First, I wanted to acknowledge the recent tragic passing of George Floyd in Minnesota. His death during a police arrest made national headlines and has evoked strong emotions among many in this country, as evidenced in part by wide scale protests and civil unrest. Floyd’s killing, along with those of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and others, has ignited impassioned debate and discussion on the subjects of racism and police brutality.

With regard to COVID-19, as many counties in California begin to relax social distancing standards and business and industry in a good number of our communities start resuming generally modified operations, our local governments are doing the same.

Our offices and operations are coming back online, no pun intended, and this naturally means that many of us who’ve been working largely or in some cases exclusively from home over the last several weeks, are in various stages of physically returning to our workplaces on a more regular or perhaps even full-time basis.

While I generally consider myself to be a social person, I have to admit that as a result of this pandemic I am feeling a never-before-experienced level of social anxiety when I leave my house for work or to go the store. I have no significant underlying health issues or other risk factors which are of particular concern, but I’m just a little freaked out, so to speak. Not overly so, I might add, but nonetheless I do feel somewhat uneasy when I go into a public setting these days.

At CSMFO, our office staff has been working remotely, but is now beginning to return in shifts, with no more than eight people in the office at one time while maintaining social distance. The CSMFO Board has ceased any in-person meetings, with no plans to resume those until, tentatively, our annual leadership planning session in October. The Board recently decided to continue our moratorium on in-person training through the end of the calendar year, though it was agreed that chapters may begin holding in-person meetings in compliance with local regulations after July 5.

When your local chapter starts back with in-person meetings, I hope you’ll feel comfortable attending. If not, no worries. I totally understand and I’m sure others will as well. We hope you’ll continue to engage with CSMFO virtually as the opportunity allows and rejoin us in person when it’s right for you.

I’ve always seen CSMFO as a safe space for all members in our collaborative efforts to promote excellence in government finance. Then again, I suppose that’s relatively easy for me to say as a white male. Hopefully everyone has felt welcomed and accepted here at CSMFO; and if not, I encourage you to let me know and we’ll work together to make things better tomorrow.