Concord, Calif. – At the Dec. 6 Concord City Council meeting, outgoing Mayor Dominic Aliano turned over the gavel to Vice Mayor Laura Hoffmeister after she was selected by fellow councilmembers as the City’s mayor for 2023.
Councilmember Edi Birsan was selected to serve as vice mayor for the year ahead. Hoffmeister, Birsan, Councilmember Carlyn Obringer, and outgoing Councilmember Tim McGallian thanked Aliano for his service as mayor.
All councilmembers also recognized and thanked McGallian for his years of service as mayor throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and as councilmember, city treasurer, and planning commissioner.
In addition, Councilmember-elect Laura Nakamura was sworn in as the newest member of the Council, succeeding McGallian as the representative for Council District 5. Patti Barsotti also renewed her oath of office after being reelected on Nov. 8. Background
Hoffmeister was first elected to the Concord City Council in 1997 and was subsequently reelected six times, most recently on Nov. 8. She served as Mayor in 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011, and 2016-2017.
Prior to her election, Hoffmeister served as Chair of the Redevelopment Advisory Committee, Vice Chair of the Design Review Board, and was an active member of the Economic Development Task Force, Main Street Committee, County Connection Citizen Advisory Committee and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce.
She formerly served on the boards of the Concord Historical Society, American Association of University Women, and is a graduate of Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce’s “Leadership Concord” Academy. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in City and Environmental Planning from the University of California, Davis.
Birsan was first elected to the City Council in November 2012 and subsequently re-elected in 2016 and 2020. He served as Vice Mayor in 2017, and as Mayor in 2018. He is an active community leader and has served in many positions, from the Director of Community Services for Concord-Diablo Rotary to the President of the Friends of the Library, to volunteer for numerous non-profit organizations.
Birsan came to Concord in 1983 working for a global, inter-modal container leasing company. He started his own company in 1986, which currently focuses on certification/inspection and service in the inter-modal equipment field. He brings a history of running a small business as well as world-class experience in pioneering efforts at containerization of global trade.
Birsan was born and raised in New York City where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in dual majors of History and Political Science from City University (CCNY). He and his wife (they were high school sweethearts) have raised two generations in Concord and have lived in the same house since 1983 in the area off of Monument Boulevard.
Nakamura was raised in Pleasant Hill and settled in Concord where she has lived since 1988 and where she raised her two children.
She has been active in the community coaching soccer, advocating for bike lanes, leading a ministry at St. Bonaventure, volunteering and doing outreach to the unsheltered. Nakamura joined Bike Concord’s advocacy team in 2016, and she is a co-founder of Concord Communities Alliance (CCA), an organization working toward just and equitable conditions for all residents.
She is also a member of Urban Habitat’s 2021 leadership cohort focusing on equitable policy work in land use, transportation, and housing. In 2021, Nakamura was appointed to Concord’s Community Services Commission.
Nakamura earned her BA in Public Relations from San Jose State University and her degree in Echocardiography from City College in San Francisco. She works as a pediatric cardiac sonographer for Children’s Hospital Oakland, where she is also a union steward (NUHW) and a member of their bargaining team.
Mayor’s Community Service Awards
Every year the outgoing mayor honors someone who has gone above and beyond for the Concord community. During the Dec. 6 meeting, Aliano recognized Jacqueline Smith with the Mayor’s 2022 Community Service Award. Smith serves as the Family Engagement Coordinator for the Unity Council, a local nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote social equity and improve quality of life by building vibrant communities.
“We are here to honor you, to say thank you for doing what you do,” Aliano said. “Jacqueline has done a lot to help people within our community. She has been by my side for a lot of the community events that I do. If I didn’t have her support or help, a lot of the turkey giveaways, the toy giveaways, the backpacks and the bikes for kids wouldn’t happen.”
“A few times in your life you come across people you just click with and it’s special. We have the same philosophy; we both believe that sometimes the simplest things make the biggest difference,” he said
