##VIDEO ID:8tIs9FYk7Wc## [Music] [Music] hey good evening everyone good evening notice of this meeting stated day place and time has been December ated as required under the open public meetings app chapter 231 pl1 1975 copies of the agenda are also posted on the city's website in lyen TV for the public this meeting is now called to order at this time I'd like to invite Abigail Armstead to come to uh the podium she was going to uh sing The Star bangle batter but she's having some issues with her beautiful voice so she's going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance this evening so I ask everyone to please stand I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Abigail Mr clerk can you please conduct the prayer god of the universe look thou with favor upon these here assembled and bestow thy guidance upon the members of the governing body in their deliberations this we ask in thy name amen amen please be seated in the event of an emergency the proper method of exiting the council chambers is through the three doors in the rear of the room occupants should proceed down the staircase out the front door and move away from the front steps any member of the public wishing to speak during the public comment session at the end of the meeting please sign in on the white sheath provided at the front of the room with your name and address please turn off all cell phones or place them on vibrate if you must take a call please leave the council chambers to do so okay uh members of the council who were elected in the November 5th 2024 general election have subscribed to their Oaths of office prior to January 1st 2025 but for the benefit of the public attendance the officials will repeat the process okay the oath of office will be administered to the following elected or reelected official first we'll start with councilwoman of the First Ward Lisa Orman okay Lisa will be sworn in by mayor Derek Armstead holding the Bible will be your husband Peter also participating are Kiara and chase her children and her beloved mother Annie an Anna Armstead big enough I don't need my [Music] glasses let's move this back [Music] I Sol swear that I will support the constition of the United States of United States and the constition of the state of New Jersey of State newy I will bear true faith in to the same to the and the government established in the United States United States and in this and in this day under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully I willfully and partially andly and perform the duties of the office of first Bo council person per the duties of the office commencing January 1st 2025 Jan janary and expire December 31st 2027 according to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so healthy gu soal [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] schedule is how you know you recognize them and they come to say a few words okay are okay okay mayor can you stay on the floor we're going to have now our newly elected councilman of the ninth ward Alfred Rodriguez come forward he will be sworn in by again mayor Armstead and holding the Bible will be Belinda Nava and I would also ask his mother to come forward Yana Rodriguez [Applause] I know right swear support theti of the United States I will support the of the United States and the of the state newy fa to Will the government established in the united states in the United States and this St the authority of the people of people I will faithfully and 2025 jary andir December 31st 2027 de [Applause] [Music] good okay well they're returning to your seats I just want to acknowledge some of our dignitaries we have here this evening we have Senate President Nicholas qari [Applause] assemblywoman Linda Carter assemblyman Jim Kennedy from our Board of Ed we have uh Brianna Armstead lamari Centron and I'd like to also welcome all of our department heads here this evening thank you for all for coming out okay Senate President would you like to come up and say a few words Madam president thank thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to say just a few words first of all happy New Year to yourself to all the members of the council wish you a a fine year as you've had in in the past and best wishes to the mayor and and the governing body for all the fine work that you've been doing and obviously it's been reflected in the election results uh congratulations the councilman arms uh oron arms there almost councilman Rodriguez uh and uh all the other people that got elected this year congratulations doing a fine job uh uh I love the city I know that the mayor and the council members that do they do this job for the love of uh of the job it's certainly not for the high pay it's uh it's probably less than minimum wage if you give all the hours that these folks put into this job uh but I want to wish you continued success and my continued support from myself as well as my running mates Linda Carter and Jim Kennedy from planfield and from rawe uh we we'll always be there for you whatever we can do to assist and I also want to announce for the members of the public for those who don't know our very own Joe bodic was elevated last night to uh to be the vice chair of the Union County Commissioner board congratulations Joe Joe represents the very best of the city of Lyndon with his volunteerism and his commitment to hard work and uh I know the mayor uh in uh