INAUGURATION CEREMONIES

TOWN CLERK PRESIDING

Presentation of the Colors by the Middletown Police and Fire Departments Color Guard

Pledge of Allegiance

Invocation by the Reverend Father Thomas O’Neill

Communication of Board of Canvassers, re:  Certification newly elected members of Town Council and School Committee

Oath of Office to elected members of the School Committee by the

Honorable Congressman Gabriel Amo

Oath of Office to elected members of the Town Council by the 

Honorable Congressman Gabriel Amo

Election of, and oath of office to Town Council President

COUNCIL PRESIDENT PRESIDING

Election of, and oath of office to Town Council Vice President

Appointment of, and oath of office to Town Solicitor

Appointment of, and oath of office to Assistant Town Solicitor

Appointment of, and oath of office to Assistant Town Solicitor for Prosecution

Appointment of, and oath of office to Probate Judge

Appointment of, and oath of office to Assistant Probate Judge

Appointment of, and oath of office to Municipal Court Judge

Appointment of, and oath of office to First Assistant Municipal Court Judge

Appointment of, and oath of office to Second Assistant Municipal Court Judge

Presentations

Benediction by the Reverend Father Thomas O’Neill

You are cordially invited to join the Town Council for refreshments.

                                                                                    Wendy J.W. Marshall, MMC

                                                                                    Town Clerk

This meeting location is accessible to the handicapped.  Individuals requiring interpreter services for the hearing impaired should notify the Town Clerk’s Office not less than 48 hours before this meeting.

Posted on November 25, 2024, at Middletown Town Hall, Middletown Public Library Middletown Web Site and Secretary of State Web Site.

Town Clerk Wendy J.W. Marshall presiding.

Meeting called to order at 6:00 P.M.

Presentation of the Colors by Middletown Fire and Police Department Color Guard, and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Invocation by Reverend Father Thomas O’Neill

COUNCIL PRESIDENT PRESIDING

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for Town Council Vice President.

Councillor VonVillas nominated Thomas P. Welch, III as Town Council Vice President.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Council President Rodrigues, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Councillor VonVillas, duly seconded, it was voted to appoint Thomas P. Welch, III as Vice President Councillor Roberts and Councillor Turano voted NO to said motion.

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Vice President Thomas P. Welch, III.

Council President Rodrigues and Vice President Welch recognized Congressman Gabriel Amo for his election to office and for swearing in the School Committee and Town Council, presenting him with a token of appreciation.

Congressman Gabriel Amo noted the importance of local government, and it was an honor to be present at the Inauguration.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of Town Solicitor.

Councillor Connerton nominated Peter B. Regan for Town Solicitor.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Councillor Connerton, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Peter B. Regan as Town Solicitor

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Peter B. Regan.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of Assistant Town Solicitor.

Councillor Logan nominated Michael E. Monti for the office of Assistant Town Solicitors.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Councillor Logan, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint  Michael E. Monti as Assistant Solicitor.

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Michael E. Monti.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of Assistant Town Solicitor for Prosecution matters.

Councillor Turano nominated Michael E. Monti as Assistant Town Solicitor for Prosecution matters.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Councillor Turano, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to Appoint Michael E. Monti as Assistant Town Solicitor for Prosecution matters.

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Michael E. Monti.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of Probate Judge.

Councillor Roberts nominated Michael W. Miller for the office of Probate Judge.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Councilor Roberts, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Michael W. Miller as Probate Judge

Michael W. Miller was unable to attend, it was requested that the Town Clerk administer the oath of office to the Probate Judge at a later date.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of Assistant Probate Judge.

Councillor Connerton nominated Barbara A. Barrow for the office of Assistant Probate Judge.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Councillor Connerton, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Barbara A. Barrow as Assistant Probate Judge

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Barbara A. Barrow.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of Municipal Court Judge.

Council President Rodrigues nominated Francis S. Holbrook, II for the office of Municipal Court Judge.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Council President Rodrigues, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Francis S. Holbrook, II as Municipal Court Judge

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Francis S. Holbrook, II.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of First Assistant Municipal Court Judge.

