Oakland played a game of political musical chairs Monday with a new mayor, city attorney and shifting city council taking over on the same day.
Councilmember Kevin Jenkins is now the city's interim mayor, and Councilmember Noel Gallo takes over as city council president.
Jenkins said he's already looking to take action on one of the city's biggest issues.
"What's going through my mind right now is the budget," he said. "Making sure that we rebalance our budget for this fiscal year and make sure that we get a budget going for the next fiscal year, the next two fiscal years. Also, setting up a transition for the next person who becomes mayor."
The council also voted to appoint outgoing At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan to serve as councilmember for District 2 – a vacancy created by Nikki Fortunato Bas who is moving on to become a county supervisor.
"During these budget challenges, I think it is so critical that we have someone like Councilmember Kaplan to sit with us for this short duration of time," Councilmember Carroll Fife said.
Three new councilmembers also join the board and the battle to navigate the city’s $129 million budget deficit.
"My heart is overjoyed for the opportunity to work alongside all of you to really help uplift Oakland," new At-Large Councilmember Rowena Brown said.
Among the challenges is the six-month closure of two fire stations as part of a triggered contingency budget. City firefighters gathered before Monday's inauguration to call on the city to find a different solution and save four additional stations from possible closures.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
"I’m going to work with my colleagues and with the city administration to find the money to keep these fire stations open," new Councilmember Zac Unger, former head of the firefighters' union, said. "It’s a matter of priority. Everything we do in the city of Oakland is valuable. There are no useless departments, however public safety is my top priority."
Ken Houston takes over District 7 and said he plans to leverage relationships at the state, county and city level to find alternative budget solutions. He said he’s already working with the governor’s office to remove abandoned cars in his district.
"It's not difficult if we stop the bleeding, find the money," he said. "We are going to have to do some cuts, however how drastic are those cuts going to be?"
A new mayor will be elected in April during a special election.
Until then, Jenkins said his focus is to provide basic services well.
"We have issues, we have our challenges, but this is a resilient city and we have a new council that is going to work hard to restore the trust in this city and restore the trust in this government," he said.
