In a wave of unanimous votes Tuesday to start the new city council term, council members appointed Ethel Stewart of Ward 1 as vice mayor for the next four years.

And the honor came on her birthday, no less.

“Nice birthday present,” Mayor Stephen Jones remarked after the vote.

As vice mayor, Stewart will shoulder the mayoral duties – including running council meetings – if Jones is ever absent or incapacitated.

Stewart, first elected to the council in 2019, is the longest-tenured active council member and one of only two incumbents returning to a council with four fresh faces. She is also only the second female to serve as vice mayor in Columbus, Jones said, the first being Greta Gardner.

“We promised you change and that we’d work together,” Stewart said after her appointment, addressing her colleagues and the citizens. “Do I know all the ins and outs of how to be vice mayor? No. But I will learn. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for voting for me.”

Jones said Stewart’s seniority on the board made her the “obvious choice” for vice mayor.

“I’m pleased with it,” he said. “I can work with anybody.”

With similar smoothness, the new council selected five members to the municipal election commission for the next four years. It reappointed Panesha McDowell Harrison and Linda Harris, the only two incumbent members to apply. Also added to the five-member commission were Gail Clark, Josh Clemons and Irma Moore.

Two other applicants, Jamonica Short and Robert “Bob” Raymond, were passed over.

In other business, the council:

■ approved the low bid of $261,340 by Powell Construction Services for traffic signal improvements at Bluecutt Road and Leigh Drive;

■ appointed Stewart as one of the council’s two representatives on the Columbus-Lowndes Airport Board;

■ approved one-year contracts with Neel-Schaffer for engineering services and Jeff Turnage with Mitchell McNutt for legal services; and

■ reappointed Quinn Brislin to a three-year term on the board of adjustments and appeals of development codes.

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.