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Commissioner Ruth: "Apopka was always my first choice"

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Commissioner Sam Ruth closed out his brief tenure on the City Commission Wednesday night with an upbeat speech that spoke of pride, privilege and a love for Apopka.

Here is a transcript of his speech: Commissioner Sam Ruth in his own words...

Commissioner Sam Ruth in his own words... Commissioner Sam Ruth in his own words...

"Outside of my wife and my family, this is probably the greatest thing that I have ever accomplished.

Working here at the City I’ve had the privilege of washing the windows in this building. Now outside of doing that I do want to say that every time I sat in this seat it was a privilege. But it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to you (the people).

And I never once sat here with an agenda of my own. I never used the seat as a weapon against anyone. Every time I sat in this seat, and I had the privilege to sit here 48 times on council, I took pride in it. And to dispel the rumors, no one ever told me how to vote.

I’ve often looked out, and many of the people in this room are people I have called about agenda items. There is no book on how to be a commissioner. Sitting in this seat is the loneliest place in Apopka.

The four years I ran unsuccessfully for City Commissioner I knew everything. It was only after I was elected that I found out I didn’t know nothing.

I am one of Apopka’s biggest champions and I always will be. I will never be a part of trying to destroy this; I don’t care who sits in these seats. I will champion anyone who wants to move Apopka in a direction I favor. Because if they love Apopka the way I love Apopka, it can’t be anything but good.

I sat in this seat color blind. I told you many times…coaching on the field and not one time when a kid scored a touchdown did I ask his color, his name, his family…none of that ever crossed my mind. Sitting in the dugout at the high school field. You know it humbled me…for 26 years I was very blessed to work with some of the greatest coaches around. The coach that I had the privilege of ending my career with had over 750 wins. In 26 years that’s a lot of wins. But it was the losses that shaped me. It was the losses that I got the most out of. It humbled me. But I will tell you this… I wasn’t always the people’s first choice, but Apopka was always my first choice."

You can listen to Commissioner Ruth's statement by using this link.

 

 

 

Commissioner Sam Ruth

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