Meet the candidates: Debra Lucero seeks another term as supervisor

District 2 Supervisor Debra Lucero is ready to move forward.

With Butte County marred by major health events and disasters, and the subsequent response from local government, Lucero said she is ready to move toward a return to governing outside of response efforts.

“In the first term, the first year, you’re just getting your feet underneath you,” Lucero said. “Two months before I got into office, the Camp Fire occurred and that was followed by the North Complex fire, the pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain issues, you name it. So it’s been a rough go. I think that I literally did get christened by fire, and we had to do a whole entire chapter just on emergency ordinances.”

Lucero said that while these events certainly created a difficult workload for her in her first term, it came with experience as well. During her first term, Lucero was appointed as chair of the National Association of Counties’ Resilient Counties Advisory Board.

In this position, Lucero expanded her knowledge on situations affecting counties across the United States such as the impacts of climate change. Lucero said this additional knowledge has helped her in her role as supervisor.

“I’m prepared,” Lucero said. Joining the board didn’t come without some surprise challenges. Lucero said one of the most unexpected difficulties was how male-oriented government can often be.

“We need more women in government,” Lucero said. “I think we make good decisions and I think that it’s taken a long time for us to get where we are. Still only 25 percent of all state offices are filled

with women and we are still 50 percent of the population. So until we get to that 50 percent mark, it’s not enough.”

The issues

In her first term, Lucero has pushed for more collaboration, whether between municipalities or with community organizations.

Lucero said part of her work includes quarterly meetings between Butte County officials and those with the city of Chico.

In addition to creating more collaboration, Lucero said a big focus has been housing.

“We lost 17,500 homes in all of the fires that we’ve had,” Lucero said, adding that very little affordable housing has been developed over the last 8 years. “So we have an 8-year span where we have no affordable housing that was developed.”

Tying housing to mental health issues, Lucero said she has spent considerable time working with teams to help those in need of treatment or other facets.

“I do believe in a housing first model,” Lucero said, “because I’ve been out with the crisis teams, spending hours looking for one individual to give them their meds or to give them their check. I do not see that as a sustainable system. We need people in a place where we can find them.”

In terms of the political divide, Lucero said the issue is vast and complex, though in general, the board has voted together. One example Lucero gave on where she might differ is the controversial Tuscan Water District.

“It’s a national issue,” Lucero said. “I think people are very separated by their beliefs. It’s either one way or the other. I think if you look at our board, most of the time we vote together. The things we separate on are usually things like water. I was not in favor of the Tuscan Water District because I believe that one acre-one vote was not a democratic system. And in this day and age, to have a water district where somebody who owns 11,000 acres can have 11,000 votes and somebody who has one acre on a domestic well can have one vote, that did not seem like a democratic, constitutionally sound decision.”

Lucero is running to keep her position as the District 2 Supervisor against Peter Durfee and Carl Jeffries and will be on the June 7 ballot.