Meet the candidates: Carl Jeffries seeks seat on Board of Supervisors
CHICO » Butte County District 2 supervisor challenger Carl Jeffries has been in Chico for a long time.
His family has been in the area rooting back to the 1850s.
“I’m still on the ancestral family lot,” Jeffries said. “I still live in the same place.”
Though he lives in Chico and his roots are firmly planted in the city, Jeffries, an environmental health and safety manager, spent years traveling for work taking on various training positions around the United States.
“I moved away and worked around the country, providing government training for inspectors like how to take water samples, how to write grants, first responder training, really all kinds of training all over the country,” Jeffries said. “And when my last position ended, my wife suggested we move back to Chico. And so my wife for 35 years convinced me and I moved back to Chico and man, things have changed.”
Jeffries said the return to Chico is what prompted him to look at running for local government.
“I thought, with all of my background and knowledge, I would love to give back to the community that I came from,” Jeffries said. “And so that is why I am running for this position. I’m capable and I enjoy providing my services to the community.”
In addition to environmental work and conducting training, Jeffries has worked with military bases managing infrastructure and also has experience working in sustainability and overseeing budgeting and bills.
Right off the bat, Jeffries cited mental health as a major issue he’s concerned with and it’s one he said he deals with daily, particularly in relation to homelessness issues.
“Mental health is a big one,” Jeffries said. “Every day when I go to work, I have to usually convince several homeless people to leave the property. I have issues with them every day and I try to be as humane as I can. Once in a while I do have to bring in the police, and I wish I wouldn’t have to but that is how it is nowadays. When I left this area 25 years ago, this was a rarity. You didn’t see that and so it bothers me.”
Jeffries said he also cares about groundwater and resource conservation. He himself lives on a 200-foot deep well.
“I was told by my plumber last season that there was some cavitation at the bottom of my well because the well was getting close to going dry,” Jeffries said. “Well, this is something that has never happened out there and so it’s a concern.”
Jeffries said he had extensive experience in dealings with water from his roaming career.
“I know of all kinds of different things you can do to increase recharge because it’s something that I’ve taught governments and taught communities and I believe I can help out there,” Jeffries said.
One goal Jeffries has, should he be elected to the position, is to help bring remote workers to the area.
“The last thing would be making Chico more attractive to remote workers and regional workers,” Jeffries said. “I’ve worked as a regional worker for multiple facilities, multiple factories and living in Chico, I cannot do that. There is no easy way to get out of here. There is no four-lane highway to the next big city and there isn’t an airline going in and out.”
Jeffries is running for District 2 supervisor against incumbent Debra Lucero and challenger Peter Durfee. The election will appear on the June 7 ballot.