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Writer's pictureKevin Hessel

Southern Marin Fire Protection District: Incumbents on track to keep seats


The three incumbents on the board of the Southern Marin Fire Protection District — which serves northern Tiburon and Strawberry, among other areas — will all keep their seats in their race against a single challenger.


For complete local election coverage, visit thearknewspaper.com/election2024.

 

In preliminary results from the Nov. 5 race posted as of early Nov. 8, 17,317 ballots had been cast in the pick-three race with Cathryn Hilliard of Tamalpais Valley getting 9,610 votes, picked on about 56% of ballots, while Ashley Raveche of Alto Sutton Manor had 9,283 votes, chosen by about 54% of voters. Clifford Waldeck of Mill Valley had 7,690 votes, picked on about 44% of ballots cast.



The district’s voters in Tiburon and Strawberry backed them with similar support.

 

The incumbents will serve four-year terms on the seven-member board for the fire district, which has nine stations and about 90 full-time staff, further covering Mill Valley and its unincorporated areas, along with Sausalito and the Marin Headlands.

 

Newcomer Rich Riechel of Mill Valley won about 3,993 votes, picked on about 23% of ballots.

 

Some 17,317 of 30,497 registered district voters cast ballots in the race, for turnout of about 57% so far.

 

Hilliard, 82, was originally appointed to a vacant seat in 2009 and was elected 2011. She is the executive director of the nonprofit Construction Industry Force Account Council and the former 10-year director of government and public affairs for the Association of Bay Area Governments. She also had been president of the Bay Area Public Affairs Council, American Society for Public Administration Bay Area Chapter and the University of California at San Francisco Auxiliary.

 

Son Fred, a 25-year firefighter, is the district’s division chief and fire marshal.

 

Raveche, 43, is the board president and was appointed in 2020 after no one ran for a vacant seat. She has a background in biomedical engineering and political science. Raveche is president of the U.N. Association of the USA’s San Francisco chapter, the program director for criminal justice at the League of Women Voters of California, was president of the league’s San Francisco chapter and sat on the Marin Sheriffs Oversight Working Group that made policy recommendations for its new oversight commission.

 


Waldeck, 65, was appointed to a vacant seat last year. He is a former Mill Valley mayor and councilmember and is the first resident of the city to sit on the board after the district annexed Mill Valley’s fire and emergency medical services. Waldeck works in business development for Indoff Inc.; runs his own consulting firm for permitting, advocacy and business development; and is a substitute teacher for Marin County public and private schools. He’s also served on the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission board and was the director of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce from 2003 to 2006 and the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce from 2012 to 2015.

 

Reach Executive Editor Kevin Hessel at 415-435-2652. DONATE to support local journalism, or SUBSCRIBE NOW for home delivery and access to the digital replica.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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