City Clerk Soulinnee Phan leads Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird in the oath of office, Monday in the City Council Chambers at the County-City Building.
JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star
City Council members, from left, James Michael Bowers, Tom Duden, Justin Carlson and Brodey Weber are sworn in Monday in the City Council Chambers at the County-City Building.
It was standing room only Monday in the City Council chambers as Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, three new council members and one incumbent took the oath of office, beginning the newest chapter in city government.
Gaylor Baird, who won a second term in a hotly contested race against former state Sen. Suzanne Geist, will likely continue the priorities from her first term, including public safety, road improvements and implementing both affordable housing and climate plans passed during her first four years.
And Gaylor Baird, a Democrat, will continue to have a 6-1 Democrat majority on the council.Â
Three new district council members – Justin Carlson, Brodey Weber and Tom Duden – were sworn in, as was incumbent James Michael Bowers.
Although city races are officially nonpartisan, parties recruit and support candidates for office, and the election did not change the partisan makeup of the council.
Duden, a former police officer, remains the only Republican – and he thanked county party leaders Fanchon Blythe and Mary Hilton, who were at the swearing-in Monday. Like Geist, he was a vocal critic of the police department's leadership and current staffing levels.Â
Duden replaces Republican Richard Meginnis to represent southeast Lincoln’s District 2.Â
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The election did change the gender balance of the council.
With departing members Jane Raybould (and her interim replacement Michelle Suarez) and Tammy Ward, Sandra Washington remains the only woman on the council.
Voters elected Carlson to replace Raybould, who was elected to the Legislature. The council chose Suarez to replace her in the interim. Carlson, a development director at the University of Nebraska Foundation, has also been involved in Democratic politics and served on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.Â
The newest council also includes one of the youngest -- if not the youngest -- person ever to serve.
Twenty-five-year-old Weber replaces Ward as northwest Lincoln's representative. A UNL graduate and lifelong resident of northwest Lincoln, Weber is vice president of client relations at Mid America Casing Supply.
Bowers, a Democrat, won a second term to represent northeast Lincoln’s District 1 in a tight race with Taylor Wyatt, the Republican who ran against him four years ago.
After the swearing in, the new council elected at-large members Tom Beckius as chairman and Washington as vice-chairwoman.
City Clerk Soulinnee Phan leads Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird in the oath of office, Monday in the City Council Chambers at the County-City Building.
City Council members, from left, James Michael Bowers, Tom Duden, Justin Carlson and Brodey Weber are sworn in Monday in the City Council Chambers at the County-City Building.