Roger Williams was a long-term Board member. He served 9 years in his first term, from January of 1999, and then came back after only one year, in 2009, and completed 9 more years, leaving the board in December of 2017.
Roger became involved with Interim when he was Public Safety Chief of Marina and Interim was working on acquiring property at the former Fort Ord to provide transitional housing for homeless persons. Roger was assigned as a community advisor from the City of Marina to the Homeless Coalition. In the face of a lot of community opposition to locating homeless services and housing at the former Fort Ord, Roger was practical, level headed, and compassionate. He was determined to help make these projects work for the entire community. He made sure that the Public Safety Department staff were well informed and insured that public safety services were provided to all the projects.
The agency saw Roger’s value and recruited him to Interim’s Board of Directors. He continued to help Interim forge a stronger relationship with public safety departments throughout the County. Roger knew that improved communication and training between behavioral health and public safety would help the community better serve people with mental illness and make the community safer. Roger was the first public safety chief on our board. He eventually helped us recruit more representatives including a deputy sheriff and another police chief.
Roger served on every Interim committee and served as Board President, VP or Treasurer many times. He made community presentations, appeared at public hearings, helped to raise funds for the agency, presided over ribbon cuttings, and ground breakings. During his 18 years, he helped Interim open 14 new projects!
Roger’s death is a loss to all of us.
