SMC Supes Choose Board's New President, Vice President

REDWOOD CITY, CA — District 4 Supervisor Warren Slocum will take over as president of the Board of Supervisors this year, with District 5 Supervisor David Canepa taking the reigns as vice president.

Slocum, whose district includes Redwood City, East Palo Alto and parts of Menlo Park, assumes the board president position for the third time, which is the maximum according to term limits. On Tuesday, he acknowledged the changes San Mateo County has seen over the last decade, including positive strides and evolving challenges.

"The reality is that we are more diverse, more people are struggling to provide for their families, food insecurity is prevalent and we are still recovering from a global pandemic," Slocum said Tuesday. "Our public life has become at times more confrontational, our dialogue sharper and our challenges far more complex."

The returning board president said more changes are needed, like "amplifying public voices" and building equity, but pointed at the government's structure and questioned the need for more than two dozen departments.

The outgoing board president, District 1 Supervisor Dave Pine reflected on some tough moments while celebrating some of the county's achievements last year, including a higher minimum wage, the new Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, the Gun Violence Prevention Program and progress on affordable housing.

"After welcoming two new supervisors, we began calendar year 2023 with unprecedented storms and flooding, followed quickly by the traffic deadly shooting in Half Moon Bay," Pine said. "While these events set a somber tone for the year, and exposed some previously not well-known inequities, they also presented an opportunity for this county to do what we do best: pull our resources together, with neighbor helping neighbor, to provide needed services to the most vulnerable among us."