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ALBANY, GA. -- The city of Albany made history by swearing in Dorothy Hubbard as the city's first female mayor.

Hundreds turned out to see Hubbard take her seat in office. It was a moment that she never dreamed would happen.

“When I retired twelve years ago, I would not have thought that I would be here tonight,” said Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard.

Before passing on the torch, outgoing mayor Dr. Willie Adams, accepted praise for his contributions to the city. While his peers serenaded him with farewell wishes, he reassured them that they are in safe hands.

“She's been on this commission for six years and that gives her a lot of experience,” said outgoing Mayor Dr. Willie Adams.

Hubbard’s first order of business was passing a resolution recognizing Mayor Adams and his accomplishments during his tenure.

Under his supervision, the city formed the Gang Task Force and lowered the mileage rate for 5 of his 8 years in office.

The newly seated mayor says she's ready to work and her first goal is to clean up the city and county.

“The first thing we're going to do is a big cleanup. We're going to take the city commissioners on a tour of the city to look at how we're going to clean it up,” said Hubbard.

This means destroying blighted properties and making the streets clean by picking up trash alongside the roads.

Hubbard hopes to put an end to high crime, low graduation rates, and poverty.  But before this can be done, she says she needs the community on her side, along with a higher power.

“I know he has his arms around me as mayor of the city and he has his arms around this city to move us forward,” said Hubbard.