Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson summed up how many of the newly sworn-in councillors felt after Wednesday night’s ceremony.

“It’s real,” he said.

“My head’s tingling a little bit.”

Atkinson was among 10 new councillors who took the oath of office Oct. 29 at Calgary city hall, the largest rookie class in nearly a century.  Since being elected, councillors have been getting up to speed on city personnel, procedures and staffing up their offices.

Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule said he’s been learning a lot since arriving at the municipal building on this side of the fence. Yule has long been a community advocate, including pushing city council for protection for the Nose Creek watershed.

“I’m excited because I do get to see the other side. I think when I was an advocate, it was a little different, because there was a little bit of guarded personalities,” he said.

“Now I get to see the real personalities of some of our administration, and it’s exciting. It’s exciting to start these new relationships.”

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who was re-elected for another term, said he felt confident in what this new crew could accomplish. While they were rookies on council, Chabot said many of them had a solid depth of understanding in how the City of Calgary operates.

“There were a lot of very eager members of council last election. I think this group comes with more depth of knowledge insofar as the functions of the municipality as a whole,” he said.

“I’m more optimistic with this group, mostly because I feel that there’s a greater depth of knowledge from the get-go with this group.”

The swearing-in ceremony was the first part of the initial organizational meeting. The second part of this meeting will happen next week when councillors will be assigned to their respective board, committees and commission duties.  They’ll also learn the deputy mayor rotation.

Hit the ground running

Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston appeared ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work.

The rookie councillor who was behind the Recall Gondek campaign said he’s fulfilling a vision he’s had for his contributions to Ward 14 and the city.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, and I’m here to do it. I’m here to fix what’s broken. To ensure that going forward, the city can trust again. Trust their councillors, trust their administration, but it starts with this crew,” he said.

“I honestly can’t wait to get to work.”

One of the massive files to get the jump on will be the November budget deliberations. There are hundreds of pages of reading to do, and re-elected Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said she’s already told her new colleagues to get on it.

“I started telling them already, you start reading the budget package; like, you’ve got a lot of reading to catch up. You’ve got a lot of learning to do,” she said.

“That’s not the only big package these guys have to learn. They have to set up processes in their office, hire people that can help them read these documents and make policy recommendations. I think it’s on them to do the work.”

For his part, Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that he’s enjoyed getting to know the group over the past week, and he, too, is ready to get moving.

“It’s been pretty amazing. When I was a rookie city councillor eight years ago, I was one of only just a couple, but it’s really exciting to see this level of changeover,” he said.

“There’s a real sense of excitement, eagerness in the hallways and really excited to get to start to work on behalf of Calgarians with this brand-new team.”