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Start time for the special City Council meeting Monday neared, and traffic through the Council Chambers at City Hall did not slow down. Shortly after 6 p.m., a security guard had to stop letting people in. The chambers reached its capacity even before the meeting began.
Eager Austinites wanting to see the swearing-in of new council members piled into City Hall and took a place anywhere they could find, just to watch the event on television. People crowded in the atrium and lined up along the stairways and the second floor to get a peek.
Jennifer Kim and Lee Leffingwell, the two new council members, and incumbent Betty Dunkerley were sworn in last night, taking the oath of office and then their seats on the dais.
The first order of business for the night was to elect a new mayor pro tem since Jackie Goodman's spot was filled by Kim. In about 30 seconds the council voted unanimously to elect Place 6 Councilman Danny Thomas to the position, with a motion to elect by Dunkerley and a second by Mayor Will Wynn.
As the audience inside the chambers applauded for Thomas, so did the growing crowd that filled the lobby, watching his election on televisions built into the walls of City Hall.
Leffingwell, Kim and Dunkerley each had time at the podium to speak about being elected to their places.
Leffingwell thanked his campaign staff and the voters.
"I will work hard to use my best judgement to solve community problems," he said. "I ran because as a native of Austin, I've watched this city grow, and we have always made better decisions for the community when everyone in the community is involved."
He closed by dedicating his service in the city to his late wife, who passed away while he was campaigning, because "she would have never wanted me to abandon my efforts," he said.
When Kim stepped up to address the audience, she thanked her family and the Asian community in the city. She said she is looking forward to the challenges ahead and helping the city.
"I think Austin's best days are yet to come," Kim said. "I chose Austin as a home, not for what it is, but for what it can be."
As the youngest council member, Kim was applauded by the audiences both inside and outside the chambers when she said she plans to exploit all the advantages of her youth.
Dunkerley, who is beginning her second term, said that when she took her first oath of office, she did not realize that she had a lot to learn and thinks she did a good job of learning.
"I am standing here today better prepared to serve," she said.
She said she has much more experience than she had three years ago and now thinks Austin's future can be defined as an infrastructure that encompasses the city, the environment and financial and social aspects.
"Look what a great council we have to get things done," Dunkerley said.
Each of the three members described Austin as "diverse," as did Wynn when he closed the meeting.
The crowd filed out of the chambers to fill the atrium where refreshments and old friends greeted them. Dunkerley did an almost red-carpet-walk out of the chambers with a bouquet of roses in her arms and people waiting to shake her hand.
Leffingwell and Kim did not even make it outside the doors of the chambers before citizens were lined up to meet them both and thank them for their hard work.
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