WATCH: Mayor-elect Yemi Mobolade sworn in Tuesday as Colorado Springs’ 42nd mayor

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - After eight years, a new leader is taking the helm in Colorado Springs.

Mayor-elect Yemi Mobolade was sworn in as the city’s 42nd mayor at 10 a.m. Tuesday on the grounds of the Pioneers Museum.

Mobolade’s ascension to mayor is the culmination of a journey that started in 2010 when he arrived in the Springs as a Nigerian immigrant. In just 13 years since, Mobolade started a family, built multiple businesses, launched a church, and co-founded a non-profit. He emerged as the frontrunner out of a field of 12 in the initial mayoral race in April and soundly defeated longtime Colorado politician Wayne Williams in the runoff election last month. With that victory, Mobolade became the city’s first Black elected mayor and the first in decades not to be a registered Republican.

Late last month, Mobolade unveiled a four-page blueprint outlining his major focus points during his first 100 days in office. Those goals include building support with government officials through solid relationships with city, federal, state, and county government officials; engaging with the community and building public confidence in two-way conversations with the public; and putting an emphasis on public safety, city infrastructure and economic growth.

He has also stressed tackling the root of the city’s homelessness crisis, which he says is mental health.

Mobolade has said outgoing Mayor John Suthers helped shape his 100-day plan, though he also brings his own unique perspective to the table.

“I get to channel my own experience as an immigrant and as a Black leader and bring that empathy to the mayor’s office, and it gives me the lenses to see deeper, perhaps even more than other leaders would’ve seen,” he told 11 News and other reporters in a May 31 news conference.

Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony is open to the public and will be held on the south side of the Pioneers Museum, barring inclement weather. If weather dictates, the ceremony will be moved inside the City Auditorium.

Expect lane closures on Vermijo Street between Tejon and Nevada from 8 a.m.-11 a.m.

11 News will be streaming the ceremony on this page.

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