agrees with me that there is a finer individual for the position so with that I want to congratulate all the members of city council and the mayor and wish you another great year of success thanks so much thank you sen of President [Applause] scari okay mayor Armstead I'd like to invite you to come to the seat here and do the state of the city address for us good evening council president yamak kitis elected officials family friends and residents of the great city of London let me begin my annual state of the city address by wishing all of you the happiest and healthiest New Year let us strive to create more inclusive Equitable and sustainable City in which everyone has the opportunity to thrive my S sincerest congratulations to council person Lisa oron on her re-election and councilman Alfred Rodriguez on his election to city council I look forward to continuing to move our city forward by working collaboratively with every member of our city council I'd be remiss if I didn't introduce two new members of our staff uh naticia Clark who is now our business administrator and this is her first week on the job and I'm looking forward to working with her and Tyra Chapman who will be acting as our chief of staff natia would you please [Applause] stand and Tyra would you please [Applause] stand I would also like to congratulate our Board of Education members who are reelected Dr marlein bergheimer Who I don't think is here this evening lamari Centron and Antonette Pino Dr bergheimer congratulations on being reassigned as the president of the Board of Education and Malaysia Thomas congratulations on being reassigned as the vice president of the Board of Education we all share in ensuring that our children receive a quality education which represents the key to their future success and to the continued prosperity of our city the entire city of Lyndon benefits tremendously by having having a board of education that works in unison with our municipal government together we work hard not only to achieve this goal but to create a thriving Community it is my honor to begin my 11th year as your mayor my family has been in the city of Lyndon for nearly 100 years in fact in 2027 it will be 100 years [Applause] while the role of Mayor comes with an immense responsibility and challenges it off it also offers a unique opportunity to serve and make a lasting positive impact on our community much has happened since I was sworn in as mayor in January 2015 and I'm happy to report to you today that the city of Lyndon is financially sound ever expanding and on a path to continued success as your mayor I have the power and responsibility to help shape the future of this city and to make decisions that directly impact the lives of our residents our unique approach to Economic Development has made Lind an affordable attracted business created jobs supported local economies and stabilized taxes we've had the fortune to lower taxes numerous times and would like to continue doing so and I know that we can we've created a solid tax base both residential and Commercial when I first took office a large part of our industrial base had vanished as a city we had to reinvent ourselves economically a task that seemed virtually insurmountable so we embarked on an aggressive campaign of Redevelopment that helped us stabilize taxes here are just some of our accomplishments however before I begin to list our accomplishments I'd like to say give a special thanks to our planner Paul Ricky and our ledc director Alex asosa in Lyon we have a record of over 24,000 plus Lyon residents who have secured jobs in this town our unemployment rate continues to be below the national average our Lyon first program continues to assist in securing employment for all Lyon residents our downtown area has a very low vacancy rate and continues to employ hundreds of residents fresh realm once known as Blue Apron employs thousands of workers many of them who are lending residents the Super Walmart located at our Legacy Square shopping center employs hundreds of employees most of which come from London also our Legacy Square development is close to 90% occupied the list of tenants include our leg in in our Legacy Square development are as follows AFC Urgent Care Aspen Dental Super Walmart Taco Bell Starbucks Panera Bread Chick-fil-A Wawa Foot Locker Panda Express tropical Smoothie Cafe Wing Stop kids Empire LA Fitness and blue Sunday along with other establishments some are now referring to us as lyndon's Food Mart on the highway we will soon be welcoming holiday and express Dave's Hot Chicken Duck Donuts and Blaze Pizza the Renaissance continues here in Lyon lynon has become Lyon has also become a leader in renewable energy some of our green projects are Aries clean energy this biosolid gasification facility which is the first in New Jersey converts sewage into a valuable bi a valuable bofy Ash used in the manufacturing of concrete this renewable project when completed and fully operational will generate $440,000 annual for Lyon with $40,000 being used to train lyen high school students in Waste Water treatment and gasification Technologies and we've been waiting for this project to go online for quite some time now and we're just we're right at the finish line on April 16th 2024 RNG energy broke ground on a$ 400 million million doll facility this facility will convert food waste into natural gas for heat