Candidate for
Council Member; City of Cotati

Janet Orchard was first elected to the Council in November 2000 and served as Mayor in 2002. She was re-elected in 2004 and served again as Mayor in 2006. Her current term ends November 2008.

Janet currently serves as Director of the Russian River Watershed Association, as Cotati's representative to the Association of Bay Area Governments General Assembly, on the California Tiger Salamander Implementation Committee and as the alternate representative to the Sonoma County Water Advisory Committee. In addition, she serves on the League of California Cities statewide Housing, Community and Economic Development Policy Committee and is Vice-Chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. Janet has also served on several Council subcommittees, including the energy subcommittee for the Cotati Police facility.

Janet has lived in Cotati since 1998. She is a strong advocate of community service. Prior to her election to Council she served as a volunteer on the City's Community and Environment Commission. Janet has a B. A. in History from San Francisco State University. She has a career of nearly 30 years in the insurance industry. She is employed by Swett & Crawford as Vice President and senior underwriter in their long term care division, specializing in insurance for long term care facilities for the elderly. Through this work she has developed a deep interest in quality of care and quality of life issues for the elderly.

Economic viability, environmental stewardship, improvement of community services and public safety are Janet's prime areas of focus. She is an advocate for open space preservation, green building policies, affordable housing and youth and recreation programs.