Jeff Morris
530 - 623 - 8321

I'm a native of Northern California,
a 6th-generation descendant of miners
and ranchers who settled in Trinity
County in the 1870s. I am pleased to be
starting my fourth year as your
representative and County Supervisor for District 2.

Although we have many challenges ahead of us in Trinity
County I know that great things are possible with good
planning,hard work, attention to detail and getting others
involved.   Working on fundamental systems while keeping a long term vision in
mind can reap great rewards.  Our county and communities deserve no less.     

I welcome your contact and input.

- Trinity County Supervisor Jeff Morris

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Below is some additional background information about Jeff.

Born in 1967, Jeff spent his entire childhood in Trinity County, both in the
county seat of Weaverville and in more remote areas such as Trinity Center
and Big Bar. His grandfather, Leonard, served three terms as Trinity’s County
Clerk in addition to being proprietor of several prominent local businesses, one
of which used Trinity County timber to built ship fenders for the Navy during
World War II. Both Leonard and his wife, Florence, were strong supporters of
arts programs throughout the county, and were horse-packers and hunters in
whose company Jeff explored the Trinity Alps as a child and young adult. Jeff’s
father, Robert Morris, helped integrate phone service throughout Trinity County
and was instrumental in developing the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. His
mother, Susanne Twight-Alexander, worked as a schoolteacher and later
served as County Supervisor in Trinity’s 2nd District — the same seat to which
Jeff was sworn in exactly twenty years later.

Jeff attended California State University Sacramento, studying music and
international relations, and spent a year in Brazil as a foreign exchange
student, learning Portuguese. In Sacramento, he worked for a legislative
information and tracking service and spent six years as an advertising
executive for Tower Records, handling million-dollar budgets annually. Based
on their experience in the entertainment industry Jeff and his soon-to-be-wife
Judy started a marketing firm in 1996.  After a few years in Los Angeles, the
couple returned to Trinity County, expanding their business to include a
successful music shop and coffeehouse in the heart of downtown Weaverville.
Jeff was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2004, while Judy, an advertising
and marketing professional, served as President of the local Chamber of
Commerce and became involved in other efforts to bring business opportunities
to Trinity County.  In 2006 they sold their retail interests to focus on web-based
ventures and business consulting. Judy currently serves as California State
Assembly member Patty Berg’s ex-officio appointee to the Trinity County
Democratic Central Committee.

As the Supervisor representing Trinity’s most densely populated area, Jeff has
been a driving force behind the county’s financial turnaround, taking it from the
edge of bankruptcy to a point where its bond rating has been upgraded from
junk to investment status. In 2006, he and other local leaders pushed hard for
passage of two ballot measures designed to shore up the finances of Trinity
Hospital, preserving local emergency medical services for the county’s 13,000
residents. This was accomplished with bipartisan support from the California
State Legislature, including strong backing by Assembly member Patty Berg
and State Senator Sam Aanestad. After passage, Jeff worked with U.S. Senator
Barbara Boxer’s office to secure additional capital improvement funds that
helped bring the hospital’s diagnostic equipment up to date. To encourage
economic development, Jeff has spearheaded an effort to create a new general
plan for Trinity County, revising outdated land-use and zoning designations and
insuring that local stakeholders drive the update process. Working with the
California Emerging Technology Fund, he has also helped put Trinity on a fast
track for expansion of broadband Internet, which will help county citizens,
businesses, and students connect and compete internationally.

In 2006 Jeff served as vice-chair of the California State Association of Counties'
Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Committee. In 2007 he was elected to
one of two rural-county seats on the association’s executive committee and
appointed chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee. During
2007 he served as co-chair of the association’s Working Group on Climate
Change, which produced a policy framework to guide counties in addressing
climate change and energy efficiency while also discouraging a top-down, “one-
size-fits-all” regulatory approach. Jeff’s concern about overburdening California’
s small rural counties was a consistent theme in the development of this policy.

Jeff is currently working with other California county supervisors to improve the
way Washington compensates rural counties for tax revenues lost to protected
national forest land — compensation that is vital to funding rural schools and
road projects. He’s also been deeply involved in the establishment of the
Weaverville Community Forest, a 1,000-acre tract that represents a new model
of federal land management, bringing local, timber, and environmental
constituencies to the table to allow sustainable harvesting of local timber
resources. Last year, 800,000 board feet of lumber from this forest were
delivered to a local mill, which in previous years had been forced to import logs
from Canada. Because of this success, an additional 12,000 acres of U.S.
Forest Service land in the Weaverville Basin is currently being considered for
inclusion in the Community Forest initiative.

Jeff makes his home in Weaverville with his wife, Judy.
Trinity County
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