Happy Retirement to Sue, RCD Financial Manager!
The RCD wishes Sue McCloud, long-time RCD Financial Manager, a warm, and well deserved, Happy Retirement! In her last staff meeting, and in true “Sue” form, she estimated that she has been with the RCD for over 8,000 days. In total, Sue worked as the RCD’s Financial Manager for 22 years!
Sue is an accounting and Microsoft Excel wizard, but around the office she is known for her candid and straightforward demeanor. Project Managers have relied on her to develop and proofread their budgets and crosscheck grant and contract fund tracking down to the last cent. Working as a liaison between the RCD and the County of Yolo Accounting Department, Sue also ensured that all County and RCD policies relating to funds management were followed, while at the same time providing state grant managers with all of the financial tracking details they required. “Sue says what she means, means what she says and doesn’t pull a punch. I think that’s why she liked accounting; numbers don’t lie.” said Sheila Pratt, Executive Director of the Cache Creek Conservancy, and former RCD staff member. Heather Nichols, Executive Director of the RCD agrees, “with Sue, you always know where you stand, which makes it easy to bring problems to her to troubleshoot and work on solutions together. She’s also able to laugh despite the challenges of running a dynamic small district. I have truly enjoyed working with her.”
Without her work to keep everything on track, the RCD would not have been able to expand in the way it did during her 22 years of service. When Sue started as an Administrative Assistant in 2002, the RCD had just three major projects, four staff members and an annual budget of less than $150,000. Now, the RCD has more than 30 ongoing projects, 15 – 17 staff members, and a budget exceeding $3.5 million. In the early days the district focused primarily on conservation technical assistance for farmers. It continues its on-farm focus now but has expanded into Open Spaces Land Management and Community Wildfire Resilience programming. Sue’s accounting and organizational skills and her long-running dedication were all key to the RCD’s ability to expand its programs and increase its budget, budget management and success record.
Retired Deputy Director Jeanette Wrysinski says, “Sue’s skill and confidence with numbers allowed us to feel secure in our management decisions and to get the most out of our projects, and her scrupulous honesty always helped me sleep better at night. She was a pleasure for me to work with.” Tanya Meyer, Senior Program Manager, echoed that sentiment, “Sue McCloud has so much integrity that I trust her with anything. She’s kind, smart, organized and a true team player and wonderful to work with. I will miss her a lot!”
Last year, Sue decided it was time to retire and so the RCD began the seemingly impossible mission of finding someone to take over the reins of the Financial Manager position. In our search, we found our new Financial Controller, Michele Talbott.
Michele has spent the last year working alongside Sue to absorb her institutional knowledge and they joke about “mind-melding” at this point. Michele has worked for a number of businesses in the Yolo County area and brings her own experience and skills to the RCD, and Sue is confident that she can take the RCD forward. Sue is leaving the RCD with a legacy of diligent and responsible local government accounting that will serve us well on into the future.
