 to the United States and the state of Texas. Let's pray. Almighty God, I come to you today to pray blessing over my city, my elected officials, and this special historic meeting. Bless Mayor Parker and the council members, Florence, Crane, Bivens, Williams, Nettles, Beck, and Blalock. Bless their continued service. Bless their families and their homes and surround them with wise counsel. May these civil servants also humbly and boldly call upon you for wisdom to lead this great city, just as Solomon requested wisdom to lead his nation. May these officials be given wise, proactive decision-making based upon the timeless principles of God's word. May they rise above the fray to accomplish what God requires. For King Solomon stated, where right living people bless the city, it flourishes. So may unity prevail in Fort Worth as we continue working together to build a stronger community. For scripture says, no city divided against itself will last or continue to stand. So may we be marked by harmony, compassion, and peace, not ever falling into the deceptive traps that have torn the fabric of many other large cities. Today, I also pray special blessing upon Charles and Charlie Lawsdorff, as well as Macy Hill as they officially begin their service today. Also a blessed Leonard Firestone as he concludes his service to our wonderful city. God bless everyone in this chamber today. God bless our houses of worship. God bless our business community. God bless our homes. God bless our families. And may God bless Fort Worth. Holy Spirit, you're welcome in this place. In Jesus' name, amen. 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. Under the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God and one kingdom. Next on the agenda is the certification of the official returns by the city secretary. Mayor and city council members, you have received the certification of the tabulations of the official election returns from Tarrant Denton and Parker counties for the general election held on Saturday, May 6th, 2023 for the purpose of electing a mayor and 10 city council district members for the respective single member districts of the city of Fort Worth, Texas with the certified cumulative returns for such election, the results of the election are as follows. Mayor Parker, total number of votes, 30,499. Allison Kennedy, total votes, 2,299. Jennifer Castillo, total votes, 5,351. Adrienne Devine Smith, total votes, 1,955. Kenneth Bowens Jr., total votes, 3,815. District two, Carlos Flores, total number of votes, 1,146. District three, Michael D. Crane, total votes 5,000, 5,000, excuse me, 5,506. District four, Teresa Ramirez, 1,767. Charlie Lowersdor, total votes, 2,647. District five, Gina Bivins, total votes, 2,365. Bob Willoughby, total votes, 651. McKinley Jackson, total votes, 584. District six, Tanya Carter, total votes, 478. Natalia De La Cruz, total votes, 1,676. Jared Williams, total votes, 2,915. District seven, Caleb Beckham, total votes, 623. Jason Ellis, total votes, 1,741. Macy Hill, total votes, 3,728. District eight, Chris Nettles, total votes, 1,651. District nine, Chris Reed, total votes, 187. Elizabeth M. Beck, 3,428. Pamela A. Bogus, total votes, 2,279. Jason Lee Pena, total votes, 479. District 10, Brandon Robert Jones, total votes, 1,885. Ellen Blalock, total votes, 3,791. District 11, Rick Herring, total votes, 1,016. Terrell Maldonado-Wilson, total votes, 517. Ricardo Avitia, total votes, 180. Jeanette Martinez, total votes, 1,082. Christopher Johnson, total votes, 186. As a result of the election, the following persons are hereby declared elected. Mayor Matty Parker, city council member, district two, Carlos Flores, city council member, district three, Michael D. Crane, city council member, district four, Charlie Lowersdor, city council member, district five, Gina M. Bevins, city council member, district six, Jared Williams, city council member, district seven, Macy Hill, city council member, district eight, Chris Nettles, city council member, district nine, Elizabeth M. Beck, city council member, district 10, Ellen Blalock. As a result of the election, the following individuals will participate in a runoff on June 16th, excuse me, June 10th, 2023. City council district 11, Rick Herring with a total of 34.08% of the vote, and Jeanette Martinez with a total of 36.30 of the vote. The next action for the council is to adopt the resolution number 5734-05-2023, canvassing the returns, declaring the results of the general election held on May 6th, 2023. Council members, you've received the returns of the May 6th general election and a copy of the resolution canvassing the returns. Please show approval of the resolution by a show of hands for the record. The canvassing resolution, a show of hands. The canvassing resolution is approved without objection. Next will be the swearing in. And council, we're gonna stay here at the dais and just stand, make it a little bit easier. Would you please raise your right hand and repeat after me? I state your name. I'm Addie Parker. You solemnly swear or affirm. You solemnly swear or affirm. That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of and state your office, the office of the city of Fort Worth, of the State of Texas, and will do the best of my ability. Will do the best of my ability. Preserve, protect, and defend. Preserve, protect, and defend. The constitution and laws of the United States And if it is state, so, oh my God, congratulations. So I'm gonna give certificates of election for each of the returning council members. They already have them on their dais and I'm gonna come down correctly. I'm talking out loud here and give to Charles and Macy. Is that correct Ron? Yes ma'am. Okay, great. Ms. Lauer's Dwarf and Ms. Hill, can you come down please? Okay, the swearing in of Charles Lauer's Dwarf will be done by his wife Amanda Lauer's Dwarf. Ma'am, you can speak into the microphone right there if you'd like to. Oh, okay. Please repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Charles Lauer's Dwarf. Do solemnly swear or affirm. Do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully execute the duties. That I will faithfully execute the duties. Of the office of council member district four. Of the office of council member district four. City of Fort Worth of the state of Texas. City of Fort Worth in the state of Texas. And will to the best of my ability preserve. And will to the best of my abilities preserve. Protect and defend. The constitution and laws of the United States. The constitution and laws of the United States. And of the state, so help me God. And of the state, so help me God. Congratulations. Council member Lauer's Dwarf. You belong in here. Go ahead. Swearing in of council member Macy Hill by her husband James Hill. Please repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Macy Hill. Do solemnly swear or affirm. I do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully execute the duties. That I will faithfully execute the duties. Of the office of council member district seven. Of the office of council member district seven. City of Fort Worth of the state of Texas. City of Fort Worth the state of Texas. And I will to the best of my ability. And I will to the best of my ability. Preserve, protect and defend. Preserve, protect and defend. The constitution and laws of the United States. The constitution and laws of the United States. Of this state. Of this state. