New Council Business.

The newly installed City Council elected Council member Jackie Boyer as Mayor ProTem during the regular meeting Tuesday evening in City Hall. According to the City Charter the pro tem position will preside at Council meetings if the Mayor is absent. The Pro Tem also will occasionally assume ceremonial duties if the Mayor is not available.

Boyer has been a Council member since March of 1993. She was appointed to the post and was elected as Third Ward Council member in April of 1994. She is the senior Council member now serving and is Chair of the Budget/Ways and Means Committee. She is the first woman to hold the position of Mayor Pro Tem and was nominated by Council member Lujene Clark.

Council member J.D. Whitledge, also representing the Third Ward, served as Mayor Pro Tem last year. Several Council members noted appreciation to Whitledge for his enthusiasm and commitment during his year in the position.

Newly elected Council member Jim McPheeters took his seat for the Fourth Ward and Trish Burgi-Brewer was recognized for her service on the Council. Burgi-Brewer opted not to run for reelection and filed as a candidate for Jasper County Eastern County Commissioner.

Mayor Kenneth Johnson announced that he was not going to make any major changes in Council Committee assignments for the time being. Members will serve on the following Committees:

Budget/Ways and Means:
Chair Jackie Boyer, Vice-Chair Art Dunaway, Larry Ross, Bill Fortune.

Financial/Personnel:
Chair Lujene Clark, Vice-Chair Don Stearnes, Art Dunaway, Jim McPheeters.

Public Services:
Chair J.D. Whitledge, Vice-Chair Larry Ross, Don Stearnes, Jackie Boyer.

Public Safety:
Chair Charlie Bastin, Vice-Chair H.J. Johnson, J.D. Whitledge, Lujene Clark.

Public Works:
Chair Bill Fortune, Vice-Chair Jim McPheeters, Charlie Bastin, H.J. Johnson.

Before the old Council was adjourned, they voted to waive bidding for construction of a sewer line extension at Fair Acres Sports Complex for the new multipurpose building. The action requires a two-thirds vote of the Council. Bastin and Clark voted against. The Council also approved an appropriation of $6,540.58 for TIF attorney services, and authorized an agreement with APAC-MO for improvements at 96 and Vine.

The Council heard a presentation on Tuesday evenin’ concernin’ a facilitator for a brainstormin’ session planned sometime in May. The purpose of the session is to get the members lookin’ ahead as to what services or activities the City should be tryin’ to provide or encourage in the next two to ten years. This particular facilitator would cost $2,900 plus eatin’ costs.

The Council did this a couple a years ago and from the comments of those who attended, it didn’t help get things focused much. The idea of puttin’ someone outside of the Council in charge of such a discussion probl’y makes some sense. Now the Council has ta determine what it’s worth and if these are the right folks ta get the job done. They’ve asked for more info on the scope of services, decision later.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

CLICK & CLACK
TALK CARS
by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I have an ‘86 Chevy Cavalier with 120,000-plus miles on it. It has been idling very fast. My father — an "old school" car mechanic — informs me that the fuel injectors are pouring fuel into whatever they pour fuel into at a prodigious rate. The local Chevy dealership ate up a couple of hundred dollars in labor trying to find the problem, which they say is not in the computer itself, but in a short in the wires between the computer and the engine, which they’ll be glad to locate for another couple of hundred dollars (that is, they will locate the short, not the engine, although I’m beginning to wonder).

The question is, Is this legit? Is there a way to discover the short without spending lots of money and thus being forced to deprive my children of luxuries like milk, shoes and diapers? Could it be something else? I am very concerned about the effect that the fast idle is having on the engine, the gas mileage and the transmission (as it bangs into Reverse with a whiplash-producing thunk). Can you help? — Eric

RAY: Before I throw another couple of hundred semolians at Mr. Goodwrench, I’d ask him to try replacing the injector.

TOM: This car has throttle body injection, which uses one fuel injector to feed all four cylinders. It’s possible that after 120,000 miles, that fuel injector is just worn out and is pouring way too much gas into the cylinders. And as a result, the computer may be adding air to boost the idle speed just to maintain the proper gas-to-air mixture.

RAY: The injector costs about $100. And if that’s not it, the dealer can always take it out and put it back on the shelf.