and power and produce an a an agricultural byproduct this development will reduce greenhouse gas emissions will also create hundreds of construction and permanent jobs the revenue to the city from project will be well over $1 million annually when they're up and running as you can see with these three green projects alone the city will will receive close to $2 million per year while saving the city the maintenance and Engineering fees at the landfill I'm proud of our efforts to reduce the carbon footprint and to make Lyon a green City here are some projects that have been completed in our and are close to completion City Village is a site which was vacant for almost 40 years and will bring us $12 million to our city coffers over the next 30 Years Maria's lifestyle too is another key component to our Transit village Village this project will bring approximately $16 million to the city's cfers Meridia 1,1 the former United laa property which was which is was another abandoned site is projected to provide an addition $30 million in Municipal tax revenue over 30 years and will soon be completed the Lyon station departments a project on the old JTG scaffolding site will add approximately $25 million to our tax base over the next 30 Years wood spring Suits Hotel and Cub smart located on East Lindon Avenue is fully operational and the city will receive approximately $13 million over the next 30 Years where we would only have received $1 million over 30 years had it not been developed Advanced Greek is located at the linen listic Center warehousing District in tremley point approximately 3.5 million square ft has been completed with another 1 million to go lastly the FedEx located on 2025 Brunswick Avenue a newly constructed Warehouse of 500,000 Square ft has replaced a number of antiquated structures that weren't generating Revenue I'm happy to report that this development has been completed and the city has beg receiving revenues there are close to 8 million square feet of warehousing that has been con constructed under this Administration recently the the government has mandated that cities like Lyndon address the affordable housing issues affordable housing has been a growing challenge with increased demands of population growth stagnant wages and economic inequality I currently have a team working on this project addressing this complex issue requires a multipronged approach that involves government action private sector involvement and Community engagement the city of Lyon is up for the challenge I'd be remiss if I didn't mentioned the city's Workforce all who work hard to make Lyon success a successful town and a great place to live I incredibly grateful for each of you and the contributions you make every day beyond development our Focus lies on fostering growth in the community in Lyon this Administration is committed and it will be continue to be committed to Bringing residents together through events that build Unity we thank our volunteers including the mar youth commission the linen cultur and Heritage committee and the special improvement district who work tirelessly to make events like kids the park day Unity day cultural festivals back to school events breakfast with Santa and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies of reality a special Thanks goes out to Sandy Jackson for her efforts anything that goes on in this city you can trust and believe that Sandy Jackson and her husband who volunteers Michael Jackson will be there giving not 100% % but 200% before concluding I must acknowledge my family to my mother my father who's always in my thoughts my siblings your unwavering love and belief in me through all of life's challenges have shown me that anything is possible to my wife Danny who runs all my campaigns designs all my literature and puts up with me how she does it is beyond me and my children Erica Brianna Ashton Ryan and Abigail thank you for your continued support your patience and understanding mean the world to me I'm incredibly proud and fortunate to have you all in my life I love you all dearly lastly but not least I'd like to thank two individuals Jerry bishop and Rebecca tooli for their diligence in helping to make Lyndon the great City that it is you both have played a critical part in the success of this Administration and you will be missed they're both retiring at the end of this month in closing let's continue to celebrate lyndon's diversity a community rich in backgrounds languages and faiths let's continue to extend a warm welcome to those who are seeking a better life here because they'll find it here and let me tell you all may God bless you may God bless this great city of London and may God bless the United States of America thank you all for your continued support and good night [Applause] thank you mayor Armstead okay at this time I'm going to call upon our city clerk to present the certificates election from the county clerk Joanne rppi on behalf of our County Clerk who couldn't be here this evening she has certificates of election for uh Mrs normon and for Mr Rodriguez marking this occasion as there being sworn in for for their seat on the city council okay mayor Armstead I'd like to also ask you to do presentation from our congresswoman we have certificate of special Congressional recognition um to The Honorable councilwoman Lisa Oran um it reads in recognition of your re-election