You're ready.

Okay, thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for joining us here in Council Chambers.

We do have some folks here with us.

And thank you, of course, as always to Kim in the Bev Cam booth for keeping us streaming live so that people can watch at home or at your convenience.

And so Kim, thanks for being here with us.

As we typically do, I will just talk through what's on the agenda before I call the meeting to order so that we can know what's before us.

When we get started this evening, right at the top of our agenda, we have a resolution honoring our senior of the year, Ann NATO.

Anne is here tonight, and I'm glad you could be here.

And so we'll get to that.

Anne was, of course, honored at Senior Day in the park this summer, but this is our chance to officially vote on our resolution.

And so it's it's really wonderful to be able to do that this evening and have Anne with us.

We'll say more about how wonderful Ann is when we get to that part.

Then we have some routine business to take care of.

We'll take a brief break for some subcommittee work and then we'll come back to finish everything up.

So with that, I'll officially call to order this regular meeting of the Beverly City Council, Monday, September 15th, 2025, 7 o'clock PM.

Ms.

Kent, will you please call the role?

Bowen?

Crawley, Feldman here, Houseman, Rotundo, Spang.

Say hilaire, Sweeney, here.

And flowers.

Here.

Thank you, Ms.

Kent.

Counselor Spang, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

Pledge of 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.

Thank you very much, Councillor Spang.

And one other celebration before we go right to our resolution, I wanted to mention that our city clerk, Lisa Kent, is also has a new title when we're meeting today, and that is uh she's a new grandma, and she has a very cute new grandson, Logan Patrick, and he was born September 11th at 425 p.m.

Congratulations, Miss Kent to you and your family.

And he he is truly very cute.

Lisa didn't tell me to say that.

He's objectively a very cute baby.

Uh so I'm going to uh go to the podium, counselors, to be able to do order 226.

This is our resolution for senior of the year Ann NATO.

And uh Ann, I'll invite you to join me there at the podium.

So as I mentioned, this is our resolution in honor of Beverly's 2025 Senior of the Year, Ann NATO.

And this resolution was presented to Anne as well at Senior Day in the Park.

But of course, that happens during the summer recess.

So one of the special things I think about our uh honoring of the senior of the year is that we get then to invite the senior to come and join us, and we get to celebrate um that wonderful person all over again here in Council Chambers.

So Anne, thank you.

Thank you.

Um I'm going to I'm going to read this resolution, and I think for folks who know Anne and her family, then you already have a sense of why this is so well deserved.

Um, but this will give us a little bit more of a chance to celebrate.

A resolution in honor of Beverly's 2025 Senior of the Year, presented by the Beverly City Council with great appreciation for the volunteerism, community-mindedness, and caring of our esteemed honoree.

Whereas Ann Nato, better and affectionately known as Fred by her husband and close friends, a lifelong Beverly resident and current resident of Ward 6, as well as a proud Beverly Public Schools graduate, has been named this year's Beverly Senior of the Year.

Whereas for over 20 years, Anne lovingly and generously gave back to the community that helped her to grow into the person she is, serving as a dedicated and caring paraprofessional in the Beverly Public Schools, a position through which she made a positive impact on countless students, families, and fellow educators and BPS staff members.

And as an aside, Ann and I were just remembering that I first met her when my son Emmett uh started kindergarten at Hannah Elementary, and Anne was there as part of the team.

Whereas Ann and her husband Lee, who is here with her this evening, uh first met working at the AMP grocery store in Beverly, and who together raised a wonderful daughter and celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary this summer.

Congratulations to you.

Whereas Anne may be known as Anne or Fred to adults, but her favorite name by which she is known as Nan, the name by which she is called by her grandchildren when they chat with her, play with her, and when they happily attend what is lovingly known as Camp Nan in the summers, as they get lots of time with their Nan, and as Nan Ann entertains and cares for them with joy.

Whereas Anne is known for her creativity, her hospitality, and her generous heart, not to mention her delicious cooking, all of which represent a beautiful tapestry of generations.

Anne learned how to knit and how to bake apple pie from her grandmother, learned how to crochet from her mother, and then went on to teach her own daughter to sew.

Whereas Anne is renowned for always having at least one and usually more than one craft project going on at any time, as well as for her delicious and well-known talent for cooking grilled cheese sandwiches with an iron.

For those who arrive at Anne's house hungry, they can be sure a warm and delicious grilled cheese will be whipped up in short order.

Whereas Anne is extremely generous with her time and skills, having volunteered as a Girl Scout troop leader, as well as giving of her time and talents regularly as an active member of her church, as well as driving friends to cancer treatments, and lending a hand whenever and wherever it is needed, and always having an open door, heart and ear to listen and then to respond with thoughtful and wonderful advice and guidance.

Whereas Anne is an active and engaged member of the Beverly Senior Center community, a joyful part of her regular exercise class, an active participant in the library reading group, a formidable challenger in the monthly puzzle Palooza, a dedicated leader in the Endicott College Walking Club, a caring helper at the farm stand, and an overall helping hand for the many activities and events that offer so many connections to and for others at the senior center.

Whereas Anne, with her generous spirit and caring heart embodies in every way the idea of servant leadership.