The City of Colwood held its inaugural council meeting Monday night and welcomed a new mayor, Rob Martin.
The committee room at Colwood City Hall was standing room only as community members stayed to watch the new mayor and council get sworn in.
Martin beat incumbent Carol Hamilton with about 57 per cent of the vote during the municipal election.
READ MORE: Rob Martin is the new mayor of Colwood
Hamilton performed her last duty as mayor and called Monday night’s meeting to order.
The Dunsmuir Middle School Choir opened the ceremony with the singing of O Canada.
Martin was the first to be sworn in, followed by Councillors Doug Kobayashi, Dean Jantzen, Cynthia Day, Michael Baxter, Gordie Logan and Stewart Parkinson.
Martin served on Colwood Council for the past seven years and was also recently re-elected as Board Chair of the Greater Victoria Public Library, according to his website.
Martin’s mayoral platform focused on economic development, the city’s natural environment, transportation and community.
READ MORE: Creating jobs in Colwood motivates Martin
“One of the things I did focus on during the campaign was that 93 per cent of our tax base is residential right now and that we just can’t afford that long term,” Martin said shortly after he was elected on Oct. 20. “We have to begin to build out some of our commercial zone. That’s what I’m going to be focusing on.”
Past members of council — Carol Hamilton, Lilja Chong, Jason Nault and Terry Trace — and their contributions were also to be recognized later in the meeting.
The meeting ended with a report from the Chief Election Officer that detailed official election results.
After the meeting was adjourned, community members were offered refreshments, cake and a chance to meet their new council.
With files from Keili Bartlett.
shalu.mehta@goldstreamgazette.com
