USCM swears in new president
Burnsville, Minn., Mayor Elizabeth Kautz will be inaugurated as the 68th president of the Washington-based United States Conference of Mayors during a special ceremony on Tuesday. Kautz, USCM’s vice-president, is beginning her term early because the current USCM president, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, was defeated in the most recent mayoral election, which meant his term ended on Jan. 2.
Under the rules of the USCM constitution, when the current president is no longer a mayor, the vice president automatically becomes president. Kautz will serve the balance of Nickel’s term, which would have ended in June 2010, and then serve a full term of her own until June 2011. USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran will pass the gavel and introduce Kautz as the new USCM president at the ceremony.
As president, Kautz will preside over all official meetings and execute the agenda adopted by the nation’s mayors, appoint committee and task force chairs, and will be USCM’s global and national spokesperson. She will preside over her first official meeting from Jan. 20-22 at USCM’s 78th winter meeting in Washington, during which the nation’s mayors will meet with the Obama administration and Congress to advocate for bipartisan efforts to confront unemployment, the need for a federal/city partnership on climate protection and energy with block grants to cities producing green jobs, and a transportation bill that will fund the modernization of the nation’s transportation system.
Read more information about Kautz’s history.
