 Welcome to our city celebration. I'm Steve Eustis and even though I'm your moderator I'm not serving in that capacity today and actually good to share some of my own thoughts. I want to start by reflecting to back when I was on the board of trustees back in 1998. We had citizens come to us and ask us for a way to change the status quo. Retreats were how research was done and in the end unanimously decided to go forward to become a city. In fact it was so important that trustee George Boucher even left Deer Camp for the first time ever I think to be at the meeting for the big announcement. All of us worked very hard in different ways to involve the community, meeting with businesses, holding neighborhood meetings and more. Current trustee George Tyler covered the topic in the essential quarter for us all. I remember many of those interviews. In the end 1999 was the first successful vote to change the status quo twice counting three goals. The town held a competing merger vote and the legislature wasn't sure what to do. They had the trustees use a professional mediator to the select board. We all worked diligently at that for weeks without coming to a conclusion. Conclusion. Unfortunately the legislature said sorry please try harder and the status quo was maintained but again. My term on the board ended in 2003 beginning my time as moderator. Many other people in the town and the village have since taken that baton and tried many other proposals to change the status quo to no unveil until it was passed here. I'm not sure who had the idea to petition the trustees to have a non-binding city vote during the merger re-vote but I think it was brilliant. That merger vote failure and successful city vote is what set in motion the final push to where we are today. I have watched the current board of trustees, our representatives and community volunteers work so hard in the last year. They set up agreements with the select board ahead of our formal vote, held informational meetings and made sure we all felt comfortable with what we were voting on. It is so exciting to see 88% community support to be a city and also the legislature and governor support. To end my remarks, I'd like to quote Rep. Laurie Houghton and Rep. Karen Dolan's Senate testimony. Quote it is time for our two communities who have tried almost every conceivable relationship to have the opportunity to thrive as two separate entities for the betterment of all residents. Unquote. I'm very much looking forward to thriving as an independent city. I'd also like to take a couple minutes to thank many of the people that are here today with us and I'm hoping I'm not going to miss anybody. It's the list we've got so far. Carl Houghton, former trustee. Jeff Spalding, former treasurer. Senator Thomas Chitman, Senator Phillip Baruth, Rep. Kurt Taylor, Rep. Charlie Kimball, former commissioner of financial regulation, Mike Peshack, and former village manager, Charles Safford, and many, many local officials that are too numerous to name and all of our community volunteers. There's been so many people that have made this whole effort successful. You know, in some ways the separation and us becoming a city was like the final happy chapter in a long story that really started back in 2014 when the trustees decided that no matter what happened we had to change the status quo. We tried to do the best deal we could with the town but we were never going to let up on the fact that we need to protect our quality of life and our identity here in the village. And when I think of it back then, I think if you would have asked a lot of us if we thought maybe separation would be a possibility, a lot of us would have said yes but we didn't think that it would ever be possible. Fantastic that all these community members stepped up and did all the hard work they did to bring the whole separation through. It's been a very long journey. I've been a resident here for that junction for a very long time. I've been involved with many of the boats and it's very exciting to come to a resolution. Very excited for the city. I think we're going to do great things. And a round of applause for everybody involved. With that I'm going to pass off to Interim Manager Brad Luck. Thank you very much. Thanks Steve, can you hear me? All right that's a little better. So my remarks will be a call and response. The call will be when I say with emphasis and your response will be we did it. So let's practice. And many community members hustled to get the signatures to put the advisory article for independence on the ballot on April 13th, 2021. They said villagers already voted overwhelmingly in support of merger. There's no way they're going to support the separation article. And nearly eight out of 10 voters were in favor of drafting a charter to create the independent city of Essex Junction. They said we couldn't possibly write a city charter in less than seven seven months. And our no-nonsense five-member Board of Trustees left no stone unturned and let nothing veer from the nothing veer them from the course to have a city charter before voters in November. We all know that change can be hard and scary. They questioned if a new city charter actually went on the ballot, would people truly be brave enough to vote yes for us to be our own independent community. There were doubts that some grassroots group of volunteers could successfully encourage people to vote and could educate people with fact-based, honest, and accurate information so voters could make an informed decision at the polls. And our village of voices got out the vote. 45 percent of our voters showed up to weigh in. 3,070 Essex Junction voters said yes. Only 411 said no. An 88 percent margin of