Dear Friends and Neighbors of House District 94: On December 7, I will have completed my fourth and final term as your representative to the Maine Legislature because of term limits. Owen Casas will be sworn in that day as your new State Rep and I offer him my congratulations.

It has been a wonderful eight years and a real privilege to work for you and for our state in the legislature. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you for spending time with me at your doors during four elections. Thank you for the many e-mails, phone calls and letters sharing your thoughts and guiding my decisions on important issues. For me, serving in the legislature is a culmination of my thirty years of non-profit executive work.

Everyone in Augusta is a leader in their own right and all the accomplishments are due to collaboration and compromise, despite the tendency of the press to magnify the areas of disagreement. I am proud to have served four years as House Chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee where, working with my Senate counterpart, we passed a record number of bills by unanimous vote out of committee. Having the Chair position also meant that I was part of House Speaker Mark Eve’s team working to move the state forward.

Most of all, I’m grateful for the many people I have come to know that I would not have known otherwise. Many of you have not always agreed with my position on issues. Yet I have so appreciated your continued willingness to inform me of your views and for continuing to broaden my understanding of complex issues.

I look forward to even more discussions at the grocery store, on walks through town and at various events in our community. I am so grateful to live here and to have had the opportunity to meet and know so many of you. Working for you in the legislature has been a true privilege, pleasure and valued experience. Thank you again.

Representative Joan Welsh lives in Rockport