Williamsburg City Council swore in its newest members Thursday, officially installing Scott Foster ’10 and Douglas Pons to four year terms on the council. Foster and Pons were both elected to the council in May.
The ceremony at the Courthouse of 1770 saw the first installation of a council member to be elected while a student at the College of William and Mary.
“I’m just really excited, it’s a great honor,” Foster said. “The depth and history of this building and this whole ceremony is great and beyond anything I expected. I’m very excited for all of Williamsburg.”
Foster said he is already working on what he hopes to accomplish during his term, indicating his first priority is to pass a resolution regarding the proposed Surry Coal Plant.
“We’ve got to get [the resolution] moving,” he said. “I’ve been doing some background research [and] that will be my first big crack.”
Following the swearing-in, the new council held an organizational meeting during which Vice Mayor and economics professor Clyde Haulman was elected Mayor by a unanimous 5-0 vote. Haulman succeeds Jeanne Zeidler M.A. ’76, the city’s first female mayor, who did not run for re-election.
Councilman Paul Freiling ’83 was subsequently elected Vice Mayor by a 5-0 vote.
Retiring City Attorney Joseph Phillips performed his last official act by presiding over the mayoral election. Following the vote, Haulman paused the meeting to present a resolution marking the retirement of Phillips, who served Williamsburg for 36 years.
Haulman noted that Phillips had worked with 18 different city councils and six mayors and added that his dedication to the city would be missed.
“[It was] an honor and a wonderful experience,” Philips said.
College President Taylor Reveley said that both Foster’s and Haulman’s elections reflected well on the connections between the College and the larger Williamsburg community.
“There is a powerful tradition of civic service on the part of our faculty, staff and students,” Reveley said in a press release. “It’s good to see Clyde Haulman, one of the College’s most stalwart and distinguished faculty members, as mayor, and to have a very promising recent graduate of the College, Scott Foster, now serving on the Council. We’re proud of them both.”
Foster and Pons will both serve four year terms that conclude on June 30, 2014.