January 1, 2023

Rich Hedges Appointed to San Mateo City Council

Newly-appointed City Council member Rich Hedges was sworn in December 12. Photo by Shelley Kessler.

The San Mateo City Council appointed union leader and labor council board member Rich Hedges to fill a two-year vacant term on the five-member City Council at its December 12 meeting. Hedges was selected to replace Councilmember Diane Papan, who was elected to the state Assembly in November.

A resident of the newly-created District 4, Hedges has participated in San Mateo City government throughout his 52 years in San Mateo. He has served on 29 different city, county, regional, and state boards since 1996 dealing with public transportation, housing, and workforce issues. He was one of three people in 2002 that rewrote the City Charter which was approved by over 70 percent of San Mateo voters.

Hedges is a retired member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 and a delegate to the San Mateo Labor Council. He told Labor Council delegates in November that he was seeking the appointment because District 4 has a high number of union households and he wanted to make sure workers are represented on the Council.

In his presentation to the City Council he said, “I want to serve because I believe I can make decisions for the City without respect to any political alignments. I have the knowledge, energy, and experience to do a good job for our City. Also, it is time that District four has a representative. This district includes the underserved part of San Mateo with the residents who do the hard physical work that serves the rest of us. They need someone who will work for the entire City, but be a voice for them now, not in 2024, but now. District four has unique problems that need a voice now. District four provides a great deal of income for the City with Transit Occupancy Tax, Transfer Tax and Sales Tax.”

Among the issues Hedges prioritizes for his term are dealing with the City’s unfunded Pension Liability. “Our greatest issue is pension debt,” he said. “Without funding for our city services our city will decline. That and other issues is why I agreed to chair, co-chair and work to pass five tax measures for the City of San Mateo. The city needs to maintain a balanced budget and place money in reserves for a bad year or years.”

Maintaining and improving the city’s infrastructure is also a challenge for San Mateo, Hedges said. “We proposed to rid our City of all failed streets by the end of 2024 when we passed Measure S. With the escalating cost of construction material, it becomes more difficult to complete the work in the time proposed. The cost of fuel, the cost of equipment and the cost of labor is going up even before the fast-rising cost of inflation.”

Hedges noted that finding qualified employees for City staff is becoming more difficult. “Part of the problem is a lack of housing for the people who work in San Mateo or San Mateo County at a cost they can afford,” he said. “One solution is to build more housing near services like grocery, restaurants, medical and small service providers. Also, to provide housing near easy to access transportation for those willing to take public transit like myself. However, that is not the only way to retain workers. Public employers and private employers will have to find a way to offer salary and benefits that will allow workers to have enough money to support themselves with a little left over to enjoy life. No one will live here if they can only eke out an existence.”
After his appointment, Hedges said he looks forward to helping bridge the council and repair relationships in the community.

After appointing Hedges, the City Council elected Councilmember Amourence Lee to be Mayor. Lee is the City’s first female Asian American mayor; she was appointed to the Council in 2019 and elected to a 4-year, at-large term in 2020. Lee is also the most senior member of the five-member Council that includes three members elected in November in San Mateo’s new districts rather than at-large.

The vote to elect Lee as mayor came after hours of public comment over the course of several meetings and disagreement over appointing a mayor before or after Papan’s replacement was chosen. A press release from the City of San Mateo noted, “The voter approved City Charter calls for Council members to appoint a member to fill a vacancy and the Council guidelines outline a mayoral system whereby the Council members rotate annually amongst themselves as mayor. After deadlocking on the mayor appointment on Dec. 5, the Council reconvened on Dec. 7 to consider the mayor position before continuing the discussion again until after the Council heard from the eight applicants seeking to be appointed to the council.”
Amourence Lee was named mayor in a unanimous vote following the appointment of Rich

Hedges. Lisa Diaz Nash was named Deputy Mayor; she and Council Members Adam Loraine and Robert Newsom were all elected in November 2022 in the City’s first election by district.
“Looking across our City Hall, there is more love in this community than there are ideas that divide us and we’re all committed to building that community that we want to be a part of,” Lee said during the meeting. “It is a profound privilege to serve and we are so fortunate to be part of this team.”