Approved as to Form and Legality
City Attorney’s Office
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION NO. _______________ C.M.S.
INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER TREVA REID
RESOLUTION HONORING KAREN BOYD FOR OVER 26 YEARS OF
EXEMPLARY SERVICE AND CONGRATULATING HER ON A
WELL-DESERVED RETIREMENT FROM THE CITY OF OAKLAND
WHEREAS, in December 2022, the City of Oakland bid farewell to one of its most dedicated public servants, Karen Boyd, who retired from the City after 26 years; and WHEREAS, for more than two decades, she had the unique challenge and opp ortunity of advising Oakland’s top officials and executive leaders - including five Mayors, two City Attorneys, and a dozen City Administrators - on a wide range of high-profile, complex, politically sensitive, and urgent issues; and
WHEREAS, over her career, Karen Boyd established herself as a trusted leader in the field of communications and public administration, highly regarded by her colleagues within the City organization as well as those from local governments and jurisdictions across the region; and WHEREAS, her tremendous institutional memory for events and key issues in Oakland was a significant daily contribution to the countless elected officials, department heads, and City staff she worked alongside, as well as an immense asset to scores of loca l, state, national and international media members which she encountered, educated, and built often hard-earned relationships with through the years; and
WHEREAS, always poised and professional, Karen Boyd possessed a thoughtful eloquence that reflected her deep desire to see Oakland fulfill its missi on and motto, in both private meetings and public forums she never wavered from her commitment to making sure that Oakland consistently aspire to be a city government that prioritizes diversity, equity, inclusion, and bold initiatives that are in the best long term interest of the residents and businesses it serves; and WHEREAS, in good times and hard times, alike, Karen could always be counted on to be a collaborative voice of reason and a person who welcomed new voi ces and historically overlooked perspectives on challenges the City was facing and initiatives the City was advancing; and WHEREAS, the issues she faced head on represent the greatest challenges of our day: the surge of unsheltered residents living on our streets resulting from the regional housing affordability crisis; police reform efforts stemming from two decades of Fede ral oversight of the Oakland Police Department; protests against pol ice violence; exuberant Warrior s parades with 1 million fans on Oakland streets; the tragic loss of 36 lives in the Ghost Ship fire; an eight-day labor strike; public safety power outages; Occupy Oakland; and the global COVID-19 p andemic that has exacerbated deep and long-standing health and economic racial disparities in our community, to name a few; and WHEREAS, during each of these situations and a host of other crises, Karen Boyd, alongside many of her past and present communications colleagues from various City departments, tackled the challenge and crafted communicati ons strategies to provide cred ible, timely, compassionate, and dependable information to our community; and
WHEREAS, while she proved her own worth day in and day out over the last 26 years, her greatest contribution to the City of Oakland may just be the legacy she will leave behind -- which is a robust, diverse, highly skilled and incredibly inspired cityw ide communications team made up of Public Information Officers and Communicators representing nearly every City department City; and WHEREAS, the group which began meeting daily at the outset of the Covi d-19 pandemic and now discusses all manner of issues, events and topics of the day, was largely curated and recruited by Karen, and the consistency and coordination that is occurring now within this collective represents an phenomenal shift in the value the City places on an informed populace and the manner in which it tells the story of this remarkable city; now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the City wishes Karen success in all her future endeavors and we look forward to her continued involvement in activities and City ass ets such as Fairyland where she has served as a longtime board member; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Oakland City Council, and all those who served the City alongside Karen wish her a happy and healthy retirement from the City and offer our most heartfelt appreciation to Karen’s family which resides in Oakland, which includes her loving wife Samee Roberts and their son Quinn.
IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,
PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES – FIFE, FORTUNATO BAS, GALLO, KALB, KAPLAN, JENKINS,
RAMACHANDRAN AND REID
NOES –
ABSENT –
ABSTENTION –
ATTEST:
ASHA REED
City Clerk and Clerk of the Council
of the City of Oakland, California