In Teaneck New Jersey, the township’s youngest mayor and its first female African-American deputy mayor took the oath of office at the Township Council reorganization meeting. Elie Y. Katz and Lizette Parker were sworn into office late Saturday night at the municipal building.

Katz, who turns 32 this month, is also Teaneck’s first Orthodox Jewish mayor. He finished first out of 17 candidates in the May non-partisan election. The lifelong township resident captured 60 percent of the vote to win a third four-year term.

The seven-member council selects a mayor and deputy mayor from its ranks every two years.

Katz spoke of creating new revenue sources and increasing existing revenue to help offset property taxes.

“I look to a future that we can create and build upon,” Katz said. “We have a unique opportunity to increase revenue to our town through new development.”

Katz also pledged to help make municipal government more “user friendly” for residents, businesses and township employees.

Katz was selected mayor by a 6-1 vote. Parker won the deputy mayor’s seat by a 5-2 tally. Gussen received a vote for mayor, and Honis and Rudolph received votes for deputy mayor. The selections were made by secret ballot.

More than 100 people packed the council chambers, including Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and several local and Bergen County elected officials.

About 50 more were forced to watch the proceedings from outside the building for safety reasons.

The meeting began late on Saturday night to accommodate religious Jews.

The new council takes a decidedly younger turn. Six of the seven members range in age from 24 to 35.