1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 8 DECEMBER 19, 2012 9 10 PRESENTATION OF RETIREMENT RESOLUTION TO 11 KRISTINE CAZADD 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Reported by: Juli Price Jackson 24 No. CSR 5214 25 26 27 28 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board Jerome E. Horton of Equalization: Chairman 4 5 Michelle Steel Vice-Chairwoman 6 7 Betty T. Yee Member 8 9 George Runner Member 10 11 Marcy Jo Mandel Appearing for John 12 Chiang, State Controller (per 13 Government Code Section 7.9) 14 15 Joann Richmond Chief, Board 16 Proceedings Division 17 18 19 ---oOo--- 20 21 Also Present: Kristine Cazadd 22 23 ---o0o--- 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 DECEMBER 19, 2012 4 ---oOo--- 5 MR. HORTON: Good morning, Members and guests. 6 Let us reconvene the meeting of the Board of 7 Equalization. Today's meeting we are dedicating to our 8 very own Miss Kris Cazadd. 9 Whereas Miss Kris Cazadd, the Executive 10 Director retired December 14th after 22 years of 11 outstanding and meritorious service to the State of 12 California and the State Board of Equalization; 13 Whereas Kristine began her career with the -- 14 with the Fair Political Practice Commission -- oh, 15 yeah -- was that on your resume -- on May 29th, 1990 as 16 a Counsel Enforcement in the Fair Political Practice 17 Commission; 18 And whereas Miss Cazadd joined the Board of 19 Equalization on July 20th, 1992 as an attorney; 20 And whereas as a result of diligent work and 21 when -- demonstrated ability, Kristine advanced to the 22 position of increasing responsibilities, earning 23 appointment to the position of Attorney Tax Counsel III 24 and Tax Counsel Specialist, later advancing to the 25 position of Tax Counsel III Supervisor, Accounting Chief 26 Counsel, Chief Counsel No. 2 and Acting Director of the 27 Board of Equalization. 28 I have to add that, by the way. You know, I 3 1 have a tendency of editing when I read. 2 Whereas in recognition of her outstanding 3 leadership skills and proven professionalism, 4 Miss Cazadd was appointed to the position of Executive 5 Director on October 1st, 2011 and Special Consultant to 6 the Executive Director on August 1st, 2012; 7 And whereas throughout her many years of 8 service, Kristine served the people of this state with 9 fairness and dedication. 10 Therefore, be it resolved that we, the Members 11 of the Board of Equalization, do hereby extend to 12 Kristine Cazadd our sincere and grateful appreciation 13 for her dedicated service to the State Board of 14 Equalization and to the people of the great State of 15 California. 16 Our congratulations on behalf of a well-earned 17 retirement and our best wishes to her and her family for 18 continuing -- continued success, happiness and good 19 health in the years to come. 20 Adopted at Sacramento, California, this 19th 21 day of December '12 by the State Board of Equalization. 22 Discussion, Members? 23 MS. MANDEL: Yay. 24 MR. HORTON: Member Yee. 25 MS. YEE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 26 I want to just add my words of gratitude to 27 Miss Cazadd for her leadership at the Board and during 28 some rocky times and during some really, really great 4 1 times. 2 But one thing that I will never forget about 3 Kristine is just her can do attitude about almost 4 anything -- and sometimes good, sometimes overly 5 exuberant, but always just a positive attitude about 6 what is possible. And I think that's something that's 7 very rare in State government in terms of always looking 8 to try to solve the problem. 9 So, with tremendous gratitude, Kristine, and 10 definitely a well-deserved retirement. And I know 11 you're not going to be a stranger around here. There 12 are many still with the State Bar Tax Section who 13 believe that you are still the premier expert in 14 property tax. 15 So, you'll be around. Thank you so much. 16 MS. CAZADD: Thank you. 17 MR. HORTON: Member Steel. 18 MS. STEEL: Thank you very much for being with 19 us and, you know, especially when we had a hard time try 20 to look for Executive Director, we are very happy to 21 have Cynthia, but, you know, but Kristine stepped up. 22 And thank you very much for being with us. 23 And, actually, Kristine started to meeting 24 Board Members each month for every office, she started 25 that. Before that, you know, we never really had that 26 kind of experience. So, you really set up the good 27 footstep. 28 And thank you very much. And we going to miss 5 1 you so much. 2 MS. CAZADD: Thank you so much, Member Steel. 3 MR. HORTON: Member Runner. 4 MR. RUNNER: Well, I appreciate Kristine, your 5 great efforts and work. 6 You know, for me it's a little bit different in 7 that you were the only Executive Director that I knew. 8 So, it was very important for us and you did a great job 9 of -- of helping us get up to speed, of supporting and 10 being available to myself and our staff. And, so, we 11 appreciate that and appreciate you so much being the -- 12 the transition to -- to Cynthia. And we appreciate 13 that -- your effort and your work in helping to make 14 that as smooth as possible and yet still steering this 15 ship during that period of time. 16 So, thank you very much. 17 MS. CAZADD: Thank you, Member Runner. 