Editorial: Departing Rice never dodged issues, built legacy of progress on Board of Supervisors

As she wrapped up her fourth and final term on the Marin County Board of Supervisors, Katie Rice collected many kudos.

They are deserved.

Rice proved herself to be a thoughtful, caring, effective and hardworking leader on the board, where she retired last month as its senior member.

She didn’t get there by dodging tough issues. Rather, she did the opposite. She inherited one of the toughest — flood control in her Ross Valley-based Second District.

Rice consistently pushed for progress and sought to make methodical progress in building a strong community consensus for needed safety improvements. It proved largely Sisyphean – as it had for her predecessors in her office, as well. The wheels of bureaucracy were sluggish, grinding much slower than the political maneuvers of critics of various proposed improvements. Some took place, such as the creation of an emergency stormwater diversion basin west of Fairfax and the removal of a San Anselmo commercial building that had blocked the flow of San Anselmo Creek, but others knocked off the drawing board due to local opposition.

Rice’s successor Brian Colbert, who was sworn in on Jan. 6, now gets the job. His “get it done” political approach will be tested.

One of Rice’s biggest accomplishments was leading the long-needed safety and traffic improvements on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, from Highway 101 through Kentfield, to completion. Building community consensus was an arduous task, but Rice led the way and the project was completed.

Rice also took on some of the county’s most complex issues.

She advanced Marin’s “Housing First” model for meeting the complicated demands of homelessness, including providing strong leadership for the creation of residences.

Rice’s humanitarian priorities were also the foundation for the leadership she provided in launching strategies aimed at stemming a local increase in teen suicides and fentanyl overdoses. She helped raise public awareness and advanced the county’s strong initiatives.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped make sure that public health and science remained the primary focus. Clear and consistent communication with the community was a top priority. She made sure the public’s questions were addressed. Her leadership contributed to Marin having a lower death rate and one of the nation’s highest rates of COVID vaccinations.

Racial and economic equity were also priorities for Rice. She pressed for reforms that allowed Marin property owners to remove longstanding racial “redlining” language from their deeds. Such language has been illegal for years, but the fact it has lived on in the text of local deeds is troubling and painful.

She also consistently raised the issue of county park fees and equity, and questioned if high parking charges were keeping lower-income residents out of their parks. The county had raised fees as an emergency measure to keep its parks open. Passage of the parks tax answered the budget emergency, but it took years – and Rice’s consistent questioning – before the county dropped the parking charge.

Rice’s values and pragmatism were also clear in the years she spent representing Marin on numerous regional boards, among them the California Coastal Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board. She was a strong member of both boards.

Her strong support for Colbert’s candidacy is a sign that she is confident that he is ready for the challenging breadth of the job and the local political nuances within the district. As the first African-American elected to the board, Colbert’s ascension is a milestone for equity in a county where there are wide and historic racial and economic gaps. His election brings to the board a new lens through which issues will be seen and decisions made.

Colbert will cut his own political path; choose his own political initiatives and priorities.

But in succeeding Rice, he follows an impressive example of dedicated political leadership, working toward improving local governance and making sure the door is wide open for the public to be informed and involved.