City Council - Regular Meeting

everywhere.

Hey, Phil. How are you? Good. Merry Christmas, man. Christmas guy on tonight. Uh, yeah. Jean something. I haven't met him. Oh, yeah. Something else. Okay.

No, no, no. He took the test and came off the list. Okay. Yeah. No, we don't pay for Yeah, we're here really. Good. So, yeah, for a couple years over off of uh summer street.

Yeah, I think he's a Hian guy, so I think that said he speaks H. So, he's Hian. Yeah. Same thing with you. Oh, yeah. That's crazy. Oh my god. Yeah. Oh, I know. Yeah. There's an article. I saw the headline the article of Enterprise about how much it cost for the recount. I Oh, I haven't even read it. What they say? Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah.

Three, four, $500 an hour. Yeah. Just attorneys alone. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

How many counters did they have? Yeah. He got nervous for a second. I wish I worked. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I know. service.

What's he doing? Sometimes there's no I mean saying it'll help people out but that's what happened. Yeah. But what's he doing for work to make money? Yeah. Oh I I think so he just sits here and looks Oh no. I agree. He just wanted to do

crazy. He's going to pick up

an office. So, how old was it like?

What's his wife do when she comes in? She used to come in, right? Now she's got too much to do with her. And what does the sun do? Sometimes he'll come in like when we're leaving. I'll pass him, but he's a health agent. Yeah. But they get him at 12. So maybe something you guys come again

Dante Anderson is Kenny still doing his house. Do you know this kid? You said that, but I didn't think he started working. No, he's still the contract. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. He's waiting for the middle school. They wait for this kid. Oh, yeah. So, so they come here, they they typically give the guy two weeks to tell his employee or whatever. drive by tell until you come here nothing really happens well once they work00 so once they then they go they come to station one around the stations yeah so u yeah I mean that's

but there's uh there's always a call there's or anything like that, which they still do because like the towns they do that like uh a lot of times the town academy and they got to wait but so they'll have the kid working on the ambulance or something. Yeah. But they just been they've been sitting around doing odds and ends. So they January 12th they do rock. Yeah. They do it in station one and then they'll get full training center.

I think they do 13. So it'll be able to graduate sometime. I mean, like I said, once they start, you know, that's their official first day on the job. So,

you know what I mean?

Yeah. Shame about those police chase. Yeah.

Yeah.

Good evening. Today is Monday, December 22nd, 2025. I call to order a meeting of the Brockton City Council. Would everyone please rise and join me in honoring our country by saluting our flag? 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. Mr. Clerk, agenda item number one, please. Item one, we have the appointment of Gene Mark Delucent of Irving Street Brockton Master to the rank of firefighter in the Brockton [clears throat] Fire Department. Mr. President Councelor Lai I'd like to make a motion that we act under suspension of the rules and uh deal with this tonight. Second.

Second. Motion was uh made properly seconded suspend the rules and act on this matter this evening. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Uh Chief Nardelli.

Good evening, Mr. President. Good evening, councilors. I thank you for having us here tonight. I'm I'm honored to bring before you Gene Mark Delucent uh 27year-old uh from 51 Irving Street in Brockton. Um it's an interesting story. Gene Mark came to the United States as a child from Haiti, born in Haiti, now lives in the city of Brockton. Um initially got on to the Hanover Fire Department and took the civil service test again to make sure he come back and protect his own community. So it's it's a pleasure to have him here tonight. Um we look forward to um starting drill school. He is the final piece to this last class. We're going to be starting in the middle of January. So we're it's a pleasure to have him. Um and I thank you all for what you're doing tonight for us and thank you very much for your vote of confidence.