18 MR. HORTON: Our historian, Member Mandel. 19 MS. MANDEL: Yeah. Well, Kristine and I go 20 way, way back -- before I ever sat up here and I think 21 probably before she was ever even an Assistant Chief 22 Counsel. 23 So, we go way, way back and to working on what 24 I still think of as, you know, the -- the major revamp 25 of the change in ownership regulations back in, I don't 26 know, it was like '97, '98 was a lot of work. And, you 27 know, she always -- she always listened to us from the 28 taxpayer side. And, you know, we didn't get everything 6 1 that we wanted from the taxpayer side, but that's just 2 how it works. 3 And since I've been here, you know, she's been 4 of great assistance. I know the Controller really 5 appreciates everything that you've done for him while he 6 was here as a Board Member and since he's been over as 7 Controller. 8 So, thank you very much for all your hard 9 work. 10 MS. CAZADD: Thank you so much. 11 MR. HORTON: Miss Bridges. 12 MS. BRIDGES: Well, on behalf of the -- well, 13 personally, I'd just like to thank Kristine for her 14 persistence in trying to recruit me here and for all of 15 her assistance in the transition once I did arrive. 16 And I -- I hope that you will continue to be 17 available and serve as a mentor to me. 18 And also on behalf of the agency I would just 19 like to say that we appreciate all of your hard work and 20 wish you the best in your future endeavors. 21 And I do have a little surprise for you, 22 although I think you've ever already spotted it. 23 And, so -- 24 MS. CAZADD: It's beautiful. 25 MS. STEEL: Wow. 26 MS. BRIDGES: We'll just present this to you. 27 MS. CAZADD: Thank you so much. 28 MR. HORTON: With your permission, Miss Cazadd 7 1 -- (applause). 2 (A discussion was held off the record.) 3 MR. RUNNER: I don't know if you want to use 4 this or not, it's available. 5 MS. MANDEL: It's what you just read. 6 MR. HORTON: Yeah, thanks, Mr. Runner. 7 MS. CAZADD: I'll let you guys decide. 8 MS. MANDEL: It takes a village. 9 (A discussion was held off the record.) 10 MS. CAZADD: Thank you. 11 MR. HORTON: You want to say a few words, 12 right? 13 MS. CAZADD: I just wanted to thank the Board 14 Members for the privilege of working for you, all of you 15 here, because, as you mentioned, I came in 1992. I came 16 in 1992 as a surplus -- on a surplus list from -- from 17 the FTPC and -- 18 MR. HORTON: We can work around those. 19 MS. CAZADD: -- and -- and it was such an honor 20 and so unique to be working for constitutional officers. 21 There's something totally different and that's really a 22 privilege when you -- when you serve elected officials 23 and especially officials like yourselves who represent 24 millions and millions of people. 25 Your -- your daily interests are directly 26 connected with the people in your districts and, Marcy, 27 all over the State, which makes us who serve you kind of 28 always have to be on our toes and always really caring 8 1 about the service that we provide and the information 2 that we can develop and really educate for the people of 3 California. 4 I also want to thank the employees because 5 throughout my career, everybody seemed smarter than me. 6 And everybody from Rose Smith, who's over the years 7 dedicated herself to taking minutes and transcribing the 8 minutes of the Board, to people in Special Procedures, 9 like Russ Williams, who are there -- you know, he's 10 there 'til 7 o'clock every night working on collections, 11 to people like Gilbert Smith in the district offices who 12 day and night answer e-mails, Deborah Cooke, same way, I 13 can't tell you many times I've called her and e-mailed 14 her and she's in Michigan or she's somewhere else trying 15 to have a vacation, and same thing with Jeff Vest, who's 16 sitting in the back. And so many of our lawyers -- 17 David, when the building was falling apart and we had to 18 vacate the upper floors, he was calling from the 19 baseball field for his sons giving directions. 20 So, that kind of dedication, that type of 21 loyalty, it's just an honor to work with all of you. 22 And finally, thank you to God for the mercy, 23 grace and energy to be here all of these years. I 24 really appreciate it. 25 Thank you. 26 ---o0o--- 27 28 9 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE. 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, JULI PRICE JACKSON, Hearing Reporter for the 8 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 9 DECEMBER 19, 2012 I recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to 10 the best of my ability, the proceedings in the 11 above-entitled hearing; that I transcribed the shorthand 12 writing into typewriting; and that the preceding pages 1 13 through 9 constitute a complete and accurate 14 transcription of the shorthand writing. 15 16 Dated: JANUARY 3, 2013 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 JULI PRICE JACKSON 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 10