On the trails of Mount Tamalpais, the terrain is steep, but the stakes are far lower than they once were for former Marin County Board Supervisor Katie Rice. These days, her most urgent political debate is with a clever Border Collie named Bodhi who refuses to drop a pinecone.
Rice’s negotiation with her dog is quiet and simple, a world away from the complex, often contentious, public service she dedicated two decades to. “I’m getting used to having free time,” she says, after a career commitment to the community that stretches far beyond the mountain views she now savors.
Her political career began with the grassroots work of a campaign worker and aide for Supervisor Hal Brown. She remained by his side until his retirement in 2011. The real turning point, however, arrived when Governor Jerry Brown offered her the appointment as Hal Brown’s successor.
The decision wasn’t easy. The job was all-consuming, and as she admits, a difficult balancing act. “There’s a tension between pleasing your constituents and doing the thing that is actually gonna address the problem long term,” she explains. “That’s really hard when you live in a relatively small county like Marin, you’re constantly running into people whom you’ve disappointed because you’ve voted in a way they don’t agree with.”
Throughout her tenure, Rice was committed to addressing a wide range of critical issues, from wildfire prevention to creating more housing for the homeless. These issues directly impact the daily lives of Marin residents today.
Perhaps her most enduring local legacy is in fire resilience. Serving as an honorary chair of FireSafe Marin, Rice was instrumental in establishing the Marin Wildfire Prevention Agency. She spearheaded the effort to unify the county and all its municipalities under a single, county-wide approach to fire prevention, implementing and funding vital activities like the annual “Ember Stomp festival.”
Her leadership culminated in the creation and passage of a ballot proposition in 2020 that provided a permanent source of funding for fire resistance, which is a crucial safeguard for the communities nestled among Marin’s hills.
On homelessness, she worked to help the county adopt the “Housing First” model, which she says “tripled or quadrupled” the number of permanent supportive housing units. This included the challenging yet successful effort to establish permanent housing at 1251 S. Eliseo, a project that converted a nursing home into apartments with social services in Larkspur.
The community was starkly divided, but Rice is “a collaborator, she knows how to get people in a room to get them to work together to find solutions,” says Nancy Vernon, her longtime aide.
Establishing a Community Advisory Committee was key to navigating the conflict. “It was a heavy lift because most people don’t want to see homeless folks on the streets,” Rice says. “They think if you can’t see someone, then it’s not a problem, but putting someone in a shelter doesn’t solve the problem really.”
Her work didn’t stop there. Rice was committed to flood prevention and education with Flood Zone 9 and was a co-founder of OD Free Marin. She also played a key role in the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard improvement project and was a member of the influential Coastal Commission.
On the Coastal Commission, she navigated challenging decisions about environmental protocol. One of these decisions was what to do about the mice on the Marion Islands. The mice were an invasive species that were significantly disrupting the entire ecosystem, so the science-backed solution was to drop poison on the islands; this became a controversial topic in the public eye.
Reflecting on her time in office, Rice speaks with pride about the “carrying cards project” and a boys and men’s mental health group created by Vernon, initiatives illustrating a commitment to mental health support that touched lives across the county.
A true Marin native, Rice grew up in Mill Valley, an alumna of Tamalpais High School. She later graduated from Sonoma State University with degrees in liberal studies and English.
Her career trajectory after college was varied. Patch, a network of hyperlocal news and information websites that cover community news, provides this history. She returned to West Marin for 15 years, working jobs that ranged from oyster farming to journalism for the Petaluma Argus Courier and the North Bay Business Journal. Covering local issues for these publications wasn’t just a job; it sparked a lifelong interest in local politics.
Moving back to San Anselmo, where she has since raised three children, Rice co-founded the Yes Foundation, an educational organization supporting Ross Valley public schools.
“I had a feel for different communities within [Marin] County,” she says, “and I thought that would make for a good county supervisor.”
When asked what others should know about Rice, Vernon says, “Katie cared deeply about the county [Marin] and specifically about District 2 [communities of Fairfax, San Anselmo, Ross, Larkspur, Kentfield, Greenbrae, Oak Manor, Sleepy Hollow, and Southwest San Rafael.] She always wanted to know everything that was going on, big and small, and was happiest when she was out working with residents.”
“Former supervisor Katie Rice led with heart, humility, and an unwavering dedication to the people of Marin County,” Brian Colbert, Katie Rice’s successor, adds. “Her genuine spirit of service and steady leadership have left an enduring legacy, one that continues to guide and inspire our work today.”
Back on the trails of Mount Tamalpais, the former supervisor, the journalist, the community leader, is now focused on the simple present. The political debates may be over, but the navigation continues, one pinecone negotiation at a time.
