From left are Sacramento County District 5 Special Assistant Stephanie Kauss, Cordova Community Council Executive Director Shelly Blenchard, Sacramento County District 5 Supervisor Pat Hume, Councilmember Linda Budge, Sacramento County District 5 Chief of Staff Rebecca Sloan and Sacramento County District 5 Special Assistant Ashleigh Kaufman. Photo by Rick Sloan

RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Local leaders, business owners, and community members gathered on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Rancho Cordova City Hall for the monthly Rancho Cordova Luncheon, co-hosted by the Cordova Community Council and Rancho Cordova Area Chamber of Commerce.

Held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the luncheon featured a tailgate-style lunch by West Coast Events and keynote remarks by Sacramento County Supervisor Pat Hume, who represents District 5, including Rancho Cordova.

“For those of you who are new and have not heard this fun fact, when you're here at the Rancho Cordova Luncheon, you are part of a really long tradition,” said Cordova Community Council Executive Director Shelly Blanchard. “You've been meeting on the third Friday of the month for 65 years.”

Blanchard introduced Hume, outlining his background, including serving on the Elk Grove Planning Commission, 16 years on the Elk Grove City Council and his election to the Board of Supervisors in 2022.

“Pat and his beautiful wife, Lisa, are very active in their community,” Blanchard said. “He’s also an accomplished auctioneer volunteering for local nonprofits.”

Hume began his remarks by acknowledging the crowd and the honor of returning as a luncheon speaker.

“It’s crazy to think in 2022, I finally made it. I got the opportunity to represent Rancho Cordova and here I am a little over halfway through my term,” Hume said. “One thing I’ve learned that I knew instinctively: government moves very slowly.”

Comparing county government to a “container ship,” Hume emphasized the challenges of navigating large-scale bureaucracy, saying, “It’s more about moving the chains than scoring touchdowns.”

Among the tangible progress, Hume highlighted significant improvements in ambulance patient offload times.

“When I took office, Sacramento County had one of the worst offload times in the state, over 70 minutes,” he said. “Now, we’re down to an average of 26 minutes. That means ambulances are freed up faster and more available to the community.”

He credited the hospital system, EMS providers and Sacramento Metro Fire for the turnaround, noting several state-level recognitions earned by local leadership.

Hume also addressed the homelessness crisis, calling it a humanitarian crisis and the top issue on voters’ minds.

“We’re now funding over 1,200 shelter beds, with another 370 coming,” Hume said. “The biggest piece of this is the connection to the resources. Mental health, treatment, substance abuse, treatment, employment training, all of these things that really are going to change the trajectory of their life and hopefully get them on a path to where they are living more fulfilled lives.”

Hume announced a proposed model to streamline regional collaboration and improve oversight of existing agencies, which he plans to present to the Rancho Cordova City Council.

Turning to economic development, Hume spoke about growth along the Jackson Highway Corridor, including Mather South and the realignment of Eagles Nest Road to extend Zinfandel Drive. Nearly 30,000 housing units have been approved across multiple specific plans.

Sacramento County Supervisor Pat Hume speaks at the monthly Rancho Cordova luncheon on Sept. 19. Photo by Rick Sloan

He also outlined ambitions to redevelop Mather Airport into a regional economic hub.

“One of the things that I have been hammering on since day one is trying to utilize Mather Airport as more of a regional economic hub and recognize that this great asset that was bestowed upon the county from the federal government when they decommissioned the Air Force Base really ought to be, in my estimation, fully realized as the second major commercial airport in Sac County,” Hume said.

Infrastructure improvements include a new $20-million dormitory for EVA Flight Training Academy and long-delayed safety lighting upgrades at Mather’s 12,000-foot runway.

On road conditions, Hume acknowledged that funding falls short of need.

“To maintain our roads properly, we need $80 million a year. We currently get $30 million,” Hume said.

Despite budget constraints, the Board of Supervisors added $10 million from the General Fund this year. In District 5 alone, the county has installed 36 speed bumps, investigated 933 traffic complaints and replaced more than 120 sidewalks and curbs.

Hume addressed crime and public safety, expressing strong support for Proposition 36, aimed at curbing retail theft.

“People were walking out of stores with no consequences. Prop 36 makes crime illegal again,” Hume said.

He added that enforcement of fentanyl-related crimes remains a top priority.

“We need to stop calling them overdoses. These are poisonings,” Hume said. “People are dying from drugs they never intended to take. You're very fortunate to have a community prosecutor in Rancho Cordova, funded by your own tax dollars, committed from the district attorney's office. Take advantage of that.”

He also mentioned ongoing challenges related to the Maze Consent Decree.

“We have committing about $100 million a year to what's called the Maze Consent Decree. This was essentially a class action lawsuit that said, for those that are booked into the main jail, if they have medical situations, that the conditions in the way that they were being treated was not sufficient,” said Hume. “There is a lot of improvements that have to be made. We are about halfway to meeting the requirements. But one of the things that we're going to have to address is the actual physical structure itself.”

In closing, Hume spoke passionately against the proposed Delta Conveyance Tunnel, which would redirect Northern California water to the south.

“This $20-billion tunnel would move water equivalent to the entire American River’s Spring flow, 6,000 cubic feet per second, diverting it from our communities to corporate agrobusiness and residents in Southern California,” Hume said. “We should be investing in infrastructure upgrades that protect and preserve the Delta.”

The next Rancho Cordova Luncheon is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Rancho Cordova City Hall, 2729 Prospect Park Drive.