Editor’s note: Please join me in welcoming District 4 candidate Matt Plummer as he answers ANC’s campaign questions.
A News Cafe submitted identical questions to all Shasta County Supervisor candidates. Incumbent District 4 candidate Patrick Jones, and District 3 candidates Corkey Harmon and Win Carpenter did not respond.
A News Cafe: Welcome, Mr. Plummer. Thank you for participating in A News Cafe’s campaign Q&A. Please tell a bit about yourself.
Matt Plummer: I grew up in a small town in Western New Jersey that was just one square mile big. I’ve worked in management at a big industrial supply distributor, led teams at a nonprofit that helped other nonprofits identify effective programs and services and then grow them, and started a business in Redding training companies, nonprofits, and government agencies to become more productive and efficient, use critical thinking to solve problems, and manage people. Over the last few years, I’ve worked on several political campaigns at the state, county, and city of Redding levels. The 3 big career moves I’ve made over the last 15 years have all been focused on trying to be part of improving my community.
I’m currently on the board of the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, which is doing a lot of work to thin our forests to prevent future wildfires. I’m on the Shasta County Men’s Advisory Group for suicide prevention and on the board of HOPE City, a local nonprofit which helps youth and families impacted by trauma or involved with the criminal justice system.
I’ve been married almost 15 years to an amazing woman I first met when we were 12. We have 3 girls who attend a local public charter school where my wife is the middle school and high school art teacher. I love hiking and outdoor adventure. I’ve summitted Mt. Shasta twice and Mt. Whitney once.
A News Cafe: Why do you believe you’d be a good supervisor?
Matt Plummer: I have experience helping communities make progress on the challenges Shasta County is facing, including homelessness, crime, and childhood trauma. I train companies to use critical thinking to solve problems and make decisions, so I’d be able to help the Board evaluate policy proposals with more rigor and rationality and make sound decisions that will benefit Shasta County into the future. I have demonstrated over the last 10 months of this campaign that I can build relationships with people in Shasta County from all political affiliations and create a culture of respect and collaboration.
A News Cafe: What is your experience as an elected official or office holder?
Matt Plummer: I have not been an elected official, though I have worked on 4 campaigns over the last several years. I was appointed to the Board of the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District about a year ago, which is a special district within Shasta County.
A News Cafe: Have you accepted – or would you accept – contributions from the Water Users Committee/Reverge Anselmo? If so, why? If not, why?
Matt Plummer: I have not and will not. I would not want to be subject to the influence of a donor who has indicated that his intent is to take revenge on Shasta County. In general, I don’t like that donors can give unlimited contributions to independent expenditure committees (e.g. Water Users Committee) because it can give a single donor outsized influence over our elections.
A News Cafe: What are your thoughts about the concept of Shasta County becoming a charter county?
Matt Plummer: The concept of Shasta County becoming a charter county needs to be evaluated on the basis of the specific charter being proposed vs. as a general concept. I support half of the proposed charter, but not the other half. I support becoming a charter county to change how a vacancy on the Board is filled because I don’t want the governor to appoint a replacement. However, I don’t support giving the Board the authority to appoint the replacement because if a supervisor is removed during a recall, the remaining Board is likely to consist of at least 2 supervisors who were supportive of the recalled supervisor. As a result, you would be giving those who support the recalled supervisor the authority to appoint the recalled supervisor’s replacement, which goes against the intent of a recall.
I would not support a future amendment to the charter that would make the registrar of voters an appointed position.
A News Cafe: What are your thoughts about term limits?
Matt Plummer: I support term limits because I believe it’s important for new candidates to have a strong chance of winning. If incumbents did not enter re-election campaigns with notable advantages over new candidates, then there wouldn’t be a need for term limits because elections could determine if the incumbent deserves to stay in office. However, the longer an official is in office, the more opportunity they have to build name recognition, take advantage of earned media coverage, and build a network of donors. Term limits help reset this advantage.
A News Cafe: Which groups or notable individuals have endorsed you and your campaign?
Matt Plummer: Over 75 individuals from around the county have endorsed me, including Bob Nash of Nash Ranch, Bruce Dean of Black Bear Diner, Jim Pope (retired County Sheriff), Bill Kent (retired fire captain), John Ewan (past chair of CSA #2 Sugarloaf water service area), Tom Orr (retired Dean, Shasta College), John Berry (retired law enforcement), Stephen Morgan (former district 4 supervisor). Key county employee unions and labor groups have endorsed me, including UPEC, SEIU, and UA LOCAL 228 Plumbers/Pipefitters/HVACR.
A News Cafe: Describe your district, its unique assets and challenges.
Matt Plummer: District 4 is made up of a wonderful diversity of communities. You have a good portion of the City of Redding with a significant retail presence and high population density. The key county-influenced issues in that area are homelessness and public safety. You have the City of Shasta Lake, which has about 10,000 people. It faces a growing challenge with homelessness but also faces a threat of water shortages and wildfires. Shasta Lake is also undergoing some significant developments to its downtown, which represent an important opportunity for the city.
