BATON ROUGE — Sid Edwards took over as East Baton Rouge Parish's mayor-president Thursday.

Edwards, who beat two-term incumbent Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome in a runoff election in December, was officially sworn in at an inauguration ceremony at the River Center Theater for Performing Arts.

"Today will be a new beginning of our city and parish," Edwards said after he took the oath of office. "But we must remember new beginnings take planning, hard work, determination and vision."

Edwards said he plans to rebuild and revive Baton Rouge to the vibrant capital city he says it is meant to be.

"Our goal as we stated on the campaign should be to restore this place we call home and make it a shining city on a hill," Edwards said, adding that he wants to expand opportunities and wealth through the entire parish.

This will happen through a strong economic plan that brings in new businesses but also support small businesses and create an environment that allows the government to help these business owners to survive, Edwards said.

"Baton Rouge is open for business," Edwards added.

Edwards said fixing the city's problem with crime is his first and immediate goal in the mayoral office. 

"Instead of accepting crime as a problem we must live with, we must change that mindset," Edwards said. "We must expect safety, and law and order is the first responsibility of government... a duty government must perform."

The event, emceed by entrepreneur and CEO of Melara Enterprises Julio Melara, featured a performance by Istrouma High School's marching band. Edwards is the former football coach at Istrouma High School and much of his campaign was built around football metaphors. 

In addition to Edwards, newly sworn-in members of the Baton Rouge Metro Council also attended the ceremony and were introduced by Melara. 

Before his inauguration, Edwards chose a local entrepreneur — Charlie Davis — as his Chief Administrative Officer.

Edwards said he plans to address mental health — particularly making the city a safer place for those diagnosed with autism like his two sons — in his first 90 days in office. 

"Their world is so much beautiful. It's so much better," Edwards said. "(My sons and other people with autism) don't have angles... there's no hate... there's no divide... it's everything pure and good... So, picture, as elected officials, if that's how we lived."

Edwards' ceremony started at 5 p.m. and was followed by a private after-party in Tiger Stadium.