Community Volunteer Awards
2022 Honoree
Don Nottoli
Special Recognition
Don Nottoli
When Don Nottoli walks out of his office at 700 H Street at the end of this year, it will truly be the end of an era.
Don has served five terms since being elected to represent the Fifth District in 1994 – a sprawling district of 650 square miles, including his hometown of Galt and cities of Elk Grove, Isleton and Rancho Cordova.
Don has announced that he will not seek re-election later this year, so there will be no sixth term. Although he is in his 28th year as a county supervisor, he is in his 43rd year of service with the county – that’s nearly as half century of service to Rancho Cordova and beyond.
It did not take Don long to set a course of public service, getting himself elected to the Galt High School District Board of Trustees in 1977 -- even before he graduated from Sac State. He served there until 1994, but also served on the Galt City Council from 1978-79. That same year, Don became the chief assistant to Supervisor Toby Johnson, and when Toby retired, Don successfully campaigned for that seat, and won.
Throughout his long career as a County Supervisor, he has served on numerous boards and commissions -- a list too long to read here. But suffice it to say that there is not a corner of county government Don has not touched.
But if Don has been responsible for the big decisions a county of one million must make, he will be remembered by most of us for the small, but important details of individual citizens, collected over the decades as he traveled the highways and back roads of the Fifth.
Who has not marveled at Don’s ability to remember your name, your spouse’s name and sometimes even those of the kids. If you are lucky enough to have Don’s attention for longer than one minute, he has probably asked you about a life detail discussed once upon a time, and almost forgotten by you, but not by him.
Who has not witnessed Don, with his tall, lanky frame, trying to dissolve into a crowd of citizens, not wanting to draw attention to himself, and failing miserably because he towers over everyone by at least a foot. And who has not watched him crouch down, sort of folding up his beanpole body, to see eye-to-eye with a 5-foot tall constituent.
Over the next months, Don’s accomplishments will be explored and scrutinized. There will be many forums like this, where Don will be publicly appreciated as he wiggles uncomfortably in his chair. And he will probably stand up and say it was his good fortune that he was allowed to serve, and we all know he means it.
Don is a living example of the old truth that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. He is humble and he is kind.
As Don completes his long career of public service, it is appropriate to pause to appreciate his many contributions. You may not have agreed with every decision he has made, and that’s okay. Because at the end of a half century of public service, fans and foe alike know that in Don we have met a person of good will and decency. And that is a rare and precious gem.
Don was not nominated in one category because over a long career, he has occupied each of them at one time or another. Whoever said that “nice guys finish last” must not have met Don Nottoli who is, quite simply, the best.
