Atlantic City gets a new mayor

The head of the city's Democratic Party was selected as its new mayor tonight.

Scott Evans, a city firefighter, was chosen by the city council at a special meeting. He will serve until after an election next November. Evans is Atlantic City's third mayor in a little over a month -- a situation that began when former Mayor Bob Levy went missing for two weeks and later admitted embellishing his Vietnam War service to fatten his veterans' benefit check.

"You don't have much stability with three mayors in six weeks," Evans said. "I want to bring stability to the city. You'll see a new leader take control of City Hall, someone who's here every day and who's going to work hard."

Evans will take a leave of absence -- and a $20,000 pay cut -- from his job as a battalion chief with the city's fire department to serve as mayor. The mayor's job pays an annual salary of $100,000.

The new mayor was chosen from a pool of three nominees that also included Business Administrator Domenic Cappella and former Councilwoman Barbara Hudgins.