Good-evening, I am Hercules Council Member Myrna de Vera. Congratulations to my fellow council member, John Delgado.

Thank you, people of Hercules.

The election result, which overwhelmingly voted for John Delgado and me, was a message that enough is enough. It is time for change.

Last week, after the brazen decision to fire Charlie Long and to reinstate Nelson Oliva, the citizens of Hercules have been going through a gamut of emotions: outrage, betrayal, despair, even depression. I feel for you and I feel with you.

Tonight, we are celebrating that your message of change is coming to fruition. But we are also grieving. We are facing the painful realization that Hercules is not well. We are in shock, as when a doctor delivers the news that we are suffering from a serious illness. A cancer has been growing in city hall, the cancer that may be caused by incompetent decisions, fiscal irresponsibility, greed and arrogance, and apathy.

The symptoms of our city's illness have all been there — we've been avidly reading newspaper articles, the grand jury investigation and its findings about improprieties in the affordable housing program, the discussions swirling around town in blogs. All these symptoms have been largely ignored and denied by the outgoing council.

A wise man I had the pleasure of recently meeting told me there are three stages to solving a problem:

1. acceptance that there is a problem

2. finding solutions to the problem

3. solving the problem

We are on this first step, accepting that we have a problem.

My priority is to regain your trust in our city government. I believe that one important step to regaining trust is to seek the truth. It is interesting that the spelling of the words TRUTH and TRUST have only one letter differentiating them. With an open mind, we must seek the truth about our financial condition and the truth of the allegations of misconduct in city hall. Not knowing the truth has brought our city into the brink of panic.

Hopefully, tonight, the new city council will take the urgent first step of giving direction to staff to hire an outside consultant to diagnose and offer treatment recommendations regarding our financial illness. The findings from the consultant should be shared to you as soon as possible, preferably January, so you can help brainstorm and offer solutions in town hall meetings and through a citizen's advisory board. Then, we can all own the solution to our fiscal challenges.

The new city council should seriously consider the will of the people to change the major players, the city manager as well as the city attorney. I have requested that a closed session meeting be held to reconsider the reversal or amendment of last week's council decision to fire Charlie Long and to reinstate Nelson Oliva.

The Waterfront remains my top priority among our city projects. I will push to have progress reports on these projects at every council meeting. Yet, we cannot leave the Sycamore Downtown to remain unfinished.

We will also be voting for our new Mayor and Vice-Mayor. Tradition dictates that the highest vote-getter two years ago will be appointed Mayor tonight, and the Vice-Mayor is the one who received the second highest votes. That would be Ed Balico as Mayor and Joanne Ward as Vice-mayor. Some residents have urged me to go against tradition in light of our crisis. I admit I have been struggling on whether to follow tradition or to vote my conscience.

We are traveling on a journey, citizens of Hercules, and the terrain ahead looks steep and rough. How do we survive this tumultuous journey? I've shared this metaphor before in my speech to the Chamber of Commerce. We are on the driver's seat driving a car with four wheels that must be balanced. The first wheel represents your family, who you love and who love you. The second wheel is the wheel of our job or business. During these tough economic times, we have to work hard to earn money so we can responsibly pay our bills. The third wheel represents our community. This is a time when we all need to support each other; do not let this crisis tear our city apart. The fourth wheel represents faith, faith that there is a power greater than you. Faith will be your guiding light during these dark times. Balance these four wheels in your life during our journey to recovery, the wheel of family, of your job, of community, and the wheel of faith. Also, don't forget to take care of the driver, you and your health.

What is our destination? We are driving towards achieving our vision of the City of Hercules, free of corruption and fiscally sound, a city with a transparent council, responsive to the will of the people. Together, we are heading to the vision of a Hercules as a destination with a Waterfront, New Town Center, Sycamore Downtown, and Hilltown. A Hercules that once again shines, a city we can be once again proud of.

This I promise: I will fight for you, citizens of Hercules, even if, sadly, it means losing some of my friendships with people who I care deeply. I will not be beholden to one or two individuals. My loyalty is to you, the people of Hercules. I will vote on issues with my conscience and with an open mind. I will work with the rest of the council members, the city staff, and consultants to do what is best for our community.

3,453 of you voted for me during this election, but I am here to represent all 25,000 residents. Thank you again, citizens of Hercules. It is an honor and a privilege to be your humble public servant.