EDITH DAVIDSON TO FILL SCOTT CITY COUNCIL SEAT

SCOTT CITY - Edith Davidson, president of Scott City's Community Betterment Association, was appointed Monday as Ward 2 councilman to fill the seat of former councilman Jim Cauble.

Davidson was appointed to the position by Mayor Shirley Young.

Cauble informed city officials last week that he intended to resign. He said his job kept him out of town and unable to attend council meetings.

Cauble has been a councilman since the early 1970s. He was elected mayor in 1975 and served for two years. He was then appointed to fill a vacancy on the council by then-mayor Alvie Modglin.

He also served as acting mayor in 1989 following the resignation of Albert Schlenker.

Davidson, 76, is the founder and president of Scott City's Community Betterment Association, a member of the Scott City Garden Club, Chamber of Commerce, Daughters of American Revolution, and the Historical Association of Scott City, and she does volunteer work with senior citizens. She also volunteers two days a week at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

In November, she was one of 10 Missouri residents to receive a Governor's Leadership Award at a statewide Community Betterment conference.

She will fill Cauble's seat until the April election, Young said.

"Edith was a natural choice," Young said. "She has been attending all the council meetings."

The council unanimously approved Davidson's appointment.

In other business, the council passed an ordinance authorizing the city to begin collecting a telephone tax to fund an Enhanced 911 telephone system. The measure was approved by voters last month.

Young said the tax, which will amount to about 15 percent of a resident's basic telephone bill, will be collected starting in January. The city has two years to implement the system.

The city needs about $30,000 to pay for installation of the system, and expects to collect that much in two years or less. After that, the telephone tax rate will be lowered, with the money used to fund upkeep of the system.

In another matter, the mayor said there is a problem with council members "leaking" information to other city employees concerning matters that are discussed in closed session.

Young wouldn't elaborate about specific information that was passed on.

But she said that when she attempted to tell employees in city hall about a proposed ordinance concerning the number of hours they are allowed to work, the employees already knew about the ordinance.

"One of you people sat here and told everything," Young told the council. "And you didn't even have enough sense to leak the right information."

All council members denied the charge. "Maybe you're the one who told them," Councilman John Rogers retorted.

Young denied being the informant and said she would take a polygraph test to prove it. She also said one of the council members had to be "lying."

Rogers said he disagreed with the way the mayor "belittled" city employees during closed sessions.

"You don't even know the meaning of the word `belittle,'" Young answered.

In the end, nothing was resolved. But the mayor said, "It keeps being reported to me that people are undermining the city. There's no point to having an executive session anymore."