Welcoming Mark Jomsky

Mayor Bogaard and the City Council hosted a reception on the "bridge" at City Hall this afternoon to formally welcome Mark Jomsky, who was recently appointed by the council as Pasadena's city clerk following the retirement of Jane Rodriguez.

I love this shot that I took while Mayor Bogaard was singing Mark's praises and Mark was holding his darling daughter Ariela.

Dear Jane:

We miss you already and it has only been three days since your retirement party!

Former (!) City Clerk Jane Rodriguez has left the building after 35 years of public service. Service is the operative word. Jane always went out of her way to keep impeccable records, provide accurate information, help anybody out, serve the council and much more.

Former California Attorney General John Van De Kamp and his wife offered their lovely estate for the party, which was an early evening affair with a number of senior city staff, elected officials and community leaders, all of whom came to bid farewell to the best city clerk Pasadena has probably ever had. Van De Kamp was chairman of the council-appointed Task Force on Good Government several years ago, and Jane was staff liaison to that task force.

Here are some photos.

Everybody gathered in the back yard.



Claire Bogaard and Al Moses:



Richard Bruckner and Ralph McKnight (and Linda Centell in the lower left):



John Van De Kamp, Victor Gordo and Victor's son Michael:



District 5 Field Representative Vannia De La Cuba, former District 5 councilman Bill Crowfoot and PUSD Board of Education member Steve Lizardo (who is also Vannia's husband):



Mayor Bogaard and his former field representative, Betty Ho:



Former District 2 councilman Paul Little and his former field representative, Margo Fuller, who is now field rep to Margaret McAustin.



Mayor Bogaard presented Jane with an official commendation:



Margaret McAustin presented a framed photo of the famous Pasadena City Hall stairway shot by Tavo Olmos.



Jacque Robinson presented a gift from Rose Bowl Operating Company, which is partially in her district.



There's a new bundle of joy in San Diego named Jack Henry! Barney Melekian rushed down there on Friday afternoon to meet his very first grandchild and had to miss the party. Julie Gutierrez and Stephanie DeWolfe, the assistant city managers, presented Jane with her official retirement gifts from the city: a clock and a plaque, both recognizing her 35 years of service.



Jane surrounded by the sterling City Clerk's Office staff.



The Wednesday Lunch Group presented Jane with kind words and a photo. This is a group of past and present city employees who, as the name implies, have lunch together every Wednesday. Left to right: Ted Reynolds, former assistant city attorney; Steve Mermell, director of finance; Judy Kent, field representative to the mayor; Stephanie DeWolfe, assistant city manager; Jane; Larry Newberry, former assistant city attorney; yours truly; Maria Stewart, former city clerk; and Robert Person, former assistant to the city manager. Nick Rodriguez, assistant city attorney, was on his way to a wedding and couldn't be there.



Jane thanked everyone, including her children, parents, brothers and sisters, some of whom were at the table in the foreground:



Then was a small after-party at Stephanie DeWolfe's house, made up mostly of Wednesday Lunch Group past and present plus just a handful of other special guests.

Steve Mermell, Ted Reynolds and Maria Stewart:



Library Director Jan Sanders and Mark Jomsky, our new city clerk:



Project Planner Leon White and Steph's dad:



Steph's parents, who are visiting from Michigan.



Jane is now retired, footloose and fancy free!



We miss you, Jane, but we'll see you soon.

City Council Not So Blow-by-Blow

A couple of highlights from tonight's council meeting:

Jane Rodriguez is retiring after more than 30 years of public service! I'm happy for her, and she'll have lots of time to spend with her family (including that darling grandbaby Jade), but I'm sorry to see her go.

I've known Jane for nearly 18 years, ever since I first began working for the City of Pasadena. She worked hard to prove herself and when Maria Stewart left to be city clerk in Santa Monica Jane, who was assistant city clerk at the time, was hired by the council and never looked back!

In saying their public goodbyes, councilmembers tonight used words such as graceful, elegant and helpful to describe Jane, and they're absolutely right.



Saving Pasadena Before Bedtime: Jane, Stephanie DeWolfe and I named ourselves after The PowerPuff Girls a long time ago for reasons that we'll take to our graves.




On another note, there's a terrific tournament basketball team called the Pasadena Success that has a current record of 36 wins and no losses. It's made up of mostly eighth graders who are going on to high school in the fall with the exception of one younger member who's moving up to eighth grade.



They were introduced during the council meeting tonight and one of the players led the Pledge of Allegiance.

These kids are fortunate to have James Every (in the white shirt) for a coach. When he was experiencing terrible knee pain and was subsequently diagnosed with bone cancer, the team and their parents encouraged him to fight it and to keep coaching. He heeded their advice and reported tonight that his condition is improving "because of them."

They're headed for a big tournament in Las Vegas this coming weekend, so let's all wish them well!