Board of Supervisors

The Alameda County CA Board of Supervisors sets county policy, adopts the annual budget, and oversees county government operations. Residents can contact their district supervisor, attend public meetings, submit comments on matters within the Board’s jurisdiction, and apply for seats on county boards and commissions. This article explains how to identify your supervisorial district, locate meeting information, prepare public comments, research Board materials, and choose the appropriate office for your request.

Alameda County Board of Supervisors

Alameda County is governed by five supervisors, each elected on a nonpartisan basis from a separate district in which that supervisor lives. Together, they exercise legislative and executive functions within the limits established by the California Constitution, state law, and the Alameda County Charter. The Board also serves as the governing body for a number of special districts within the county.

The official Board of Supervisors website provides access to district offices, regular meeting broadcasts, committee calendars, district lookup, and information about appointed boards and commissions. It is a useful starting point when your question involves county policy, a Board agenda item, or representation by a county supervisor.

The Board’s homepage identifies David Haubert as the District 1 supervisor and Board president, Elisa Márquez as the District 2 supervisor, Lena Tam as the District 3 supervisor and vice president, Nate Miley as the District 4 supervisor, and Nikki Fortunato Bas as the District 5 supervisor. District websites provide additional information about their communities, initiatives, and ways to contact the offices.

County Policy and Department Oversight

The Board’s responsibilities extend beyond discussing proposals at public meetings. Under the County Charter, its duties include adopting the annual budget, awarding public works contracts, setting compensation for county officials and employees, and appointing most county officers and employees other than elected officials. It may also create offices, boards, and commissions, appoint their members, and establish their terms.

The Board supervises department operations and exercises executive and administrative authority throughout county government. Its responsibilities include prescribing departmental duties and systems for management, accounts, and reports, as well as arranging an annual audit of county accounts, books, and records. These functions make Board proceedings relevant to residents following county spending, departmental policies, contracts, and service priorities.

The Board’s responsibilities and organization page also identifies its role as an appellate body for employee grievances, planning, and zoning. A general inquiry about those subjects and a formal appeal are different matters. When researching an issue, identify the specific action or proceeding involved so your request does not confuse a policy concern with an appeal.

Terms and Board Leadership

Supervisors serve four-year terms. Elections alternate every two years, with three supervisorial seats in one election cycle and two in the next. A Board president is selected from among the members every two years. The president presides over regular meetings and appoints supervisors to Board committees handling work involving major county programs.

Supervisorial boundaries are adjusted through redistricting to make districts equal in population. For an individual address, the county’s address lookup is more useful than relying on an older map or assuming that an entire city belongs to one district.

Your Supervisorial District and Office

The county’s official district lookup tool accepts an address and displays the current districts associated with it, including the supervisorial district. Have the street address, city, and ZIP code ready. The tool identifies districts by location; it does not search Board agendas, meeting minutes, or public comments.

Address-based lookup matters because several cities are divided among supervisorial districts. Fremont appears in the descriptions for Districts 1 and 2, Pleasanton in Districts 1 and 4, and Oakland in Districts 3, 4, and 5. A city name alone may therefore lead you to the wrong supervisor’s office.

Communities Within the Five Districts

District 1 — David Haubert: Dublin, Livermore, most of Fremont, Sunol, a portion of Pleasanton, and most of the unincorporated Livermore-Amador Valley.

District 2 — Elisa Márquez: Hayward, Union City, Newark, and parts of Fremont.

District 3 — Lena Tam: Alameda, San Leandro, a portion of Oakland that includes Chinatown, Jack London, Fruitvale, and San Antonio, and the unincorporated communities of San Lorenzo and Hayward Acres.

District 4 — Nate Miley: Portions of Oakland and Pleasanton, along with Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland, El Portal Ridge, Fairmont Terrace, Fairview, and Hill Crest Knolls.

District 5 — Nikki Fortunato Bas: Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont, West Oakland, North Oakland, and portions of the lower and upper Oakland Hills.

These descriptions help orient readers, but the address lookup is the practical way to determine representation for a particular residence. After identifying your district, the corresponding district office is the appropriate contact for a concern you want to bring to your supervisor’s attention.

Information for a District Inquiry

A clear inquiry should identify the affected location, explain the county issue, and state the assistance or response you are seeking. If the concern relates to a Board meeting, include the meeting date and agenda item number. Those details help distinguish a neighborhood concern from a specific proposal already scheduled for Board consideration.

