COLUSA, CA (MPG) – Colusa County staff on Dec. 17 recognized three longtime elected officials who have decided to step from the limelight.
Board of Supervisors Chair Gary Evans, elected five times to represent District 4, will officially serve out his term through Dec. 30.
Evans did not seek a sixth term in 2024 but plans to remain active within the community outside the duties of an elected Colusa County official.
“I’m not retiring,” Evans insisted. “I’m just quitting.”
Colusa County Assessor Arnold “Arnie” Gross and Tax Collector Dan Charter, who were reelected in 2022 for another four years, will officially step down on Dec. 30 midway through their terms. The Board of Supervisors last month appointed their seconds-in-command as their successors.
Randy Wilson, of Maxwell, will be sworn in as Evans’ succession on Jan. 6. The voters elected Wilson to the District 4 seat in the March primary.
All three retiring elected officials have served Colusa County citizens for decades, according to the accolades they received at the Board of Supervisors’ last meeting of the year.
Gross started his career in Colusa County as an appraiser in the Assessor’s Office in 1984, the same year he graduated from California State University in Chico with a degree in Business in Agriculture.
Gross was elected to head the department in 2014 and re-elected two times without a challenge, Evans said before presenting him with a proclamation recognizing his leadership.
“In addition to his duties as assessor, Arnie coached the Colusa High School Golf team for 11 years and refereed football and basketball for many years in the North State.
Evans also recognized Charter, who was not present for the presentations.
Charter worked for a CPA firm when he was elected to office in 1986 and was reelected every four years since without a challenge, Evans said.
“Dan has been the highest-yielding treasurer-tax collector for most of his tenure and is currently the longest-serving treasurer-tax collector in the state,” Evans said.
When it came time for Evans’ recognition for serving, it was Vice Chair Daurice Kalfsbeek who did the honors.
Evans, who typically dislikes such fanfare, seemed touched by the staff’s recognition of his dedication and leadership to Colusa County.
The staff at the Dec. 17 meeting had worn Evans’ signature plaid flannel shirt with a vest, a distinctive clothing style for the Stonyford lumberjack who first ran for office two decades ago, does not use a computer, and has never used a smartphone for communication.
For the most part, Evans conducted business in face-to-face meetings, as he coordinated a variety of projects in Colusa County that have included county, state, and federal agencies.
“Supervisor Evans has played a key role in bringing the Sites Reservoir Project to reality, and has made a point to tending the needs of landowners being impacted by the project, as well as ensuring the county’s agriculture interests have access to the water they need,” said Smith, as she read a special proclamation honoring Evans.
Evans was also a leading voice in defending the civil rights of citizens, businesses, schools, churches, and organizations when Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a strict lockdown of human movement and activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his tenure, Evans served on numerous committees and commissions, and created and helped pass a Board of Supervisors Resolution “affirming the obligation of the government and all of its agency to conduct its affairs in a manner that preserves, protects, and defends the fundamental and absolute rights of the people, and ensuring the County of Colusa will establishing nothing the will reasonably abridge its citizens of their Constitutional freedoms,” Smith said.
David Morgan, representing Congressman Doug LaMalfa, also presented Evans with a framed resolution recognizing his service and leadership.
While Evans sat through the accolades, he said afterward that nothing he did was on his own, giving credit to his team, board clerks, and his colleagues.
“Beyond all of them, it was the citizens of this district, my district, that found it appropriate to elect this old boy from the hills for five consecutive terms,” Evans said. “That is incredibly humbling.”
Assemblywoman Cecilla Aguiar-Curry, Senator Brian Dahle, and Assembly James Gallagher also issued a joint resolution honoring Evans’ service.
Smith read the resolution, which credited Evans with being a strong advocate for agriculture and local farmers.
Before Evans was elected to public office, he worked for the USDA in fire management and owned and operated a sawmill in the western foothills of Colusa County.