If Steve Bauer slept in the last four years it must have been sparingly. The 65-year-old county commissioner seemed to be everywhere at once.

We saw him at citizen council meetings, ferry advisory committee meetings, fundraisers and park openings. We watched him preside over town hall forums and Hansville speed table debates that simmered late into the night.

Bauer was quick to champion a proposal and honest enough to call out a lost cause. First, though, he would always listen.

Community members say Bauer had a knack for bringing disparate groups together. His skill was tested in 2010 as the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Suquamish tribes clashed with Olympic Property Group and the county over the North Kitsap Legacy Partnership. The mood was “adversarial” at times, S’Klallam Tribal Chairman Jeromy Sullivan said, but Bauer was always eager to listen. With Bauer’s help, Olympic representatives met with S’Klallam Tribal Council in January, turning a new leaf in the Partnership discussion.

Sometimes Bauer seemed too willing to listen. He met with warring Hansville speed table groups over the course of three years, weathering a stream of personal attacks. Bauer stuck to the process doggedly, working mend the tear in the community’s fabric, until the last hope of resolution had evaporated.

The need to “spend more time with family” is a favorite refrain for politicians looking to gracefully depart the public sphere. But when Bauer invoked his family in his January resignation letter we suspended our cynicism. We knew just how many nights he’d devoted to listening to his neighbors in cold conference rooms and muggy basements.

We can only hope his successor will match his energy.