Special City Council Meeting — January 7, 2026

I don't even know where the— Check, check, 1, 2.

Check, 1.

Nope.

Hello.

All right, good evening.

Gus, are you ready?

All right, very good.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the New Bedford City Council chamber.

At this time, I will turn it over to the mayor of New Bedford, the Honorable Jonathan Mitchell.

Please join me.

I pledge allegiance to the 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.

Why don't we have the clerk— all right, Dennis, if you would allow the clerk to call the roll here.

Sorry about that.

I'll start over.

Councilor Abram.

Present.

Present.

Councilor Baptiste.

Absent.

Councilor Virgo.

Present.

Present.

Councilor Carney.

Present.

Present.

Councilor Choquette.

Present.

Present.

Councilor, uh, Ms. Costa?

Present.

Mr. Carter?

Present.

Present.

Councilor Gomes?

Present.

Present.

Mr. Libramento?

Present.

Present.

Councilor Lopes?

Absent.

Mayor Mitchell?

Present.

Present.

Mr.— Ms. Meniz?

Present.

Present.

Councilor Oliver?

Present.

Present.

Councilor Pemberton?

Present.

Present.

Councilor Pereira?

Present.

Present.

Mr. Potter?

Present.

Councilor Roy.

Present.

Present.

Mr.

Chair, we have a quorum.

All right, thank you very much, Mr.

Clerk.

Um, oh, got it.

All right, so, well, welcome everybody.

Uh, this is an unusual event in the operation of our city government, so let me say a few words about what we are doing here.

We are convened as a joint convention, as it's called under state law.

The purpose of the joint convention is to fill a vacancy on the school committee.

As everyone here knows— I just asked everybody to silence their, their phones if they would— as everybody knows, a Member of our school committee and a dear friend to, I suspect, everybody here, and certainly me, Bruce Oliveira passed away suddenly in November.

And we miss him.

And I'll just— I will just note, perhaps out of personal privilege, that Bruce contributed mightily to the city in so many ways.

The school committee for over a dozen years.

The last time we met as a joint— in a joint convention like this, it turns out, was, uh, was ultimately to select Bruce Oliveira to be on the school committee, which was a, uh, one of the best moves that a joint convention conceivably could have made because he contributed a lot as the finance chair, finance and operations chair, but also somebody who was a guiding light on the committee.

And I wanted to just note the presence of his wife Pam and his family who are in attendance tonight, who were a major backstop for Bruce during his time on the committee.

I don't, I don't think anybody who is running for this position tonight would, would claim to be able to fill the shoes of Bruce Oliveira.

I certainly would not.

But I would say that He sets such a strong example, a shining example of public service that we can all seek to emulate.

So we're here about serious business tonight.

The business really is to fill a position that ordinarily is filled by a democratic election.

And so this session, this proceeding is really one where careful deliberation is very important.

Let me tell you a little bit about the process up to this point, and then we'll talk about the process tonight and talk about the rules that will govern it.

So the, the process in general follows the process that was in place the last time we met in this fashion, and that is in 2012.

And, uh, after Bruce's passing, an invitation went out specifically on December 5th asking anybody who is a voter in the city of New Bedford, a resident and a qualified voter in the city of New Bedford, to apply.

Expressions of interest, however that would, would be done— app, letter, resume, all the above and more— was due December 31st.

9 applications were received by the deadline.

One candidate informed of us— informed us of his decision to withdraw his candidate candidacy.

The elections office has confirmed that all 8 remaining applicants are New Bedford residents and are registered to vote.

And those 8 candidates are as follows, and I'll read them in alphabetical order.

They are Eldrick Abreu, Aaron Alvarado, Lee Blake, Henry Busquet, Marcus Coward, Jose Galarza Jr., Brad Markey, and Cheryl Viveros.

I believe all of them are here tonight.

Someone shout at me if, uh, if that is not true, but I believe they're all here tonight.

I welcome all of you and those who are here in support of you, and, and I wish I, I At the risk of sounding presumptuous, on behalf of the entire body, we appreciate your willingness to put yourselves out there as candidates tonight.

There is a proposed set of rules that mirrors those that were used during the 2012 joint convention.

They were made part of the agenda.

That was published with this, um, uh, for tonight's, uh, meeting.

The, uh, in tonight's meeting, so there are 16 members, uh, here tonight.

Again, it's the remaining members of the school committee, uh, as well as the city council.

There's one absence, and so we have 16, uh, total.

The, um, so I'll summarize those proposed rules and then I'll open it up to the body for, uh, for discussion.

So the rules as proposed would allow for each candidate to speak for 5 minutes in support of their nomination.

After that, we'll open it up for nominations.

There may, depending on how the count— this body votes, be another opportunity to speak after that by the nominees.

And then members here will also have an opportunity to speak again.

How long that is is proposed in the alternative.

In the proposed set of rules, again, which, which every member has.

We'll follow Robert's Rules of Order, of course.

This is— this being New Bedford, this being the origin, the cradle of Robert's Rules of Order, which govern democratic parliamentary procedures the world over, we of course will follow Robert's Rules of Order.

And the city clerk is the clerk of the convention, Dennis Farias.

So With all of that, I will open up— oh, the letter.

Yes, so, and there's a letter to be read into the record, Mr.

Clerk, I think from the Election Commissioner confirming the, uh, the qualifications of the 8 candidates.

Mr.

Chair, the letter from the Elections Commission reads as such: Dear Councilor Pereira and members of the convention, the Board of Election confirms the below school committee applicants as City of New Bedford residents and registered voters: Eldrick Abreu at 161 Maxfield Street, Aaron Alvarado at 175 Adams Street, Lee Blake at 29 Barney Street, Henry Busquet at 3870 Acushnet Avenue, Marcus Coward at 288 Palmer Street, number 2, Jose Galarza Jr. at 431 Clinton Street, Brad Markey at 1520 Morton Avenue, Cheryl Viveris at 102 Durfee Street.

Please accept this letter as confirmation.

Sincerely, Manuel De Brito, Board of Elections Chairperson, to the City of New Bedford.

And Mr.

Chair, I also have a letter from Councilor Lopes.

Dear Council President Pereira and honorable members of the council and convention, I am writing to inform you that I will be unable to attend the joint convention of the school committee and city council on Wednesday, January 7th, 2026, due to a prior commitment.

Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues and the public aware of the reason for my absence.

Sincerely, Joseph P. Lopes, Councilor of Ward 5.

Motion to receive and place on file.

Second.

Second.

Okay, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Sorry about that.

Okay, so, uh, from there I think everybody has that set of proposed rules, and I will open up the floor for discussion of those rules.

Mr.

Chair, I'd like to amend Section 8 of the proposed rules.

Section 8?

Section 8, the miscellaneous section, by striking the second sentence of Clause 1 and adding the following sentence: rules adopted must be consented by a majority of the convention.

9th, I have a copy of that language here if anybody wants to take a look at it.

Okay.

All right.

Is there a second?

Second.

Okay.

Let me ask you, Mr. President, should we take the roll on something like that, or if anyone would like to discuss?

Is there any further discussion on that?

Yeah, I'd like to.

Yeah, go ahead.

On the question, you know, this is, you know, changing a supermajority.

I should be standing up and changing a supermajority rule to a a regular majority rule is often like, hey, wow, that's a big change.

But this is a one-night affair, right?

We're not changing the school committee rules.

We're not, we're not changing the city council rules.

I think since 9 votes, um, are all it takes for us to elect a school committee member here tonight, I think it should only take 9 votes for us to adopt a set of rules.

So I look forward to voting on this, and I look forward to your comments.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roy.

Anybody else?

All right, hearing none.

Um, any, uh, any— anybody an objection at all?

If not, I'll just do it by voice vote.

So we have a motion and a second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Nope, none.

The ayes have it.

Okay, so that's my majority vote.

All right, uh, any other discussion or motions?

Mr.

Chair, I would like— you are on a— you're on a roll.

You just— he You just took the oath of office, Mr. Roy.

Look at you out of the gate like this.

Awesome.

Keep going.

You got it.

I would like to amend Section 6 of the proposed rules by striking subsection 3 and inserting the following language.

All right.

Just let us all keep up with you.

Okay?

Yeah.

Section 3 by inserting the following language.

If— I'm sorry, yeah, that's correct.

Section 6, subsection 3, by inserting the following language: If no nominee receives a majority vote of the convention by the first ballot, the roll call shall be repeated.

The candidate receiving the fewest votes shall not be considered in subsequent ballots unless there is a tie for the fewest votes, in which case all nominees from the previous ballot shall remain in nomination.

Okay.

I can't write that fast, but I got it.

All right.

Do we have a second?

Second.

All right.

We've got a second.

All right.

Further discussion?

Yeah.

I can discuss that for a second.

You know, it's a measure of efficiency, right?

Ensuring that we can reach a decision in a timely manner by eliminating the lowest vote-getting candidate after each ballot.

The process narrows the field in an orderly way and prevents repeated ballots with no meaningful change.

So this helps avoid any unnecessary delays while still allowing members to deliberate and build toward agreement for a majority decision.

Okay.

Anybody else wish to be heard?

Anybody in opposition?

Wish to speak up?

If not, I'll give it a shot by voice vote.

Uh, all right, we got a motion and a second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none.

All right, 2 for 2, Mr. Roy.

Great.

Uh, any further motions?

Oh, we don't get distracted.

All right.

Oh, I, I'll— yeah, I'll make another motion.

Uh, get out of his way.

I would like— go right ahead.

I would like to amend Section 8 of the proposed rules by adding the following clause: It is the intent of the Joint Convention that the election to fill the vacant School Committee seat be conducted and completed at a single meeting.

The Convention shall proceed through nominations, debate, and balloting without adjournment until a nominee is elected, unless the convention determines by a majority vote that the continuation is not practicable.

Second.

All right.

That was seconded.

Okay.

Further discussion?

Yeah.

Roll call.

Councilor Lavoie, do you have a copy of that one?

Yeah, I do.

Give me one second.

All right, thanks, Manager.

One night.

Okay, all right, so we had a motion, uh, and a second on that.

Any further discussion?

Yes, I just know that a roll call was requested, so I just want to make sure for people that might want to vote no for this.

Um, I, I think— well, I'll speak to why I think it's important that we do the work.

I know it's— it most likely might be a long night for us, multiple ballots, and I think It's important that we do the work of filling the seat, not because we're rushing to fill the seat.

I think as you outlined in your opening remarks about the deadline that was put out, the people that have put themselves forward, the application process shows the importance of filling this role and making sure it's done so that way this body is completed in due haste, to put it that way.

I think it's important that the— those who have put themselves forward have prepared are given the time and consideration tonight and not delayed, because for me it shows— it makes it feel as though they're not good enough.

And so I want to make it clear to those who have applied and to the general public that the time that has been put in for these applicants, that they are good enough and that they will be reviewed and that tonight a decision will be made and there will be no further further delays.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

I know that you would know better than I, but I think the organizational meeting for the school committee is coming up.

It would be nice to have a school committee member in place so he or she can, you know, you know, decide on these important matters for the— well, I appreciate that, but on behalf of the school committee, and members should speak up, uh, I don't think we're in any rush.

I don't know if any members of the school committee wish to weigh in on that Yes, please.

Put the mic on, Melissa.

Is it on?

Is it on?

On the top mic.

So I don't want to speak for my school committees who have— who were on prior to, um, you know, to Mr. Porter and Ms. Moniz who just got on.

Um, we were not consulted prior to the press release that came out, what was it, December 5th.

We were not consulted in any kind of way as to any kind of deadlines, dates.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I know I was not consulted.

I don't want to speak for Mr. Cotter or Mr. Livermento.

So we were— we found out when everyone else found out that the December 31st deadline the January 7th deadline.

So we all had to make any kind of arrangements like everyone else did.

We had to move all of our schedules around like everyone else did.

And so, you know, our— we were not given an opportunity for any kind of input either.

And so I feel like it's an— I'm trying to think of words here.

And so I think for the respect of the process that has been given to us without our input, and to the respect for the people, I, you know, I respect everyone who took the time to send in their letters, to really think and reflect with their families, to be able to put your name out there, whether you did it on the campaign trail prior to, or you did it now, or if you consider it in the future.

I want to thank everyone who did take the time to write their letters, to give their opportunity.

And I hope that we are able to complete it in this one night.

I know that we have struggled as to whether or not do we do a 2-night to be able to allow for public input.

But this is what we were given to deal with.

We were not allowed any opportunity for our input either.

And so I think in fairness to all of us, I've struggled with whether or not we do the two-night or the one-night, and so I but I I would like to see it with this is what we've all been given.

This is what we've all prepared for, and so I do agree with the one-night.

And with that, I'm done.

Okay, anybody else on the motion?

All right, hearing none, we can go ahead and take the roll.

Councilor Abreu.

Yes.

Yes.

Baptiste.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Bruggo.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Carney.

No.

No.

Councilor Choquette.

Yes.

Yes.

Miss Costa.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Carter.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Gomes.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Livermento.

Yes.

Yes.

Mayor Mitchell.

No.

No.

Miss Meniz.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Oliver?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Pemberton?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Pereira?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Porter?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Roy?

Yes.

Yes.

Passes 14 to 2, Mr. Chairman.

All right, very good.

So, uh, any other motions to amend, uh, the proposed rules?

Right, so we have— and I think there's another section too, isn't there?

Yeah, so I would just direct your attention to the rules that are stated in the alternative.

These are, um, under— there are 2 sets that are stated on in the alternative.

One is under item 4 titled nominees.

Section 2 is divided into 2A, 2B, and 2C.

And so I'll open up discussion about those alternatives so that we can settle on, on one.

Now, I know that as drafted, it is conceivable to both have both— to adopt both 2A and 2B, but not any other combination.

I would make a motion to adopt 2A Second.

Under Section 4, there's— there's a second.

Yep, second.

Okay, any further discussion on that motion to adopt 2A and 2B with amending 2A to 3 minutes?

Second.

Okay, so we have 2 motions.

All right, so then we'll take up— so any further discussion on the amended amendment?

All right, so we'll take up, I guess, the second amendment first, right?

Yeah.

All right, so we'll take up the second amendment first, the one, um, moved by, uh, Councilor Oliver, which is to do 2A and 2B.

And so, um, we'll go ahead and, um, actually, is there anybody in opposition?

Maybe we can do this by voice.

All right, opposite.

Okay, so why don't we take a roll then?

Just for clarification, sorry, Dennis, it's just 3 minutes.

So did he make 2 different motions?

All right, so both, both, all right, in both cases 3 minutes.

Yeah, just so for the sake of clarity, so this, this section is sort of for everybody watching at home and watching, uh, and present here.

So 2A would allow for all the people, um, who who are here, all 8, as applicants, to, uh, to give a 5-minute statement, uh, in support of their candidacies.

2B says, um, at the close of nominations, right after nominations are done, that each nominee, however many there are from that 8, called from that 8, would have 3 minutes, 3 additional minutes.

Uh, Council Oliver motion would amend the initial motion to adopt 2A, the 5-minute statement for everybody, to allow for also that, that second statement, but that all statements shall be 3 minutes.

Is that a fair characterization?

All right, so that's, that's what we're going to vote for right now, and then we'll, depending on how that turns out, then we'll turn back to the first motion.

Councilor Avery?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Baptiste?

No.

No.

Councilor Burgow?

No.

No.

Councilor Carney?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Choquette?

Yes.

Yes.

Ms. Costa?

Can you ask for clarity?

Yeah, I'm still seeking clarity.

Can't speak, it's, uh, we're in voting.

Okay, then, um, I abstain.

There's no abstentions.

Mr. Carter?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Gomes?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Livermento?

Yes.

Yes.

Mayor Mitchell?

No, no.

Ms. Meniz, I just also want clarification.

So was the motion was 2A and 2B?

Yes, except for 3.

So let me, let me clarify it again for everybody.

So if a yes vote would mean every— all 8 people who are here get 3 minutes to, uh, offer a statement in support their candidacy.

If, if for those who are nominated by this body, they have, they would have an additional 3 minutes, but not 5.

So what's, what's different is that the initial statement would only be, would not be 5 minutes, it would be 3 minutes.

Okay.

Um, no, no.

Councilor Oliver?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Pemberton?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Pereira?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Porter?

No.

No.

Councilor Roy?

No.

No.

Passes 9 to 6 with 1 abstention, Mr.

Chair.

It passes 9 to 6 with 1 abstention.

Okay, so that— what that will mean then is that all 8, each candidate will have 3 minutes to offer a statement in support of each candidate's candidacy.

After we open it up for nominations, that is unless there's some other change in the way we do that, each of the nominees will have an additional 3 minutes to offer a similar statement.

All right, uh, so we'll go now to the other item— set of items that are stated in the alternative in section 5, which is in Section 5.

So this concerns the members— the how long each member of the joint convention, or this body here, combined school committee and City Council may speak.

And these 2 items are stated in the alternative.

In general, it says that each member may speak twice, each time for up to 5 minutes.

And then the next statements— this is really where the alternative is— whether debate has to be reopened in order to continue to talk, for them to continue to offer statements.

So it's right there in writing for everybody to see, but that's what we're really voting on.

So I'll entertain motions now.

Motion to adopt 1A under Section 5.

Second.

Okay, any further discussion on that motion?

Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead.

Excuse me, Mr.

Chair, can we have an point of clarification on that, please, again.

Do you have it in front of you?

And you— right, okay, this one.

Okay, thank you.

You see it?

Yep.

Okay.

All right, any further discussion on the motion by Councilor Burgo?

Okay, hearing none, why don't we take the roll On that.

Dennis.

Councilor Raybrook.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Baptiste.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Bruggo.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Carney.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Choquette.

Yes.

Yes.

Miss Costa.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Carter.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Gomes.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Liberamento.

Yes.

Yes.

Mayor Mitchell.

Yes.

Yes.

Miss Meniz.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Oliver.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Pemberton.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Porter?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Roy?

Yes.

Yes.

Passes, Mr. President.

16 to 0.

Yeah, sorry, we could have done that by voice vote, I guess.

Um, good to hear everybody's names all at once.

Okay, um, so any other proposed amendments to the proposed set of rules to govern this joint convention?

Motion to adopt the rules as amended.

Second.

Okay, any further discussion?

All right, hearing none, why don't I— I do think we should take the roll on this.

Councilor Abreu?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Baptiste?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Burgos?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Carney?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Choquette?

Yes.

Yes.

Miss Costa?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Carter?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Gomes.

Yes.

Yes, Mr. Liberamento.

Yes.

Yes, Mayor Mitchell.

Yes.

Yes, Ms. Meniz.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Oliver.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Pemberton.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Pereira.

Yes.

Yes, Mr. Porter.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Roy.

Yes.

Yes, passes 16 to 0.

Okay, all right, thank you everyone for your attentiveness.

Uh, a little bit of bouncing ball, but I think we, uh, have our marching orders now.

So in a minute, we'll call up each of the applicants, um, in alphabetical order to stand at the podium.

Um, just want to make sure that, uh, I presume— I presume the mic is working, but whoever's, uh, batting leadoff, just tap the mic just to make sure we're all there.

I just ask everybody to make sure you pull the mic closely to you so you are You can be heard well.

And the timer is set right there.

So there's the 3 minutes.

So that's your countdown.

I remind everybody, it goes faster than you think.

So just be mindful of that.

All the members here have in their possession or were made available to— was made available to them all the applications themselves that were submitted.

So we have all that.

By way of background.

And I don't think there's anything else to do except just, uh, say to everyone it's time, time to go ahead and make those presentations.

So the, the first person up is Eldrick Abreu.

Eldrick, step on up, check the mic for us all, and let it rip.

Good evening, Mayor Mitchell, members of the City Council, and members of the School Committee, members of the city of New Bedford.

My name is Eldrick Abreu, no relation of Ian Abreu.

Just want to clarify that.

And I am a lifelong New Bedford resident, a New Bedford High School graduate, and a parent raising my children here, and someone deeply invested in the safety, success, and future for every student in this city.

My journey in education advocacy began in 2019 through my involvement with the Coalition for Social Justice when I joined parents, residents, and educators in door-to-door canvassing, organizing to oppose a proposal to give away Kempton Public School building privately to run a charter school at no cost.

And that experience connected me with New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools and grounded me in true community organizing.

And that is what org started as I started standing up for one of the school people that have a commitment to fight for all of the families who deserve strong public schools, accountability, leadership, and a system that truly listens in its system.

Since then, I have served in New Bedford in roles centered on youth engagement, equity, and community resilience, including my time as a community outreach coordinator, with the Waterfront Historic Area League, WHALE, as a community resilience ambassador on the NB Resilient Planning event in partnership with the Environmental Stewardship Department and the Kim Lundgren Associates, and now as a community liaison for the Department of Environmental Stewardship on the update of the City of New Bedford's Climate Action and Resilience plan and update with the partnership of Environmental Sewership Department and the KLOA.

I've also been working the past few years as a resident researcher for the Healthy Neighborhood Study in partnership with MIT and the Conservation Law Foundation of Boston, where I help ensure community voices and lived experience shape policy and systems changes.

I also proudly serve on local boards, including the Cape Verdean Recognition Committee.

And I work closely with youth, families, and community partners across the city.

As a multilingual cultural leader, I also have worked to ensure that immigrant and non-English speaking families are included in conversations that impact their children.

If appointed, I commit to 3 things.

First, listening and making sure that I build trust.

Secondly, to equity and safety.

And third, to collaboration and accountability.

I'm taking accountability for the time.

So I'm going to cut that short, everyone.

And it would be an honor to serve the families of New Bedford on the school committee and help ensure every child deserves not only the education but opportunity, support, and hope that they deserve.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Aldrich.

All right.

The next person up is Erin Alvarado.

Good evening.

Mary Walsh, Cindy Murphy, Michael Walsh, you may not recognize these names.

But if it was not for these public school educators, I would be another failing statistic.

Why am I telling you this?

My name is Erin Alvarado.

I am a graduate of the New Bedford High School class of 2003.

My journey there was not easy.

Because of these educators, educators, I had the support, the guidance they gave me, I was able to succeed.

I did not graduate the top of my class, but I did graduate with a diploma.

I was the first class to pass the MCAS, and I was certified in preschool.

After high school, I started my family, and growing them up in New Bedford became my passion.

When my son began his kindergarten year, I dove right in, attended every school meeting, every parent advisory meeting.

He was the first class at the new Alma del Mar Charter School.

Myself and 2 other women decided to form the ADM Booster Club.

We became 501 registered, encouraged special interest initiatives, held a budget, held special events, created fundraising events like a 5K, created a fundamental collaborative amongst parents, teachers, administrators, and students, which allowed all to feel seen, heard, and like they are all part of a bigger community.

I maintained my role for 4 years until my son moved on to Keith Middle School and then New Bedford High School, where he was a graduate of the class of 2024.

While Mr. Oliveira's shoes will be very difficult to fill.

If elected, I hope to continue the strides not made only by this committee but by Mr. Oliveira himself.

This to me is not a hobby.

I have 5 other children, all within the New Bedford Public School System, beginning with preschool all the way to high school.

I know what it means by not every child fits the same mold.

With 2 children on IEPs, one who attends the alternative school Trinity Day Academy, I hear the parents at pickups.

I meet often with educators of our who express their frustrations but have no idea where to turn.

As someone on the previous committee once said, what would it take for New Bedford to be a great place to be and raise a kid?

I believe we build off our Community Resource Center, invest in our children as a whole, not just the academics.

They need problem-solving skills, adaptability, and programs to broaden their knowledge on life skills.

This committee has successfully increased the graduation rate.

However, our reading comprehension rates have dropped and we are below state state levels.

We need more pencil to paper, more vocational programs and classes.

Our children deserve the same opportunities given to those of alternative-based schools like charters and tuition-free schools.

We can all learn from our fellow educators.

We need to return to the fundamentals while utilizing the tools of the 21st century.

I believe the value of my education in New Bedford wasn't just the statistics.

It was my educators.

It was my fellow classmates.

It was my family, and it was this community.

I am a graduate of BCC, class of 2014, Associate in Business.

I started my own company in 2020 with my husband, Unlimited Fisheries, at the number one seaport in the United States, where I run all finances, payroll budgets, and expense reports.

Yo habla un poquito español, pero fala, escreve e aprende mais em português.

All self-taught because of the foundation I was given in New Bedford Public Schools.

And now it is time to give back to our children what we all know New Bedford can be for them.

This is not a hobby.

This is not checking my name off on another list to stay busy or to add to my resume.

This has been my passion for 15 years as a mother, citizen, and a resident of New Bedford.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

All right, next up is Lee Blake.

I saw Lee.

There's Lee.

Come on up, please.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for this opportunity, and thank you for having an open process for filling this seat, because we all know it could have been another way.

But this is how New Bedford works.

This is an open process, and I'm proud to be involved in it.

So I'd like to say a few things about about me as an educator.

Many of you may not know that's what I do.

I am the president of the New Bedford Historical Society.

The Historical Society is 30 years old this year coming up.

In those 30 years, I've been president for 15 of them.

Because of the Historical Society, you have Abolition Row Park.

You have the statue of Frederick Douglass.

You have Paul Cuffee Park.

And you have murals that are attracting people from around the country to come to New Bedford.

It was always our vision, and my vision in particular, to make sure that people understood how important New Bedford was as a historical place.

Our Cape Verdean history, our Portuguese history, our history with the technology, the whaling history, all those things people talk about in other parts of the country but don't come here.

We want them to come here.

So in many ways, the work that I do with the Historical Society advertising the city is a way of educating our young people to aspire to greatness.

I put up those murals, we raised the money for those murals and those parks as an aspiration for our young people who are not always told that there's a wider world out there and they can run it if they want to.

They could help run New Bedford.

I have to say that when I saw the information on this process of submitting my name, other people's names.

I was surprised that you didn't get more names.

People should want to be on the school committee.

People should want to be on the committees of the city.

And in some of the roles that I have with the YWCA, with the library board, I'm also— was on the Park Board until recently, I was always encouraging young people to apply for these things.

And our schools can help do that.

We need fresh leadership.

And I sit here with my gray hair and I say we need fresh leadership.

But we do.

And it's our job to mentor our young people for these positions.

So I'm just telling you a little bit about my history.

I have been an educator.

I started my education as a teacher at New Bedford High School in 1975.

Some of you probably took my classes, and I know some of you took my classes on the city of New Bedford and the history of New Bedford.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I look forward to this process, and I'm proud to be involved in this process.

Thank you so much, Lee.

All right, next up is Henry Busquet.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, honorable city councilors.

Esteemed school committee members, and the honorable mayor.

I stand before you today as a lifelong resident of this city, driven by an unwavering commitment to public service.

As outgoing President Burgo eloquently stated in his final address this past Monday, service is love.

I find immense fulfillment in serving the city of New Bedford.

My professional life is twofold.

I'm passionate about my career as a CTE educator, guiding high school students and developing their professional paths.

I am honored by the trust people place in me to provide nourishment as a chef.

My professional history reflects a genuine desire to be part of the solution.

Having been fortunate to gain this wealth of life experience and the many blessings that have followed, I feel compelled to dedicate my time and talent to the betterment of our community.

I believe the principles of the Boy Scouts— duty, service, and contribution— continue to guide my actions.

Beyond my role as a CTE educator, my 20s and 30s were dedicated to various forms of community engagement.

Including managing restaurants, leading a neighborhood crime watch group, and serving on various boards, culminating in 2 and a half terms on the New Bedford City Council.

Next year will mark my 20th anniversary in education.

My teaching methods have evolved with the times, from chalkboards and whiteboards to now Google Classroom and smartboards, a real-life testament to my adaptability and as a Gen X professional.

We now face a period of rapid state educational change as the Department of Education's role is redefined and the requirement for the states to submit education remittances is altered.

This shift will bring significant policy and budgetary decisions to the forefront, making the role of the school committee member as the voice of the people more crucial than ever.

The perspective of a current educator, one who engages with students daily, is going to be absolutely vital in this period.

Now is an opportune time to ensure that educators are central to new policy formulation.

I sincerely ask for your consideration and your vote for me, Henry Busquet, as your next school committee member.

I promise to honor Mr. Oliveira's legacy of common sense and community service.

Thank you all for this opportunity.

Thank you very much, Henry.

All right, next up is Marcus Coward.

Hello, good evening.

Uh, can we start with having a moment of silence for Bruce?

Thank you all for being here.

From Mayor Mitchell and the City Council and the school committee, to all the community members who came.

Truly, thank you and your support and all 3,100 votes from New Bedford.

It means the world.

And thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here and the support and encouragement to think that I'm good enough to serve everyone here.

So I'll make this short, and so please lend me your ears, and I hope that you can lend me your votes as well.

James and Scott, you will great in your new chairs, and congratulations again, Rick and Vaughn.

It was great to lose to you guys, and you guys were amazing candidates.

I was so happy, honestly, to run against you guys.

The city won either way, and I hope I can serve next to Jack and Chris and Melissa.

I think we'd make a great team.

So sorry for not calling the city City Council and really lobbying these last few weeks.

I was enjoying the holidays and hoping you all were too, but I was a little bit naive after talking to a few city councilors that I didn't make the impression that I should have.

And I thought that this campaign trail would have made a more lasting impression, but I hope that what I've been able to accomplish these last couple years along with a speech can really make up for that.

So I've really tried to create a relationship with everyone in this room, from the community to the city council to the school committee to the mayor.

And this was very intentional.

This was not a flippant decision or something that happened last month.

This has been years in the making because ever since I got back from the Army in August of 2022, I had this spirit of service that it left me with.

Soon after, I volunteered at my middle school, Nativity Prep, and they asked me to be a paraprofessional.

That was an interesting experience.

I prior hadn't had experience in education, but seeing it firsthand, seeing these middle schoolers in the middle school I had went to, I knew that I had to step up and try and be a positive role model for not just my generation but the next generation.

COVID really messed these kids up, and I would really like to use my young perspective to know what they stand up for and know what their issues are.

But also, I would like to use the relationships that I've had in these last couple years to show that I'm committed to the work, I'm committed to the relation, I'm, I'm committed to the position of the school committee member, and I'm committed to New Bedford.

So I hope that you can give me your vote.

Thank you for giving me your confidence as a human rights commissioner, and thank you for your time.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Marcus.

All right, the next person up is Jose Galarza Jr. Good evening, everybody.

I want to thank everybody for the opportunity.

It's honestly an honor to be here.

I'm not sure if you read the letter that I submitted.

I did make a printout in case you wanted to see it.

But the reason why I'm interested in this position is because of— I feel I could give a lot to the position.

I started off my career at Compass Bank in banking.

I have a banking background.

Worked at the University of Dartmouth for a little over 18 years, did pretty much everything in the university from, from Bursar's Office, Procurement, Upper Bound.

So I have a very good understanding of how educational institution works.

From there, I was given an opportunity to work for Bridgewater State University.

I was in charge of the Bridgewater State Aviation Program.

I was overlooking the airport, in charge of the CFIs, certified flight instructors, dispatchers, aircraft, the students.

I was responsible for the airport.

And due to COVID, I was given the opportunity to retire at the age of 37, which I took advantage of.

Got together with some partners.

I opened up my own business.

We brought services to the city that we never had before, so I take pride in that.

But more important, what I've been doing lately is we've been working with— doing things to give back to the city.

We've been working with Burlingame City Junior and Senior High School.

We work with the Atwood Youth Program.

What we do is we provide them with opportunities so that they could get out of their environment and they could invest in themselves.

And what I'm trying to do here is I'm trying to do more of that.

