Mayor Patterson used the council's organizational meeting to summarize infrastructure accomplishments and ongoing priorities, saying the city has received ‘‘over $115,000,000 of federal and state funding for infrastructure projects’’ since 2016 and that much of those funds supported bridge projects with long design lives.

The mayor said the city has repaired nearly every bridge for which it is responsible since 2015 and that many projects are 50‑year investments. He discussed constraints on winter road repairs—temporary cold-mix or crushed limestone must sometimes be used while asphalt plants are closed—and urged patience while larger coordinated replacements and repavings are staged.

On the issue of repeated water-line breaks in North Hill/Columbia Road neighborhoods, the mayor said engineering staff are evaluating causes, including aging pipe and possible pump pressure issues (‘hammers’). He said staff are researching soft-start pump systems and larger corridor projects that could replace lines and repave streets together to avoid repeated patchwork repairs.

The mayor also introduced Becca Lachman as the city’s newly appointed poet laureate (2026–2028), noting the cultural recognition alongside the infrastructure work.

The mayor’s presentation framed infrastructure as long-term work that combines grant-seeking, engineering fixes and scheduled capital projects; specific project timelines and funding sources for future work were not finalized during the meeting.