Vasquez replaces Stocker as Yuba County board chairman

Before the meeting adjourned with some punch and cookies to kick off a new year for the Yuba County Board of Supervisors, outgoing chairman Hal Stocker took a sober look at recent times.

Wrapping up his fourth stint as chairman on Monday, Stocker said he recalled the eye-opening surge nearly a decade ago of new home sales in Yuba County, as the housing boom took off.

After the boom turned into bust, he said, new home sales plummeted, and the county's finances took a corresponding hit in property tax, especially in recent years.

"We're much thinner than we were a few years before," said Stocker, in his statement to end his tenure. "It's just been tough."

But through hard work, and agreements by county workers to hold the line on spending and pay increases, he said, the county persevered.

"My own impression is we've gone through it as well as we could," he said.

Stocker's remarks were the longest portion of the annual board reorganization meeting, which newly installed chairman Andy Vasquez gaveled to a close shortly after the board voted him to lead for the first time, and made Supervisor John Nicoletti the vice chairman.

In addition to the reorganization, the meeting saw Nicoletti and Supervisors Mary Jane Griego and Roger Abe take the oath of office for new four-year terms. All three successfully sought re-election last year.

During his statement, Stocker reflected on how being a board chairman isn't imbued with the power one might think.

"You're still just one vote," he said. "Probably the most important thing you do is sign papers."

When he first became a board chairman in the 1990s, he said, he remembered being puzzled by the numerous documents he had be asked to sign after a meeting, many of them filled with legal jargon. But he said he didn't recall any being kicked back to him afterward, so he must have done it correctly.

Sutter County will have its annual reorganization, along with oaths of office for two incumbent and one new supervisors, this evening in Yuba City.

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4786. Find him on Facebook at /ADbvandermeer or on Twitter at @ADbvandermeer.