photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World Photo

From left, Bart Littlejohn, Lisa Larsen and Amber Sellers are sworn in as Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, at City Hall.

A crowd filled Lawrence City Hall Tuesday to watch a historically diverse City Commission take their seats at the dais and elect the city’s new mayor.

Tuesday’s election of Mayor Courtney Shipley and the seating of newly elected commissioners, incumbent Lisa Larsen and newcomers Bart Littlejohn and Amber Sellers, marked a historic occasion. Hispanic, LGBTQ and Black commissioners took their seats together in the City Commission chambers, likely representing the most diverse commission the city has ever had.

The importance of the occasion was front and center Tuesday. Shipley, who is Hispanic, said that to ensure the city lives up to its mission to create a community “where all enjoy life and feel at home,” it must reckon with historic and systemic injustices and have hard discussions about how to address them.

“Educating ourselves about Lawrence’s legacy of colonization and white supremacy and acknowledging the negative impact they have on the lives of our Indigenous, Black and Brown neighbors — those are steps we can take to show our earnest desire to make Lawrence feel safe for all people,” Shipley said.

Shipley said that the coming year will present opportunities for the community to have meaningful dialogue to move it closer to that vision. She listed several issues the commission will discuss in the coming year, including changes to policing, examination of city ordinances that disproportionately affect those experiencing poverty, and the city’s work toward addressing homelessness.

As the Journal-World previously reported, it is believed Littlejohn and Sellers could be Lawrence’s first Black commissioners in more than 100 years. After thanking those who supported him and his campaign, Littlejohn read a list of 11 names that included former elected city leaders and candidates of color, spanning the city’s early days under a city council format to recent elections.

“I know how hard campaigns are, and their courage to serve and run paved the way for folks like myself, and the greater importance of this day, that will not be the last,” said Littlejohn, with evident emotion in his voice.

Sellers said that words could not fully express what she felt at that moment, and what she had been feeling since election night. She said she was honored to serve a community that she considers an extension of her family.

“It is with a humbled heart that I serve you as your next city commissioner for the next two years,” Sellers said. “This is going to be a transformational journey for us, and it’s going to take the heart and love of a family to make that happen.”

Following tradition, the commission chose the mayor and vice mayor based on general election results. Shipley finished as the second-highest vote winner in the 2019 election, which means she was vice mayor this year ahead of serving as mayor in the coming term. Larsen, who was the top vote winner in the most recent election, was sworn in along with Littlejohn and Sellers and elected vice mayor by her fellow commissioners.

Larsen was part of the first female majority elected to the commission in 2017, and along with outgoing commissioner Jennifer Ananda, is among the first openly LGBTQ commissioners. Both Larsen and Ananda thanked their partners for their support as part of their remarks Tuesday, and Larsen said she was inspired to be serving on such a historic commission and looked forward to the coming term.

“It is an honor that I’ve been given the opportunity to serve four more years,” Larsen said.

Outgoing Mayor Brad Finkeldei, who will remain on the commission, and outgoing Commissioner Stuart Boley also made remarks. Like Shipley, Finkeldei also spoke to the city’s mission of creating a community “where all enjoy life and feel at home.” He said that like the Kansas state motto — ad astra per aspera, or to the stars through difficulties — Lawrence would continue to make progress on that mission amid all it faces.

“That is a community where all people, no matter race or color or socioeconomic status or creed, enjoy life and feel at home,” Finkeldei said. “That is the star we are continuing to reach for, even through difficult times.”

In other business, the commission voted as part of its consent agenda to accept a request to annex approximately 100 acres, located east of Kansas Highway 10 and south of North 1750 Road and adjoining the city limits, for the purposes of a future residential development. The request will now go to the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission for review, and that body’s recommendation will return to the City Commission for consideration.