The six victors in this month's Colorado Springs city council elections were sworn in Tuesday morning on the lawn of the Pioneers Museum.
Four new people will join the nine-person body. The council’s three at-large seats will be on a future ballot.
The inaugurations come as the city grapples with controversial issues related to the city's growth, including a divisive land annexation that will go to a special election.
Nancy Henjum, who was re-elected to the central 5th District, recognized the moment in her remarks.
"As a city, we are smack dab in the middle of grappling with the inherent tensions that come with growth in the arid west, pressured river basins, energy resources that must be both affordable and sustainable," she said.
"We are best served by approaching those tensions with a mindset that is both and that doesn't lift up one value to the exclusion of the other," Henjum said.
Councilors Dave Donelson and Henjum were re-elected to their seats. Tom Bailey, Brandy Williams, Kimberly Gold and Roland Rainey are joining them on the dais. Williams was previously elected to council to an at-large seat in 2011.
Gold was elected to represent the city's 4th District on the southeast side of the city. It's the seat vacated by Yolanda Avila, who could not run again due to term limits. Gold thanked Avila in her remarks and what she called "her village."
"Without a village, I wouldn't be here. And as somebody who is not native to Colorado Springs, where Colorado Springs is home, it is mentorship, sponsorship and community that brings us together and brings people to podiums like this and to any position of success in Colorado Springs," she said. "Community is what changes everything for us and community is heart work. Not only is it hard work, but it is heart work."
Official election results show 23.57 percent of registered voters in Colorado Springs cast ballots. The last time all six seats were on the ballot in 2011, turnout was slightly higher at 26.87 percent.
