[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10830]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        IN HONOR OF MIKE SEDELL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELTON GALLEGLY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 29, 2012

  Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of my close personal 
friend Mike Sedell, who is retiring next week as the City Manager of 
the City of Simi Valley, California.
  Mike and I have worked together for 33 years. When I was first 
elected to the Simi Valley City Council, he was Simi Valley's Deputy 
City Manager under then-City Manager Lin Koester. When I was elected to 
Congress in 1986, he came to Washington, DC, to serve as my first Chief 
of Staff. After three years in Washington, he returned to Simi Valley 
as Assistant City Manager, becoming City Manager in 1995.
  Mike and I are not just professional associates. We are personal 
friends and have continued to be personal friends in the 17 years since 
he left my employ. Not a week goes by that we don't connect to discuss 
a federal issue, or a local issue, or our respective families.
  Mike began working for the people of Simi Valley in 1972 as a 
California State University, Northridge, intern and subsequently served 
the City in a variety of assigmnents. He first worked as Simi Valley's 
Personnel Administrator and Community Services Coordinator, which 
included working on the Neighborhood Council Program, the Youth 
Council, and Youth Services. In 1975, he was asked to become part of 
the City Manager's office.
  Once in the City Manager's Office, Mike effectively supervised 
several programs, including public affairs, media relations, City 
Council/staff relations, governmental affairs, labor relations, transit 
system operations, and elections.
  When Lin Koester left Simi Valley to become the Chief Administrative 
Officer for Ventura County in 1995, the City Council unanimously 
appointed Mike as City Manager, a position he has held since.
  In addition to serving as Simi Valley's City Manager, Mike 
periodically teaches an Intergovernmental Relations Seminar in the 
Master's Degree program in Public Administration at Cal State 
Northridge, and has served as past Chair of the Board of Directors of 
Interface Children and Family Services of Ventura County.
  With his contacts developed over the years in both Washington and 
Sacramento, Mike is often called upon by Simi Valley, and occasionally 
other cities, to assist whenever a legislative or intergovernmental 
crisis occurs. Mike also works with Sacramento and Washington 
legislators on budget issues affecting Simi Valley and other California 
cities, and he has been a key player in developing the final funding 
formula for local agencies, and crafting complex intergovernmental 
agreements.
  His liaison work between the City and The Ronald Reagan Presidential 
Library has been instrumental in forming a strong operating bond 
between the Library and the City, and Mike was proud to be a member of 
the coordinating team that put together the local events for the 
funeral of President Reagan.
  Mr. Speaker, Mike Sedell has spent a lifetime in public service at 
the local and federal level. He has steered the City of Simi Valley 
through many difficult times with great success and his expertise is 
recognized and sought after by many other government officials. I know 
my colleagues join my wife, Janice, and me in thanking Mike for his 
lifetime of public service and in wishing our good friends Mike and his 
wife, Judie, the best in retirement.

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