 Again, good morning to everyone. My name is Henry Simons. I'm the assistant city manager of operations, of course, for the city of Columbia. And we would like to welcome you and thank you for your presence on today as we celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for our new saloon river walk access point that you're standing around right now. We picked the great morning with just the right weather to be here on this morning. A nice cold morning with the water up. So great day to do this. Thank you for pressing your way out to enjoy this with us. I want to thank our mayor, Mayor Daniel Rickerman for his presence on today. Thank you to Councilman Duvall who is with us as well. Also want to acknowledge Councilman Ed McDowell who represents this district, which is District two want to acknowledge him and his absence also want to acknowledge our city manager, Teresa Wilson for all of her support and and guidance as well. Today is a great day. Today's a really special day for the city of Columbia as well as our parks and recreation department. This project is a game changer. It's a game changer. The Saloon River Walk itself has already attracted citizens from all over the state and beyond. And now we have been able to improve the experience for accessing the river in a safe manner for our canoeers, kayakers, tubers and kids who attend our summer camps every summer. I mean, this is truly a milestone for the city of Columbia and another indication of our commitment to improve the quality of life for those who live, work and play and visit our great city. The Saloon River Walk is now one of the premier destination experiences within the city of Columbia. And today we have elevated that experience by what you see before you from the display boards. It gives you a good indication from where we were to where we are now. Really want you to take a look at those boards to get an indication of the work that's been done. This is really significant, significant project. So please take a moment before you leave to get a shot of the display boards. Our mayor has often expressed his desire to enhance our amenities on the riverfront. And today is another confirmation of that vision coming to pass for the city of Columbia. So now this time. Okay, now this time, I'm going to ask Councilman Duvall to come forth and make some remarks and that will be followed by our mayor, Mayor Daniel Rickerman. Help me welcome Councilman Howard Duvall. Thank you, Henry. This is another step in development. Henry said of the best spot in Columbia for our trail system, I'm going to say it's the best spot in South Carolina and probably in the southeast. The mayor talks about connectivity and all of his references to what we're doing on the Solita River and what we're doing on the canal. And what we will be doing crossing the Broad River. And that is exactly what this is. When we started the project years several years back of putting in the boardwalks, one of the pushbacks we got was was from the people that were putting in had access through this plot right here. And we promised them let us get the boardwalk up and we will then make an access point that will be usable even better than when you had to carry canoes and your coolers and everything else over here. The mayor, I never had to do that. The mayor says he did it frequently. So I am delighted that we're here today to dedicate this first access point on the river. There probably will be others. This is a premier outdoor trail system that will grow to be the best trail system in the southeast. And I'm pleased to be here. Thank you, Henry. Mayor. Well, first of all, thanks for everybody being here. This is an exciting day. I mean, this is what when you see the before and after and if any of you have been part of the folks who have been putting in the river for years, this is a great way to enter the river. But hopefully this is the first of many more access points as we continue to move up the river and really bring in echo tourism to Columbia, South Carolina. I do want to take a minute to thank our parks and wrecks team, our park rangers for all you do to make sure that we not only have a safe and beautiful trail throughout the day, but make people feel welcome because it's the number one thing I hear from visitors is how welcome they feel when they come to the river and have interactions with our staff here. Now, this is a great partnership. As you know, the PRT, we got $100,000 grant along with the cities, $50,000 here just been notified that we've received another grant. So we're going to continue to build access points and open up the river and our partnership with the River Alliance and others throughout all the way up to Saluted Shoals along with Dominion's lease. We're really going to have some opportunity to expose people to this beautiful river that's been hidden behind trees in the highway for decades and have an opportunity to continue to invest in it and be part of it. And you really utilize it as the true asset that it is and expose people. There's not many places in the southeast that you have. Rapids we have, the beauty we have, the lilies, the wildlife, and to take advantage of that and then the scenic Spanish moss as you cruise down. I think more and more people are discovering our river. They're coming from all over as you can tell from the zip codes that come in for the tubes. Now we've got another beautiful access. So thank you Parks and Recs team. Thank you Park Rangers for your continued work. We're very excited about what's happening and what's to come. Henry. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mayor recommend again I want to acknowledge our mayor for his vision to access the river front want to acknowledge the entire city council and the special special remarks from me from on behalf of our councilman Duvall. I mean last last night was officially his last night last council meeting. He is going into retirement and I just just want to say that it's been great working with you. And I think today would be your last ribbon cutting if I'm not mistaken. This is the last event. The year for him as he moves into the next phase of his life. Just want to say thank you to him. I do have a special relationship with councilman Duvall in my previous life. I worked with his daughter for 16 years and I've grown to know him over the years. He's always been kind to me. Jackie was always kind to me and I'm very grateful for the relationship that we have established and we're going to miss you very much. And when we put your road in going to Boyd Island you'll be the first call that I make when that when that is done. So thank you so much. Come on help me thank councilman. Again as the mayor has indicated again thank you to our parks and recreation leadership team led by Randy Davis our director Kenya Brian our deputy director Todd Martin who is the project manager lead on this project. Thank you Todd for your leadership during this process. Karen crucifix our assistant superintendent. I don't think Karen is here right now but Andy Grisel Park Ranger lead was instrumental in this work as well. I want to thank them for their their work. Also want to acknowledge Mike Dawson the executive director for Riverlines who's here with us on today. Thank you for being here Mike. Want to acknowledge Neil Hamilton state trails coordinator with the South Carolina Department of Park Recreation and Tourism. He was instrumental as the mayor indicated with the hundred dollars of dollars that we were granted to do this work. So want to acknowledge him as well. And the river keepers are here. I want to acknowledge them as well that they're in the back. Thank you all so much for your presence today as well. Mark are Mark. Give me your last name. Schimler Schimler Mark Schimler with Southern Vistas was the contractor is sitting right here. Thank you Mark for this excellent work that you have done. We're just grateful for all the partnerships that we have everything that our support from our city council our support from our city manager. Again this is a great day for the city of Columbia.