success. They warned us that sometimes charter changes, even though they pass in the local community, die in the House Government Operations Committee. They warned us it could sit there for years before it even gets considered. And our representatives had the bill in as soon as our vote was certified. Our bill went to committee on January 7th. It passed 11-0 in the House Government Operations Committee. It passed 11-0 in the House Ways and Means Committee. They said there's no way the whole House will pass this charter. Imagine the mayhem of all of those villages in Vermont wanting to leave their mother towns. And 148-2, the House passed our charter. Allegedly, the two who voted no thought they were voting on something else. They said even if the House picks it up, certainly the Senate won't. And out of Senate Government Operations 5-0 and the full Senate 30-0. They said even if you jump through all of those hoops, there's a chance that the Governor won't sign it. And exactly one year and one week after approving the advisory article to create the independent city of Essex Junction, our city charter was signed by Governor Scott on April 20, 2022. You see, there is power in being positive, in being thoughtful, honest, cooperative, and resolute. As family's friends, neighbors, volunteers, staff, elected and appointed officials, we have demonstrated the true strength in community. We did it. Today, we thank, honor, and celebrate all of you. Thank you. You know, it in some ways feels like a long journey, but in a lot of ways it was a really fast one. We just had an amazing group of team of people between elected and appointed officials, volunteers, staff who just did a great job of making this all happen and happen pretty fast. Our representatives, you know, got this thing moving and the Governor signed it, and here we are. Now, would you please welcome our City Council President, Andrew Brown. If you are aware, and if not you should be, Andrew is our fearless leader of that five-member pack. He and the four other counselors truly deserve credit for their ability to be thorough, efficient, collegial, community-oriented, small-p progressive, and effective. There are very few elected bodies that could have achieved this monumental outcome in such a short period of time, and Andrew was driving that train. Ladies and gentlemen, City Council President, Andrew Brown. I have to admit, I wasn't quite expecting that. Thank you, I think. So as Brad mentioned, I'm Andrew Brown, President of the City of Essex Junction City Council, and I'd like to welcome each of you to the City of Essex Junction. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Brad. I've been on the board of trustees for ten years, City Council, few hours, and I have to admit if you would have told me ten years ago that I would be where I am today, or that we as a community would be where we are today, I would have thought you were all nuts. And yet we are, because we did it. I'm so thankful each of you are out here tonight, or today, helping to celebrate the creation of the City of Essex Junction. And I have to say the reason why this separation effort was successful was because of a culture known as the Village Way. If you've watched our meetings before, or you've spoken with Village Staff, you may have heard this phrase, the Village Way. What this means is that when there is a problem, or when there is something that needs to be done, we do whatever it is that is necessary to take care of this issue. We work longer hours, we take time out of our day, we work on our days off, and we do what we have to for sacrificing for the betterment of our community, because that is what the Village Way is. In creating the City of Essex Junction, what was done was the perfect example of the Village Way, as you just heard from Brett. Community members were able to get hundreds of signatures for the advisory vote. In one quarter of the amount of time as it takes statewide candidates to get signatures for them to be on the ballot, that is quite the accomplishment. And I cannot express my extreme gratitude to those volunteers who made that happen anymore. The trustees, staff, and our attorney had buckled down and spent countless hours writing and editing and writing and debating all that it took to create the charter for the City of Essex Junction and the transition plan to help make the job of the legislature as easy as possible. The Village trustees spent nearly as much time meeting with the town select board to negotiate and negotiate and negotiate, and you're noticing a theme, and negotiate and finalize these agreements to help ease a transition and ensure the success of the City of Essex Junction. All of this took time and additional time away from our families and loved ones, and we did this because that is the Village Way. And I keep mentioning the Village Way because as we are now the City of Essex Junction, that does not mean we will lose the Village Way. As Representative Dolan said on the House floor of the legislature, it took a village to create the City, and I look forward to continuing the Village Way for the City of Essex Junction. Before I leave though, I'd like to take just a couple of moments to thank some very important people. Of course, we need to thank all four of the other City Councilors who are here today. I'd like to thank City Council Vice President Raj Chowla, City Councilor and Charter Writer extraordinaire George Tyler, City Councilor Dan Karen, and City Councilor Amber Tebow. Without each of you, we would not be here celebrating the City of Essex Junction. So thank you all, Village trustees and community members who came here before all of us, and we're here in particular before I was here to help