BARBARA DELGLEIZE being sworn in as mayor of Huntington Beach for a second term (Orange County Tribune photo by Zia Zografos)

By Zia Zografos

Former mayor pro tem Barbara Delgleize was sworn in as Huntington Beach’s new mayor for 2022, with Councilmember Mike Posey taking over the position as mayor pro tem.

Delgleize and Posey were chosen by their colleagues at Tuesday’s city council meeting, as Kim Carr stepped down from her former position as mayor citing the “difficult yet rewarding year” she has served. Delgleize highlighted her goals for the year, stating that she will take a proactive approach regarding improvements to the city that will hold up for years to come.

Youth resources and opportunities for the city’s young people, reinvesting and enhancing the city, programs for the homeless, and supporting businesses and VisitHB are included in Delgleize’s top priorities for the year.

“We need to take care of what we have now, so we can pass on a beautiful, innovative, and better city to those future leaders,” said Delgleize.

Delgleize herself was not appointed as pro tem immediately after Carr. In accordance to the 1991 resolution, the pro tem should traditionally be the most senior member of the council who has not served as mayor in the last four years. This resolution was set aside for this occasion.

“Barbara and I got elected at the same time (in 2014), and we’ve been on the same side of so many votes for so long, and I think that we certainly think a lot alike,” said Posey. “I know we work great together… It’s been an amazing year, considering the ups and downs of the pandemic, an oil spill, masks, no masks, all these things that we’ve had to deal with.”

An interim city manager was not appointed. The current city manager, Oliver Chi, is moving on to become the city manager of Irvine.

The next scheduled city council meeting will be held on Dec. 21 in the council chambers, and will also be broadcast on a webinar via the city’s website.