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Awesome. What'd I do wrong? Oh, well I think we're gonna, yes. So now my script's abandoned. I'm kidding. I'm much better off script. So at this point is the exciting piece of the ceremony that each of the council members, both those re-elected and newly elected will have a moment to address their audience and importantly those family members that are here tonight to celebrate alongside them. So thank you for taking the moment. We are cognizant, there are lots of children in the audience. Mine has already bailed to go back behind us here. So we, but each of us want to take the time to say thank you and with excitement share with you our vision for the next two years serving this wonderful city. To get us started, I will turn to our new council member Charlie Loushdorf to start us off from council member district four. And then for those that have been re-elected council I'll just start down the dais with council member Flores after council member Hill has spoken. Go ahead Charlie. Thanks for putting me on the hotspot first. I appreciate that mayor. If I set up here to thank everyone who helped me get where I am right now honestly we would be here all night. So I'll keep this part short. First, thank those in district four who put their faith and confidence in me to put me here. It means a lot to have their trust and confidence. And I don't take that lightly. Secondly, my family who's out there right now including my wife, my kids and my sisters out there and then nephews and nieces. But honestly now I'm about to give up and I know full well what I'm about to give up and that's a lot of time for not just district four but the city of Fort Worth as well. I feel the weight on my shoulders and I'm proud to carry that weight. But that time I could not give up if it was not for them because ultimately the time has to come from somewhere, right? And that time's gonna come from them. So one of the keys to going into this is gonna be time management and making sure that one, the time I do spend with them, I spend well. Being no stranger to deployments and being time away from family but yet being closer here in Fort Worth again having their support my name would have never even been on the ballot. So thank you guys for allowing me the opportunity to do this. Kids, whether you liked it or not, but thank you for that. Earlier I talked to a reporter and I'm sure it's not gonna be the last time either but he asked what I was feeling at the moment and I said honestly a lot. When I got kids back home trying to get ready right now so dealing with that but really I guess the biggest feeling was feeling of being humbled, right? You start to feel that weight on your shoulders and of course as a Marine I'm no stranger to having that weight on my back and shoulders in fact you can ask my doctor and my back surgeon they'll tell you all about the weight and what it's done. But I tell you what it's a humbling feeling knowing that there's nearly 100,000 people of a district that are gonna be looking up to me to make effective change and it's not something I take lightly. So it is one thing I'm looking forward to do over the next two years is working with the rest of my council here and the mayor and of course the city staff and services who make this whole machine run from day to day working with them to move Fort Worth in the right direction on the right path which I believe it already is. So I'm under no illusion that it's gonna be rainbows and fairy songs the entire time. I'm sure there'll be some heated discussions and some good discussions but nonetheless I do plan to bring civility and respect to those discussions. So to the rest of council I look forward to working with you mayor I look forward to working with you and of course city staff. Everything you do every single day to make our jobs easier I'm looking forward to continue to work with you as well so thank you so much. Thank you Charlie, congratulations. Council Member Hill, good evening. I'm honored to be here tonight with my new esteemed city council members and fellow residents of Fort Worth. I wanna thank my family, especially you James. Thank you so much for everything. And George and Charlie y'all are the reason that I'm here this evening. I wanna build a better Fort Worth and leave it better when I leave. I stand before you, I'm humbled and grateful for the trust and the confidence you've placed in me as your city council member and representing you in District 7. First and foremost I wanna express my deepest appreciation to everyone that participated in the election. Together we have shown that democracy thrives in Fort Worth and I'm so grateful for that. As I step into this role as your city council member I'm very aware of the challenges we face as a city from infrastructure to public safety to property tax rates, economic development, education our work is definitely cut out for us. However, I firmly believe that together that we can solve the biggest issues and through any continued collaboration, unity and dedication we can overcome any obstacle and make the city better and leave it better than we found it. As your city council woman, I have two promises. I promise that I will work tirelessly to ensure that every voice is heard, every neighborhood thrives and every individual has equal opportunities to succeed. I will not lose sight of these issues and the priorities that you have elected me to represent. I promised always foster an environment of transparency, accountability, honesty where the concerns and the aspirations of every resident are valued and addressed. My door will always be open and I will be your biggest advocate. Fort Worth is a vibrant community, rich in diversity, opportunity and it is my duty to ensure that every voice is heard every idea considered and every decision is made with the utmost of thoughtfulness. I wanna reiterate my gratitude for this tremendous opportunity to be your city council member. I urge you to stay connected with me in my office to continue to actively share ideas and concerns as we build a more prosperous community for generations to come. I also wanna acknowledge those who came before me including Councilman Firestone who's here. Thank you so much Leonard for everything that you've done and the path that you have forged. Thank you to his predecessor Dennis Singleton who's been a wonderful mentor to me as well. Your leadership and love for the city, I promise to continue that leadership and the servant leadership that you've shown in District Seven. The hard work starts now and I'm excited to hit the ground running. Thank you so much. Council Member Flores. Thank you Mayor. Most of the campaigns are over for those of us taking the oath of office tonight. It's time to set course for the next two years. Since 2017, I've had the pleasure of serving as council member for District Two, delivering measurable results and progress in areas of public safety, tax rate reduction, infrastructure, economic development and neighborhood revitalization. And I'm very excited for what the future has in store. In District Two, we're on an upward trajectory. The city's in great shape thanks to the stewardship of this council and the great advice that we get from our staff members every day. Public safety, public service is indeed a sacrifice but it is borne by family as well. To my wife, Isabel who's here in the audience with my daughter Sophia and my son Ivan. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude for supporting me and making it possible to serve as city council member for this duration. I know it's hard for you to make that sacrifice. I'm not alone in that. I'm not there as often as I should be for my family and that hurts me. But I know I'm working for a greater purpose here and I know you realize that in your heart of hearts. But I want each of you to know that I love you deeply. I'm Jim Mayra Camacho, my district director. I want to thank you for meeting the challenges and demands of our district. You've risen to task on the jobs while balancing the needs of your growing family. You were an extension of the District Two office and you do that with professionalism and a helpful and courteous manner. And please continue to forgive my texts that occur at two and three in the morning telling you what we should do the next day. I won't stop doing that. As I accept the oath of office for a fourth term, I reaffirm my solemn commitment to work with the mayor, council, staff, business and neighborhood stakeholders for the betterment of our city and the communities we represent. And I will continue to do so with a servant's heart. To those stepping into this arena for the first time, congratulations and welcome aboard. And to those returning to the arena, wish you continued success and congratulations. Thank you to the residents of District Two and our city. It is my honor and privilege to serve you. Council Member Crane. Hey, thank you, mayor. For those that were here two years ago, Mayor Pro-Tenth Bibbins, Carlos Flores, I promise in staff it will not be as long as two years ago. Joanna just rolled her eyes. I can't promise, I