By Nathan Prewett
For the Tribune
BIRMINGHAM – Following the elections of Randall Woodfin as the new mayor of Birmingham and three new councilors, the city council met today for its regular session at City Hall. During the meeting, the terms for the new mayor and council members was briefly discussed.
Several items on the agenda were delayed for one week, including a resolution “encouraging the public to attend the swearing in of the 2017-2021 Members of the Birmingham City Council, said event to take place on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 at 9:30 a.m. in the City Council Chambers.”
Council President Johnathan Austin, who was defeated by O’Quinn in the election, asked if it was correct that Mayor William Bell was not going to leave office until the fourth Tuesday of November, citing an informal opinion that the attorney general’s office gave in regard to when the new mayor would begin his term.
Chief of Operations Jarvis Patton said that the mayor’s term officially ends at midnight on the fourth Monday of November, which will be the 27th next month. Austin asked why the resolution mentioned the council being sworn in but not the mayor when they were both sworn in at the same time in 2013.
Patton said that while they were both sworn in together in 2013, the incoming mayor can be sworn in at anytime as they don’t assume office until the fourth Tuesday of November and that Bell was already mayor then. Austin cited the Mayor-Council Act.
“When people voted for the council and the mayor, they voted with the expectation that they’ll all be sworn in at the same time,” Austin said. “And that’s what we did. We, all of us, ran and that’s what took place.”
He said that the Mayor-Council Act did not intend for the mayor to be sworn in a month after the council and that the act says that the mayor is to be sworn in on or before the fourth Tuesday of November.
Patton referring to the legal opinion of Assistant City Attorney Tracy Roberts, said that being sworn into an office is a misnomer in regards to elections. He said that taking the oath of office is “a requirement before you assume the duties of office but it does not put you in that office.” According to Roberts, there is no requirement for taking the oath immediately, rather they would have to take it between the election results and when the term begins.
He then referred to the Mayor-Council Act of 1955 which stated that the mayor and council would take office at the same time on the second Tuesday of November. But in 1985, the act was changed so that the mayor and council would be sworn in on the fourth Tuesday of November. And in 2012, the act was changed again and stated that the council would be sworn in during the month of October, but did not change the date of the mayor taking office.
Later in the meeting, Councilor Marcus Lundy said that there will be a meeting on Saturday on the transition of the District 9 seat at the Salvation Army building in Birmingham from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Lundy did not seek re-election and his seat was won by John Hillard who ran against Roderick Royal.
The next regularly scheduled Birmingham City Council meeting will take place at the third floor of City Hall at 9:30 a.m.