Four Women Were Sworn Into Fort Collins City Council: Here’s Why It’s Awesome

On Tuesday night, four women were sworn into Fort Collins city council, giving FoCo its first majority-woman seated council.

According to The Coloradoan:

The new council members are Julie Pignataro representing east-central district 2 and Emily Gorgol representing the northwest district 6. Northeast district 1 voters retained council member Susan Gutowsky, who was previously appointed to fill a vacancy. Kristin Stephens was unopposed in her re-election bid for the southwest district 4 seat. Mayor Wade Troxell also won re-election.

However, the night was not without its drama.

The new council elected a mayor pro tem-- the person who takes over for the mayor when he is absent-- and many nominated Ross Cunniff for the position. Emily Gorgol was nominated but withdrew her name and then used her new spot to nominate Kristin Stephens, as many others did as well. Stephens championed a fresher perspective than Cunniff as well as the advantage of having a majority-woman council, and eventually won the role unanimously. (Source)

Fort Collins is taking a step towards change for the better, choosing equality and collaboration over comfort. This is an awesome move towards the future for Fort Collins' government, and we're excited to see where the change will lead.