Woodland Mayor Art Pimentel said Wednesday he will challenge incumbent 5th District Yolo County Supervisor Duane Chamberlain in the June election.

The newly redrawn district, which Chamberlain has represented since 2004, is a sprawling, largely rural area, but since district lines were redrawn earlier this year, it now includes the northern half of the city of Woodland.

In challenging Chamberlain — who announced last month that he would seek re-election — Pimentel said he wants to represent not just the interests of the district’s rural and agricultural areas, but also of the city of Woodland itself.

“I think it’s critical for a member of the Board of Supervisors to work closely with the cities … to promote both the preservation of agriculture and also promote industry,” he said.

“It’s important to work with and develop a real partnership with the cities and areas that you represent instead of opposing them. On many important issues related to Woodland … Chamberlain has opposed the recommendations of the Woodland City Council.”

In particular, Pimentel cited the Gateway shopping center on the northeast edge of Woodland. The center — which includes Costco and Target and a proposed auto mall — was unanimously supported by the Woodland City Council but ran into opposition from the supervisors, who objected to the loss of agricultural land.

Chamberlain, 74, is a longtime farmer with strong support from local agricultural interests, many of whom were opposed to redrawing the 5th District in a way they felt would dilute the representation of farmers.

Chuck Dudley, president of the Yolo County Farm Bureau, told supervisors in September that “the agriculture community needs to be represented.”

“I would like to have somebody who represents me first, and is not beholden necessarily to the cities,” he said.

He and others urged at the time that the 5th District remain largely agricultural. Instead, the five supervisorial districts were divided up in such a way that residents of the county’s three largest cities — Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento — now make up a majority in all five districts.

The 5th District now includes half of Woodland.

Pimentel, a 32-year-old Woodland native, has served on the Woodland City Council since 2004 and as mayor since 2010. He graduated from Woodland High School in 1997 and later earned a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from Sacramento State University.

He has since worked as a deputy county supervisor and as public information specialist and director of the Upward Bound program at Woodland Community College.

Pimentel currently serves as vice chairman of the Yolo-Solano Air Quality District board of directors and as a board member of the Yolo County Transportation District.

Chamberlain is a Los Angles native and UC Davis graduate who established Yolo County’s Chamberlain Farms in 1965, growing alfalfa, grass and oat hay as well as raising Holstein heifers for dairies. He is a past president of the Yolo County Farm Bureau.

— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at [email protected] or (530) 747-8051. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy

Comments

comments