The following are transcripts of the speeches the five members of the Coral Gables City Commission gave at the Induction Ceremony April 25 in chronological order.

Commissioner Richard Lara

Good afternoon distinguished guests, friends, neighbors and fellow residents of Coral Gables.

It is with deep humility and a profound sense of purpose that I stand before you today, honored to serve as your newly elected city commissioner.

I want to begin by thanking my wife Bertha and three daughters Gabrielle, Victoria and Alexandra for their unconditional love and support. And the countless volunteers, so many of whom I see here today gathered who walked with me believed in me and helped me make this journey possible.

This moment is not about one individual; it is about a community ready for a new chapter. I chose to run because I believe the city needed a course correction. We needed to find our way back to something deeper than policies and plans. Back to fellowship, unity and respect – the very values George Merrick envisioned when he founded Coral Gables almost exactly a century ago.

Having grown up here walking the halls of Coral Gable Senior High School, watching this city shape me. shape my life I know how special this place is. but somewhere along the way we lost some of that shared spirit.

Today in the midst of our centennial year we have a rare and powerful opportunity to turn the page and recommit ourselves to building community. My priority as your commissioner simple -to lead and to listen. We are elected not to impose our will but to carry out yours. To reflect your concerns your hopes (and) your vision for this city. I’m here to represent every voice and to help restore the public’s trust in how decisions are made and why they matter.

As President Lincoln said, “With public sentiment nothing can fail. Without it nothing can succeed.”

This is a new day in Coral Gables. Let’s be clear we’re going to move forward not as factions but as neighbors. Let us celebrate what makes this city beautiful. Let us never forget what makes it truly great. It is our shared belief in community.

Thank you again for your trust. I am honored to serve. I’m ready to get to work. May God bless you and may God bless Coral Gables.

Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson

Good afternoon, friends, neighbors and fellow residents of Coral Gables. It’s an honor and privilege to stand before you today humbled by the overwhelming support I received across the city.

To have won every precinct in this election was not just a political victory, it was a reaffirmation of shared values and common vision for the future of Coral Gables. Thank you for placing your trust in me once again.

As I mark the beginning of a new term and the beginning of our city’s second century, I am filled with gratitude and resolve. Coral Gables is a city defined by its beauty, its history and its people. We are stewards of that of a legacy that demands that we balance progress with preservation growth with greenery and change with care. Throughout my time in office, I have remained committed to protecting what makes our city so special – our green spaces, our tree canopy and our unique sense of scale. I have fought to limit building density, championed new parks and supported initiatives to keep our neighborhoods livable and lush. And I pledge to continue that work with the same energy and determination you’ve come to expect.

This election was not about promises; it was about priorities. And the message I heard loud and clear is that you want a city and government that listens and acts with transparency and it leads with integrity. I’m proud to stand along Mayor Lago and our new commission and hope that we can work together and make meaningful steps towards that goal. Steps that include restoring public trust, respecting our residents voices and ensuring fiscal responsibility.

I believe leadership is not just about making decisions; it’s about protecting our values. As your vice mayor I will continue to advocate for policies that reflect who we are and who we aspire to be – a city of innovation grounded in tradition and a community that puts people and the planet first.

Thank you for this extraordinary opportunity to continue to serve. I’m excited for what lies ahead and I look forward to working with each of you as we continue to build a brighter greener and more united Coral Gables.

Thank you and may God bless our city.

Commissioner Melissa Castro

These past these past two years have been rocky but I’m sure that moving forward we will find civility, peace and harmony. If it’s up to me this would be a beautiful, united commission. I’m looking forward to great things ahead. I’m happy to have Richard (Lara) here on our commission and I’m sure we’re going to work great together as much as we can work together because there’s a Sunshine (Law) and I welcome you very, very much. I’m excited for you and your family. Thank you.

Commissioner Ariel Fernandez

Well, I want to start by congratulating the mayor, the vice mayor and Commissioner Lara welcome to the dais. Vice mayor and mayor I welcome continuing to work with both of you over the next couple of years.

We have been a commission that there’s been a lot of talk about division and things that we disagree on but the fact is almost 92 percent of the time we have voted unanimously as a body and that will continue moving forward. I look forward to working with all of you on the issues we agree on, working through the ones we disagree on and finding common ground consensus that will benefit the residents of our great city.

