Wade Byers: “Community service is a calling”

This is the second in a series of profiles on the seven members of the Clackamas ESD Board of Directors. Our elected board governs the ESD, setting policy, and hiring and managing the superintendent. Board members represent the geographic diversity of Clackamas County, and bring a range of life experiences to their ESD work. They are a vital part of our team, and we want you to know them better.

If the term “homegrown” applies to anyone on the Clackamas ESD Board of Directors, it’s Wade Byers, who has called Clackamas County home for nearly his entire life.

With only short stints away to earn a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Washington and to serve in the Army, he has lived in Gladstone for more than 70 years, primarily working in the industrial equipment industry and serving as an extremely active volunteer. 

Wade was appointed to fill an open position on the CESD board in 2018 and was elected to the role in 2019. He is in his second year as board vice chair. But he is no stranger to community service, as anyone who lives in Gladstone can attest. He’s contributed time to causes as varied as the Jaycees and the Gladstone School District budget committee, and he also served a term on the Gladstone City Council. But he may be best known as the former mayor of Gladstone, a position he held from 1979 to 2015. And even more remarkably, he never missed a regular city council meeting in those 36 years.

“I never really pondered how long I was mayor,” Wade says. “In elected office it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been there, it’s, ‘What have you done for us lately?’”

He has become a master of the art of compromise, believing it’s important to focus on trying to make the best decision instead of trying to make everyone happy. He jokes that as mayor, “if everybody walked out of the meeting shaking their heads, I knew we made the right decision.”

“It’s important to have a sense of your community,” Wade says. “I tried to take care of the people who live in Gladstone, respond to their needs. One thing about city government: It’s accessible. People can see a city council member or mayor in the store and talk to them.”

The shift to education service wasn’t much of a leap; his father served on the Gladstone school board decades ago, so education board service runs in his family. Since joining the CESD board, Wade has quickly climbed the learning curve and is enthused about the value we offer to our district partners.

“I believe that in striving for fiscal economy, ESDs provide services at better prices than districts would be able to afford themselves – small districts especially,” Wade says. “We make the job of various school districts easier, provide services they would struggle to support on their own.” 

Wade is an avid sports fan (he notes he’s been to seven Rose Bowls with his Washington Huskies, and seen five victories), and loves seeing the many ways young people are allowed to shine. One of his favorite experiences of his CESD board service so far has been the annual spring art show, an event he describes as a “home run” that shows off students’ creativity and gives them opportunities to earn art scholarships.

His appreciation for the breadth of CESD’s role is reinforced with what he refers to as the “feel good moments” he experiences at every board meeting, when impact of our broad work is discussed.

“The needs of a child are very consuming,” he says. “We’re in a position to make a difference in young people’s and families lives. I enjoy being a part of it.”

In addition to his current service on the CESD board, Wade also is a member of the Clackamas Community College budget committee and of the Clackamas County Historical Society Board of Directors.

After decades of community service, what keeps driving him?

“I enjoy it. My view of the world is, the lower the level of government, the more efficiency you can provide and the more you can get done. Local governments can’t afford to make mistakes,” Wade notes. “An incredible amount of work in our society is done by volunteers. To me, community service is not a hobby. It’s not like fishing or going bowling on Thursday. It’s a calling.”