Scottish poetry, kilts all in a day’s work for Rohnert Park’s Jake Mackenzie

When he first sought elected office in Rohnert Park in 1996, Jake Mackenzie used the campaign slogan “A Braveheart for City Council,” a reference to the Academy award-winning movie about Scottish hero William Wallace.

Now 77 and on the verge of being sworn into his sixth term in office, Mackenzie has achieved something akin to stardom in Sonoma County politics.

Besides being arguably The Friendly City’s most prominent citizen, Mackenzie plays a prominent role in regional transportation and land-use planning issues, serving both as a director for the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit Authority and vice chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

“Jake is who he is,” Gina Belforte, the city’s current mayor, said. “He very much speaks to the things he believes in. He’s not afraid of a challenge.

“He’s a busy guy,” Belforte added.

Only Windsor’s Sam Salmon, who was first elected to office in 1994, has held office in the county longer than Mackenzie, whose duties after being sworn in Dec. 13 include serving as Rohnert Park’s mayor - the fifth time Mackenzie will have held that honorific.

Gone are the days when Mackenzie brought minstrels to City Council meetings as colorful props. He said his slogan now is “I show up.” He also claims his four-year term commencing in two weeks and ending in 2020 likely will be his last.

“As the Scots would say, I’ve had a good kick of the ball,” he said.

Mackenzie was born in the Scottish highlands and raised in the capital city of Edinburgh. In 1962, he came to the United States to attend Oregon State University, where he earned a doctorate in pesticide research and development. He was also the captain of the university’s rugby team.

He worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for three decades before retiring in 2002.

Twenty years into his political career, Mackenzie still dons a kilt for public gatherings, and on occasion recites Scottish poetry from the dais. He said he relishes another go at shepherding the city he and his wife, Barbara, have called home since 1985.

“I’m very proud of what we’ve done in Rohnert Park,” Mackenzie said.

He enters his sixth term in office at a time of relative peace in the realm.

Rohnert Park’s budget of $34.9 million last fiscal year was the third balanced budget in a row. In 2014, the city signed three-year contracts with employees, including those who work in public safety.

The first homes in a planned 400-home subdivision at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Petaluma Hill Road in the city’s University District have been built.

City officials expect about 264 housing units to be completed this year, and 500 to be under construction or completed next year. All told, 4,350 housing units ranging from single-family homes to apartments have cleared at least the first stage of the city’s approval process.

The homes are among the first to be built in Rohnert Park since Mackenzie’s first term in office two decades ago. Mackenzie, who made smart growth a central focus of his first campaign for office, went on to help draft the city’s general plan and urban growth boundary.

He said his priorities for his next, and possibly final, council term include seeking an update to that plan, which expires in 2020.

Mackenzie said the city has to look at “providing housing that is affordable, in the context of the overall picture in the county.”

He said another priority is getting construction underway in a roughly 330-acre area of the city running along Rohnert Park Expressway and State Farm Drive that many view as the site of a potential downtown.

Southern California developer SunCal has submitted plans for the site of the vacant 30-acre State Farm campus. Dubbed “Rohnert Crossing,” the plans call for 400 higher-density housing units such as condominiums, and a 40,000-square-foot retail village of mixed commercial use anchored by a restaurant or pub to lure people downtown.

A SunCal spokesman in July said the developer was in the process of submitting final plans to the city. Mackenzie, however, said the project is “stalled.”

Mackenzie said he and his colleagues on the council are “anxious to see progress” on the downtown project.

One thing he’s not planning on changing is his style of bringing levity to otherwise mundane meetings.

“I like to have as much fun as possible while doing your business,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.