Owen Newcomer
President, Los Angeles County Division, League of California Cities

Thank you all for an interesting, exhausting and rewarding year.

It has been my great honor to serve as your president. As I pen my last president's message, I wish to direct a special thank you to my Board.

To Angel Carrillo, president elect, thank you for your valuable advice. I look forward to the coming year with you at the helm.

To Bruce Barrows, vice-president elect, you've had it pretty easy as secretary this year. I suggest you begin a thumb-strengthening regime because you'll be text messaging a lot more as VP. Also, thanks for the advice and for keeping me calm in the San Jose Airport as I stewed over the delay.

To Steve Diels, secretary elect, thanks for revising our treasurer's report format to make it not only more helpful, but more readable, too. Your advice was greatly appreciated, as was your calming attitude as I stewed over delays at the Sacramento Airport. (Is anyone seeing a trend here?)

You all have probably figured out that one of my biggest frustrations is a plane departing late-unfortunately, a common occurrence. Maybe someday I will learn why planes flying home always seem to run hours late. Also, you may have discerned that I hail from the South where "you all" is the clearly accepted plural of "you."

To our Division staff, many thanks, I could not have asked for a better crew. You kept me informed, reminded me-gently-of what I needed to do, and were always cheerful. To Ben, I wish you well as a government affairs representative for Southern California Edison. To Teresa, good luck in your new position helping to market a new technology company in Pasadena. To Jennifer and Kristine, I look forward to continuing to work with you. You are the glue that melds the Division together as we electeds come and go.

As I review the year, I am proud of our Division's campaign to help qualify the Local Taxpayer, Public Safety and Transportation Protection Act . Our next task is to ensure its passage in November.

Please join us on June 3 for a wonderful program by California Communities, a Joint Powers Authority that helps provide financing for local governments.

Thank you all for a fantastic year.