I'm trying to give back to my community.

Being a father of 2, the future of New Bedford is very important to me.

And I feel in order for me to give back to the city, I have to be the man that I expect my kids to be.

And hopefully by that example, they will follow my lead and they will also do the same thing and also decide later on in the future to give back to the community.

So what I'm trying to do is I'm just offering my services because I want to have an impact in the future of the kids here in New Bedford.

And if you allow me to do that, I assure you I will rise to the occasion and I will make Bruce very, very proud of the opportunity you've given me.

With that said, I want to thank you for your time and allowing me to be here.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Jose.

I think everybody has a copy of it already.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, next up is Brad Markey.

Mayor Mitchell, City Council, and the School Committee, my name is Brad Markey.

I've been a resident of New Bedford for over 35 years.

I live out on Sasquon Pond, the far north end.

Out there, my wife Jackie and I raised our 2 daughters, and they both went through the New Bedford Public Schools.

I recently retired as a sales rep for over 40 years, and I was a former Ward 1 city councilor.

And I would say I'd like to see what you've done to this place since I've been gone.

So as a city councilor, one of the responsibilities was a approving the city budget and the school department.

It was— and the school department was a large component of the, of the budget.

Over that time I was on the council, I received a good education in municipal finances, which I feel is an asset that I can bring to the school committee.

I also served as chairman of finance for 2 years and also had the pleasure to work with Mr. Oliveira working on the central kitchen and the financing.

Municipal finances and budgeting are a very important function of the school committee, and I feel I can add that to the component.

In addition to municipal finances, I also feel I can bring my life experiences and draw from them to go into the— with the school committee.

I'm not coming into this with an agenda on an ideological or political bent.

What I would like to do is what's best for the students.

As I did with the— on the City Council, I went ahead and did my homework, and I did what's best for the taxpayers.

This time I'll do what's best for the, for the students.

Jack Spillane once commented that one of the more moderate voices— that I was one of the more moderate voices on the council, basically taking a common-sense approach.

I do my homework, have discussions in order to make informed informed decisions.

And once I make those decisions, I can bolt my mind and not bend to outside influences.

I stand by— and stand by my convictions, concentrate pertinent issues, and keep the eye on the ball.

How I operated on the City Council will be the same if I get appointed to the School Committee.

I'm not an educator, but I can bring with it a different perspective, and good to have different perspectives.

Actually, my family connection is in education.

My father started out as a chemistry teacher at New Bedford High School and ended up retiring as a principal at Keith.

My mom started out as a science teacher, took some time off to raise 4 children, and went back to Keith to become a science teacher.

Growing up, I learned the importance of an education and passed that on to my daughters and would bring that same sense of importance to the students students of New Bedford.

My girls went to New Bedford schools, as I mentioned, and they went on to college.

They graduated with A's coming out of the New Bedford school system and A's while they were in college, and they hit the college route running.

And I basically give all the credit to the New Bedford school systems.

So that said, one last thing, as my dad would always say, that you can get as good an education in New Bedford as you can anywhere.

And with that said, my goal would be to make sure every student knows they can get that education and that they should go get it.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Brad.

All right.

And the next and last candidate is Cheryl Riveros.

Good evening, everyone.

Mr. Mayor, City Council, School Committee.

I am— whoops, sorry, I did that the other day too.

Um, I'm here to represent Bruce Oliveira, who was the husband of a very dear friend and somebody who did tremendous things for our city.

One of the things that was taught to me, taught to Bruce, Pam taught to her children, is to continue what is responsible, what makes New Bedford great.

And that's the reason that I'm here.

My background: I am a resident, lifelong resident of the city of New Bedford, a graduate of New Bedford High School, 1974.

Yeah, I know that was a long time ago.

I have a bachelor's degree in history and education from Southeastern Massachusetts University, not UMass Dartmouth.

I have a master's degree in educational leadership from Cambridge College in Cambridge.

And with all of that, I was a teacher in the city of New Bedford for more than 32 years.

I was hired originally because of my connection with children who were severely disabled and worked with those types of children for a short period of time, about 6 years.

I was then moved to Normandan Junior High School where I taught history for 6 years, and then as the process was back in those days, you had to do your time at the junior high before you moved up to the high school.

It wasn't an automatic thing.

So I did my time and I moved, and for 20-plus years I taught at the best school in the Commonwealth— my opinion, of course.

My kids learned about New Bedford.

It was important to teach about New Bedford.

You have to understand your locale to make connections with history, whether it be something that we deal with on a daily basis or whether it be something on a national level.

As I'm looking at all of the awards, and I hate talking about awards, I really do, but I was a Geography Teacher of the Year in 2003, which came from Sea Magnet, which is a organization at Bridgewater State University.

Right now I am a professor at Bridgewater State University.

My job is to go out and train teachers.

I go into every school, any school they want me to go to, and I look at the issues at hand.

We need to address issues here in New Bedford.

Our school committee is wonderful.

We need to have everything for our children, our most precious resource.

Do I keep going?

Unfortunately, Cheryl, you can't.

I'd love to hear more, but we only give each of you 3 minutes.

Thank you very much, Cheryl.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so those were all 8.

We will turn to nominations in a moment.

I just wanted to say that I, again, I applaud and I thank all of the applicants for putting yourselves out there for the benefit of the city.

I think you know this.

I hope this isn't a newsflash.

The membership on the school committee is an unpaid position after all.

So I know that none of you are putting your hat in to, to get rich out of this matter.

You're doing it because you want to make a difference in your city and, and most particularly in the lives of the city's schoolchildren.

So, and, and I have to say too that it's— it is— yours is a really impressive set of perspectives and qualifications.

And I just sit here and I'm just so proud that but, uh, people like you in our city willing to come forward in a process like this.

So thank you.

So we will open the floor to nominations now.

I will just, uh, just as a reminder before I call on folks, that nominations under the rules we adopted, nominations do not need to be seconded.

Nominations Also, you can't nominate— no individual member of the Joint Convention can nominate more than one person, one candidate.

Once we have all the nominations in place, as we discussed before, the nominees will have the opportunity to present statements of up to 3 minutes, again, in support of their candidacies.

All that, I will go ahead and open the floor to nominations.

I think you had your hand up first, Councilor Abram.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

At this time, I'd like to be recognized for a motion to nominate Henry Busquet.

Okay.

I'd like to nominate Marcus Coward.

Okay, anybody else?

I'd like to nominate, uh, Cheryl Ann Viveras.

I'd like to nominate William B. Markey.

Okay, anybody else?

Yep, go ahead, Melissa.

All right, any other nominations?

All right, going once, going twice.

Okay, we will close the nominations at this time then.

Okay, all right, thank you for the reminder.

So yeah, so before Before we close the nominations, I will ask those who have been nominated, namely Lee Blake, Henry Bousquet, Marcus Cowart, Brad Markey, and Cheryl Viveros, whether any of them object to their own nominations, like General Sherman did.

Okay, hearing none, all right, so we will go ahead and close the nominations at this time.

So what we'll do now is I will invite up again in alphabetical order each of the nominees to give up to a 3-minute statement in support of their candidacies.

And we'll go ahead and start with, with Lee Blake.

Yeah, you.

3 minutes goes by very quickly.

It does.

I would like to give you some idea of my educational background.

I spend a lot of time doing arts and culture and history.

I am a graduate of the New Bedford Public Schools.

I taught in the New Bedford schools.

I graduated from UMass.

I also have a PhD from UMass in history.

But for the last 20 years, one of the things that I do, you may not know, is that I work with the National Endowment for the Humanities, and I bring teachers from across the country to New Bedford every other summer, usually 80 teachers who come.

They come to learn about New Bedford's Underground Railroad.

I teach them about the Underground Railroad, and I'd like to just mention that one of the reasons we do that, first of all, is an important historical part of New Bedford's history.

But people across the country teach the Underground Railroad, and I'm able to teach teachers how to present that to their classes in a creative way.

In a new way.

And the other thing is that our program is about the maritime trade, so our program is about whaling, but a lot of my work is on teacher professional development, working with teachers at the university.

I worked with the K-12 education group for many years under Jean McCormick and Sometimes a whole variety of chancellors will come in and out, in and out.

But working to develop teacher skills.

So my work affects students because I affect the classroom by making sure we have quality teachers, teachers who have creative ways of addressing things.

The other thing I do is I raise money.

I am a development person.

I write grants.

I raise money with the National Endowment for the Humanities, for instance.

That's $200,000 that I would raise every time those people came to New Bedford.

But for Abolition Row Park, we raised $1.5 million.

And that is New Bedford and Massachusetts We're really lucky because we have state money, we have city money, we have CPA money, and I work with a lot of the community organizations to apply for those things to make our city better and to preserve our historic legacy.

Those are things you might not know about me besides the fact that I do parks.

Thank you.

Next is, uh, Henry Busquet, 3 minutes.

Good evening, counselors, uh, school committee members, and Mayor Mitchell.

Uh, thank you for having me back up here.

Um, I'd like to offer, um, a thought or two about why I think I'm going to make a really good school committee member.

First and foremost, I have experience with municipal finance.

After serving here for 5 years in this chamber, I became intimately involved with the process and the layout of these budgets and how obviously the school committee is impacted.

Since it's probably half of our city budget.

Um, more importantly than any of that, I'm an educator right now, today, with 34 students in front of me, 16 or 18, 17 or 18 every day, um, depending on the day.

And we learn hands-on skills in an environment that can be quite dangerous.

So I think the most important thing about that is I keep those kids safe and we have fun learning how to build a career.

Um, as an educator, you see lots of things that make you scratch your head, and I think being part of policymaking, especially in the next few years, where the Department of Education on a federal level is changing rapidly.

I think that is going to bring different and, uh, perhaps even more funding maybe back to the states for them to distribute.

And I think that the school committee is going to be a super important body to direct where those funds go and develop policy that impacts children and teachers.

So I think being a forward-facing educator at this moment in time really sets me apart from the rest of the field, particularly since I think education has changed more in the last 5 years than it has in probably 30.

So It's deeply important, and I believe in my core that teachers need to have a seat at this table.

Um, and I don't know if that's ever been the opportunity before, but given I don't teach in the same district, I think it's— I think it's a good opportunity to make that happen.

Um, but the kids that we get at Voctech are the same kids that they get in Bedford High School.

Same people, same neighborhoods, same backgrounds.

And I have served them all with care and attention to the best of my abilities.

And I hope that you give me this opportunity to make New Bedford proud.

Thank you.

Master this microphone.

Okay.

Next up is Marcus Coward.

Marcus.

Hello again.

Thank you again for the time.

Thank you, Shane, for the nomination.

And my other nominee— nominees brought up a couple points.

Blake, uh, Lee, sorry, Lee Blake.

Um, thank you for bringing up that we do need fresh blood and new leadership.

I agree, and I hope that I can be that fresh blood and new perspective.

And we have so many perspectives on the school committee already.

We have a teacher perspective, we have a parent perspective, we have a veteran perspective, and I would like to bring that new leadership and the youth perspective.

Someone who's been working to build the relationships that you can't just learn like the budget, which I plan to.

But these relationships with the community and with the youth, and with each other take time.

And I've been doing that over the past couple years with one, my podcast, where I've been interviewing people like Mark Dressel and Elliot Talley, and even Andrew O'Leary, to learn more about their stories, about their positions, but also just to uplift New Bedford, which is what we're here for.

But in terms of the position, I have gone to nearly every school committee meeting this year, which I don't know if my other nominees can say that.

And I think that truly shows my commitment to this position.

They can be very long, and I wasn't sure if I was even going to get this position, but regardless, I campaigned hard I campaigned long, and I'm happy to be here, and I'm happy that so many people in this room voted for me.

And I thank you for being here and showing the support.

I see so much family and so many friends, and it means the world that I feel like New Bedford has my back.

And I hope that the school committee and the city council not only vote for the people who may be closest to you or people you may have committed to because again, I did not lobby for myself.

Maybe I should have.

And that's a rookie mistake.

Won't happen again.

But I hope that you can keep in mind and vote for who the best candidate is and not who you are closest to.

I think New Bedford deserves the best, and I will give them the best.

I'm a veteran.

I currently work at YRU, so I deal with New Bedford's youth every day, Monday through Friday.

Elementary school kids, middle school kids, they're amazing.

They give me so daily quotes and some of the best memories I've had in 2025, and I'm looking forward to continue to working with them.

Along with my experience at Nativity just in 2023 and 2024, along with me interacting and talking and working with Mark Dressel, who is the student representative, and having worked with the last one, Elliot Talley, I am in a unique position to serve New Bedford, to serve our youth, to serve our city, and to serve the committee.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marcus.

Next up is Brad Markey.

Hello again.

Thank you.

Um, so again, I'd like to touch on some things.

I'm not going to read off anything.

Actually, I was reading off the wrong sheet when I was up here.

But anyway, um, it has been mentioned a few times— oh, the mic, is it not on?

Oh, there it is.

Okay, a few things obviously is finances and the budget.

As mentioned before, being on the City Council and also chair of the Finance Committee, we did get to use and get involved a lot with municipal finances.

Something I learned during my 2 years as a finance chair and the 6 years on the City Council.

As we all know, finances are very important, budgets are very important.

At least back when I was on the council, the school budget was almost half of the city budget.

So it's a big, big number.

And, and it's— there also, the money is not infinite, or it's not finite.

Bottom line is we got to watch what we do, how we control it, and basically put it to the best use we can for the students.

And I feel with the experience that I did pick up here, I can add that to, to the school committee.

The other part is too, as I mentioned, I wasn't— I'm not an educator.

Grew up in a family of educators, but I did work with youth children, basically New Bedford Youth Soccer.

Did that for many, many years.

So we got to work with them, get involved with them, and it was a great experience.

And also too, as I mentioned, with my own family, as I grew up with 2 parents who taught, we learned the value of an education.

And we tried— we did pass that on.

I was going to say we tried to, but we did pass that on to our children.

And they went to school, as I mentioned, in the New Bedford school system.

So I know the New Bedford school system is as good as any.

And I'd like to get on the school committee in order to give that backing to them and make sure every child can move forward, every child realizes they have that opportunity and that they want that opportunity.

My girls picked up on it, and I'm hoping I could bring that as well to the, to the school committee.

And I thank you for your time and for your consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brad.

And last is Cheryl Viveros.

I learned I have several pieces of paper here that I compiled, so I'll try to be quick.

I have a lot of objectives that I think the school committee should address and does address, and we need to continue to address them, some of which are teacher retention.

I understand that we lost 10% of our teaching staff over the course of last year.

That's a lot.

170 teachers is a lot that needs to be replaced.

Bridgewater State University this year is sending out 56 teachers That's nothing.

We need to figure out a way to keep our staff.

We need teacher-student support at all levels.

Our kids are important.

They come to us with all kinds of issues and all kinds of goals.

We need to support their goals, whatever those goals may be— doctor, lawyer, engineer, Indian chief, it doesn't matter.

Whatever their goals, Harvard, BCC, they need to know that all of these ideas are available to them.

And this is how we need to go about helping them.

New Bedford High School, my school, it should be a flagship for the city of New Bedford.

It's got to be the best.

Always best staff, best equipment, best of everything.

When we purchase equipment for our teachers— we were talking about innovations— when we purchase things for our teachers to use that are innovative in the classroom, these things must be maintained.

When I was there, we put smartboards in every classroom at New Bedford High School.

Well, a few years later None of the smartboards work and they're not being maintained.

Jumbled.

I mean, our budget is only so big, it can only go so far.

But if we maintain what we have, it's sort of like your house.

Your house is yours, you paid for it, you maintain it.

You don't go out and buy a new one just because something happens.

We need to do the same thing when it comes to our buildings, all of them.

And provide our kids with everything they need, provide our teachers with everything they need so that they will continue to stay in New Bedford.

There are so many stories of wonderful, wonderful people leaving the city and going on to other places.

I want to stop that.

I want people to stay because we're the best, and that's how it should be.

Thank you.

Okay, great presentations one and all, and we thank all of you.

So at this time, we will open it up to remarks from members of the Joint Convention.

I'll just go ahead and read the rule that was adopted so that everybody understands what the the ground rules are.

So it says here, each member may speak twice, each time for 5 minutes.

Once the first member votes by roll call, debate cannot be reopened, even if election must proceed— actually, it's a little jumbled here— even if the election must proceed beyond the first balloting roll call.

Okay?

So I'll go ahead and open it up for comment.

Councilor Burga.

Thank you.

I rise today to nominate Marcus Coward to serve as our next school committee member.

I want to start with a simple, undeniable fact: Marcus Coward recently ran for this very role and earned the support of 3,182 voters.

He did not wait to be asked.

He put himself forward, subjected himself to public scrutiny, and did so because he believes in New Bedford.

He believes in our public schools, and he believes in the promise of our young people.

That should matter.

Marcus has demonstrated the qualities we often say we want in our leaders— someone willing to show up, to step into uncertainty and to challenge themselves to grow.

He is someone who has faced real personal challenges in his life and rather than being defined by them has learned from them.

He did not allow fear, fear of uncertainty, to keep him on the sidelines.

He stepped up when others did not.

He also brings a perspective no other candidate before us brings.

He has served in the U.S. Army.

That experience, like much of his came with challenges, but it also shaped his understanding of accountability, of structure and responsibility— lessons that continue to inform his service today.

And here he is again, not asking for thousands of votes like he earned already, but for the confidence of this body.

Just 9.

9 out of— well, I guess 16 now, not 17— votes are needed for him to earn the opportunity to serve.

Marcus has consistently shown his commitment to the city, whether as a deacon at his parish, serving on the Human Rights Commission, volunteering with the New Bedford Health Initiative to support our most vulnerable residents, or using Wake Up New Bedford to inform and engage our community.

He continues to show up for New Bedford.

Colleagues, in a close decision like this, I believe we should ask ourselves, who has already shown us they are willing to step forward, to be accountable, and to serve with humility and heart?

For me, that answer is very clear.

That is Marcus Coward, and I encourage you all to join me in supporting his appointment to the school committee.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Others?

Rick Porter.

I too would like to offer my support to Marcus.

My opinion is, is the most democratic way to seat a member of the school committee is through an election.

And as Councilor Burgo just said, Marcus received over 3,000 votes and being a proud resident of Ward 4, Marcus won Ward 4.

So kudos to you, Marcus.

And it was also— it was a close vote.

I mean, granted, Melissa did very well, but if you look at the vote tally between myself and Marcus, there's only about 300 votes.

And if we were sitting in the city of Fall River right now, we would not be sitting at a joint convention, because their code has it that the unsuccessful candidate from the previous election would be the ones seated if there had to be a vacancy.

So for me, it's about the democratic process.

A short 4 months ago, 4 people took out papers to run for school committee.

And though I am very impressed with their resumes and the applications that came by, so much so I would have been— had to refine some of my arguments if I was running against some of them, I do need to go back to the fact that Marcus put in himself out there.

He went through the forums, he went through the interviews, he had to defend his positions.

And in my opinion, that is the way we need to seat a school committee member.

Thank you.

Others?

Thank you.

I rise tonight in Um, although I, uh, nominated, uh, Cheryl Viveris, I want to keep in mind and remind the members of this joint committee why we are here tonight.

I hear the democratic process.

I hear, um, if we were in Fall River, I hear the voters have spoken.

Um, all true, but we're not.

We're here tonight because our charter defines us to be here and to make the choice for the voters.

Yes, an election would be great, send it back to them, but as we know, that costs— is going to cost the city a lot of money.

What I ask folks to do tonight is, before we start casting votes, to think of the school committee without Bruce Oliveira.

When those votes were cast a few months ago, Bruce was here.

That committee looked different.

The voters voted for people who they thought would be able to work with the remaining body, and the voters spoke.

So here we are tonight in this room to fill those shoes that will most likely be unfilled.

Need to look for folks who are going to be able to hit the ground running without a— without Bruce.

And, um, I, I don't know if a body that is going through a change— there's a reason why the school committee is staggered.

In their elections, um, is because it is pretty in-depth.

The council, we are all up for election at the same time, and I think that's by design so that way there is some continuity.

And what we're doing tonight is going to change about half of that board.

So I just want everybody in this room tonight who is going to cast a vote to take those things into consideration and not live in a land of what-ifs.

Thank you.

Okay, Councilor Baptiste.

Thank you.

Um, first and foremost, I want to say it's, it's honorable for all you people to put your name in the, in the hat, um, for this position.

I want— I, I really want to say it sucks because I really wish I wasn't even here voting on something for Bruce not being here like this.

That's— first of all, this sucks, all right?

And I just want to make that known that, you know, how special this man was and what he's done, and that it sucks that we have to go through this process with him not being here.

Um, second of all, like I said, um, we had educators former counselors, you know, people that volunteered in the community, work in the community, that has business owners and parents on this list.

And, you know, somehow well-deserving candidates of everything that embodies the school committee.

Out of all these names, only one ran.

Like, you know, when it's easy to skip a line, right?

And it sucks that we have to skip a line due to the death of a special person.

But it's another thing to have the balls to put your name in the ring.

And everybody in here that's been voted for something knows how tough that is and knows on election night how hot it is to hear your name and to see how many votes you get and to see where you land and to know that work going door to door and talking to people, you know, that I commend everybody for putting your name in late.

But, you know, you had all year for 2 spots that were open and you didn't care then.

And that's what I care about now.

So that's the way my vote's going to be swayed, not because of you aren't qualified candidates is because why do you want the seat now that somebody's gone instead of fighting for the seat and putting your name in the hat while other people are fighting for the seat?

So thank you.

All right, thank you, Councilor Baptiste.

Others?

Councilor Carney.

Thank you.

First of all, I want to commend and thank each and every one on this list that put their name in for the school committee, and I wish that everybody got a nomination to become— to come back and do a second round.

This is a democratic process, and it's the way it's set up in the charter, and I just want to say that each and every one of these candidates bring a unique perspective to the school committee.

And this is going to be a tough decision.

I served with 2 of these candidates, and I was proud to serve with both of these candidates when I was on the city council— when I'm on the city council with them.

Um, their wisdom on the budgets were great.

Um, I think right now, in the shifts of time, I want to see that whoever gets on the school committee starts to look at the children and the teachers.

Often I hear from many, many, many teachers and people within my community that too much money goes to administration and not enough goes back to the teacher and the student.

I just want everybody in this room, and when we vote, to think about that.

Where the money goes, how it's placed, and who gets the best benefit.

'Cause the benefit, the best benefit and where it should go is to make sure the children in the New Bedford school system get the tools in their tool belt to succeed.

And if you keep stacking the top and not trickling it down to the bottom, like one of the candidates says, We lost teachers.

You can't afford to lose teachers.

We can't afford to lose teachers in this school system because every child needs to be taught.

So I stand here to say thank you everybody for putting the hat in the ring.

I wish everybody got a nomination.

I was hoping that everybody got a nomination so they could get up for a second round to speak.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way.

So good luck to the candidates that are here, and thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you, Councilor Carney.

Others?

Mr. Roy.

Hi.

Yeah, I'm gonna repeat the sentiments of my colleagues.

Thank you to everyone who applied to this position, but I intend to vote for Marcus this evening because he set that intention months ago, and he has consistently done the work.

He's showed up, he's, he's listened, he's connected with constituents to understand their needs.

I've seen him at nearly every single New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools meeting over the past year, learning directly directly from students and teachers, and no one understands our schools better than the folks who experience it every day.

So as a recent student himself, Marcus brings a firsthand understanding of our current educational system.

You know, school finance, it can be learned.

And what Marcus already has is an understanding of current educational issues.

Dedication, passion, and positivity.

And that's— and that matters.

And that's why I'm voting for him.

Thanks.

All right.

All right.

Thank you, Councilor Roy.

Others?

Oh, sorry.

Councilor Gomes.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

I rise first of all to say this is the second time that I've had to go through this, but this time, as it's been said in this room tonight, I won't use the exact word, but I didn't want to be here either.

I don't think any of us want to be here, but we have to.

And I'm sure that Bruce is looking down at tonight with a good soul and the friend that he was and the caring individual, he'd be telling us all, just get the job done.

Get the job done, as he did.

Tonight I'm going to take a vote.

I'm not going to tell you ahead of time who I'm going to vote for, but I want to thank all the candidates that have come before us tonight.

Each and every one of them had something to offer the city of New Bedford.

When you listen to 'em, you, you got to know some people a little better than what you knew 'em tonight.

Hearing their backgrounds, hearing what they've contributed, hearing what they would like to do.

And I commend you all for that.

And I thank you for that.

That is what democracy is all about.

That is what opportunity is all about.

And the opportunity will come for only one candidate.

Tonight that will serve on the New Bedford School Committee, and no one will be able to fill the shoes of the man that is not with us any longer.

This does suck tonight, but we'll do what we have to do, and we'll hope that If anything about tonight and what has transpired and affected Bruce's family, many of us, many people across the city, that the person that will take that seat along with all of us would just carry something in us that says about the service, about what comes first.

It's not about me.

It's not about he.

It's not about she, it's about all of us, and it's about an entire city.

I heard Lee Blake say tonight— I think it was Lee Blake that said, uh, Cheryl, we want to be the best that we can be.

I've always thought of it like that.

You want to be the best that you can be, and you want that school to be the best that it can be.

And it is turning out some best, and it's turning out some great kids, and some jobs are getting done And some things are getting taken care of that were not taken care of for a long time.

You know that, Mr.

Chair, and many in this room.

And we've participated in that.

Tonight will be an opportunity to give someone a chance to represent the city, represent the students, represent the administration over at the high school, and give the best that they can for the people of this city.

And as I was about to say, if anything, we can leave here this room tonight and being part of this joint convention, being part of everyone that is here, everyone that is watching at home, because there are many people watching us at home tonight.

I had several calls this afternoon, how can we watch what's going on tonight?

We make history.

And at the same time, we all can be a better person because there's one person looking down on us tonight asking us to be all like that.

Thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you, Councilor Gomes.

Others?

Councilor Abram.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and through you to everyone in the joint convention.

I want to thank everyone for putting their, their hat in the ring tonight and coming forward.

It's not not easy to come, and especially if public speaking is not your forte, coming before us, coming before live web stream TV to do that media here.

Thank you for doing that.

We had some great presentations tonight, and honestly, I wish I could vote for each and every one of you.

I honestly do.

Those whom I've served with, those whom I know personally, those of whom I've worked in the community with and that I've known for a while.

Wow, you all brought your A-game here tonight.

You really did.

Unfortunately, as was spoken about many a time during this debate period, only one is going to get the majority vote tonight and is going to go forward, whomever that may be.

Those who unfortunately do not get the majority vote tonight, I hope, and my prayers and my thoughts for you is that this will be the end of your road in public service.

I hope.

That you will start a neighborhood watch group, get involved in your neighborhood, apply to a board or commission with the city of New Bedford.

Mr. Chairman, I'm sure you'll be happy to receive those in your office.

You have plenty of intake forms, and we'll do our expeditious duty here in our advice and consent role here in the City Council to have hearings to get you confirmed.

If you are really serious, those who might not proceed and go forward and be victorious tonight.

If you're really serious about policy work, if you're really serious about lifting up this community, I look forward to receiving your application for a board or commission seat here in the city of New Bedford, or seeing you start a neighborhood watch group, or being part of a neighborhood watch group, or being part of a coalition, being part of a school watchdog group.

Don't let this be the end of the road.

Don't be discouraged.

Stay involved.

You're here because you care, as you stated, Mr. Chairman, earlier.

This is an unpaid position, so we'd like to think that you're doing this for the right reasons.

There's no health insurance, no pension credits, no salary involved in this for you.

You're doing it because you love the youth of this community, you love the children of this community, and you love this city.

So with that, Mr. Chairman, I'll yield, and I thank you for your time.

Thank you, Councilor Abreu.

Others?

Jack Livermento.

Thank you, thank you very much.

It'll get on eventually.

Thank you very much, and thank you to all the candidates.

You know, the one thing that I continue to be amazed at is that this community is not going to change with just this body here this evening, or as we work through the year.

It's with each and every one of us here tonight, and each one of us living in the city.

That's how we change.

We don't change by, by just making small changes here.

It's when we all join together to make sure that the path that we walk down is the path, is the best path for all of our students.

And that's the direction I come from.

I want to make sure that all of our students are able to achieve all that they can achieve, that they are able to become the person that they want to be, that they are able to walk the path that leads to their entire life.

It's a beginning here, and hopefully it's a path that leads to a future for all of them.

But it also is a path for our city that we enjoy.

All of your volunteers, all of the persons who step forward, I appreciate them stepping forward.

I also appreciate Marcus for really being involved in the election at the beginning.

That's— that to me is paramount.

It really goes through the process of saying, hey, he stepped forward when, when asked.

And I appreciate all the other candidates who've come forward and also would like to volunteer now.

And who knows who will be elected.

But I appreciate you, and I want to make sure that each and every person is aware of that and is able to move forward so that we build up the city.

This is just the beginning.

It's just the— I want to say the foundation from which we build upon for the entire city.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Jack.

Others?

Chris Cotter.

I wasn't going to speak, but I kind of feel compelled that— first of all, I want to thank Pam for sharing Bruce.

It's very emotional for me to fill this seat.

Bruce was a friend of mine.

He and I had many conversations about elections, um, my past run as well as school committee member.

He and I ran on the same cycle, so he and I were very close.

We had several conversations about his knowledge with everything.

So again, Pam, thank you.

We on this committee were very fortunate to have Bruce, and I feel very lucky and fortunate to have been able to call him friend.

As far as tonight, I've said it to many people, is that all we're doing tonight is filling a seat.

We are not going to fill Bruce's shoes.

There is no way possible, and no offense to any candidate here tonight, you're not going to fill his shoes.

But I do feel that we as a committee, both joint committee, need to try to find the right candidate who is going to bring not just the youth vision, not just the school vision, But the vision of the whole city, the vision of what the school system should look like, what school buildings should look like, what students need.

Um, and I will say, and no offense Naomi, but we're not top-heavy.

We as a committee, we're not, we're not naive to the point of overspending on our top budget.

So I know that that gets said a lot, and that's very, very insulting to us who sit on this committee to hear that some council members believe that we overspend on administration.

It's not the case.

And Bruce made sure of that as well.

But I do want to say is that the thing that I think a candidate needs to bring is not just a recent run, not just a prior run, not just some knowledge of having connections with the city, but I think we need somebody on the committee who has that internal knowledge, has that external knowledge, that's going to be able to at least take the seat and help us run where Bruce left off.

Um, we don't have much time for a learning curve.

I know the mayor said it before, that we're not in a rush.

But we do need some knowledge that, in my opinion, um, that's going to help fill this seat.

Uh, again, I just— it's, it's been said it's not an easy task.

I, I'm not happy to be here trying to fill this seat.

This is not something that I ever wanted to do.

And again, for the, for the candidates that put in tonight I do thank you, every single one of you, whether you were nominated or not.

I do appreciate you taking the time and putting your name out there and putting yourself out there, because it's definitely not an easy task, and all of us sitting on this committee know that firsthand.

So I guess in closing, just please think about everything to help us as a committee uh, to keep our steps running forward and not take a step back and try to, um, use a, use a learning curve.

But again, who's the candidate that's going to best fit it?

I don't know.

You're— you all bring definite strong perspectives, and I appreciate everybody for, for putting in for it.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Chris.

All right, anybody else?

Councilor Pereira.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So as has been said tonight, it's, it's impossible to fill the shoes of Bruce Oliveira.

And, uh, in, in looking at filling the seat of Mr. Oliveira, um, I thank all of the candidates and the nominees for putting themselves forward tonight.

