lose remain a forgive any wrongs that we may have committed during the year pest and keep us free from here in the new year and lightness with the light of your truth and your divine commandments establish in our souls your holy willing guidance to every good work scattered bring back those who have gone astray in reunite them with their homes and families and loved ones overshadowing lennon especially the city of schenectady with your might and granted gentle rain an abundance of the fruits of the earth happy new year god bless your i will now call upon the girl scout daisy troop twenty two hundred and brownie troop twenty five sunday night for the pledge of allegiance will be the mcu sisters leaper and sisters council sisters are welcome and thank you for joining us tonight my election would not have been possible with a lot of hard work in support from a great number of people my wife caroline my mother who celebrated her the ninetieth birthday yesterday and is watching  she's watching this from home on public access so we thank the staff here for broadcasting it and my brother gregory who's in the front row is taking some pictures tonight our great congressm who this community owes a lot to from his role in the assembly your leadership in the united states congress and paul we continue to look to you for guidance and inspiration wife former boss for thirty years not quite thirty years but i was there for bob carney our district attorney and i thank for his commitment to making this community stronger and safer and look forward to working with him in our my newer role in his continued role in the office of the district attorney i thank governor cuomo for his strong  sharon jordan and bill winkler who ran in do run the day to day operations of the city and largely go on recognized in their efforts to make this community better bill cook who managed the campaign and i thank you bill for your time and effort in just your compassion in drive for wanting to make this community better in so many ways to our county democratic committee chairman brian quail and city democratic chair richard naylor i also add that gratitude to the men and women of organized labor is truly fortunate to have received such a broad base of support from the central labor council the building trades and public sector employees i look forward to the challenges of this job the opportunity to serve our community to work with a strong independent city council a talented and able city workforce we must continue to build  eight year success story that has occurred in downtown schenectady we have seen hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment the creation and retention of thousands of jobs and that didn't happen by accident it happened by people working together but over the next eight years we must build an equal record of revitalizing our neighborhoods this morning we did an update with key banc in their key to the city mortgage program in the city of schenectady since the program was announced in september key bank his close done seven city loans there are eight loans in progress there are nineteen pre approved applicants looking for homes in schenectady and more significantly that there have been over one hundred eighty inquiries of individuals looking to utilize the program this program is clearly the most important tool we have today to increase our owner occupied housing in schenectady key to the city his already generated a significant and we were thrilled about that but to help the program grow even more we are working with realtors to offer open houses around the city starting on presidents day weekend in february is part of the cit commitment to this program i am going to make police fire and the office of general services staff available for these open houses this will be done in conjunction with school district officials so that they may assist perspective buyers to answer any questions they may have and provide additional information on our community it is people all too often talk about the negatives of this community we cannot fall back into that mindset we have a great community we have a lot to offer here the school district for its problems provides a tremendous series of educational opportunities and i believe that it falls upon each of us and challenging and directing city staff and looking forward to work with john your gulf skin kathy lois from the school district to join the press conference today to go out in assist real it or in closing on houses where people want to move to schenectady we're going to do it in a manner that as best i can tell is done nowhere else in the state or in the country that we're going to put municipal employees building principals p t o people the fire chief the police chief command staff of the departments the office of general services out there to sell schenectady to tell people what we do why we do it in why they should live here and i would set a target for approximately one hundred fifty houses a year over the next four years where we can bring in families to this community and just give people the opportunity to have ownership homeownership in this community health care is one of our biggest expenses and i'm committed to reforming health care for our employees in retirees in return set a goal of reducing our cost by two million dollars a year we are working together with schenectady county in our unions in this endeavor and i believe that this can be accomplished without reducing benefits and in fact there are opportunities to improve benefits i will also work to make our police department more effective are few f utilization of force multipliers to turn that used to enhanced our police officers and make them more effective but we will have to make our police department more proactive we're looking for better dissemination of crime prevention information continued expansion in real time monitoring of the