City Council — City of Fort Bragg

Hi, I'm Tess Albin-Smith: I was born and raised in San Francisco, Ca., where she attended Lowell High and SF City College. I have a BS in Renewable Natural Resources, and a MS in Range Management, both from UC Davis. I worked as a biologist and forester for the state for a total of 32 years, starting at the Dept. of Fish and Game, moving to State Water Resources Control Board, and in 1979 joined the Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) as one of their first 2 female foresters, working in reforestation and prescribed burning programs. I became a CDF peace officer in 1993.

I have been married to Doug Albin for 38 years. In 1990 we moved from Sacramento to Fort Bragg with our two young daughters, Kelly and Jamie. Our son Alex arrived a year later and is a true native of Fort Bragg. We moved here so I could take over the job of the asst. manager for the Jackson Demonstration State Forest in charge of finance, recreation, and patrol. Later I became a state advisory forester and retired in 2007.

I play percussion for the Symphony of the Redwoods and Gloriana Musical Theater, and I substitute teach and drive school and tour busses part-time. The climate, the ocean, and the music is why the Albins will probably never leave the Mendocino Coast.

Who is Tess? If you know me, it’s probably from Cal Fire, soccer, the schools, or music. In 2007 I retired from my Cal Fire career as a Division Chief, Registered Professional Forester, and Peace Officer. I was one of the first two female foresters hired by the California Dept. of Forestry (now Cal Fire) in 1979.

In my professional career, I trained and worked in the areas of forestry, agriculture, environmental law, firefighting, and law enforcement.  I gained many useful skills including: recreation construction, employee supervision, accounting, budget management, grant writing, public speaking, writing and publication editing, computer programming, fish sampling, archaeology, mediation, law enforcement management, and event planning.

Nearly all these areas are pertinent to City Council tasks, and I will apply my experience and boundless energy to those tasks.  

There is another side of me that I can also offer. I volunteer hundreds of hours each year, and did so even while working full-time and raising a family. I coached boys and girls travel teams and high school soccer, played 3 sports, refereed, and hosted up to four enormous soccer tournaments a year that filled every hotel in town. I served as officer and helped form at least six non-profits. Being retired allowed me to try new things and expand my main interests.

Today I like to be known as known as “coach” with a passion for repairing our school fields and expanding parks and recreation in this city. I’m also a substitute teacher and school bus driver, tour guide, non-profit volunteer on three boards, consulting forester, and of course still a musician.

I received many service awards and acknowledgments over the years, but my greatest joy is acknowledging others for making a difference. Many teachers and others in this community helped raise our three children to be responsible adults, and now I can give back.

A vote for me is a vote for a person who cares deeply about this community. I will do everything I can to protect and improve our environment, our schools, our economy, and our future

The job of City Council is non partisan. My political philosophy cannot be Democratic or Republican--I work for the people.

My job in city council is to make rules and policy and see they are enforced, oversee the city budget is followed and to listen to the public with concerns and suggestions to make this city government work smoothly for the citizens.

Personally I have an extensive and diverse background in government, both on the ground and administrative, which makes it possible for me to understand science reports, issues in law enforcement and fire fighting, supervision, construction, vegetation control, and finance. I am passionate about parks and believe this is key to our economic survival for recreational tourism and sustaining the quality of life for our citizens. 

Citizen participation and discussing solutions based on facts and data and not mired in blame and rhetoric is so important to the ongoing process of determining policies for a community’s common good and shaping its future.  The ability to bring together a diverse and larger set of constructive solutions always produces better options than considering one viewpoint.  We need to set the stage in every community where we can explore ideas together without "bullying".  Government needs to be accountable to the community and both the community and government must support civil and respectful discourse.

A living wage, adequate housing, health care and a basic education, are the core of any community’s economic wellbeing.  We are witnessing political and economic forces and private-property rights being championed over community needs and long-term interests. We need to find the middle ground and reconcile conflicting public and private interests.   If not, then everyone loses and distrust and resentment reigns.

We are witnessing groundbreaking technological innovations that are affecting all areas of our lives. Our resilience will be based on how willing we are to grasp the profound changes that are happening around us and how we will adapt.

The question I hope we all will ask of ourselves is how do we make this shift, how do we work together and build the infrastructure  and  collaborate on that  which will provide for our community’s wellbeing and that will carry us into the future.

Economic and individual freedom is not ultimately about generating financial wealth for the sake of creating more and more wealth. A robust economy can bring opportunity to all. We have a chance to do it right.