WACO, Texas — The City of Waco gets a new mayor and it's goodbye to the current one.
"I'm ready for the change and I'm grateful to the citizens of Waco for letting me serve in this role for four and a half years and city council four years before that," Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver said.
Mayor Deaver is handing over the gavel to city councilman Dillon Meek, who takes over November 17. Deaver said he's confident in the city's new leadership.
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"The city can take comfort in knowing that he is going to lead us in a really positive direction," Deaver said. "I am confident of that."
Deaver said he recognizes it's a strange time to transition during a pandemic.
"I hate that I am leaving at a time when the Covid cases are as high as they are, and I certainly hoped we would have had a better control of that but we've been very limited on what our response could be by the way the governor has handled this and that's his choice, so we've had very little local control the last several months." Deaver said.
However, he said he's proud of the way city leadership, non-profits, health officials, and community members have pulled together in a collaborative way.
"It's something that as the mayor you have the ability to sort of pull that together and just seeing the great work that all those community members have done to help us, our city, and our community get through this period has been really rewarding," Deaver said.
Pre-Covid, Deaver said he was excited by the growth and tourism in Waco as well as how much the city has to offer now compared to when he was growing up.
"It's been fun to watch that and I think it's just going to continue to take off as Waco just gets better," Deaver said.
As far as his future plans, Deaver said he'll go back to work and spend time with family.
"When I started on city council my family was just the four of us, my wife and me and our two children." Deaver said. "They have both gotten married now and we have three grandchildren in the last two and a half years and so our family is growing really fast and I'm really looking forward to spending time with them."
Waco's new mayor Dillon Meek and council members will be sworn in November 17 at 6:30p p.m.
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