Thank you. Merry Christmas to everybody and thank you. Uh so uh uh motion come well motion to recommend favor. Question come question comes on uh appointment uh by a roll call vote. Second. Mountain Clark. Azac, yes. Dancort, yes. Farwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Minichello, yes. Niccastro, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Terra, yes. Thompson, yes. 10 in the affirmative. The appointment carries. Congratulations, firefighter. Um, we'll still [applause]

[applause] It's going to take a brief recess.

back in session. Uh, Mr. Clerk, agenda item number two, please. Before we do Oh, councel. Mr. President, councelor Alai, make a uh motion for reconsideration in the hopes it does not prevail. Second. Good morning. Motion is made properly second uh to reconsider agenda item number one. All in favor of reconsideration. Those opposed reconsideration fails. Item two, we have the petition of Mags Towing, Inc. William Magleotti of Plain Street Brockton, Mass for a motor vehicle repair license transfer located at 73 Perkins A Brockton, Mass. All paperwork is on file.

Time having arrived, I declare this hearing open. Is the petitioner present? If so, please come forward. Give your full name and address to the clerk. [clears throat] My name's William Maggleiadi. I'm the owner of Mags Towing. Um, I'm here to transfer my repair shop license from 20 Terminal Place to 73 Perkins A, but I'm still keeping all my stored cars at Terminal Place and I'm just doing the repairs on Perkins A. So, I'll have the two locations.

Understood. Thank you for that, Mr. Magaleradi. Um, there's anybody here in favor, please come forward. Seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Is there anyone here in opposition? Seeing none, I declare that part of the hearing closed. Council, any questions? Council Castro.

Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for being here, Mr. Leoditi. Um, Max Towing is located on Terminal Place in W 4. It is relocating or at least the repair business is relocating to Perkins Avenue. the former Brewster ambulance across from the firefighters Keading Hall. Um I have had the opportunity to speak with [clears throat] Willie several times. We have come up with several conditions to the license that I'm happy to read into the record that we have agreed to if you like please.

Okay. So the first stipulation is the applicant will continue to use its existing location at 23 terminal place for storing towed vehicles and will not keep or store towed vehicles at 73 Perkins Avenue. And the second condition, hours of operation for the repair business are Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. until 700 p.m. Saturdays 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. and closed on Sundays. The third stipulation, the plan submitted with applicants application shows 43 parking spaces on the property, the uses of which are broken down as follows. Eight spaces inside the building will be for vehicle vehicles being actively repaired. two handicap spaces outside, six customer spaces outside, 10 spaces outside for business owned vehicles, including tow trucks, and the balance of 17 spaces outside for vehicles being repaired. The applicant will seal, [clears throat] coat, and line the parking lot to conform with this breakdown and also with the plan that's been submitted in the spring of 2026 because it can't be done at this time of year. And that's it. Thank you, counselor.

I'm supporting this and I hope everyone else will too. Thank you, councelor. We'll add those stipulations as part of this license and if uh you could turn over a cop. Okay, we have we have a copy. Great. Uh council, is anyone else? Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion. Oh, the question sorry uh the question comes on granting by a hand vote. All in favor of granting this license with said stipulations. Anyone opposed? License is granted. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Miss Mayardi. Good luck. Thank you. Item three, we have the petition of Eco Recycling Systems, Inc. of Malbury Street, Brockton, Mass for a Precious Metals and Gems license located at 195 Malbury Street, Brockton, Mass. All paperwork is on file.

Tom, having arrived, I declare this hearing open. See the petitioner. Uh, Mr. Petition, if you could please give your full name and address to the clerk. John Marsy, 195 Malbo Street, where the business is. Mr. Morsy, you're requesting a precious metals license. Um if the floor is yours if you like to uh uh speak. Yeah, we we think it's part of the metals business. We've always been approached for to buy this type of material industrial mostly and um we've been on we were on a list for many many years and we just [clears throat] finally we stepped up and they said, "Oh, there's one ready." So we came and try to get it. So that's it.

Great. Thank you, sir. Is anyone here in favor? Seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone here in opposition? Seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Council, any questions? Seeing none, council's question comes on granting by hand vote. All in favor granting the license. Anyone opposed? License is granted. Congratulations, sir. Thank you. Wish you the best of luck. Thank you. Appreciate everything. Number four.

