editors

Supes, city council salute her long service

Sheila Lodge helped elect Supervisor Roy Lee, who honored her.

AS SHE WAS preparing to step down, way back in November 1993, after 12 years as mayor — the longest-serving mayor in Santa Barbara’s history — Sheila Lodge was serenaded by city staffers at a farewell lunch at El Paseo restaurant. To the tune of the folk classic “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley,” they sang:

We’re going to miss you, Sheila.
We’re going to miss your smile.
We’re going to miss you, Sheila.
Sure ’nuff, you’ve got some style.

Their expectations were upended three days later when, presiding over her final City Council meeting, she told a packed council chamber: “I love this city, and I’m not going away.” Barely a month later, in January 1994, she was seeking reappointment to the city Planning Commission, where she’d gotten her start in public service in 1973.

“I need to ease off of my involvement rather than go cold turkey,” she told the News-Press.

Soon Lodge changed her mind about rejoining the Planning Commission and instead became president of Planned Parenthood and head of Looking Good Santa Barbara, a group formed to improve the appearance and cleanliness of the city. It was not until 2008 that she was reappointed to the Planning Commission, where she went on to serve for 16 more years.

Lodge retired again in December, and has been on something of a victory lap ever since. She was honored by the Board of Supervisors on February 25 and by the City Council on March 4. Another resolution is on the agenda for the April 3 Planning Commission meeting.

But this retirement may last no longer than the one three decades ago. After all, she’s only 95. And she’s said to be under consideration for a seat on the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission.