City Council - August 27, 2025 - Ward 4 City Councilmember Inauguration   8/27/2025

St Paul, City Council,

formal meeting so we won't be gaveling in but I'm pleased to welcome you all here for our inauguration of council member elect Molly Coleman and as council member Bowie told me it's very exciting to have another central alum joining us and so I am

I am dressed accordingly.

So with that, I am pleased to welcome our mayor, Melvin Carter, first to say a few words.

Council President Naker, members of the City Council, it's so wonderful to be here.

Congratulations to us all.

Council member-elect Steele Coleman, it is wonderful to see you in this space.

I've gotten a chance to know you for a very long time, back to your days at Central High School, which, for the record, I too am a St. Paul Central High School graduate.

We are in an era that needs leaders like you.

We're reminded every day of the solemnness of the task that we take on.

We in this space have navigated a number of existential crises over just the last eight years or so.

um ranging from a pandemic to the murder of George Floyd to civil unrest to a cyber attack and just this morning we woke up to fresh news of just how important our work is to guide community and to care for people in community if it would be okay council president I'd love to ask us the folks gathered in this space today to join me in a moment of silence for the victims in the mass shooting event that occurred in Minneapolis this morning

Thank you.

Council President, members of the City Council, through the height of the pandemic I told my team a simple thing many times and that is that nobody cares who captains a ship at sea during a calm and sunny day.

That you give me

the wheel on a calm, sunny day at sea and I can probably point the nose of that ship in the general direction that it needs to go.

But when the winds come up, when the rains come down, and when the waves beat hard, that's when leadership really matters.

That's when leadership really shows.

and it is an honor to welcome you Councilmember Coleman at a time when we have an opportunity to lead.

We have an opportunity to demonstrate what leadership can look like, what leadership can mean and what incredible leadership the difference that it can make in community and in specific people's lives.

It's an honor to have you join in this space at this time with this historic council in this pivotal time for our city.

We are excited to have you join this space to continue our work together with this Council to meet the moment and all the demands that this moment requires.

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge my mentor, my friend,

and my longtime co-worker and colleague, former Mayor Chris Coleman, who's in this space.

It's wonderful to see you, as well as former First Lady Connie Coleman and the entire Coleman family.

Congratulations to you all for Molly Coleman joining the family business of public service.

Thank you all and congratulations.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of saying Councilmember Elect Molly Coleman.

So who's ready to make it official?

Councilmember Elect Coleman, one of the things that I have really enjoyed about getting to know you just over the last couple of months is seeing how you both take the work so seriously and also are a whole person and balance the work

I could have said it better.

With your family.

You raise your right hand and repeat after me I, state your name I am Molly Coleman Do solemnly swear Do solemnly swear To support the constitutions To support the constitutions Of the United States of America Of the United States of America And of the state of Minnesota And of the state of Minnesota And that I will discharge faithfully And that I will discharge faithfully The duties defaulting upon me

Thank you all.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Thank you, Council President Nagar.

Thank you to Mayor Carter.

Thank you to everybody, my new colleagues on council.

I am so delighted to be here.

I'm so honored to have so many people in this room who I have known some for a very long time, some who I have gotten to know over the course of the last five, six months.

It is such an honor and privilege to be standing here as the new council member for Ward 4.

I want to first just extend

My immense gratitude to our outgoing Interim Councilmember, Councilmember Matt Pivosky, who has served our ward and our city so well.

Thank you for saying that he's here to be fired, which I don't think is exactly what this is, but sure.

And, of course, to former Council President Mitra Jalali, who set the bar so high for what it looks like to be a progressive, principled leader for Ward 4 for the City of St. Paul.

I am very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very

We have such a long legacy in ward 4 of folks who have really shown what it means to be in community, to fight for community, to fight for a better city and I hope to be able to continue on that work over the next three years.

Somebody wants me to keep this short, so I will.

I just want to say I ran for City Council for three reasons.

The first, I love the city of St. Paul.

The second, I believe that we have a duty to build an economically just city.

The third, I believe that we have an obligation to build a functional democracy here in the city of St. Paul.

And as we heard in the mayor's remarks, I think that the moment is so daunting.

It's so much more in front of us, both locally and when we look at the state of our country.

I am so excited about the ability to join this council that has been such a strong source of leadership for our city for two years, almost two years now with this council and I am so, so looking forward to the work ahead.

The last thing that I want to say is just a huge, huge thank you to the essential staff on City Council, Jay and everybody else who has been so generous in getting me up to speed over the last week, two weeks, ten days, I don't know, however long I have been showing up in this building to try to learn what we do here and how we do it and to make sure that Board 4 gets the immediate leadership that we deserve in our community.

So with that, I think we are headed out to get cookies.

Alright, let's go eat.