It has been a great honor to serve the 460,000 residents of Riverside County’s Third District since March 5th after the Governor appointed me to fill the vacant Supervisor seat. My top priorities as a new County Supervisor are presented below in report of my observations from my 1st 100 days.
Managing the Nation’s 10th largest county demands an in-depth understanding of the County system and how it functions to provide service to over 2.3 million residents. Accordingly, I have met with individual Directors of every County Department and Division. I have placed special emphasis in these areas (to name a few):
- Taxation and Revenue
- Budget
- Public Safety
- Economic Development
- Health & Human Services
- Animal Services
and the differences between city/county services.
As a 15-year City Council Member, I have learned much about municipal government and the communities I served – Temecula and Murrieta. However, now as the Third District Supervisor, I needed/need to become more familiar with all of the communities in my District.
Cities: Murrieta, Temecula, Hemet, San Jacinto
Communities: French Valley, Winchester, Sage, Anza, Aguanga, Idyllwild-Pine Cove, East Hemet,
Valle Vista
Tribes: Pechanga, Soboba, Santa Rosa, Ramona, Cahuilla
Each city and community has its own needs, goals and visions…
Murrieta continues to focus on job creation (biotech, higher Ed) – Healthcare clusters are an important part of Murrieta’s economic development that I look to assist.
Temecula’s vision continues to focus on maintaining high quality of life.
I am working diligently to contain the cost of public safety for my Contract Cities.
Hemet and San Jacinto have been putting major efforts into preserving Public Safety staffing, reducing crime, building infrastructure and advancing new development. I am working with the Sheriff and District Attorney to push back crime in the valley.
Unincorporated Communities in my District have organized themselves in various community groups such as MAC’s (Municipal Advisory Council) to help bring emphasis on issues that I as their Supervisor can focus resources.
And, while some 135,000 residents reside in the unincorporated area of the Third District, over 325,000 reside within cities and have Elected Governing bodies. I work closely and meet regularly with Council Members and Mayors from each of my four cities.
Water shortages for the entire district and how that impacts agriculture, commercial & residential development demand my attention. Therefore, I have established key relationships with Metropolitan Water District, Eastern and Western Municipal Water Districts to better understand the impacts on my constituents. I continue to work with WRCOG (Western Riverside Council of Governments) & RCTC (Riverside County Transportation Commission) to move key infrastructure projects.
The County’s Economic Development Agency can assist in my efforts to shore economic growth throughout my District. And a crucial component of the growth will rely of higher education and job training, so accordingly, I am working with Chancellor Wilcox of UCR, Dr Karen Haynes of CSUSM-Temecula & Dr Roger Schultz of MSJC to expand higher Ed and job training opportunities.
My District CID funding allows me to assist non-profits to facilitate feeding, clothing, nurturing families & children and support those battling cancer.
And finally, I am serving on the First 5 Commission to support our most vulnerable in early childhood development.
Chuck Washington is Riverside County’s Third District Supervisor.