DeWitt council confirms appointments, forms water-district work group and withdraws from local chamber

The DeWitt City Council on Jan. 13 confirmed a slate of administrative appointments and took organizational actions, including withdrawing the city’s membership from the DeWitt Area Chamber of Commerce.

Council unanimously confirmed Mayor Susan Leeming’s appointment of Ronald Wheeler to the Board of Review; the appointment term was recorded as expiring Jan. 15, 2029. The council also appointed the City Administrator, City Clerk, Police Chief and City Assessor (alternate) as the City’s Election Commission for the 2025 election cycle. In addition, a work group was formed to review Capital Benefit Water Assessment Districts, with Mayor Leeming, Mayor Pro-Tem Hunsaker and Councilmember Kellogg named as the review team.

Separately, the council approved a motion to withdraw the City of DeWitt’s membership from the DeWitt Area Chamber of Commerce "due to untrue and unprofessional comments" as referenced in meeting materials; the meeting record does not attribute that phrase to a specific speaker. The motion to withdraw was moved by Mayor Pro-Tem Hunsaker and seconded by Councilmember Landgraf and carried unanimously.

In closed session, the council met under the Open Meetings Act (Article 15.268 Section 8 Sub (d)) to discuss negotiations connected with the purchase of real property, then reconvened and unanimously directed City Administrator Daniel Coss to proceed as discussed in closed session. The transcript and meeting minutes do not disclose negotiation details, consistent with the closed-session citation.