Three weeks from today, Terrie Concellos will be leaving us to enter into the adventures and rewards of retirement. Due to Covid, we will not be holding gatherings for the purpose of people being able to say their goodbyes and convey their best wishes. Therefore I thought I would send the ‘3 week warning’ so that those of you who want to say something to her in person or by email have the chance to do so and aren’t caught by surprise when she is gone.
Terrie has had a long career with the County and with DSS. Her contributions to the wellbeing of our organization and to the community are innumerable. I have marveled over the years at how Terrie stayed proactively engaged in support of her staff, her fellow deputies and myself even in the most difficult of challenges that we have faced. Her concern for the needs of our staff, the health of our systems and our position as one of the leaders in our County family was constant and powerful.
One of the strengths of county government is that roles and responsibilities have a trajectory of their own regardless of who specifically holds a particular position – but one of the gifts of our system is that it allows space for an individual to make profound impacts while they hold a given role, should they choose to do so. Terrie has had a profound impact on this County, this Department and on me. Even as we start a new and exciting chapter with the changing leadership of the Department, I will miss Terrie’s unique gifts and will always be grateful for my time working with her.
Please join me in wishing Terrie all the best and in conveying our heartfelt thanks for having given so much of herself over all these years to the residents and staff of Santa Barbara County.