With that, the I'm gonna go ahead and go straight to the uh state of the county address.

I will do that, and then we'll go to electing a new mayor.

Okay.

All right.

Again, I want to uh welcome everybody.

Uh today's an exciting day for our commission.

Uh it is our annual reorganizational meeting, and we get to change our seats.

I if hopefully, you know.

That this is when this is last year when I was saying this is where everybody will be sitting.

Um, and with it a different vantage point and point of view.

Literally, yes, but in spirit too.

And of course, we also get to elect a new mayor and vice mayor.

Before we get there, however, I get one last chance to get a word in before I hand this over to the next mayor, my last chance.

First off, I want to thank you all for your trust in me to carry out this role as mayor.

Uh, it's been an honor and it's been fun.

I got to hear myself in the airport.

Uh that's the one perk we get.

We get it, you know.

And even brother, even better, my brother got stuck at the airport for hours and had to hear me over and over and over again.

That was worthy.

He actually called me and said, make it stop.

So even though they say the mayoral role is purely ceremonial, the truth is that this position does come with some extra uh responsibilities.

Those responsibilities come with no extra pay, and that's okay, that's all right.

But the role does come with another unexpected benefit that might be better than any payment.

You actually find your heart gets a little bigger.

We're elected to our own district from the cities within which we live and live around, and as one would expect, there is a natural tendency and responsibility to focus in on those in our district to whom we have a privilege to represent.

But being mayor has allowed me to feel pride even more than I already did in all the work that you all do all as commissioners all over the county.

Whether it's Commissioner Fisher fighting for us for tri rail and commuter rail and the Third Amendment on the surtax, making sure we can all get around, or Commissioner Bogan, uh encouraging people to get life-saving scans, or Commissioner McKenzie, building houses and walls and neighborhoods, or Senator Geller and keep trying to keep us from drowning and buying arcs, or Commissioner Davis trying to keep planes from falling out of the sky, or Commissioner Rogers helping small businesses get off the ground, uh, or Commissioner Udean trying to bring business big business and innovators to relocate to Broward, or Senator Rich and trying to make sure everyone has a home and our children grow up strong.

The work that we do separately is greater than the sum of its parts, and collectively our works overlap and build upon one another.

And for that, it has been a source of pride to enjoy your successes throughout the year.

Thank you for trusting me with that privilege.

And it isn't just our commission.

I've been able to watch our county administration go above and beyond to find resources in a very challenging time and find a way for those worthy initiatives and a few crazy ideas come to pass.

I've also been fortunate enough to work with a fantastic team of county attorneys to protect the rule of law and a county auditor that makes sure we are doing everything responsibly.

Thank you all.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my own team, Delma Clann Frank, you guys rock.

Definitely the best, as well as Kim Moreau and the Office of Public Communications, who all work so hard to keep things running.

And most importantly, we have thousands of Broward County staff members doing everything they can to do big things, while at the same time keeping everything running day to day, stuff you guys don't see behind the curtains.

Clean water, the wastewater, roads, traffic lights, garbage, all the parks, the libraries, animal and mosquito control, and all the people at our family success centers and human services, trying to find people food and shelter and homes for those that are down on their luck, trying to help them find something they can get a handle on so they can lift themselves up.

Thank you to all the Broward County employees who make things happen every single day.

And I get to see it at its best because I get a seat in Broward County.

We have a good story to tell, and I don't get tired of telling it over and over again.

And this year, just get out of here.

And this year, I've had good reasons to tell it over and over again.

Because this year has been one long test.

You can need a bunch of these.

Okay.

Almost from the moment I became mayor last year.

Many of this nation's institutions and norms that we have come to take for granted have been challenged, poked and prodded, kneecapped, and questioned as to their worthiness, while civility and compassion, empathy and education seem to have been relegated to the margins, to the seats in the back.

And we have witnessed government by decree and petulance rather than discussion and persuasion.

On the federal level, we have been mean to our friends and kind to our enemies.

We have ignored science and research and encouraged conspiracies and unfounded ideas.

We have thumbed our noses at the rule of law and unleashed troops in our cities and our counties.

All of that comes at a cost, and it has eroded trust in our government, created resentment between neighbors, and shaken the fundamental foundations of our American democracy.

It has impacted our standing in the world and damaged the ability of all of levels of government to attend to the needs of its citizens.

In Broward County, the cost has been quite literal.

To a region like ours, dependent on tourism.

The diminishment of the U.S.

brand has resulted not only in a loss of global influence, but tourism revenue as well.

It has resulted in a decline in international visitors and a drop in foreign trust and favorability toward U.S.