Going north, you have several smaller communities of Mountain Gate, Lakehead, and Castella, which have small-town charm where residents all know each other. Wildfire prevention and mitigation are key for these communities as are utility rates and Shasta Lake water levels. Public safety is also an important issue for these communities as they lack a significant presence from law enforcement. In Lakehead, there is tension between encouraging tourism and maintaining the small town, local feel. Finally, there are outlying areas where again wildfires and water are important issues.
A News Cafe: How long have you lived in your district?
Matt Plummer: Almost 8 years.
A News Cafe: Your thoughts about the current supervisors’ decision to suspend impact fees?
Matt Plummer: I think the decision was premature and likely harmful to the county for several reasons. The idea that we don’t need impact fees because we haven’t seen the growth that was projected years ago only makes sense if the Board were to cancel the infrastructure projects currently under consideration – including the new jail, of which impact fees still only fund less than 5%.
Second, eliminating impact fees will theoretically encourage development in the unincorporated areas and discourage development in our 3 cities, which still have impact fees. This is the opposite of the development strategy we should be taking.
Third, data from the City of Redding and around the country does not definitively support the idea that suspending impact fees will spur new development or that it will lower housing prices for residents. In fact, when Redding partially suspended fees between 2011 and 2014, it had fewer building permits than in the years preceding and following the suspension of fees.
Finally, the idea that sales and property taxes will make up for the loss of impact fees is a shaky assumption at best. The Board should work to cut expenses before cutting revenues.
A News Cafe: Your thoughts about the current supervisors’ decision to cancel the Dominion voting system contract?
Matt Plummer: If the decision to cancel the Dominion voting system contract was made to shift from leasing machines to owning machines, then I would be supportive – but I would have recommended doing it on a timeline that reduced disruption to the elections office and any costs of terminating the contract.
If the decision to cancel the contract was made to restore trust in our elections (as was originally stated by those on the Board who voted in favor of canceling the contract), then I believe the decision was made prematurely and without a sufficient analysis of the existing system and alternatives. The existing system should have been evaluated thoroughly based on 4 criteria: security, accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency, and then compared to other systems before making any decision.
A News Cafe: Your thoughts about the firing of former Health Officer Karen Ramstrom, and the hiring of Dr. James Mu?
Matt Plummer: I do not agree with this decision to lower the standards for the health officer position. I worry that the current health officer’s lack of training in epidemiology and lack of experience in the field of public health could make it difficult for him to do his job well. I hope he will rise to the challenge, learn quickly, and demonstrate full commitment to this county role.
A News Cafe: Your thoughts about the board’s recent decision to offer generous severance packages to the new health officer, the CEO and the new county counsel?
Matt Plummer: I do not agree with this decision as it removes some of the incentive for these key county leaders to perform well and deliver a benefit to the community – and makes it very expensive to remove them if they don’t perform. I hope they live up to the responsibilities entrusted to them.
A News Cafe: What issues, under the jurisdiction of the board of supervisors, do you feel most passionate about, and what solutions would you propose to help those issues?
Matt Plummer: My 3 priorities are to reduce homelessness, cut crime, and fix our roads.
To reduce homelessness, we need to set a community goal of reducing homelessness, track our progress monthly, and get the organizations working on this challenge to talk through a list of the homeless each month – which is what has helped 14 communities around the country get to zero homeless for a specific population. We then need to consistently enforce a ban on public camping, provided we have enough shelter options to offer them. We need to review the whole system for getting people out of homelessness and fix the cracks where people are falling through today, particularly in the areas of mental health and substance use.
To cut crime, we need to build a 10-year strategy for staffing our sheriff’s department so we don’t find ourselves closing a floor of our jail again in a year or a few years. I would like to see us use the time people are spending in jail to reduce the likelihood that they re-offend. We need to help more of those leaving the jail transition successfully into a productive lifestyle so we don’t have the jail-to-street pipeline we currently have. We need to increase consequences for low-level crimes so fewer people form a lifestyle of criminal behavior.
To fix our roads, we need to pursue grant dollars and infrastructure funding from the state and federal governments to supplement the existing road funding and then use those funds to resurface the roads that currently score the lowest on quality.
A News Cafe: What else would you like us to know?
Matt Plummer: The county government has grown dramatically over the last 5 years from a budget of $500M in 2019-20 to $660M this past fiscal year – and yet we aren’t getting better results for the community. I’d like to see us set countywide goals that are published on the website so the public can hold the government accountable to use our tax dollars to deliver a real benefit to the community.
Click here for more information about Matt Plummer’s campaign.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this post said that Matt Plummer has lived in District 4 for almost 7 years. The correct number — 8 — has been included in this Q&A.