camera network in an open exchange an analysis of crime data i believe will make this community safer unable people to take greater ownership in schenectady i know the voters support a great trust in me today we start the process to build on the things that we do well and to map out a clear process to change those things that we need to improve i want to establish a new skin ekti reputation a city of excellence a city where municipal services are provided in a professional cost effective and customer friendly manner i want and will work hard to create a community where people want to live want to locate their businesses in a community that others will look to as an example of how things should e my i've known denise for many many years and i can say unequivocally that given your knowledge of the city you've been a lifelong resident of this city your intelligence and the passion that you bring to the table each and every day that i think that we are all in very good hands with you at the helm so i wish you well and new york and the charter and city code of the sport the city of schenectady and that i will faithfully discharge the duties of the o am for the city of schenectady according to the best of my ability so help me god peggy's desire to make a difference through public office she brings with her great academics leadership tremendous management skills and whole hearted belief that the best days for schenectady lie ahead so  district every weekend we want to and so let's continue the partnership bipartisan way with government and certainly working with the private sector and neighborhood community so with that being said constitution of the state of new york the charter of the city of schenectady and that i will faithfully discharge the duties of the member of the office of council and i know she's going to work hard for each and every one of you she's a very dedicated s constitution of new york state of new york state and i will faithfully discharge and i will faithfully discharge the duties of the office the duties of the office of the city council of city council and for the city of schenectady  i have to tell you this brings back some wonderful memories for me because i can remember being a twenty seven year old young man running for the city council getting elected and then after our first swearing in that was a wonderful standing ovation he gave the mayor and after i was shorn and i went straight over to the sons of italy and they wanted me to give a little speech over at the sons of italy and i thought i got my first standing ovation that same night at the sons of italy because they introduced me to say a few words i got up and i gotten in front of the doorway to come in and as i begin to speak everybody stood up and just start applying for me like crazy and said this is just fantastic i turned the members there have never let me forget that let me also wish the very best for the new year for everybody very happy very safe and healthy and prosperous new year let me just say this those five years i served on the city council taught me some very important lessons in that for that reason and i know i don't know if tom vilsack here or councilman allen is here but i think they deserve a round of applause because one of the things i learned not only serving in the city but in a village in a town in a county local government public servant one of the most rewarding opportunities i ever had in my life but vince and i think all the members and those who have already served other state in this one of the most challenging jobs that you'll ever have as a public service and one of the most important so i give all those individuals who have been elected and reelected the mayor the council county legislators all those on local levels congratulations to you and i think their families because i know what it meant for the time spent away from my families and my loved ones those who would be reelected understand what they're getting into without your family saying yeah go out that door do what you have to do to make this a better community we're going to make that sacrifice along with you you would have the public servants you have here today so these are special people who want to do this job and special people who were chosen to do that job and of course one of those special people is vince rigby i don't really think i have to tell you because vince really already has a record but his record was on the other side of the rail for years upon years upon years vince rickey came up to that rail and stood up and talked about how we could make this a better community have better neighborhoods help the taxpayers spoke up for them in positive ways when the issues run the right side as way he felt it in spoke out against those issues which were going in the wrong direction and you know what and there's not much that's really go change with vincent ricky except he'll beyond this site at the al sitting in one of those chairs saying the same things but venture going to have to listen to some of those same things that you were saying again from those on the other side that he's ready for that and i think he understands that i think he will do that in a nonpartisan way and i want you to know there has already been a vocal so i'm proud to say i'll be swearing in the minority leader of the city council today a back and forth before a voter he finally made the decision it should be him fence ricky and i agree with him in the city of schenectady will be better off that he is here so hence i'm proud to have the states the constitution of the state of new york the laws in the bylaws of the city charter and to face we discharge the duties a nice cracker for the city council president and denise has served admirably on the council for many years she was council president a number of years ago and i think she will be an excellent choice to lead us in the next couple of years so