Ceremony held for Inauguration Day in Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – It was Inauguration Day for Mayor Berke and the Chattanooga city council members. The ceremony was held Monday afternoon at the Historic Tivoli Theatre.

Mayor Berke and each member of the council was sworn in. Family members went up on stage to support their loved one.

Mayor Berke says one of his goals this term is to combat gun violence in the city.

“We’ve seen violence go down in our city but the gun crime continues and we need to do something about that and that means not just empowering our police who do a great job, but we’ve got to get people on the right track. It is awfully hard for our officers to do something if people already have a gun in their hands,” Mayor Berke said.

Four new members of the council were among those who were sworn in Monday.