Item four, we have the petition of Teen Challenge of New England, Inc. of 11 uh 1311 Main Street, Brockton Mass for a garage license transfer located at 12 Clifton A, Brockton, Mass. in City Clerk's office October 27th, 2025. Hearing is signed for October 27, 2025. All paperwork is on file, postponed to city council on November 10th and December 8th. Thank you. Time to have it arrive and I clear this air and open petitioner. President, please come forward to give your full name and address to the clerk. David Smith, uh, vice president of finance at Daltton Team Challenge, New England, uh, Five Yoke Road, Bridgewater. Uh, Mr. [snorts] Smith, you're coming for this council for a garage license. Uh, floor is yours, sir.

Uh, yes. Speak to the council. Uh, we had a garage license that was uh, previously down Main Street uh, and sat dormant for a long period of time. Uh we have uh erected and uh repurposed a uh garage on site at the 12 Clifton location and are requesting to move that license to that location for expressed use of our fleet maintenance. No external work will be done on this license. Great. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Uh is anyone here in favor? Seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone here in opposition? Seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Councilors, any questions? Councelor Niccastro.

Thank you. Good evening again. Thank you for being here, Mr. Smith. This property is located in Ward 4. I am rather familiar with it. They uh Teen Challenge owns five or six parcels here and it's more like a campus than anything else. Um they want to do as Mr. Smith said, they want to repair their own fleet. Right now they have about 17 vehicles and so they've decided with advice of their council that they need a garage license and then the next item will be a mechanical repair license. I do support this. Um I've worked with Mr. Smith and and I hope you will all support it too.

Thank you, councelor. Anyone else? Seeing none, council has question comes on granting by hand vote. All in favor granted the license. Anyone opposed? License granted. Congratulations. Uh Mr. Smith, you can stay right there. Stand by. Item number five, we have the petition of Teen Challenge New England, Inc. Move 1311 Main Street, Brockton, Mass for a motor vehicle mechanical repair license transfer located at 12 Clifton A, Brockton, Mass. In city council in city clerk's office, October 27th, 2025 hearing assigned for October 27th, 2025. All paperwork is on file, postponed from the city council meeting to October to November 10th, then to December 8th, and then till tonight.

Time arrived, I declare this hear it open. Mr. petition. If you could please again give your full name and address to the clerk. David Smith, vice president of finance of Daltton Team Challenge, New England, Five Yoke Road in Bridgewater. Uh, good evening again. Uh, Mr. Smith, you're before us on now for a motor vehicle repair license. If you'd like to add anything to that request. Uh, pretty wrapped up in the last request. Understood. Is anyone here in favor? Seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone here in opposition? Seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Council, does any questions? Council Castro, thank you again. This property is located in Ward 4. Mr. Smith and I have worked together on this on behalf of Teen Challenge. We've come up with several stipulations to the mechanical repair license that I'm happy to read into the record.

Go ahead.

Okay. The first one is the representations to satisfy repair ordinance requirements set forth in the letter from Mr. Smith to the city of Brockton dated November 26 are incorporated into the application and license by reference. And I have copies of that here. It just sets out um several bits of information that were missing from the application but are required by the ordinance including hours of operation um updated site plan recordkeeping and uh authorized signers. So it kind of rhymes rounds it out so it truly does comply with our ordinance. The second stipulation is applicant will not undertake any repair activity while the immediately abuing Teen Challenge building which was a gymnasium and is now used as an event space is being actively used for an event. Teen Challenge is kind of short some parking spaces to satisfy zoning. And so in this way, the spaces that that are counted that are near the garage won't uh will be used for one thing at a time. Um which we agreed on. And the third thing is three parking spaces immediately adjacent to the garage door are to be used for repair vehicles as shown on the attached plan. And the clerk worked with JK Homegrren Engineering to zone in on on a plan that met the requirements of the ordinance which we have obtained. So, I support this and I hope all of you will too.

