Keller Takes Office At Midnight

At midnight, Tim Keller will become mayor of the city of Albuquerque.

Keller took the oath of office at around 6:30 p.m. Thursday in his Albuquerque home. The oath takes effect at midnight, and Friday will be Keller's first day on the job. The oath was administered by state District Court Judge Shannon Bacon.

(Photo: State District Court Judge Shannon Bacon administers the mayoral oath of office to Tim Keller on Thursday night.)

Keller will be the eighth person to hold the office since Albuquerque's modern form of government began in 1974. A ceremonial swearing in will be held Friday evening at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Keller, 40, won the office by coming in first in the eight-person Oct. 3 election, and then beating Dan Lewis in a landslide victory in the Nov. 14 runoff election. He takes over from Richard Berry, who was elected in 2009 and who served two terms in office.

Previous Albuquerque mayors were Harry Kinney (two terms), David Rusk, Ken Schultz, Louis Saavedra, Marty Chavez (three terms), Jim Baca and Richard Berry (two terms).

Keller's biggest challenges will be reforming the Albuquerque Police Department, getting the city's skyrocketing crime rate down and improving an economy that has been stagnant for 10 years.