West Burlington swears in majority-female city council

WEST BURLINGTON — Its official, the majority of people on the West Burlington City Council are women.

Councilwomen Melanie Young and Kathy Newburry were sworn in Wednesday at the West Burlington City Council’s meeting by Mayor Pro-tem Therese Lees.

“I think this is the first time we have had a majority female council,” said Lees.

After an election, newly elected members of a city council are not sworn in until late December or early January. But this year has seen two council members resign, Al Waterman, who had served on the council since 2006, resigned in June, and councilwoman Kathy Christie, who was about 18 months into her first term on council, resigned in September.

Christie resigned her post to coincide with the requirements for a special election to allow a special election for her seat to be placed on the November city/school district combined election. Newburry, who was elected into that seat, will be up for re-election in 2023.

Waterman’s term would have expired at the end of this year, meaning Young will not be up for re-election until 2025.

When a council position is vacated, it must be placed on the ballot for the following election cycle, even if that seat would not ordinarily be up for election for another two years.

The council briefly had a female-majority council earlier this year, between when Young was appointed in August and when Christie stepped down in September, but this is the first time a majority-female council has been made up of elected female council members.

The city’s elected officials are not majority female, however. West Burlington's mayor, Hans Trousil, makes the elected official split 50/50. In January, Trousil will be replaced by Mayor-elect Ron Teater. Trousil had been the mayor of West Burlington for nearly 30 years before announcing his intent to not run for re-election earlier this year.

Fee schedule changes

The council members also discussed the city’s fee schedule at their meeting this week.

Specifically, the council decided to alter its fee schedule for false alarms. For the purposes of city fees, a false alarm is when an alarm system triggers a response from police officers but there is no need for the response.

The first and second false alarms in a calendar year are not charged to the residence, but starting with the third false alarm in a calendar year, residents will be charged $100 per false alarm. This number will be reset at the beginning of each calendar year.

Previously, false alarms were charged $50 for third and subsequent alarm fees. False alarms also were counted in a 365-day cycle, meaning that year reset from the first date of the first false alarm. Sequential fees started on the fourth alarm rather than on the third alarm.

The other fee adjustment set by the West Burlington City Council this week was for water charges. West Burlington slightly increased its water rates with the distribution charges being increased by about 18%. West Burlington has three additional charges based on usage above 3,000 gallons, as 3,000 gallons are free under the city's code.

The increase for 3,000 to 1 million gallons equated to about a 15% increase and 1 million to 1.5 million gallons increased by nearly 18%. The largest increase came to those using more than 1.5 million gallons with a 23% increase.

Logan thanks area agencies for help in Laird murder

The West Burlington Police Department continues to investigate the murder of 18-year-old Owen Laird. However, they were not alone in their efforts.

WBPD was assisted on Sunday by the Burlington Police Department, Des Moines County Sheriff’s office, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Iowa State Patrol.

“Without their help and assistance this week it would have been a very long time for our guys,” Police Chief Jesse Logan said during the elected official reports section of the meeting.

More: Police identify victim of West Burlington shooting; juvenile charged with first-degree murder

A juvenile was arrested in connection with the crime. As the juvenile is under 16 years old, there is the option of waiving them into adult court. If the juvenile is waived into adult court, depending on the charges, they could face life in prison with the possibility of parole.

In Iowa, there is no parole on a life sentence for adults. However, juveniles are eligible for parole on life sentences.

Logan said he cannot discuss the case in much detail but that the investigation is continuing. He asked that anyone with information about the incident contact the WBPD.

This is the first murder West Burlington has seen since June 17, 2003, when Darren LaVeine was killed by Lanny Bernhart, who ultimately was sentenced to 50 years in prison and is eligible for parole in 2039.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: West Burlington City Council now is majority female following 2021 election