Contacting a district office and submitting formal public comment serve different purposes. An inquiry communicates with a supervisor’s office. The public comment process addresses a meeting supported by the Clerk of the Board and places written submissions in the meeting record under the county’s published rules. If your goal is to comment on a scheduled item, use the process associated with that meeting.

Regular Meetings and Board Materials

The Board’s About page describes Tuesday closed sessions beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the regular calendar beginning at 10:45 a.m. in the fifth-floor Board Chambers at the County Administration Building. For a particular date, consult the BOS Meetings/LIVE Broadcasts information reached through the Board website and review the specific agenda before making attendance plans.

Closed sessions and the regular calendar are separate portions of Board business. Residents planning to attend public proceedings should identify the relevant public agenda item and its scheduled time. Do not assume that the closed-session start time is also the time when the regular calendar or your item will begin.

Agendas, Minutes, and Recorded Meetings

The Board website offers live online viewing of regular meetings and access to previously recorded meetings. The Clerk’s website provides access to Board agendas and minutes. These materials serve different purposes: an agenda identifies scheduled business, minutes document meeting proceedings, and a recording allows viewers to watch the meeting.

For a pending matter, begin with the agenda for the correct date. Record the agenda item number and title before preparing a comment or contacting an office. For a past matter, locate the corresponding minutes and recording rather than relying solely on the original agenda. Keeping those materials associated with the same meeting reduces the chance of confusing a scheduled proposal with later Board action.

A live broadcast is a viewing option. Participation instructions are a separate part of meeting preparation. Anyone intending to speak should review the public comment rules and any meeting-specific participation information rather than assuming that watching a broadcast also provides a way to address the Board.

Timing of Individual Agenda Items

An item assigned a specific time cannot be heard earlier than that time. It may be heard later, depending on the Board’s business. A scheduled time therefore establishes the earliest point at which the item may be considered, but it does not guarantee that discussion will begin at that exact minute.

This distinction is useful when planning attendance around one issue. Review the agenda’s timing information and follow the meeting’s progress. A delay does not by itself mean that the item has been removed from consideration.

Committee and Advisory Council Meetings

The committee meeting calendar and search provides upcoming meeting information and a search organized by meeting type, month, and year. It can be used to locate committee meetings, agendas, and minutes. The page also provides access to Municipal Advisory Council meetings.

Committee and advisory council meetings should not be treated as interchangeable with regular Board meetings. The calendar includes bodies such as the Personnel / Administration / Legislation Committee, Transportation / Planning Committee, Fairview Municipal Advisory Council, and Eden Area Municipal Advisory Council. Select the actual body involved in your issue rather than searching only for the full Board.

Locations, Cancellations, and Online Access

Meeting entries identify the date, time, location, documents, and audio or video information associated with that event. Locations vary: the supplied calendar includes meetings in the Board Chambers and meetings at community libraries. The regular Board meeting location is therefore not a reliable assumption for every committee or advisory council event.

Read the complete meeting entry before traveling or planning to participate online. A cancellation may appear in the meeting title. An entry may also lack minutes or audio/video even when an agenda is available. The existence of a calendar entry does not establish that a recording or remote participation option is provided for that meeting.

The committee page includes teleconferencing guidance and directs users to meeting links for participation information. For older records, it identifies separate access routes for Sunol Citizens’ Advisory Committee agendas and minutes before August 1, 2015, and Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council land use agendas and minutes before May 1, 2021.

Public Comment Before the Board

The county’s public comment page explains in-person speaking and written submissions for meetings supported by the Clerk of the Board. Only matters within the Board’s jurisdiction may be addressed. Keep the comment focused on the county matter or agenda item you want the Board to consider.

In-Person Speaking and Speaker Slips

A person wishing to address the Board in person may obtain, complete, and submit a speaker slip to the Clerk. Before attending, identify the meeting and the item you intend to discuss. This preparation is especially useful when several meetings or committees address related subjects.

Written public comments are not read during the public comment period. Submitting a written comment therefore does not mean that someone will read it aloud on your behalf. Residents who want to speak in person should use the speaker-slip procedure.

The Written Comment Deadline

Written comments submitted before 3:00 p.m. on the day before the meeting are routed to the Board and made available for inspection before the meeting upon request to the Clerk. That timing is relevant when you want your written statement routed before the meeting takes place.

All written comments routed to the Board become part of the official record maintained by the Clerk. Written comments received after 3:00 p.m. on the preceding day and before the meeting concludes also become part of that record. The county distinguishes advance routing from inclusion in the official record; these are not the same timing rule.

