Monday was to be Decker's last official day as the town's top elected official. In the annual ceremonial passing of the gavel, Decker was to transfer the power of the mayor's seat to another member of the town board selected by the council.

And so it is that Decker takes her place back among the council members to serve out the final year of her term.

But she also takes her place among an even more prestigious body—that of the former mayors of Los Gatos. It will be interesting to see how history rates the performance of the newest member of that group. But the way we see it, Decker gets high marks for an outstanding year of service and leadership as the town's mayor.

There may have been mayors in the past who have demonstrated a strong sense of community and a love for this town, but none have surpassed Sandy Decker's passion in those areas.

She has worked tirelessly as an advocate for Los Gatos in her dealings with neighboring communities and agencies. During her year of leadership in Los Gatos, Decker has done much to involve the community in the workings of town government. The town council is now taking its show on the road with special neighborhood meetings to reach out to residents in areas where people feel under-served by a lack of representation.

Such efforts to reach out to residents, however, should have come as no real surprise during Decker's reign. The mayor spelled out her plans early in the year during her State of the Town message last February.

In the outline that Decker described, the council had clear objectives for the year that, if followed, would be good for the town. Under her leadership, those goals were accomplished.

The town continued its redevelopment efforts with the streetscape improvement project in the downtown, and it also began what she called a "priority partnership" to address the problem of alcohol and drug use among youths with its participation in the "Alive ... and Loving Life" program.

She vowed to better communicate with town residents, and has done so with the advent of the town hall meetings. Her message was to "pursue new opportunities to confront current challenges in what I hope will be a real spirit of community." She certainly has done that.

Sandy Decker has lived up to the promises she made when she took over as mayor a year ago, and there isn't much more can we ask of our elected officials. But she managed to provide even more with the enthusiasm, compassion and caring spirit she brought to the office.

And it's for all of those reasons that we believe Sandy Decker has completed a successful term as mayor of Los Gatos—and that she will take her rightful place among the best who have served the town in that capacity.