For those who know Debora Fudge, it’s hard to imagine that one of Windsor’s longest-serving council members was ever shy or reserved.

But Fudge will tell you she didn’t always possess the confident air or thick political skin for which she’s known around town.

Those were attributes she gained, step by step, over her 28 years serving on the council.

“I came into the role a very shy person,” she said. “Somehow I found my voice.”

Fudge indeed sounded confident — and relieved to be off duty, finally — during a recent interview at the Café Noto coffee shop in Windsor two days after she stepped off the dais.

“I’m a bit tired,” she said. “I was just playing Mrs. Claus at the Town Green last night.”

An unlikely role for a converted introvert, Fudge acknowledges public service hasn’t always been easy. The experience, she says, “has expedited my personal growth faster than if I have been a resident on the sidelines.”

“I was just focused on goals,” she said of her time on council. “I moved past my shyness and took one step at a time.”

As she took those steps, the town grew from 18,200 people during her first year on the council to roughly 26,000 now.

Looking through Café Noto’s windows onto the Town Green, Fudge says one of her greatest accomplishments is helping create Windsor’s gathering spot.

“I call the Town Green and downtown buildings my children,” she says.

Fudge began working on the Town Green even before she was elected to council.

Well-versed in environmental planning and community development, she answered Councilmember Sam Salmon’s ad in the town’s water bill seeking a new planning commissioner in 1994.

Having moved to then-unincorporated Windsor in 1990, she was relatively new to the town when Salmon picked her for the post. Windsor incorporated as a town on July 1, 1992.

Once on the Planning Commission, Fudge quickly got to work on creating a gathering spot for residents.

“When I moved to Windsor, there was no place to gather,” she said. “I felt a little lost.”

Fudge said the Planning Commission “really moved forward in creating a vision. It was a very purposeful act of building and laying out the Town Green.”

“New residents don’t understand what it took to build what we have today,” she said. “We all had a huge say. It wasn’t built by developers. It was an act of the people.”

Fudge won her first term on the Town Council in 1996. She would eventually serve as vice mayor and mayor six times each.The early council years, she said, were exciting, if not daunting. Just two years into her first term, she survived a recall attempt after developers “wanted sprawl in the north end of town,” Fudge said.

The recall spurred the creation of the town’s urban growth boundary, which Fudge co-wrote with council members Lynn Morehouse and Salmon.

After that, Fudge said, “we had 10 really easy years with very little controversy. We were building our town. We were very much living in ‘Pleasantville.’”

Then the 2009 recession hit and the town felt an economic pinch for the first time. Nearly a decade later, droughts and fires tested the town’s resiliency again.

Then came Dominic Foppoli, Fudge said. In 2021, four women accused Foppoli, then the town’s mayor, of sexually assaulting them. Other women then came forward with additional misconduct allegations.

Foppoli has denied the allegations. In March, the California Attorney General’s office said it did not have enough evidence to charge Foppoli, prompting outrage from some of his accusers.

Fudge describes “the trauma the town went through because of” Foppoli as among the toughest issues she faced in her 28-year council career.

Other difficulties revolve around Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, for which Fudge has been a board member for nearly 20 years.

In that role, she helped SMART connect North Bay cities with 12 stations from Larkspur to the Sonoma County Airport. Construction of the railway’s extension to Windsor is underway and stations are planned for north Petaluma, Healdsburg and Cloverdale.

But in 2010, the train’s original plans to build all 70 miles of track were truncated, she said.

“There was no sales tax at the time and we couldn’t build it all at once,” Fudge said.

As the chair of the board, Fudge took the heat.

“I’ve done things because they were the right thing to do,” she said. “If I needed to take a hit and it was for the public, I did it.”

Eddy Cumins, executive director of SMART, says Fudge’s role on the board was integral to its success.

“You can’t think of the SMART train without thinking of Deb Fudge,” he told the Windsor Town Council recently. “I have a great board, but none have worked harder than Deb. Her legacy is cemented.”

Cumins lamented that the organization could not get the SMART train to Windsor before Fudge’s retirement, but said he already reserved a speaking opportunity for her when the Windsor station opens in spring 2025.

Fudge made unsuccessful bids for Sonoma County supervisor in 2006, 2010 and 2014.

Supervisor James Gore, who defeated Fudge in 2014, agreed with Cumins, saying that her work with the SMART train was “indelible.”

Gore also praised her work and dedication within her community.

“I admire her and her service,” Gore said. “For a long time she’s been active and she’s been courageous. Windsor is a beautiful community. It’s vibrant and fun, and she’s had a hand in that.”

Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire, a Healdsburg native, praised Fudge as “a fierce advocate for SMART” and Windsor.

“Deb Fudge has dedicated the last three decades to building Windsor into what it is today and we’re all better off for it. She’s led the way, transforming downtown into a thriving community hub where generations of families will gather,” McGuire said.

Fudge will remain on the SMART board until its meeting on Jan. 15, said Julia Gonzalez, the agency’s communications manager.

The Independent Journal contributed to this report. Distributed by Tribune News Service.