i hear a second me thank you anyway everyone and thank you my colleagues on the council for your support i believe that we have the virus that was supposed to be here with us earlier they finally arrived indulgence here we'd like to invite them to come on and of this opportunity to stand before you and i like to say congratulations to our new mayor mayor mccarthy he joined us in our church service some some weeks ago and i appreciate this opportunity to be here to stand before you to sing the unfortunately i'm going to say a few words and my mother can't cry she said she was going to keep it together tonight so i'm not going to say they're pulling our heartstrings but as i sat there tonight recently there was a familiar voice was ringing in my head saying get up and say something you have what they called the gift of the gab so that's what my father used to say all time but anyway i just want to say very quickly that i know papa is looking down both of us t very very happy with what's happening here today and i know he's smiling and very pleased and says i am very proud of both of us the constitution the state in new york and the city charter of the city of schenectady and that i will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of schenectady city clerk as in for the city is connected to the best of my ability so help me god congratulations i had to write my speech i would like to take this time to thank the city council and particularly our new president and these brooker for the confidence they have shown in me by appointing me to my second term as city clerk it is a better honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of the great city of schenectady over the past fourteen years and i promise that i will continue to refer fill my duties to the best of my abilities i am committed to maintaining the courteous and efficient service we provide to the people of the city and to support those on the city council as they continue to move our city forward in the future thank you very very much from our newly elected in reelected city council folks not just because i'm president but also because my name is here first i want to go first i promise not to take a lot of your time but first and foremost i to say thank you to all of the people in the city of schenectady residents of the city of schenectady who supported me in my campaign and helped me to get to the office of city council this was a particularly of odd election year this year for whatever reason but i will have to say that between myself and my colleagues along with mayor mccarthy we worked very hard to like to thank my running mates john would've aaron and certainly without the support of the democratic party in particular richard naylor mr quayle and the rest of the individuals that work so hard within the democratic party to help us get elected but certainly and most do for most of all i'd certainly and it's been said here many times tonight by others certainly that most of my things certainly goes to my family and my most supportive and my best friend is my husband cliff who with out this i wouldn't be able to do it he's the one encourages me to get out there and do it when a lot of times i'm just  tired and want to do this you know he and he reminds me why i chose to do this and also huge supporters of mine are my two sisters karen and eileen and i also think my niece allie for being here tonight very happy allie that you're able to see your aunt me up here for for the time and when you go back to college i expect you when you come out to join into politics with me and also i'll spoil your girlfriend we have a wonderful team right now in place in the city council not only with the city council but certainly with mayor mccarthy and gary and i work together years ago in the district attorney's office along with bob carney and karen dre go where have they became very very good friends of mine and i would have to thank gary and sometimes cursed kerry because without him i wouldn't be here and because he was the one that first encouraged me to run for office and actually who maybe i won't say lied maybe misrepresented just one meeting a we it's no big deal you can do it well though here i am almost sixteen years later and i really do enjoy what i do and one of the reasons i enjoy what i do is because i do believe in the city of schenectady and i do believe that we can get better and i have witnessed it in these last four to eight years and i see us as the city of schenectady on a very good rise and i also see the caliber of people who are on the count so right now as contributing to that so i certainly want to be a part of that i also see a lot of  lot more input from residents that certainly helps my job a lot become a lot easier in to know that there are people out there who do want to work for the city of schenectady so with that i thank all of you i think all of you for taking time out of your schedules for being here tonight and again thank you all very much for your support and i promise to live up to that support that you have given me thank you first of all i would like to say thank you to congressman tako for taking time out of his very busy schedule to swear me in one more time all thank you again i also want to thank couple of people who are key to my campaign don and kay ackerman don was my campaign manager was my treasure for what she's done that more than once and i greatly appreciate that also thanks to dick naylor brian quayle and the others who you know were so involved with the campaign and thank you so much to all of you supported me in the selection i've been fortunate to have served on the city council for six of the last seven years when the city and county democratic team working closely with metroplex the chamber the downtown schenectady improvement corporation and the state have made huge strides in revitalizing our downtown and upper union street in