Every two years the CSAC Annual Meeting is bittersweet. Coinciding with the election cycle, our November conference provides clarity on who will be the 296 supervisors representing our counties in the coming year. It’s a time for us to say good-bye to old friends and begin meeting new ones. 

Seven of CSAC’s Board of Directors members are leaving office at the end of this month: Susan Adams, Merita Callaway, Jon Kennedy, John Moorlach, Judy Pflueger, Norma Santiago and Mike Sullivan. Their reasons for leaving office are as varied as their counties: from being termed out of office to retiring; from moving to a new county to losing their re-election bid. And so our conference gave us one last time to see the majority  of these seven – to recognize them publicly, to thank them for doing so much for their respective counties as well as CSAC; to share a few memories and laughs…

Every two years CSAC and our counties lose a breadth of institutional knowledge and experience. The seven mentioned above have served their counties for a total of more than 60 years – and much of that time as CSAC board members. In fact, when I first started attending CSAC Board meetings as a staff member back in 1998, there was Merita Callaway representing Calaveras as well as the other 57 counties.  

At the same time as we were saying good-bye to these seven – as well as scores of other county supervisors leaving office – we are welcoming a new class of supervisors-elect through our New Supervisors Institute. The group we had an opportunity to meet during our recent conference in Orange County is bright, committed and ready to serve. In time, many of them will get very involved in CSAC – through our policy committees, Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Some may even ascend to a leadership position as an officer. I still remember when the likes of CSAC Past Presidents Connie Conway and John Gioia first introduced themselves at the New Supervisors Institute.

Yes, we are losing a group of strong local elected leaders. We hope we haven’t seen the last of them and that they continue serving the public in some capacity. I think they will. May the holidays allow you a chance to sit back, spend time with loved ones and reflect on how you made a difference in 2014. On behalf of CSAC and all our memories, thank you and happy holidays.