won't get emotional though. So that's part of the deal. But thank you again, thanks everybody. I wanna first recognize the power of God. I know I would not be sitting here without His constant source of quiet guidance over the last two years that gave me peace and solace. I wanna say thank you to the residents of District Three. I've been honored and privileged and humbled to represent you over the last two years. I appreciate your thousands of phone calls, emails, text messages. I appreciate the times you've attended neighborhood meetings or stopped me at the grocery store or while pumping gas or having dinner or just walking the neighborhoods. These interactions are important to me and why I believe local government is where it really matters. Cities are where things get done. You want your trash picked up, which admittedly for a few neighborhoods has been a challenge this year. You want your water to come out of your faucet, your streets to be drivable without being jolted around in your car, sensible economic development, balancing neighborhood interests. Those quality of life investments which make cities run. Basic human daily life happens here at the city level and I'm committed to continue to achieve those things on your behalf. The District Three office will continue to focus on the core tenants of communication, public safety, being fiscally responsible with your taxpayer dollars, balancing neighborhood interest, advocating for investment in our aging infrastructure, new roads and streets, supporting our small businesses and entrepreneurial enterprises and being forward thinking on mobility as we manage the regions insatiable growth. I will keep asking the questions and solving the problems on your behalf. You deserve nothing less. I want to do a special shout out to former District Director Katie Wary who's not here tonight, who kept the trains running for the first term and Danelle Mason and Jack Carvalho who are here who keep them running. They are a true extension of District Three and have to deal with all my craziness all day long. So I appreciate that. I want to do a special welcome to new council member, Lauer's door. I'm gonna get that, Lauer's door. So will the public, we'll get it. Council member Hill, thank y'all and I look forward to working with you on priorities in your district. And to all my colleagues, it's been a crazy two years. We've been called robots. We've been called inhumane. We've been called four letter words spewed with hatred and disgust by keyboard warriors. But as many times as we've been called that I can tell you from personal experience in multiples I've been told thank you for your service. Thank you for giving me your time to the city. Thank you. And even when I haven't been outwardly told I know internally the satisfaction personally the decisions we have made and how they have changed many lives in our city for the better. So I just want you my colleagues to know that I'm in this with you. I see you. We live in a polarized world and nation increasingly here and increasingly here at the local level. However, I will continue to dismiss the negative and allow the positive to shine. Know what is doing the work that you are all doing on a daily basis to understand the issues. I will dismiss the false claims from those who do not have the compassion or capacity to fully comprehend the demands of this job. Because I believe this job of governing isn't about getting likes or tweets or social media wins. It's actually about producing and making a difference in the lives of others. My commitment is to continue to work with you my colleagues on behalf of all the residents of your district and this city as a whole. We might not entirely solve the great ideological clashes of our day but we will give most people reason to believe that government can address their concerns no matter who they are, what they look like or what they believe. This is how we can begin to end the vitriol of today which threatens to destroy us and restore the politics of compromise and collaboration which made us who we are as a nation. We will not always agree but I believe we can work together civilly treating each other with respect and we can move mountains. So today would have been my grandmothers 103rd birthday. Yeah. And if she would be around to see all the great things that we're doing. Aurebel Blue Crane was her name. Ainsley Blue is her namesake. She was born in Gordon, Texas, just down the road. 13 brothers and sisters. She lived through the great depression of World War II. Had a crazy husband much like my wife does. Raised two boys here in Fort Worth. She never went to college but she valued education working to ensure that her family could and her sons could. She worked at Alconn and though she never ran the company she was a force and a presence in the CEO's office. She could smile and make you feel so welcomed but the second you were out of line probably like most of everybody else's grandmothers she would be quick to correct and redirect but I know she did this all out of love. She did out the appreciation of knowing what was best for our family to succeed and that meant working together. That meant being respectful of differing opinions, empathy and understanding. We didn't come from much but she taught us not to fault or be jealous of those who did. She taught us that even though we did we may not have much it was our duty and responsibility to help those who did not. She taught me that we were all the same in God's eyes and he didn't make mistakes. To me she was and is Fort Worth. Some were not afraid to work hard, to achieve, to have empathy and compassion for others, willing to lend a hand when needed and sometimes challenging authority and having the grit and gravitas to back it up because this was her city, the city she loved. This is our city, all of ours. We must continue to have those hard conversations, explore possibilities and listen, really listen to each other. Communicating, collaborating and understanding perspectives and understanding others perspectives is the only way we can achieve and succeed and move forward. That is my commitment to you because I know that is what the residents of Fort Worth, all of the residents expect and deserve a level of transparency and communication. Lastly has already been pointed out none of us do this alone. It takes a solid village around us to ensure all the things we must accomplish on a daily basis actually get done. I could not do this without the love of Fort Worth, my family and the understanding, my business partner, Will Northern. While he's not here tonight, he and his wife have had their third child and they're in intensive care still. Lyndon Murray was born a couple of days ago so I'm proud of them. But to my wife, Joanna, thank you. My apologies for the late nights, the madness of the schedule, the scrambling sometimes to ensure the girls are covered in the constant presence of this position, whether that's physically or the space I let it occupy in my mind when we were together. You're a beautiful wife, mother and friend. You absorb it all with grace and style and you ground me and keep it real in so many ways. I in the city are blessed to have you, thank you. McKaylee, or Kaylee as you prefer to be called now in your teenage years, McKinsey and Ainsley, you young ladies are quite simply amazing. The last years I know have been tough on you as I've drugged you to neighborhood events and meetings. Thank you for doing it with a smile, shaking hands and taking the unwanted attention and stride. I appreciate you loaning me to the city for a short time. I hope you know it is because of you that I take the time away from dinners and games, helping with homework, tucking you into bed, Ainsley, since you teenagers won't let me do that anymore and those things that parents do for their children. My hope is that what little I'm able to accomplish during my tenure on council leaves the city a better place for you and your contemporaries. Again, thank you and congratulations to my colleagues. Thank you to the residents of district three for allowing me another two years to be your voice here at City Hall. I'm unmole and honored and continue to serve you in the residents of Fort Worth. Thank you. Mayor Pratim Bivens. Good evening and thanks