New Branson Mayor Karen Best is sworn in at the April 14 board of aldermen meeting. A week earlier, real estate agent Best received 55 percent of the votes to unseat eight-year Mayor Raeanne Presley. From Presley, Best inherits the 2014 financial trends of $35 million in retail sales in the downtown district, $6 million in private investment downtown and $20 million in construction at the Cox Medical Center. Best has suspected Presley’s part in the city’s April Fools’ Day joke with billionaire Richard Branson played into the election results.

Photo provided by THE CITY OF BRANSON