Nelson residents filled the audience at the Prestige Lakeside Resort on Monday night for the inaugural council meeting.
Mayor John Dooley and the six city councillors were all sworn in by Judge Lisa Mrozinski.
In addition to awards given out for long service to the city, police and fire departments, Dooley gave an inaugural address.
“Many of you have come for various reasons tonight,” he said to the crowd. “But when I look through this crowd I see people that give to our community on a regular basis and I know that each and every one of you play an important role in making Nelson the place that it is to live.”
Dooley now sits at council with his two male colleagues, and he joked that a committee at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is working towards a goal of 30 per cent female representation in municipal politics.
“Councillor Cherbo, Adams and myself are working our backsides off just to get 30 per cent male representation,” said Dooley with a laugh.
He reflected on the time he sat on an all male council.
“That was interesting,” Dooley said. “We did get good things done but having said that there wasn’t a lot of discussion.”
The state of global economy and politics was referred to in Dooley’s address which came right to the front lawn of City Hall over the last two months with the Occupy Nelson camp.
“I’m sure you’d agree today, the world is in a bit of a term of flux,” he said. “We actually dealt with it on our own front lawn when people came to express their desires for a shift in direction. While the message may have been depleted over a period of time, the reality is the message that they brought forward to us in the first place was a message that I believe we all need to listen to.”
Dooley said the message of the Occupy movement parallels with the work that the city has been doing through many of it’s policies like the Path to 2040 and it’s Downtown and Waterfront Plan.
His address centred around the importance of partnerships in the work that council does for the city.
“The partnerships and relationships that we’ve been able to establish have been a team effort and they start with our employee group, our management staff and our council,” said Dooley.
“They allow us to go into the world and meet with people of influence who are able to move our community forward.”
Dooley referred to his visit to the Irish Embassy in Ottawa last year while he was in town for a Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting.
He also spoke of how his role on the Federation has allowed him to tap into a great wealth of knowledge from mayors across the country.
Dooley ended his address by saying over the next three years he intends to build on a legacy that has made Nelson one of the best places to live.