THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996                 TAG: 9606280197
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 23   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 
                                            LENGTH:   34 lines

NEW COUNCIL MEMBERS TO BE SWORN IN MONDAY

City Council members elected in May will take the oath of office Monday evening.

The ceremony will be at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chamber at City Hall.

Citizens are welcome to witness the first step of the new council lineup: selecting a new vice mayor and deciding whether to keep the current secretary.

Lillie M. Hart, the Circuit Court clerk, will swear in Mayor William E. Ward for his second full term.

Ward returns to office after fighting off a surprisingly tough challenge from John A. Cosgrove, a political outsider who tied himself to the Republican ticket.

Also sworn in will be council members-elect Dalton S. Edge, Dwight M. Parker and Elizabeth P. Thornton.

Edge, a former council member appointed after the resignation of Arthur E. Dwyer in 1995, lost his seat to Parker in November. He won it back in May, and he was the only Republican to win a seat.

Parker retained his seat in the May election and Thornton was elected to her first term.

After the new council members become official, Ward will call the council to order and begin the process of choosing officers.

Returning Councilman W. Joe Newman will find out whether he gets to sit in the secretary's chair for another two years.

The council also will select a replacement for outgoing Vice Mayor Robert T. Nance Jr., who leaves after four years on the council, one of those as vice mayor.

A reception will be held in the lobby of City Hall after the ceremony. by CNB