Councillor VonVillas nominated Robert M. Silva for the office of First Assistant Municipal Court Judge.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Councillor VonVillas, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Robert M. Silva as First Assistant Municipal Court Judge.

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Robert M. Silva.

Council President Rodrigues called for nominations for the office of Second Assistant Municipal Court Judge.

Vice President Welch nominated Kevin O. Hagan for the office of Second Municipal Court Judge.

There were no further nominations.

On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to close nominations.

On motion of Council President Rodrigues, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Kevin O. Hagan as Second Assistant Municipal Court Judge.

Town Clerk administered the oath of office to Kevin O. Hagan.

PRESENTATIONS

Board of Canvassers members Lucie-Anne Dionne Thomas, Adeline Rose, Carmela Geer, Stacey Andrade and Barbara A. Barrow were introduced and received a token of appreciation for their service to the Town presented by Council President Rodrigues and Vice President Welch.

Council President Rodrigues, Vice President Welch, Superintendent of Schools William Niedermeyer recognized outgoing School Committee member William O’Connell with a token of appreciation for his service to the Town.

Council President Rodrigues and Vice President Welch recognized outgoing Councillor Emily Tessier with a token of appreciation for her service to the Town.

Council President Rodrigues recognized Senator Louis P. DiPalma, Representative Terri Denise Cortvriend, Chair of the School Committee Theresa Silveira Spengler and School Committee member Gregory Huet.

Council President Rodrigues noted the following:

Welcome everyone and thank you for being here tonight.  A very special welcome and a big thank you to Congressman Gabe Amo for taking time out of his busy schedule to swear us all in tonight.  It is an honor and a privilege to have Gabe here with us this evening.

Thank you to the Middletown Police and Fire Departments Color Guards.  You look very sharp, and a job well done. 

Thank you to the Reverend Father Thomas O’ Neill for the Invocation and Benediction.  We appreciate you being here tonight. 

I want to thank my fellow Councilors for your confidence in me to continue to be your Town Council President.  I would like to take a moment to welcome a new Council member and say goodbye to a former Council Member.  We welcome new Town Councilor Charlie Roberts, with whom we are excited to work with.  Charlie is no stranger to public service.  Charlie served  as co-chairman of the Middletown School Building Committee and recently briefly as the Affordable Housing Committee Chairman. 

We say goodbye to Councilor Emily Tessier who brought youth, fresh thoughts and new perspectives to the Council.  Emily you will forever be a Middletown Town Councilor.  Thank you for your commitment, dedication and being part of helping make generational decisions that will forever have a positive impact for this great Town.  You will be missed, but more importantly, we have all gained a lifelong friend.

We need to continue to work closely and cohesively with our School Committee and School Department. 

We welcome back School Committee Vice Chairwoman Tami Holden.  Tami brings experience and a voice of reason to the School Committee.  Tami, thank you for your continued commitment and dedication to the education of the children of Middletown! 

We also welcome new School Committee Member Bill Nash. Bill has always been an active Middletowner. Bill brings extensive knowledge, history and experience in Middletown. Bill has served on the Planning Board and recently became the Planning Board Chairman. He also served on the School Building Committee. We are all looking Forward to working together with you both.

We also say goodbye to tenured School Committee Member Bill O’Connell. Bill served from November 2008 to November 2024. 16 years!!!! Not many have achieved that!!!! Bill, thank you for 16 years of commitment and dedication to the children of Middletown and helping to ensure that they had the best education possible.

The past 2 years were extremely busy and very productive, and I believe we came together as a team.  These were some of the accomplishments.  We were able to move some major initiatives closer to completion.  We are building a new Middle / High School and revitalizing our existing High School and Forest Avenue School.  Working together, we remain committed to moving the educational opportunities for our children, teachers and residents forward.  We will continue to explore regionalization possibilities with Newport.  We need to be RELENTLESS in the pursuit of the BEST possible educational opportunities for our children and for our residents. 

We also have several affordable housing initiatives in motion to help our seniors, young families and our workforce residents to get the housing they need and deserve.  We have purchased property across from the Town Hall for much needed housing.  We have approved the Middletown Center where 150 housing units that will be available for housing, as well as a new revenue source to help pay for our new school debt and reduce the burden on our residents.

