money Iowa City Council selects Bruce Teague as mayor, Megan Alter as mayor pro tem
The Iowa City Council on Tuesday unanimously chose Bruce Teague as mayor and Megan Alter as mayor pro tem for the next four years.
The two were sworn in Tuesday morning during an organizational meeting. The council also spent the meeting assigning seats on city and regional boards and commissions to each councilor.
"This is actually a great honor. I don't take it for granted," Teague said.
Teague won reelection to his at-large seat on the City Council in November. This will be his second term as mayor after being chosen by the council for the position in 2020.
"I am new to the role. New to council, but not new to the work," Alter said.
In Iowa City, the mayor is chosen by the City Council, unlike in many other cities where citizens directly elect mayors. Teague was first elected to the council during a special election in 2018.
Teague is the first openly gay Black mayor of Iowa City and is the owner of Caring Hands and More Home, an organization of home care professionals that provide health care services, partner care, pet care and more.
Teague said when he started in 2018 he didn't know what the role of mayor entailed, but thanked current and past city councilors for helping him along the way.
"As we move forward in the next two years, I realize that there is a lot of learning to be continued in this role as the leader of the city," he said.
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Tuesday morning was also Harmsen and Alter's first meeting of City Council after being sworn in at City Hall in December. The two took over the seats of Susan Mims and Mazahir Salih, both of whom did not seek re-election.
Alter said she hopes to continue building relationships with staff and the community. She said she thinks there will be a learning curve for her, but she will bring her best to the job by doing the work and being open and communicative.
The two join the seven-member council as it is in the midst of approving the city's budget. Later in the day on Tuesday, the City Council is set to discuss bringing back hybrid meetings using the Zoom teleconferencing platform and the rules around public comment.
Alter said she is appreciative of what the council did over the last two years as it faced difficult circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for social justice reforms, but is looking forward to what the new council can accomplish.
Teague and Alter were the only councilors nominated for the positions. Teague was nominated by Councilor Laura Bergus and Alter was nominated by Harmsen.
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George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at GShillcock@press-citizen.com and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Council chooses Teague as mayor, Alter as mayor pro tem
