David moved to the Fort Bragg area in 1971. For more than a decade he worked in the construction trade and commercially fished for salmon. In the mid 1980s he completed his college education and earned a Master’s Degree at UC Berkeley.

He then was hired by the Department of Toxic Substances Control, where he was responsible for inspecting the hazardous waste operations at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lockheed Missile and Aerospace, Fort Hunter-Liggett and other high priority sites. In the 1990s, David spent eight years in Cincinnati where he provided technical assistance in the cleanup of a former Uranium processing plant that had been declared a Superfund site.

In 2001 David and his wife returned to Fort Bragg and started Cowlick’s Ice Cream Company, which they sold to the Bennett family in the fall of 2007. In 2002 David began working for the Mendocino County Environmental Health Department. He became Environmental Health Director in 2012. He worked closely with the Planning Department and testified before the County Planning Commission on many occasions. David retired from the county in mid-2017 but still provides technical assistance on a contract basis.

In addition to his professional duties, David has served on the board of the Mendocino Land Trust, where he was board president for three years. He was president of the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society for more than seven years and continues to serve on that board. He has participated in many planning sessions for the future of the Mill Site, and has given public comments on environmental and planning decisions at City Council meetings and public hearings.

David was nominated to the Planning Commission by Councilmember Marcia Rafanan and appointed by the City Council on December 12, 2022. His term expires on December 14, 2026.