Thank you, councelor. Counselors, anyone else? Seeing none, um question comes on granting by hand vote uh with said stipulations. All in favor of granting the license. Anyone opposed? License is granted. Congratulations, Miss Smith, and good luck. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Christmas. Item six, we have the report of the finance committee for its meeting of December 15th, 2025. Set place on file. We have a communication from the chief of fire. pleased to inform the city council that they have selected one candidate for the appointment to the Brockton Fire Department. This candidate was found suitable for a public safety position with the fire department. Accept place on file. We have uh communication from the mayor recommending the same. File.

Unfinished business. We have an ordinance amending article 3 division 2 section 2-137 vacation leave be ordained by the city council of the city of Brockton as follows. Article 3, section 2-137, vacation leave, is hereby amended by changing the title from vacation leave to vacation leave and personal days as attached. In city council, April 28th, 2025, read and referred to the standing committee on ordinance, that report was favorable. In city council August 25, 2025, referred back to the standing committee on ordinance, that report was favorable as amended. In city council November 24, 2025 postponed to the next city council meeting. In city council December 8th, 2025 passed with third reading as amended.

Councelor's question is on ordination as amended by a roll call vote. Madame clerk, please call the role. Azac, yes. Darren on court, no. Farwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Minichello, yes. Niccastro, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Tuxer, yes. Thompson. Yes. Nine in the affirmative, one in opposition. The order is as amended. Item 10, ordered a waiver of the city of Brockton's residency requirements under section 2-110 of the city ordinances for officer Spencer Benoy in city council December 8th, 2025 read and referred to the standing committee on finance. That report was favorable. Question is on adoption by roll call vote. Madam clerk, please call the role. Azac, yes. Dancort,

no. Barwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Yes. Machello. Yes. Miccastro. Yes. Rodriguez. Yes. Terra. Yes. Thompson. Yes. Nine in the affirmative. One in opposition. The order is adopted. Ordered that the city council authorizes the acceptance and expenditure of the total grant funds in the amount of 323,822.71 from the executive office of public safety and security to the Brockton Fire Department in city council December 8th, 2025. Reen referred to the standing committee on finance. That report was favorable. Question. adoption by a roll call vote. Madam clerk, please call the role. Azac, yes. Durancort, yes. Barwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Machello, yes. Niccastro, yes. Rodriguez,

yes. Terra, yes. Thompson, yes. In the affirmative, the order is adopted. Item 12, ordered that the city council authorizes the acceptance and expenditure of the total grant funds in the amount of $175,688 from the executive office of elder affairs to the council on aging in city council December 8th 2025 read and referred to the standing committee on finance. That report was favorable. Question is adoption by a roll call vote. Madam clerk, please call the role. Azac, yes. Dancort, yes. Farwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Machello, yes. Niccastro, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Fixer, yes. Thompson, yes. 10 in the affirmative. The order is adopted.

Item 13. Ordered that the city council authorizes the acceptance and expenditure of the total grant funds in the amount of $13,000 from Old Colony Planning Council to the Council on Aging in City Council December 8th, 2025 read and refer to the standing committee on finance. That report was favorable. Councilor's question on adoption by roll call vote. Madam clerk, please call the role. Azac, yes. Dancort, yes. Harwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Machello, yes. Mcastro, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Terra, yes. Thompson, yes. 10 in the affirmative.

The order is adopted. Item 14. Ordered that pursuant to Mass General law chapter 40 section 14 and the city of Brockton's ordinance 2-157, the city of Brockton hereby accepts the lease agreement entered into with New England Golf Cards, a corporation which has an address of 62 industrial way Secon Mass for 74 new golf carts for DW Field Golf Course. Said lease agreement shall run for a 5-year term with payments beginning May 2026 and ending October 2030. The mayor is author authorized to execute any and all documents necessary in connection with said license lease agreement in city council December 8th 2025 read and referred to the standing committee on finance. That report was favorable.

