For the first time in the past 40 years, there are now two women serving on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, following the swearing-in Monday of Mary Sandy, representing the 3rd District, and Sheila Allen, representing the 4th District.

Sandy is the widow of the late 3rd District Supervisor Gary Sandy, while Allen, is a former aide to Jim Provenza, who stepped down effective Dec. 28.

Sandy — who has been serving since mid-2024 — succeeds 2nd District Supervisor Lucas Frerichs as the board chairperson in 2025.

Frankly, it’s taken too long for Yolo County to be represented by more than one female supervisor, it is after all, 2025. Nonetheless, both Sandy and Allen now join a distinguished (albeit short) list of women supervisors who went on to do great things locally.

Two women did serve on the board back in the 1970s. Betsy Marchand was the first woman elected in 1972. She served six terms as a District 4 supervisor and was the force behind changes in land use, health care, transportation, criminal justice, social services and the environment. It’s worth noting, Marchand was the founding board member of the Yolo Basin Foundation and served 11 years on the Tribal Gaming Commission at the Cache Creek Casino Resort.

In 1975, Twyla Thompson was elected as Supervisor for District 5 in 1975. She served from 1975-1984. It’s worth noting that for years, Twyla worked at the Woodland Chamber of Commerce and was a primary “mover and shaker” in not only the agriculture industry but in local business. Everyone knew Twyla.

After Twyla, there was Helen Thomson, who was the first of three consecutive women from Davis to be elected not just to the Board of Supervisors but then to the Assembly and Senate.

The other two women were Lois Wolk and Mariko Yamada.

Thomson was first elected to the assembly in 1996 and served three two-year terms.

Wolk won a seat on the Davis City Council in 1990 and served two terms as mayor. She then served as supervisor from 1998 to 2002, chairing the board in 2000. She was elected to the assembly in 2002, winning re-election in 2004 and 2006. She then went on to serve in the state Senate in 2008 and was succeeded by Bill Dodd, who termed out in 2024 and has been replaced by Christopher Cabaldon. She is the mother of Dan Wolk, who is a former Davis mayor and now a Yolo County Superior Court judge.

Yamada represented Davis on the Board of Supervisors from 2003 to 2008 and was elected to the assembly over then-West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon in 2008, something many considered to be an upset, primarily because Dan Wolk also ran for the position, splitting the ticket and costing Cabaldon votes.

The point of this history lesson is that more women need to run for local office. Woodland has only recently been represented by three women council members, whereas Davis has long had women council members.

The Board of Supervisors hasn’t had too many women run. It would be great to see more interest — particularly from Yolo County Latinas, who could bring their own perspective to county government.

-Jim Smith is the former editor of The Daily Democrat, retiring in 2021 after a 27-year career at the paper.