Delba
McAuley named mayor of Dearborn
by Ivan
Foley
Landmark editor
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.
