Bill Saffo is the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

. He was appointed mayor in 2006 and reelected in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021. He is the longest-serving mayor in the city's history.

Background

The son of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

immigrants, Saffo was born in Wilmington.

Political career

Saffo served on the Wilmington City Council from 2003 to 2007, and as Mayor since 2007. Saffo was first elected to City Council in 2003. During his first year in office he consolidated the city's water and sewer departments; initiated a review of the salaries of municipal employees - cautioning voters that fair salaries would require higher taxes; and began to investigate the economic potential of using revenue from the State's hotel room tax to build a new convention center. By 2009 construction on the new Convention Center was underway. the Convention Center opened in 2010, and is regarded as having been successful in expanding the city's convention and tourism business. As Mayor, he helped to usher in the age of

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

on September 8, 2008 when

became the first town in the United States to switch over from the previous analog television platform.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Mayors of places in North Carolina Politicians from Wilmington, North Carolina American people of Greek descent University of North Carolina at Wilmington alumni 21st-century American politicians North Carolina Democrats {{NorthCarolina-politician-stub