PANAMA CITY— The rotunda of city hall was packed to the brim with suits, ties and collared shirts on May 28 as community and state leaders rubbed elbows and city staff prepared the festivities.
Panama City hosted its inauguration for the incoming mayor and city commissioner while welcoming a familiar face back to the table.
Commissioners Brian Grainger and Janice Lucas reunited with returning Ward 4 Commissioner Josh Street and celebrated their new co-workers, Mayor Allan Branch and Ward 1 Commissioner Robbie Hughes.
There was a lengthy invocation followed by The Pledge of Allegiance, after which a city staffer moved the event along with a wooden gavel.
Hughes was the first invited to the front to take his oath of office, after which he took to the podium to make his remarks. He started by commending his campaign team and family, kicking the speech off with a comedic tone and gathering some laughs from the crowd.
The new commissioner thanked everyone for sticking by him through what some Panama City readers may recall as a somewhat contentious election season, before continuing on to the value of service in his new position.
“It fills a hole in my soul to be able to come and help somebody else with no expectation of anything in return,” Hughes said. “I’m working for you, I need to make every decision and think about how it affects you, how it affects the people of Panama City, because every vote affects people.”
He leaned into his business background and how he wants to take what he has learned there and apply it to city government. Hughes said he was not a politician, which Branch later corrected in a comedic tone.
“Every time you lay your head on the pillow, just know that I’ve done everything I can possible in working with this team and seeing all the staff to make the quality of life better in Panama City,” Hughes said. “I thank you for your time, I thank you for your vote, and I thank you for your support. And hopefully in the future we’re going to see some really good progress.”
Next up was Street, whose speech had a more serious tone of community resilience.
“Standing here today is one of the greatest honors of my life, and I do so knowing the difficult job that we have and the difficult job ahead, but this moment isn’t about me,” Street said. “It is about a collective unity amongst all of us as citizens of the United states and citizens of the city of Panama City.”
He then covered some of life in the city over the past several years and its affects on the community.
“We belong to a community that refuses to quit, a city that keeps getting back up through tornadoes, floods and hurricanes,” Street said. “We’ve proven that tomorrow can be better than today, and we’re willing to do the hard work to make it so.”
Street then told an anecdote about talking to his St Andrews neighbor whose house had been severely damaged by tornadoes.
“What stayed with me most wasn’t what was broken in that moment, it’s (that) what couldn’t be shaken was hope,” he said. “She looked me in the eye and said ‘we’ll be fine, God’s brought us through worse.”
Street talked about his dedication to residents of the community, his faith, and reiterated the resilience he believes Panama City to have.
Last but not least was the new mayor, Allan Branch. After his oath of office he ditched the podium to move around the room and make gestures toward the crowd. Branch’s speech was jovial in nature yet touched on the progress he believes he has seen in the city.
“You can love something and acknowledge that there’s challenges and hurdles and there’s flaws in it,” Branch said. “Since Hurricane Michael, my goodness, we’ve come so far, the progress we’ve made, we’ve challenged ourselves.”
Branch said that he would like to see the progress they’ve seen made in one part of the city, presumably downtown, to spread out to other areas of the city. He talk about how the common trait he’s seen in accomplished people that he admires is their desire for feedback and their relentlessness. Branch would like to see the city emulate these qualities.
“Being relentless usually comes from having something to prove,” Branch said. “I have something to prove, and I think the city of Panama City has something to prove, not just to other cities, not just to the doubters, but to ourselves.”
Branch went on to talk about his past experiences growing up and his family’s prominent role in the local business scene. He later moved on to talking about a plaque that all mayors get and what he wanted it to say.
“You are a part of what makes this town special, a neighbor, a teacher, a business owner, a builder, a dreamer,” Branch said. “You do not need a title like mayor or commissioner to shape this town. Help someone who needs it, speak up even with a shaky voice. Real change does not wait for permission, it starts with people like you, and that’s how a city becomes a community.”
After a long prayer, attendees then moved on to snapping photos and enjoying some catered snacks.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: ‘Something to prove’: New city leadership sworn in during May 28 Panama City inauguration
Reporting by Dylan Gentile, Panama City News Herald / The News Herald
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