Councilwoman Barbara Heller Won't Run For Re-election In November

San Rafael Councilwoman Barbara Heller, who has served on the San Rafael City Council for 20 years, announced Tuesday afternoon she won’t run for re-election this November.

Speaking to a small group of media on the steps of San Rafael City Hall, Heller also announced her support for the candidacy of San Rafael Maribeth Bushey-Lang in the Nov. council election, when two council seats will be on the ballot.

Heller reversed her decision to run while surrounded by current and former San Rafael city council members including former Mayor Al Boro and San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips. See her speak in the above video.

Heller, who was the third women elected to San Rafael council, said she has secretly been trying to get Bushey-Lang to run for council for 10 years and felt she finally could retire if Bushey-Lang went for council. She added that it’s significant to have another female run for a council seat.

Councilwoman Kate Colin, who joined Bushey-Lang and Heller on the City Hall steps for the announcement, is the fourth woman to serve on San Rafael’s City Council.

“I’m certain Maribeth will be the fifth,” Heller told Patch.

She said in the past she had told Boro, while he was San Rafael mayor, that she was going to stay behind the dais until there were five women on the council.

“He thought I was joking, but I wasn’t,” Heller said.

Heller, who was elected to council in 1993, was re-elected four times and served as vice mayor in 1997, 2000, 2005 and 2013.

Bushey-Lang, a Peacock Gap resident, has lived in San Rafael for 20 years and served on the city’s planning commission for more than 13 years.

Colin, who was appointed to the council to replace Assembly member Marc Levine’s seat in January, plans to run in the Nov. 5 election for a four-year term.

It will be a contested race. Former San Rafael Councilman Greg Brockbank announced in February he will be running for council this fall.

Residents interested in running in the race can pull papers from the city as early as July 15, according to San Rafael City Clerk Esther Beirne.