By Dawn Krebs
dkrebs@hometownnewsol.com
PORT ST. LUCIE -- In a special meeting held the evening of Nov. 19, the newly elected Port St. Lucie City Council members took their oaths of office and new appointments were made.
Michelle Berger, who retained her seat on the council, was sworn in first with her family standing with her.
"What an election cycle this was, for me anyway," said Councilwoman Berger afterward.
"It was not always positive throughout the whole election campaign, and I think it's a good time to say that the people of Port St. Lucie are not going to tolerate that anymore. I think what you'll see in the future is it'll start to clean up a little bit because I think this result that came out should really show that it's just not OK."
Then councilman-elect Ron Bowen stepped up to the podium with his wife.
After he took his oath, he was pinned with both the old pin and new pin representing the city of Port St. Lucie by both current Mayor JoAnn Faiella and previous Mayor Bob Minsky. He then took the seat vacated by Councilman Jack Kelly.
"I'm proud to be back on the city council," he said. "I'm looking forward to ambitious things and I'm happy to be part of the team."
He commended some recent decisions the council has made, saying, "It shows the council is doing things for the present and I look forward to future meetings."
After a quick break, the city council then announced the new appointments.
The council voted unanimously to reappoint Councilwoman Linda Bartz to the position of vice mayor.
"I would be honored if you would accept the position again," Mayor Faiella said.
The next task was to select the mayor pro tem, which is a position created for a person to act and perform the duties of the mayor and vice mayor in their absence. The position had previously been held by Councilman Kelly. Mayor Faiella selected Councilwoman Shannon Martin for the position.
The council then went down the list of the various boards and committees that individual city council members sit on and reaffirmed appointments to those boards.
The last item for the special meeting was a discussion on council rules, and two things were brought up for change.
The first was to add the city manager's comments to the agenda and the second was to move the public to be heard portion of the meeting after the proclamations and presentations portion of the meeting.
The items will be written as resolutions and brought back before the council for a vote.