But I stand— I sit, actually, tonight in support of Henry Bousquet, and I urge my colleagues to consider Henry as someone who will come in with an approach that is one of preparedness.

Speaking to Henry over the course of this, reaching out, someone who is ready to assume this role, who knows what he's doing.

He will be able to attend committee meetings and assist that— this great committee that we have further.

And with that, bringing the experience of a current teacher, the needs as the education evolves, someone who's ready to stand up and assist them, especially as more and more high schools, and including New Bedford High School, I believe, is, is looking to do more training programs, including vocational training programs.

And I think that having a vocational educator is going to be a great asset to your board, but also someone who is connected to the students in New Bedford, someone who continues to serve the people of New Bedford.

I think Henry would make a great fit and, and be someone who would blends well with the body.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Anybody else?

Melissa Costa.

Like my colleague who stepped away so conveniently, I want to make sure once again that I do thank all of the people who did take the time as someone who stepped up in 2017 for city council, someone who stepped up again in 2019 for city council, someone who stepped up in 2021 for school committee.

It is not an easy task.

I stand— I sit before you as the first Latin person ever elected in New Bedford city politics, as the first Boricua in New Bedford city politics ever elected, but not the last one, as I have my Latina sister now sitting beside me.

And so everything is possible in New Bedford.

So with that being said, you know, I am so grateful to have such a depth of presentation that put their names forward tonight.

And I am so grateful to all of you who put your names forward.

As you know, I saw women and I saw Latino people and I saw people from the Cape Verdean community.

And just so many people, you know, single, married, just so, so I love the diversity that represents this community.

And that's what I loved about all of you who stepped up, you know, from the youth to the more diverse and older.

Oh, just loved it.

But anyways, I did want to— oh, look, my colleague's coming back because I do want to give him kudos.

If you know the dynamics between me and Mr. Carter, I do want to agree with his comment regarding to Councilwoman Carney that, you know, we are not top-heavy.

I know that that is the agenda that is kind of put out there.

And I, as you all know, that we have made it a very— one of my missions that I have made it is that when we do the budget, that you all know that I have been officially reelected, I have officially been sworn in, that come the budget, you all are invited to attend our meeting, to come and listen, to hear how our budget is being put forth, so that way you can hear the school committee budget that will be put forth to the city council, so that, that way you know what our school committee budget will be looking like.

So I have officially invited you all to be a part of that.

That's part of our bridging that gap between us as we move forward, part of our joint council that we're looking to do.

Where I do disagree a little bit with Mr. Cotter is that the time to train, right?

I think Mr. Oliver, Councilman Oliver, said something about like this.

We have that staggered, which is I think by design.

And so no matter what, there is going to be a new person in, right?

So we have 3 returning council, 3 returning school committee members right now, and we're going to have 3 new school committee committee members no matter what, right?

We have 2 brand new.

They're only 2 days in.

I have, you know, I've been working very, you know, already got them charting the course through the MASC.

They've already attended that.

I've been working hard on getting them a new member orientation.

So getting somebody else in by the end of today, we can get them up to speed very quickly on where they need to be.

So it doesn't matter.

You know, we can get whoever it is up to speed where they need to be, because that is our job as leaders and mentors, to bring our new membership up to speed where they need to be.

Okay, thank you, Melissa.

Others?

There are a few folks who hadn't raised their hands.

Nothing?

Nothing.

All right, so I will I, in order for me to speak, so I, I am going to, uh, to say a few words, but in order to do that, I have to technically vacate the chair, which I'm told by the council president entails my passing over the gavel to him.

Be careful with that.

Um, and now I can, uh, I can say something.

So I have a few things to say.

Uh, the first is I, I I— this is an unusual event.

Um, I joke that this is like an NBC crossover event, like the Chicago Fire show, you know, all that.

These two groups get together and all of a sudden they're on the same show.

But it is— I, I think anybody watching this, I hope, uh, would recognize that, uh, that members of the City Council and members of the School Committee in good faith have really worked hard to get to the right answer here, whatever that is.

People might differ on what that answer is, but people have worked really hard at that.

And so I commend everybody, and I hope the public recognizes that effort.

Second, and again, at the risk of repeating myself, I just can't say enough about the candidates who are out there and put themselves forward.

It's not easy to do that.

You walk up in public on TV and say your piece takes some guts, and I really appreciate that.

And that we had 8 really qualified candidates is huge.

We have 5 nominees.

I know every single one of them.

I can say to a person that I can't vote for all 5, but I can say that any one of them I can certainly work with on the school committee.

And I, again, I thank them for putting themselves forward.

I will know, and I don't want to belabor this, but it bears emphasizing that Bruce Oliver's loss is hugely significant.

I really would rather not be here.

He was a close friend of mine.

He was like an uncle to my kids.

I really appreciate Pam's coming here.

It's not, not easy.

Pam's known to my kids also as Mrs. O, like she is to all the other students students at New Bedford High, who was at New Bedford High.

And the other thing I'll just say about Bruce is I think Bruce— and people might not know this— I mean, he was a close professional confidant of mine.

Bruce, I would bounce things off of Bruce all the time, uh, just as a gut check, as do I have this right.

Bruce made me a better mayor.

I, I say that here tonight.

And so for me personally, professionally, It's a, it's a loss beyond the personal.

But it's also— he leaves a significant hole in the school committee.

Bruce was the chair of the facilities, first the facilities and the finance, and then facilities, and, and then it was combined finance and operations.

That's what it is now.

But he was in charge of the books for over a decade, I think 12 years total, maybe I mean, like every other organization that he's belonged to, and as we know, there were many, he was put in charge of the money because people trusted him, but he knew what he was doing.

And there are a lot of organizations that benefited hugely, not just from his leadership, but his financial acumen over the years.

And so we have— we're at a point now where, you know, the question we ask ourselves is not about the candidates themselves, right?

This isn't a question of who deserves it, who's worked the hardest, who put themselves out there.

They should be commended for doing that.

But the question for us as a body is, what is in the best interest of the students of this city?

And more particularly, what's in the best interest of the school board in order to effectuate those interests, to support those interests.

So it's— it is about the general good.

It is not about who worked hardest to get here, who has, um, you know, who's— who's showed up at this or done that.

So in that vein, I asked, what— so what's— what's the hole left behind by Bruce's departure?

And for me, it— it's— it comes down to the numbers.

It comes down to finances.

That is a skill set That is rare these days.

As we know, we have one big budget.

The city budget is over $500 million.

It's over half a billion dollars.

Most of that now, more than half now, is the school department's budget.

The school department's budget is larger than the town budgets of any of the towns in southeastern Massachusetts.

The school department, New Bedford, it is over $200 million and counting.

And a lot of— obviously a lot of that comes from the state, some from the federal government, some from city taxpayers.

But it is a big enterprise.

It is bigger than a lemonade stand.

And so it is complex.

It is governed by a whole suite of federal and state laws and local laws that dictate how we allocate funding.

And so for me, the emphasis has to be on how do you fill that gap?

How do you fill the gap of somebody who's going to ensure, who'll give the public confidence that their taxpayer dollars are being effectively stewarded, that they're spent efficiently, because we know that money is tight.

There's not a single person in this room that I have to remind that of.

So for that reason, as I look at the candidates, the question is— don't swing that gavel on me— the question is who's best suited to do that.

And to my mind, that, that person is Brad Markey, the former chair of this— of the City Council's Finance Committee, someone with an insurance background, someone who sent his kids to New Bedford Public Schools, uh, whose deep— his family has been in, uh, worked in the school system for decades.

And so that's— I, I explained to you where my vote lands, and it's for those reasons.

So I appreciate it, and I'll take that gavel back, Mr. President.

That was, that was my only opportunity to hit the mayor with the gavel.

Councilor Carney would like a second.

I don't know if there's anyone else that would like a first.

Yeah, anybody with their first round of comments?

I know Councilor Carney is itching to tell us about what she meant by top-heavy.

Go ahead, Councilor Choquette.

Thank you, sir.

I just wanted to say, um, Bruce Oliveira was my friend.

He was my accountant and did a damn good job.

Um, he was a fellow Friendly Sun brother.

He's actually the person that got me in there, and he was a mentor to me, and his passing really hurt.

So I guess the question now becomes, who can fill these shoes?

And no one really can.

Many of us have said that tonight.

But silver lining here is that we have such a great spectrum of candidates.

We got folks from all walks of life.

And as Councilwoman Costa said, you know, or Committeewoman Costa said, I should say, you know, we have a lot of diversity.

And I'm proud to see that we have men, women, and, you know, we have folks from the public sector, the private sector, folks who've run before, folks who are just throwing their hat in the ring now.

Um, it's a good sign, it really is, that we have such a great body of folks to choose from.

So in closing, whoever we choose tonight, I'm confident will go a long way in, in filling Bruce's shoes, but no one will ever replace him.

Thank you.

Okay, any— again, we're on the first round of comments.

Anybody else who has yet to speak?

Councilor Pemberton.

Well, since I was the only one who hasn't spoken yet, I felt compelled I had to.

So I just want to say good luck to all the candidates here tonight.

Uh, you know, I know how it is, uh, you know, to run a campaign, and, uh, you know, that somebody who didn't run the campaign, I still know how it is to want to get elected and stuff.

So I just want to wish everyone good luck.

Okay.

I don't know if we have anybody else.

Okay, so we'll move on to second comments.

So just sort of keep it on topic.

I think a lot has been said, but Counselor Carney expressed an interest in offering still more.

Thank you.

I just want to say to the, to the school committee, when I said I'm reflecting of what I've heard and what I'm telling— let's keep it, keep it on topic.

No, no, no, no, I'm talking about the candidates.

I was speaking actually to the candidates, not particularly to the school committee, is what I as an elected official, as you know, you get many calls.

You get many calls whether it's in your wheelhouse or not.

And believe me, I'm sure, like my colleagues, get many calls in our districts about the school.

And these are just comments that people have relayed to me.

And all I was saying is, to the person who takes a position in the school committee, just be aware of what people and perceptions are out there.

And that's all I want to say.

You just have to be aware of that because you get those comments all the time.

If anytime somebody said something to me that wasn't right, it's— I mean, you have to have thick skin when you're an elected official.

So that's what I want to say, is that I just want the candidates who are out there just to be aware of the perception of people that call you up and tell you things.

You just have to be aware of that and be willing to accept that and move forward on it.

Thank you.

All right, so have thick skin.

Yes.

All right.

Yes, second round.

Jack Livermano.

Wow, let's not get— we're here for other reasons, guys.

But I believe when you bring forth comments like that without any substantive substantiation, it's not really a valid, my sense, explanation in terms of moving things forward.

