 the official swearing-in ceremony for Councilman Howard DeVall Jr., Councilman Edward H. McDowell Jr. and Councilman-Elect William Brennan. So I've been through a few swearing-in ceremonies now, and I will say that I always feel a healthy sense of urgency and excitement about the work still to be done. But more so, there's a spirit in this place of renewal, energy, and hope for our city, particularly for these re-elected members of our Council and our newest member of City Council. So Councilman DeVall and Allianne, Councilman McDowell, I don't see them now, and Jeannie and Councilman-Elect Brennan and Lauren. Congratulations. I am here on behalf of all of the 2,300 employees of the City of Columbia to assist you in any way that I can, and we're ready to work. So good luck on your journey of public service. At this time, we will have remarks by the Honorable Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin. It's always a serious and solemn and joyful occasion when we have the opportunity to induct and re- admit the people's choice to public office in America. We do not take it lightly that this is indeed the greatest democratic nation in the history of the world, where the people have the opportunity, and I make it a point to tell this to children every time I go and speak at a school, I've done over 250 or so schools since I've had the privilege of serving as mayor of the city, that America is not like every other country around the world, that we have not only the right, but the responsibility to participate in every single election that we possibly can, and make sure our voices are heard, and that when people acquit themselves well, we're bringing them back to office, and when maybe not so much we don't thank you for your service. And we elect new people who represent the hosts and the dreams of our great city. Our city is a unique place, a capital city, the very first planned capital city in the United States of America. Not only born at the at the convex of the broad and polluted rivers of fertile soil that represent the midlands of South Carolina, but we've personified the government, the capital of this great state since 1786. We are a historical number of ways in which we're very proud, and other ways that maybe we're not so very proud. We're the home of the very first secession convention. The challenges of the American experiment and the American South run through the veins of Columbia, South Carolina. We have emerged from that as a city representative of literally, we have residents from every one of the 194 sovereign nations of the world here. We are the home of Fort Jackson where victory starts here. We're the home of two historically black colleges, universities, and the state's only Carnegie one research university, a strong civil service buttressed by an incredibly vibrant chamber and business community here in the midlands. We represent the future, not just of our own community, but of, I believe, the world. We represent them well right here in Columbia, South Carolina. In order for all that to work, we have to make sure we have sound, solid public servants who are willing to work together to equip the will of the people in a way that's thoughtful, that's judicious, that's cost effective and responsible, that we take care of the people's purse. But we also push ourselves to think big about what we can be and how we can be. And we obviously are driven well by our faith. Bishop, thank you for that invocation. We had to go back and look at the, where did the Bishop go? Somewhere. Oh, there it is. Okay. Had to go back and look at the program and realize that invocation has to come at the beginning of the program, not halfway through the program. We're usually blessed in this chamber to have Reverend McDowell, not Councilman McDowell, but Reverend McDowell bring the, bring the word. And if he's not with us that day, we have Councilman Duvall fill in afterwards. We've never, Daniel, been judicious enough to ask the Preachess Kid, Mr. Davis, to bring word. I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure what's behind that, but we'll, we'll, we'll figure that out someday. So we'll just plan to be on deck, okay, for, for service at some point. I am, I will say this because I do believe that this is a, it has been the privilege of my life. I know for my colleagues on this Council, for the men and women who, who work every single day to make sure that our collective vision becomes a reality, we take it as a solemn oath to execute the will of the people. And I will not venture too much into, into biblical lesson as we have more than enough men and women of God in this chamber, Reverend. But I often think of the book of Isaiah. And Isaiah speaks of this, this, this vision, his dream of, of, of terrible majesty when the heavens opened up a host of angels and God himself were before him. Isaiah was awestruck and, and, and frightened. He cried out, what was me for I, for I am undone, for I'm a man of unclean lips, not dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah was imperfect, frightened, and afraid, standing before the full glory of heaven. But when God asked, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Isaiah stood up. He dusts himself off. And he said, here am I, send me, here am I, send me. I believe that even in this world in which we live, where partisanship is run amok, when we go in separate directions and, and things seem gridlocked in almost every level of government except the local government, that it takes incredibly special men and women to stand up and say, here am I, send me. I am willing to do the will of the people. I am willing to do what it takes to get things done, to bring people together, to speak, to love and grace and mercy and justice. It takes very special people. And that's why on behalf of the people of this city, on behalf of my members, fellow members of city council, Ed Howard will, we're so excited to be here with you and your families today. We're so excited to take a few moments to celebrate your election. And then just in a few hours, we got to get to work. We got, we got to get to work. So God bless you. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations to your families. This is a family affair. We know it more, more than anything else. And we look forward to getting some great work done together. God bless you. Council member of the municipality of the city of Columbia will equally, fairly and impartially, impartially, to the best of my ability and skill. To the best of my ability and skill. Exercise the trust reposed in me. Exercise the trust imposed in me. And I will to the best of, use my best endeavors and I will to preserve the peace. To preserve the peace. And carry into effect. And carry into effect. According to the law. According to the law. The purposes. The purposes. For which I have been elected. For which I have been elected. So help me God. So help me God. I do solemnly swear. I do solemnly swear. And I will. I am duly qualified. According to the constitution of this state. According to exercise the duties of the office. To exercise the duties of the office. To which I have been elected. To which I have been elected. And that I will. And that I will. To the best of my ability. To the best of my ability. Discharge the duties thereof. Discharge the duties thereof. And preserve. And