Jeff Wood named mayor by city council

Jeff Wood named mayor by city council

Published on July 15, 2026

The Lakewood City Council completed its annual reorganization on July 14, selecting Jeff Wood to serve as Lakewood's mayor through July 2027 and naming David Arellano as vice mayor for the same time period.

The tradition in Lakewood and many cities of its size is for mayoral duties to rotate annually among the five members of the city council. The mayor has the same vote as any other council member in meetings but chairs the meetings and serves as the city's main spokesperson at public events.

This will be the third term as mayor for Jeff Wood, who was originally elected to the city council in 2011. His current council term runs through March 2028.

The council's annual reorganization night started with a "Lakewood Celebrates" community gathering where expressions of thanks and appreciation were made to Cassandra Chase for her work for the community during his 2025-26 mayoral term. Chase will continue to serve as a council member for the rest of her term, which runs through July 2030.

After being selected as the new mayor, Wood presented remarks to over 200 people gathered in the Weingart Ballroom.

Read Mayor Wood's full remarks

At the same meeting, Council Member Steve Croft was honored for his 21 years of service on the Lakewood City Council. His decision not to seek re-election created an open seat in District 2, which was filled through the June 2 election.

New Mayor's Remarks

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