to all of you for being here and Michael, you're not the only one who knows the power of God and thank you for bringing that name to this space. Shortly after winning reelection, this song just stayed in my head and I've told my mom and Sam and other friends but had it not been for the Lord on my side, where would I be? And it just stayed with me for days and there's nobody in my house but me but that song just kept reaming. So I'm thankful to God Almighty for being here. With only two years remaining in this office, it is very important to talk about what's ahead. I'll have you know, I'm a board member of the National League of Cities, which means I put Fort Worth on a national level everywhere I go. I don't go as often as the mayor does but whenever I go, she knows I have on my boots and I'm talking about Fort Worth. I went to a conference probably in 2014, I believe it was and cities were talking about land banking so that they could reserve space and build things like grocery stores, housing, what have you. I came back very excited about, well, we could do that in Fort Worth. Sandy's laughing because she knows where I'm going with this. I got a lukewarm reception. After all, I was still very new on the council but if you read the paper recently, for those of you who can still afford to buy the paper, the Star Telegram did report about land banking, cities are gonna be doing that. And so just know I will be pushing city staff to use the concept of land banking to help build grocery stores throughout every desert food desert in this city. I think we need that but I'm gonna need some votes to help support that. So I'll be trying to be friends with all these people up here so that we can resolve that issue. And I did talk to somebody on staff who said, yeah, we could do it for that too. We need to use land banking to help ease some of the burdens that we have. Development continues to come our way but in district five, we are very cautious on how we proceed or having y'all heard. We're the ones who say no to everything but that's not true. We say yes occasionally. We like to say yes to what we have planned for. Citizens who live in residential areas should not be subjected to the disruption of their lives because out of town developers, out of state developers think they can do what's best for us. And so what we do in district five is get educated and try to get those developers educated on what we want to see coming our way. That's why I did a major council initiated resulting several years ago to protect neighborhoods while preserving commercial corridors and not having industrial uses on top of our homes. James, raise your hand. Neighborhood President John T. White there was there and witnessed that and to date we are still on track for what our resulting set out to accomplish. Now, while we do want a thriving city, we don't want one that takes away our old growth trees. Most developers know when it comes to trees being cut in district five, they just come watch. The newbies come to me about how many trees they're gonna have to take out. The last visit came from D. R. Harden and one guy said, I just came to see if you were gonna bend to this new guy cause he knew the answer was gonna be no. We have our principles in district five and I'm very proud to represent this district. We are very close to seeing the East Fort Worth stop for a text rail open at Trinity Boulevard and Loop 820. If you've heard that there's concrete crushing going on there, that's not true. Whoever said it didn't know they were lying, but they were. That's a train stop that's coming there. It's gonna open doors and avenues for development, retail, a lot of options coming our way at Trinity and 820. I wanna thank city staff for working with developer Ken Newell, Trinity Metro, Michael Morris of the Council of Governments and especially Michael and Chris who serve on Trinity Metro for keeping that rail on track that being how we get it to fruition. We must work with all independent school districts that touch the city of Fort Worth. There are a number of them and because this mayor brought in and stuck to a daytime meeting, what I'd like to see is us invite school districts from all around to come watch how government works because that daytime meeting can be used as a field trip. I've gotten support from three trustees already that being Toby Jackson of course, that being Quentin Phillips of course and Wallace Bridges. We want them to see how government works but also tell us how they think it should work. Everything is not about just what we do everything perfect. And so I look forward to that. Many of you were very, very concerned when you heard me say, I was gonna be leaving office. Well, I got talked in the saying but you got more nervous because you heard Sandy was leaving. Everybody knows Sandy Bro is my secret weapon as the people all over call her. Well, Sandy has decided she'll hang around, loopy, loopy, loopy, loopy. That's district five right there. So you'll hang around a little bit longer. Sandy, please wave your head. And you guys, let me tell you how I got Sandy. When I first came into office, you know, I struggled and I tried to get some help as best I could. And so an opening came and I asked Sandy if she'd come to work. And you know, she said no, she was just gonna go retire. Well, I knew that I could call Brenda Silcox and she could get Sandy to do anything I wanted as long as I took care of the Chuck Silcox Animal Shelter. And so that's how we got Sandy on district five. And so Jerry Ms. Smith, raise your hand, please. Jerry Ms. who is building that development at Stalcup and Berry can tell you how important Sandy is. Of course, Tarchy White, historic Carver Heights can tell you how important Sandy is. Jerry Barton, Jim Rutherford, there's Paul, raise your hands, please, you guys know. And because of Sandy, Lisa was able to buy a tax foreclosed property. And so Sandy's gonna hang around but just for zoning guys, okay? Who will be taking her place is a stop six resident whose name is, where's Joshua? Joshua Rivers. Joshua comes to me directly from district six but with the blessing of the district six council member. And so Sandy is gonna take off and just see if he's still here when she comes back for about a week. And we will continue to support the citizens of district five. Now we have a unique need in district five. We lost about probably 25 neighborhood associations primarily in the inner city area. And so I hired Josiah Sunshine Johnson. Please wave your hand while you're going live. I know she's doing that. We brought on Sunshine so that she could help bring those neighborhoods back because if you have people who are uninformed and unengaged you've got some people who are gonna be not very happy. And so I wanna thank Josiah for already bringing back Carver Heights East. They were deactivated in 2019 and she's been on the job for less than six months and they're already back into being active and Sandy will do educating on zoning for them. Is it this weekend? Next weekend? Next weekend. Okay, so that's what's happening in five but let me tell you about coming back here. I have learned so much from these, I'll call them the new people, I'll still call them new people. But these new people on the council, new people can point you into different directions. They can tell you how to use something like Canva. They can tell you what a QR code is. And so it was really funny. I'm the oldest one here but I'm the first one to get a QR code on my card. And I showed all these new people, I said I got a QR code, y'all don't. Well then someone asked, well, do you know where it goes? I went, oh, I really don't know. But luckily it went where it was supposed to go. But I think it's time to make sure I leave, knowing that you're in good hands. And so you've got me two more years to kick around and just know, most people know I kick back. And oh yeah, but I'm just, I'm very proud to represent district five. I really am. Thank you all for those of you who supported me or those of you who didn't. I'm your council person too. Whatever you need, we're gonna make sure it gets done as long as it's legal. And so with that, but I do know some folk who know some folk, you know? But I gotta say hello and welcome to these two new council members. I