The board of county commissioners, which makes its exit Friday, ended its last public meeting with many tears, a few chuckles and one declaration of love.

"I love you guys," Lancaster resident April Koppenhaver confessed Wednesday to Chairman Dick Shellenberger, Molly Henderson and Sharron Nelson. "Thank you for being on planet Earth with me."

Nothing but kind words concluded a tumultuous four-year tenure for Shellenberger and Henderson, who weathered a stain on their reputations after selling the county nursing home, Conestoga View, and then pleading guilty to violating the state open-meetings law.

For Nelson, who was appointed about a year ago to replace former commissioner Pete Shaub, it will be goodbye as well.

Newbies Dennis Stuckey, Scott Martin and Craig Lehman will be sworn into the county's top seats on Friday afternoon.

"It's been a great four years," Shellenberger said Wednesday morning. "And I have to tell you — probably one of the fastest four years of my life."

Glancing through wet eyes at a prepared list of accomplishments, Shellenberger credited the board for "birthing" the consortium of several dozen different community groups working on prison issues — the Re-entry Management Organization.

He said the board delivered on its promise of fiscal conservatism, in part by downsizing the employment base with the sale of Conestoga View.

Highlighting a personal favorite, Shellenberger boasted about the county's newly acquired number-one rank in the nation for most acres of preserved farmland.

With more than 73,000 acres preserved, Lancaster surpassed Montgomery County, Md., for the first time since 2002, leading by 3,800 acres.

While Shellenberger and Henderson were reluctant to shift funding away from any agriculturally related initiatives, Nelson sometimes questioned whether non-farming county residents are being left out of such perks.

Nelson butted heads with Shellenberger during the budget process last year, asking for more money for transportation improvements and for an additional grant for Central Market.

While they did not always agree, Koppenhaver extended a thank-you to Nelson for her "listening abilities" and for always being friendly and courteous.

In part, Republican Shellenberger — who chose not to run for re-election — and Democrat Henderson — who was defeated in November — have earned Koppenhaver's love for their opposition to the public backing of bonds for the downtown hotel and convention center.

When the board attempted to reverse the guarantee brokered by the previous administration, legal battles ensued and Koppenhaver signed on as a plaintiff.

The ongoing $170 million project is being financed with private and public money. Late last year, the commissioners and the Convention Center Authority agreed that paying off the debt will always take priority over other spending, formalizing a condition already built into the Authority's budget last year.

Reflecting on her four years in office, Henderson said: "The thing I enjoy most in life is learning."

Her teachers, she said, have been the public, department heads and colleagues.

Henderson, who was once a professor of public health at Millersville University, said she would like to return to teaching.

Shellenberger, who operated a restaurant before becoming commissioner four years ago, said he is pursuing two employment leads, neither of them in the restaurant business but perhaps dealing with food.

Nelson was a retired Manheim Township School District superintendent before she stepped up to the commissioner's post. She has said she will stay retired, serving on boards and as a committeeperson in the Republican Party.

"I feel Lancaster County is in a better position now," Henderson told the scarcely attended Wednesday meeting audience.

There have been changes, she said.

"Change is a sign of being open, listening, of experimenting and moving on.

"Change, on the whole, moves us forward," she said.

Other changes highlighted by the board Wednesday include:

• Allocation of $1.2 million to the Crime Coalition.

• Hiring Don Lefever as in-house legal counsel, replacing outside contractors.

• Choosing an East Hempfield Township site for the new forensic center.

• Giving $1 million each to the North West Corridor and the Academy of Music.

• Adding $300,000 in matching fund grants to the library's annual $2 million grant.

• Resurfacing Conewago Trail.

• Adding acres to Money Rocks Park.

• Appropriating $2 million for bridge repair in 2008.

• Acquiring the former Armstrong building at 150 N. Queen St. and beginning renovations to move in all county administrative offices.

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