Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and new Atlanta City Council President Marci Collier Overstreet were sworn into office with 15 council members and 10 municipal judges at the Georgia State University Convocation Center on Monday afternoon.
The jubilant inaugural ceremony, which featured an a cappella performance by the Community ATL Choir, marked the first day in elected office for three new city council members: Kelsea Bond for District 2, Wayne Martin for District 11, and Thomas Worthy for District 7. The remaining 12 council members returned to office as incumbents.
The mayor was handily reelected to a second term with 86% of the vote, facing no serious challengers. In his inaugural address he touted his first-term accomplishments tackling housing affordability, homelessness and crime, and pushed his controversial Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative as “the defining work of this next term” to address ongoing poverty and inequality amid a cost of living crisis.
“How can we be satisfied when too many of our neighbors still sleep on our streets? How could we be satisfied when poverty and inequality continues to divide our city? How can we be satisfied when too many families live check to check,” Dickens said.
The mayor wants to extend the life of the city’s eight Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) from 2030 to 2055, which he says would raise $5.5 billion to spend on public-private development of infrastructure and housing in the TAD areas in South and West Atlanta. The TAD funding comes from property tax revenue that’s diverted from Atlanta Public Schools, Fulton County, and the city of Atlanta.
Dickens tried to push the TAD extensions through city council in December, but the council punted debate on the issue to this year, when the three new council members were installed, after significant community pushback led by newly minted District 2 councilmember Kelsea Bond, a Democratic Socialist.
For his first-term accomplishments, Dickens highlighted the construction of 500 rapid rehousing units for unhoused people and nearly 13,000 affordable housing units either completed or in the works. “With the help of the Atlanta City Council, we have invested in people and neighborhoods at a historic scale,” he said.
That said, the Atlanta Regional Commission reported the loss of over 232,000 low- to moderately priced housing units between 2018 and 2023 in metro Atlanta.
The mayor also pointed to the drop in Atlanta’s homicide rate to under 100 deaths in 2025, Atlanta’s solid AAA credit rating, thwarting the secession of Buckhead, creating the city’s first municipal grocery store, establishing a Department of Labor, and raising the minimum wage for city employees to $17.50 per hour.
A more accessible city government?
Overstreet, who was sworn in as the council’s new president after serving as the District 11 council member, pledged in her inaugural address to hold town halls throughout the year and across the city.
“When I campaigned across Atlanta last year, citizens were telling me: I work nine to five, I can’t attend meetings in the middle of a workday on a Monday,” Overstreet said. City council meetings typically take place at 1 p.m. every other Monday.
“I want you to know that I heard you,” Overstreet said, in an apparent nod to criticism from her opponent, Rohit Malhotra, and other progressives that City Hall is inaccessible and not responsive to constituents. Atlanta Civic Circle last year found that public engagement in the city’s budget process amounted to one email and one in-person public comment at a city council meeting.
“City Hall will come to you because your voices matter, your time matters and the perspectives of each of you, they matter,” Overstreet said. ”As your next council president, I will lead with one question in mind: Will my decisions benefit Atlanta’s residents?”
Committee appointments
After the inaugural pomp and circumstance, the newly sworn-in council met at City Hall to learn the all-important appointments from Overstreet to city council committees. As city council president, Overstreet selects the leader and members of each committee, which have the most say in crafting and advancing legislation that makes it before a full council vote.
Overstreet also named District 10 Councilmember Andrea Boone as president pro-tem for 2026, meaning Boone will preside over council meetings in her absence.
Here is a rundown of the committee appointments:
Finance/Executive Committee (FEC)
- Jason Winston (District 1), Chair
- Byron Amos (District 3)
- Dustin Hillis (District 9)
- Mary Norwood (District 8)
- Wayne Martin (District 11)
- Matt Westmoreland (Post 2, At-Large)
- Alex Wan (District 6)
Transportation
- Alex Wan (District 6), Chair
- Byron Amos (District 3)
- Andrea Boone (District 10)
- Dustin Hillis (District 9)
- Mary Norwood (District 8)
- Matt Westmoreland (Post 2, At-Large)
- Thomas Worthy (District 7)
City Utilities (CUC)
- Dustin Hillis (District 9), Chair
- Liliana Bakhtiari (District 5)
- Kelsea Bond (District 2)
- Andrea Boone (District 10)
- Jason Dozier (District 4)
- Mary Norwood (District 8)
- Alex Wan (District 6)
Community Development/Human Services (CDHS)
- Matt Westmoreland (Post 2, At-Large), Chair
- Kelsea Bond (District 2)
- Michael Julian Bond (Post 1, At-Large)
- Eshé Collins (Post 3, At-Large)
- Jason Dozier (District 4)
- Antonio Lewis (District 12)
- Jason Winston (District 1)
Zoning:
- Mary Norwood (District 8), Chair
- Liliana Bakhtiari (District 5)
- Kelsea Bond (District 2)
- Eshé Collins (Post 3, At-Large)
- Wayne Martin (District 11)
- Matt Westmoreland (Post 2, At-Large)
- Thomas Worthy (District 7)
Public Safety, Legal Administration (PSLA)
- Andrea Boone (District 10), Chair
- Byron Amos (District 3)
- Michael Julian Bond (Post 1, At-Large)
- Dustin Hillis (District 9)
- Antonio Lewis (District 12)
- Wayne Martin (District 11)
- Thomas Worthy (District 7)
Committee on Council (COC)
- Byron Amos (District 3), Chair
- Liliana Bakhtiari (District 5)
- Michael Julian Bond (Post 1, At-Large)
- Andrea Boone (District 10)
- Eshé Collins (Post 3, At-Large)
- Jason Dozier (District 4)
- Jason Winston (District 1)
UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect that Councilmembers Liliana Bakhtiari and Antonio Lewis had their respective appointments to Community Development/Human Services and Commitee on Council withdrawn on Jan. 8 because Atlanta’s city code only permits a maximum of seven members on standing committees.
She have given the City over to White Folks! This is Terrible just Terrible.