as a member of the lynon city council thank you for your continued commitment to servicing the residents of Lyon and your community and it's signed by L Monica M mcgyver she's a member of Congress our new member of Congress and we have one also for Alfred Rodriguez and again it reads to The Honorable councilman Alfred Rodriguez in recognition of your election as a member of the member of the city of Lyon Council thank you for your commitment to serving the residents of your community and again signed by the Monica mcgrier um member of Congress thank you mayor okay uh Mr clerk can we please call the role Mrs oron here javic here Caldwell present Mohammad here Rivas present Strano here Armstead here Rodriguez here Hudak here Mrs yamus here okay we'll now move move on to presentations a public comment for members of the public not to see three minutes I'd like to uh first call up Thomas shakas you please turn the eyes go ahead say my name Thomas hakius 921 mcgil Place Lon New Jersey um happy New Year everyone I just um let me introduce myself first uh I am the President of the Lyon City Democratic Club and I would just like to congratulate our reelected and newly elected candidate um and thank you first I'll start with Lisa um first uh the councilwoman of the First Ward um thank you for being a strong member of the team and always working with the mayor and the rest of the team um I know you will help our new candidate I mean our new elected official um join the team uh Alfred um welcome and um yeah happy New Year and I just want to uh give a small token of the club's appreciation on behalf of the club so thank you thank you okay thank you okay Danny oring you going come up [Music] hello hello everyone happy New Year you all look great today um I just want to take this opport thank you love the glasses um I want to take this opportunity to congratulate councilwoman um Oran um this was a tough race um you know uh I think it was the first time we had a uh a strong presidential election in which we had a very popular um um president runan well he wasn't a president he was the the uh former president but it was really exciting it was challenging and I want to congratulate you and um Alfred congratulation I know this was not easy I know uh unfortunately it got very ugly and a lot of things were said but I would like to congratulate you for maintaining your dignity and um you remain positive at all time and I kept telling you just just be positive uh I know it was very difficult you know when the negative things were being said but you stayed positive and you stayed the course and I think at the end of the night at the end of the day the residents of the ninth World realized that we want positivity in lynon we want unity in L in lynon and congratulations thank you Danny okay well now move on to coms um first uh can we have a motion to close the public comment portion of the meeting council president I make a motion to close the um public portion of the meeting and ask for a second please second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yakes yes we'll now move on to comments from members of the council I'm going to call upon our newly reelected councilwoman from the First Ward first councilwoman Lisa ormon thank you council president first of all I'd like to just wish everyone in the First Ward a happy New Year it was a wonderful holiday season because For the First Time in such a long time we had three celebrations that ran together K Quanza Christmas and Hanukkah which is truly the feeling that I have when it comes to the community that I'm serving I have always referred to the First Ward as my family my extended family and I've had the pleasure to serve you for the last nine years and I thank you one and all for allowing me to have three more years to be your public servant with the political climate that we had this year it made it even sweeter because I did have a a opponent this year probably for the first time who stayed on my heels but it made it even sweeter because there were so many people that came out regardless of their party affiliation and said Lisa we believe you are the person for the job so I thank you my Republican friends as well as my Democrat friends for believing in me and allowing me once again to serve you for the next three years but it's not without other people that were behind me that really made this all possible so first of all I'm going to say thank you to the man who married me 30 years ago know everybody his name is not Mr Armstead it is Mr oron so when everyone says Lisa AR that I still do answer but I was so proud and more than glad to take his name and to be his wife without him believing in me and allowing me to do this I would not do it and we actually had you know a time where he was like nope you can be done and then finally he was like Lisa just go and do it because I was doing so much anyway so I want to thank you with all my heart because you allow me to do what makes me smile and what what I like to do and I can't do it without you to my kids that Kira girl I have to tell everyone that there were many times that we had clean towels and clean underwear while I was out politicking because my daughter made sure that she took care of so many things when I was out she learned how to cook to make sure that Daddy and her brother had a meal so I thank you sweetheart for doing that because you are