Dianne Jacob Named 2014 Chair; Energy Issues a Top Priority

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors Tuesday named Supervisor Dianne Jacob as its chairwoman for a fifth time since being appointed in 1992.     

"I plan to outline several initiatives that I believe will help serve as a roadmap in 2014," Jacobs said, "We face an exciting and challenging year on several fronts."

Jacob, who will be in charge of running meetings over the coming year, represents a district that covers most of the East County, including Santee.  

“I’m as excited today as I was in 1993, when I first came into office,” said Jacob, following a swearing-in ceremony at the County Operations Center in Kearny Mesa.  “I’m very humbled and starting next month I will have the distinction of holding elective office longer than any woman in our county government’s history.”

According to a blog post by her office, Jacob's top priorities for the year include:

• Completing the consolidation of rural fire agencies to better coordinate services within the region’s most fire-prone communities.
• Additional public safety improvements. She said a new Sheriff’s station will open later this year in Rancho San Diego and that she will continue to tackle issues like human trafficking and gangs.
• Working with new county Supervisor Dave Roberts and San Diego Mayor Bob Filner to address regional energy issues.
• Jacob will also continue to press for more recreational facilities, open-space preservation and hiking and riding trails in her district.

Supervisor Bill Horn, who represents most of the North County, was picked as vice chairman.

The board's newest supervisor, Dave Roberts, who represents areas from Encinitas to Escondido to northern San Diego, was chosen as the board's chair pro tem.

Before handing over the title to Jacob, outgoing Chairman Greg Cox highlighted some of the board's accomplishments during his year-long term. County finances, he said, were sound under a nearly $5 billion budget. Cox said the board's financial discipline enabled it to open a new registrar of voters complex, a parking garage under the County Administration Building and branch libraries in Lincoln Acres and Lemon Grove.

Cox said he was happy to have helped streamline the county's adoption process, which resulted in the placement of 25 of 45 children available for adoption. The county also supported programs that help the homeless, grandparents raising their grandchildren and veterans.

"Today, at the dawn of the new year, I'm very proud to look back and say that 2013 was a very good year for the County of San Diego," Cox said.

Last year, Dave Roberts became the first new member of the board since 1995, and the county hired Helen Robbins-Meyer as its chief administrative officer.

-City News Service