know how to pronounce the name Macy, that's easy. Did I do it right? Okay, but now we're gonna have to work on this for a minute. And I've told him, I'll call him council member L until he works it through for me. For those of you who are here with me tonight, please just wave at me and say hi. Thank you all. Y'all take care. Have a wonderful evening. And I didn't talk as long as Michael did. I'm done. Council member Williams. Thank you mayor. Good evening everyone. First, I'm deeply humbled and grateful for another opportunity to serve. I'm encouraged by the progress we've made and committed to continuing the important work that's before us. First things first, I'm internally grateful to God, the God I serve, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has called me to love him and to love each of you, my neighbors, to my wife and my best friend, all in one. So Shia, thank you for, whoo, it happens. Thank you for walking with me every step of the way on this journey. Your support and your wise counsel have always been a compass for me. And not only have you been instrumental to this work, you have done that while masterfully entering motherhood and extending a whole hell of a lot of grace to me as I enter into fatherhood. The long days and the late nights, the constant meetings and disruptions to our family routine. In all of that, you remind me day in and day out of the power of love and grace. And for that, I'm so much better. Our new baby daughter, Janelle, will be able to look back at these moments and have proof points that she can do all things through Christ. I'm so proud to share in the joy of raising her with you and I'm committed every day to making significant contributions through our service together that will forge a bright future for her generation here in Fort Worth and across the globe. To my dad, who's not here tonight doing pastor duties, I'm immensely grateful for the many life lessons that he and my mom, who is no longer with us, taught me over the years, especially teaching me the power of faith. Through both word and deed, they constantly have been a living testament to the scripture of Romans 8 and 31, which reminds us of God is with us, who can be against us. Thank you for planting seeds of faith and nurturing our confidence that we are indeed more than conquerors to the challenges that we face. I'm also incredibly proud to be able to serve and to have earned another term. This definitely would not have been possible without the support of my district six neighbors, my team, Josh and Davia and Kendall, who is living the high life quote unquote in DC. I don't know about that on Capitol Hill. And also my family, thank you all so much for all of the moments behind the moment that helped make sure that we're delivering for our district and for our city. Three years ago, I set out on this journey to serve the district I grew up in as a council member because like many of you, I recognize that the pivotal moment we were in amidst the pandemic, deep social tensions and a vulnerable local economy. And I, like many of you, especially those type A folks, chose to do something about it. Since we first made history on June 5th, 2021, I've been laser focused on delivering on the most pressing issues facing our district and our city. Together, we attracted millions of dollars in private investment for commercial development, such as medical offices, childcare centers, restaurants and yes, a grocery store. We champion important investments to improve neighborhood safety, like investing in the one second collaborative to address and prevent youth gun violence. We expanded parks, trail connections and open spaces across the district. But what's most important is that we prioritize the voices of our constituents on decisions large and small. And so as I enter another term, I will continue to work alongside you and my neighbors on the issues that matter most to the future of our district and our city. And I believe that together, we will continue to prioritize those things like strengthening our local economy, improving safety across our neighborhoods and investing in enhancing our city services and infrastructure. And most of all, we will continue to prioritize your voice. We'll continue to work on important projects like revitalizing and automating some of our corridors and working to attract good jobs, small business opportunities and quality commercial uses that our district six residents depend on across the district. We'll continue to work to create multiple pathways to high quality housing and home ownership across the district. We'll continue to advocate for bold investments to improve transportation safety, reducing high speed traffic, reckless driving, speed racing and other dangerous driving behaviors in our district. We'll work continuously to reduce use gun violence through initiatives like the one second collaborative. We'll ensure first response services are tailored to meet the growing demands of our growing city and our diverse city. And we'll work to ensure deeper and wider neighborhood participation on all of the decisions we face as a city. I believe we must deliver on these and other tangible actions to ensure that prosperity and security reaches every corner and every neighborhood across our city. I'm confident that as we stand together tonight, we stand with more in common than with what divides us. And yes, we still have important challenges to solve ahead and we can, we must and we will do just that. How'd you know? We are destined to compete. And I've always, I would argue, been destined to compete on the global stage as a world-class city. How well we compete has always been and will always be linked to how well we care for even the least among us and our neighborhoods. We all have a role to play and together we will emerge as a better city tomorrow by the collective contributions we make today. So let's get to work. I also wanna say a special congratulations to my two newest colleagues. This work is definitely a marathon and a sprint all in one. And I look forward to continuing to work with both of you and this entire council and mayor to continue to work on delivering the things that make a huge difference for our residents. And so with that, thank you all. And may God continue to bless you, our neighborhoods and the city of Fort Worth. Thank you. Thank you. Renettles. Thank you mayor for this opportunity. I wanna say this before I start out. We will send the email and ask to do two to three minutes. And I email Whitney and I said, Whitney, I'm for sure I'm not gonna do three minutes. But no other council member said anything. But each one of them went over three, four, five minutes. So I just want, they use me sometimes to say things and they come under the rug. So I need them to start speaking up. All right, so now let me start. Thank you. That was an extra 30 seconds. And I'm probably gonna be shorter than all of them. So first I want to thank God who is the head of my life for this opportunity. My family, if they can, I have a beautiful family. So I'm gonna ask them to stand. Family and friends that are here, if you can real quick stand so that the people can see my beautiful daughter, wife, children, sister, sister-in-law, mother, friend, relatives. And so thank you guys for being here. It has been a fast two years but we have made great progress in these two years. I can contest this job has its highs and it has its lows, it has its ups and its downs. Good days are not so good days but every single day represent the city of Fort Worth. I can tell you that it has been truly worth it. There have been times that I went home heavy-hearted and there are times I went home very excited about what we have done on council. I'm one vote. And so things that we have moved forward in this council it has taken at least five to six votes to get a process. And so I thank all of my colleagues and for supporting initiatives throughout the city of Fort Worth. I also want to take time and thank our city staff. Our city staff had a whirlwind two years ago. You had six new people that had all these crazy ideas and wanted things done fastly and quickly and staff got things done. So thank you staff for all the work that you do because the reality is without you we can't get some of the