great and mommy loves you for it to my siblings you're always there for me to pinch unconditionally can you do this can you do that I have a meeting and and you're always there for me and I just like I said you know Daddy taught us that we are more than just a family we are Armstead strong to my mother who's 90 years old thank you Mom for everything for making me who I am for giving me a love of books and reading for making me always want to do the right thing and like I said this lady's 90 years old and she's probably the only person I'm scared of still through this day but last but not least the person that I really want to say thank you to is the man that every body else knows as the mayor and I just know him as he's my brother um when we were growing up I knew there was always going to be one person that would fight a girl if they bothered me he would make sure that I was always taken care of protected and just he couldn't have been a better big brother so when it came time for politics he believed in me when I didn't believe in myself so I thank you for pushing me that little extra bit when I said no I'm not quite sure and you were like I'm sure even if you're not you were sure Derek and I appreciate that um cuz you remind me of daddy in that aspect you know we didn't believe in ourselves we always had somebody to say that we could do it and the word can't was never allowed to be part of our vocabulary so my wish for the next three years is to continue to make not only you proud mayor but to make my family proud to make the ward proud to let them know that I'm going to depend on them to make sure that we continue to strive for what I believe in and what the ward believes in and that's a un that's Unity within our community may the Jewish the Muslim the Christian Community bind together look out for one another and continue to make the First Ward what I call a friendly and Family Focus Community thank you again once again everyone and I like I said I promise to do whatever I can to continue to serve you with the best of my ability thank you councilman Alfred Rodriguez thank you council president good evening everyone and happy New Years I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the ninth Ford residents for your support your commitment to our community makes lynon a better place for everyone I especially want to thank my partner Melinda Nava for her unwavering support I can't I couldn't have done this without her I also owe a deep thanks to my parents who are the reason I am here today thank you Mom additionally I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Mayor Derek Armstead council president Michelle yamus and my fellow council members your leaderships and dedication to our community inspired me and I look forward to collaborating with each one of you as we work together to as we work together to keep making our city great thank you once again for your support and with that council president I conclude my report thank you councilman okay councilman javic yes council president I would just like to congratulate our uh newly reelect well our reelected and newly elected officials and uh I look forward to working with you in the coming year and I want to wish everyone uh in the city of Lyndon a healthy and happy and prosperous 2025 I will save my ward report for our regular January meeting thank you Council Council woman call well thank you council president happy New Year everyone I want to uh congratulate Lisa Orman on her reelection she has been a mentor to me and I wouldn't be as successful as I've been without her leadership so I just wish you well and congratulations Alfred Rodriguez councilman Rodriguez I wish you the best best and if you need to reach out to me you know my number you can call me or text me and I will help you out that's for team there's no iron team and I just want to just say something brief for the Third Ward we have a community meeting on March 25th 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lyndon Public Library um 31 East Henry Street in the Columbia room on the third floor and that concludes my report thank you council president thank you councilwoman councilman Alfred muhammd good evening congratulations to Lisa Arman councilor woman of the First Ward and congratulations to um Alfred Rodriguez I I love to her the sound of Alfred again well if you study the history of Alfred he was a king that United the Saxons and the anglos we we're going to organ we're going to we are going to serve not as a king but ser as a unifying force for this great City behind our great mayor and our council president and to each and every one of you the citizens of the city of Lyon 50 years ago if you had told me I would be in Lyndon I would say I got a bridge for you to sell and then I would ask you where is it and then I found that they said leave it to Lyon and I did second that motion the greatest City on the planet Earth God bless each and every one of you in Lyndon and God bless the government body thank you Happy New Years and what prosperous New Years to enjoy thank you councilman councilman Rens thank you madam president good morning good evening citizens of Lyndon first and foremost I would like to extend my uh greatest uh wishes for a 2025 prosperous healthy and happy New Year I'd like to uh all always continue to praise the job of all of the city workers and for all of them our gratitude