CCAC President’s Message

Stephanie Smith, MMC

It’s been hard for me as I write this as I realized this is my last President’s message. The year has gone by so fast. But looking back, it’s been a great year for CCAC. We’ve accomplished so much that I wanted to reflect on a few of those great things. First, your CCAC board indulged me a bit at our annual Goal Setting workshop in Carlsbad by treating it more as an on-boarding than a goal setting. We had so many new board members this year I wanted to make sure that everyone understood what their roles were. Because we can’t move forward and accomplish anything, if we’re not sure what it is we’re supposed to be doing to begin with. Each officer, such as the Communications Director, Treasurer, and Professional Development Director presented sessions on their area of subject matter expertise, and invited the new members to join committees supporting those “divisions”. After that, I brought up the dreaded, “we have to update our policies” discussion. This is something that we as a board have been trying to tackle for several years now, and things kept getting in our way. So we examined all of the CCAC policies and processes, and I think we’ve made some great headway in amending those that needed to be amended. We started with our Financial Policy, and put some checks and balances in place, including appointing a Deputy Treasurer, to help keep an eye on our expenses, build our budget, and make sure that payments and reimbursements were sent out on time. Speaking of the budget, and I know I’ve said this before, but it’s so big I want to say it again – we have a balanced budget that was adopted on time, before our June 30 deadline. The budget has some serious changes to line items and organization, to better reflect the real costs of things such as our annual conference and our money available for scholarships. The good news is that we have increased our scholarship allocations and have ended the year with a positive fund balance for the third year in a row. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to Oregon, Washington, and Alabama on behalf of CCAC, and in November, I’ll represent President Patrice Olds (she went last year for me) at the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks conference. I’m always facilitating an Athenian Dialogue in Alaska, The Year of Yes, by Shonda Rhimes. It’s only Alaska’s second Athenian, so I’m very excited to be able to help bring this alternative education format to them. Clerkdom, it’s been a great year. I thank each and every one of you for your patience, support, and willingness to try new things as we Created Our Own Magic. Now, we move on to the leadership of First Vice President Patrice Olds, who will officially be sworn in during the League of California Cities Conference on October 16th, but will functionally assume the role of President at the first of October. The Board is meeting again in Sacramento October 4-5 for Patrice’s Goal Setting, and from thereon out, it’s her show. But don’t you worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’m still working, still training, and still facilitating Athenian Dialogues. I’ll be around if anyone needs me. I’ll be here if you just want to bounce ideas off someone. I’m still here to advise Clerks on Initiatives, Referendums, and Recalls. And lastly, I’m still here as your friend. Although the year of my Presidency is coming to a close, I hope you will always remember to Create Your Own Magic.