Outgoing county supervisors take with them decades of experience

Tuesday marked an emotional day for the Merced County Board of Supervisors as three members with a combined 40 years of service commemorated their final board meeting.

District 1 Supervisor John Pedrozo, District 2 Supervisor Hub Walsh and District 4 Supervisor Deidre Kelsey expressed their gratitude and said their goodbyes at the last session of the year.

The three outgoing supervisors were presented with plaques from the county and gifts for their service. The meeting audience was filled with family members, county staff, former county officials and representatives from local lawmakers’ offices who offered their thanks and well wishes.

The supervisors noted they all had disagreements in the past but were able to work through them.

Both Daron McDaniel and Walsh had kind words for Pedrozo and said they will remember the passion he brought to his position.

“You were a true friend,” Jerry O’Banion said.

Pedrozo and Walsh faced re-election this year, and both were defeated by newcomers, respectively, former Livingston Mayor Rodrigo Espinoza and Lee Lor, executive director of the Merced County Education Fund. Kelsey, who decided not to seek a sixth term, will be succeeded by Merced River school board trustee Lloyd Pareira.

Pedrozo first was elected in 2004 and served three terms. While addressing the board and crowd, Pedrozo defended his use of discretionary funds and said he tried to keep his constituents his main priority during his time in office. He tried to keep it real and not be fake, he said.

“I tried to do that my whole career,” Pedrozo said. “That was my slogan when I first ran in 2004 – ‘It’s about people, not politics.’ ”

Each of the board members noted Walsh’s tendency to ask questions. “You’ve always got to have someone who asks questions – and you’re it,” Kelsey said to him. McDaniel said Walsh was the go-to guy on institutional knowledge for the county and city of Merced, a nod to Walsh’s experience with the county’s Human Services Agency and his time on the Merced City Council and as mayor.

Walsh thanked previous District 2 supervisors for building a foundation for him when he began his time on the board in 2008. Walsh acknowledged he did ask a lot of questions: “I really felt that when I was elected, that’s the role of the Board of Supervisors, to ask questions in public. ... It really is important that, frankly, the community understood the kinds of complex issues that were being dealt with.”

The board members thanked Kelsey for her advocacy in land use, agricultural land preservation and community planning. She noted the changes in her district over the 20 years she’s been on the board, including two district boundary changes.

“I can truly say she’s been a board member who’s tried to do the right thing for her district and the county,” O’Banion said.

All the outgoing board members looked back on their roles leading the county through the Great Recession.

“We knew that these aren’t just budget cuts and numbers,” Walsh said. “These are people – friends of ours who worked for Merced County and services for our constituents that we are no longer providing.”

“I’m glad things are getting better,” Kelsey said.

Looking to the future, Walsh advised the new board to keep money in the reserves in case of another downturn.

The outgoing supervisors also noted a bright spot in the county’s future since Measure V, the half-cent sales tax ballot measure for transportation, passed in November.

“You’re going to see a huge impact in the next 10 years,” Kelsey said.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Outgoing county supervisors take with them decades of experience."