for everything that they do to keep this city of Lyon moving forward I also want to congratulate uh the re-election of our Council woman in the first world Lisa Orman and of our Council man of nine World alred Rodriguez are will more than happy and always ready and happy available to help in the case of any of you need of my assistance I would like to said lynon is a great City Lyon is a city that continues to drive and we need to keep moving it Forward I would like to thank our mayor I would like to thank everyone in the government Mar for everything that what everything that we're doing in order to do so for all of you who knows that hard work that we do do not ever hesitate to reach out that will complete my complete my report Madame President thank you everyone thank you councilman Ras councilman Strano thank you council president I'd like to Echo those comments from my colleagues first I'd like to congratulate councilwoman Lisa AR run on her reelection and also Al uh councilman Alfred Rodriguez I'm being elected and I look forward to uh working with you in the next year um I know we always have a lot of work to do and uh public doesn't get to see it but it's we do the work that keeps the city moving forward uh we have great staff we have great employees in this city uh and believe me um the city would be a much different place if it wasn't for their efforts and what they accomplished for us they make us look good and I want to thank them thank the mayor for his guidance thank the council president for keeping us wrapped together because it's not an easy job either and um I just want to wish everybody a Happy New Year and uh look forward toh 2025 it's going to be an interesting year with the governor's race coming up so um and I think a couple of us are up to as well um and thank you for letting me make my comments thank you councilman councilman Armstead yes thank you council president first I'd like to say to everybody um happy New Year and I hope you all have a prosperous 2025 I'm going to start off with congratulating my sister Lisa oron very proud of you and I just know that right now that my father is looking down on us he's got to be proud he's got three children not one but he has three three children on this board and I've saw the work that has been been done I saw the selflessness um the hard work and a hard grind and that's what it takes to be a good council person so I am definitely trying to follow in the footsteps of you and my brother and the other Council people I see a lot of good things done here and I am really glad to see it um to my friend Alfred my new friend Alfred I am really proud of how you just pushed on and I know about the negative comments because I dealt with them myself you are going to do fine I just had to learn that you have to have tough skin and people going to say good things about you and people going to say bad things about you as long as you know who you are and you keep to the grind and you do for the people you will be all right congratulations that's what I have for today thank you councilman councilwoman Hudak thank you congratulations to our Mr bodc I'm becoming the vice chairman of the Board of Commissioners and to councilwoman Orman and councilman Rodriguez on their reelection and thank you to everyone who went out to vote in this recent election cycle that concludes my report thank you councilwoman okay I too would like to also Echo um the comments uh from the Das congratulate my colleague in the First Ward councilwoman oron who is also my uh partner in crime they call us fman Louise together so I look forward to working with you again councilman Rodriguez anything you need you know I'm a phone call away I'd like to also um remind everyone this year is our 100th anniversary of the city of Lyon becoming Incorporated so we look forward to many events coming up this year we're going to be having a surprise very soon for the council um something we're putting together so stay tuned for that I'd like to also uh say to the council members thank you for everything that you do as um councilman Strat said it's it's keep us all together um we go to that caucus room we have questions that we need answered but that's what it's all about that's the time um no question is um a wrong question that's how we educate each other so thank you keep asking the questions uh I look forward to working with all of you uh you make the mayor's job and my job easy with all you do so we thank you and I wish everyone in the city of lynon a happy New Year um we look forward to working with everyone please if you need anything reach out to the mayor myself or any of the council members okay mayor do you have any you'd like to say I thought my speech covered everything okay I did okay good enough thank you mayor okay council at this time needs to elect a president of council prot temporary are there any nominations yes I'd like to nominate councilman Ralph Strano and ask for a second second second okay should I accept the nomination okay would you like I was going to give you a choice but okay do we have a roll call Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Strano abstain Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yikas yes I'd like to call upon our city clerk to swear in our president of council prot temporary Ralph Strano would Mary best Strano would also like to come up [Music] I I Ral Strano