getting the city's fiscal house in order in creating over five thousand new jobs in seeing four hundred million in new investments in our community in consolidating services and in enhancing our base i'm proud of those accomplishments and look forward to continuing those cooperative efforts to further enhance our progress in the time to gary mccarthy has been acting mayor we have finally begun to address some of the neighborhood issues changes to improve the work of the code's department the key to the city program that gary mentioned earlier it's going to help revitalize neighborhoods through increased homeownership and an enhanced tax base and a new paving program i look forward to continuing those efforts for our neighborhoods schenectady is a wonderful city we have the benefits of a big city arts and entertainment recreation wonderful restaurants excellent city services yet we are small enough that individuals can make a difference we need to better market those benefits to attract more individuals and businesses to move to our city i look forward to continuing our progress during the next for you years and again thank you all for your support that is allowed me to serve one more term thank you i ask my parents to swear me and tonight i realize maybe a little unconventional but i ask them to swear me in tonight because the degree of commitment that i feel in honoring a pledge that i make to them is monumental i take my promise to my fellow citizens of schenectady just as seriously and when campaigning i'm sure my running mates will tell you i gave my word that i would listen with an open mind proactively gather information and have integrity at the center of my decision making these remain my priority skanks he has made great strides over the past eight years with the care and hard work of our city council and it's my sincere belief that the skills and experience that i bring will further strengthen our city's leadership and keep us moving forward the voters belief in my message and abilities has served to further strength my resolve and energize me to take on the challenges ahead which i know there will be many i promise to use my determination and my energy to continue the hard work of the city council to find solutions and positive outcomes f beloved city i am sharply focused on my role as a council member beyond seeking solutions to benefit the city i recognize that i am first and foremost a public servant i am committed to attending as many community meetings and events as scheduling allows i look forward to engaging with individuals with the community religious business and civic organizations now and of course the important thank  of course i thank my families my friends my colleagues my running mates the citizens of schenectady but also very importantly all of the parties that gave me their endorsement in their encouragement first and foremost the democratic party conservatives the independence party the working families party c a a and the schenectady labor area labor council so let's get started surprised to be elected i have to tell you kathleen moore came up to me and said looks like you want to see it i says watch because it's not that i didn't try and i've been trying and all the support that i had from the people out there it's amazing now i only had two lines and i'm eternally grateful for those two lines the republican party endorsed me and had faith in me and the alliance party endorsed me and had faith in me i did this with two lines and i'm very proud of that and i'm proud of the people that are out there that have supported me through the years and i won't let you down the only thing that's changing is my physical being in this room as  from there over to here many people have come up to me and said we hope you don't change we hope you don't change well my wife will attest to that fact i don't change very easily i'm not one that changes very easily what you see with me is what you get and that's what i am but i am going to work hard i grew up in this city i was born in this city stayed in this city all my life and i love this city yes sometimes i say things some people may say are negative they're not negative we have to realize what the problems are in this city in order to fix them now i'm glad to see our new mayor mccarthy has got a program to entice families to move in here and i'm going to ask this consul in this administration to back me up because my platform was i want to see zero tolerance to clean the streets up in schenectady we need that to entice people to come back and want to live in this city and i want to see that happen and that's what we need so i'm going to ask for all the support and i mean certainly you know i am i'm a self proclaimed as a somewhat into that school set i am going to be the minority leader here and with that i'm certainly going to need the support of the public for sure and i'm going to count on you to support me in my endeavors if i'm wrong and off base i want to be told that and i'm sure i'll be told that quite a bit but i just want to say i want to clean this city up it breaks my heart some of the things because i've lived here all my life i'm sixty five years old lived here all my life and i know what it what the city was and it's coming back just no question about that it's coming back but we have to go the extra mile we have to clean the streets up and i firmly believe that and i just want to thank everyone that supported me my family i could have done it when mom might be family my wife donna my son scott my brother as everybody thinks he is my sister and present my whole family i thank everyone because it wasn't easy and i'm surprised and i'm going to do my best and work hard i also want to thank i have my childhood friends that came to see me tonight that i grew up with going to clean it up so thank you i need your support and thank you i'm looking forward to working with you