Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for being here today. I know at this time of year how busy everyone is. But I want you to know how appreciative and truly humbled and honored it is to stand before you now as the 13th mayor of the great City of West Haven.
I want to thank everyone who is participating in the program today; from our clergy to our entertainers, to our firefighters, our interpreter and to our police – to that end recognize the officers that were recently involved in a traumatic incident, and we wish them the best in their recovery.
Thank you to our veterans, especially Dave Ricci our leader of the Veteran’s Council who just led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thank you to our state and federal elected officials including: Lt. Gov. Byciewicz, Sen. Blumenthal and Erik Russell our State Treasurer who hails from West Haven. And special thanks to my good friend Attorney General William Tong for swearing me in.
Thank you, President Zenger, not just for being here today as our guest speaker but it is refreshing to have a president of a university live in the city and now understands understand our city’s needs, I look forward to a great partnership.
To our mayors who served before me thank you for being here and thank you for your service. Mayor Rossi thank you for being the first female mayor of our city and showing all the other young women that anything is possible.
Now, normally at the end of each speech through the years I end by thanking my son Drew. But today if you’ll indulge me, I want to thank him first. Because today Drew is making a little history himself as he now has the distinct pleasure, he may use a different word, but he has the distinct please of being the only one in the state that has had a father as mayor and now his mother as a mayor in CT.
I mention that because people will often say those serving in office are sacrificing family and personal time, but in reality, it is our family members that bear the burden and I think Drew has been a pretty good sport for 22 years. And I want him to know how proud I am of him and that I love you Drew.
I worked to get through If you noticed without crying because I understand if I cry in the first 5 minutes of being mayor that may not be a good look.
It is not just my family it is all the friends of families of elected officials that share their loved ones. Thank you.
There is one absence I feel today and that is of my parents. But I take solace in knowing their lessons stayed with me.
My parents who — my mother was a teacher, my father a salesman — who worked hard to provide for us but didn’t have a lot of means and told me at age 16 I better go get a job (or two) to pave and pay my own way through life as there are no short cuts, no one will hand you something you didn’t deserve. So they told me to work hard and put in an honest day’s work and always be accountable for your actions.
These are the values I learned at an early age which have been instilled in me, and I carry with me. But, one of the most important lessons my parents taught me was that in life don’t spend all your time and energy on trying to fix your weaknesses, but instead identify your strengths, hone in on those strengths and leverage them to be successful. And that’s what I have always tried to incorporate into my work and my life. Look for and recognize the strengths not only within myself but in others and other situations and help leverage those strengths.
And that’s why I’m so proud of the newly sworn in team sitting on this stage before you because each brings different strengths and experiences to the table. I want to congratulate each official both Democrats and Republicans as this is your day and you deserve all the recognition and appreciation for your willingness to serve.
And as we know there are separate branches of government. Our Constitution has that in place for a reason- balance of power. Balance is okay. That means there will be times of course where we don’t always agree but I make this commitment to you, I won’t ever question your motives I will always communicate with you and we will approach situation with finding our common ground in order to make the best decisions for the residents of West Haven.
We will get away from the politics that have divided and derailed the efforts in our city because we all have one ultimate goal and obligation here, and it is to the residents of our city that put us here. They are counting on us and deserve good government. And deserve it in a bipartisan way.
Yes, West haven you deserve good government.
Our story has been a frustrating one to say the least recently but that’s not the story that we are going to let define us. I am reminded of the words of Victor Hugo, who said, “Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.” Our sun is now rising West Haven with a new dawn.
Because we may have faced challenges, but it is the resilience of our people that has always prevailed and brought us to this point.
Our story instead is going to be about our strengths! Our story is going to be about our successes. And We will celebrate and leverage everything West Haven has to offer.
We will celebrate our amazing shoreline a shoreline that is the longest coastline in the State which has something for everyone; from the stretch of beaches that thousands of our residents enjoy each summer, to areas of open space for passive recreation to the opportunity for development. We will celebrate and we will leverage all of those aspects and opportunities.
We will celebrate the greatest restaurants our state has to offer, and we will help to promote them to bring more people into our city and make sure their business continues to be sustainable.
We celebrate an incredible school system where everyone involved works hard every day for the children of our city. And we will support our educators, and the staff in our school system by making sure they have the tools they need to be successful in providing an opportunity for quality education for every child in our city.
We will celebrate our public safety; our fire, our police, our EMs, our 911 Dispatchers, our paramedics that are all second to none, and we will work to hire and retain our public safety personnel.
We will celebrate our business owners that opened their business to realize the American dream and for years have been offering our residents great services and we will provide them with the resources and the assistance they need to help them thrive.
We will celebrate the state-of-the-art Train Station that continues to be one of the newest in the region, and I will promote it to employers looking to relocate here.
We will celebrate that we are home to one of the largest healthcare systems for veterans in the country and I will work to improve collaboration with them so every veteran in our city gets the healthcare they deserve.
We will celebrate being home to a first-class university with thousands of students living in our city and hundreds of residents that are employed there and I will work to improve our communication and our town gown relationship so that we can help each other.
We will celebrate our youth sports, our coaches, our mentors that provide opportunities for our youth by building confidence, pride and teamwork. But we will expand what we offer to our children in addition to sports through additional avenues for engagement such as arts, music, or community programs because our children deserve every opportunity to flourish.
We will celebrate our seniors that offer great wisdom, and I will work to help keep them in the homes they love.
We will celebrate our city’s diversity and embrace it.
We will celebrate our city’s great history but not get stuck in it or mourn it but use it as a spring board for our future.
We will celebrate the significant opportunities for development across our city that are just begging to be tapped by bringing investors to the table to help us create an economy that provides jobs and tax relief.
Everywhere I turn in our city I see opportunities and promises ready to unfold.
But you know who else we should celebrate? You, our residents, the people of West Haven, affectionately known as Westies.
We have talent and experience that can be tapped. We have residents with energy and compassion. And we have demonstrated to each other over and over again that we are a resilient community that through thick and thin no matter what rise above and stick together. You demonstrate the pride and passion of our city, and you are the heart and soul of this city.
So, let’s not imagine let’s reimagine. Let’s write our next chapter, by turning the page.
And when all is said and done, we will promote West Haven to the world, because we know what an amazing city we really are and it’s time the rest of the world knew it as well.
Yes it takes a great leader, yes it takes a quarter back to lead the team. I gladly and proudly take on that role, and I’m ready to get to work, but it’s the will of our residents that have always and will continue to help West Haven tell a new story.
I know you want to see us flourish as much as I do. So together Let’s create a story that generations look back and say they did something right!
We, myself and our new team, will get this done for you, our Westies through delivering good government. And while it won’t happen overnight. I will draw on that lesson my family taught me and provide you with a strong work ethic, give you that hard day’s honest work, and always be accountable for my actions.
Tomorrow morning at 9:00a.m I will open the front door to City Hall, a door that has been locked for 3 years. I will open that door both physically and figuratively, I will hold out my hand to you West Haven and let you know you are welcome in our government and we are here to serve you.
Brighter days are ahead. The best is yet to come, West Haven,
I’m Dorinda Borer, I am now your proud mayor. I love this great city. Let’s start celebrating West Haven!
Thank you!