We purchased 58 acres from the Hoogendoorn family to protect the treasured open space character of Middletown.  We would like to publicly thank the Hoogendoorn family for giving the town the opportunity to acquire your family treasure.  Your family treasure will now forever be Middletown’s family treasure. We are thankful and grateful to the Hoogendoorn family for that. 

It was not if the Library needed to be replaced, it was how soon with its structural deficiencies.  The opportunity arose to acquire a building at 110 Enterprise Drive to be the new home of the Middletown Public Library.  It was a simple decision with no cost to the taxpayers and would result in about a $14 million savings to our taxpayers compared to our previous library plan.

The balance of affordability and quality of life will always be a top priority to allow our residents to enjoy the beauty of our great town and the ability to remain in their homes.  While we did not all agree on the spread of the Tiered Residential Tax rate, it gives the full-time residents the ability to pay lower taxes.  All this while maintaining an AA Bond Rating!

I could continue to talk about our past accomplishments, but I won’t because we must always remain humble, grateful, yet hungry to accomplish more.  Does anyone know why Windshields are made bigger than Rear View Mirrors?  Because we don’t look back.  Yes, we learn from our past experiences, but the vision and view are much larger, clearly and brighter when we look forward.

I would like to take a moment to talk about Cultural values and supporting behaviors that I believe are critical to the success of any one person, team, business or town.  Commitment, Dedication, Enthusiasm, Excellent Customer Service, Expense Control, Hard Working, Honesty, Professionalism, Respect, Safety/Wellness, Teamwork and a Win Win Attitude.

These are just words, but powerful in their meaning and effects they have because they are intangibles. In other words, either you have them before you work or serve the town, or you don’t.

These Cultural values and supporting behaviors are the key to moving our town forward. We can accomplish all these initiatives when we all work together, as one, in the same direction. We must all pull the rope from the same end.  The old saying, “ If you want to be successful, surround yourself with successful people.”

We are surrounded with a great Administration led by our Town Administrator Shawn Brown and his great team of Department Heads and their teams.

We have several hundred years of experience with our Town Solicitor, Peter Regan and his team of Assistant Solicitor Michael Monti; Municipal Court Judges Frank Holbrook, Assistant Municipal Court Judges Bob Silva and Kevin Hagan; Probate Court Judge Michael Miller, Assistant Probate Judge Barbara Barrow;  Assistant Solicitor of Prosecution Michael Monti. We are extremely fortunate to have you on this team.

Also, I would like to thank all the Great volunteers that serve our Town.  Without you and your dedication and commitment, Middletown would not be the same Town it is today.  We are fortunate and extremely grateful to have you all on this team.  All these people mentioned above have the intangibles.  Why, because we have something special here in Middletown.  We all love this town and its beauty.  Why, because we all have a deep passion to maintain and make it sustainable for current and future generations.

We are here to serve the people of Middletown to the best of our ability.  We will promise you 2 things.  First, that we will continue to work very hard for you and second, that we are extremely passionate about protecting your taxpayer dollars.  We are committed to seeing that the town uses its resources very, very carefully to ensure that Middletown remains vibrant and a great place to live now and in the distant future.  We cannot predict the future, but we can predict that we will work together to position this great Town to weather any difficult times or issues that may arise. 

We need to remember that we are one team united and need to remain one team united.  You have placed great trust and responsibility in us that we will always honor and be respectful of.  We will remain grateful and humble for the opportunity to serve you, work with you and for you.  We look forward to the work ahead. 

Lastly, but most importantly, I would like to thank my family, Diana, Zach and Sam and all the families of the employee’s and volunteers of Middletown, because your unwavering support of the commitment and dedication it takes to get it done is really the success of this team. Ceremonies like this one are nice and appreciative, but now it’s time to get back to work. Just like The Goat, Tom Brady was known for saying, “Let’s GOOOOOO!”

Thank you.

Benediction by Reverend Father Thomas O’Neill.

All were invited to join the Town Council for refreshments.

On motion of Council Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to adjourn this meeting at 6:49 P.M.

                                                                                    Karin H. Clancey, CMC

                                                                                    Deputy Town Clerk