March brings many things – the start to warmer w e a t h e r (hopefully!), this year for many an e l e c t i o n nomination period, and most cer-tainly the final prepara-tions for the

Annual Conference. Your conference and edu-cation committees have truly done a WON-DERFUL job putting together an exciting pro-gram, with new and exciting presenters. Per-sonally, I am excited to see Brenda Viola as our Academy presenter and opening speaker. I met her a couple years ago in an IIMC session about clerks and the media. I loved the way she was able to connect the topic to our world and she is just a hoot besides! Our Athenian chair, Anthony Mejia, also scored California a major coup by securing Mary Lynne Stratta to facility the book Upstairs at the White House (by J.B. West). Former IIMC President and of course facilitator extraordinaire, Mary Lynne truly brings the participants into each book she presents. Whether you have been doing Athe-nian Dialogues for ages or this is your first one, this is not to be missed. The overall conference coordina-tion and the spectacular all-conference event have been led by your fearless 1st Vice President Stephanie Smith. I hope to see everyone at the Dinner Cruise on Wednesday as well as at our Annu-al Banquet on Thursday. I would love to share all that is in store for

us, but I have it on good authority that Stepha-nie has a few surprises for us that I don’t even know about. This year’s banquet theme Tiaras and Tennies goes hand in hand with the conference theme of creating balance. I hope you will wear what-ever makes you feel the most comfortable and glamourous – either way be sure to stop by and see my glammed up Tennies! In addition to the fun and fellowship at the banquet, the best part for me is the presentation of the Clerk of the Year award. There is still plenty of time to make nominations, if you have someone in mind please be the one to nominate them. Do not wait for someone else to do it. I know it is very, very hard, nearly impossible, for many of us to get out of the office. That said there is no better investment than the one we make in ourselves. Going to conference helps us make, maintain, and renew crucial professional relationships; time away from the office also often gives us new perspective on our careers and the way we do things. Finally giving your self the gift of education is im-mensely valuable. I know that I am better and more confident at the tasks at hand when I have had valuable training and education to help me through. I hope to see you all in Berkeley next month.

CCAC President’s Message I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

President’s

Message 1

CCAC Annual

Conference 2

Educational

Session 3

Region 5

Message 4

Newly

Designated 4

CCAC

Scholarships 4

Member

Spotlight 5

CCAC 2018

Sponsors 5

CCAC

Fundraising 8

IIMC Founda-

tion Fundraiser 11

Board of

Directors 12

OFFICIAL WORD M A R C H 2 0 1 8 V O L U M E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Wendy Klock-Johnson, MMC

CCAC President

P A G E 2 V O L U M E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Creating Balance - CCAC Annual Conference Have you registered yet? Why not take some of the stress of last minute plans off your plate and create some balance by regis-tering early? This year’s CCAC Annual Conference will be held in Berkeley beginning April 17th with an Academy Session worth 3 CMC or MMC points, as well as a fabulous Athenian Dialogue facili-tated by the always wonderful Mary Lynne Stratta, MMC, City Secretary, Bryan, Texas. This year’s Conference Athenian will be “Upstairs at the White House,

My Life with the First Ladies”, written by J.B. West, who for 28 years served as White House Chief Usher. Beginning Wednesday, April 18th, the confer-ence kicks off with a morning keynote address by Brenda Viola, whose blog, “ Fabulous La-dies United for Fun” has over 10,000 followers. This is followed by learning sessions that are both informative and inspirational. Keeping with President Wendy’s theme of Creating Balance, the Conference will feature two tracks, one technical and one more focused on leadership development. There is something

for everyone during our three day adventure in the bayside City of Berkeley. The Conference ends on Friday, April 20th at noon, leaving you plenty of time to explore the beautiful San Francisco Bay area before heading home. Feeling adventurous? Be sure to sign up for the Wednesday optional All Conference Event – a Harbor Cruise aboard one of the Hornblower’s fleet of tour boats. Dinner and a salsa making contest is included in your ticket. Rounding out fun filled activities is the Presidential Award Banquet, Tiaras and Tennies, on Thursday night, where President Wendy will an-nounce the Clerk of the Year. The registration form is available on the CCAC Website, at www.californiacityclerks.org/ccac-annual-conference, and be sure to register soon so you can make hotel reservations.

While Tuesday night is filling up fast, the con-ference doesn’t start until 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, so you have plenty of time to fly in on Wednesday morning. The hotel is just a 15 minute BART ride or 20 minute UBER/Lyft ride from the Oakland airport. There are still plenty of rooms for Wednesday and Thursday night. Don’t delay – register today. See you in Berkeley.

Stephanie Smith, MMC

First Vice-President

REGISTRATION FEES: Annual Conference fee for CCAC members $450 Annual Conference fee for non-members is $495 One Day Registration fee $150 Wednesday or Friday

and $175 Thursday Advanced Academy fee is $200 (includes lunch)

3 CMC/MMC Points Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 9 am - 4 pm

Athenian Dialogue fee is $150 (includes lunch) 3 CMC/MMC Points Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 9 am - 4 pm

SPECIAL EVENTS: Wednesday night all conference event - San Francisco Bay Cruise

$65 per ticket Pat Hammers Memorial 1-Mile Walk/Run supporting Scholarship Program

$25 per participant Guest tickets to the Thursday Night Annual Banquet - Tiaras and Tennies

$65 per ticket

FUNDRAISING: Silent Auction: Donate an

item to the Silent Auction. See page 8 for form.

