Lindberg, Brausen Sworn In to St. Louis Park City Council

Two new city council members, elected in November, were sworn in to their first four-year terms on Monday during a ceremony in the council chamber.

Gregg Lindberg, a Three Rivers Park District human resource manager, defeated incumbent Ward 3 council member Sue Santa.

And land-use attorney Tim Brausen bested Bill Theobald to win Julia Ross's Ward 4 seat. 

Also sworn in on Monday were incumbents Anne Mavity, the Ward 2 representative, and Sue Sanger, from Ward 1.

"We would like to extend our gratitude towards Sue Santa and Julia Ross for their extraordinary service over the years as City Council members," the city wrote in a post on its Facebook page.

Lindberg, who's working on a Master’s in public administration, won 55 percent of the vote, in the tightest city council race of November.

"I was pleasantly surprised, I had no expectations going into tonight," he told St. Louis Park Patch after the election. "I worked very hard, I had a lot of people working very hard with me, going out, meeting as many people as I possibly could, hearing their concerns, talking about what a great place St. Louis Park is, talking about my experience growing up here—I think that made a big difference."

Brausen, a resident of St. Louis Park for more than 30 years, won 68 percent of the vote in Ward 4. 

"I want to thank Bill Theobald for running against me because democracy thrives on choice," he said on election night. "I intend to be an advocate for affordable housing, equitable development around the light rail, environmental sustainability—and I want to be the voice for all the people of the fourth ward, so they should contact me whenever they have any questions or concerns."

You can watch all four candidates talk about issues including gay marriage, recycling and freight rail at an October League of Women Voters forum.