A new mayor who will serve at least until the April election has been appointed at Dearborn.
The new mayor is Delba McAuley, who previously served a couple of stints in an alderman position for the city. McAuley was appointed by the board at a meeting Thursday. Her appointment means Mayor Pro Tem Donald Swanstone, Jr. will step aside and return to his post as alderman.
The mayor’s position had been up in the air since Aug. 1, when Marvin Landes r2esigned for health reasons and because of what he called “apparent lack of support from the board in trying to curb spending.”
Landes resigned after trying to reduce the number of work hours put in by three city public works employees. Dearborn has recently connected to Kansas City water and no longer operates its own water plant.
After Landes’ attempt to cut hours, the three employees walked off the job for five days before being brought back into the fold by the board of aldermen.
McAuley said one of her main goals will be to “bring a little peace to Dearborn,” as recent incidents, she believes, have cast the city in a bad light. She said she will also continue her work on getting park ground purchased and developed using a $300,000 grant from Platte County.
She said the city has identified a piece of property it would like to purchase for a park and is in negotiations at this time.
McAuley said the board of aldermen had approached her about taking the appointment as mayor. She indicated she isn’t sure whether she’ll run for the office when the position appears on the ballot in April.
Also last week, McAuley said the city has taken steps to reduce its labor costs by slashing the hours of the water department employeesBilly Clay Davidson, K.C. Davidson and Frank Dovel.
McAuley projects the action will save the city 70 work hours per week, “which is roughly what it took them to operate that water plant.”
“I project it will save the city 70 hours per week and $30,000 a year,” she said. She indicated the employees were satisfied with the arrangement.
She said under the arrangement, Dovel was given a raise in pay, as were two office employees. The two office workers had not been given a raise in five years, according to McAuley. The Davidsons were not given raises in the new arrangement, she said. McAuley previously served as an alderman from 1997 to 2001. Then in October of last year, Landes appointed her to a board position left open by Frank Downing, Jr., who had defeated McAuley in the April 2002 election. Downing resigned after six months in office. McAuley served in that spot until April of this year.