I'm now calling this meeting to order.

Please stand with us.

I'll leave us in prayer tonight.

Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

It'll be led by Alderman Jerome.

Dear Lord Heaven, we acknowledge you and thank you for the privilege to gather together and make decisions for the benefit of South Haven.

We ask for your wisdom and your direction when we make these decisions.

We thank you most of all.

We thank you for our city, but we thank you most of all for your son Jesus who died on the cross to pay the price for our sins.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

First on the agenda this evening is the approval of minutes for the April 21, 2026 meeting.

Some move.

We have a motion alterman Jerome, Second Walterman Lewis.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, roll call.

Alderman Hayes.

Alderman Lewis.

Yes.

Alderman Hughes?

Yes.

Alderman Jerome.

Yes.

Alderman Gallagher.

Alderman Wheelers.

Yes.

That motion carries.

Next on our agenda, we have a uh special event.

We have our uh our graduating seniors from our mayor's youth council that are here tonight uh getting ready for high school graduation.

And so we're gonna uh we're gonna uh acknowledge them uh this evening.

So again, like I always do, I'm gonna give you some good advice, okay.

You you don't have to listen to it, but I'm gonna give you some good advice, and it's stuff that uh I experienced in my own life, so you can take it or leave it, but it is good advice, and that is you're at a point in your life where you're you're you're about to start making uh decisions that are gonna impact the rest of your life.

Up until this point, your decisions, yeah, you've had to make some decisions, and your mom and dad have you know helped you along, but the ones that you're about to start making are gonna have lasting impacts on your life.

And so the advice I'm gonna give you is know this.

From this point forward in your life, whether it be your college or uh vocational choice, uh career, whatever, they're gonna be people who are gonna try to put labels on you.

And what I mean by that is they're gonna say, hey, you know, you're pretty good at this, but you really don't have the talent to do this, so why don't you settle for this?

And so one day maybe you'll remember that I told you this, because it is gonna happen to you.

And so my advice to you is don't let anybody put labels on you.

Whatever it is that you're planning to do with the rest of your life, you are the sole decision maker for that.

So I encourage you to do that.

Do not settle.

Um you hear people say that you can do whatever you want.

Um if you want it bad enough, you can do whatever you want.

That's not true.

I'm here here to tell you that is not true.

God gave everybody a unique skill set.

God has a unique purpose for all of your lives.

Everybody's not meant to be a mayor, but he's not meant to be an attorney, a doctor, whatever it is that you're choosing.

Everybody has a specific skill set that God has given you.

Uh but what you do need to do, remember and do is that you can do so much more than you think you can.

Like what you've done in your classes and and whatever um, you know, outside extracurricular activities you've done, you haven't even touched the surface yet.

You can do so much more than you think you can.

So don't sell yourself short.

Whatever it is that you want to do, don't let your uh boyfriend, your girlfriend, maybe even your parents talk you in a per talk you out of pursuing your goals.

It's up to you, so go for it, is my advice.

And so here are the here are our special seniors.

So I'm gonna start with South Haven High School.

So we're gonna do we call your name, come forward, and uh then at the end we'll have a group photo with everybody.

So from South Heaven High School, we have Sebastian Belanios.

Sebastian here?