##VIDEO ID:bEpqPaWp6e4## [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e Gump oh yes it is C all right all right thank you sir thank you very much it's an honor to be called this evening to offer a prayer at this important County Commission meeting as County Commission meetings go this is as important a meeting as uh as we get and a lot is facing the county and this commission and it's always been the case in our Republic that whenever we have challenges we have prayer so it's appropriate that we go to prayer this evening before this meeting and the challenging term that awaits you such has been the case since revolutionary days when um at the opening of the First Continental Congress on September 7 1774 this prayer or parts of that prayer that was prayed then when there were challenges against the very lives of those who served in that first Continental Congress took place they weren't sure about their fam's safety and their well-being their challenges ahead of you all hopefully not that severe but hopefully this prayer will still apply be thou present oh god of wisdom and direct the Council of this honorable assembly enable them to settle all things on the best and shest foundations that truth and Justice religion and piety Prevail and flourish among the people preserve the health of their bodies and the Vigor of their minds Lord we join in this prayer today that was prayed ages ago these assembled here are no less important to to us than they were in that first Continental Congress and we do lift them up to you asking that you give them wisdom and that you provide for those who are about to join the joy to be about the work you've called them it's in your name we pray amen amen thank you okay would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please Al to of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all thank you now our newly elected Commissioners will be sworn in first we have district one commissioner Katie Delaney to be sworn in by Kevin Jeffrey please okay repeat after me I Katie Delaney I Katie Delaney do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support protect protect and defend the Constitution and and defend the Constitution defend the Constitution and the government of the United States and the government of the United States and of the State of Florida and of the State of Florida and that I am duly qualified and I am d qualifi to hold office to hold office under the constitution of the State under the constitution of the state and that I will well and faithfully and that I will well and Faithfully perform the duties perform the duties of Bard County Commissioners district one of Bard County Commission District on which I am now of which time now about to enter about to enter so help me congratulations K Katie please join us okay welcome welcome now we have now we have District three Kim Atkins to be sworn in by the honorable Judge Tisha blue [Applause] I Kimberly Atkinson I Kimberly Atkinson do solemnly swear we solemnly swear that I will support protect and defend that I will support attack and defend the Constitution the Constitution and government of the United States and government of the unit stat and of the State of Florida and that I am duly qualified and that I'm duly qualified to hold office under the constitution of the state to hold office under the constitution of the state and that I will well and Faithfully perform that I will well and Faithfully perform the duties of board of County Commissioners the duties of board of County Commissioners District 3 on which I am now about to enter on which I am now about to enter so help me God so help me God congratulations commissioner if you would now join us please thank you congratulations finally last but not least we have District Five commissioner th Alman also to be sworn in by judge blue commissioner please ready I'm ready please raise your right hand that makes it easier Alman I thatat Alman solemnly swear solemnly swear that I will support protect and defend that I will support protect and defend the Constitution the Constitution and government of the United States and government of the United States and of the State of Florida and of the State of Florida that I am duly qualified that I am duly qualified to hold office to hold office under the constitution of the State under the constitution of the state and that I will well and Faithfully that and that I will well and Faithfully perform the duties of perform the duties of board of County Commissioners District by Board of County Commissioners District 5 on which I am now about to enter of which I am now about to enter so help me God so help me God congratulations commissioner if you will now join us please now we will move into the election of the chair and vice chair our last chair was Jason Steel in District Five so therefore Commission commissioner Alman can't serve in District 5 as chairman at this time uh once elected the chair and vice Cher will Ser for a year and to the next organizational meeting okay with that being said I would like to nominate Rob feltner as chair do I have a second I'd like to Second thank you okay all in favor say I I I yandis chair now it's you he only did that so that uh he could not have to do this anymore tonight but this is a happy meeting so appreciate everyone coming here tonight it's it's always uh a happy event when we SAR swear in new Commissioners and tonight we have three it's not lost on me that 60% of this board is is new and so welcome all of you we have a lot of work ahead of us in the next year but I know that you're all uh very capable uh let's do a housekeeping issue and then we'll go to board reports and in that you can um thank everyone who supported you you know it's not a it's not a small thing uh to win an election we know that so there's a lot I'm sure there's a lot of folks for you to think so uh with that we also need a vice chair and so it's is there a nomination for vice chair okay I would like to make a motion for commissioner Goodson to be our next Vice chair okay have a motion okay uh we have a motion by commissioner ainson we have a second by commissioner Alman all in favor say I I all right that's dangerous I'm telling you all right we're in a world we're in a world of trouble if I'm not here is that what you're saying okay all right okay very good uh with that uh tonight we're just going to we're just going to go to board reports and this will be your opport I'm sorry did I miss I got off script already no I don't know if you wanted to offer everyone an opportunity to thank anyone or make any comments the individual Commissioners uh I guess that's why I was thinking on board report okay so okay so uh