Prepare the submission using the actual meeting date. Do not substitute the date you complete the form or select a different meeting because it has a similar subject. The required meeting type, date, and agenda item fields should correspond to the proceeding you intend to address.

Required Fields and Comment Limits

The online form requires JavaScript. Required fields are marked with an asterisk. Prepare the following information before completing the form:

First and last name, each limited to 50 characters.
Email address.
Meeting date in mm/dd/yyyy format.
Agenda item number, limited to 50 characters.
Meeting type supported by the Clerk of the Board.

The form also includes a phone number field and a comment field with a 1,000-word limit. Its meeting-type choices include regular, special, and planning Board meetings, along with supported committees and advisory councils. Match the selection to the official meeting entry rather than choosing a general category based only on the topic.

Within the comment limit, identify the issue, explain its effect, and state the action or concern you want considered. Review the agenda item number and meeting date before submitting. An otherwise clear statement can be difficult to associate with the intended proceeding if those identifying details refer to another meeting.

The Clerk of the Board

The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors website provides Board agendas and minutes, document search, County Charter and ordinance information, and access to boards and commissions materials. The Clerk is also the office identified in the public comment rules for speaker slips, inspection of advance written comments, and maintenance of the official written-comment record.

A district office is the appropriate contact when you want to reach your supervisor. The Clerk is the relevant office when your request concerns Board meeting materials or the published comment process. Making that distinction helps direct a request to the office responsible for the information you need.

For a document inquiry, have the meeting date, committee or Board name, agenda item number, and document title ready when those details are known. For governance research, distinguish the County Charter, county ordinances, and administrative code from agendas and minutes. The former concern governing rules; the latter concern particular meetings and proceedings.

Boards, Commissions, and Appointed Seats

Residents interested in ongoing participation can review bodies for which the Board has appointing authority. The county boards, commissions, and committees portal provides details about active bodies, lists of boards and commissions, vacant seats, and a way to apply for a seat. It also offers sign-in and registration options.

Each board or commission has an issue, policy, or program focus, and appointees generally represent defined communities of interest. Review the particular body and seat before pursuing an application. An appointed commission seat is a different role from an elected seat on the five-member Board of Supervisors.

Vacancies and Application Questions

The annual boards and commissions vacancy report identifies seats that are vacant, expired, or due to expire by the end of the current calendar year. A seat appearing in that report may be approaching expiration rather than already vacant, so read its status alongside the portal’s seat information.

The Clerk’s website encourages interested Alameda County residents to apply for positions that match their interests. Most boards and commissions have a staff liaison who can address questions about the application process for that specific body. Review the body’s focus and seat details first, then direct questions about that application to its liaison.

Board and District Office Contacts

Alameda County Board of Supervisors
1221 Oak Street, Suite 536, Oakland, CA 94612
Clerk, Board of Supervisors
(510) 208-4949
Board of Supervisors, District 1
(510) 272-6691
Board of Supervisors, District 2
(510) 272-6692
Board of Supervisors, District 3
(510) 272-6693
Board of Supervisors, District 4
(510) 272-6694
Board of Supervisors, District 5
(510) 272-6695

Board of Supervisors FAQs

Can I get district updates without checking the website?

Several supervisors’ websites offer email subscriptions. District 2 provides a newsletter covering district events, initiatives, and county information, while District 5 offers a monthly newsletter. The District 3 subscription options include separate choices for news updates and meeting reminders, along with access to subscriber preferences. Choose the subscription that matches what you want to receive: general district news and meeting reminders serve different purposes. If you are following a particular issue, review the actual meeting materials as well; a newsletter may not contain every document associated with that issue.

Where can I find Form 700 information?

The Clerk of the Board website includes separate links for “Form 700” and “Conflict of Interest Code.” These are useful starting points when researching financial disclosure requirements and the county’s conflict-of-interest rules. Select the link that matches your question rather than searching meeting minutes for general filing information. The supplied county page does not explain whether an individual supervisor’s completed disclosure is available directly online, so the presence of a Form 700 link should not be treated as confirmation that every filing can be downloaded there.

Does Russell City funding approval guarantee a payment?

No. The District 2 announcement dated August 4, 2026 describes Board approval of an agreement with Hayward and authorization to issue Russell City redress payments to eligible recipients. It also states that eligibility guidelines and an application process were being finalized at that time. That announcement alone does not establish an individual’s eligibility, payment amount, or application deadline. Anyone pursuing a payment should look for subsequent official application instructions before treating the funding approval as a payment commitment.