ABAG Inaugurates New President, Vice President

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) last night installed Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt as its new president and swore in Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff to serve as the regional planning agency and council of governments' new vice president. Both will serve two-year terms extending to January 2020.

Rabbitt, who had served two consecutive terms as ABAG Vice President, replaces outgoing two-term president Julie Pierce, who continues to serve as a member of the ABAG Executive Board and the Clayton City Council. "Julie has done an incredible job of marshaling scores of local governments big and small into a unified team eager to tackle the housing challenges and other cross-jurisdictional issues that have been magnified by the Bay Area's current wave of prosperity," noted Rabbitt. "These are longstanding challenges that will continue even as our economic growth inevitably begins to slow. I am honored and humbled to accept the responsibility of sustaining this cooperative regional spirit in the years to come."

Rabbitt brings a history of public service to the regional leadership position. He was first elected to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in 2010, after having previously served as Vice Mayor of Petaluma and as a member of the Petaluma City Council. In addition to serving as a Sonoma County representative on the ABAG Executive Board, Rabbitt currently represents local governments on the State of California Seismic Safety Commission. He also has served on the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Board of Directors; the San Francisco Bay Water Emergency Transit Authority (WETA)'s Community Advisory Board; the North Bay Water Reuse Authority; and the Sonoma County Employee Retirement Association. Rabbit has spent years as a baseball and soccer coach, and as a board member for both the Sonoma County Alliance Soccer Club and the Petaluma National Little League. Supervisor Rabbitt works as an architect, earning his degree at the University of Oregon. He lives in Petaluma with his wife Jane and three children.

New ABAG Vice President Greg Scharff is an attorney who has lived in Palo Alto since 1988. He was first elected to the Palo Alto City Council in 2009 and has served on the Santa Clara County Cities Association since 2011.  Scharff earned a B.A. degree with honors from Bowdoin College in Maine and his J.D. degree at the Columbia University School of Law.

Founded in 1961, ABAG is the regional planning agency for the Bay Area's nine counties and 101 cities and town, and is recognized as the first council of governments in California.

SOURCE Association of Bay Area Governments