work done. You guys work tirelessly. You listen to us murmur and complain and you still do the work. So thank you all of you. I also want to thank these gentlemen, these officers who protect us every single day in and out these chambers up and down these hallways. So thank you for your due diligence and making sure that we're safe when we're here on site. I want to appreciate you for that. It has been an honor to run for real election unopposed. And for some of you that may be a big deal for some it may not. The last time this seat was unopposed was in 2009 and 2011. So many people around this city, around the district expected me to have an opponent this go around. I came in this seat. I came hot. I came fire. I came throwing blows and punches. But the city but district eight understood what we wanted to do in the southeast quarter. We felt like that there was a lot of things that was not done at the West side. The 35 was a defining factor of what happens from the West and the East. And I can tell you today we have made great changes to the East side of forward. And it's due to the city staff. It's due to the leadership of the council district eight. It's due my staff Sally and jazz who are on staff. And it's due to the mayor being so nice and gracious with working with a consensus. We have been able to do great things. People didn't know what people was going to receive of my politics. But I'm grateful to say that district eight settled on Nettles. And so for that I say thank you. I've been telling people that in the old washing machines those that I know a lot of y'all have the new ones but some of them still have the old ones that has the middle piece of the rod in the middle of the stick that it turns around. For those you don't know that's called an agitator. And you can put all kind of bleach, soap, water, detergent on dirty clothes. But unless you have an agitator that turns no matter what that causes the things that are on the shirt to come out even when they don't want to come out that causes pain to the shirt. You can only imagine that shirt I just want to be clean but it got to go through the pain and the agony. And I consider myself as an agitator on this city council is challenging the process. Challenging us as council members, challenging the city staff getting to how can we get to a yes? How can we get to an approve? How can we make this city great? And so that's what I believe God sent me here to be. I believe that's what the city district eight sent me here to be is to be that agitator. And it's not always good days here on this council but it is worth the while while I'm here. I use my time and resources when I didn't have an opponent this last go around to help two of my colleagues who were facing major challenges. And I used to walk up and down this hallway because the reality is as Gina say she wants to try to get two votes. We all want to get to that yes. And there has been colleagues that on this that has been bagging me from day one. And you know, I don't get the emotion. I probably won't get emotion. But I do want to say to my friend councilman back who had some challenges this time in this race. And she came in, she said friend, I think I'm in trouble. And I said, whatever you need, you can count on me. And we work together, Jerry Williams and I am just grateful that these two are back on council with me. I'm grateful that the city of Fort Worth district nine and district six voted them back in but not just them, all of this council because we have all worked together and the list goes on and on. So first I want to say to all my council members and mayor that I respect and I honor the work that you do on council. Never think that there are day to go about it. I don't like you or don't appreciate you. So thank you for all that you do. And I want to say that publicly in front of everybody because I don't want to be no mixed emotions or whatever. All right, I love you guys and to my new councilman is the same. In 2021, we all had ideas, goals, thoughts and plans. But today I can contest that we now have results. There are certain things that we promise that I promise. One was to support homeless communities with long-term solutions. And I have been able to approve two permanent supporter housings in our district for chronically homeless for 72 units all in district A. Pressure our city to invest in healthy development along the east side of our 35. We fought to approve for the city to invest $13 million on Evans and Rosedale Development. That is a big deal for district A. That is a big deal for south side and the morning side who have seen poverty eat away at them every single day. In the size, I'm sorry, incentivized major grocery stores changed to come and open in district A. And we understand in order for that to happen we need rooftops. And so over the last two years I brought over 3000 rooftops to the city of Fort Worth to district A. And not just regular rooftop but affordable housing. We must continue to provide affordable housing all over this district that everybody can have a place to lay their head and comfortable and feel safe. We brought honor to a Tatiana Jefferson name by renaming Hillside Community Center at the Tatiana Carl Jefferson Community Center at Hillside. We improve city services with police and fire with response time. We prove police major budget. We supported fire increase in their budget to a million dollars to support unstaffed fire departments. This council has supported each and every council member have supported public safety. And for that we say thank you to our public service. Continue to do your work. Continue to make sure that our city is safe. We have done great things in the last two years. We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go. And some of the things that we're gonna be focused on in the next two years is attracting more economic development in district A. Education by partnering with our school board. This city council has never had a joint partnership meeting with two elected bodies coming together to figure out our educational system. And I'm grateful to work with mayor who believes in education, believes in education across the board. We don't care what school you go to, how you get your education. We just wanna make sure that you are educated. If we are gonna be a stronger city, we must be a smarter city. To continue to advocate for black contractors to get work through the city of Fort Worth projects in Tarrant County and the list goes on. To find some type of media ground to figure out we can have some type of police oversight. Finding ways to support our young people. Bringing in grocery stores and entertainment. Building bridges and working alongside each council member. We live in a different Fort Worth. We live in a greater Fort Worth. And in these next notes I have dot, dot, dot preach, but I didn't speak. So I put that in my preaching notes where I get to just say whatever I wanna say and stop reading my notes. That's the part where I take it to the cross and hang them up, bring them back. Last Sunday, I preached a message this past Sunday from Romans 8 and 31 and said, what shall we then say to these things if God be for us who can be against us? And the title of the message was God is for us. And I believe God is for this city. I believe God is for this nation. I believe God is for this council. And so it is my promise to the citizens, to this council to do everything within my power that God gives me to do, to represent you with integrity, with decency and be that voice and be that advocate. I appreciate all the calls that I get in and out of the district. I said something two years ago. I said, I don't care what district you live in, what city you live in or what neighborhood you live in, call my office and they done that. But we have great leaders here so you can also call them. And so I think I'm finished. I think I was shorter than Michael and Gina. Thank you. I think I was. But let the record show it is settled. District eight has reelected Chris Nettles. God bless you. Remember Beck, please. Gonna follow rules tonight and be under three minutes. So I think that should be a note. I really wanna thank Fort Worth and District nine for giving me the privilege to continue to serve you as your councilwoman. I'm