![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-05T190904.335.webp?resize=404%2C175&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe ceremony marked a new chapter for the city as McCarley steps into her new position following seven years on the Lakeland City Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the swearing-in, McCarley outlined her approach to leadership, emphasizing collaboration, respect, and problem-solving as priorities moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u201cAs mayor, I aim to work closely with our City Hall staff to serve each one of you professionally and politely, with respect, humility, and open-minded eagerness to solve issues and support the entire community,\u201d McCarley said. \u201cI look forward to elevating Lakeland in fulfilling its own purpose and promise as we move into the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz praised McCarley\u2019s experience and leadership during the ceremony, calling her a hardworking and thoughtful leader who is well-prepared to guide the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCarley addressed a packed City Commission meeting filled with residents and city leaders, thanking the community for its support and acknowledging both new and returning commissioners as she begins her term.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/guy-lalonde-12-23.webp?resize=731%2C1024&ssl=1\")
Commissioner Guy LuLande Jr. was also elected mayor pro tem during Monday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCarley\u2019s swearing-in formally begins her tenure as Lakeland\u2019s newest mayor, with city leaders expressing confidence in her leadership as the city looks ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lakeland officially has a new mayor. Sarah Roberts McCarley was sworn in on Monday, taking office after narrowly winning the November election with just over 50% of the vote and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"7591","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNi0wMS0wNVQxOTA5MDQuMzM1LndlYnA_Zml0PTQwNCUyQzE3NSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6Ik5ldyBsZWFkZXJzaGlwIGJlZ2lucyBhcyBTYXJhaCBSb2JlcnRzIE1jQ2FybGV5IHN3b3JuIGluIGFzIExha2VsYW5kIG1heW9yIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.QT38Rz2rztKgtArUNgI0xeDlLs_Ke0WZlGEm2Kholn0MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":60684,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-05T190904.335.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[7591],"tags":[13104],"class_list":["post-60683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-city-of-lakeland","tag-new-leadership-begins-as-sarah-roberts-mccarley-sworn-in-as-lakeland-mayor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60686,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60683\/revisions\/60686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}