with that let's just go in um in order uh commissioner Delaney you recognized as I look I don't know if this is on or not okay can you all hear me as I look out tonight I see so many of my friends and supporters um I wouldn't be I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for all of you um my my husband and my family my three kids my mom and dad um Kevin and Joyce there's so many people I I would be here literally for days um if I named every single person that helped me along this way and um the one thing that I can promise to you all is that I am the same person as I am today as I've been the past x amount of years fighting for what's right and I'm not going to stop now so um I hope that with this uh new board we're going to have a different tone the public trust is something that I hold near and dear to my heart and if anybody has any things to celebrate any things that they need help with I will always be here um and I'm just so excited to get to work and I have to give a shout out to our firefighters um thank you all so much for everything that you do on a daily basis um for this community and just know that I will be fighting for yall so thank you so much and thank you to my new [Applause] board all right commissioner ainson you're recognized thank you so I wrote mine because I know that if I tried to do this um off the cuff I'll get emotional and start to cry so if you could bear with me while I read this um first I want to thank you all for being here I am so grateful for the incredible privilege of serving as the next District 3 County Commissioner I need to say thank you to my family and my friends who are here supporting me today uh you walked in the ridiculously hot summer you knocked on doors in the rain you put your own reputations on the line for me I will make you proud I all owe all of you a a serious debt of gratitude I'm here today to be a county commissioner for all of Bard County the only thing I ever promised anyone is that I would listen and work for all of our residents that's what I intend to do I know that we're going to find common ground and work together to address all the challenges as they arise and we know that they will each of us has our own vision for Bard's future based on our individual life experiences we're neighbors we have have to listen to each other during the campaign I had the privilege of listening to many unique stories of the people in District 3 neighborhood leaders who asked me to help address concerns that they had from traffic to environment uh to Public Safety small business owners who wanted to be part of the thriving Bard County that we have but who were concerned that they possibly couldn't afford to keep their doors open I met a lot of young people who were actually really excited to carve out their place in Bard County lifelong residents um who work hard every day but who aren't confident that they'll be able to continue to live here as Bard County grows sometimes all the narratives that we have really complement each other and sometimes they don't one thing I know is that we make better decisions when we show respect for all of these perspectives I'm grateful to be joined in this effort with new Commissioners as well as returning Commissioners each one of you guys offers a unique perspective one that's going to make our conversations more comprehensive and I think our decisions will be better when we disagree and I know that we will I hope that we remember that our diversity of opinion reflects the diversity of our residents let's govern with respect for each other while remembering our shared goal is to help the people thrive here in Bard County our job is to listen and lead the journey ahead of us I don't think's always going to be easy and we know it's not going to be quick it will take all of us working and living side by side to get through this again I'm here to be a county commissioner for all the residents of District 3 and one and two and four and five thank you for giving me the opportunity commissioner Altman thank you Mr chairman I want to say it's an incredible honor to be here and I'm deeply grateful for the trust that the people of Bard county has given me uh I want to recognize my wife and her incredible support through the process I would not be here if it was not for her um I saw Su Schmidt in I don't know if she's still here there she is um what a great honor uh to see her I served with her many years past and it's great to see here and Pam Barrett is here who is with my staff um we live in a very special place um being a county commissioner and a community like Bard uh is a county that has a role that's much bigger than itself what we do here as a commission what we do working with our professional staff and all the professionals that really keep this County Running uh is bigger than oursel we have a role that expands beyond our state beyond our country even into the universe it's a very sacred role that we have to be a part of this community that's leading mankind to the Stars what a great honor I'm really excited and looking forward to to to stepping up and working with you to do the things that we need to do to meet the challenges that we have [Applause] okay uh our regular board meeting will be December 3rd um we're all looking forward to that I would encourage you all to participate in briefing with the staff um so you're ready uh for that and um I'll just say to you quickly um about how I hope the meetings will go uh I have a great resp respect um sitting here with uh two former members probably no surprise to you that um I think the way that committee meetings are run and you've both been a part of that is a pretty good example for us and I hope to uh run meetings um in that fashion so that will take all of us to do that and uh for the for the new folks you'll catch on pretty quickly so with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn hold on one second oh wait all right forgot something I would like to compliment you people this is the nicest meeting I've been to in two [Applause] years so as far as the new members they have no idea they have no some idea I only decided to stay two more years just to watch the show but no thank you so much because you have acted wonderful I hope we see that I hope we can come together just like the chairman said and everybody else has said but thank you and let's all give you a round okay now all right I think that's that's it for us tonight thank you uh Mr Vice chair appreciate that is there a motion to adjourn motion so said all right we have a motion by commissioner Goodson is there a second second commissioner ainson seconds all in favor say I all right everyone thank you very much [Music]