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Brewer named to fifth term as mayor

Brewer: Council may have to make “tough decisions” about budget

Submitted Amy Brewer was elected to her fifth term as Mayor by city council, Tuesday, Dec. 8.

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 9:56 AM Wednesday, December 9, 2009

LEBANON — A familiar face was chosen Tuesday, Dec. 8, to lead the city of Lebanon.

City council unanimously selected Amy Brewer for her fifth term as mayor and Jeff Monroe for his first term as vice mayor. Monroe is replacing Ben Cole, who will remain on council.

The mayor and vice mayor positions are chosen for two-year terms through a vote by city council members.

Brewer thanked her council members for their support as well as the residents who have elected her to office for a eight terms. She noted her first term in office coincided with the first Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade in 1988.

Brewer said her foremost goal in the upcoming term is to meet the city’s financial challenges. City officials have predicted the city’s general fund — which pays for the salaries of city employees, including the police and court staff and directly affects infrastructure upkeep — will be in deficit by 2011. City leaders have already slashed hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from Lebanon’s road work budget.

“It’s a huge issue we have to tackle,” Brewer said. “The council needs to bear down and think creatively about how to solve this issue.”

“We’ll possibly have to make some tough decisions,” Brewer said.

Monroe said it was an honor to be chosen as a steward of his community. He said the city had been through a difficult few months — referencing both economic hardships among businesses in town as well as the tragedies of two fatal fires in the last 60 days.

Council members Charleen Mehaffie Flick and Jim Norris were also sworn in to four-year terms. Brewer, Norris, Flick, and Monroe ran unopposed in November’s election.

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to urkidding,
i asked the director of the sewer dept, and he said the increase is to help pay for upgrades at the sewer dept, and yesterday we had our evaluations, and i was wrong on our cost of living raise...we got 1%!! not sure where your getting 4.5%....unless the pd or electric dept got it, there union so they get better benifits. yes, they made cuts in public works, but theres still 12 employees there, that need a super. and 68k is way below the average for that posistion.

employee
8:58 AM, 12/18/2009

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Who is an embarassment to this town? Why would you say such a thing? If you are talking about Mrs. Brewer, I totally disagree. She is, indeed, a gem to this city. I am proud of her as our mayor. You can't just make a statement like that without backing it up.

whatdoyoumean
10:57 PM, 12/10/2009

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Well now we have come aways from the reknown Mrs. Ullum;who wore her prejudice so openly and didn't know what the word "diversity" meant. I will never forget the clique that spear headed the Lebanon Swim Club membership and Mrs. Ullum asking me in my phone interview if my husband was black! Thank God for laws and that protect citizens today from such ignorance. Amy Brewer is one of the "clique" that has won the favor of city management in this town.Just pray diligently for new blood and CHANGE!!

All About Change
4:29 PM, 12/9/2009

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the public works dept head is making $68,000 with the benefits around $110,000 for this employee, since they did the cuts in that dept why is this job needed?? im sure things would get done for less!!!

urkidding
3:09 PM, 12/9/2009

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employee, im needing to correct you, the 3 percent raise of sewer rates has nothing to do with upgrades, last weeks meeting they voted on the tax for the general fund,you need to read last weeks paper 3 voted no on this because it was going into the general fund..and also most employee's did get a 4 1/2 percent raise at the start of 2009.. cuts could have come from an overload in city hall!! they made big cuts in public works so why would you need a overpaid dept. head???

urkidding
2:55 PM, 12/9/2009

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