honored to have this opportunity and I'm truly humbled to be sitting here at this dais with these leaders, to my daughters out there in the audience. Thank you so much for your sacrifice. You give up a lot so that I can do this job and that does not go unnoticed by me. Some benefits are you don't have to eat as much as my cooking so there are some trade-offs there. I wanna thank my staff who held it down for District nine every day and make sure that we are responsive to our constituents needs. I wanna thank my volunteers who knocked countless doors. You made countless phone calls and you believed in this mission. You believed in integrity. You believed in honesty and you believed in good governance. It's a privilege for me to get to work with these passionate dedicated city employees every day at all departments and at all levels. You were there when Fort Worth needs your help in the middle of the night, when our roads are flooded, when our children need a place to go after school, when there's an emergency on our hands, when our neighbors need housing. Thank you so much for everything that you have done to help not just District nine but the city of Fort Worth be successful in these last two years. It's our job as leaders to set the stage and to make sure the right rules are in place, to make sure the right issues are before us and to make sure that the right discussions are engaged. Two years ago when I asked myself this question, what makes Fort Worth great? The answer then as it is now and as I think it will always be is our people. The folks who live here, who work here and invest here are what make this community great. It's our neighborhoods that provide a strong sense of place that keep Fort Worth moving into the future. Good government is grounded in good policy. Good government requires good leaders looking to develop solutions and not just sound bites. And you have my word that I will continue to be that leader here on council. It takes discipline, it takes teamwork and it takes sacrifice. It takes courage to stand up for what you believe in and I truly believe that it is courage that will push the city forward. You have my word to continue to be your courageous leader here on this council, not for just District nine but the entire city. I'm up for the challenge and I know everybody on this diocese as well and I don't have to ask you to join me because you've already been there. To my fellow council members, I look forward to working with you over the next two years. I look forward to seeing you at that work session table into our spirited debates, to asking those probing questions of each other and of our city staff to make sure that we are grounded in good policy and that we are doing what is best for this community. And I thank you all so very much. I love this job and I love this city and I am very grateful that you've given me the opportunity to continue to serve you. And I think that was the shortest. Council Member Blalock. Thank you, Mayor. So first and foremost, I wanna thank God for providing for my family and my life and presenting with this opportunity. I wanna thank my family. Without the support, I wouldn't be here today. I don't wanna especially thank my wife, Mindy who's been behind me, my biggest supporter, my biggest friend and advocate from the beginning and my daughters, Karen and Brenna, who make my life complete. I love you. I wanna really thank my friends, my neighbors and voters for standing during my side during these back-to-back campaigns. It was really different for me. I guess I get the distinction of being the first council member to serve in two different council districts in the city of Fort Worth. It's been an interesting, interesting journey. At times I felt like I've had the 157,000 residents of existing or now prior D4 and then 100 plus thousand residents in new D10 all calling me at once. So thank you, Charlie. Pass some stuff on to you. I really wanna thank the constituents of district four. They're incredible support over the last year and for understanding that we're all in this together and we're working so hard to make our city better. I've really enjoyed supporting you. I've enjoyed working with you. I've kept my words to you and I've tried to do right. I wanna thank my current, well now former constituents in district five and district 11 and those who remain in district four. If y'all ever need me, you've got my unwavering support. Redistricting through us all in many different directions but the goals of making our communities better remains the same. My heart is vested in and if you need me just don't hesitate to ask. I'll help you. For district 10, for those that came with me in new district 10 and for those who join us from current council district seven, thank you for voting your confidence in me. Thank you for electing me to my first full term. I'm honored to be your voice at City Hall advocating for our community. Our new district presents a great opportunity to focus strategically on the issues that matter most and that's our roads and congestion, our property taxes and our public safety. I'm excited to continue working hard for the families and North Fort Worth and I'm here to serve you. I wanna say thank you to mayor and council. You know, I came in last year in a special election. Y'all mentioned how crazy things were for y'all in 2011 when there was so much new. When I got here, y'all are already running at 90 miles an hour and I just wanna thank each and every one of you for your grace and your support and your help getting me up to speed. I wanna thank my district director, Tara Holt who makes everything possible. She is amazing and fantastic. I wanna thank the rest of city management. I wanna thank mayor and council staff for all your support over these times. You do so much for residents every day and it shows and it makes our city better and for the assistant city managers, David Cook and the rest of the city employees, y'all do yeoman's work every day, making our city better. Thank you. My focus will continue to be on making our neighborhoods better, on making our city better, on working with my counterparts across the aisle including Macy and Charlie now to do great things, to make Fort Worth the best city it can be. And I just wanna just acknowledge that we've done so much great over the past year and council did before I got here as well. And I look forward to all that we'll do together as we move forward. I'm honored to be able to continue to serve and thank you. I'll close us out. Thank you for enduring for this hour. I think it's really important to get to hear from council members what they've accomplished and again what their vision is for the next two years. First I do have to thank my family, my sweet husband who is stuck in Austin finishing a legislative session, a 12-year-old who's playing basketball for a select basketball team, a six-year-old who's now apparently the technician in the back running cable. So if it goes out you'll know exactly what is happening. And to my sweet mom who we call Cha-Cha at home who really is the anchor for our family to allow me to serve in this capacity which is very special. And so to Gray, to Laney, to Shaney, to David, I love you all. This is a full context sport of being in politics and this has been a gauntlet not just for the two-year serving but also to get us to this place to run for election. And each of us can attest the sacrifice is significant and sometimes we get the benefit of all the good because we get the accolades. We get to be at the fun event or get thanked in the grocery store for what we're doing and it's our husbands or our wives that are at home usually trying to hold down the fort and make it all happen. So I think you feel that from this dais that we really appreciate and love these jobs but that the sacrifice is significant and I think we've done an excellent job in the last two years showing what the juggle is like. Being vulnerable, at times Elizabeth and I've talked about that many times being working moms and owning how hard that can be but at the same time trying to be a good example for the rest of our community and every other industry that seems to recognize that a little bit better than in politics. And of course, thank you to the citizens of Fort Worth giving me