Luna’s looming retirement won’t end volunteerism
Mickie Solorio Luna has seen it all from her modest desk in
Hollister City Hall.
Seven city managers
– not including the interim managers – have come and gone. She’s
on her fifth finance director.
But always, for almost 30 years, there was Mickie. She begins
her 30th year on March 28, and on March 29, she marks her last
official day on the job. Most recently, her official job title has
been senior accounting technician, but it’s only the most recent of
a series of job titles she’s worn.
Luna’s looming retirement won’t end volunteerism
Mickie Solorio Luna has seen it all from her modest desk in Hollister City Hall.
Seven city managers – not including the interim managers – have come and gone. She’s on her fifth finance director.
But always, for almost 30 years, there was Mickie. She begins her 30th year on March 28, and on March 29, she marks her last official day on the job. Most recently, her official job title has been senior accounting technician, but it’s only the most recent of a series of job titles she’s worn.
Simply put, Luna works in the finance department. For some, titles aside, she is the finance department.
The decision to leave was not made hastily.
“We were looking into this five years ago,” she said this week. “Vince [her husband] and I did our retirement plan then. We decided the year he turns 65 we would both retire. That birthday came this week, and Vince is comfortably launched on his retirement from the San Benito County Public Works Department.”
But it’s not the job that defines Luna throughout the community. It’s not the job that begot this story. It’s not the job that has scores of people lining up to purchase tickets to a retirement dinner planned for March 30 at San Juan Oaks.
Luna is a force to be reckoned with.
Even at 62, Luna is a whirlwind. Always stylishly dressed beneath a cap of perfectly coiffed brown hair, she is not known to raise her voice. But by gently doling out opinions, suggestions and advice, she’s gotten more done in one lifetime than most could accomplish in three.
Asked about her community involvements, she reluctantly produced a resume that runs to five pages.
She was a founding member of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. She served four terms as the state president of the organization from 2000 to 2004, elected each time at the state convention. She has held a variety of state offices, dating back to 1990. She was a founding member of the organization’s San Benito County Youth Council.
She was a founding member of the Mexican American Committee on Education for San Benito County, and served as its first president from 1988 to 1990. Every year, the organization passes out thousands of dollars in scholarships to local students.
She was appointed to the Paisano Commission of Mexico during the term of President Vicente Fox. Luna currently serves on the board of directors of the Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility.
Luna’s been named woman of the year by several organizations, the county Board of Supervisors and the Hollister City Council. She counts former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta as a friend, remarking casually that Panetta sent her a note recently, when he learned of her impending retirement.
Young people are a special cause of Luna’s. The mother of two sons, she and her husband also raised a niece. Asked about retirement plans, her eight grandchildren are the first thing that she mentions.
Luna grew up in Hollister on the family farm. She and Vince were married on June 24, 1967 at Mission San Juan Bautista. Theirs is the last marriage recorded in the mission’s historic Latin book of records, and Luna has a copy of that last page as proof.
She worked in bookkeeping for local businesses before she arrived at the opportunity that would lead to her career.
“The City Council had made it a point that they needed bilingual staff at City Hall,” Luna recalled. “I was encouraged to apply for the job. I applied on the last day that I could, at 4:30. As I recall there were 60 or so who applied.”
The job went to Luna. A second opening in the finance department went to Nadine Hindman. Hindman’s position was originally temporary, but became permanent, and Luna and Hindman became lifelong friends, working side-by-side for decades.
As administrations came and went, the two formed a nucleus of stability in a department that oversees a city budget that today is $31 million per year.
For some seven years of her tenure, Luna recalled that the department functioned without a director, relying on the experience of veteran staff.
It’s the staff that Luna cites first when asked about what she’ll miss when she walks out the door for the last time next month.
“We’ve had wonderful employees,” she said, “department heads who’ve come and gone. You know what? I remain friends with so many of them.” In particular, she recalled she enjoyed working with Adela Gonzalez and former finance director Phil Molina.
“They had to do their jobs. They had their responsibilities. Phil, in particular, was a very strict finance director … but he was the type of person who would sit down with you any time.”
Luna herself has played the role of counselor to countless city employees. Because of her long history with the city, and her well-worn compassion, she frequently has been sought out for advice, or just a sympathetic ear.
Luna did the city’s payroll for 11 years, and has been the city’s purchasing agent for even longer. She treats the public’s money like her own.
When local businesses closed, she was on the phone, asking if she could bid on surplus furniture and supplies. She streamlined the city’s payment process, consolidating bill payment through the use of a governmental credit account. Before taking that step, she polled vendors, to make sure they were comfortable with the change. The result? They embraced it, and the city pays once for a host of vendors who used to get separate checks, resulting in staff savings. On-time payments result in further discounts to the city.
But as careful as she’s been with the public’s money, the access she had to the city’s books opened her eyes, and her sense of justice.
“When I did payroll, I could see the need for representation,” she said. “I brought the union in. It made a difference”
It is Luna’s attachment to the community’s youth that follows her into retirement.
Luna pushed to find opportunities in municipal government for young people. She takes special pride in those who went on to distinguish themselves in public administration.
“With the LULAC youth, I’ve always encouraged them – volunteer!” she said.
Luna studied at Gavilan and Fresno City Colleges, and moved on to San Jose State University. One field of study was grant writing. She has put that to use for her various causes already. With retirement, she will begin actively soliciting funds for a county youth mariachi group.
Luna’s approach to work harks back to a smaller, simpler Hollister.
“I’m from the old school,” she admits. “When customers come up to the counter, I’m there.”
The reason is simple enough, she explained. “When information is not available, the doubt creeps in. The people who walk into City Hall with issues want to talk to a department head.”
That is what former Mayor and City Councilmember Gordon Machado recalled when asked about Luna. “She’s been one of those resources at city hall you could always call,” he said. “Certainly, if she didn’t have the answer, she could always direct you and expedite your questions.”
The future includes lots of travel. Luna and her husband are partial to touring by rail. Vacations with their grandchildren – her sons live in Crescent City and suburban Tucson, Ariz. – and a large measure of activism, of course.
For information about Luna’s retirement dinner-dance, set for March 30 at San Juan Oaks Golf Club, please call Ruth Hermosillo at 596-2914, Marcy Hernandez at 902-5910, Cheryl Mullen at 801-3818, or Veronica Lezama at 245-6971. Cost of the event is $30 per person.
