CSAC Supervisor Spotlight: Out of the Bubble and Into the Fight — How Colusa County Supervisor Kent Boes is Making Advocacy Personal

For Supervisor Kent Boes, public service was never just a job—it’s a calling that has pulled him from the firehouse to the classroom to the board chambers of Colusa County. And while his path to county leadership started with a few nudges from concerned constituents and a door-to-door campaign, Supervisor Boes has grown into one of rural California’s most vocal advocates—because he understands exactly what’s at stake when rural counties don’t have a seat at the table.

Supervisor Boes still remembers the night he first won his seat on the Board of Supervisors—by a single vote. That razor-thin margin was just the beginning of a journey that has now spanned more than eight years and three terms. “At first, I wasn’t even sure I was qualified,” he recalls. “But people kept asking me to run. And eventually, I thought—maybe I do have something to offer.”

That sense of responsibility and drive has never left. If anything, it’s only deepened. And it’s why Supervisor Boes has become a fixture at CSAC conferences and advocacy events in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

His first CSAC experience came through the New Supervisors Institute, where he met mentors like Supervisors James Gore, Ed Valenzuela, and Chris Howard—leaders who not only welcomed him, but challenged him to lean in. “[Supervisor Gore] asked me to help lead the Resiliency Advisory Committee. That pulled me in even deeper,” Supervisor Boes says. “I felt like I belonged. And I wanted to give back.”

Since then, Supervisor Boes has made it his mission to ensure that counties like Colusa are never forgotten in state or federal policymaking. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” he says, repeating a phrase that has become something of a personal mantra.

He speaks from experience. When changes to behavioral health funding threatened to gut Colusa’s successful prevention and early intervention programs, Supervisor Boes helped lead a coalition of rural voices to secure key exemptions. “We still don’t have the perfect bill,” he admits, “but it didn’t destroy us. Because we showed up.”

For Supervisor Boes, showing up is about more than just delivering speeches or shaking hands. It’s about gathering ideas, learning what’s on the horizon, and connecting with peers who are facing the same challenges. “When you’re in your county, you’re in your bubble,” he says. “You’re so busy managing what’s on your plate that you don’t have time to look ahead. But when you get out of the bubble—when you go to a CSAC conference or a NACo meeting—you hear what’s coming. And that helps you get ahead of it.”

He’s brought those lessons—and tools—home in tangible ways. Whether it’s securing broadband expansion through strategic advocacy, passing a local tax to restore ambulance services in a fiscally conservative county, or promoting AI as a critical tool to streamline county operations, Supervisor Boes sees every trip outside Colusa as an investment in its future.

And sometimes, it’s not about solutions, but support. “It’s therapy,” he says with a smile. “CSAC gives us a place to talk, to vent, to learn.”

What he values most about CSAC is the connectivity—between counties, between policy areas, between solutions and the people who need them. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” he says. “But someone out there does. That’s the power of this network.”

Asked what advice he’d give to new supervisors, Supervisor Boes doesn’t hesitate: “Get involved early. Get involved often. The more you put into CSAC, the more you’ll get out of it. And you’ll bring all of that back home.”

For Supervisor Kent Boes, leadership isn’t about leaving Colusa—it’s about bringing the best of the state and nation back to it. One meeting, one idea, and one connection at a time.