preserve. Protect. Protect. And defend. And defend. The Constitution. The Constitution. Of this state. Of this state. And of the United States. And of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. Mayor Benjamin. Members of the council. Newly elected member of council. City manager. Members of the staff. And friends. I want to thank all of you for the recent election. And I see many of you in the audience today that participated vitally in that election. And it means a lot to me to be able to continue to serve. It has been my great honor to have served the last four years on the Columbia City Council. I have worked in municipal government all of my adult life on either the elected side or the administrative side. I have worked with and taught both municipal elected officials and to find appointed employees who make us elected officials look good. In the last four years I have gotten to know many of our staff and the great employees of the city of Columbia. I can tell the citizens of the city of Columbia that we have a great staff that is better, as good or better than any municipal employees in the state of South Carolina. Our city manager has hired the brightest and the best and they work hard to make our city worthy of being called the capital of the state of South Carolina, as the mayor just mentioned. I look forward to being with all of you during the next four years. And as the mayor said, here am I, send me. As a council member of the municipality, as a council member of the municipality of the city of Columbia, of the city of Columbia, I will equally, I will equally, fairly and impartially, fairly and impartially to the best of my ability and skill, to the best of my ability and skills, exercise the trust reposed in me, exercise the trust reposed in me, and I will use and I will use my best endeavors, my best endeavors to preserve the peace, to preserve the peace and carry into effect and carry into effect according to law, according to law, the purposes for which I have been elected, the purposes for which I've been elected, so help me God, so help me God. I do solemnly swear or affirm, I do solemnly affirm that I am duly qualified, I am duly qualified according to the constitution of this state, the constitution of this state, to exercise the duties of the office, to exercise the duties of this office to which I have been elected, of which I have been elected and that I will and that I will, to the best of my ability, to the best of my ability, discharge the duties thereof, discharge the duties thereof and preserve and preserve, protect, protect, and defend, and defend the constitution of this state, the constitution of this state, and of the United States, and of the United States, so help me God, so help me God. Congratulations, thank you. Just a word of thanks to our mayor, fellow members of the council, thank you for your support, thank you all for giving support and lending support. I must say to you unequivocally and unalteredly, the first four years were amazing, plus they were insightful and of course there are several other adjectives I could, but I dare not to do that, we're not in the executive session. I want to thank each of you, my colleagues first of all because of the civility that this council has embraced, because of the respect we have for each other, these last four years has been working productive good years, and I'm appreciative for that. And of course to this staff, as Howard just said, you are the best staff, amen, somebody I'd say, man, you are the best staff, you've assisted us, you've given to some of us who are newbies or were newbies an indication of how things and things ought to work and should work, and we are thankful for that. And finally, I want to say that Columbia is the best city in South Carolina. Say what you will or may, with all of our imperfections, we have moved in a direction where growth, expansion, and relational needs in our cities are being emphasized, and for that I'm grateful. What is a word that I could possibly use to close these few resounding remarks? I would simply say, you ready, Will? It's going to be an interesting journey for each of us. And then I want to say thanks to my good friend, Chip Finney. Miss Finney is here with us today. They've been friends of ours for the longest, and there's no other person that I would have asked other than my father who is deceased. Thank you all so much. Let's put on, let's gird our lawns for the journey, and for that which is to come for the next four years. Thank you all so much. May God continue to bless each of us. The council member of the municipality, to the best of my ability and skill, to the best of my ability and skill, exercise the trust, exercise the trust, proposed in me, proposed in me, and I will use my best endeavors to preserve the peace. I will use my best endeavors to preserve the peace and carry into effect, according to the law, the purposes for which I have been elected. This is about that and half. Okay, first half, and carry into law. And carry into law. The purposes for which I have been elected. To help me God. I do solemnly swear that I am duly qualified according to the constitution of this state. To exercise the duties of the office, to which I have been elected, to the best of my ability, to the best of my ability, to discharge the duties thereof, thereof. And preserve, protect, protect, and defend the constitution of this state, and the United States to help me God. I'm not going to force her to hug me in front of you also. What a wonderful day. Life is beautiful, life is great. If you campaigned as long as we did, you reconnect with old friends, you meet new friends, you go to a lot of neighborhood association meetings, forums, you get out there, you get to know your wonderful city. A lot of times I would have the privilege, like I do today, to speak after my friend and new colleague, Reverend McDowell. I think it was an Easter breakfast. I had heard him speak so much. He's a hard act to follow. I went up to him at this breakfast. He was about to give the keynote. I said, you've got to give me some tips, man. You're public speaking game is on fire. He looked at me and he called me in close, said follow the kiss method. I turned my head, I said, what is the kiss method? Keep it simple, stupid. Thompson, that's keep it simple silly for you, okay? I'm going to keep it simple. Thank you so much. Thank you to everyone that works so hard on this long campaign that got the message out for us, that works so hard. To my wonderful wife, thank you so much. I love you so much. To my parents, to my parents, wonderful role models, to my sister, Katie and brother-in-law, Mack, the beautiful family that you all have. I really appreciate it. The hard work on the campaign was nothing compared to the hard work that starts today. I realize that. I look forward to that. I look forward to working with my new colleagues on continuing to work on the basics to build this foundation for us to reach the beautiful potential that this city has. If you attended all those forums and neighborhood associations, you heard me say many times, the only reason city council exists is to give you the citizens of this wonderful city the best quality of life. I look forward to serving District 3 in the city of Columbia and giving you that best quality of life. Thank you so much.