Starting in January 2014, Kingsley Botchway will bring a new voice to the Iowa City City Council.

Botchway, a six-year resident of Iowa City, came in second with 41 percent of votes in Tuesday’s City Council election. He joined incumbent Susan Mims for an at-large seat, as well as incumbent Terry Dickens, who won the District B seat.

The 28-year-old focused on creating additional diversity initiatives and a variety of socioeconomic developments, which will not focus solely on the downtown area, during his campaign.

Botchway said he hopes to work with the current members to push his campaign platform during his time on the council.

“I know [the councilors] are good people, and I want to move forward with issues that I focused my platform around, and I hope they’ll hold the same sentiment,” he said. “I expect to really work with the councilors; I had people say I would be a good fit and will work with the council.”

Councilor Jim Throgmorton expressed his satisfaction with Botchway, as well as the opportunity to work with re-elected city councilors.

“I think Kingsley Botchway would become a very good council member, and I look forward with working with him and the other council members for the benefit of the city of Iowa City,” Throgmorton said.

Councilor Terry Dickens — who was elected to his second term on Tuesday — said his re-election was due to voter turnout. He also accredited Mims’ second term along with Botchway’s first terms to Iowa City’s turnout.

“It feels very good to be re-elected and that shows that Iowa City thinks we are doing a good job,” Dickens said. “I’m very excited; both wins were fairly easy and it show people did go out and vote.”

With a new voice, Throgmorton said he is currently setting new goals for the upcoming strategic planning meeting.

“Yes, there are several new actions I want to suggest, and I’ve been having preliminary discussions ahead of the first strategic planning meetings,” he said.

Throgmorton said with a new face on council, he believes it will continue to have discussions on diversity and wage-affordability issues.

“I suspect there will be more emphasis placed on issues he promoted in his campaign, like issues with diversity and affordable housing,” he said.

Echoing Botchway’s agenda, Dickens hopes the council not only continues to develop more diversity initiatives but hopes to see other sectors work closer together.

“We’ve already started the Diversity Committee, and in the next four years we will continue to do more work with that,” Dickens said. “I think I would really like to see zoning and inspection work closely and coordinate better.”

Although Dickens said he does not know Botchway very well, he believes that he will be a great addition to the council.

“I’ve only met him a couple of times, but what I saw he is a very articulate young man,” Dickens said. “I don’t know if he knows how much time it takes, though, he’s going to be very flexible, but I think he’ll be a great addition.”