HARTFORD--New Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin was officially sworn in Monday night.
Bronin officially took office at 12:01 a.m. on New Year's Day during Hartford's First Night celebration, but the formal inauguration for him and other officials was held at City Hall on Monday.
In his inaugural address, Bronin said despite his city's issues, "Because we know what Hartford can be, we will not be paralyzed by challenges, but emboldened by them. We will not be afraid of tough choices or of change...It won’t happen overnight. But if we come together as one Hartford, it will happen."
His campaign noted previously that he would take the oath at midnight so he could begin work immediately the next day, and Friday morning he went into his new office in City Hall.
On his first day at work on Friday, Mayor Bronin shared with FOX61 what he believes needs to be done first for Hartford. "I think the biggest challenge we're going to have throughout the year is the budget, we've got a huge budget deficit, it's a structural budget deficit and we're going to have to get our arms around it pretty quickly," Bronin said. "Beyond that there obviously have been some difficulties with the ballpark and the clock is ticking on that."
He also said a priority is to bring up the number of city police officers and to step up efforts with youth employment and youth engagement.