December 22, 2017 - The Committee to Reelect Mariposa County Supervisor Rosemarie Smallcombe is pleased to announce that she is running for re-election to County Supervisor for District 1. “It has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life to have served the past three years,” said Smallcombe as she made the announcement.

One of the first big challenges Smallcombe faced as Supervisor was tree mortality associated with the bark beetle. She worked with the Mariposa County of Emergency Services to form the Mariposa County Tree Mortality Disaster Mitigation Committee, which she chairs. With that local committee, she has facilitated collaboration among the Forest Service, PG&E, the Fire Safe Council, Cal Fire, as well as private citizens and other agencies.  The next step was to ask Governor Brown to declare a state of emergency. After the Governor did so, he formed a Tree Mortality Task Force and his office asked Smallcombe to serve on several committees of the Task Force. “I’ve been proud to work on the Task Force to help not only Mariposa County, but the entire Sierra region affected by this natural disaster.” stated Smallcombe.

The tree disaster has been making it more difficult for homeowners to find insurance and Smallcombe has been working on that issue and hopes to have it completed in a timely manner. “I’ve had several meetings with State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones,” said Smallcombe. She added, “We’re making progress on having insurance companies recognize work done by homeowners to create defensible space.”

Mariposans as a whole have also benefited from work done by Supervisor Smallcombe. In 2013, right before her original campaign, she met with numerous state officials to secure funding for John C. Fremont Hospital to continue offering long term care in the Ewing Wing.  “It was this successful experience working with Government for the good of the community that played a role in my decision to run for Supervisor”, she said.  She also recently applied for and received a grant from PG&E to supply service dogs to veterans.  This grant is being administered by the Alliance for Community Transformations and the American Legion.  Solving our housing crisis and helping the homeless from our community is another matter in which she is currently actively involved as part of her role interfacing with the Department of Human Services and members of the faith community.

During the Detwiler Fire, Supervisor Smallcombe was able to post important, timely fire information on her Facebook page and website. While, thanks to the firefighters, the fire did not destroy homes in her district, many thanked her for the vital information she provided while they were evacuated. She also worked to connect those who sheltered in place with emergency service providers such as the local VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters).

After the fire, Supervisor Smallcombe wrote a grant to bring 10 AmeriCorps volunteers to Mariposa County for seven weeks.  She convinced AmeriCorps that helping our area with erosion control projects was even more important than helping disaster areas in other parts of the country. Besides the erosion work the volunteers were able to spruce up some of downtown Mariposa to benefit all Mariposans.

During her first campaign Smallcombe had two major goals for her term in office. “I wanted to help reduce the wildfire risk and diversify the economy,” she stated.

One of her proposals was to help bring a forest biomass-to-energy plant to Mariposa.  Smallcombe explained, “While I helped start this project, I withdrew from active participation in local project management after I was seated as a Supervisor.  I am happy to say however, that the Mariposa Biomass Project is moving forward and expects to be in operation in early 2019.”  She added, “In my role with the Governor’s Tree Mortality Task Force, I have been able to bring roadblocks to the Task Force’s attention that have made such projects difficult and we have managed to get legislation passed and regulations written to facilitate these important efforts to find economically feasible ways to turn excess vegetation into clean green renewable energy.”  The plant will help with future forest thinning and will create a number of new jobs for the community, as well as generate green electricity.

Supervisor Smallcombe also recognizes the critically important role that Yosemite National Park plays in our local economy and in the lives of her constituents.  “I will continue to meet regularly with the Park Superintendent and maintain close working relationships with his or her staff.  I will also continue to monitor and report to the community on the status of the Ferguson Project.”  Smallcombe has also worked with the Forest Service and Cal Trans to mitigate the problems associated with “dispersed camping” along HWY 140 in the Merced River corridor.  “What was happening was not safe or sanitary, and we have taken some measures to correct the problem, but more remains to be done”, Smallcombe said. 

Typically, Supervisor Smallcombe works 60-hour weeks representing her constituents and the county. If she isn’t in the office, she is at meetings in her district or in Sacramento representing Mariposa County. She serves as the county liaison on numerous committees ranging from First Five that focuses on early education, to the Area 12 Agency on Aging.  

“The work is not done, these are very challenging times, and sometimes issues are a bit more difficult to solve than they should be, but I’ll keep working.” said Smallcombe as she explained her reason for wanting a second term. “I would like to use my energy and my experience, both in private industry and in government, to complete the things I started during the past three years,” she continued. She is asking everyone in District 1, which includes Yosemite Valley, to support her re-election efforts.

Submitted by the Committee to Reelect Mariposa County Supervisor Rosemarie Smallcombe