Dec. 8 will mark the final day in office for Newark mayor David Smith, the longest serving mayor in the state of California and second longest serving mayor in the United States. 

Smith, who’s also Executive Director of the Ohlone College Foundation in Fremont, will be retiring after a total of 16 terms and nearly 34 years as mayor.

Smith, who said he never imagined himself becoming mayor, was brought to run for mayor in a roundabout way. 

Having been involved with extracurricular activities from a young age, the Michigan native had served on the Newark City Council for only two years in 1978 when he was approached by then retiring Mayor Jim Balentine to run for office. 

Smith wound up being a late entry for the mayoral race but in the end secured the victory.

“There’s nothing like your first election,” he reflected.  “The thrill never goes away, but those first ones [are] really special.”

Smith’s campaign slogan, “Dave Smith will do something for Newark,” held a lot of meaning for the city’s residents in the months to come.  In June 1978, only a few months after Smith had become mayor, Proposition 13—a property tax measure that anchored property taxes—was passed.

At the time, Newark had the highest tax rates out of all of Alameda County and the City Council was forced to cut three-quarter of a million dollars out of a $4 million budget.

Immediately, financial stability became a huge goal for Smith, along with the urge to bring in a regional retail shopping presence in an industry-dominant community.

“The financial challenges and the financial goals were overriding everything but the development goals kind of held that hand in hand too,” Smith explained.  “As we developed the city, we had to focus more on retail development and in developing jobs too.”

Looking back, Smith feels good about the decisions he made and said he has very few “do-overs” during his career as mayor.  He credits the sense of volunteerism Newark has established in getting through various challenges that city has gone through over the decades.

Smith also believes the balancing act of Newark being a place to “live, shop, work and play” has been greatly improved since his first term, especially with the establishments of the NewPark Mall and the George Silliman Recreation Center.

However, with several business communities moving to the Pacific Commons shopping center in recent years, Smith hopes for that to be brought back around.

In regards to his relationship with the community, he finds that he did his best and that members of the community would be best to judge his career as mayor.

“I feel good about it.  I’ve always been accessible to people.  I’ve always tried my best to help people do what’s best for the community and I think as a group we’ve been able to do that too,” he said.  “You check your own personal stuff at the door and you put on the suit of what’s best for Newark and I think we’ve done a really good job of that.”
  
Smith’s reason behind remaining mayor for so long was unplanned as well. 

The Newark mayor has a ritual where every two years prior to the next mayoral race, he’d go on vacation to the shores of Gitchigoomie (Lake Superior) and “consult with the spirits” on whether or not he should run again.  This year’s trip involved the spirits helping him decide that it was time to retire and he made the decision official to the City of Newark last May.

Advice he offers to his successor Al Nagy is to continue the trust and teamwork Newark is built off of.

“Those are the two main things that I hope they’ll continue because if in their heart they really want to do what’s right for the city; you work as a team and try to get everybody engaged as much as you can,” Smith said.

While Smith has offered his assistance to his successor, he looks forward to retirement, which will include learning to become a better trombonist, playing golf and visiting his grandchildren—all after he takes care of cleaning out his garage and home office.

Smith’s general hope for the future of Newark is for the city to continue to maintain its balance of “life, shop, work and play.”  He also has hopes that the city will maintain its diverse community more and more, as well as maintain the local job market.

“The best has yet to come,” he said.