Meeting Transcript

I have the honor of acknowledging the uh service and the impact that Nat Shed has provided our council for the past three years. Um Nat was my neighbor. I mentioned it earlier tonight. Um when I first started, I I actually came in uh in February because I was filling a vacancy, and I sat where he's sitting right now, and on my first council meeting, I had I was just kind of thrown in there, and he sat and he said, Huh, how are you doing? He was really comforting. He said, Nice to see you. It's a the seat's been empty for a while. It's nice to have someone sitting there. And I knew that this is where I belonged. He gave me that sense that this is this is my space, and I felt I always appreciated that. We um I had the chance of chatting with him each time. Quickly found out that he was the executive director of Friends Camp, which my son happened to be attending. So that was another very comfortable moment for me because that was a that camp has actually been very instrumental in my son gaining confidence and learning who he was. It's a very special place, and so knowing that Nat was a leader of such a place made me realize I was in a I was in a crowd of very interesting people being on the council. Another thing we have in common is that Nat is by far the youngest in his family, uh youngest sibling in his family. His next sibling is like 10 or 12 or 15 years older than he. Um, so he was um I guess like I, which have a brother that's six years older, maybe a little bratty, a little bit of a younger a younger child, but in a way of I think the idealism plays a role when you when you are the youngest and you see your elder elder siblings making the mistakes and you learn from that, and then you become uh maybe a little bit better of a person because you have that experience being that much younger and being able to observe and pick up where um where you might be able to uh you know correct things. Um I don't have in common with Nat is that he was it very enthusiastically involved with the finance committee. I was very happy about that, but I never quite understood it. I've always appreciated his ability to communicate and to advocate for the fact that the finance committee is thinking about some of these things that um he was very clear that that the partnership with the town manager was essential and I could see that and he he led the way. Um he had some unruly members on his committee, so I think he did a very good job keeping them uh under control, making sure that they all stayed in line, which was appreciated appreciated. And I um I just in general like being your neighboring district. Um we shared Jordan Avenue as part of our district, and that's um it's tricky, you know. We have a school on that in that part of town, we have road and infrastructure challenges, we have um people who a neighborhood that's very intact and very identified by the fact that they are in the Jordan Acres area and that we we kind of evenly split that. Um but he took on the Bowdoin piece of that, which um, you know, for better or for worse, I think that was that kind of changed uh I think his focus a little bit, and he certainly had the main street focus, and then the other side of Main Street where I have some friends who would tell me every once in a while, yeah, we went to a community meeting and Nat was there. And then any time I didn't get to a lot of all the things that council members should go to in the community, but every time I did, Nat was there. And that was the other part of the piece for me about Nat that was very comforting is that he was just always there, and I could he's very reliable, very knowledgeable, very enthusiastic. Oh, there is one more common piece. He came from Waterville, he's a relatively new resident as I am. Um I came from Maryland, but he came from Waterville, and as it turns out I have um roots in in Waterville. I have great grandparents who grew up there. My grandfather grew up there, and so we have I I visit Waterville to visit the graveyards, but I do have a connection there, and I do appreciate what that means to be in Waterville as well. So we're glad that you came to Brunswick and that one of your first um actions was to be civically engaged and involved, and I hope you continue to stay involved. I will rely on you still. I will consider you still being my neighbor. Um and I will um I know my friends who are on High Street and the other parts of your district who go to those meetings that you go to. Hopefully, you'll be still going to those meetings, and I'm sure I'll hear from them that you were there. So thank you very much, Nat for all your service. And you get a very beautiful plaque to remember your time. Thank you very much. I appreciate your remarks. Um it's just been an honor to be a part of this council for three years, and I felt I've contributed and I've learned a tremendous amount about this city. Special thanks to our manager and all the leadership I've served under. Um just for a little historical connection. My dad was born in 85, 1885. My older brother was born in 11, 1911, and I was born in 51.