Council has a question on us on adoption by a roll call vote. Madam clerk, please call the role. Hazac, yes. Durancort, yes. Farwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Minichello, yes. Niccastro, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Terra, yes. Thompson, yes.

10 in the affirmative. The order is adopted. Item [snorts] 15, ordered in accordance with the general laws of Massachusetts chapter 44, recommending that the city of council approve the expenditure of $44,13424 from public property stadium purchase of services $35,12.79 from public property purchase of service $5,255.70 from public property goods and supplies $3,775.75 to anony plumbing $1,367.79 two Quaban Well and Pump $18,735 to Verizon $3,000 two United Security $5,255.70 to Granite City $3,775.75 in city council December 8th 2025 read and referred to the standing committee on finance that report was favorable. Question is on adoption by roll call vote. Madam clerk, please call the role.

Azac, yes. Durancort, yes. Farwell, yes. Griffin, oh Lai, yes. Machello, yes. Niccastro, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Dera, yes. Thompson, yes. Nine in the affirmative. The order is adopted.

Item 16 ordered that the following name some be the same is hereby transferred is the same as submitted by the mayor as follows. Transfer of $40,642.50 50 from human resources benefits to Department of Public Works sewer $14,461.20 to Department of Public Works water $26,181.30 in city council December 8th 2025 read and referred to the standing committee on finance that report was favorable. Council has a question as on adoption by a roll call vote. Madam clerk, please call the role. Azac, yes. Dancort, yes. Farwell, yes. Griffin, yes. Lai, yes. Machello, yes. Niccastro, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Terra,

yes. Thompson, yes. 10 in the affirmative. The order is adopted. The last one. Item 17. Ordered that the following name sum be and the same is hereby transferred as the same was submitted by the mayor as follows. transfer of $1,300,000 from fire personal service non-overtime to fire personal service overtime in city council December 8th 2025 read and referred to the standing committee on finance that report was favorable councilor's question is on adoption by roll call vote madam clerk please call the role yes durancort no yes Griffin yes yes yes yes Rodriguez Yes. Tvarez, yes.

Tier, yes. Thompson, yes. 10 in the affirmative, one in opposition. The order is adopted. Councilors, uh, that completes our agenda for this evening. Uh, we'll open it up, uh, for counselor's recognition. Any counselors like to be recognized this evening? Councelor uh, Texier. Thank you, President. I just want to wish a happy birthday to our colleague. She just walked in, uh, Maria Dvaris. It's her birthday today, so just want to wish. [applause]

Thank you. Uh, thank you, counselor. Um, I just want to uh wish uh everybody uh all the residents of Brockton and uh in Massachusetts and in our country a very uh happy and uh merry Christmas uh this coming uh Thursday and uh just uh spend time with your family, your friends, and and enjoy your time together. And uh merry Christmas everyone. Uh, also, uh, this will be my, uh, last meeting as, uh, council president. I just want to let all my fellow counselors know how much of a pleasure and honor it was serving as your city council president, uh, this year. Uh, I think, uh, we did pretty good this year. I have a great team. And so, uh, thank you for all your, uh, service to our city this year. And, uh, again, uh, I'm humbled, uh, to be elected and it was my honor to serve. Thank you, Council Lai.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Mr. President, I also want to uh commend you on your leadership this year uh in my 10 years as a council. You're easily one of the top 10 presidents I've worked with. I appreciate that.

No, you well done, well-maintained, efficient meetings and I appreciate that and uh I thank you for your service and I want to rise also to wish you know the folks at home happy holidays but to thank our three outgoing counselors. Councelor at Large Mayor Elect Moses Rodriguez who we we will be seeing more of and you know looking forward to continuing to work with you. Councelor at large Denin Court uh from Ward One uh Tom Minichello. Um it has been an honor to work with all three of you. Uh I've you know had the opportunity to uh to work with you, to learn from you. Um and to to call you friends and I appreciate uh your service and I know the city does as well. So, thank you and uh we appreciate your time spent on this body. Thank you.

