Twas the night before Christmas, and all round the State, the counties were peaceful, all 58

The stockings were hung, from Del Norte to Imperial, as dusk finally fell, soft and ethereal

 And away from the north came a jolly old chuckle, from a white bearded elf, with a great big belt buckle.

He was traveling south in his reindeer-drawn sleigh bringing joy to each county he passed ‘long the way

Here’s Modoc, here’s Shasta, Tehama and Glenn here’s Colusa and Napa, Sonoma and then,

He’s off to Calaveras Tuolumne, Kings bringing toys, gifts and goodies and all kinds of good things

But one county was in trouble, it was left off his route, not Fresno nor Plumas nor Inyo nor Butte

An oversight, an error, one small fact was missed, and somehow Santa Cruz County got left off his list

How could the elves fix it, and makes things alright? with the jolly old elf well into his flight?

They needed a way to get Santa’s attention, with a statewide news-flash—not just a mention

When they looked at the county that was going to suffer they came up with a plan that offered a buffer

But they needed a sign, an official solution. They needed a special 58-county resolution

So they called Sacramento and who answered the phone? At CSAC none other than Jonathon Doan

He got the Elve’s story and knew what to do. He called all his colleagues, not just one or two….

And in from the night through the cold and the sleeting came the whole CSAC staff, and Matt called a staff meeting

“We need a resolution signed by all of our counties If we want Santa Cruz to share in our bounty

 “So Baker and Keene, McDaid, Buss and Hurst start calling Board Members and tell them the worst

Francisco, Svetlana get busy designing A big resolution they all can be signing

Cara, Chris, Geoff and London start working the phones. Call in your markers and start throwing some bones

Play offense, play defense let’s build a coalition. Let’s makes this resolution come to fruition.”

“Fishman get on Facebook and Liebler start Tweeting. And Gordon please turn on this old building’s heating

The rest of the staff, start writing in concert—And Manker, don’t sit there, go find us a sponsor!”

 So all through the night they wrote, called and tweeted, and just before Eleven their work was completed

“But one thing’s still missing” said Matt with a frown. “We need one last signature from Governor Brown”

They dashed cross the street and to their great hilarity Found the Governor discussing the Principle of Subsidiarity

He signed their resolution with auspicious fanfare and scant minutes left to reach that Elf in the air

Would the Elf get the news with this weather so bitter? but soon it went viral and was trending on twitter

So beeping and chirping the Elf Ho-Ho-Ho’ed…He’d gotten a tweet from Yolo’s Rexroad

“Those folks on the coast want to share in your bounty–so they went and changed their name to Santa Claus County.”

So no matter the trouble, no matter your fright, CSAC has your back—and to all a good night!!!