ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ken Welch has been sworn in as the new mayor of St. Petersburg.

Welch took the oath of office at home Thursday after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.

Welch becomes the 54^th mayor of the city and first black mayor of St. Pete.

Also taking office Thursday, new elected city council members Copley Gerdes, Richie Floyd and Lisset Hanewicz were sworn in, joining re-elected Gina Driscoll and Brandi Gabbard.

WATCH KEN WELCH'S THURSDAY SPEECH

Welch said he plans to hit the ground running, starting with creating more affordable housing.

He said his goal as mayor is to make a difference.

“We want to hit the ground running by establishing that rapport”, Welch said. “And then we wanna focus on business process improvement in our (city) departments. I don't believe you have to be accusatory, not that anyone's doing anything wrong, but any organization can be better.” And there are two issues he wants the city to be better at resolving.

“We want to continue a science based approach to COVID," Welch said. "We’ve got to be responsible in the way we handle it. And the housing issue, I want to bring an urgency to that. There will be a staff person designated to shepherd that through. It is that important.

"It has to be cross-cutting through all the apartments. But we’ve got to have a balance for folks who make our tourism industry run, support our hospitals our teachers, folks making $19, $25 bucks an hour which is the medium income in our city.”

Also taking office Thursday, new elected city council members Copley Gerdes, Richie Floyd and Lisset Hanewicz were sworn in, joining re-elected Gina Driscoll and Brandi Gabbard. (Trevor Pettiford, Spectrum News staff)

Ken Welch’s roots run deep in St. Petersburg and he doesn't want city hall to separate him from the people.

He still plans on riding his Harley through town and still hoping to be more than a mayor for the people, but more like just one of the people who now happens to be mayor. 

“I’m entering this with a freedom," Welch said. “I couldn't care less about reelection. It's about getting this job done because my daughters who are 19 and 28 and the generations that follow are really going to be impacted over these decisions we make over the next few years to make it sustainable.”

Residents spent Thursday celebrating the historical moment. One of them told Spectrum Bay News 9’s Trevor Pettiford:

“This is pivotal. It is pivotal because, we have arrived Trevor, but we have accomplished something in St. Petersburg that many of our forefathers would not have been able to envision.”