the incredible opportunity to continue to serve as your mayor. The past two years has been a rollercoaster ride in all the right ways and I look forward to the next two and we're making history tonight. We now have a total of 10 city council districts in the city of Fort Worth. A few first, Macy Hill is the first woman to serve as a council member from district seven. So congratulations to Macy, already told us. He's the first council member to serve in two different districts. We'll get that straight eventually Alan but thank you for sticking with us. And council member Gina Bivens, our mayor pro-tim is officially the longest serving for city council member in our history. Council member Bivens. Gina, we are all very proud to serve alongside you. Each of us have been tapped on the shoulder at least once, twice, three times when we've gotten out of line or when you needed her advice or stewardship at this council. Thank you for being our dean and we're excited to serve with you for another two years for sure. Congratulations to our newest council members, council member Hill and council member Lara Storf. Welcome and congratulations. I think I told Charlie when we met, I think really you'll be the first active reserve marine or any active duty capacity for a military member on this dais. We are so proud to serve with you. Any moment that you're called to serve our armed forces across the world, we're proud to have you and holding down the fort here in district four. So thank you for taking another public service role and serving the Forest City Council. Welcome and to my fellow council members that I've served with the past two years. I love each of you deeply. I appreciate your leadership, I appreciate your sacrifice and I look forward to helping you complete all the many priorities that you have in your districts and for the citizens of Fort Worth. We're all only one vote, right? Same for mayor, same for council. It takes a consensus on this dais to do the hard things for our communities. And while sometimes you may not see the messiness on this dais, I promise you there's a lot of push and pull that happens even outside of public view to make sure we're making the right decisions for this community. Thank you for continuing to serve and signing up for another two years serving this awesome city we live in. I believe strongly that Fort Worth is moving in a positive direction. And we look forward to continue the work with council to stay focused on the right priorities to make our city stronger and safer. I'm committed to leading this council the same way I've done for the last two years to build consensus, to communicate what our vision is, where our priorities are and to be excellent stewards of your tax dollars. They are your tax dollars and making sure that you have a good return on investment for every decision we make, every vote that we make here at City Hall. This is a community and what it takes to see our city thrive is working together. And we all are committed to serving the residents in every zip code across the city of Fort Worth. It's already been said, but I think it's important you hear it from your mayor. Thank you to our city manager, our city manager, our ACMs, all of our city employees for the incredibly hard work that you do every single day across Fort Worth. You are our unsung heroes, truly. And we sacrifice, but people know it, you sacrifice even more greatly oftentimes. And you're juggling just the same things. You may not sit at this dais. So just know that we appreciate you and you have done a lot in the last two years just to meet the needs of a new council, a new mayor and more exciting things to come. I know each of you share in that excitement. So thank you for the work that you're doing. To my staff, Whitney and Brittany, both Brittany's, Maria, Tanisha, Joanna and then Bethany, thank you. I couldn't do this without you. I think poor Maria is babysitting Laney right now on the back hallway, I think she probably didn't sign up for. But this is an incredible effort to be able to serve alongside me. I have an amazing team that are so intelligent and devoted to this work. I know each of us can attest to that and each of your district directors. We may get a lot of the accolades, but I promise you it's the staff behind us that are really helping us do this work. So thank you so much. When I ran the first time, I promised to attack problems and not people. And I think that mentality really has to carry through that will continue our momentum as a community with an emphasis on all the things we know, maintain a high quality of life for every single resident across the city. That means high quality focus on public safety, mobility infrastructure, our parks and outdoor space, libraries, community centers, all the things. You bear with me, I'll go through a speed dating list of the things to come and maybe the things we've already started. Very soon we'll move into a new city hall. We're investing over $100 million in the Will Rogers Coliseum. We have two brand new five-star hotels opening in the next six months in the cultural district. We're deploying a $560 million bond. We've added, as promised, two additional council members. We have the second building of Tarleton under construction. We have the Caval Place redevelopment. We have the LVT revitalization. I know Michael Crane visited Tarrant County today to announce another big partnership. Thank you to Council Member Crane. We have new police and fire stations opening across the city of Fort Worth. We have the Southeast connector, led by Textot, over $2 billion of construction right here in the city of Fort Worth. Just today, we announced a partnership at DFW International Airport and American Airlines, a $5 billion investment at the second busiest airport in the entire world, an airport that is now competing to be first in that contender across the world. We'll soon have 100 million visitors in that airport, which is truly phenomenal. And I'm not done. We're also gonna kick off and open to a groundbreaking for the Texas A&M Fort Worth campus, which is incredibly exciting, the convention center groundbreaking for phase one. Historic investments this council has committed to in permanent support of housing, over $25 million. We've seen a 13% reduction in violent crime and climbing downward. We've launched an effort to focus on infant maternal mortality across Tarrant County. You've each helped me launch the Mayor's Workforce Education Initiative, where next year we have a goal to focus on 10% increases in workforce credentials and degrees for our high school students in all 12 school districts across the city of Fort Worth. We're working closely with Trinity Metro, Norfolk, or Texas Council of Governments on the East Lancaster Quarter, which I know is a continued project of importance to both council district five and council district eight. We see the textural expansion that is happening, expansion into the medical district, and transformational investments will come in our parks and open spaces. I could go on, but all of you are ready to go home. But I think you understand now is the moment in Fort Worth for all the right reasons. There is so much potential across the city. It's what keeps me up at night, and it's what wakes me up in the morning, motivated to serve our amazing city. When I ran two and a half years ago, my retired preacher father and I had a long conversation. And dad said this, and you've all heard me say this on this dais, that Esther 414 tells us you were born for such a time as this. And we all remember Esther's heroism to save her people, the Jewish people from death, an incredible intervention of heroism that she took on. And I think for each of us serving on this dais, it is our time to serve our community in this season. With leadership come sacrifice and struggle, loneliness, but also joy and fulfillment and purpose. I look forward to serving for the next two years with my friends here on this dais, and with the almost one million people that call Fort Worth, Texas home. God bless each of you, and thank you for celebrating continued success across our city. Thank you. Concludes our meeting, correct? Okay, with that council, we are meeting adjourned. We're gonna take pictures. Don't go, we're gonna take pictures.