Wine Pull: Donate your favorite bottle of wine! Par-ticipants pull a number and win the corresponding bot-tle. See page 10 for form.

CCAC Store: Pick up some CCAC swag during the Con-ference!

P A G E 3

Register now for

these upcoming

educational

opportunities.

Upcoming CCAC Educational Sessions

O F F I C I A L W O R D

Athenian Dialogues Encouraging the Heart by James Kouzes and Barry Posner Facilitated by Laura Nieto, MMC Friday, March 23, 2018 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Hosted by City of Torrance Limited to 30 participants Click here for more information and to register online.

The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams Facilitated by Stephanie Smith, MMC Friday, April 6, 2018 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Hosted by City of Morgan Hill Limited to 30 participants Click here for more information and to register online.

Dawn Abrahamson, MMC

Professional Development

Director

CCAC Education Workshops Are YOU Ready? The City Clerk’s Role in Emergency Management March 16, 2018, 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hosted by City of Camarillo (Region 12 - Channel Counties) Click here for more information and to register online by March 9th

Political Astuteness: How Perceptive Are You? March 29, 2018, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Hosted by City of Buena Park (Region 10 - Orange County) Click here for more information and to register online by March 22nd

When You Know That You’re Not the Problem… Working with and for Impossible People May 10, 2018, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Hosted by Ontario International Airport Authority Click here for more information and to register online by May 4, 2018

Technical Training for Clerks (TTC) Series 200 March 13-16, 2018 Located at UC Riverside Extension, Riverside Click here for more information

Registration now open! 2018 CCAC Annual Conference

April 17-20, 2018

DoubleTree at the Marina

Berkeley, CA

http://www.californiacityclerks.org/ccac-annual-conference

View more 2018 Educational Opportunities at www.californiacityclerks.org/education-and-events.

P A G E 4 V O L U M E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Region 5 Director’s Message Spring greetings from Region 5 – the Desert Mountain Region! Regional articles are typically used to highlight information or news, major upcoming events and train-ing and/or recapping a recent training held. Region Five was officially calendared to hold re-gional training opportunities for members in February; however the planning process which in-cludes date, venue and approved trainer selection, are typically

scheduled six months in advance. I was appointed as Region 5 Director late last year making it difficult to pull that off. Instead of training in February, I’ve requested the month of October (as there are no trainings currently scheduled by neighboring regions in that month). Region 5 represents the cities of Adelanto, the town of Apple Valley, Barstow, Big Bear Lake, Bishop, Cali-fornia City, Hesperia, Lancaster, Mammoth Lakes, Needles, Palmdale, Ridgecrest, Twentynine Palms, Vic-torville and Yucca Valley. This is geographically interesting and chal-lenging because unlike other regions

in Southern California covering densely populated areas like Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego where one city’s bound-aries generally meet right up against the next, Region 5 has miles and miles of unincorporated land in between most of our member cities. For example, Hesperia is nestled into what’s known as the High Desert with Adelanto, Victorville and Apple Valley and jurisdictional boundaries are very close to one another. Using this High Desert area as a marker and starting point, the next closest member city is Barstow which is 42 miles away. Ridge-crest is situated 95 miles away, Bishop is stationed 224 miles away and father yet, you’d have to trek 267 miles to reach Mammoth Lakes! I wanted to talk about these obvious logistical challenges to remind members that the value in your CCAC membership is

tied directly to our collective efforts and commitment to stay engaged and connected. Regional educational and training events are open to all members from all regions regardless of where they are held. Consider attending a training event in another region, even if the topic is some-thing you’re already familiar with. It’s a great way to network and find out what’s new in other City Clerk’s Offices and other cities!

Melinda Sayre, CMC

Nicole Wheelwright, CMC Deputy City Clerk, City of Beaumont Kathleen Hill, CMC Administrative Assistant, City of Buena Park Karen Avery, CMC Deputy City Clerk, City of Bellflower

Newly Designated Clerks Genoveva Rocha, CMC Deputy City Clerk, City of Pomona Deborah Lopez, CMC City Clerk, City of Goleta Deborah L. Padovan, MMC City Clerk, Town of Los Altos Hills

CCAC Scholarship Applications Scholarship applications are now being accepted! Apply for various Institutes and Educations Courses. View details and application form online at http://www.californiacityclerks.org/scholarships. Applications due by June 2, 2018.

P A G E 5

O F F I C I A L W O R D

Melissa Swanson

City Clerk

City of Clearlake

cancer, ganglioneuroblastoma. She’s happy to say that she is now recovered and healthy. Melissa said that, during that time, many clerks reached out to her with support, and she is very appreciative of the encouragement she received from the clerk world. Clearlake is a small city in Lake County, part of the greater northern California area. She states that one of the challenges of this is that it is difficult to attend live trainings due to the distance from many other major cities, as well as being a department of one, it is difficult to get out of the office. She has been a City Clerk for 12 years, and continues to work on her CMC. with the changes taking place in the delivery of training opportunities, she is hopeful that she will receive her CMC in the near future.

