RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Rich Desmond was elected in November 2020 as Sacramento County Supervisor for District 3. After redistricting, which occurs every 10 years after census data comes out, District 3 now covers an area of Rancho Cordova east of Sunrise Boulevard. Desmond spoke at the Rancho Cordova Luncheon on Friday, June 17, to talk about his District and his work. 

District 3 covers a diverse area with about 314,000 people, 285,000 of whom live in urban, unincorporated areas, that include Gold River, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Arden Arcade, Foothill Farms, and part of North Highlands.  “Arden-Arcade alone is 100,000 people,” Desmond said.  “It’s great that you have so many advocates for this community, whereas these unincorporated communities have one elected official to represent them . . . really I like being the champion of a lot of these communities in District 3.”

Desmond touched on a few of the biggest issues – COVID 19, homelessness, the condition of roadways, economic development in Sacramento County – but focused on homelessness since it is the most important and pressing issue that we’re facing today, he said.  “It is something that probably takes up, I would say, 60% of our time on the Board,” Desmond said, “probably 90% of my time, including when I wake up at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning thinking about this.” Desmond looks at the crisis in terms of four C’s:  Coordination, Capacity, Consequences, and Compassion.  Coordination: “This is not a problem that is limited to one city or one county.  It crosses jurisdictional boundaries, and we need to be coordinating our effort.”  Capacity: “It doesn’t do any good if we have all the coordination in the world, if we don’t have someplace to send people.”   Consequences: “I’m not talking about consequences that criminalize homelessness or demonize everybody who’s homeless.  But if an encampment is interfering with a small business and that’s causing a problem in the community, or someone is committing a crime, then we have to hold people accountable for their actions.” Compassion: “The folks out there living on the street, they have a story to tell, and when you talk to them and you get to know the story, it should affect how you want to approach this problem.”

The question arose of the safety of the American River Parkway, and difficulties because of the many encampments that have arisen there.  Desmond said that the County Rangers have a role throughout the 26 miles of Parkway, but each individual jurisdiction in terms of fire and police departments have jurisdiction in terms of public safety roles.  “In terms of establishing an ordinance that would protect the Parkway,” Desmond said, “that falls to the County because of its primary County jurisdiction.” 

Desmond also points out the decision in 2018 in the case of Martin v. City of Boise, that ruled that prohibiting sleeping or camping of homeless individuals on public property is unconstitutional when those individuals do not have a meaningful alternative, such as shelter space or a legal place to camp. “We need to identify alternatives,” Desmond said. He pointed out the discussion of an ordinance that would restrict encampments in certain sensitive infrastructure areas, which would give a legal high ground, but also moral high ground to take more proactive action to move these encampments off the Parkway . . . That is a major concern to all of us in the County.”

Rich Desmond is a fifth generation native of Sacramento County, a lifelong resident of Carmichael.  He joined the California Highway Patrol in 1995, served as a patrol officer in Los Angeles and Sacramento and was promoted through a variety of field and administrative positions. “As a prior law enforcement guy here, law enforcement is something that’s very important to me,” Desmond said. He served as temporary chief sergeant-at-arms at the State Assembly.  He served as the legislative liaison for the Highway Patrol for four years at the State Capitol, which he said is, “Unfortunately where I befriended a few legislators who talked me into (running for District 3 Supervisor).”

Desmond graduated from Jesuit High School where he participated in football and rugby.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Santa Clara University, where he played football for a very short time, but continued with rugby until his junior year.  Rich and his wife Lisa have five children ranging in age from 13 to 22.