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The Takoma Park City Council dove headfirst into the new session Monday night after returning Mayor Bruce Williams led the five returning incumbents and newcomer Frederick Schultz in a swearing-in ceremony at the community center, followed by a lighthearted trip to the Piney Branch Pool next door.

The council returned to the dais just two weeks after the election results came in late Nov. 3 to bid a fond farewell to Donna Victoria, who stepped down as the interim Ward 6 councilwoman at the same time the council welcomed Frederick Schultz to fill the seat.

"I notice I'm actually getting commended tonight for leaving," Victoria quipped as she accepted a ceremonial clock – to "remember her time'' spent on the council. She expressed her confidence in Schultz and the rest of the council's leadership.

Schultz had kind words for both his supporters and his erstwhile opponent Navid Nasr, during his inaugural speech, in which he expressed his "genuine honor'' at having been elected.

"Nov. 3rd was one of the longest days of my life waiting for the [election] returns," he said, recalling the two hours it took election judges to release the vote totals. "[But] for me now, that just adds to the excitement moving forward."

While Schultz may have felt time dragging by on Election Day, this year's two-hour wait following the final vote seems miniscule considering up until the last election in 2007 judges counted each ballot by hand. Two years ago the system switched to a simpler, more-efficient scanning format, an innovation improved on even further this year by allowing voters to check their votes online after the election.

After a brief reception in the community center, about half of the crowd followed the council across the street to the community pool in the nearby Piney Branch Elementary School.

Doffing their suits and ties – with the exception of Ward 4 Councilman Terry Seamens, who changed after jumping into the pool – Williams and the gang hit the slides and treaded the warm water alongside laughing children and applauding residents in their first event as a newly elected council.

"Check out ‘surfer guy,' Dan Robinson over there," joked resident Buddy Daniels, pointing out the Ward 3 councilman, well-known for his days hanging 10 on beaches up and down the west coast.

By the time the council had cleared out, it seemed clear that any lingering regrets from the recent election had been all but washed away, a point driven home as defeated Ward 4 candidate Eric Mendoza, wearing a pressed suit and bowtie, knelt to hand his former opponent an inaugural gift of an engraved pen. Seamens jokingly grabbed Mendoza's wrist, threatening to pull him into the pool and sending the younger man backpedaling away, laughing.

"I knew he was going to do it, too!" Mendoza said with a laugh afterward.