This is the first time so many city officials were sworn in at once. Among them are two new council members who will fill seats that were created because of how much Houston's population grew in the 2010 census.
Mayor Parker was sworn in again after winning her re-election bid. But the city council she will oversee will look vastly different after two incumbents lost re-election bids, two others were replaced because of term limits and there are some new positions on city council as well.
"Employees have been furloughed. More than 750 were laid off," said Mayor Parker shortly after being sworn in. "We're doing more with less, but we are Houston and we will come back and there is a bigger and brighter future ahead, always."
Jack Christie beat out incumbent Jolanda Jones and Helena Brown defeated incumbent Brenda Stardig. District B gets a new councilman, Jerry Davis, and at-large Position 2 will see Andrew Burks sworn in. Those two have never held an elected office before.
Davis took his oath of office this morning after replacing a term-limited Jarvis Johnson. In all, there are seven new faces on city council.
The ceremony is usually held on January 2, but because it was a city holiday and in an effort to save money, the inauguration was moved to today.
The inauguration ceremony was held at the Hobby Center.
