New
aldermen will be appointed at Dearborn
by Ivan
Foley
Landmark editor
After getting some advice from the Missouri Municipal
League, it appears the board of aldermen for the City
of Dearborn will soon be able to get itself out of executive
session and move on with conducting business.
Mayor Marvin Landes on Wednesday morning said next week
there will be a special meeting of what's left of his
board of aldermen. At that meeting, Landes expects to
be ready to appoint two new aldermen to bring the board
back to its full strength of four members.
Landes said he has talked to a couple of potential appointees
and is expecting to hear back from them later this week.
The next regular meeting of the Dearborn board would
normally be set for Monday, but Landes said one of the
remaining aldermen has a conflict. The special meeting
may be held next Thursday night, he indicated, followed
by the regular meeting. More information will be available
by calling city hall later this week at 992-3524.
Following a resignation a couple of months ago by Alderman
Steve Counts, the normally four-member Dearborn board
was down to three members. The number went down to two
last month when Alderman Frank Downing, Jr. resigned in
the middle of an executive session, leaving the board
without a quorum and apparently stuck in closed session.
"Our city ordinance states I can't appoint a replacement
unless we're within six months of a municipal election,"
Landes said earlier this week.
But the mayor added that he and the city attorney have
been in contact with the league of municipalities and
have been advised that the mayor can in fact make appointments
to fill the board openings.
"They told us state law supersedes these local ordinances,
which are apparently outdated," Landes said this
week.
"It looks like I basically can appoint replacements
to those alderman positions regardless of when the next
municipal election is," the mayor added.
"We need to get on with the business of the city,"
he said.
Downing was reluctant to comment on the reasons for his
resignation, which came at a recent special meeting being
held for personnel decisions.
"I want the people to know I hate that I couldn't
finish out my term. The circumstances were such that I
had to get out," he said. He explained there were
disagreements on issues among board members, but "no
argument of any kind."
Downing said initially Landes also submitted his resignation
immediately after Downing, but that later Landes withdrew
his resignation.
Counts resigned last summer during a dispute with other
board members concerning retirement benefits for some
employees.
Water project progress Landes said Kansas City continues
to get its water line closer to Dearborn for the eventual
switchover. As soon as the connection is made to Kansas
City water later this year, Dearborn is expected to shut
down its current water plant.
Kansas City has extended its line to about a half mile
south of town.
"They're saying they'll have water to us and ready
to go by the first part of December," the mayor said,
adding that Dearborn will need to get moving on running
the line from the connecting point to the city's water
tower.
He said Dearborn is currently asking the Missouri Department
of Transportation (MoDOT) for permission to run the line
on MoDOT right- of-way through the middle of town.
"We only need about two blocks of MoDOT right-of-way,"
he said.
Assuming permission is granted from MoDOT, he said the
city would then need about a week or 10 days to get its
lines in and get hooked up to Kansas City water.
Landes said no decision has been made as to whether Dearborn
will need to increase its water rates. He said Kansas
City will charge Dearborn approximately $1.70 per thousand
gallons of water, which he said is cheaper than Dearborn
can produce it.
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