Former Rocklin Mayors Honored by County

The Placer County Board of Supervisors paid its respects Tuesday to Kathy Lund and Peter Hill, two retired Rocklin elected officials who forged close working relationships with county officials on many regional projects and advisory boards over the years.

Second District Supervisor Robert M. Weygandt presented the two former Rocklin mayors and long-time members of the Rocklin City Council with commemorative coins created for a county citizen-recognition program. The board created the program in 2002 to recognize acts of heroism, longstanding community service and exceptional acts that dramatically improved or impacted people's lives.

The other four board members awarded 2012 commemorative coins to outstanding citizens in their districts late last year, but Supervisor Weygandt waited until Tuesday's meeting so Hill and Lund could attend together and be honored at the same time. 

"As much as anything, you have been great friends to me," Supervisor Weygandt told his coin recipients. "You have helped me in this business and helped me be a much better supervisor."

"I considered you mentors when I took office," added board Chairman Jim Holmes. 

Both Lund and Hill served as mayor of Rocklin six times. Lund was on the City Council for 25 years and Hill served as a councilman for 29 years.

At the urging of Supervisor Weygandt, the board adopted a commendation honoring Lund when she retired from the City Council in 2010.

In a memo to his colleagues, Supervisor Weygandt noted that Lund served six consecutive terms on the Rocklin council. "During her years of service, Rocklin has been a prosperous community and grew in population from 9,000 to 54,000 residents," he explained, noting that Lund contributed to the success of many programs that earned Rocklin a nationwide reputation as a great place to live.

The supervisor pointed out that Rocklin has been honored over the years by Family Circle magazine as one of the country's top-10 cities to raise a family and by Money magazine as one of the top-100 small cities in the U.S. 

The board adopted a commendation honoring Hill for exceptional public service when he left the council last December.

"No matter what the challenge, Peter has always put his heart and soul into serving his constituents and making his community a better place to live, work and play," it explained. "We have all benefited greatly from his steady leadership, wisdom and ability to get things done in that special Peter-Hill-kind-of-way."

For 25 years, Hill worked as a planner and manager for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

The commemorative coins feature the county seal on one side. On the other side are the word "hero" and the image of an eagle with a star and sun rays in the background. The second side of the coin was designed by J. Randal Smith, an Auburn native who is a nationally known artist. His design won a competition coordinated by the Arts Council of Placer County.