Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was told to retake the oath of office after a video showing her not saying the words or raising her right hand during Monday’s inaugural ceremony went viral on social media, the Herald has learned.

The Herald arrived at City Hall at 9 a.m. Thursday, where City Clerk Alex Geourntas was on hand to swear Fernandes Anderson in for a second time. The District 7 councilor told the clerk at roughly 3:15 p.m., however, that she was not coming into the office, and would let him know if she would be there on Friday.

The clerk had been told by Fernandes Anderson’s staff at approximately 11 a.m., and then again shortly before 1 p.m. that she was on her way to the building.

Fernandes Anderson was instructed by both City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and the city’s law department to retake the oath, both verbally and in writing, a City Hall source told the Herald.

Geourntas said Fernandes Anderson signed the city’s “oath book,” along with the 12 other city councilors sworn in by Mayor Michelle Wu on Monday, and could not attest to whether she spoke the words during the inaugural ceremony.

Fernandes Anderson appeared not to be saying the oath verbally in a video posted by Boston Accountability Network, that went viral after it was shared by Libs of TikTok on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday night.

Per the city charter, city councilors are required, “before entering upon the duties of his office,” to “take, and subscribe in a book to be kept by the city clerk for the purpose, the oath of allegiance and oath of office prescribed in the constitution of this commonwealth and an oath to support the constitution of the United States.”

The situation has prompted questions about whether Fernandes Anderson’s decision not to recite the oath has created a vacancy for a District 7 councilor, invalidating the votes she took during Monday’s Council meeting, or if the entire meeting must be redone, the City Hall source said.

Along with selecting Louijeune as the new council president, the body took many other votes, including appointing employees for the four new city councilors, a new school committee member and former City Councilor Kenzie Bok to the Commemoration Commission.

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The Council president and law department directive followed both the viral video and Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin personally calling Sabino Piemonte, head assistant registrar of voters for the Boston Election Department, to discuss the Fernandes Anderson issue on Wednesday, the source said.

Piemonte then instructed Galvin, per the source, to contact the city clerk to get clarification about whether the oath needs to be taken verbally, or if just signing the book is acceptable.

“The councilor signed the oath book for elected officials, and she was certified based on the certification of the election results,” Geourntas told the Herald Wednesday. “As long as they sign this, it’s official and they got certified through the elections department that she was the top vote-getter in the election.”

He reiterated this interpretation on Thursday, saying that it was his understanding that Fernandes Anderson’s decision to retake the oath was her choice, and won’t impact her standing as a city councilor.

When asked about whether not saying the oath verbally would present the opportunity for complaints challenging Fernandes Anderson’s standing as city councilor or votes she took this past Monday, Geourntas referred the Herald to the city’s law department.

No complaints have come into his office, he said, adding that one could also be filed with the council president. A secretary of state’s office spokeswoman said none have come in there either, which “lacks jurisdiction over such complaints.”

The law department deferred comment to the mayor’s office, which declined comment and told the Herald to contact the City Council president, Louijeune, who ignored multiple calls seeking comment through her chief of staff on Thursday.

Fernandes Anderson spoke with the Herald Wednesday night, on the condition that the conversation be kept entirely off the record.

The Herald was told at the City Council office shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday that Louijeune’s new office was being painted, and the council president was, therefore, working remotely.

A staff member for Fernandes Anderson came out to speak with the Herald briefly, saying that she was unaware of a new swearing-in while presenting a business card for the councilor’s director of constituent services for further comment.

Debra O’Malley, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s office, declined to comment much on what she described as “city matter” involving a “city officer” who “should have been sworn in under city rules.”

“The only person I can tell you to talk to about whether or not she is legally taking the oath is the city of Boston,” O’Malley told the Herald. “It would be up to the city’s law department to determine if she’s duly sworn in under their charter.”