I was pleased Monday to renew my oath to serve Laurel as a Councilmember for this coming term, and to join with my colleagues, their friends, and family.

Following the swearing-in, I also had an opportunity to share a brief reflection, which I invite you watch in the queued-up video linked below:

If helpful, here also is a transcript, edited for some tidiness. :)

Thank you President Smith.

I did want to share a little bit of a reflection tonight. You know, in some ways tonight’s the conclusion of the election with the swearing-in, and there were a couple thoughts that I shared with supporters following the election, that I thought might be good to share tonight at large.

One of the things that struck me as I was standing on the sidelines on Election Day – and it is sort of interesting in an election that as candidates you’re standing on the sidelines. and that’s appropriate because the voters are the ones that who are the actors during the election, who are the movers – and as I watched the residents stream in and out of the polling place, I was struck by the fact that this thing we call “community”, it doesn’t just “happen” all by itself.

It takes people willing to take time out of their day to come out and to vote and to be a part. It takes people who want to take time out of their day to walk down the street to take the package that was misdelivered at your door to your next door neighbor. It takes people who take time out of the day to volunteer to coach their kid’s sports teams. It takes people to take time out of their day to stay after and join their church choir. Or also to collect and distribute food to those in need. And to come out and vote on Election Day.

A community is not just one person. It’s not even just five people. These few up here cannot carry what it means to be a community. It’s a vibrant ecosystem of people at all levels that make a community strong. The teachers, the shop owners, the bus drivers, the seniors, the pastors, the families, the artists, the architects, and the list goes on. If that ecosystem is strong, a community will carry itself regardless.

And so my encouragement is this: To “be Laurel”, to be proud to be Laurel, to be part and parcel of our life and our space here in our town, finding a way to connect to those around you. Laurel is richer and stronger for what you bring to it.

So, thank you to the witness to everyone who came out on election day to vote, to the testament of your belief in Laurel – And I’ll do my best to keep making decisions to best support you so that together we can be Laurel and to help it flourish. 🙂

Thank you, Mr. President.