Melissa Swanson started working for the City of Clearklake in 2006 as an Office assistant, and a week later began taking on the duties of the elected City Clerk when the clerk resigned. Through the next 10 months, she trained herself, with the help of other fabulous clerks of course, and when no one ran for the position of City Clerk in that year’s election, she chose to run as a write in candidate, and won with less than 30 votes.

While Melissa fell into this job as most clerks do, she feels that it really has become her passion. Her position became appointed in 2016, and she is cur-rently working on her master’s degree in Public Administration and plans to graduate early next year.

Melissa is the mom of a ten year old daughter who was diagnosed four years ago with a rare childhood

REGION 1

SPOT LIGHT

CCAC Silver Sponsor

P A G E 6 V O L U M E 1 9 , I S S U E 3 CCAC Diamond Sponsor

P A G E 7

O F F I C I A L W O R D

CCAC Diamond Sponsor

P A G E 8 V O L U M E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

P A G E 9

O F F I C I A L W O R D

P A G E 1 0 V O L U M E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

P A G E 1 1

O F F I C I A L W O R D

P A G E 1 2 V O L U M E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Wendy Klock-Johnson, MMC, President Assistant City Clerk, Sacramento (916) 808-7509, wkjohnson@cityofsacramento.org

Stephanie Smith, MMC, First Vice-President City Clerk, Murrieta (951) 461-6030, ssmith@murrietaca.gov

Patrice M. Olds, MMC, Second Vice-President City Clerk, San Mateo (650) 522-7042, polds@cityofsanmateo.org

Britt Avrit, MMC, Recording Secretary City Clerk, Lancaster (661) 723-6020, bavrit@cityoflancasterca.org

Randi Johl-Olson, JD, MMC, Legislative Director City Clerk, Temecula (951) 694-6421, randi.johl@cityoftemecula.org

Mitzi Ortiz, MMC, Communications Director City Clerk, Aliso Viejo (949) 425-2506, mortiz@cityofalisoviejo.com

Susan Domen, MMC, Treasurer City Clerk, Lake Elsinore (951) 674-3124 x262, sdomen@lake-elsinore.org

Dawn Abrahamson, MMC, Professional Dev Director City Clerk, Vallejo (707) 648-4528, dawn.abrahamson@cityofvallejo.net

April Sousa, Region 1 Director City Clerk, Blue Lake (707) 668-5655, cityclerk@bluelake.ca.gov

Donna Settles, CMC, Region 2 Director City Clerk, Galt (209) 366-7130, dsettles@ci.galt.ca.us

Jennifer M. Ferraiolo, MMC, Region 3 Director City Clerk, Lodi (209) 333-6702, jferraiolo@lodi.gov

Yvonne Spence, CRM, MMC, Region 4 Director City Clerk, Fresno (559) 621-7650, yvonne.spence@fresno.gov

Melinda Sayre, CMC, MPA, Region 5 Director City Clerk, Hesperia (760) 947-1007, msayre@cityofhesperia.us

Vicki Kasad, MMC, Region 6 Director Assistant City Clerk, Ontario (909) 395-2166, vkasad@ontarioca.gov

Jerryl Soriano, CMC, Region 7 Director City Clerk, Desert Hot Springs (760) 329-6411 x107, jsoriano@cityofdhs.org

Diane Caldwell, CMC, Region 8 Director City Clerk, El Centro (760) 337-4515, dcaldwell@cityofelcentro.org

Kerry Bigelow, MMC, Region 9 Director City Clerk, Chula Vista (619) 407-3590, kbigelow@chulavistaca.gov

Kelly Lore, MMC, Region 10 Director Clerk of the Board, Orange County Sanitation District (714) 593-7433, klore@ocsd.com

Denise Anderson-Warren, CMC, Region 11 Director City Clerk, Santa Monica (310) 458-8211, denise.anderson-warren@smgov.net

Michelle Ascencion, CMC, Region 12 Director City Clerk, City of Oxnard (805) 385-7805, michelle.ascencion@oxnard.org

Patricia Barajas, CMC, Region 13 Director City Clerk, City of Salinas (831) 758-7383, patricib@ci.salinas.ca.us

Jennifer Woodworth, MMC, Region 14 Director District Clerk, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (650) 691-1200, jwoodworth@openspace.org

Margaret Wimberly, MMC, Region 15 Director City Clerk, Brentwood (925) 516-5182, mwimberly@brentwoodca.gov

Kathy Flamson, MMC, Region 16 Director City Clerk, Calistoga (707) 942-2807, kflamson@ci.calistoga.ca.us

Jose Jasso, MMC, Immediate Past President City Clerk, Rio Vista (707) 374-6567, jjasso@ci.rio-vista.ca.us

2017-18 CCAC Board of Directors