Thank you, councelor. Anyone else? Uh Council Machella,

I would just like to say um it's been an honor to serve with um this body. Uh everyone on this city council has the best interest of Brockton and its citizens at heart. Um I didn't know what it was going to be like. uh four years ago coming from the school side to the city side. But um every one of my colleagues has something unique and good to offer the city and have have carried themselves in such a dignified manner. You know, it's easy to serve when things are going good and when budgets are strong, but we did run into some issues um over my term with regard to um finances. And everyone in this in this room handled themselves with dignity um and um really uh gave it gives it gives it their all, puts their heart into it. Um, and people in this body really love the people of Brockton, [snorts] the diversity that's here in Brockton. Um, serving in Brockton is a very special and unique community to serve in. And um, I'm proud to have served here with this body, with the schools over the years. And, um, I wish everyone luck. I wish the mayor um certainly good luck, hopefully good budgets um and um like I said, it's been an honor to serve and um Mr. President, you've done a fantastic job. Um and um thank you for um letting me be on this council um with with all of you. It was it was it was a pleasure. A pleasure.

Thank you, counselor. It was a pleasure serving with you. [applause] down court.

Yeah, absolutely. Uh well, where do I start? I would like to start by saying thank you to my mother for and obviously I don't want to be emotional but for putting up with me since day one and obviously as somebody who was in regard to my mother who was born and raised in this community she understands what it means to be a Btonian and obviously uh the complexity of the community that we are part of and what it means to be part of this environ government and I would like to say thank you to my father, my brothers and sisters and of course my team pretty much anybody who has been involved in regard to putting me not just in this chamber but wherever I have been from here Mr. clerk. I want to thank you. I know you as a word one counselor. You've been nothing but amazing. And I'm not the type of guy that talk about people like this, but whenever I call upon you, [clears throat] you always there. Whether for advice, whether for something that I need, the wealth of knowledge that you have in regard to local government has been nothing but unmarked. And I can honestly say that you are one of the few people that I trusted in government in this city. For that I thank you. And to my colleagues, what a journey it has been. Since day one, I've been nothing but determined for what I believe in the power of what it means to be part of a government. In my view, especially when I was in school, I learned that the responsibility of government is to serve to serve the people. That's what I've done here. Whether I'm in this chamber or somewhere else, it has been an honor to serve the people in this community. Like I said before, my commitment in this journey has been nothing but to serve all of you. Whether you are whether you form me for 20 years or you

just got here because I believe the power of a community is not based on where we form or what we believe in, but what we can do together. America is one of the most amazing place that you can be part of in terms of the diversity, the languages that we speak, the people that we know and of course the belief that we have in this chamber. I've seen it all. Those that are fighting for you and those that are challenging. I made it my commitment to serve you. I made it my commitment to be loyal, to be truthful, not to accept anything from anybody that I do not believe in. And although this journey might end today in regard to me being a city council, but what we hope to do just started, the hope that we have, the dreams and the possibility of a future that no one can dream of, but hope that it's there. To every single young person out there who lives in this community, I want to talk to you. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always fight for what you dream of. No one will do it for you and always be true to yourself to the people of Barkton. Politics [snorts] is not an easy things. But having people that have backbones, the ability to fight for you and knowing that regardless the outcome, they are standing up for justice. Well, if this is what you expect from me, this is what I've done here. Day one, I've been fight for your tax money. making sure that every single penny has been spent accordingly. We refuse to be part of any corrupt system because this is not who I am as a person and that's not what I promised my family. And although I will not be a city council anymore, but the job that I meant to do will never stop, we will fight until the end. I'm a fighter. I'm a fighter. And I know that

you will not give up on yourself because as a taxpayer myself, it is my job. It is my responsibility to fight for what we believe in because you know why we are all a member of this community and I know the path ahead will be bumpy. I understand that based on the calls that I received, the emails and of course the people that I talk to. But I will leave you with this. Believe in yourself. Believe in the power of us. Believe in what we can do together. Because you know why? No matter what they try to do, nothing can stop us. And I promise you, the light will turn off tonight, believe me, the journey just began. God bless you and God bless the great city of Brockton. I love you all. Thank you.