All right, Jack.

And if we don't walk— if we walk down that road, this is what happens in our society today.

Too many people say things and without any substantial information that they are true, and I disagree.

All right, Jack, so we'll cut it off.

We'll cut it off at that.

So, um, any— can we just vote?

So, like, can we just vote?

Yeah, we're gonna— we all, we all want to, we all want to get to that, Councilor.

So, um, any other comments, second round comments?

I want to make sure we're giving people a chance.

All right, hearing none, uh, hearing none, we'll close with that.

We'll prove proceed to the election.

I'm going to just make sure everybody understands, just a reminder of what we're doing.

So 9 votes are necessary for a nominee to be elected.

There are 5 nominees, and they are again Lee Blake, Henry Lusquet, Marcus Coward, Brad Markey, and Cheryl Viveros.

There will be a roll call vote of the convention.

The city clerk shall— we've already talked about that.

The clerk will tally the votes for each round.

If no nominee receives a majority vote of the convention by the first ballot, the roll call shall be repeated as amended by the motion by Councilor Roy.

If there is— as we go to the subsequent roll call, the lowest voter from the previous one will drop off.

That is, unless there is a tie, in which case both of those who tied for the bottom number will— the lowest number will remain on the ballot.

Then we'll— a nominee may withdraw by notifying the chair, and the chair shall announce any withdrawal to the convention.

And once we reach 9, However many that takes, then we'll— how many rounds that takes, then that person— every— all of them are here, so we— whoever the winner is will be sworn in today.

So that's, that's how it goes.

And I will now ask the clerk to call the roll.

Excuse me, are we just saying their last name?

Yes.

Okay.

Bousquet.

Count of Baptiste.

Coward.

Coward.

Count of Burgos.

Coward.

Coward.

Count of Carney.

Marquis.

Marquis.

Count of Choquette.

Bousquet.

Bousquet.

Viscount of Costa.

Lee Blake.

I'm sorry, Blake.

Miss Blake.

Mr. Carter.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Gomez.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Livramento.

Coward.

Coward.

Mayor Mitchell.

Marky.

Marky.

Ms. Meniz?

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Oliver?

Viveros.

Viveros.

Councilor Pemberton?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pereira?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Mr. Porter?

Coward.

Coward.

Dr. Roy.

Coward.

Coward.

Miss Coward has 8.

I have 7.

I'm sorry, she has 7.

Your sheet's a little confusing.

Councilor Baptiste, you voted for Coward.

Councilor Burgoyne, you voted for Coward?

Yes.

I'm sorry, Councilor Carney, who did you vote for?

Marky.

Marky.

Thank you, I mischecked.

My apologies.

Miss Coward has 7, Mr. Bousquet has 5, Mr. Marky has 3, Ms. Viveros has 1, and Ms. Blake has 1.

So the they would stay on.

All right, would you mind just going through that one more time, Dennis, so everybody's good, so everybody's scoring at home?

Yeah, no one gets eliminated.

Okay, I'm sorry, Mr. Marquis has 2.

Yeah, Marquis has 2.

I'm sorry, that's where I'm wrong.

All right, so could Do that again when you're ready.

All right, so Ms. Blake has 1, Ms. Muscat has 5, Howard has 7, Mr. Markey has 2, and Ms. Rivera has 1.

Yep, so the lowest person has the same amount.

Yes, they do.

Yep.

Um, yep, so we have— so a situation where the— there is a tie for the lowest 2 votes, and so that means that everybody stays on the next ballot unless somebody is— decides to withdraw.

Withdraw their nomination.

What we'll do right now is, well, we'll go ahead and we'll do another round and then figure out whether we need to take a recess.

So we'll go ahead.

Why don't you call the roll again?

Busquet.

Coward.

Coward.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Blake.

Busquet.

Coward.

Markey.

Coward.

Buscay.

Buscay.

Buscay.

Coward.

Coward.

So we'll go ahead.

So this— so Cheryl Viveros did not get any.

So there will— it will be 4 that will go on to the next round.

That will be Coward, Busquet, Markey, and Blake.

So we'll go ahead and start the roll again.

Councilor Abril.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Baptiste.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Burgow.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Carney.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Choquette.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor, uh, Miss Costa.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Carter.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Gomes.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Livermento.

Coward.

Coward.

Mayor Mitchell.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Miss Meniz.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Oliver.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pemberton.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pereira.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Mr. Porter.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Roy.

Coward.

Coward.

It's tied 8-8.

All right, so, um, we're going to take a recess, uh, How long?

5-minute recess.

We're gonna take a 5-minute recess.

I can, I can, I can bang this.

There we go.

I'll just run away from you.

City Council.

Upstairs good to go.

Somebody so jolly would be aware of this.

We're live.

All right.

We're good to go.

Okay.

All right.

So we'll um.

So we're going to go to the next round of voting.

So I'll ask the clerk to call the roll again.

Councilor Abreu.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Baptiste.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Burgo.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Carney.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Chouquette.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Ms. Costa.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Carter.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Gomes.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Livramento.

Coward.

Coward.

Mayor Mitchell.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Ms. Meniz.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Oliver.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pemberton.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councillor Pereira?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Mr. Porter?

Coward.

Coward.

Councillor Roy?

Coward.

Coward.

8 to 8.

Again, do you have the count just to make it official?

I think we know what it is, but 888, Mr. Chairman.

88800.

Yes, yes, sir.

Um, okay, well, run it back.

Councilor Abrams.

Councilor Baptiste.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Pergo.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Carney?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Chouquette?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Miss Costa?

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Carter?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Gomes?

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Livramento?

Coward.

Coward.

Mayor Mitchell?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Miss Meniz?

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Oliver?

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pemberton.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pereira.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Mr. Porter.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Roy.

Coward.

Coward.

Busquet has 8, Coward has 8, Blake 0, Markey 0.

All right, run it back.

Calendar.

Need to find another date.

Councilor Abril.

Busquet.

Councilor Baptiste.

Coward.

Councilor Brigo.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Carney.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Choquette.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Miss Costa.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Carter.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Gomes.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Livramento.

Coward.

Coward.

Mayor Mitchell.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Ms. Meniz.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Oliver.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pemberton.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pereira.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Mr. Porter.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Roy.

Coward.

Coward.

Again, 8 for Busquet, 8 for Coward, none for Blake, none for Mark.

Running back.

Councilor Abrams.

Busquet.

Councilor Baptiste.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Burgos.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Carney.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Choquette.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Miss Costa.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Carter.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Gomes.

Coward.

Coward.

Mr. Libramento.

Coward.

Coward.

Mayor Mitchell.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Miss Meniz.

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Oliver.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pemberton.

Busquet.

Busquet.

Councilor Pereira.

Mr. Porter?

Coward.

Coward.

Councilor Roy?

Coward.

Coward.

Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

Uh, yes, if you would so entertain a motion, um, at this time, seeing 3 or 4 consecutive ballots of 8 to 8, I make a motion that this body recess until January 21st at 7 PM Uh, 6 PM in this chamber.

There's no such thing as a recess.

A continuation.

Continuation?

No, that's the same thing as an adjournment, but it's not.

Yeah, yeah.

So there's a, there's a motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, any further discussion on that motion?

Yes, discussion.

Go ahead.

Um, does this vote violate the rules that we adopted at the beginning of this session?

Can I ask the parliamentarian?

Can we phone in a firm?

Friend.

I have it.

Do you need it?

What does it say?

No, yeah.

Why have my cookie?

It's like a dim sugar.

Why have my sugar cookie?

Mr.

Chair, there's no meaning on the balcony.

Trying to read your lips.

No leaning on balconies.

Don't lean.

Just— oh, you are live.

Just, just look.

Oh yeah, no, yeah, you always have to make us Attorney Gurotowski.

So, Mr. Chairman, Attorney Jakes and I have conferred about the, um, the language of the rule that states that the convention shall proceed through nominations, debate, and balloting without adjournment until a nominee is elected, unless the convention determines by a majority vote that continuation is not practicable.

So Attorney Jakes and I believe that you could take whatever action you wanted to take, including a recess, um, so long as the, the convention votes that it's not practicable to continue at this time.

So the motion to recess to another date certain should add to that because continuation as of right now is not practicable.

Okay, so thank you for that.

That makes perfect sense.

Um, so Uh, Councilor Pereira, Mr. President, do you want to amend your motion along those lines?

You'd have to pick it and tone the words because— so a motion would fail.

Motion to continue to January 20th.

Motion to recess until January 21st at 7 PM in the city council chambers because, because of— I lost the word— because continuation at this time is not practical.

Yes.

Okay, so is there a second for that motion?

Second.

Second.

Second.

All right, uh, further discussion on the matter?

Councilor Bergo?

Yeah, so as it's clearly defined in the rules, you would need a majority vote for that, which is 9.

I would hope that those who are voting tonight, 8 to 8, I think this vote will most likely be 8 to 8.

I intend to vote no.

There's been a lot that's been said.

I think myself and others have spoken to our actual nominee because we know this person would serve the people of New Bedford best.

I didn't hear much about the other nominees directly, just a lot of platitudes.

I think that it would be nice if you are tired, you want to go home, then switch over and support Marcus Coward.

But do not adjourn tonight.

Let's get this done and let's do the work of the people.

Thank you.

Anyone else on the motion?

Anyone else on the motion?

Anybody?

Okay, hearing none, uh, Dennis, if you could take the roll.

Councilor Abreu?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Baptiste?

No.

No.

Councilor Bruggo?

No.

No.

Councilor Carney?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Chilcote?

Yes.

Yes.

Ms. Costa?

No.

No.

Mr. Cotter?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Gomes?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Livermento?

No.

No.

No.

Mayor Mitchell?

Yes.

Yes.

Ms. Meniz?

No.

No.

Councilor Oliver?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Pemberton?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Pereira?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Porter?

No.

No.

Councilor Roy?

No.

No.

Motion passes 9 to 7, Mr. Chairman.

All right, uh, you know, thank you.

I want to thank everybody for their hard Yeah, I will.

I'll do that.

I want to thank every— I want to thank everybody for their hard work, uh, tonight.

Again, we will be in recess, uh, until January 21st.

That's 2 weeks.

Okay, hold on please.

Uh, January 21st, uh, at 6 o'clock, right?

At— I think he said 6 PM.

7.

Okay, 7 o'clock, 7 o'clock, January 21st.

We'll be right back here in this chamber again.

I want to thank everybody for their hard work tonight.

I want to thank especially the candidates for putting themselves out there as they have.

And we are adjourned.

Go to work.

You, you do.

You sure you want to be there?

Why don't you want to stuff rolls for a little bit?

Sure.