Commissioner Lara it’s great to have you up here. I remember the day we first met at Le Park Cafe back then that’s right you walked up to the table introduced yourself you did so three or four times while during my campaign, always like the judge (Fredrico Moreno who administered Lara’s oath of office) said with a smile on your face and always with a positive attitude and I think that’s what residents saw throughout this campaign as you canvased you and your wife knocking on thousands of doors over the last year and a half.

Richard, I welcome your sentiments of trying to find common ground and unity towards working for what the residents have asked for. So, I look forward to what the next couple of years will bring and continuing to serve the city in a way where we can all be proud of our City Beautiful.

Mayor Vince Lago

Thank you very much. I want to thank everyone who has joined us today starting with my wife and my two daughters. There are no words adequate to express my gratitude for the immense sacrifice you have made for me and this community.

I’d like to take a moment to thank a few of the individuals who are here today – Mayor Dorothy Thompson, Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, Mayor Don Slesnick, Mayor Jim Casey, Vice Mayor Frank Casada, Vice Mayor Michael Mena, Commissioner Jorge Fors, Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, Vice Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners Keony McGee, County Commissioner Raquel Regalado thank you, State Senator Alexis Calatayud, County Mayor (Daniella Levine) Cava is here with us today thank you, State Representative Vicky Lopez, Supervisor Elections Alina Garcia, Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez, County Commissioner (Roberto) Gonzalez, Ray Anthony on behalf of U.S. Senator Ashley Moody, Ambassador Kevin Cabrera – has a nice ring to it even though he will be missed deeply at the county, Barbie who’s in the back representing our county clerk Mr. (Juan Fernandez) Barquin, West Miami Commissioner (Natalie) Orbiswho’s here with us thank you.

Thank you to all our chairsupporters – my dad and mom, my brother, my sister, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, my entire family, my dear friends – most of them canvased with me for the past few months and I couldn’t be more grateful to them. And to the residents who opened the doors to me. I want to also recognize all the current and former elected officials that have just recently did in attendance this morning, the hardworking members of our city staff as well as the brave men and women of the Coral Gables Police and Fire Departments thank you for your service, thank you for being here.

And to our newly elected and reelected Coral Gables officials I want to take a moment of special privilege to congratulate you. Vice Mayor Ronda Anderson congratulations on your re-election; your steadfast leadership has been invaluable to me and to our residents. I look forward to continuing our important work together. Commissioner Richard Lara – that has a ring to it, a nice ring to it – let me be the first one to officially welcome you to the dais of the City of Coral Gables. Congratulations to you and your family. I am also looking forward to working with you. It’s been a long, long road congratulations.

 I’m profoundly honored and generally humbled to have been afforded the opportunity to serve as mayor for a third term by the residents of the city of Coral Gables. We are blessed to live in a city celebrating its first 100 years. A city with such a rich history, vibrant culture and engaged resident the best city to live and work, not in South Florida but in the country.

This campaign was unlike any other I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was marked not just by challenges of communicating our message to all our residents across this great city but by an unprecedented level of discord. Personal attacks, falsehoods and intimidation orchestrated by my opponents and those formidable forces with whom they found common sense. And cause. Yet through this trying time the spirit of our great city remained unbroken. The good people of Coral Gables drawing upon that timeless wisdom that has guided Americans through every trial distinguished truth from falsehood and chose the path of progress over the political fear. In their wisdom they stood strong saw through the noise and voted for a track record and vision rooted in civility, transparency and service.

This victory therefore is not just mine it belongs to each and every resident who believes in a respectful fact-based discourse and a government that puts residents first not just in words but in actions. While others continue to play politics we have never stopped working for the people of Coral Gables. And I won’t stop. This victory is not only a mandate let me repeat that a mandate to continue the progress we’ve made. It is also a clear referendum on the last two years of dysfunction, poor decisions and misplaced priorities by the commission majority. The residents of Coral Gables have spoken with one clear voice – they want a return to transparency stability and leadership that puts people before politics.

With that message in mind, I’m committed to working with my colleagues old and new to restore trust focus on solutions and move our city forward. First and foremost, the unethical 101% salary increase and car allowances must be repealed immediately. I have already introduced legislation at the upcoming special commission meeting on (Tuesday) May 6 to repeal them and I call upon each of my colleagues to join in this necessary act of good governance for unanimity. It will send a clear message that echoes through city hall that this body serves not itself but the noble citizens who have entrusted us with their hopes and hard-earned dollars. The time has come to rededicate ourselves to the proposition that government exists to serve the people not the other way around.

