Elect Farmer Adam

The 3,500 residents of District 1 are spread out over 624 square miles, 43% of the land in the county. It’s really spread out. With that in mind I will make it a priority that I come to you, in person, on a regular basis. I intend to host regular, rotationally scheduled office hours across the district so that you have regular access to your Board of Supervisors representative. While I’m always a phone call or email away, sometimes you just want to sit across the table from someone over a cup of coffee. Do you have an issue you need help resolving? Not sure where to turn for a resource? I don’t just want to have an office in the county office, I want to have regular and intentional office time in Wawona, Fish Camp, El Portal, Midpines, with our local tribe, Jerseydale, Ponderosa Basin, Jerseydale, Yosemite West– all of the communities and neighborhoods I’ll represent. 

My years of public service have taught me the value of this practice. Intentionally prioritizing time out in the community and meeting with my neighbors both formally and informally helps me know how to best represent you at the county level. Giving you a voice and making sure you’re well represented is the highest priority to me. 

Let’s remember what binds us together: a love for the land we call home. There’s no need for an “us versus them” mindset between neighbors or within county departments. As a member of the Board of Supervisors I will model a collaborative leadership style which prioritizes solving problems for neighbors. It’s not about consensus-making, it’s about leading the county forward together.

While many county departments are working hard to address this already, it’s still too difficult for many would-be small business owners to navigate the county government and get permission to operate. 

As a member of the Board of Supervisors, I’ll make it clear that we must create an environment that is friendlier and easier to navigate for small businesses. (The SBA classifies an entity as a “small business” if it employs fewer than 500 employees. In Mariposa County, nearly every employer would be categorized as a small business.)

We all know there’s insufficient housing in Mariposa County. This is driven by a challenging building environment, high interest rates on home construction loans, natural disasters, single-family homes converted to short-term rentals, high insurance premiums, and a difficult-to-navigate county structure. 

Everyone sees the same thing. For the first time in the county’s history, we don’t have a lumber yard. Other construction-related businesses are consolidating services, closing, or moving elsewhere. We need to reverse that trend aggressively. 

I want to support housing builds at every level. Let’s put tradespeople back to work by encouraging new housing whether it be a small ADU, remodel, single-family home, multi-family, multigenerational housing– anything that helps increase the inventory of housing. Every local business struggles to attract talent, not because they don’t want to live here, not because they can’t afford to live here, but because they can’t find a suitable place to live. 

Let’s hear every creative idea. And let’s support the American Dream of home ownership. 

Mariposa County was part of an early boom of short-term rentals long before platforms like Airbnb and VRBO existed. Work with stakeholders to reform, rewrite policy and ordinances regarding short-term rentals.

It’s no secret that the county is losing population. Rising costs of living and a lack of opportunities for young people are persistent challenges we face. A guiding priority for my work on the Board of Supervisors is to filter decision-making and policy creation through the lens of creating opportunities, especially for young people. For those who want to stay and build a life here, let’s encourage that with some big, aspirational, future-focused initiatives. 

I see post-secondary both education and innovation as low-hanging fruit, both of which could potentially create brand-new revenue streams to diversify and stabilize our local economy.

The weight around every homeowner and small business owner’s neck is fire insurance. Let’s take a proactive approach to make our area more attractive to insurers.

There are lots of government, nonprofit, and for-profit entities working on various aspects of addressing wildfire prevention. Let’s work together more closely, partnering together to win fuel-reduction grants, and supercharging wildfire risk reduction for every residence, especially in District 1. 

Let’s make Mariposa County the model for fuel reduction in California.