ATLANTA (CBS46/WTXL) - With a busy agenda already planned, Keisha Lance Bottoms was sworn in Tuesday as the 60th mayor of Atlanta.
Bottoms won a special run-off election in December over Mary Norwood by 821 votes. Norwood requested the recount, citing discrepancies that her team found in absentee ballots and addresses.
Bottoms will have many prominent Atlanta leaders working with her to restore the city's faith in local government. She also says she wants to unify the city and wants to hold town hall meetings to hear from constituents firsthand.
"It's something I've done as a city council members for many years, to do a revamping of it and seeing that," said Bottoms. "I'm doing it more often and having meaningful dialogue and getting feedback from our community because there's a danger when you get filtered information."
Bottoms also says she plans to focus on improving education, making the city safer and improving public transit.
"I think she has the ability for transparency being her own mayor and I think that's going to make the difference where we can really get behind her as a full community that will start the healing process in this city and among families," said Reverend Gerald Durley.
Bottoms is hard at work putting together a transition team. She says her job is easier because she's spent more than eight years working in City Hall on a regular basis. Among her priorities for the city are building up the police force.
"We know that we are around 1,800 officers and we really need to get to 2,500 at some point ," said Lance Bottoms in early December. "I've been speaking with the police foundation about as it relates to how we police in our communities. Personnel is a part of it but technology is a huge part of it as well."
Bottoms began the day speaking at the Inaugural Interfaith Worship Service at Impact Church on Sylvan Road in Atlanta at 8 a.m. She then took the oath of office during a ceremony that started at 1 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College.
Newly-elected Atlanta City Council President Felecia Moore was also sworn in Tuesday as well.
Bottoms is a mother of four and is the daughter of late American R&B singer and British "Northern soul" icon Major Lance and Sylvia Robinson.
She has served as member of Atlanta's city council since 2010.
Bottoms is a graduate of Florida A&M University, Magna Cum Laude, and Georgia State University College of Law.
She is also member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, the Dogwood City Chapter of The Links, Inc. and the Atlanta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
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