January 27, 2022 -  As Mariposa County District 1 Supervisor representing the people living and working in the county, it’s been my honor to advocate for your needs through a number of difficult years. I hope to continue serving you for another four years, so I am seeking reelection during this cycle.

In the past eight years, Mariposa has been through a lot. We’ve been hit with at least eight major wildfires, seen the tourism and visitor traffic that supports our local businesses and hundreds of jobs completely come to a halt several times and, for the past two years, we’ve been trying to stay ahead of the impacts of the Covid pandemic on our little corner of the world. I am proud of the leadership I’ve demonstrated through all this.

When I first ran for office 2014, I had just finished advocating as a private citizen that the State refrain from significantly reducing revenues for John C. Fremont Hospital’s Ewing Wing - a vital long-term care facility that enables local families to keep their loved ones close during their greatest need.

The tree mortality crisis, driven by drought and bark beetles, was hitting us as I took office and, as your Supervisor, I spearheaded efforts with State agencies to make sure Mariposa County had a seat at the table. I wrote language that was used by our State Senator, Mariposa County and three neighboring counties to support the Governor’s Tree Mortality Disaster declaration. Soon after, the Governor’s office invited me to serve on the Tree Mortality Task Force. When state dollars were allocated, Mariposa benefited from over $5.4 million dollars in tree mitigation work in Mariposa County under the County’s partnership with Blue Ridge Services. 

As your local representative, I work a lot at the state level to make sure we get our fair share of State resources. Building on the collaboration developed in our local tree mortality working group, we’ve brought in $11 Million dollars more in grant funding, to remove dead trees.  And, I continue to advocate for insurance reform, including establishing standards for home hardening and fuel reductions.

My constituents know they can come to me for support. I have worked with PG&E to resolve problems with noisy transformers, unnecessary tree removal, power pole placement and even pushed to relocate invasive helicopter flight paths during their work in the Merced River Canyon. I periodically arrange for presentations and updates to Planning Advisory Committees and community groups on PG&E, Calfire and Caltrans projects in the district.

Moving forward, Mariposa needs experienced leadership to see us through the next four years. Our highways and bridges are being rehabilitated at a pace not seen in decades, the Ferguson rock shed project will reach critical phases and we will be emerging from the Covid pandemic and hopefully see our tourism industry become even more robust.

As your county representative I will continue to advocate for all of us, whether it involves employees or impacted by changes in Yosemite National Park or supporting business throughout the county. In District 1, which now includes Ponderosa Basin, Fish Camp and Wawona, we will need experienced engagement to ensure the Caltrans and Calfire vegetation management projects along primary fire evacuation routes are funded and completed.

If elected to serve once again, it will be my honor to bring all my experience to the table in Mariposa County for four more years. To find out more about what we’ve accomplished and what we still have to do, visit my website http://www.rosemariesmallcombe.com.

Source: Rosemarie Smallcombe, Mariposa County District 1 Supervisor

Related: Mariposa County District 1 Supervisor Rosemarie Smallcombe Announces Bid for Reelection