advocate for where we are today. Each of you helps to create the path that we were on and that we have finally finished long before I've been around. In fact, this process started about 20 years before I was even born to just try to put that into some perspective. So thank each and every one of you whether you're here or not for helping to pave the way. Really to become the City of Essex Junction, it really took a philosophy or a culture that we call the Village Way. We all just rolled up our sleeves and just got the work done. It was a lot of meetings, a lot of conversations, some good door-to-door conversations with the community. It took a lot of work to get where we are, but thankfully all that eye-dodding and tea-crossing and community conversations really made that legislative conversation of when 88% of the community says they want this, that's what needs to happen. It made that very easy. Now I'd like to just take a quick moment and introduce our next speakers. So next we have representatives Lori Houghton and representative Karen Dolan who without their leadership we would not be where we are today and really help to see this process forward in the legislature. Karen, Lori, thank you. Charter change? Karen and I, it's the right path forward with the right people at the right time. Easy to explain because of all of you here today. All the trustees and committee volunteers in meetings, types of weather, to attend meeting after meeting, to knock on doors yet again. All the teas that were crossed, great petition, every agreement and the final Charter. And the 88% of voters who voted yes, it's hard to ignore. We tried a favorable relationship. Our colleagues agreed the right path forward was independence. The people in the legislature, yes, we were still busy with COVID redistricting, pension reform and so much more. But Karen and I firmly believed this was the right path. Our confidence because of each of you never wavered. A little known fact about the legislature. Over 1000 bills are introduced every session. Let's remember our session is January through May. Less than a couple hundred are given airtime. Committee chairs and house leaders drive the policy that we will address in any given year. A Charter change doesn't always receive immediate airtime. The right people were in leadership. We had a house government operations committee chair in Sarah Copeland Hanzes who will speak to us next, who understood town and village relationships, who believes in democracy and the power for decisions to make be made at the ballot box. Our house leadership looked at the facts and also agreed the time was now. Your advocacy on social media, your letters to committee members and our senators ensured that legislators were paying attention to as extension. And honestly, our colleagues from all corners of the state have followed the news over the years and although they had a lot of questions, they were really, really happy for us. Before the final charter votes happened, we had colleagues one here tonight who refer to us as representatives from the city of Exjunction. That was really cool to hear. The right path forward with the right people at the right time. As Karen said, during our floor speech in support of our charter, it truly takes a village to create a city and we did it. I'm going to take a moment to share just how special this day is for me. Former trustee has lived here all his 86 years of his young life. My husband has lived here all 52 years of his long life. Both have been active community members engaging in our efforts over the years and both have really strong opinions. Our family has had countless, and I mean countless conversations about the village's future and they wanted independence long before I did. In Carl's case, for a really long time. I'm grateful for their history lessons, their opinions, and their patience and I was really honored to be one of the two ex-exjunction representatives who helped to bring their long-held desire for independence to reality. So choked up, I actually didn't vote. Challenge. Our work is not done. Continue coming to city meetings, join city committees, attend with the creation of an independent city of ex-exjunction. Our work begins again tomorrow to make the city of ex-exjunction the best place to live in the state of Vermont. Thank you. Our situation, we would not be here today. Please join me in welcoming Sarah Copeland-Hanses, chair of the House Government Operations Committee where H-491 began. So great to be here today and the warmth, I can feel it. And I'm not talking about the temperature, I'm talking about the heart of all of you people who are coming out here to celebrate the creation of Vermont. Congratulations ex-exjunction. When I took over as chair of government operations a few years ago, I got filled in on a little bit of the history, and then a little bit more of the history, and then a little bit more of the history, and I thought, oh my gosh, these communities. And I was so excited when, in the end, Lori and Karen said what we've decided we're going to do is we're going to move forward with creating our own municipality. Because after so many years of marriage counseling and living together and cohabitation and all of that, in the end it wasn't working. And so I'm really excited for the leadership of your city council for the great job that they did in writing a really complete, really careful, really thorough charter change for you all. And that, in addition to the strong vote, 88% of your voters coming out to say yes, was what made it easy to move that through the legislature. So I am so excited to be here today. It is a wonderful celebration. Please drink lots of water. And congratulations to