LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Orinda reorganizes the city council; Mayor grants awards of excellence


Award of excellence presented to Maggie Boscoe of the Lamorinda Arts Council. Photo Sora O'Doherty

As expected, Vice Mayor Inga Miller has been elected Orinda's mayor for the next year, and Council Member Darlene Gee steps up to be the vice mayor. On Dec. 11, the city council completed its annual reorganization, welcoming newly elected council members Dennis Fay and Nick Kosla and honoring outgoing members Eve Phillips and Dean Orr. A reception followed the meeting.

The meeting was well attended, including former mayors Bobbie Landers, Bill Judge, Victoria Smith, Laura Abrams, Bea Peggy, widow of Orinda's first mayor Dick Peggy, and former City Manager Janet Keeter.

Outgoing Mayor Amy Worth presented her awards of excellence to Maggie Boscoe of the Lamorinda Arts Council, who has been the volunteer curator of the Orinda Library Gallery. Boscoe could not be present on Dec. 11, but did attend the Nov. 18 meeting to accept the award. She noted that in the 17 years she has been arranging monthly artwork displays, she calculates that she has presented 34,000 works of art to gallery visitors.

In the same vein, another award went to the Friends of the Orinda Library. The award was accepted on behalf of the Friends by president Nancy Ross-Madnick and treasurer Linda Landau. Worth recounted how the library began as a box of books for borrowing in the general store in 1915. In 1959 the Friends incorporated, with the goal of building a library. They achieved that goal, building the new library and the library auditorium. Today they manage the library's finances, raise funds for the continued maintenance of the library, sort books, run the on-site bookstore, and more.

Worth's third award went to Steve Harwood, whom Worth hailed as "The Voice of Orinda." Harwood has been the longtime voice of Orinda youth sports, the city's Fourth of July parade and chairman of the Lamorinda Idol competition.

Supervisor Candace Andersen was on hand to honor Phillips, Orr and Worth, as was Teresa Gerringer, who appeared on behalf of state Sen. Steve Glazer, who was unable to attend. Andersen praised Worth as the only person to hold the position of mayor of Orinda four times. Phillips and Orr both received proclamations from the city extolling their service to the city for four and eight years on the city council, respectively.

Prior to serving on the city council, Orr had served eight years on the planning commission. Worth praised Orr's wife and daughters, who were present, for their sacrifice of "so many Tuesday nights" so that their father could serve the city. She similarly commended Phillips' family, but Phillips' young daughter had been taken home to bed earlier in the evening.