Before beginning her acceptance speech, Enander asked for a moment of silence in recognition of the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. She also recognized 70-year resident Irwin Martin, who died Dec. 5 and was one of the longest-serving members of local American Legion Post 558.
Pointing to the example of the late U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, Enander encouraged council members and residents to “stand above politics to celebrate compromise and view those with whom we disagree as who they are – our neighbors, not our enemies.”
She urged the council to be “selfless” in service to the city’s residents and gave thanks to city staff for their work.
“When I ran for office, I advocated for no grand projects,” Enander said. “It seemed to me that representing the interests of residents and helping our city run better was job one. … This will be a very challenging year. We will confront some rather inconvenient truths about our pension liabilities and infrastructure. What I can promise you is transparency, even if the truth is not pretty. I will listen to all viewpoints. I will encourage my colleagues to work together for the community and strive to lead by example. There’s a lot to be done, but you have before you a city council that can make it happen, a staff and leadership that can make it happen if we all work together – including the residents.”
2021 accomplishments
Fligor, the first Black Los Altos councilwoman elected to office, also noted she was the first mayor to lead an entire year of council meetings virtually. Meetings remain remote due to ongoing COVID induced restrictions.
In her outgoing remarks, Fligor offered a quote on facing challenges: “If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it. As a council, we did a lot of that this year. … As a result, we able to accomplish some wonderful things for our community.”
