Bettencourt Will Deliver Mid-Term Address at City Inaugural

Peabody's annual city inaugural ceremony is slated for Jan. 7 (7 p.m.) in Wiggin Auditorium at City Hall.

Mayor Ted Bettencourt will deliver his mid-term address and both the City Council and School Committee will organize for the new year.

Bettencourt is now halfway through his first term as Mayor and he's already had some big accomplishments, which he'll likely touch on during his remarks.

Chief among those highlights are sure to be the new middle school, the windfall in savings on health insurance and the recent passage of a city child sex offender law.

The other highlight of the evening is the formal vote for the new City Council President. That role is going to freshman Councilor-at-Large Tom Gould as he closes out his first term on the council in 2013.

Traditionally, the council chooses the most junior member who has never served as President before to take the helm.

With no new councilors elected in 2009, longtime councilor Jim Liacos was then nominated to lead the council again in 2011 after Barry Sinewitz, Dave Gravel and Anne Manning-Martin (all elected in 2007) took their turns as Council President.

The School Committee also traditionally chooses its new Vice Chair and Secretary at the inaugural ceremony.