The Mountain View City Council tapped John McAlister as its new mayor during a ceremonial meeting Tuesday.

Council members also chose Pat Showalter as the new vice mayor. She joined fellow newcomers Ken Rosenberg and Lenny Siegel in taking the oath of office.

“I will work the next four years to justify the faith that you put in me,” Showalter told the packed crowd.

Siegel, one of the three newly seated council members who campaigned in support of adding housing to the city’s North Bayshore district, used his opening remarks to reiterate that Mountain View is growing at an unsustainable rate and needs a “course correction.”

“I believe that the Nov. 4 election may mark the beginning of a new era in Mountain View politics in which our city’s amazing employment growth is constrained and balanced with a capacity to house and provide transportation for the workforce as well as other members of our community,” he said.

Rosenberg, the other council newbie, talked about a 9- or 10-year-old girl who placed her faith in him and swayed her mother to ask for a campaign sign. Upon learning that she lived across the street from a property where Rosenberg’s signs had been stolen twice, she installed the yard sign below her bedroom window, tied it to a tree with a rope, and attached two cowbells to it.

On Nov. 4, when results showed that Rosenberg had been elected to council, she handed an autographed cowbell to him as congratulations.

“One of my friends … said to me, ‘When you’re making decisions, think of her, and use this cowbell to remind you of what you’re doing and … how your decisions will affect the citizens of Mountain View,'” he said. “I intend to keep this cowbell near me and use it as a talisman, if you will, to remind me of why I’m here.”

For his part, McAlister promised to bring the new council members up to speed and “integrate [them] in the process of how the city, the staff, the county and the region works.” Other priorities include implementing the updated General Plan and various specific plans, improving public transit, and using technology and innovation to fulfill the residents’ needs.

“One of my main mottos in life has been, ‘Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution,'” McAlister noted. “To the residents of Mountain View, I challenge you to do the same. If you see a problem, be part of the solution.”

During the meeting, former mayor Chris Clark and outgoing council members Ronit Bryant, Jac Siegel and Margaret Abe-Koga also were recognized for their service to the city.

Email Rhea Mahbubani at rmahbubani@dailynewsgroup.com or follow her at twitter.com/RMahbubani.