This City Council meeting included recognitions, a public hearing on a zoning amendment, approval of several ordinances, committee reports, and a discussion on a massage establishment license. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation led by Reverend Bridget Flad Daniels of Union Congregational Church.
Clerk. 11th president. All right. Thank you very much, Clerk. Now please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for the invitation offered by Alder Johnson. A Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America. And she's very public stands. One nation, another God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mayor. Please remain standing. I'd like to introduce you to the Reverend Bridget Flad Daniels, who is with Union Congregational Church in the Astor Park area, which is part of my district. In downtown Green Bay. She is the proud leader of the longest continually meeting Christian congregation in the state of Wisconsin. Bridget's ministry works to help people see that Jesus' teachings are more relevant today than ever, particularly around the areas of justice, inclusion, healing, and hope. She lives in the Bay with her husband and daughter, who I had the pleasure of meeting beforehand, Scott and Josie. Welcome. Bridget received her Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1998 and completed further requirements for uh ordination through Chicago Theological Seminary in 2005 and 2003. She was named St. Norbert College Young Alumnae of the Year for her work uh of witness and mission. She was ordained by the UCC in 2007. She's a native of Milwaukee, served several churches in the Menturo area. Uh she cites a missionary experience in El Salvador. At the end of that country's civil war is a watershed event in her call to ministry. After returning to the States, she served as a chaplain at a homeless shelter, which focused particularly on hospitality to those dying with AIDS. In 2022, she was featured in the Neville Public Museum's Hurstory exhibit, which lifted up the changing roles of women in Brown County. And I want to kind of point out on a personal level about Union Congregational Church, because we had talked about this when we visited a few months back. Was a point of interest that was fascinating to me that I didn't realize. So one of the one of the oldest churches in Wisconsin founded in 1835, uh originally part of the Fort Howard uh settlement, uh, but also served as a stop during the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, which I think uh is a really interesting point uh about our community's history and really captures I think uh the things that you do. I mean, I've been to your church probably more than any other in our city, yet I've never been there for a single mass, wedding, or funeral. And I think it's because of how much you open to the community and how much you open your doors to serve the people uh that live it in our in our city. So thank you for what you do, and with that, uh Reverend Bridget. Thanks for the invitation and for that introduction, Brian. Let us take a moment to quiet ourselves and remind ourselves that we're always in God's presence. Holy one, source of every language and culture and dream, who delights in community and who calls us to seek justice. We gather tonight in this chamber not only as officials and citizens, but as neighbors bound together by the promise of community. Remind us that true strength is not found in uniformity, but in beauty of our differences woven together. That the voice is long silenced to find courage here, that those who carry power remember its purpose, to serve the common good, to lift the lowly, to protect the vulnerable, to pursue what is just. Starting here and starting now. In all of your holy names, we humbly pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor, for those wise words. Next, we will move along to approval of the minutes. Motion to approve made by Alder Prophet. Second by Elder De Lee. Any changes here? Seeing none, all in favor will say aye. Aye. Pose nay. The guys have it.