By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
“Don’t get used to it,” someone said as Decatur City Council’s first meeting of 2024 was wrapping up in City Hall Tuesday night.
It was also the first meeting for two new members of council, Jenny Bowers-Shultz and Abby Wilder.
In another change, former utilities director Kevin Hackman (left in photo with Mayor Dan Rickord) was sitting in the clerk-treasurer chair occupied by Phyllis Whitright for the past 26 ½ years.
For the new councilwomen and Hackman, meeting No., 1 could hardly have gone any smoother: it lasted only 15-20 minutes, evoking the “don’t get used to it” comment.
Council meetings normally run anywhere from an hour to two.
Wilder (right in photo) and Bowers-Shultz (left) are the first women to sit on council since 2011.
The last woman on the city’s administrative body was Democrat Barb Engle, who now takes minutes for the council meetings.
Other women who were council members in the past 30 or so years include Janet Macklin, Susan Miller and Joan Hoffman.
Bowers-Shultz, a Democrat, defeated Gina Melcher in last November’s general election and now represents District 1. Wilder, a Republican, was unopposed for the District 3 council seat after besting incumbent Craig Coshow in last spring’s Republican primary.
Melcher had ousted incumbent Wylie Sirk in that same GOP primary.
The start of the new year saw at-large member Matt Dyer, a Republican, beginning his 18th year and fifth term.
Democrat Tyler Fullenkamp has begun his third term representing District 2 and Republican Scott Murray started his second term in District 4. Murray has an extra year on council since he filled in when council member Cam Collier was sent overseas with the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Erin Heyerly has been appointed by Mayor Dan Rickord to lead the utilities department in place of Hackman.