Mayor Trulove sworn in

The Cheney City Council has officially changed.

Council members Teresa Overhauser and Mike McKeehan were sworn in after winning their re-election campaigns in November. Also sworn in was new council member Fred Pollard and new mayor Tom Trulove.

One of the first items of business for the new council was to appoint someone to fill the council seat Trulove left vacant.

“We need to appoint someone for the remainder of the term, which would be two years,” Trulove told the council.

The council unanimously approved Trulove’s recommendation to appoint Graeme Webster, who lost in a close race to Pollard in November.

Another piece of housekeeping the council took care of was to select a new mayor pro tem, required by state law each time the council swears in new members, which is every two years.

Trulove told the council it was tradition to pick the most senior member of the council to hold this position. The mayor pro tem fills in for the mayor when he or she can’t make it to a meeting or event.

“I would move the election of Mike McKeehan as mayor pro tem,” said Overhauser.

The council voted for McKeehan unanimously.

“Good choice,” Trulove said.

In other council news, the council approved a contract that would regulate the placement, maintenance and removal of bus benches in Cheney.

City Administrator Arlene Fisher said Councilman Doug Nixon had been asking her about the benches – who owned them and where do the ads that are placed on them come from?

After some research, she found Emerald Outdoor owned them and she gave the company a call.

She wrote up an agreement which would bring the city $400 a year that would go into the city beautification fund.

The council also agreed to support Cheney Public Schools in the election Feb. 9. The district is putting a $79 million bond on the ballot to build two new middle schools and an elementary school.

Trulove offered time for anyone with an opposing viewpoint about the bond to speak, but there were no takers.