IRVINE : New City Council Member Sworn In

With his family looking on, Greg Smith officially became Irvine’s 24th council member this week, taking the oath of office at the start of Tuesday’s council meeting.

Smith, a 44-year-old owner of an auto parts distribution firm, was elected in November and will fill out the one year remaining on the term of William A. (Art) Bloomer, who resigned from the council in July to accept a job in Virginia.

Of his first meeting as a council member, Smith said: “I was a little nervous, but it went smoothly. Fortunately, there wasn’t anything controversial” on the agenda.

Smith said he is now in the process of appointing people to various city boards and committees. Some of Bloomer’s appointees will be asked to keep their posts while others will be asked to step down, he said.

Smith has chosen William C. Mavity to be his part-time council aide. Mavity is a cable committee member and a director at the Woodbridge Village Assn.

Smith has yet to announce who will serve as his representative on the influential planning and community services commissions.

Under state government codes, Smith had to resign his seat on the Irvine Unified School District Board of Education before he could be seated on the City Council.