in its own right, but it also,

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it also helps us from an economic standpoint. I'm anxious to see that we do surveys of historical buildings throughout Sonoma County. Some of our historical surveys have not been completed in Sonoma County. Um, and I think there are programs that will create some tax benefits for,

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for people who are, who have properties of an historical nature and are willing to preserve them in some ways and we need to create incentives for that. So as a supervisor, you plan to do some work on this in this area. I'm hoping that we can

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begin moving on some of these programs as early as this summer. Oh, great. That's wonderful. I admire that very much. Um, what about domestic violence, you mentioned it earlier in the program. What is the county doing in that area? Because that seems to be such a

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hot issue these days. Well, the county is moving to coordinate between all the justice agencies to ensure that um, one of spouse gets a restraining order, for instance, uh, in a, in a domestic situation that everybody knows about, that, that the court knows about it, that,

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that the policeman on the beat knows about it. That that's information that gets communicated immediately. There's, there's also a, a renewed emphasis in um, treating domestic violence and as a very serious, uh, incident, uh, in years past, often in domestic situations, you know, officers would go

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in and try to talk between the two and, and, and deal with the situation that way in almost every situation that we have where there's actual physical violence, there's an arrest being made. And I expect within the very near future that we're gonna be seeing a

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proposal come forward from the justice agencies in Sonoma County to establish a domestic violence court separate domestic violence court to deal with particularly misdemeanor offenders and ensure that in addition to jail time, that there is counseling and other things that happened that try to prevent to

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break the pattern to try to prevent that from happening. It's been a very successful model in san Diego. Uh, it's modeled somewhat on our own successful drug court that's happening here in Sonoma County and I think those are the kinds of things that we're going to

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be seeing come forward to really spotlight this problem to try and deal with it. So this is already in the works and there's going to be more effort put into that. That's great. Do you plan to bring back the issue of domestic partners ordinance again, that's

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kind of my domestic duo domestic violence domestic partners. I would hope so. I think that what we're seeing across the country is that not only municipalities and governmental organizations, but all of our top corporations are, are recognizing, um, that the benefits that they offer that are

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predicated historically solely on the fact of marriage, for instance, need to also be reflective of people who are living in in same sex relationships, but every bit is dedicated and everybody is committed in terms of the long term, what have you. And and I think in

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particular, it's one thing when you have domestic partners that have the option of becoming married and taking advantage of of of those benefits if they wish to. It's a very different thing when you have people that are prohibited by law from becoming married and being able

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to, to take advantage of the benefits. And I think that we need to struggle with that and find a way to uh, inject some fairness into, into our system. Uh, yes, I I agree with that, that they have just as much of a responsibility and a

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commitment that it is unjust in some ways or many ways you've been nominated or appointed to the California coastal nominated nominated? How is that, What's happening with that? Well, it's it's an exciting nomination and I've I've uh the California Coastal Commission, obviously we have 50 miles

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of coast in my district uh has been a very important state body and in protecting our coastline um environmentally and keeping the kind of, you know, schlock from happening that you see in some of the eastern seaboard um areas along the atlantic coastline and right. The

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particular position that's open has to be a locally elected official from San Francisco Marin or Sonoma County. It's a position that Marin supervisor Gary Giacomini held for some 24 years during his full term as supervisor in Marin County. And now again that's open. And uh it's

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historically been a supervisor that is a coastal representative and actually the Senate rules committee and the state legislature is the body that makes the final choice on that. But I've been pleased to have the support of my own board of supervisors of the mayors and councilman

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throughout Sonoma County of a number of environmental organizations and in supporting my candidacy. And we're just kind of waiting to see what happens now. So I I expect they may make that announcement within the next within the next few weeks. Um What about youth gang violence

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in the county? What is happening and what is the county doing about it? And what should the county be doing about that? Well, I think in the, in the last few weeks in particular we've seen an upturn and the level and intensity of youth gang violence.

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It's something that needs to concern all of us uh, to me and I'm speaking from 25 years of actually working hands on with a variety of different kinds of youth programs, it really bespeaks a very sad situation where we have young people who are disconnected from

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our community, who who are functioning without seeing opportunity or having hope within the larger culture. And so they're creating these gang subcultures that that that do give them some status. They're finding things in that environment, they're not finding in the larger community. And I think that

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that's a message that we need to take seriously and look at, we've as a public safety matter, we've beefed up our gang task force and law enforcement from a relatively small group of four or five to over 33 officers with each of the police jurisdictions throughout

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Sonoma County contributing to that to come in and and focus on the immediate public safety needs in the long term. I think we're gonna have to look at what what we can do, what we should be doing to uh to prevent this from happening before it

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reaches the point we have 13 and 14 year olds out, uh you know, committing violent acts and and and uh, you know assaults and the kinds of things that we're seeing prevention programs, job training programs for young people, improve counseling services, recreation programs. All of these

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things are part of the mix that we need to be looking at much more seriously in our, in our community. Well, it sounds like that you're really going to be doing a lot of work in that area. Uh, we're running out of time. I wanted to

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ask you about a couple of other issues such as the forestry and Timberlands because that's always been an issue in your area, but we're just running out of time. So I would like to have you back again in the not too far distant future. So I'm

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hoping that you will agreed to join us. Great, thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us today, supervisor Mike Reilly has joined us and he has agreed to come back again soon. So I hope to see you again. I'm Dana Derek. Oh, and this

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is Sonoma County in the nineties