Vermont's newest city, greatest city, the city of S. Exjunction. Pleasure to introduce someone who needs no introduction, I'm sure. Chair of the Steering Committee of Our Village, Our Voices, Elaine Haney. Thank you, Sarah, and thank you to everybody in the State House who was called Essex the gift that keeps on giving. It was fun to, we're glad we're done with that. So we're, we have all joked and commiserated on how long it has taken us to get to this day. And so long we thought that it wouldn't come. But in the last two years, there were people throughout our community whose vision, initiative, and effort made this time different. It started with a petition from Village residents in July of 2020 asking for financial estimates of what it might cost to separate the village from the town. Seeing those numbers helped us all envision what was possible. And we are grateful to those residents who sought that information on our behalf. Village residents stepped up again in March of 2021 when the first merger vote failed. Inspired to reach higher than just a merger revote, over the course of only a few short days in March, hundreds of residents signed a petition asking the Village trustees to investigate becoming an independent city of Essex Junction. This chance at a new future would not have been possible without the superhuman efforts of Annie Cooper and a team of volunteers who obtained all those signatures before the deadline to get that question on the April ballot. We are so grateful to Annie and everyone who worked so hard to make that happen. I can't see their seats. On April 13th, 2021, Village voters overwhelmingly decided to take their collective future into their own hands and forge a path towards independence. Within days, a group of volunteers came together to begin the outreach and education necessary to achieve this audacious goal. Their mission was to connect with as many voters as possible and to share with them accurate, thorough information about Essex Junction independence, what it was, why it mattered, and when to vote. It started out as a small steering team. I was honored to be a part of this team with three deeply committed women, Bridget Meyer, Gabrielle Smith, and Elise Serda. Provided the vision, the drive, and the organization for this massive effort. Bridget, Gabrielle, and Elise, we are so grateful to you for your hard work. I'm not sure where they are. The team rapidly grew to include many more residents. It was amazing to see how many of us did not know each other before becoming together to work on independence. That was how powerful this mission was. It brought together strangers and created friends. Our village, our voices, was born. This crew of intrepid volunteers took on the huge project of connecting with voters throughout the village. They canvassed over 3,000 homes, sharing independence information with over 70% of our community's registered voters. Not only that, they got the word out everywhere they could. Social media, front porch forum, one-on-one conversations, community coffees. They were so successful that on November 2, 2021, 88% of voters casting ballots that day approved the new charter for the city of Essex Junction. This core group of our village, our voices, volunteers includes the following residents for whose hard work on our behalf. We are deeply grateful. Bob Burroughs, Marcus Serta, Heidi Clark, Diane Clemens, Joe Cornaccia, Barb Custer, Diane Fuchs, Hilary Holmes, Chris Klein, Jennifer Luck, Kim Mayberger, Deb McAdoo, Jean-Vierve Mell, Tim Miller, Greg Antoni-Organ, Patrick Niggle, Mike Plagueman, Sheila Porter, Richard Smiles, Mike Sullivan, Carmel Turbor, and Dennis Tebow. There were many more people involved in this success, more than could possibly be listed here today. From our elected legislators to the governor of Vermont, from our steering team to the scores of people who spread the word, from village staff to village trustees, we could not have done it without the effort of every single one of you. On the day our new charter was approved by the Vermont House of Representatives, the day we began to realize that this big dream might actually come true, a phrase was coined, you heard it before today, it describes what happened here in Essex Junction. It truly takes a village to make a city. Thank you, every one of you, for your work, your vision, and your dedication to our wonderful new city. Let's keep working together. Okay, so we have one more fun thing for all of us to do. Our firefighters got taken away briefly, so it's just going to be a little bit of a delay, but in 10 minutes, please don't leave in the next 10 minutes, in 10 minutes I'm going to come back to the mic, and I'm going to ask you all to go to the center of five corners for a group photo, and we want everybody in the center of five corners, so even those of you who have been in those long hot lines, we hope that you'll take a break and respectfully get back in your places after. So the instructions will be in approximately 10 minutes, I will give you ready, I'll give you a 60 second running, and then we will say go, and on go, your job is to get yourself to the center of five corners as close as you can, and we are going to do a quick group photo. Okay, so 10 minutes, please don't leave, enjoy your food and beverage. Thank you all for coming. Done so quickly that we made it happen. There were so many volunteers, there was a lot of creative thinking about which petition should we submit, and what questions should we put on the ballot, and what should we do once we get there. We did so much education and outreach, everyone was so receptive. This event today is a testament to the enthusiasm for us at Structure, so I couldn't be happier today.