Paula Deeter is the challenger seeking to unseat incumbent Kendall Smith in the 4th District Mendocino Supervisor’s election. Deeter has been a planner with the Mendocino County Planning Department for 12 years. She’s also a union steward, a 4-H leader, and volunteers her time to the Mendocino Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee and the Working on Wellness group that encourages preventative health care practices among county employees.

Deeter is an advocate of “smart development,” which she describes as balancing private property rights with intelligent use of resources. She says it’s important to plan ahead in development to avoid environmental impact. She supports planning for more use of alternative energy and says it’s easier to avoid creating environmental problems than to correct them later.

She also wants to take a more pro-active stance in dealing with the problem of gangs and youth violence. Deeter says that the gangs that exist in Mendocino, such as the CVC gang, are not as organized as those in large cities, and participation is not along racial lines.

”It’s a boredom factor,” she says, “combined with youth apathy.”

Deeter says that

Advertisement
young people tend to move out of the area. She says she sees how difficult it is for working families where kids are left on their own after school. She favors a program similar to one tried in New York that encourages youth and gang members to have an active say in their community.

”We should open our minds to something like the Guardian Angels,” she says, “where youth were recruited to protect their own communities and assist law enforcement.” She says that in her experience, gang members have pride in their neighborhoods and would respond to that approach.

Becoming a union steward gave Deeter a different perspective on how services are delivered to the coastal and remote areas versus the urbanized areas around Ukiah. She feels that there is a disparity in the level of service between the coast and inland neighborhoods. She wants to see more of the transient bed occupancy tax revenues going to the coastal and remote rural areas instead of disappearing into the “black hole” of county government in Ukiah.

Deeter also favors trimming the budget by taking a hard look at mid-level and upper management positions. She suggests taking a look at how much work is being done and proceeding to eliminate some positions by attrition and combining jobs when appropriate. She does not favor layoffs at the entry level. The usual approach is to lay off the lower paid positions, she says, which only adds to the workload of the person next up the ladder.

”It’s going to be a really tough year,” she says, “and every department will have to be looked at and some things postponed.” She adds that Sheriff Tom Allman says that he’s working with the same number of deputies as the department had during the Nixon Administration.

In her campaign, Deeter has been getting out to the more remote portions of the 4th District. She was at the Peg House across from Standish-Hickey State Park last week meeting with voters. She says that voters are complaining about a lack of representation. She is especially concerned, she says, about the lack of resources available to fire districts and school districts. She supports the passage of Measure D, the bond measure for the Leggett Valley School District, and says she thinks it’s better to spend the money now, when bond interest rates are low, rather than trying to patch things up later.

She also feels strongly that people in the outlying areas don’t get their opinions heard. If elected, she plans to hold regular town hall meetings to stay in touch with the concerns of her constituency.

Deeter’s backers call her “The People’s Candidate” and point to her “Good Neighbor Policy” for the district.