Don Brown was recognized with perhaps the longest proclamation in the history of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners and received numerous accolades from his former peers at a recent meeting.

But drawing the biggest response at the Jan. 23 meeting may have been when the former commission chair presented new board Chair Joe Sabatini with a poster board emblazoned with Brown’s pet phrase and what has become the board’s slogan, “One Team … One Mission.”

“You all heard me say it a million times, but I got a little bit bigger version for you,” Brown told Sabatini and the board. “One mission, one team. Commissioner (Sabatini), I trust you to carry on the tradition, keep it up. Remember, you can have this job as long as you want as long as you keep that in mind — who you’re working for.”

Sabatini said afterward that it was “cool” Brown presented it.

“I think everyone got a kick out of it,” Sabatini said. “We’re definitely going to put it up somewhere” in the board office. “We haven’t discussed it yet but we will.”

Brown’s mantra has been so well-received, it is written on commissioners’ business cards, Sabatini noted.

It refers to the non-partisan nature of the board to focus on its primary mission of serving as the county’s legislative branch, monitoring and approving spending.

“We definitely try to keep it that way,” Sabatini said. “We know what our role is and we’re obviously trying to stay in that lane at all times.”

Commissioners also praised Brown, a Republican, for his nonpartisan work over his 34 years as a commissioner, the last four as chair coinciding with Republicans gaining majority control of the board.

Commissioner Harold Haugh, a Democrat from Roseville, who served as Brown’s vice chair and remains in that post, said, “R, D, it never made a difference with the two of us on any issue we discussed.”

Brown called fellow commissioners “friends.”

“It’s not partisanship, it’s friendship,” he said. “That’s why this county is run so well and our finances are strong.”

Brown shocked his colleagues and other officials in the county in December when he announced at a meeting in the county Administration Building in Mount Clemens he would be resigning to take a job as deputy commissioner of government relations in county Public Works under Commissioner Candice Miller, a fellow Republican.

Brown previously worked for Miller when she held prior offices as a member of Congress and Michigan Secretary of State, and called his new post as “a natural fit for me given I’ve shared her passion for the environment and water quality through my long tenure as commissioner.”

As for his replacement, who was named minutes later at the meeting, Brown said: “The district needs a commissioner that’s going to be active and be responsive to them (constituents). I started out a long time ago saying that the first thing is my constituents. I’m going to be responsive to my constituents. They call me, I call back within 24 hours, usually within five minutes.”

Ken Goike was chosen by the board to replace Brown as the district’s representative though Sabatini, who represents District 4, was named to replace Brown as the full-time chair who oversees day-to-operations.

Commissioners also spoke of Brown’s devotion to the entire county as he often would travel from his north-end home to south and central Macomb events, “which meant a lot to me because ultimately we are representing all of Macomb County,” said Commissioner Sarah Lucido, an Eastpointe Democrat.

Other commissioners commented:

Antoinette Wallace, a Mount Clemens Democrat, told Brown she appreciated him “pushing us to be involved, pushing us to learn more and ask questions … making us think beyond what we’re already doing. I learned a lot from you and I think I’ve pushed more because of you and have a stronger voice because of you.”

Sabatini said that the 15 candidates who applied to replace Brown as the District 1 commissioner all “said only great things about Don and never wanted to run against Don because he’s done such a great job.”

Joe Romano, a Sterling Heights Republican, said at after he first joined the board eight years ago, he was “very apprehensive” of Brown. “I voted for you as chair because a good friend on the commission at the time said Don’s a good guy and we should really make him chair,” Romano said. “I was apprehensive but I made a good choice. You go out of your district and support us.”

Phil Kraft, a Chesterfield Township Republican, who worked under Brown on Miller’s congressional staff, said he thought after Brown’s resignation he wouldn’t see him much. But that morning, Kraft attended the State of the Bay Area Address in Chesterfield Township and Brown unexpectedly showed up and sat next to him. “Don’s not going to stop,” Kraft said. “He’s going to continue to work for the people of this county because that’s what he knows. He loves this county, the people of this county, and he loves his work.” Kraft also was among a few commissioners who jokingly took a shot at Miller, who attended the meeting, for hiring Brown away. “We’re mad you took him but understand why you took him.”