Marin supervisorial candidates outline differences on Ross Valley issues
Two Ross Valley residents are competing for the biggest local prize in the Nov. 5 election: the District 2 seat on the Marin County Board of Supervisors.
Brian Colbert of San Anselmo and Heather McPhail Sridharan of Kentfield were the top vote-getters in the March primary, with Colbert collecting 43% of the vote and McPhail Sriharan 26%. Since no candidate won a majority, a run-off is required.
Colbert has been on the San Anselmo Town Council since 2017, including one term as mayor, and serves on the boards of the Transportation Authority of Marin and the Marin Transit District. He is the first African American resident in the county’s history to serve on a municipal council and would be the first to serve as a supervisor.
McPhail Sridharan was a Kentfield School District board member from 2013 to 2022, including service as board president, and is a board member of the McPhail Fuel Co., a family business that started with a livery stable in San Rafael in 1884.
The candidates share similar policy priorities. Colbert says his top priorities are addressing flooding in the Ross Valley, boosting wildfire prevention and creating housing. McPhail Sridharan says her first priority is housing followed by addressing climate change; fiscal accountability; and improving community engagement.
Both candidates have business backgrounds. Both have said they agree with the Coalition for Sensible Taxpayers criteria for creating new taxes and fees. Both say they believe the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge should be reopened to motor vehicles. And both agree with the current Board of Supervisors’ decision not to take a position on the war in Gaza.
To detect where the candidates diverge, it is necessary to drill down into the issues. Flood mitigation in the Ross Valley is perhaps the issue that displays the most obvious differences.
“Number one,” McPhail Sridharan told the Independent Journal editorial board during an August meeting, “we absolutely need to do a full financial audit of what has happened in the flood district, where the money has gone and what’s on the docket left to do.”
In 2007, residents in San Anselmo, Ross, Larkspur, Fairfax and the unincorporated communities of Greenbrae, Kentfield, Sleepy Hollow and Oak Manor approved the creation of a 20-year stormwater drainage fee to generate money for flood-control projects. Opinions differ over whether the money has been spent wisely and whether the fee should be reauthorized when it sunsets with the 2026-27 fiscal year.
“I think there’s been a lack of public transparency,” McPhail Sridharan said. “And with that, we’ve lost public trust. It is going to be very hard to go back out and try to get funding for this again.”
McPhail Sridharan said the structure of the district overseeing the project also needs to be changed to more closely resemble the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority.
Colbert, however, said, “I don’t think the Marin Wildfire model works at all. Wildfires affect everyone in the same way. Everyone’s interests are aligned, whereas with flooding they’re not. Upstream interests may diverge completely and wholly from downstream interests.”
“I don’t support the renewal of the flood fee, period,” he added.
Colbert said he favors using whatever money is left before the fee expires to complete as much work as possible, including removal of Building Bridge #2 in downtown San Anselmo, which became popular as a public gathering place during the COVID-19 shutdown.
McPhail Sridharan disagreed.
“I am not in favor of immediately taking down the bridge,” she said. “There has been mishap after mishap, so I don’t necessarily believe that the current recommendation from the county is the right one.”
Another area of clear difference between the candidates is rent control. On Nov. 5, voters in three municipalities — San Anselmo, Fairfax and Larkspur — will decide whether to either scrap recently passed rent-control ordinances or in some cases make them stricter.
“I personally do not support rent control,” Colbert said. “I think that the existing rent control in California is sufficient as it is.”
The state’s rent-control law caps rent increases at 5% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is lower. Single-family homes, condominiums and dwellings built after Feb. 1, 1995, are exempt.
McPhail Sridharan said, “I do support rent control. Yes, full stop. I think there is a potential for us to be doing more. I would like to take the lead at the county level to push for more.”
Although McPhail Sridharan says creating more housing is her top priority, she isn’t necessarily focused on building new housing.
“Building, unfortunately, takes a long time and a lot of resources,” she said. “I would like to see us do a lot more interim things.”
As examples, she suggested promoting the creation of more accessory dwelling units and the preservation of existing housing.
“I think infill, putting people into shared home situations, is a really exciting idea,” McPhail Sridharan said.
Colbert said, “I don’t think infill is really a solution. Are people building ADUs to rent them out or are they using ADUs for home offices? Ultimately we have to go back to how we can build new housing. I’m interested in new production.”
Speaking during a candidates forum sponsored by the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers in January, both candidates endorsed a $20 billion state bond measure on the November ballot to finance the construction of new housing. The measure has since been pulled from the ballot.
“I was shocked to see that it was taken off,” said McPhail Sridharan. “It’s indicative of the mood, not just here in Marin but across the Bay Area, regarding any new tax measure.”
Colbert suggested making up for the loss of the state bond by having Marin County propose its own bond. Regarding the state bond measure, Colbert said, “It was too big and people in Marin didn’t appreciate that 20% of the money was going to regional stuff.”
Colbert said that if the county passed its own bond, the overhead costs would be lower and 100% of the money would remain in the county.
“That is something that is potentially executable,” he said.
Both candidates tout their endorsements.
“I am proud to be the No. 1 most endorsed candidate and have earned 600 plus local endorsements,” McPhail Sridharan said. “My endorsements include the current Ross Valley mayors, San Anselmo Mayor Eileen Burke, Fairfax Mayor Barbara Coler and Larkspur Mayor Scot Candell.”
She said organizations endorsing her include Planned Parenthood, the Marin Women’s Political Action Committee, the North Bay Labor Council, the Marin Association of Public Employees, SEIU 2015, Nor Cal Carpenters Union, Local 1575, the North Bay Building Trades, the Skylark Tenants Association, the Bon Air Tenants Association and the Marin Association of Realtors.
Colbert said, “I’ve been endorsed by Rep. Jared Huffman and four of the sitting supervisors who actually do the job that I’m aspiring to: supervisors Rice, Lucan, Moulton-Peters and recently Mary Sackett. Those endorsements demonstrate that I’m able to both lead and develop the kind of partnerships we need to address local and regional issues in Marin County, our cities and towns, and our unincorporated areas.”
Supervisor Katie Rice declined to seek re-election to the District 2 seat.
Heather McPhail Sridharan
Age: 54
Occupation: Businesswoman
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley; master’s degree of philosophy in Latin American political economy from Oxford University
Experience: Nine years on the Kentfield School District board; chair of the Kentfield Safe Routes to School program; president of the Kentfield-Greenbrae Historical Society; representative to the Citizens Oversight Committee of the Transportation Authority of Marin; and member of the community advisory group for the Project Homekey initiative in Larkspur.
Brian Colbert
Age: 57
Occupation: Director of new business for two San Francisco medical practices.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science and theater from Oberlin College, master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago, law degree from the University of Chicago
Experience: San Anselmo Town Council since 2017, including a term as mayor; Transportation Authority of Marin board; Marin Transit District board; Ross Valley Fire Department board.