Youthful vision

When Yolanda Cookson graduated from Lodi High School in 1996, she was voted “Most Political,” and had no idea why.

Perhaps it was her stature on the school’s winning debate team, or some kind of ancestral connection to her great-grandfather, who was the mayor of the family’s home village in Poland.

“My parents weren’t into politics,” said Cookson, 30, who will be sworn in Tuesday night for her first term on the Grass Valley City Council. Her parents had arrived separately in the Bay Area in 1972, where they met, married and later had Yolanda.

Her father could sing and Cookson took to it as well, using her vocal and dancing talents to also be named “Most Talented” in her graduating class. She went to college and majored in voice, but then realized the music business “was a little too cutthroat” for her.

Singing for fun remains one of her major interests, which include, “politics, clothes and business.” The politics didn’t come until she reached Grass Valley in 2003.

“I started seeing things and reading things in the newspaper, and it piqued my interest,” Cookson said, and she realized she was in a community filled with vibrant interests and involved people.

One day, she was discussing local politics with her then-boss at Placer Title, Sally Vigil, and joked that she would become the mayor of Grass Valley. Vigil shocked her with the knowledge that the then-mayor of Grass Valley was Patti Ingram, another worker in the title business.

When Ingram came over to Placer Title, she was still on the City Council and she would discuss city issues with Cookson, a customer service representative.

“I had never seen anyone so community-oriented,” Cookson said. “It made me realize that maybe that could be me.”

Creating a background

Soon, Ingram was putting things on Cookson’s desk including a flier about the Nevada County Community Leadership Institute.

“She said, ‘You should look into it,’” Cookson said. She did, but didn’t stop there.

In May 2007, Cookson helped start Rotoract of Nevada County, an off-shoot of Rotary International for young professionals. She also helped create the Nevada County Suicide Prevention Task Force after being accepted into the leadership group.

All the while she was attending city council meetings, knowing she would have to be up to speed if she ever ran for the board.

“I thought that I would want to run for city council, but I knew I had to have a background,” Cookson said. “I think you need a past of helping and dealing with your community, and I was honest at Rotoract.. I said ‘I want to be charter president because I’m going to run for city council.’” She was duly elected.

Her first foray into city politics had come in 2006, when Dean Williams stepped down from the council, and the panel asked for appointment candidates to fulfill his term.

She lost that appointment to Jan Arbuckle out of a field of 11 candidates, but didn’t lose her political spirit.

“It was an ice breaker for running a campaign. It was a good experience,” Cookson said. “I was disappointed, but it helped me want it more.”

After a good cry the night of the appointment, Cookson rebounded by making a list of people she wanted to meet to gain expertise for another run.

• Former City Administrator Gene Haroldsen, who helped her develop a list of questions for her future chats.

• Former Planning Commissioner Eleanor Kentizer was her second contact, who informed her about the Idaho-Maryland Mine where she works.

• Frequent city meeting attendee Pat Wynne was next, who shared her expertise on environmental issues.

“I liked her perspective because it’s so different from mine,” Cookson said. “Then there was Terry Lamphier, and he had some good questions about projects I didn’t know about it.”

With her collected knowledge, Cookson started plotting her campaign for the November race. At one point, Vice Mayor Lisa Swarthout told her to take nothing for granted, and Cookson took heed with a dogged, door-to-door campaign.

“When Rachel Rue and I came in so close together (by 168 votes), I realized what she meant,” Cookson said.



Looking at all sides

Now that she will be on the council, Cookson said she will have a lot of questions at first. She doesn’t expect to be very vocal at her first few board meetings.

“One of the hardest things will be the budget, with the possibility of work furloughs and layoffs,” Cookson said. “That won’t be fun, but I’ve had experience with that. When I started here, there were 24 people, and now we’re down to 10.”

The proposed reopening of the Idaho-Maryland Mine also looms large, but Cookson said she still has not made a decision on it.

“I don’t think you can make a decision at this point. There’s too much information,” Cookson said, adding she is reading the environmental report for a second time.

“The jobs sound wonderful, but what about the air pollution?” Cookson said. “The mine would clean up a toxic site for the city, but maybe air pollution makes it not worth it. At one point I’ll have to make a decision, but I don’t have the answer yet.”

Despite being groomed for office by conservative Ingram, Cookson said she will be her own person.

“I’m a decline to state” in voting registration, Cookson said. She admits she sided with Democrats when she was younger, but now that she is a homeowner and taxpayer, “I’m more conservative, but I’m not a Republican.

“I have a best friend who is a raging liberal and another who is a die-hard Republican, and I’m the middle one,” Cookson said. Overall, she sees younger people moving away from strict partisan politics.

“In my generation, I think there will be less polarization,” Cookson said. “We’ve already seeing it in this election. Nevada County was always Republican, but Obama won here.”

To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.