Tulsa City Officials Take Oath Of Office Monday Afternoon

Some City of Tulsa officials will be sworn into office in a formal ceremony Monday afternoon.

Monday, December 1st 2014, 10:32 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa City Officials Take Oath Of Office Monday Afternoon

The city of Tulsa has a new city council. They took the oath of office and had a brief first meeting Monday.

Several councilors mentioned river development, public safety and encouraging small business as priorities.

The new crop of city councilors has seven veterans and two who are newly elected.

In their inauguration Monday, the new council was challenged by author Michael Wallis to be as bold as Tulsans were during the oil bust.

"And instead of turning tail or wringing their hands, Tulsans worked hard to diversify the economy," Wallis said.

Tulsa Mayor, Dewey Bartlett watched, but midway through his term, didn't need to take the oath.

The nine councilors will each serve two year terms.

While most of the councilors have at least one term behind them, two - Anna America and Connie Dodson - are serving for the first time.

“We keep talking about losing revenue from sales tax and one of the key things we can do is support those businesses so they can generate the sales tax that runs this city,” councilor Anna America said.

Dodson said she would continue her predecessors work on business development.

“The east Tulsa outlet malls, we need that in our area to help encourage both business and residential, that's on the front burner of course,” she said.

Several councilors said they want to do more on public safety - long a priority for outgoing chair Karen Gilbert.

“Where are we now with public safety? Where should we be, and what's it going to look like in the future,” she said.

The new chair of the council is returning councilor Phil Lakin.

The following officials took the oath of office: