Thankful for public service
It has been a true honor and privilege for me to have served the citizens of Yuma County, and specifically those in Supervisor District 3 during the nearly 20 years that I have been a Yuma County supervisor.
I have attended literally hundreds of community meetings, visited at least that many sites that were under consideration for rezoning and have been asked into the homes of many citizens who had some issue that bothered them enough that they wanted me to see, hear or smell their problems.
Working with those citizens and my fellow supervisors was my duty as a public servant, and I must say that I loved it — well, at least most of the time.
During my service on the Board of Supervisors, the controlling political party changed several times, but that only affected who was elected to be chairman and vice chairman. Ten of those years I was elected to chair of the board, and for four years I was the only Republican on the board, and laughingly called “the Minority Leader.”
No matter which party was in control or who was elected chairman, the fact was that there was never any animosity among the supervisors. Certainly there were some very frank discussions and some split votes, but we left the meetings as friends, eager to work together and take on the next challenges to Yuma County.
The decision to retire from public office was not an easy one. As I said, I truly enjoyed working with my fellow supervisors, the county administrator and his staff, and interacting with the other elected officials of the county.
Most of all, I enjoyed working with and for the citizens of my district. I met literally thousands of wonderful people who are residents of Yuma County that otherwise I would never have had the opportunity to get to know.
Walking the roads and streets gathering signatures on petitions was enjoyable because it was good exercise and was in the spring. Walking on even more roads and streets, putting up signs and knocking on hundreds of doors asking for votes was an activity necessarily done in July through October, and I will not miss those hot days.
In Yuma, though, that is a necessary part of campaigning for office, and I admire anyone who is willing to put forth that effort so that they can run for public office. I saw Shawn Smith and his wife Patti out doing all that during the past several months, and I am sorry it didn't pay off for him because he showed the dedication that it takes to be a good public servant.
Finally, I have been asked lately if I think I will miss public office after having been on the board for almost 20 years. The answer I give is “yes,” but there are a couple of notable exceptions.
As already mentioned, I am not missing the hot pavement this summer, nor other examples such as getting my truck stuck in the deep sand in a wash looking at tire prints of noisy vehicles or fumbling around to find the phone at 1 a.m. to have a constituent tell me that his neighbor's dog is barking.
For all these wonderful years, though, what I will remember most is the support and confidence the voters of District 3 have shown by electing me to office a total of five consecutive times.
What an honor and privilege it has been for me! THANK YOU!
Casey Prochaska
Yuma County
Supervisor, District 3
