The 2024-25 Lowell City Council began it’s term this morning, with an inauguration ceremony at Lowell Memorial Auditorium and it’s first important vote; the election of the new Mayor.

The only drama surrounding that vote was what the final tally would be, as InsideLowell had reported in both early November and again in early December that Danny Rourke had secured more than enough votes to assume the Mayor’s gavel from Sokhary Chau.

When the counting was complete, Rourke had the votes of every councilor on the first ballot except Erik Gitschier and Corey Robinson, both of whom voted for Rita Mercier.

Ironically, Mercier herself never went public with a desire to become Mayor, and when her turn to vote came, she called Rourke’s name.

One interesting note for those wondering; the tradition of following up with another round of balloting to make it a ceremonial “unanimous” vote never occurred, as neither Gitschier or Robinson made the motion.

Paul Ratha-Yem, on the other hand, was unanimously elected as Vice-Chair.

Lastly, as you may have noted from the photo the main page of our website, Robinson appeared in person at a council proceeding for the first time since the November incident that led to him facing charges and a majority of his colleagues asking him to “step aside,” which he has refused to do.

That refusal has led to procedural drama on the council floor, with all of Robinson’s motions since that point being tabled or bundled and voted down.

Robinson does not have any motions on tonight’s council agenda, but his appearance this morning could indicate his intention to appear at the meeting in-person as opposed to Zoom.