Greetings! My name is Chance Cutrano, and I'm a 27-year-old Fairfaxian running to be your next Town Council member in the 2020 General Election on November 3!

Background:
By day, I work to protect our air, water, and wildlife as the Director of Programs for a 35-year-old Bay Area environmental nonprofit, the Resource Renewal Institute. I have conducted policy research on food, water, and energy policy on four continents, and my current work spans a variety of subject areas -- from the protection of public lands to sustainable agriculture.

By night, I serve our Town of Fairfax, Marin County, and the greater Bay Area through a variety of volunteer roles including:

• Appointed Fairfax Open Space Committee Member and Treasurer
• Appointed Fairfax Volunteer Board Member
• Fairfax Coronavirus Task Force Member
• Appointed Fairfax Measure A Oversight Committee

• Elected Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club's San Francisco Bay Chapter

• Appointed member of the Finance Committee of the Sierra Club's San Francisco Bay Chapter

• Former appointed Vice-Chair of the Political Committee of the Sierra Club's San Francisco Bay Chapter

• Elected Executive Committee Member and Treasurer of the Sierra Club's Marin Group
• Policy Committee member of Showing up for Racial Justice ("SURJ") Marin

• Appointed North Coast Regional Director of the California Young Democrats Environmental Caucus
• Former Climate Adaptation Task Force Member for the Sierra Club's Board of Directors .
• Former Ballot Committee Treasurer for Citizens to Renew Novato's Urban Growth Boundary, Yes on D 2017
• Former Ambassador for the Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial.

Education:
• Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy and Political Science from Saint Xavier University
• Masters of Public Administration in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School.

Honors and Awards:
• 2018 recipient of Sierra Club California's inaugural "Emerging Leader Award" for outstanding contributions to conservation and politics.
• 2019 Presidio Graduate School Commencement Speaker for the Masters of Public Administration.

Fairfax is adapting to unprecedented times. The challenges we face—climate change; emergency preparedness; economic wellbeing—require new solutions-oriented thinking. Recently, when the Shelter-in-Place order took effect, I spearheaded a volunteer program to deliver support to neighbors in need. I will bring that spirit to the Town Council so that it can be harnessed to make our Town better prepared and united in purpose. 
 

Government works best when people step up and serve. We can’t wait for solutions to come to us. What we practice here sets the pattern for the whole system. We need a Council that is committed to rolling up their sleeves; a Council that is in community and for community; a council that thinks proactively about how we best preserve our Fairfax charm. 

I will bring these qualities to our Town Council.

 
Over the past few years, pouring my time and care into this community, I've come to find that everything moves at the speed of trust. My orientation as a "listening leader" can hold space and build trust in ways that open up dialogue and create an opportunity for wonder, excitement, and creativity. The world is ripe for reinvention. With your support, we can invent a compassionate government and a resilient community. 


I look forward to this journey with you.

Barbara Coler is an incumbent on the Fairfax Town Council serving the last 7 years and as Mayor in 2015 & 2019.  She was appointed May 2013, elected November 2013 reelected in 2017.  She is a scientist with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in biological sciences.  She serves on several Boards: Marin Clean Energy (Executive Board and Board member); Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority; Marin Telecommunications Agency (former, disbanded 6/20); Community Media Center of Marin; Countywide Community Development Block Grant; Marin County Assessment of Fair Housing; LAFCO, and several Town committees, notably Affordable Housing; Climate Action (former); Open Space; and Age Friendly. 

Barbara has demonstrated her commitment to protection of public health and the environment – with 20+ years running statewide hazardous waste site cleanup/permitting for Cal/EPA and 5 years enforcing air quality regulations for the Bay Area Air District.  She was Administrator of a significant climate change program for the 35 California Air Districts for several years.

Barbara is a long time resident of the west end of Fairfax and is an avid hiker and biker.  She is a 24+ year Fairfax resident (with 31 years in Marin).

Working together with the community, we have made progress towards realizing our common vision for Fairfax: embracing diversity, inclusion and racial equity; sustaining our economic vitality while preserving our Town’s unique qualities; preparing for disasters and providing leadership on social justice and environmental issues.

As a 24 year resident, I am devoted to preserving the look and feel of Fairfax that we all love. Helping our residents and businesses remain stable and recover safely during the Covid-19 pandemic will be a primary focus in 2020 and beyond. 

I am a scientist with a long term commitment to protection of public health and the environment. My education and years of public service have given me a deep understanding of how government works and the ability to get things done. Some of my many accomplishments on the Council include: acquiring Sky Ranch for open space; achieving key climate action objectives; bringing renter protections to our Town; facilitating infill affordable housing; increasing our disaster preparedness.  I ran three highly successful voter campaigns for local taxes to support Fairfax over the last few years.  

I have focused on living within our budget to provide locally-controlled public services, maintaining/replacing our aging infrastructure, bringing social justice matters to the Council, preserving our Town's uniqueness and beauty while enhancing Fairfax's strong environmental sustainability ethics.  With your vote I can continue this important work. 

I have five major priorities for Fairfax: Living within our Budget; Housing for Inclusion, Social Justice and Racial Equity; Disaster Preparedness; Maintaining and Improving our Aging Infrastructure; Protecting our Environment.  

Having lived in numerous regions of the US, our family moved to Fairfax in 1993.  Educated at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, my professional work has primarily been in laboratory instrumentation, solar R&D, and epidemiological software.  I co-founded a large product development consultancy in Mountain View, while caring for my aging parents and raising two children, now adults.

My involvement with Fairfax began as a member of the General Plan Advisory Committee.  The connections built there led to an appointment to the Planning Commission, and in 2017 election to Council, where I am currently Vice-Mayor.  I founded the Climate Action Committee and serve on the Racial Equity and Social Justice Committee, among others, and am leading the design of a Community Resilience Microgrid.

My core goal as a Council Member is to foster creative, respectful, and effective conversations as we find local opportunities to navigate this pivotal era.

I ran for Town Council in 2017 in a time of great divisiveness and contention within town. My hope, and my first priority at that time, was to improve the conversation in town, finding ways to keep citizens better informed with accurate information. I, and our entire Council and Staff, have indeed made great progress in this area, and we now have far more productive Council discussions.

As I now seek re-election, my top priority is deeper. As we now are all too well aware, we face multiple major crises. The pandemic, the economic struggle of so many as a result, and now yet another year of raging wildfires. All while worrying about the national election, and whether there will even be a peaceful transition of power.  As I see it, this time of chaos and struggle is not unexpected: we have known for many years that collectively we were living in ways that are not remotely sustainable, and have been repeatedly warned that there would be difficult times as a result.  While the pandemic is not directly a result of the same actions that are causing wildfires, floods and hurricanes, I believe the fragility of the social fabric most definitely is.

Out of this trying time has arisen a strong call for racial and social justice.  This is again not unrelated, and I am happy to say that within the worldwide conversation about climate, it has long been recognized that the actions taken to change our abse of the planet must equally and simultaneously be actions that advance justice.

Therefore, my long-term philosophy is that we need all hands on deck to seriously move on these linked priorities. The ground I can stand on is the town of Fairfax, which has in the past freqently been a leader, and is closely watched by other jurisdictions. I hope to bring out the pride of Fairfaxians in our outsized role, as we work together to, albeit late, do everything we possibly can in these pivotal times.