do solemnly swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform the duties of the office of council prot temp okay you done okay and justly perform the duties of the office as Council Pro 10 according to the best of my ability for I okay according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God Zoe tried to add in more [Music] words congratulations councilman Str thank you mayor Armstead yes now I have a comment I'd like to congratulate my good friend councilman Ralph Strano and becoming councilman Council pre Council protm Council Pres president protm and uh just to give everybody a little history what the council president protm is he becomes the acting mayor if uh if I'm not around he can sign bills uh if I should become incapacitated becomes the act acting mayor um but uh it has always gone to and one of one of the things we've managed to accomplish here U is giving it to the most senior council member not the most senior citizen council member but the most senior the guy who served the longest and it's kind of like kept the peace amongst uh people for vying for the position because they know that if he decides that he doesn't want it well the next person in seniority will get it that's that's not no law or rule that says we have to do it that way but we just do it that way and and it seems to work well for our uh this Administration um but Ralph uh deserves it um uh Ralph's not only a council colleague we we came on Council right about the same time seems like yesterday when when his first meeting occurred um he's not only a good councilman uh he's he's he's a good father uh he's actually The Godfather for one of my sons Ashton um we're fishing buddies um uh he um I'm just trying to think of all the things he he's oh he he repaired my boiler one time I had a boiler that went crazy Ralph came over straightened it out um he he repairs I got a car problem call Ralph any kind of problem we have uh call Ralph you know what I mean like he's like the the e-man the everything man so um he's just a great guy great friend and uh I'm happy that he's the council president protm and I know in my absence that uh he he'll be able to sign those bills and get everything done right congratulations again sir thank you mayor all right can can I say a few words sure so I'd like to thank my colleagues for uh their vote of confidence number one um you know that's like saying that you know you there's some respect for um my um voice of reasoning my wife would argue with that but um the things the mayor said you know U are nice things that he said but we're just you know we were we were struggling individuals when we were younger and we first got on board we were we got our beaten on a regular basis and uh well we we survived I actually the mayor survived a lot better than I did they they came after me and they got me they didn't get him and um it's just a it's an honor for me to be in this position I don't take it lightly um Ser I take it serious and you know and I I'll try to do my best if it comes down to me having to sign something I'll see if I can you know uh Forge your name really good and we'll take it from there but I just want to say thank you to everybody for that I it's a um it is an honor and and I do do appreciate and I appreciate everybody on this Council thank you thank you thank you councilman okay we have a few resolutions this evening we have resolutions 20241 through 20247 can I have a motion please council president I'd like to make a motion that we adopt resolutions 2025-the Mohamed yes yes yes yes Rodriguez yes yes yes okay we have no ordinances on first reading this evening um so at this time I'd like to give out our Council assignments for our committees you pass these down okay okay um those are the committee assignments for our members of the governing body so um if you have any questions please call me okay I'd like to also take this opportunity to announce uh that following this meeting um guests and friends were invited by mayor Armstead council president Michelle yam midus and L Lyon City Democratic Club to attend a reception with light refreshments and snacks at the JTG center located around the quarter from City Hall at uh 10 Helen Street okay so again we invite everybody there after this meeting our next council meeting will be as follows Council conference meeting prior to the council meeting Tuesday January 21st at 5:00 p.m. in the council conference room City Hall C council meeting Tuesday January 21st at 7 p.m. in the council chambers there will be no council conference meeting on Monday January 20th as it is the Martin Luther King uh Jr holiday can we have a motion to adjourn please point of order council president could I just make one more comment i' I'd like to also congratulate my good friend our city clerk Joe bodic on being uh elected as the uh Vice chair of this city of County of Union uh commissioners board and um without just mention that you know in my little statement that without his help and the mayor's help I surely wouldn't be here thank you thank you okay can we have a motion to adjourn please council president I'd like to make a motion to adjourn and ask for a second please Mrs ormont yes javic yes Caldwell Mohammed yes revas yes Strano yes Armstead yes Rodriguez yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes okay please join us everyone at JTG Center thank you [Music] [Music]