Amen. Thank you, counselor. [applause]

Actually, I uh I'm just going to be start with the gratitude. Uh it's been 2 year. I know those past two year has been so hard for me. Uh which you guys uh couldn't ever uh done this because someday I feel I want to give up but because this is so strong. No, I I said no, I'm still going to go. Was not easy for me. And then I uh appreciate it like you know a word to all the voters all the Brockton I am here stronger than ever and uh his new chapter is new start begin and thank you all. I love you guys. You guys special to me. Thank you again.

Thank you councelor [applause] councelor Rodriguez.

Uh thank you Mr. president and thank you colleagues for um allowing me these 30 seconds to address you. As you know, I've been a member of this council for the last 12 years. um as someone who came from the hills of Africa at 16 years old, not speaking a lick of English, uh to make it to this level where a lot of us just look from the outside as we see people representing us, but have never had either the courage or the ability to get uh to this level and compete at this level with individuals. These last 12 years have been an honor, a learning experience. I've had an opportunity to serve as the council president for a couple terms on various committees. It's been nothing but a learning process. And I thank the community. I thank the citizens of the city for having the trust and the courage to take a chance on something that was a little different. I was the first person from an ethnic group other than the normal or what we would look at as the ordinary groups uh to be elected to this body. The first one with the real heavy accent uh to get elected to this body. And I think what I did in the years that I've been here is to try to open doors for others to follow and others to come. And I think I've done a decent job is if you can just look around uh might have not done it personally, but just to the fact that others could actually look and say if he can do it, I can do it as well. So I leave you here. I'm not going that far, but I owe what I owe to this city, to this body for providing me with the educational

process. I didn't come here to be the own the being the owner of anything, to be the commander of anything. I came here just to learn and represent my communities plural to the best of my ability and I'll continue to do that no matter where I go, no matter what I do because I truly consider myself a Brocktonian true and true. And again, someone that grew up somewhere else, came here, was willing to put on the uniform and defend those that couldn't defend themselves in this country. It's truly an honor to be a part of this and this is something that I intend to do for quite some time whether no matter where I'm at. But again, I just wanted to thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. clerk and the members of this body for allowing me the opportunity sometimes to be a little boring, a little uh hard-nosed in some instances in the sense, but uh I truly truly believe that I uh I was able to represent those that elected me to be here with the highest level of credibility and trustworthiness and and honesty. So, thank you and we'll see what happens uh in the days to come. Thank you. Uh thank you councelor and uh wish you uh tremendous luck and uh godspeed in your new role as uh mayor of Brockton. Thank you counselors. Anyone else? Can I just

Oh uh yeah Mr. Clark I just want to make sure the public knows and remind all of you our new counselors all the newly elected officials as state law states Monday morning January 5th at 10 o'clock in this chamber we will be establishing the new city government. So we'll have be having a city council meeting right here. the public is welcome and followed by a lunchon at Thorny Lead that the public can buy tickets to if they want want to they can call my office but just a reminder be here at 10:00 Monday January 5th please and other than that thank you

uh thank you Mr. Clerk and uh councilors uh directly after this meeting uh we'll all adjourn uh to the city council uh conference room uh to caucus and uh picking our new uh city council president and uh where we'll be seating uh next legislative session. Uh thank you. Merry Christmas all and with no further business before the city committee uh city council I declare this meeting adjourned