The City of Sedalia now has a new Councilwoman in the Fourth Ward with Megan Page.

Randy Kirby
Randy Kirby
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Sedalia's newest City Councilwoman was sworn in by City Clerk Arlene Silvey, along with incumbents Jo Lynn Turley, Bob Cross and Russell Driskell Monday night.

Megan Page, who defeated Mary Merritt in the April 4 election, was installed as a Fourth Ward Councilwoman and later escorted to her seat by Mayor Stephen Galliher. Page, who has been a resident of Sedalia for 12 years, spoke with KSIS about her new title:

“I did not expect to win at all. So it was a shock when those results came in,” Page said, adding that she campaigned hard for the position.

“It's very, very hard work, there's a lot of houses in the Fourth (Ward) of the City. It was exhausting, but obviously worth it,” she stated.

Page said that she hopes to work closely with her constituents and her fellow Councilmen and “do good things for Sedalia. I'm excited, and ready to get to work,” she said.

Page is married to her husband Jeff. They have two boys, Jonah, 6, and Jude, 3.

Merritt, who was appointed to the Council by Mayor Galliher to fill the unexpired term of Vicky Collins, promptly left the Chambers just as the Mayor was about to thank her for her service to the City.

Also, First Ward Councilman Jeff Leeman was elected Mayor Pro Tem at Monday night's City Council meeting.

Leeman reflected on his time with the Council and his thoughts on being named Mayor Pro Tem:

“It's been interesting – more eye opening than anything,” he said. “I hope we're doing a great job for the citizens as a whole, I really do. There's a lot involved, and there's only so much money. And you know, we got a shock this year when we lost that almost half-million dollars in sales tax revenue. But I think we're going to be okay. We've got a lot of new things on the horizon.”

As far as being named Mayor Pro Tem, Leeman said it came out of the blue.

“It's kind of a fill-in slot to me. It wasn't solicited. But we'll see how she goes.” Leeman told KSIS.

Leeman replaces Fourth Ward Councilman Tollie Rowe as Mayor Pro Tem. Leeman secured the spot after Third Ward Councilman Don Meier changed his vote. Leeman and Meier were nominated for the position by Mayor Stephen J. Galliher. The vote was 4-3 in favor of Leeman with Second Ward Councilwoman Bonita Nash absent.

But City Attorney Anne Gardner said that technically wasn't a majority of the full, eight-member Council. She said she would feel more comfortable with a 5-3 vote. She added said the Council could table the vote until Nash could attend at a later meeting. But after a short recess, Meier requested that he be allowed to change his vote from himself in favor of Leeman, which he did. The Mayor applauded his selfless decision.

A reception was held following the meeting for the newly-sworn Council members and the new Mayor Pro Tem.

City Finance Director Kelvin Shaw gave a brief monthly financial update to the Sedalia City Council at Monday night's pre-council meeting.

“In March, our sales tax was down, month-over-month, but then year-to-date, they were down 1.4 percent. But then with the use tax that voters approved a year-and-a-half ago, that brought it up to a 1.4 percent increase, year over year. And then on our expenditures, we were came in just a little bit under budget at 93 percent,” Shaw told KSIS.

Shaw said overall he was pleased with the expenditures, “and we think we're on target for our budget next year,” Shaw concluded.

At the start of the regular Council meeting, Bob Hiller presented the results from the DARE Car Show, held at the Municipal Building April 1. He told Mayor Galliher that a total of $11,009 was raised at the event. which also included a silent auction. The car count was down due to less than perfect weather this year. Hiller said he wasn't worried about the ones who didn't come that day, but more proud of the ones who came and supported the Sedalia Police Department's DARE program.

The Council approved a dispatch services agreement between PCAD and the Sedalia Police Department. PCAD has agreed to fund one additional full-time dispatcher at a cost of $41, 532.

Council also approved the purchase of a fire department rescue tool from Alex Air Apparatus out of Minnesota at a total cost of $19,330, which meets specs and was the lowest of two bids receive.

On the recommendation of the Citizens Traffic Advisory Committee, two handicapped spaces in front of 832 W. 6th were removed, and also established a 30-minute parking restriction and three no-parking restrictions in the area bounded by W. 16th, Stone Creek Drive and Brianna Blvd.

A 25-minute closed-door session preceded the pre-council meeting.

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