Change coming to City Hall

As my turn as your mayor rotates to a close, I want to thank you all for your responses to my columns. It’s always fun to hear from you. One of my colleagues will be writing in this space for the next issue.

We are so fortunate in Clayton to have a fantastic city staff who keep our town operating “in the black” and on sound financial footing despite the economy and the state’s best attempts to derail us. Our City Manager, Gary Napper, leads a great team, mentoring and coaching each to their best performance. They do their utmost to underestimate revenues and overestimate expenses, then pinch every penny as far as it can go. We truly appreciate their dedication!

This month, we are looking at some transitions within our small staff. Our long-time Finance Manager, Merry Pelletier, is retiring the end of the month. Merry’s replacement has been selected and upon completion of final background checks, he should be on the job by Monday, December 9.

Likewise, we are losing our wonderful City Clerk and Human Resources Manager Laci Jackson Kolc, who is moving on to bigger responsibilities in American Canyon. As we search for a permanent City Clerk, Janet Brown, a former 11-year administrative assistant for the City of Oakley, will aid the transition. We welcome both aboard.

A couple of holiday reminders: The CBCA-sponsored downtown tree-lighting will be Saturday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. Festivities and carriage rides begin at 4:30 p.m., with elementary school caroling and Santa’s arrival at 6 p.m. and the tree-lighting at 6:30 p.m. The CBCA will offer their traditional donut holes and cider after the tree lighting at the Clayton Community Church offices.

The deadline to enter this year’s Clayton Pioneer Holiday Cookie Contest is Tuesday, Dec 10 and the party and contest takes place Thursday, Dec 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Hoyer Hall in the Clayton Library. If you haven’t entered before, maybe this is your year. There are great activities for the kids and Santa will visit to help award the prizes, too.

Sunday, Dec.15 is the annual Clayton Historical Society Holiday Homes Tour from noon to 7 p.m. Tickets for this event can be purchased on the CHS website at claytonhistory.org or at the museum on Main Street on the day of the event. This tour is a major fundraiser for our Clayton Museum. I hope to see you there.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!

As always, you can reach me at JPierce@ci.clayton.ca.us. Let me know what you think.