Sheldon Neeley was sworn in as mayor of the City of Flint on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022 following his victory in the Nov. 8 election.
A crowd of Flint residents as well as friends and family of the mayor gathered at Flint City Hall to watch Neeley get sworn in for his second term.
Judge David Guinn of the 67th District Court in Flint, Mich. led Neeley in reciting the oath of office as mayor.
After being sworn in, Neeley thanked his supporters for his election victory and promised to continue striving for “unity” in the city.
“If you have not picked up on the theme yet, if you have not picked on the last three years that we’ve had – it’s about unity,” Neeley said. “Unity on all levels: old, new, rich, poor, Black, White, Republican, Democrat, blue-collar, white-collar.”
During the ceremony, Neeley outlined some of the goals and achievements of his administration, such as redeveloping Flint’s former Buick City site and establishing Genesee County’s first state park.
Neeley also affirmed his administration’s plan to continue working with the City’s five collective bargaining units.
“Working men and women of the City of Flint – it’s not lost upon me that we have to raise the level of pay for you. Now that we have fixed portions of our structural deficit, we have the ability to move beyond where we were,” Neeley said, seemingly referring to local and state officials’ work in shoring up the city’s ailing pension system earlier this year.
Neeley started his former term as Flint’s mayor on Nov. 11, 2019. Through a city charter change, that term was shortened to three years so Flint’s mayoral elections would align with the gubernatorial elections.
His new term will last a full four years into 2026.
