Candidate for
Supervisor; County of Mendocino; District 2

Richard M. Shoemaker, age 51, Born: Santa Ana, California, resident of Mendocino County 25 years. Occupation: Licensed Landscape Contractor, 434581, 2nd District Supervisor, Mendocino County Business Name: Green Lion Landscape Services.

Tustin High School-Vocational Ed, Graphic Arts and Printing AA-General Studies, Santa Ana Community College, Saddleback Community College Cal Poly Pomona, UC Davis. Areas of Study: Business, Accounting, Education, Art & Horticulture.

3 Children, Son: Nicholas, 15 , Twin Daughters: Jamie Rose and Allyson,12. Active in North Ukiah Little League and with my children's soccer teams

Hobbies: Sailing, Kid's Sports, Kayaking, Biking, Camping, Ultimate Frisbee.

Members of my family has lived in California for 75+ years. Four generations of my family have lived in the Ukiah Valley. My parents are retired educators.

I am a life long entrepreneur: I started my first business at 10 doing yard work, held yard sales and published a neighborhood kid's paper. I delivered newspapers at 11, Shift Manager at McDonald's at 16. At 17, I started a screen printing and graphic design enterprise. As a senior in High I served as the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees, Representing 1900+ students.

Immediately after High School I worked as a graphic designer/printer and sailing instructor for a landsailor manufacturer.

I attended college full time for one year as a business, accounting and art student working nights full time as a custodian. I was the bottom man on the totem pole so I cleaned about 60 toilets a night.

Deciding college wasn't all it was cracked up to be (neither was being a custodian) I went to work in a 10 person print shop where I soon became a senior operator in charge of layout and printing of school newspapers. I left after 4 years to travel around America for the bi-centennial.

When I returned to Orange County I worked for a trucking company delivering freight and developing their customer base from LA to San Diego, I returned to school at night.

In 1976 I worked through CETA at a Vocational Ed program in landscaping and nursery practices. I was an assistant teacher. I re-entered college at Cal Poly Pomona in Horticulture and Education. It was here that I set a goal to someday own a nursery. I knew that the landscaping and nursery trades were rewarding professions. I also began to realize that I didn't want to stay in smoggy Southern Cal. But I wasn't sure where I'd go.

In 1979 I visited an old sailing buddy who had moved to the Mendocino Coast. He showed me around Mendocino County. It seemed like a great place to live, a place you could start a business and settle down. I immediately fell in love with this area. By some twist of fate I found a temporary job while here on that visit, doing landscaping and handyman work.

The job soon was for only a few months and I found myself scouring the area for a permanent job. I put in applications with every landscape contractor, print shop and ceramics studio in the area. I literally walked the length of State Street looking for work. I had a California substitute teacher's certificate so I did that whenever possible. I couldn't afford rent at that time so I camped by Cache Creek and at Lake Mendocino. Each morning I drove to a pay phone to check on substitute teaching and other work. I didn't want to back to So. Cal.

Things finally broke lose and I got two jobs in one week. I found a room to rent and worked both jobs for a few months. I finally settled with the job working for a local landscape contractor.

In 1981 I started Green Lion Landscape Services. I had my tools, an old truck and a good work ethic. Over the years Green Lion has employed a many as 20 people at one time and has put over $6 million into the local economy.

In 1983 Three different incidents with the City of Ukiah affected me in such a way that I decided that things needed to change in the way it treated its citizens. I don't believing in complaining without action so I got involved.

I soon became a Parks and Recreation Commissioner, then a City Planning Commissioner and in 1986 I ran for a City Council seat. My platform called for the new city hall to be built by local contractors and improving the way city government served its citizens.

I lost that election but two weeks later I was appointed by the council to fill the council seat the newly elected mayor had just vacated. The reason given for my appointment was that I had been highly involved, was a reasonable individual and had "earned" the appointment. Two years later I was elected to a four year term. After implementing a great number of changes in Ukiah's City Hall, I and another Council member ran unopposed in 1992.

Personal Qualifications:

I am a life long businessman. I am an independent decision maker.

The County of Mendocino is a large service business. For over 22 years I have operated a highly competitive, complex customer oriented service business with three departments. I have run a retail business. My everyday experience is in: finance, personnel, planning, customer relations, project management, and manual labor.

I have continually upgraded my management and leadership skills by participating in professional management programs, for business management in general and in for government operations.

I have had 10 years of policy making experience with The City of Ukiah. It's is small, it is one of the most complicated cities in California. I have 7 years experience with the County of Mendocino as a Supervisor.

I always come prepared. I always make an attempt to get let staff know my concerns before a meeting. I've done lots of outside independent research on the issues that we face, especially in Solid Waste, Transportation, Water, Personnel and Finance issues.

I am accessible. I am on a daily basis in the all parts of the community. I know the district street by street. I am very familiar with the county as a whole. My Monument business takes me as far as Covelo, Manchester, Hopland and virtually every community in the county.

I don't just talk economic development I do it. I have been a local economic development engine, developing up to twenty new jobs since 1982 and constructed numerous projects to beautify this Valley.

I have successful utilized state and federal training programs such as CETA, GAIN and PIC to train myself employees to be productive contributors to Mendocino County.

Boards and Commissions I have served on:

Save Ukiah Air Attack Coalition, Co-Chaired Fire Safe Council of Mendocino County Mendocino County affordable Housing Taskforce Mendocino County Water Agency Ukiah Valley Cultural & Recreation Center, Greater Ukiah Chamber of Commerce Board 1986-1990, 1997-2003 Ukiah Valley Wide Service Task Force (Policy makers from all local agencies, studied and recommended to city, county and special districts methods of possible service consolidation) Ukiah Valley Sanitation District Ukiah City Planning Commission, City of Ukiah Parks & Recreation Commission, Ukiah Redevelopment Agency Mendocino County Redevelopment Agency Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority, MSWMA, chairman 90-97. California League of Cities board member, Committee on Housing and Economic development. Sunhouse Guild Board, (Worked with private citizens to incorporate The Grace Hudson museum as a city department) President of local Pre-school Board. Mendocino Council of Governments, Vice Chair, executive committee, (distributes and federal funds for transportation and transit projects, advises CalTrans) California State Association of Counties (CSAC)Board member, Executive Committee member, CSAC Housing and transportation committee member, member criminal justice committee Mendocino Economic Development and Finance Corporation Mendocino County Employees Retirement Board Russian River Watershed Council Russian River Agency Fishnet 4C Tustin Unified School District Student Representative to the Board of Trustees. Workforce Investment Board, coordinating worker and youth training programs. Mendocino Economic Development Corporation Mendocino County Local Formation Commission Mendocino County Resources Committee, Mendocino County Health & Human Services Committee, Mendocino County General Government Committee Mayor's & Manager's Committee Ukiah Valley; City, County, School District school siting committee