Second, we will never succeed in encouraging greater participation in local elections if we continue to allow them to grow more hostile while being funded by dark money manipulated by interest groups that refuse to allow reporting and disclosure rules and influenced by shadowy political committees that funnel money to hide those behind it. Our residents deserve to know who are behind these entities and who are funding these attacks especially now that some media outlets have clearly aligned themselves with candidates who not only benefit from these mechanisms but also manipulate them. That is why I am also looking forward to fulfilling another election promise by moving our elections to November.

As we embark on our second century as a city it is time we more energetically increase voter participation and the best way to do that is by aligning our elections with a statewide and national elections in November of even years.

But our journey together does not end there. The promises we made stand as a sacred trust between government and the governed. We must advance the cause of accountability by sending to our residents a referendum question on whether the city should establish an inspector general. We must lift the burden of taxation from the shoulders of our most vulnerable neighbors and there are other pledges to honor other heights to climb together. I look forward to our very next meeting when we will gather to begin this important work not as factions divided by yesterday’s campaign but as neighbors united in tomorrow’s purpose.

As we look ahead, I’m more committed than ever to fulfilling the promise I made to the residents of Coral Gables to lead with integrity, listen with empathy and act with purpose. The challenges we face are real but so are the opportunities from protecting our neighborhoods from overdevelopment to advancing infrastructure and public safety investments to ensuring fiscal responsibility and transparent governance. We have important work ahead and I’m energized by the trust placed in me and ready to get back to work on day one.

I will continue to prioritize open communication with our residents whether through my town halls my 12 years of open office hours every single Friday commencing at 2 o’clock and ending sometimes at 7 or 8 o’clock at night or through direct conversations throughout our community, I remain accessible and accountable please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if I can be of any assistance you can reach me at 305-303-0115.

The voice of the people will continue to guide my decisions as we tackle the issues that matter most like improving your quality of life, ensuring responsible growth and preserving the unique character of the City Beautiful.

So, we go forward today as a community not divided by political gamesmanship but united by a shared commitment to progress. I extend my hand to all my colleagues on the city commission and invite them to join me in truly and faithfully putting residents first.

I want to make I want to take a minute to thank some of the most dedicated supporters I’ve ever had the honor to work with. I want to thank, I want to recognize Alicia Ruben, Alex, Jeffrey, Gregory, my brother Carlos – you are a rock, my brother-in-law Victor – thank you for always listening, (former commission candidate) Sean McGregor, Yasmin, Juan, Gonzalo, Claudia Miro, Alexandria, (the late Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce President) Mark Trowbridge – a man who I miss every day. Oscar Arellano, Frankle and Aldo, Nick, George, Jesse, Ryan, Tony, Brian. I also want to thank Manny Kadre – thank you for your guidance. I want to thank Manny Alonso and Eddie Moya – thank you my brothers. I want to thank Henry Torres – thank you for always answering the phone, the Bucello family, committed to the Gables is an understatement. George Ortiz, thank you. My brothers at BDI (Lago’s construction company) thank you for giving me the longitude, the leeway the time to serve this community we’re going on close to 20 years together it’s been the ride of a lifetime. Alex Purus, thank you my brother, Rudy Fernandez, (former Coral Gables City Manager) Peter Iglesias. A man. Please, please stand to be recognized Peter. Please stand to be recognized please. You embody everything that is right with government; you are the human spirit. You and I have disagreed prior to ever being in the City of Coral Gables. As a private sector businessman, I disagreed with you on many occasions at the City of Miami but you were always right because you did things humbly and you did things for the right reasons. I am honored to be by your side.

Let’s focus on what brings us together – a love for the city and a desire to make it even better for generations to come. I want to thank you for your trust and support; it is the honor of a lifetime to serve as your mayor. And I think things happen for a reason. So, this morning for those of you that sometimes attend mass in person some of you that don’t you could watch EWTN (cable television network which presents Catholic programming) and they offer televised masses. So, in today’s 8:00 mass the responsorial psalm is from Psalm 118. “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This verse, specifically Psalm 118:24, is also used as a hallelujah response. It has had a lot of meaning in the last two years.

In closing I do not believe in coincidences but in purpose, purposeful moments and I believe this is God telling us that the next couple of years in the city will be protected and guided by God and will be fruitful for the City Beautiful and its residents. God bless you. May God bless this beautiful city and may God bless America. Thank you very much.