The Scott City City Council welcomed a new member to the chambers at the beginning of the its regular session Tuesday night.

Darren Raines, 37, was sworn in to represent Ward 4. He replaces Kevin Gresham, who resigned Aug. 1 because he was moving to Bakersfield, Calif.

Raines was appointed by Mayor Tim Porch.

Raines owns a new Scott City business that repairs small engines and details vehicles. He also is a volunteer firefighter for the Scott City Fire Department.

He both sought out and was sought out for the position, he said. "I've always been interested in city government, and I'd like to try to make a difference."

Raines, who has never held a position on a government board before, expects it to take a little while to understand how things work.

"I will have to feel out how the government operates at first," he said.

In other business, the council approved a loan of $650,000 from the Bank of Missouri to pay for a new water treatment plant under construction in the Rhodes Industrial Park in the northern part of the city.

Scott City voters originally approved a $2.2 million bond issue, the amount of the engineer's estimate, to pay for the plant. The low bid of only four bids received on the project, however, was $750,000 over that amount. The city negotiated with low bidder Penzel Construction to reduce the difference to $650,000.

The loan is for 20 years.