Closing Comments from the 1.12.21 BOC Meeting

Good Afternoon Everyone: I would like to start by thanking my esteemed colleagues on this Board of Commissioners for your renewed vote of confidence in my ability to keep serving as Presiding Officer. I am honored and humbled by your demonstration of support and I will continue to work hard to prove myself worthy of your vote of confidence. I thank Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson for nominating me and Commissioner Larry Johnson for seconding that motion. I also want to thank Commissioner Lorraine Cochran Johnson for your willingness to continue to serve as Deputy Presiding Officer. We make a good team and I look forward to continuing to work with you. I also want to thank my predecessors in this role, Commissioner Larry Johnson and Commissioner Jeff Rader for setting a great example for me to follow. After doing this for a year I have an increased respect for the way you both did this job. As I said this time last year, I want you all to know that I regard my service as Presiding Officer as a tour of duty. A tour of duty that I will continue to discharge to the best of my ability. And a tour of duty that I will most assuredly relinquish one day. In fact, one year from now to be precise. Additionally, I regard this role as primarily one of servant. The six of you are my constituents. And I re-commit to being supportive of your individual and collective initiatives and efforts to the extent possible. Again, I regard this role as primarily one of servant. Having said that, I am also well aware of the fact that Presiding Officer is a position of leadership. And on those occasions when leadership is required from this chair, believe me when I say that I will have no reservations about providing that leadership. This is a great Board of Commissioners. I have respect and admiration for each of you for choosing the path of public service. I remain deeply honored to sit among you, as I have done for the past four years. Thanks again for your vote of confidence. It really means a lot to me. On January 9th, it was an honor to join my friends at AMVETS (American Veterans) Post 44 for their first meeting of the year. I would like to thank my friend, Post Commander Al Wright for the invitation to join this great group. The members of this post have always been supportive of my efforts for our veterans, especially in providing the food for my annual Veterans Resources Expo. COVID prevented us from hosting the event in 2020. But, hopefully we will be able to resume by September of this year. I also want to thank all the members of AMVETS Post 44 for their service to this country. Later that day, I had my first community meeting of this year by visiting with my friends in the Rowland/Allgood/Durham or RAD community. They are very excited about the upcoming changes for the property at 1227 Rowland Road and our upcoming senior center. As always it is a pleasure to engage in a dialogue with my constituents. I thank my friend Theresa Woodgeard for the invitation to participate. On January 23rd, we will be holding our first Quarterly in the Fourth Community Breakfast meeting for 2021. More details will be available across our communications platforms. For my colleagues, as of now all new committee assignments are in effect. I will close today by once again thanking the citizens of District 4 for affording me this opportunity to serve. It is indeed an honor. No Executive Session today. With that, if there is no other business to come before this Board of Commissioners today, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.