In June, Susan Adams narrowly defeated a last-minute opponent in her bid to serve a third term as the representative for the San Rafael area on the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

The challenge may have come as a surprise but it prompted Adams to more intensely do the kind of campaigning she does best: going door-to-door to talk with constituents about their concerns.

Adams would have been doing her precinct walking even without the promise of a contentious race against Kerry Mazzoni, a former state Democratic Assemblywoman and the secretary of education to the Gray Davis governor's cabinet, she said.

"It gave me the opportunity to really be with the people and gave them the opportunity to have a conversation about the issues that concerned them," Adams said recently. "Walking the neighborhoods brought me into contact with a broader spectrum of views, adding the important perspectives of those who, for one reason or another, don't attend meetings or come in to chat with me."

The issues voters brought up were typically the same matters that Adams has focused on as a county supervisor, such as bike and pedestrian pathways, road improvements, health care, watersheds and flood zones, the San Rafael Rock Quarry and the county's energy program.

Adams is especially proud of the board's accomplishments in her areas of focus, including the building of the Marin Health and Wellness Campus, the Kerner Boulevard health services center completed in 2008, and the Marin Energy Authority, the program aimed at providing an alternative to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. that would offer lower rates and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Mazzoni and others criticized the energy authority, saying it was a risky bet that could be costly to the county.

The county invested $540,000 in setting up the program and guaranteed a bank loan to the agency of about $950,000, according to Dawn Weisz, interim director of the energy authority.

The bank will be fully reimbursed by July of 2011 but no timetable has been set for the county's loan, Weisz said. 

Adams never backed down and now says the county will get all of its money back.

"By the end of next year, MEA will take over the risk themselves and the county will be out," Adams said, asserting the program is already a success.

"We signed a contract with Shell (Energy North America) for wind and hydroelectric energy from Oregon and Washington," Adams said. "It gives us a transition to get to a place where we can generate our own energy."

The county goal is to generate all of its own power within the next 20 years. The MEA currently serves 8,000 customers and is well ahead of targets in multiple categories, Weisz said.

"The environmental benefits are already being realized and the agency is on very solid footing," Weisz said.

She said Marin is ahead of other California counties in its renewable energy porfolio, generating more than 26 percent compared to a state goal of 20 percent this year.

Mazzoni and other critics have also questioned Adams support for building a new public safety facility on the Marin County Civic Center campus, but Adams said she has always been supportive of looking for off-site locations and would consider existing buildings.

Mazzoni advocated the purchase and seismic retrofitting of the Marin Commons complex on Los Gamos Road in San Rafael during the campaign.

Adams said that she has always encouraged county staff to look at sites other than the supervisors' preferred location for a new facility at what is now a dog park. She said there are other sites on the civic center campus under consideration along with the Marin Commons facility.

"If it comes in as it was preliminarily proposed at the amount of money we have allocated, and other factors come into place, I would support it," Adams said.

Adams currently is deeply immersed in the San Rafael Rock Quarry controversy — where there is an ongoing battle between the owners of the mine and neighbors. In preparing herself to make decisions about the operation, she took an extension class at UC Davis and learned about mining in more detail than she ever imagined. The board will be holding hearings Sept. 14 and Sept. 28 to consider an amended reclamation plan, which would allow the owner, the Dutra Group, to continue operations, including blasting and excavating.

"That education has really helped to direct me in my decision making," Adams said. 

A Marinwood resident, Adams is especially pleased that her efforts to help revive the area's shopping plaza have met with some success. A development plan for the area had been proposed several yeas ago but has faltered in the weak economy.

In April, she helped to start a farmers market at the shopping plaza on Saturdays, and it has given new life to the defunct center.

"I would love to have something there," Adams said. "There has been some bubbling of interest."

Mike Ralston, a resident of the district, said Adams' positions generally match his and he likes her support of health care issues and workers. 

A retired physician, Ralston said he would like to see Adams and others on the board give more consideration to affordable housing. He said the county's no-growth policies make it difficult to provide homes to homeless and working people who can't afford Marin's prices.

"She is slowly coming around but the no-growth policies in Marin make it not affordable," Ralston said.