Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and all 13 City Council members were sworn in Monday morning, marking the beginning of the first term under a new political system.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, new City Council are sworn in
The council will meet next week to choose a president and vice president.
January 3, 2022 at 11:16PM
A formal ceremony, which will feature the mayor's inaugural address, will take place next week.
On Monday morning, the newest crop of elected leaders gathered in City Hall with family and close friends to take their oaths of office and assume their duties.
Frey begins his second term with more power that any other mayor in recent memory. Voters in November approved a change that designated him as the "chief executive" for most city departments and prohibited council members from interfering with those powers.
For the first time in Minneapolis history, a majority of the council members are people of color. The City Council includes six incumbent members and seven newcomers. Returning to office are: Jeremiah Ellison, Jamal Osman, Lisa Goodman, Andrea Jenkins, Andrew Johnson and Linea Palmisano. Beginning their first terms are: Elliott Payne, Robin Wonsley Worlobah, Michael Rainville, LaTrisha Vetaw, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai and Emily Koski.
Frey will serve a four-year term. The council members will serve two-year terms and will come up for election again in 2023. That change, approved by voters in 2020, was designed to help the city comply with a state law aimed at ensuring that council members represent wards that reflect changing census demographics; those ward lines are currently being redrawn.
The city will hold an inaugural ceremony in the Convention Center at 9 a.m. Jan. 10. "Due to COVID protocols," the city said that attendance will only be open to city officials and their guests. The ceremony will be livestreamed on the city's YouTube channel. After the ceremony, the city council will meet to elect its next president and vice president and to settle on committee assignments for the new term. Jenkins is widely favored to become the next council president.
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