Roberta Cocco's favorite coffee shop in St. Johns, the city she's lived in for the past four years, is Global Coffee Company.
"I like to sit in the other corner, though," she said Wednesday morning, coffee in hand. "It just gives you a view of the whole town."
A town of which, as of Monday evening, Cocco is now mayor.
"The city has so much potential," Cocco said. "There's so many valuable resources here—such strong leaders in the businesses in the area."
Cocco hopes that while she's in office she and Vice Mayor Scott Dzurka can help the city reach its maximum potential, starting with community and unity.
"One of the things that I think I've noticed, not only in the City of St. Johns, but in a lot of places, right, when you have various businesses and organizations, there can be different visions, and it can feel very fragmented," Cocco said. "Being able to find a way to unite everyone's vision together to have that common purpose and to be able to celebrate each other when we win."
She said her first steps are building relationships within the community to learn what matters most to residents and "doing her homework."
"It is really important to me that the city understand that I take this responsibility seriously," Cocco said. "This is a big deal."
This Friday, Dec. 2, Cocco will be downtown for the city's Festival of Lights and Saint Nick's Parade...riding a train! Then, she'll light the Christmas tree and announce the second annual St. Johns Honorary Saint of the Year, Jason Denovich.
When this story originally aired on TV, I had said that Roberta Cocco would be mayor for the next four years. She will be on the city commission for the next four years, but her term limit as mayor is not confirmed to be four years. The story has been updated to reflect this.
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